Potential Vista Interview Questions: Fill & Download for Free

EDIT: This is really long, I went on a tangent. Sorry..? I'll put up links to other answers for a snip version. Now read at your own peril.So who am I? Well, the simple sentence is just a 23 year old who’s looking to make sense of where I am and of this world….And then this sounds like a really bulshitty beginning to a story…I’m also tempted to be like Jessica Su and dodge the question.Interestingly, this question made me realize, even when people meet me—I tend to talk about the people in my life, and things/people that inspire me rather than to talk about myself. I don’t like to—although this is a very essential thing to have especially in today’s self marketing world.But I digress. Who am I? We can answer it in multitudes of layers, and on Quora you can find a lot about myself; I talked about bullying, my grandmother running away from the Nazis, the fact I graduated UCLA, I speak three languages, and pretty sure I mentioned a few times I was born in USSR, grew upin Israel, lived in the States, grew up in Silicon Valley, got sick of it, decided to go to UCLA, and to my surprise, I love being back here, and I have some very close friends that make this place interesting [links will come soon].Well, my name is Emilya Burd, as you can tell, aaand I was born in USSR, one of the multitudes of Russian Jews that immigrated to Israel, though my family came right before the big wave (in early sept 1990), and I come from a physicist mother and a software engineer father. Yeah, not Silicon Valley like (or Jewish like) at all. (sarcasm). PS--I'm neither and hate math, but that's a story for another day.As a child, I was multi-talented, considered gifted, and equally people thought I was going to be a mathematician, or a writer. I enjoyed both math, and wrote all the time back in Israel. One of my favorite subjects in school though, was what I guess you’d call, bible studies or learning Torah which was a national requirement, even in secular schools. I didn’t believe, but loved the stories, and enjoyed learning a new “language”. It was kind of learning “Shakesperean” old English equivalent, only ancient Hebrew.My interest in current events was developed early on, in Israel since age 6, I walked by myself to school, and every single morning I’d stop by and read the newspaper headlines, not surprisingly from Yediot Achornot(www.ynet.com for English version). Nobody would tell me anything, I remember specifically in ’97 Sadaam threatening Israel with rockets (again), my classmate even moved to the states, there was panick, and when I’d ask my parents, they’d just say “Oh, don’t worry, nothing will happen, there’s America.” I knew they weren’t saying something, I talked to classmates, nobody would tell me anything. I remember Princess Diana dying, and Yitzchak Rabin dying. I vaguely remember the second Clinton elections.If you’re interested in the years of childhood regarding bullying, I answer it here:What is it like to be teased during childhood?I’m obsessed with Political Science—especially International Relations, and how the world interacts with one another. Craig MontuoriI guess sens ed this and gave me a A History of US Foreign Policy that will take me months to complete because life is so busy. Nerdgasm FTW.I thought law school was for me, buckled down for LSATs, but after I took the LSATs, I realized how much I hated it, and didn’t really want to do the school thing another three years before really figuring out myself. I still don’t know myself. Ever since I decided no law school, it was a huge relief, and I actually never looked back.In my high school years, I don’t know if it’s hormones, or something, or because of bullying for many years, I was lonely, almost verged on depression, and failed miserably in actual high school. I went to a competitive public high school around here (Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, DIE DIE DIE), but apparently I learned later my parents were crying at night thinking I’ll turn out to be a cashier.Somehow, I was lucky enough to find the program (Middle College) that allows high school students to do an alternative setting in community college, where you take English and History, and the rest in community college. Meaning, you get to double up—get credits for high school AND college. The arbitrary way to get in is to pass the interview, and somehow the interviewer gets a sense if you think you’ll be a good fit to the program. In short, it was for people exactly like me—where high school didn’t work for them, but still have a lot of potential and are considered smart.It was exactly what I needed, I was around older people, I got to take classes in psychology, history, EVERYTHING I was interested in, and suddenly, I got A’s, was on top of the class, and had real chance of going to UCLA and UC Berkeley. So who am I? Apparently a person who likes to be around older people, and for once I felt a breath of fresh air being able to be around a lot of different people and really start to develop who I am.I graduated UCLA ’11 with Political Science-IR and it was the best major ever. I had opportunity to go to Washington DC, but it was unpaid, it was summer, my father firmly said no.I feel a bit perhaps like many other 23 year olds, not exactly sure what I want to do professionally, and don’t have my “calling”. I work in sales, and always am torn between the idea of leaving and staying because it’s good experience. I certainly am though not passionate of what I do.I’m tempted to do an MBA with International Business, but in a perfect world, I’d do a PHD in Internatinoal Relations—but I’d need to pick a location to focus on, and that’s too hard for me to narrow down , I’m interested in every geographic location. But I don’t want to be a professor, so…maybe when I’m retired? I know myself, I’ll want to go back to school in a year or two.