GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Is Mal a pilot?

POSTED BY: SPOCK74
UPDATED: Friday, June 20, 2008 05:28
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Monday, November 5, 2007 3:03 PM

SPOCK74


I'm wondering if Mal could be considered a pilot. And, if he is, does that title then apply to Zoe and River and Inara? And anyone else that can fly if needed?


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Monday, November 5, 2007 3:13 PM

OUT2THEBLACK


Yup...Of course he's a pilot...Just that , most

of the time , he has Captain-y things to do...

He's not a 'pilot savant' on par with Wash , by

any means , but anyone who can bring an

aero/spacecraft to ground *more than ONCE* is a

pilot...Everyone else , we put in ANOTHER

category...We call THEM , 'statistics' ...


Hope that's a sufficiently River-ine answer for

ya ...


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Monday, November 5, 2007 3:17 PM

EMBERS


yeah, I gathered he knew how to fly a plane...
so long as you weren't too concerned about having a smooth comfortable ride.
Wash was our man for doing things that were graceful and amazing with a tranport/freighter type ship (not built for speed and grace in the first place).

And I certainly got the impression at the end of 'Serenity' that River's training and instincts made her just as good as Wash ever was....

Although Wash will always be missed

oh yeah: and nothing was ever said, but I'm guessing that Zoe cannot fly, which made her all the more impressed w/Wash's skills. Clearly Inara has no trouble piloting a shuttle, not only in atmo, but also in 'Out of Gas' I thought she was flying her own shuttle... but handling a big old freight/transport vessel might be a little difficult for her.


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Monday, November 5, 2007 3:27 PM

SPOCK74


For some reason I had it in my head that we saw Zoe fly a shuttle at some point. I know she drove the mule, though. I can't decide if that counts as flying or not. Anyone have an opinion?

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Monday, November 5, 2007 3:35 PM

FOLLOWMAL


She flew the shuttle to barter for the life of Wash and Mal when she went to Niska's space station.
So she knows how to pilot the shuttles. Don't know about something bigger. She certainly knows how to work on something bigger... obvious in the closing scenes of the BDM. *sob*





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Monday, November 5, 2007 3:37 PM

RALLEM


I don't think that Mal could be considered a pilot at the beginning of the series, but I bet he and the other crew members of Serenity had to have learned the basics of flying in case something had happened to the pilot. Being that Mal was a military man and it is sort of considered good practice to have your people train the others on how to do their jobs so the unit could survive if the trainer were to die.


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Monday, November 5, 2007 4:23 PM

TRAVELER


Even Inara flew her own shuttle.

It is just a matter of experience. You notice Wash helped Kaylee a lot when repairing the controls in Mrs Reynolds and I do not believe Mal could do a Crazy Ivan. Of course the name crazy says a lot about anyone who does do it.


http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
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Monday, November 5, 2007 4:32 PM

RALLEM


I got the impression that any and most adults in Firefly could fly a shuttle sort of like our driving our cars.


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Monday, November 5, 2007 4:39 PM

TRAVELER


Well I would agree, but Simon probably end up crashing into the only tree on the planet if he tried to land a shuttle. Maybe not. But it would be funny to see.


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Monday, November 5, 2007 4:41 PM

JARHEAD


Mal is just as much a pilot as he is a martial artist - that is to say that he really isn't. He can get by, and that's really all that matters to him, but flying is NOT his speciality.

I think one of the points of the last scene in the BDM was that River was the new pilot. If she hadn't had flying programed into her during her special conditioning, she probably absorbed it from Wash. It would tie into what Mal said before the payroll heist about her learning form Simon's shinning example and allow her to start pulling her own weight.

That would have several effects, including freeing up Simon to focus on him and Kaylee, and River getting her own cut of each job.

I’m never serious. Serious means something bad is about to happen.

98% of teens have smoked pot, if you are one of the 2% that haven't, copy this into your signature

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Monday, November 5, 2007 4:43 PM

NBZ


There is supposedly a massive difference in driving a automatic car and an 18 wheeler truck with tens of manual gears.

I think Mal is a qualified Pilot. I doubt "they" would have let Mal fly away from the repair yard at the end of Serenity if that was not the case.

