Dennis M

I am an independent contractor for a flight school and was in charge of a ground school program. I chose to create a collection of PowerPoint presentations for those classes. The owners never specified I had to make power points, and there was no agreement that I provide them with any material beyond sharing it with other independent contractors.

Who owns the rights to those works? If I made them inaccessible after I leave, do they have any recourse against me?

I had a problem develop when deadlifting where I get a pain in my lower back/hip momentarily after dropping the weight. It doesn't make any difference how much weight I lift, if I drop it or set it down easily.

The pain lasts about 2-3 seconds and then it's gone. It isn't limited to deadlifts, any similar lifts do the same thing, snatch, cleans etc. I have little pain afterwords or the next day, beyond what I think should be expected.

Any idea what causes this or what I could do to stop it?

I started a new job as a 1099 independent contractor, and have never been taxed in this way before. My understanding is I need to set aside 13.3% for federal income tax and some amount for state tax. I live in kentucky, have searched the state department of rev. website and haven't found any numbers.

Is this a correct understanding? It seems to me that I'm missing something. That 13.3 seems to only cover social security and medicare, certainly there is more.

That brings me to part 2 of this question, and that is paying quarterly estimated taxes. I read the IRS website on this and didn't find it very helpful for my situation. I don't make this year what I made last year, so it doesn't make sense to pay 25% of last years taxes. Truth is my income this year is probably going to be lower than what I paid in taxes last year, that just doesn't work. So with having no basis, and a new "business," how does one establish (if required) how much to pay in quarterly taxes?

I have a physics lab to do and don't really know how to go about finding the equations I need, unfortunately my book is of no help on this topic.

The assignment is to drop a ball, measure it's bounce and do some calculations based on the data. I've got a great set of data, but now I'm at a loss. I need to calculate:

-What fraction of the initial energy was transformed into thermal energy?

-What fraction was retrieved as gravitational energy?

This is my guess, please correct me if I'm wrong, but if I dropped a ball, and it's bounce was 55% of the drop height, then 45% of it's initial energy was converted into thermal energy? Is that the right idea?

I honestly don't even understand the 2nd part of the question. Any guesses?

I have an ongoing issue with a collection agency. I have read a lot about how to deal with these people in general terms, and asked here and got more advice, but now I'm in need of specific advice

The quick back story, and I'll keep it simple, is my wife had some hospital bills that were sent to collection. As it stands now, the hospital still owns the debt, but they are using a collection agency to collect on the debt. I gathered that information by calling the hospital directly.

I have been given numerous settlement offers, 50%, 70%, 58%, and now 60% [sorry, I'm not comfortable posting dollar figures up here]. It's on an large debt, over $10,000. Every time I make an offer, or indicate I'd like to settle, their $ goes up. It's a game, they are after every last penny, I get it.

I just got of the phone with them, hoping to negotiate a suitable settlement, they gave me the expected "this is your settlement today, after that it goes to the full value." I don't want to accept it, knowing that they could possibly go lower (they say it was a discount from the hospital that allowed them to offer that lowest $ figure), but at the same time I don't want to play with fire and get burned by having to pay the full amount, which they could certainly do.

Just to top it all off, they aren't willing to accept a money order through the mail, they insist on a check over the phone. That tells me it's something to steer clear of, but if they try to take too much, then I have every right to sue them, although that costs money also, and I'll end up in a loosing situation.

I'm taking a basic physics class after several years of not taking any kind of math or physics classes. This question should be incredibly simple, but I'm absolutely stuck for reasons I can't understand. I never had any problems with advanced math, but I'm stumped now.

how long would it take an object to fall 2 m? We can use 10m/s2.

I see time, acceleration, and distance being the variables, but for the life of me I can't put them together, and my book doesn't give me any help.

How do you work this out?

My wife has some hospital bills from a car accident a year ago that were overlooked at the time and ended up being sent to collections. I have been in contact with the collection agency, I made the mistake of talking to them over the phone before doing my homework.

As it stands right now, they have offered me a settlement of about 51% of the total. Some time passed as I'm trying to get the insurance company to pay the tab (thats a whole different story) and now they have given me a settlement that is 70% of the total, they went up. While talking to them on the phone I asked them why they number went up, and they offered me the original number provided I could pay it today... So I think they are still willing to negotiate.

My question is how should I do this. I have read online about how I should do all negations in writing, I wish I would have read that earlier, but I didn't. Should I use an agreement to compromise debt form I have found online and just put in the value I want to pay, say 25-30%, and let them counter offer? Or should I negotiate a price over the phone and then request paperwork before sending any money? That seems to be a much more efficient way to do thing to me, as the mail back and forth could take weeks or months.