----My friends would call me kind, thoughtful, really outgoing, smart, political science and world obsessed, loud, quirky, weird, open, and even a bit naïve.I have a very close group of 3 best friends, and acquaintances. Everyone is crazy smart, I don’t know how I attract crazy smart people. Quora has helped me actually, in stopping to be intimidated by smart people.I love reading, House MD, and being around people. I can’t stand opera(sorry?), and actually hate math, but I’m told frequently I have an analytical mind, I tend to analyze everything.I think my wide range of curiosity, and interest, developed from both my dad, who’s a very curious well rounded person interested in everything, and probably my own obsession and curiosity of the world around me. I am told I am mature for my age, but I also enjoy the fun things like clubbing and good music. I think my experiences probably (obviously) contributed to the way I look at things.An engineer who was laid off sent me an e-mail a few days ago saying I’m kind, laid back, friendly, and make the place work. Though I can get stressed easily, and people in college have definitely seen my share of crying. I once took a final (I aced it), but I didn’t sleep, so I was sure I failed it, and cried and cried afterwards. It was lack of sleep.I’m pretty open and friendly, and will say hi to everyone.I don’t know if this answers the question, but it’s a try. Feel free to ask me anything. Quora, has in fact, gave me a place to interact, learn, and meet different kinds of people.I think I went on and on here…Craig Montuori can chime in what it was like to meet me in real life.Does this help?PS I feel giddy I'm Quora famous!

Its use is limited to demonstration purposes at airshows and was initially only invented for exactly this purpose: an airshow in Paris/Le Bourget in 1989. It was Russia's first international salon - the 'iron curtain' began slightly to lift - at which Russian military aircrafts were about to participate for the very first time.They wanted to come up with something extraordinary no other military aircraft had ever shown before and puzzled this manoeuvre out, mainly test pilot Pugachev, who not only happened to had already used full 90° of AoA in a Su-27 in previous test runs but also exceeded it up to 120° to see how the Su would deal with it.This manoeuvre was then meticulously calculated and henceforth practised in preparation for the international salon in Paris in order to show how symmetric the attitude of the Su-27 remains during such a high-angle-of attack manoeuvre (pitch control, engine thrust, pilot skills etc.) and hence to sport its today so called super-maneuverability. So, the main purpose was to impress the international public, not to use it in fights (Interview with Victor Pugachev).And whoever claims the manoeuvre was actually successfully shown by any fighter jet before: nope! Pugachev in his Su-27 was the first one. The key words are: 'successfully' and 'fighter jet'. E. g. the often cited F-16 in NASA's Multi-Axis Thrust Vectoring test program was a specially altered, prepared and equipped test plane aka VISTA/F-16 = Variable Stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft using a multi-axis thrust vectoring nozzle system for test purposes, so, no fighter jet at all (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19950007834.pdf), while the Su-27 was a ready for series production fighter aircraft, which could perform the manoeuvre sucessfully, repeatedly, without any additional thruster nozzles or other tricks, just because of its increadibly stable symmetry during the stall.If you’re not interested in what the Swedes say, what their Saab 35 Draken allegedly did in the 60s, you can skip the following added, italic text.Edit: To all these (9 out of 10 Swedish) Draken fans, who constantly wanted the answer to be edited and kept insisting on a YT- and PC-pilots-myth, Pugachev’s Cobra had been flown already by a Saab 35 Draken in the 60s, that is what I’m willing to add (not really to edit):No, what your Draken did, was not Pugachev’s Cobra (only Pugachev performed Pugachev’s Cobra, the clue is in the title, named ‘Cobra’ first in 1989, and the Question above is about the use of the Pugachev Cobra in combat, not about similar manoeuvres). Call it a Swedish Cobra or whatever you see fit, if you feel better. But if you call it a Cobra manoeuvre, then also the US could claim, they had performed this manoeuvre earlier in an F-14 in 1986: in the movie “Top Gun”. But they don’t claim that. What the Draken did: The Draken performed just a steep climb - fortunately perfectly seen, as she’s flying the manoeuvre right next to a second Draken which keeps its flight path and level, while the other one significantly increases its altitude during the manoeuvre, thus it just traded speed = kinetic energy for altitude = potential energy, which a real Cobra manoeuvre does not! The real Cobra is rather lowering the plane’s tail then pitching its nose up, to begin with, because the angle of attack is so dramatically high that it just loses speed and instantly stalls and hence barely climbs anywhere above her initial level. It ends at the exact same level where it started! A huge difference, which is mostly unnoticed by amateurs, especially those wishing their Draken had flown this manoeuvre first. No, it clearly has not. What the Draken performed in the often