Originally Posted by
init4fun
Hi Chris ,
Have ya ever driven in a place like Boston ? A horn is usually just an invitation to see someone's middle finger and no one here heeds a horn any more than anyone uses a blinker . In fact , horns & blinkers are seen as signs of weakness and invite being cut off by every car whose driver is looking for a place to cut the line . It's why all our construction sites have to have actual police officers directing the traffic . A civilian "flag man" ? If the guy ain't got a badge and a gun the country's proudly worst aggressive drivers would run right over a flag man and not think twice .
I know you were only half serious whit the horn thing , but when you come right down to it , your right , aircraft ARE the only man made giant machinery I know of without one ! Even the machines in factorys always have warning horns prior to starting up , as of course do boats & trains & pretty much everything else other than aircraft .
Be a good trivia question to stump someone with .
Horns add weight and they are of no use in the normal operational safety of an aircraft. The more weight you can keep off the airplane the better. Just like the models, you avoid installing equipment you don't need so it will fly better. Having said that, there is, or was, an experimental that had an air horn from a train. The owner claimed it was to run moose off the runway.