The other concern I have is the value of this debt. I don't want to give any exact figures, mainly because that's my business... the original value is over $10,000, so they could be inclined to pursue legal action as it could be cost effective for them. Given that, I don't want to push too hard and get burned.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should deal with this?

I'm trying to find a little bit of information to support what I was taught years ago. I was told that you have to get your weather and notams from an approved source, either FSS, DUAT, or DUATs. At the time I believed what I was told without questioning it, but the more I learn the more I am unsure about that.

91.103 requires pilots to become familiar with weather and notams, but doesn't say anything about how you must get them. The QCIP requirements from AC 00-62 doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the information provided, and as an AC it certainly isn't regulatory.

I'm not questioning the use of reputable services like FSS or DUATs, but if I want to get my weather information from fltplan.com, AWC, or even the weather channel, I personally don't see a problem with it, but I'm looking for a publication or personal experiences that will ahead some light on the issue.

I thought this was an interesting concept. If someone lived the last few weeks as if it were really their last, neglected bills, ran up debt, etc. based on the promises or as he put it "guarantee" that the world would end on the 21st. Obviously, it didn't, so in this hypothetical scenario where someone relied on the promise of another, could he be held liable for promissory estoppel?

I just brewed a beer last night, the desired og is 1.045, I was around 055 so I added a little water and got a bit carried away and ended up at 032. Could I make up a little batch of dry extract and add it until I reach my desired gravity or do I risk causing problems doing that?

I realize the 7x is much larger, nearly 20 feet in wingspan, but they appear to be proportional to each other and the size isn't always apparent if there is no reference to their size. The wingscreen is different, with the 7X having a wrap around style.

Other than that, what visual cues differentiate these two?

I am brewing my first beer, a triple. After the first 24 hours fermentation is going like mad, which makes sense to me since there is a ton of sugar in there. This morning I woke up to find the plug and airlock blown off the bottle. I have no way of knowing how long ago this happened, it could have happened as much as 10 hours ago or as little as 10 minutes. My plan is to continue on and hope for the best, although I am expecting that it is ruined.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this? Also, what could I do next time to prevent this from happening?

For what it's worth this was made from a kit using extract and very specific instructions.

I bought and took home a used truck today, although the sale is not yet final. There is still some financing to be worked out (the sales manager thinks he could work out a better rate than what my credit union came up with) and so far I have given them the keys to my trade and a relatively small down payment.

I jumped on it since the deal ended up being better than what I had anticipated. It turns out I'm still paying more than what I can comfortably afford. My mistake, I should have walked away. That is problem #1. Problem #2 is I've found a lot of little things about the truck that are wrong. Cracked bumper, pry marks on the inner hood structure, a smell coming from the carpets that is foul. Even if the price wasn't an issue, this is enough to make me second guess keeping the car.

So far all I've signed is the buyers order and the temporary tag form.

What would be the best way of going about getting rid of this and getting my old car back, or is that something I can even do? For what it's worth, I was treated very well at this dealership (I didn't think I'd ever say that) and I do want to treat them with the same respect. Also, what am I responsible for financially? I plan to at least return the car with as much fuel as the gave me, and I'm willing to pay for the miles I drove if necessary.

Thanks for any advice!

61.129

(3) 20 hours of training on the areas of operation listed in Sec. 61.127(b)(1) of this part that includes at least--

(iv) One 2-hour cross country flight in a single engine airplane in nighttime conditions that consists of a total straight-line distance of more than 100 nautical miles from the original point of departure.

This reg has been updated a few times in the last couple years, each time it becomes a little less clear. I asked an examiner about this and got an answer that I am willing to accept although I don't agree with it. I wanted to see what people here think.

I have a flight that meets all the requirements, distance and time. But it was my long instrument cross country so I was under the hood. Based on what the reg says, I think that should count. The examiner disagrees, but does admit there are many ways to read this reg. It used to say it has to be in visual conditions. Maybe she was looking at the old regs.

Part two of this question. section 4 is under paragraph 3 which talks about training. Does that require that the night xc be made with an instructor? I'd really like to hear a good argument towards why or why not.

This should be interesting...

Mine was one I learned a lot from. I learned to fly in Colorado, 5,000 foot field elevations and in the summer density altitudes of 8,000 are the norm, 9,000' isn't too uncommon. I learned what density altitude can do first hand, but I also learned that it's something you can deal with if you have a long runway, no obstructions, and a good running airplane. Flying a 110hp 152 on a 90 degree day I'd see 400 fpm on initial climb and that actually won't be too bad. It is what it is and I learned to deal with it.

I moved to Arizona for a while to do some flying and get out of my hometown. I found a 172N for $95 an hour and I flew the wings off that thing. It ran smooth but didn't have the power of most airplanes in the area I flew. It was still 160hp, but it was old and tired, compression checks were all border line, but it came back from MX with a clean bill of health every time. Other than being under powered it never gave me any problems.