Zoe may also know a little piloting (but not as likely as Mal - i doubt she would want to spend time piloting even when Wash was alive - she would either be with him, or doing something else.). Inara probably does (she always says Mal could not fly the shuttle as good as she can and she is supposedly an educated woman), and so does Jayne. (hear how he got away from Higginsmoon the first time?) None of these may be especially good pilots though. None as god as Mal, let alone Wash - a pilot who was also good in special circumstances such as running away.

About river as pilot - Not on my watch. Lets for an instance assume she can totally master it; She is still clinically insane. The crew (including Simon) would not allow her to be piloting unsupervised. She could on the other hand "help out" (or hinder depending on the situation and circumstance) the actual pilot.

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Monday, November 5, 2007 4:47 PM

RALLEM


I don't think Mal flew away in Serenity at the end of Serenity becaus ethe craft at the time of purchase was unflyable.

and somebody above said that River was the new pilot, but it was Mal who was sitting in the Pilot's chair and River in the Navagator's chair.


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Monday, November 5, 2007 4:57 PM

NBZ


Quote:

Originally posted by rallem:
I don't think Mal flew away in Serenity at the end of Serenity becaus ethe craft at the time of purchase was unflyable.



I should have been clear - I meant at the end of the movie after the repairs, where Mal was in pilots chair, River in co Pilots. (and arrangement I do not going the other way around...)

That was an official repair yard. Probably with official papers needed for everything. Including a valid licence. (Mal does do some flying in the series too... at the end of Serenity the Pilot episode...)

Quote:

and somebody above said that River was the new pilot, but it was Mal who was sitting in the Pilot's chair and River in the Navagator's chair.


Yep, Mal was the Pilot. River did take off sequence though. Rather quickly for Mal's liking too I think. He took over as soon as he could get the tongue out of his mouth.

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Monday, November 5, 2007 8:07 PM

MERRYK


Yeah, there's no way River would be full time pilot as a schizophrenic. However, I do think that she would eventually be the pilot under most circumstances, just constantly supervised and under proper medication. Summer talked about wanting to be the pilot, and I think Joss was giving us the beginnings of that idea by having River help fly Serenity at the end. We see she has a gift for it, and, like others, I think Mal has a barely functional knowledge of flying ships. He's also good at using what's of use to him, as Simon pointed out, so why would he pass up the opportunity?

--
"My way of being polite, or however...well, it's the only way I have of showing you that I like you. Of showing respect." Simon Tam, Jaynestown

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Monday, November 5, 2007 9:55 PM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT


Isn't it part of the deal that the Owner and Master, as a Captain used to be called, of a ship , or airplane, or space vessel, is also qualified to operate it?
Not that the corporate owner of the Queen Elizabeth 2 could drive the darn thing, or the title holder of an oil tanker could dock the Exxon Valdez safely, and not that Mal could fly Serenity as well as Wash could, but isn't that what it means to own a smallish vessel like that.?

Besides which, we see Mal taking the controls at the end of the pilot, when Wash is going to be occupied tearing Zoe's clothes off...

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Monday, November 5, 2007 11:15 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


I think piloting the flying mule would be much like the ATV mule, largely unregulated. Anybody who is shown how can do it, like today's rules with ATVs (skip the helmets).
Piloting shuttles would need licensing, like a car today, including "parking" it at a docking seal and such.
A ship like Serenity would require more, like a major ship license, semi-tractor, or todays Airline pilots.

I think that Wash has all licenses.
As owner/cammander, I think Mal must have gotten himself the training and certification, but he's no Wash - Mal can do it, he just has other things to do.
Mal would expect Zoe to be certified and capable to pilot all the vehicles - I would be surprised if she wasn't. She pilots the Mule in DBM, and tries to do the shuttle in War Stories.
Inara can do shuttles, not likely Serenity.
Book probably could have back in the day, but is probably long out of practice and not familiar with all the newest doodads since his time.
Kaylee can probably do the mule, but not liely the shuttle or bigger.
Jayne can do the shuttle and mule, not the ship.
Keep Simon away from the mule.
River picked up everything from her absorption of physics, mechanics, energy, and reading Wash, Mal, and every other Pilot she's ever been in reading distance of. She can do anything, including any other ship they ever want to steal or borrow.

From Out of Gas, I think maybe Mal had Wash train him (and Zoe), it doesn't sound like Mal knew how to drive it before he found Wash. Of course, Wash would be able to do many kinds of ships. Mal, Zoe would be only certified on a Firefly class and other simple generic similar craft.

