Tell us about your last flight

[skippydiesel]

I suspect (no real insight) that the initial cost of putting power lines underground, would be offset by lower in service costs & higher reliability (no wind or fire)😈

[facthunter]

Exceedingly expensive and Harder to repair. More losses in transmission too I think.  IF it was  easy we'd be doing it. Nev

[Flightrite]

On 14/8/2025 at 1:56 PM, facthunter said:

How else does POWER get transmitted?.  Nev

At election time😂😂

[facthunter]

That's POWER to the People and they should use it wisely while we can still vote. Nev

[Blueadventures]

Had a great overnight fly out to Lake Dunn a nicely prepared strip surface and is planned to be lengthened a bit for Royal Flying Doctor requirements / use.  Weather was mint, great company and good feeds.  It's a 207 N/ml flight from my home strip.

[Blueadventures]

Six years ago did a trip to Bowen River Pub / rodeo and return.  Land on the road to the dump.  Always a good feed there and welcomed by the publican and staff.  Can either camp or rent a donga room when the camp drafts and rodeo events are not on.

 

[Thruster88]

Had a very nice fly in the thruster following 61mm of rain on the canola. Money falling from the sky, the joy of farming.

[BrendAn]

22 hours ago, Thruster88 said:

Had a very nice fly in the thruster following 61mm of rain on the canola. Money falling from the sky, the joy of farming.

great photos. canola crops look fantastic.  

[facthunter]

Don't crash in a Yellow Plane in the yellow Plain. 

[Blueadventures]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

Don't crash in a Yellow Plane in the yellow Plain. 

Yep, It'll be like a where's wally search.

Edited September 13 by Blueadventures
spelling

[onetrack]

Canola loses its bright yellow flowers within a month or five weeks, as the plant sets seed, and the paddock then turns to a plain dark green as it forms pods, then it turns to a dull yellow as the pods ripen. Canola produces a lot more flowers than it sets as seed, it seems this is the plants way of dealing with heat, heavy rain, insect attack, or other stressors.

[Thruster88]

Canola flowers can be aborted by frost or dryness. If every thing goes right there is a pod for each flower. A pod typically has about 20 seeds so lots more seeds than flowers. 1 kg of Canola contains about 120,000 seeds, crushed this produces about 420ml of oil per kg. Typical yield is about 2000kg per hectare. So there is about 160,000 litres of oil in that field plus the by product which is high protein animal feed.

[BrendAn]

Nice weather for this morning's flight.  Did my first off airport landing on a farm strip. Great fun and many thanks to the owner for the invite.

Edited September 14 by BrendAn

[BrendAn]

[T510]

Spent the weekend flying in the Legend Cub after 6 months away from flying due to work commitments and weather cancellations for the last couple of planned trips.

 

Was great to be back in the pilots seat, playing around off airport and practicing my slipping turns.  

[facthunter]

What height do you continue them to?  Nev

[T510]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

What height do you continue them to?  Nev

The slipping turns?

 

It varies depending on the ALA I was using and the crosswind component.

 

[facthunter]

I'm often surprised HOW many People don't do them very well. Without flaps you get a lot of practice,  Nev

[BrendAn]

On 13/09/2025 at 6:20 PM, Thruster88 said:

Canola flowers can be aborted by frost or dryness. If every thing goes right there is a pod for each flower. A pod typically has about 20 seeds so lots more seeds than flowers. 1 kg of Canola contains about 120,000 seeds, crushed this produces about 420ml of oil per kg. Typical yield is about 2000kg per hectare. So there is about 160,000 litres of oil in that field plus the by product which is high protein animal feed.

boss used to send us out to the bins with a supply of foam tape and duct tape. had to seal tailgates and auger doors before loading. canola runs like water.  big money at stake. 

[T510]

14 hours ago, facthunter said:

I'm often surprised HOW many People don't do them very well. Without flaps you get a lot of practice,  Nev

Having only flown taildraggers*, mostly without flaps, I feel very comfortable slipping through the circuit and all the way to the flare. 

 

A well executed slip to flare is one of the most rewarding feelings when you get it right

 

 

 

*I mistakenly got an hour in a nose dragger which confirmed I have no desire to fly anything with a nose wheel

[facthunter]

You are Not Wrong about the side slips but tricycles will always be with us but  keep the weight OFF the Nosewheel.  Nev

[RFguy]

In the PA28-180, Flew up to Mudgee (from Cowra NSW)  for lunch to see a  mate a couple of weekends back, good TAS at 9500. nil significant cloud.

and then went up and had a good look at a Gulgong airstrip. YGGG

Now is bitumen for about 1km, and nice grass at each end for a few hundred meters.

great approaches, seems wind wise well orientated. E-W
It's PPR, look up Bob Priddle in the book, he is a very nice bloke.  
 

 

then ,

last weekend flew down to wagga for lunch (again to see a mate) , plenty of canola flowers. few/6500 down there, scattered/5500 back.

that's the nice big wing on the Archer, an extra foot longer compared to the Cherokee 180. non tapered.

 

 

Edited September 16 by RFguy

[Ian]

On 15/08/2025 at 8:29 AM, skippydiesel said:

I suspect (no real insight) that the initial cost of putting power lines underground, would be offset by lower in service costs & higher reliability (no wind or fire)😈

Not that it relates to flying except as obstacles.

Putting power lines underground is about an order of magnitude more expensive, and transmission lines are expensive enough that you've zero hope of getting the capital back. The only reason it is every done is to appease local voters with lots of government subsidies.

Transmission and distribution already make up about 40% of your power bill. Image multiplying this by 10.

Humelink costs have gone from the initial estimate of $1B to $5B for 365km of transmission.

It's also worth noting that this is a regulated asset, so returns are guaranteed to the builder.

https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/transgrid-inflated-cost-of-running-power-line-underground-farmers-20230718-p5dp2o

 

[skippydiesel]

On 17/09/2025 at 7:26 AM, Ian said:

Not that it relates to flying except as obstacles.

Putting power lines underground is about an order of magnitude more expensive, and transmission lines are expensive enough that you've zero hope of getting the capital back. The only reason it is every done is to appease local voters with lots of government subsidies.

Transmission and distribution already make up about 40% of your power bill. Image multiplying this by 10.

Humelink costs have gone from the initial estimate of $1B to $5B for 365km of transmission.

It's also worth noting that this is a regulated asset, so returns are guaranteed to the builder.

https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/transgrid-inflated-cost-of-running-power-line-underground-farmers-20230718-p5dp2o

 

Would the subterranean power lines have the  (a) same (b) lower (c) higher maintenance cost ?

 

While putting the power lines underground may be "to appease local voters" , there is no doubt in my mind that it its better for the visual amenity, unlikly to suffer from wind/fire/electrical storm damage and will not injure/kill fauna or unlucky persons.

 

I suspect that the service life of underground cables is significantly longer than for aerial.

 

The upfront investment may be higher (as you suggest) however once established , the pipelines carrying the cables would have a very long service life.

 

"...............transmission lines are expensive enough that you've zero hope of getting the capital back."

 

This is one of the biggest problems of a capitalist society - the obsessive need to have a (quick) return on capitol. 

 

All too often Government makes short term decisions  - leaving the down stream costs/impacts to future governments/generations to deal with.

 

I am not convinced that underground  power reticulation, would not be cost effective in the long run.😈

 

Edited Wednesday at 07:25 AM by skippydiesel

[facthunter]

Its FAR too expensive to go underground. IF you WANT Electricity, WIRES ARE part of the deal. Get Real.  Nev