cited YT-video is nothing new or spectecular. Some persons may not be able or just not willing to see the difference. But here’s another question for those ‘experts’:Why were the gathered international experts at the Paris airshow caught by surprise by Pugachev’s manoeuvre? Because whoever allegedly did something similar before Pugachev, be it the Draken or any other aircraft else, was NOT the same. End of story. So, as long as the Swedes didn’t perform their manoeuvre so top secretly and it wasn’t consequently classified in order for the rest of the world (including the international experts who attended the Paris airshow in 1986) having been unable to watch or at least hear about it till 1989 (top secret for almost 30 years? ;)), as long the Draken fans gotta accept the fact, that the international experts knew both the Draken and similar manoeuvres but simply didn’t consider them the same as Pugachev’s Cobra. q. e. d.You can perform a short, steep 90°+ climb like the Draken did (or Tom Cruise in Top Gun;)) with almost every fighter jet, followed by a hard pitch down before it stalls completely, but that’s just not how the Pugachev Cobra is performed. You could do a similar manoeuvre even with a piston engine plane. The Cobra instead is flown through a complete stall, hence without a climb, for a stalling plane, a plane without any lift, simply cannot climb anywhere, but unlike the Draken could do (and does) during her allegedly first ’Cobra’ , which proves that there was and is no stall during her ‘Cobra’, which has therefore nothing to do with the eponymous manoeuvre first performed by Pugachev. And this is exactly why it left the international experts baffled after the Paris salon in 1989: because it has never been seen before. Edit end.Today, almost 30 years later, there might be the fear that it could be used in combat, this 'What if... ?!' , but on the other hand military pilots of sound mind know about the downsides and weaknesses of this manoeuvre in possible air fights (but it’s worth pointing out, that Pugachev himself thinks differently. To him it is indeed a useful combat and not just an aerobatic manoeuvre, but he may have to say that nowadays.):First and foremost the aircraft should be as light as possible, thus no weapons and only minimum of fuel. Though this state can be reached at a certain point in an aerial combat, e.g. all weapons fired and Bingo fuel, you'd mostly be too fast for the Cobra maneuver anyway on your way back to your base. Close Combats are very rare and uncommon nowadays, the fighter jets are equipped with BVR high-tech and the pilots are trained to prevail at first strikes. If you would ever get close enough to use your cannons, which could be the situation in which you wanted to use this manoeuvre to force your pursuer to overshoot, then you should make absolutely sure that your adversary has no missiles left either, otherwise you'd certainly never slow down that much to be able to perform a Cobra manoeuvre but rather run for your life, not to forget, that it would put your plane in a very low energy state, from which you had to recover immediately to keep on fighting, while your overshooting opponent could counter the Cobra with a high Yo-Yo manoeuvre and had much more energy left than you, making you a poor threat and rather a pretty easy target for him when he turned back on you. It's similar to all looping-based (aerobatics-like) manoeuvres, they're more dangerous for you than for your opponent in dogfights and thus outdated.In addition, though most modern fighter jets would theoretically be able to perform a Cobra manoeuvre, like the MiG-29 or the Typhoon, their onboard software, which helps the pilot to not accidentally stall his jet, kinda inhibits this manoeuvre in the first place.E.g. the MiG-29s, which were also used by the German Air Force, could not(!) perform a Cobra, for they had a built-in so called 'kicker' which didn't allow the pilot to pull the stick back rapidly enough for a sudden AoA of 120°. If the pilot pulled that much on his stick, the MiG-29 literally kicked the stick back forward (out of his hand, if you wish), forcing the pilot to first had to overcome the 'kicker’s' counterweight, which would have resulted in a steep climb, rather than in a Cobra manoeuvre.There seem to be good reasons why they implemented all these security systems, right? Same goes for the Eurofighter “Typhoon”, the pilot can't simply overrule or turn off the jet's onboard software, which helps to prevent the plane from stalling and consequently also from performing the Cobra manoeuvre, because it is in fact nothing but a short, dramatic stall during which the plane is held up there in the air only by its thrusters!You have to turn such softwares off (similar to turning off the Su’s fly-by-wire system), then the Eurofighter could do it as well. It's just that nobody wants him to be able to perform it during combats. Maybe at airshows, yes, but that's it, and he has to be specially prepared for it.The “Pugashev Cobra” that's why lives in the world of aerobatic maneuvers at the level of such well known maneuvers as the "Nesterov loop" and "Kvochur's bell" .So, no use in combats so far. However, the Su-27 (or U.S. F-22 Raptor) could still use it and hence the 'fear' might still be alive. You never know. ;)Here's what RAF Harrier test pilot legend John Farley said about the infamous manoeuvre and explains in detail what the actual difficulties during the performance are and why it is considered the most impressive manoeuvre for demonstrating the super-maneuverability of a fighter jet: Reaction Of F 16 Pilot After Seeing SU 27 Doing Cobra Maneuver .