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007 1:02 AM

ANDMAN


YAY! I'm a statistic! (isn't working)

Here's to all us statistics!

Anybody who disagrees with any of this violently can do so. But no matter what you do, "You can't take the sky from me".


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Tuesday, November 6, 2007 3:19 AM

HOMESPUN


This is an interesting thread, because I have always wondered, when in War Stories Zoe tells them to leave the quadrant if she doesn't come back, just who would fly Serenity out. You have Jayne, Inara, Kaylee, Book, Simon and River, and at that point no one knows River can pilot, not would they trust her, I'm thinking.

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007 9:17 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


On further thought, I don't see a bunk in the cockpit (or bridge), and I don't think Wash stays up for 24 hour periods. Some shift rotation must occur, likely with Mal and Zoe on some regular basis. When in transit for days or weeks, not much else to do but pilot, so Wash would get somebody to spell him for breaks/sleep. When the action is going to happen Mal and Zoe have other things to do and they've scheduled/rotated Wash into the pilot's seat for those times (that's when film is rolling so we can see). Other times Wash is wandering or playing about the ship while autopilot is engaged ("we're all gonna crash - who's the pilot, oh yeah, that would be me"). Perhaps they have trained Jayne over the years, but I don't think he got certification.
Pretty sure Mal is in the pilot's seat at the end of the pilot episode, when he's dealing with Simon.

Quote:

Originally posted by homespun:
This is an interesting thread, because I have always wondered, when in War Stories Zoe tells them to leave the quadrant if she doesn't come back, just who would fly Serenity out. You have Jayne, Inara, Kaylee, Book, Simon and River, and at that point no one knows River can pilot, not would they trust her, I'm thinking.



I would think that Book and Inara would get it done. If Inara isn't already trained, she has the skills and Book likely can remember the rest, even if they're not licensed.
With all the effort that Jayne put into sounding dumb/untrainable in Ariel, it's hard to think he could get certification. Although he seems smarter in the pilot interrogating Dobson, the scene from Ariel had to be for good reason. lthough watching them all pretend to have difficulty remembering lines was quite funny - I don't recall a blooper where Adam (or Jewel)forgot his lines, but all the others did.

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Wednesday, November 7, 2007 9:04 AM

SHINYSEVEN2


Mal is definitely *sitting* in the pilot's chair at the end of StP, but I'm pretty sure the ship is on autopilot--I think Mal went up to the bridge just to get everybody out of his hair. He's had a tough day.

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Wednesday, November 7, 2007 9:32 AM

RALLEM


How could the ship have been on auto pilot when they were taking off? ALso it was River who performed the take off sequence even though she was in the Navigation seat.


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Wednesday, November 7, 2007 9:56 AM

SHINYSEVEN2


rallem: I was responding to the question about Serenity-the-Pilot episode when Mal and Simon are talking at the end of the ep.

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Wednesday, November 7, 2007 10:20 AM

RALLEM


Ah, I appologize. I thought you were talking about the movie. My bad.


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Wednesday, November 7, 2007 9:00 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


I don't get why the left seat is called the Navigation seat. Navigators don't have a pilot's yoke. The left seat has a pilot's yoke, thus it should be the co-pilot's seat. A Navigator could sit there, but the position shouldn't be called that.

I gotta look again. In Out of Gas, was Mal siting in the pilot's seat in the blanket, or in a seat behaind the pilot's seat. I had thought the latter, but gotta check again - another excuse to watch an episode.

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Wednesday, November 7, 2007 10:49 PM

WALTZING


Quote:

Originally posted by homespun:
This is an interesting thread, because I have always wondered, when in War Stories Zoe tells them to leave the quadrant if she doesn't come back, just who would fly Serenity out. You have Jayne, Inara, Kaylee, Book, Simon and River, and at that point no one knows River can pilot, not would they trust her, I'm thinking.



I think they'd been SOL if they'd lost Mal, Wash -and- Zoe, but I would bet good money that Book is a decent pilot, especially with all the Alliance military speculations about his past. His abilities, save for the occasional knowledge of guns, shooting and what kind of rockets make certain marks on the ground, are unknown. He's a closed book (ha!) in many respects. We never see him take charge ever in the series or the movies, but it sure would have been an interesting thing to watch, and probably would have given us some more insight into his character.

