Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
Boyd,
I'm reading The Ark and I was a bit disheartened about a pretty obvious mistake about airplanes. Or perhaps it was obvious to me being a private pilot.
The passage about the autopilot trying to keep the airplane at the same altitude and the chase planes watching the elevator go "down" so the plane wouldn't descend.
This is exactly backward. The elevator would go "up" as the auto-pilot tried to keep the plane at the same altitude due to decreased air speed. Do you have people do any type of technical fact checking when you write about stuff like that?
Ug... I guess I'll have to overlook it though... the book starts out very well. Looks like I'm in for another great ride.
BOb
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Damn. You're right. Funny that no one ever noticed that before, myself included in the umpteen times I've read the novel. But I know very well that elevators move up to increase altitude, as I have flown planes myself. Despite the many technical proofreaders I have, mistakes are mine alone. Just a stupid error. It's a big bummer because I strive to make my books as technically accurate as possible. I'll make sure it gets corrected in any future editions.