Update: I have waffled on removing the bold paragraph, but decided to leave it. It’s a bit of a rant, but when I saw all the firefighters arrested and emts being choked I got angry. Also, if it happened to me, I really would do, at least, what I say. I apologize for the numerous errors. I was not entirely comfortable with what I had written and therefore didn’t proof (-?) read it..I have to say I hesitated to answer this for this reason:There is quite a bit of rivalry among the three services (when and where I worked EMS (me), FD, and PD were separate, but there was a brotherhood that ran deeper. Disagreements (even tense ones) on scene were usually settled in a manner that would leave bystanders unaware of the rift. There a lot of hairy situations that never make the news, because nothing comes of them; but first responders respond to potentially dangerous or scary situations every day and I knew I was awash in a sea of brave and loyal people. I would have taken any risk to support any one of them and vice-versa. There are unfortunate exceptions.Answering the question:These professionals are responsible for managing potentially life threatening situations and are held accountable. Most conflicts are over some conflict in priority and authority. It only gets ugly when two parties are in disagreement about what’s best and whose call it is.Two of the four incidents I can think of involve a cop (one CHP the other local?) arresting a ff or captain for not moving fire apparatus when ordered to by the cop. The conflict over flow of traffic (clear the lane) vs scene safety (block lane as a buffer from traffic). There are now laws and incident command agreements just about everywhere that attempt to lay out clear lines of authority for different types of incident and situation. The fire captain’s authority over that of an LEO is unique to these, otherwise the cop’s a cop and FFs and EMTs are not above the law. Some states have a law that defines interference with an firefighter/EMT in the performance as a crime. The officer in arresting the ff is certainly interfering that performance…The cop in each case is arresting the ff (I assume for obstruction) because he is pissed off that someone disobeyed him and is too absorbed in his exercise of power or just not smart enough to get that he cannot possibly defend his actions or priorities. In the local (Chula Vista, CA) the CH i Pee had a reputation for being an asshole and butting heads with firefighters. The way I hear it he had not gotten his way at a scene like this and had an ax to grind. In both cases it was necessary for firefighters to resort civil court to get justice.Some first responders are assholes and most of these carried guns.Cops are not used to and do not like having their behavior corrected. If a cop is doing something that is causing a problem or exacerbating one you must be delicate even artistic in your approach or expect some belligerent reaction. Many have also come to mis-understand their authority or personalize it so that they feel justified in issuing any order and taking any action against anyone who doesn’t obey them.I believe the above explains incidents in Portsmouth and Oklahoma where a cop is recorded on video choking an EMT/paramedic. In both cases what you see is a bad cop, crossing a line that good cops don’t.The trooper in Ok. had serious (career-ending) consequences; the one in Portsmouth got away with it.There may have been some deal/promises made quietly between Portland police and EMS but I suspect EMS management didn’t have the balls to get some satisfaction and stature for their medics .If it had been me getting choked I would have fed the flames when the video first ignited local public opinion and I mean I would have played it hard (regardless of the timidity of my bosses). There would either be (not in public) some serious apologies and written policies in which case I not “management” would make the statement that it was all just a simple mis-understanding or there would have been some trials (me for obstruction and/ or him for assault) and I’d take my chances. Interviews from witnesses or me every time there was any action in the case (even some motion filed). This phase of the fight would almost certainly end in of two way: DA charges me and I am acquitted by jury or DA chooses to file no charges against me or the cop. Justice, when the police are the miscreants, is not found in any states criminal justice system. Civil courts and Federal courts are the venues for this. Now a file suit against the city of Portsmouth, the P.D., the officer involved and (if I can find any, even flimsy, justification) his supervisor and police chief. Now I finally have their attention! If played right to this point the mayor (and city manager etc.) will have to take a position on this , the police department and it’s chief personally would have to maintain the “no big deal” line; both while contemplating the cost and continued publicity fighting a civil case they may not lose, but they cannot win! Worst case scenario: The cop (et. al.) successfully defends, but everyone (mayor, police chief, choker cop and every cop in the city) knows they’ve been in a fight and will want to avoid a repeat!I frequently managed to be an ass, but was armed with an airway bag. I understood the situational hierarchy of authority and had a better sense of what I could get away with than most of my peers. I was also a lot more likely to butt heads than most EMTs or paramedics. Sometimes I was wrong and the other party let it go for reasons described in paragraph 1.Firefighters are mostly harmless if you keep in mind that the average firefighter can lose or break a bowling ball while you watch and neither of you will know how he did it. They are also great guys, frequently good and generous cooks and awesome to have on scene. I felt naked whenever I found myself on scene without them.Most of the cops I ever encountered were great and once or twice probably saved my ass from some belligerence. Once a cop had to let me know I was being an aggressive ass and I’m glad he did.