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Thursday, November 8, 2007 12:49 PM

MICJWELCH


Quote:

Originally posted by nbz:
There is supposedly a massive difference in driving a automatic car and an 18 wheeler truck with tens of manual gears.



I drove truck for a few years. It takes two months of training before you can even think about doing it yourself, and a good solid year before you feel comfortable. Just an example. Your car has brakes. Trucks have brakes, yes, plus two sets of parking brakes, an engine brake, and a clutch brake, all of which act totally differently depending on how much weight is in the truck.

I would say that most people in the 'verse would be able to fly a shuttle the way that most of us can drive a car. But as soon as you get something big and complicated like a transport ship, everything changes.



"We may experience some slight turbulence, and then... explode."

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Thursday, November 8, 2007 1:27 PM

BORIS


sure he's a pilot, just not a very good one. It's like he taught himself the rudimentary bits, and then didn't concern himself with the other stuff like how to fly smoothly, look out for other ships and space crap etc.

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Thursday, November 8, 2007 1:30 PM

NBZ


In the pilot, Wash gets off a little too quickly IMO to have already set the autopilot. and when Mal talks to Jayne he is flicking switches. By witch Joss means he is doing "uhm... sciency stuff".

About long journeys - in the starting of Bushwacked, (the most underrated episode of the lot - I have seen a poll when not one of 200+ voters had it as their favourite! [a feat not managed by any other episode] - but I guess that is off topic) the ship is on co-pilot. No one is flying that thing.

There is a seat behind the copilots in the cockpit. Not sure if there is also one behind the pilot. Probably not as there is a locker on that side. A little circumstantial, but in the movie, only three people strap up in there too.

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Thursday, November 8, 2007 2:15 PM

RAHLMACLAREN

"Damn yokels, can't even tell a transport ship ain't got no guns on it." - Jayne Cobb


Mal obviously isn't on par with Wash's piloting skill, but he's not bad either. Remember, in Serenity, River took off and than she put her feet up letting Mal take over. Which means it was Mal who did the cool twist-thingy when they were leaving atmo.

--------------------------------------------------
Find here the Serenity you seek.

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Thursday, November 8, 2007 2:28 PM

ASARIAN


I'm fair certain Mal can pilot his own boat. That don't make him a pilot per se. There's a lot more to being a pilot than just keep flyin'. It ain't all buttons and charts, but a licenced pilot, I'm sure, would need to know a lot about navigation: plotting courses, fuel calculations, etc. Plus, of course, have detailed knowledge of onboard electronic systems. And not just of your midbulk transport, standard radion-accelerator core, classcode 03-K64, "Firefly", but most like of an entire range of freighers, commercial airliners, and what not.

Also, a pilot must possess essential knowledge of the systems he's working with, in case something breaks down. He don't immediately have to be a ship's mechanic, of course; but a pilot can't go running off, calling: "Kaylee!" every time an unforeseen circumstance throws some terrifying space-monkey wrench into his plans. He'd have to know the systems enough to be able to improvise in case of an emergency, like, oh, say, divert the nav-sats to the transmitter. :)

In short: I want Wash back, gorrammit!


--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

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Thursday, November 8, 2007 2:37 PM

RALLEM


It was a shame when Wash died. He was a very powerful character which brought some balance to the crew of Serenity, so I wonder what they will do to replace him. I know at the end of Serenity the movie it was planned to have River in the Navigation seat, but if she is still going to be hunted then what will they do when a Cruiser is met?


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Wednesday, November 28, 2007 5:23 AM

ANDMAN


If I can have a Red Dwarf moment here in answer to that question rallem:

"Why don't we all just moon out of the starboard porthole, it always works for me!"

And in the pilot ep, I believe Zoe actually said "Sir, can you take the helm? I need this man to tear all my clothes off." So it's obvious he's capable of flying, just not proficient.

Anybody who disagrees with any of this violently can do so. But no matter what you do, "You can't take the sky from me".


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Wednesday, November 28, 2007 10:26 AM

OUT2THEBLACK


Quote:

Originally posted by andman:
If I can have a Red Dwarf moment here in answer to that question rallem:

"Why don't we all just moon out of the starboard porthole, it always works for me!"

And in the pilot ep, I believe Zoe actually said "Sir, can you take the helm? I need this man to tear all my clothes off." So it's obvious he's capable of flying, just not proficient...




Nuthin' to indicate Mal ain't proficient...

