In this continuing series, we cover my move from San Diego to Chita, Siberia to be a professor at Chita State Technical University. We pick up the story outside the airport in Khabarovsk, Russia.

Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk is an amazing city. Museums with works from Picasso, Rembrandt and other masters. A bustling downtown area with cafes, a lively music scene and architectural triumphs. Then again, maybe not. We were far more interested in finding a hotel with hot water and never ventured into the city.

Outside of the airport, we were a bit flummoxed by the fact there appeared to be no taxis. We quickly learned that practically any Russian with a car is also a taxi for hire. After 5 minutes of egging each other on, Grae made taxi arrangements and we were off. Apparently taking in out disheveled appearance after 3 days of traveling, our driver suggested the Intourist hotel. We readily agreed.

During communism, Intourist hotels were set up for exclusive use by foreigners. Ours was fairly nice and, importantly, had showers with copious amounts of hot water. You can see a picture at http://www.lodging.ru/hotels/intouristkhab.asp. After having returned to humanity with one of the best showers of my life, it was time to brush up on my Russian skills.

I am a huge fan of ice hockey. During the eighties and nineties, many of the best players were Russians. In interviews, they almost always talked about learning English by watching television. If it worked for them, it would work for me. Not exactly.

As Grae showered, I flipped through the eight available channels. Sitcoms were a non-starter, but I eventually found a news channel. I see the images. I know what the images are. I hear the words being spoken by the reporters. I have absolutely no idea of what words go with what images. Okay, let’s back up. What words do they use over and over? Damn, do they have to talk so fast? After 30 minutes, I have learned nothing, nada, zippo. My respect for Russians playing in the NHL has never been higher.

Might as well sleep on it. Yes, day three of the trip was finally done. My original prediction of a 2-day trip was out the window. Still, we were in Russia, so how much longer could it take? Pull out a map and take a look at the country. It is twice the size of the U.S.

Next - When Stairs Attack

Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - Preserve the experience with writing journals for traveling, hiking, rock climbing, fly fishing, bird watching and more. This story series is being created from journals entries in a Nomad Travel Journal.

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There seems to always be debate around aerodynamic principals; specifically around the theory of lift and the textbook versions taught on the principles of flight. Many times it confuses physics students, even causes them to miss questions on test as the test answers often question the reality of what lift is and how aircraft really remain airborne, fly and remain aloft.

Students of aeronautics and aviation enthusiasts often debate these principles with one another. If you go to any aviation forum you will find online debates which rage thru the middle of the night. You can see that if you have ever had a question yourself on what you were taught or how things work you are not alone, but why all the debate on Lift and the Principles of Flight? Well most of it is a definitional debate, although much is a theoretical debate. Meanwhile you can see you are not the only one who has made has questioned the debates, as there are those who are scrabbling over definitions of flight characteristics all over the virtual world of the Internet. Here are some of those debates;

http://www.amasci.com/wing/airfoil.html

http://www.amasci.com/wing/rotbal2.html

http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2528

http://www.airandspacemagazine.com/ASM/Mag/Index/1995/DJ/ssfw.html

Now these guys really got going here? How many types of lift are there? Bumble Bee lift, compression lift, aerodynamic lift, Bernoulli Lift, Reaction Lift, deflection of airflow, down wash, Coanda Effect, Eddy or vortex suction lift? I give up? These debates are really intense and somewhat out of control. Sometimes this scares aeronautic students, no wonder everyone is arguing. Whose idea was it to throw all these different types of lift in together anyway?

http://mb-soft.com/public2/lift.html

One online debate had a gentleman who asked a simple question: “Since my Grandfather owned a seaplane, what do you call it when the aircraft bounces upward on the step during takeoff? It lifts up? What kind of lift is that? Speaking of lift, don’t about 300,000 New Orleans citizens need a lift right now too?”

When one reads these arguments and posts one has to ask themselves a question; shouldn’t this theory of flight and lift be much simpler to describe? In another post a gentleman talked about aircushion, which he probably meant ground cushion from ground effect, then asked; “Is that lift to using the Bernoulli Effect?” What kind of lift is a Tornado, because that lifts the roof right off those tornado magnet Gerry Springer guest star mobile homes.
If you are not sure about what lift is or feel confused at times; NASA has a really good site to learn more.

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Education/index.html

Get yourself educated on the principles of flight so you can follow along on the “Big Controversial Debate” on what “Lift” is and flying is and what they are not. After you have reviewed all this, you can think on it.

“Lance Winslow” - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs

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