I went on a long cross country to see the area and build some time. I went from Glendale Az all the way to Farmington Nm, almost a 4 hour flight. On the way up I had no problems, I got up to 8,000' with no problem and continued my climb for about another hour to reach 11,500, less than 100 fpm most of the way. I landed at FMN, went into town to get some food while I had my plane topped off. This is a 5,506 foot airport, it was about 85 degrees. That is a little over 8,300 foot density altitude. There was a 6,500 foot runway, winds were light and variable. I figured I should be off the ground within 2,000 feet or so should be able to climb at at least 500 fpm based on what I've seen before with similar airplanes in similar conditions. I didn't take into consideration the tired engine of this airplane.

I took off, rotated more or less where I expected to, got into ground effect and the airspeed didn't want to go past 65 and I wasn't climbing. I gave the throttle an extra push hoping for a little more juice but got nothing. As the end of the runway was coming up something happened and I got some lift, a climb, and some speed. Not much of any, but a little bit. I got up to about 400 feet, turned cross wind and hit an area of sink. Bad sink. The ground was coming up quickly from below and before I knew it I was maybe 100 feet off the ground over some rough terrain. I tried to slowly circle back to the runway when I caught a thermal. I called up tower, told them I was riding that thermal as high as it would take me. I got about 1,500 feet out of it before it faded away, but that was enough for me to get fly around and find some calm air and get back to my expected few hundred feet a minute climb.

I've never had to fly an airplane like a glider out of necessity, and I hope I never have to again. I found out quickly that just because an airplane is a certain model, with a familiar engine, does not mean it will fly like you may think. Calculation density altitude and looking at the book numbers doesn't mean a thing when the airplane isn't making full power. I also learned that for every pocket of lift, there is a pocket of sink. It's one thing to learn about that while playing around with thermals, it's another to be almost killed by a pocket of sink, then be saved by some lift.

There are lots of things I could have done differently, this was a few years ago and I would like to think I have learned from that mistake. Maybe someone else can learn from it too.

What's your best story?

I remember a few years ago there was a regulation that allowed 50 hours in an approved simulator to count towards the total time requirement of the commercial certificate. I can't seem to find it anymore, the closest thing I can find is 61.109 (K:1) that allows 2.5 hours, but it appears that only applies to private pilots. For the ATP 50 hours is allowed but it can only count towards the 75 hours of IMC time.

Did this change or am I just missing the requirements?

I have a relative who is a private pilot but hasn't flown in years. He is wanting to start flying again, and it makes sense to look at a sport pilot certificate for medical reasons. He is ok with the no denied or revoked medicals rule, and is in good enough health to fly safely.

My question is can someone who has a private revert to flying under the sport pilot rules, or would a medical be required because of the private certificate.

I have a tractor that uses an inline 6 Ford 300. I don't really know too much about the engine, it is carberated with no emissions control at all, so I put it pre 1975.

When cold, it fires up and runs smoothly. Once warm, it begins to miss. I can't isolate one cylinder that is missing by pulling the plug wires off, ever plug wire I pull off makes it worse. I am leaning towards a bad coil, but would like some feed back from someone that might have experience with these engines.

I also do suspect a bad head gasket, after about 250 hours the coolant was about 1/2 a gallon low, so nothing major. Could this be a contributing factor?

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Is there any history as to why the position lights are red of the left and green on the right? Most things have their reasons, I'm wondering if there is a reason for this.

I frequent the aircraft section and over the last several months we have been having some trouble with a troll. We have all seen them, usually they come in, ask a few dumb questions, give a few bad answers and like a bad rash are gone in a week.

If a troll is a rash, this kid is herpes. He just doesn't quit. As far as I am aware, he has 5 different accounts. He misrepresents himself and gives answers that are quite frankly dangerous. We have many student pilots asking questions, and if one listens to something this kid says someone could end up dead. He has altered his account to impersonate others, which is disrespectful at best. He also enjoys making absolutely inconsiderate and inappropriate comments. While those get removed quickly they still happen.

I have reported every single thing he does that is in violations of the guidelines, and I know others have as well. It is my best guess that some of his accounts have been shut down, but if he just makes another account then we're right back to where we started.

I have contacted several of the other people who often answer questions, and we have agreed to ignore every thing he asks, but there are simply too many people giving answers to get everyone on the same page.

While I'm open to any ideas to get him to stop (one person sent a very heart felt reply to him about an answer he gave about 9/11 that would make anyone with a heart at least a little teary eyed, but to no avail) I want to know how to contact someone at Yahoo and get his IP address blocked.