However , Serenity novelization , page 44 :

" The reason why he kept Wash and Kaylee around was so they could understand all the technical go-se , freeing him up to do captain-y things ."

With regard to Zoe's piloting proficiency ,
page 78 :

" Zoe had lots of fine qualities that made her the most valuable person in Mal's life , but she was only an average pilot...

...when they reached the flats , Zoe veered at some rocks , buzzing them closely enough to loosen them and send them flying into the Reavers . The skiff was forced to veer behind a rise , giving the mule a whole lotta extra room to make the U-turn they'd need in order to make Wash's magic trick work .

All right , maybe she's an above-average pilot ." ( Mal's stream-of-consciousness )


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Wednesday, November 28, 2007 9:23 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by out2theblack:
Quote:

Originally posted by andman:
If I can have a Red Dwarf moment here in answer to that question rallem:

"Why don't we all just moon out of the starboard porthole, it always works for me!"

And in the pilot ep, I believe Zoe actually said "Sir, can you take the helm? I need this man to tear all my clothes off." So it's obvious he's capable of flying, just not proficient...




Nuthin' to indicate Mal ain't proficient...

However , Serenity novelization , page 44 :

" The reason why he kept Wash and Kaylee around was so they could understand all the technical go-se , freeing him up to do captain-y things ."

With regard to Zoe's piloting proficiency ,
page 78 :

" Zoe had lots of fine qualities that made her the most valuable person in Mal's life , but she was only an average pilot...

...when they reached the flats , Zoe veered at some rocks , buzzing them closely enough to loosen them and send them flying into the Reavers . The skiff was forced to veer behind a rise , giving the mule a whole lotta extra room to make the U-turn they'd need in order to make Wash's magic trick work .

All right , maybe she's an above-average pilot ." ( Mal's stream-of-consciousness )




Again, that last about Zoe was while piloting a mule evading a skiff. Space vehicle different from mule.

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Thursday, November 29, 2007 6:02 AM

OUT2THEBLACK


Quote:

Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:

Again, that last about Zoe was while piloting a mule evading a skiff. Space vehicle different from mule.



As Kaylee would say , " Not SO Different ."

If Mal concludes that Zoe has above-average skills at PILOTING a 'mule' , then it stands to reason that she might have
at-least-average skills at say , PILOTING a Shuttle , Standard-Range/Short...

It's not ALL buttons and charts , little grasshopper...It's also PITCH-YAW-ROLL , hands-on throttle and control-yoke , which a PILOT-y type person knows are present on Mule , Shuttle , and Serenity herself...

Serenity is about an order of magnitude more difficult to fly than the Shuttle or the Mule , principally due to the presence of the vectored-thrust engine nacelles , turkey-feathered adjustable exit nozzles , hard-burn-capable air-breathing supersonic-compression turbo-ramjets , atmospheric entry and escape parameters , etc .

The list goes on and on...

Were it not for the level of automated function to keep the pilot workload to a manageable level , and a so-very-pretty mechanic , Serenity couldn't be convinced to fly at all...

The oxen are SLOW , but the Worlds are Patient...

__________________________________________________

**************************************************

" Will work for Bar Credit at The Brown Coat Pub and Theatre " .

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Thursday, November 29, 2007 6:40 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hello,

I believe that Mal is a pilot in the same way that I am a race-car driver.

By that, I mean that I could drive a race car... But no one would want me to.

By the same token, Mal can pilot Serenity or a shuttle, but likely lacks any flair beyond the basics.

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

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Thursday, November 29, 2007 10:50 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by out2theblack:
Quote:

Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:

Again, that last about Zoe was while piloting a mule evading a skiff. Space vehicle different from mule.



As Kaylee would say , " Not SO Different ."

If Mal concludes that Zoe has above-average skills at PILOTING a 'mule' , then it stands to reason that she might have
at-least-average skills at say , PILOTING a Shuttle , Standard-Range/Short...

It's not ALL buttons and charts , little grasshopper...It's also PITCH-YAW-ROLL , hands-on throttle and control-yoke , which a PILOT-y type person knows are present on Mule , Shuttle , and Serenity herself...

Serenity is about an order of magnitude more difficult to fly than the Shuttle or the Mule , principally due to the presence of the vectored-thrust engine nacelles , turkey-feathered adjustable exit nozzles , hard-burn-capable air-breathing supersonic-compression turbo-ramjets , atmospheric entry and escape parameters , etc .

The list goes on and on...




I fear your analogies fail.
Driving today's ATV, SUV, helicopter, turboprop, VTOL, commercial jet, and fighter jet are all so different as to be seperately trained and qualified. One does not convert to the other in terms of piloting, only in terms of navigational, comm, rad skills, and maybe engineering skills.

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Friday, November 30, 2007 10:03 AM

OUT2THEBLACK


Quote:

Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,

I believe that Mal is a pilot in the same way that I am a race-car driver.

By that, I mean that I could drive a race car... But no one would want me to.

By the same token, Mal can pilot Serenity or a shuttle, but likely lacks any flair beyond the basics.

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner




No one would want you to ?

Why are you caring about that ?

If you really wanted to be a race-car

driver , "no Power in the 'Verse would stop you".

Shouldn't extrapolate out of your own lack of

experience , onto the Captain...That's called

projecting...

Mal doesn't care whether someone else

wants him to own and fly his own ship...

For him , it's a 'good day' because he's

still flyin', and for him ,

that's 'Enough'...

Makes me curious 'bout that signature quote of

yours...

Look up what Ben Franklin had to say

about 'essential Liberty', and get back to me

'bout what Security you're giving up...If you've

got a sufficiently insightful Humanity , you'll

Know not to let your Liberty be taken ,

'cause of what someone else wants...


Try Not..Do...or Do Not...There is no 'Try'...

Dong Ma ?...
_________________________________________________


" Will work for Bar Credit at The Brown Coat Pub and Theatre " .

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Friday, November 30, 2007 11:38 AM

OUT2THEBLACK


Quote:

Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:

I fear your analogies fail.




Fear Not . " Fear is the mind-killer..."


Losing the fear is the name of the game...


There's more to the Art of Flying than

'Falling

with Grace'.

Quote:

Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:

Driving today's ATV, SUV, helicopter, turboprop, VTOL, commercial jet, and fighter jet are all so different as to be seperately trained and qualified. One does not convert to the other in terms of piloting, only in terms of navigational, comm, rad skills, and maybe engineering skills.



Now that sounds ALMOST sensible , in a

superficial kinda way...You ain't weak ,

but I guess if you wanted schoolin',

you'd have gone to flight school...


( There's that projectin' thing

rarin'
up again...)


Yoda says : "Only in your mind are they

different."

But , Solo says : "Flying a starship

ain't exactly like dustin' crops..."


You've started to mix your metaphors , then

turn 'round tellin' me that my 'analogy'

has failed...


See , I didn't ever mention ATV's ,

SUV's , and the like...Those are really

not aero or space vehicles...Right ?


River says , "It's not applicable."
Zoe says , "Talkin' ain't DOIN'."


When we refer to the other vehicles from your

list , we don't generally call it 'driving',

except in the most colloquial sense...


Flying is flying...Ask any Astronaut...

Point of fact , I met many astronauts along my

career path , and all of 'em will tell you the

same thing...

Perhaps most memorably , I got to see the Apollo

11 crew , all in one place , and an F8F Bearcat

flew along the flightline , which was quite the

distraction to Neil Armstrong , 'cause he had

experience with the type , and he commented that

"Flying is flying , but right now , I'd really

LOVE to be flying one of THOSE !"


A REAL PILOT is always learning , and EVERY

Flight is a Training Flight...

Quote:

Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:
...One does not convert to the other in terms of piloting, only in terms of navigational, comm, rad skills, and maybe engineering skills.



Try tellin' that to the literally , oh , shall

we conservatively say , HUNDREDS of

Pilots that I've known who have converted

to 'the other' , as you so eloquently put it...


'Comm' ? Ain't none of these guys would 'drop the

airplane' to 'fly the microphone'...


'Rad Skills' ? Well , at times I've been

accused of having 'rad skills' , but in view of

all that you don't know , I have to ask what

you're referring to there ?



See , there's three basic ways that folk

apprehend and process their information...

1. There's when 'they know what they KNOW.'

2. There's when 'they know what they DON'T KNOW '...

And , 3.-- There's when 'they DON'T KNOW what they don't know.' This is what makes folk 'crash and burn' , what test pilots call , 'The unknown UNKNOWNS'...

Kaylee says , " That was mean , is what..."

Mal says , " Why are we still talking about this ? "

_________________________________________________


" Will work for Bar Credit at The Brown Coat Pub and Theatre " .

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Friday, November 30, 2007 10:12 PM

PUBLIUS


I would say he knows enough to keep her in the air! I mean,

Select to view spoiler:


he and River flew Serenity out at the end of...well, Serenity...

, so why not?

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Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:49 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Regarding Jayne, I was just re-watching the commentary bonus material on CE and at the end of one, Jayne's in the cockpit and says "now watch while I fly..." or similar.

Also, the script for Message has Tracy wanting KayLee to fly them off in the Shuttle, but KayLee refused to get aboard the shuttle. Apparently she was capable.

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Wednesday, December 12, 2007 1:42 PM

OUT2THEBLACK


Quote:

Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:
Kaylee can probably do the mule...



Well , not that she would . Something

about that line just makes me snigger...Maybe

it's just what we know about Kaylee...

Quote:

Originally posted by jewelstaitefan:
Also, the script for Message has Tracy wanting KayLee to fly them off in the Shuttle, but KayLee refused to get aboard the shuttle. Apparently she was capable.



Probably aren't many young ladies , Kaylee included , who'd get aboard a shuttle with a dude accused of 'wet-ware' smuggling , which he refers to as 'million-credit meat' ; regardless of whether he's Mal's (formerly 'dead') old Army buddy or not...Even liking 'good sex' as much as she does , Miss Frye is not that desperate...

But , we see your point..." Machine's have got workin's , and they just speak..." to Kaylee...That's a good part of flying , being in touch with the machine ; but , on the other hand , maybe it was Tracey figgerin' on doin' the flyin' , and being an ex-miltary sort , was just orderin' Kaylee about...

If I was bettin' though , my coin is on Kaylee bein' a better-than-average flyer...Those who 'fly' well in the bed tend to have that carry over into the 'cockpit' , especially if they also have skills with 'tools' and machines...And , vice-'Verse-uh...
_______________________________________________________________________

" Will work for Bar Credit at The Brown Coat Pub and Theatre " .

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Wednesday, December 12, 2007 5:16 PM

RIVERFLAN


Quote:

Originally posted by out2theblack:
but , on the other hand , maybe it was Tracey figgerin' on doin' the flyin' , and being an ex-miltary sort , was just orderin' Kaylee about...



Sort of likely, but for the wrong reasons- yeah, he's ex-military, but he's also a coward, he would want to force Kaylee to protect him in case things got rough.

He would might have wanted her to fly the shuttle anyway, because he probably has more faith in her abilities than in himself, being a coward.

@)~*~*~*$)~*~*~*)~(*~*~*~($*~*~*~(@

Gots to get away from the green, nasty dragon
\~~~*~~^~~*~~~/

I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!
#~%~~*~~~&~~~*~~%~#
My favorite quotes:

98% of teens have smoked pot, if you are one of the 2% that haven't, copy this into your signature.

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Thursday, June 19, 2008 5:54 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


bump

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Thursday, June 19, 2008 11:16 PM

SPACEANJL


My view?

Mal can manage the basics, but not much more. He knows how to fly his ship on a simple level, same way as he probably knows roughly how it works, and some basic field medicine, but he's not an Expert. (He needed a mechanic to get the ship flying first off - OoG.)

I think the analogy of shuttles to cars holds - which means that Simon could probably pilot one. In the BDM, that's a one-person automated shuttle he has waiting, isn't it? I would imagine that in the Core, folks learn to drive/fly as a matter of course, unless they live somewhere so automated, it's all public transport.

I think River is nearer to sanity behind the wheel of that ship than anywhere else in her life. (Mind you, ain't most sky-jockeys mad as a bag of snakes?... )

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Friday, June 20, 2008 5:28 AM

JLIN


Quote:


If I was bettin' though , my coin is on Kaylee bein' a better-than-average flyer...Those who 'fly' well in the bed tend to have that carry over into the 'cockpit' , especially if they also have skills with 'tools' and machines...And , vice-'Verse-uh...



I have to disagree, I don't think Kaylee has got the flying skills. Thinking of Heart of Gold when Alan and Kaylee end up in the wrong ends of Serenity. She doesn't even attempt to fly. As she stated in Out of Gas, she's never even been up in one before.



Thank Universal for airing Firefly in HD at
http://universalhd.com/Firefly/

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