kgwilson

Until then I am happy with my Spot Gen3. It works everywhere except inside buildings and under heavy tree cover & those are places I don't fly.

 

 

The problem as I understand it is the massive fan diameter on the newer fuel efficient engines. The engines have to be positioned lower further from the centre of drag. This causes a pitch up when thrust is applied. 

The only clean sheet design that would eliminate this would be a high wing with under slung engines, the public would not like this.

 

The engines on the new 777-x have a similar diameter to the 737 fuselage. 

Only because it would look different. There are plenty of great high wing designs around. How about mounting the engines on top of the wing. Same issue. To my mind the current design has reached its limit. It is now the only aircraft with actual cables from the yoke & trim wheels to control surfaces. Side sticks, electronic yokes and FBW is the standard now but even with triple redundant systems things can still go wrong as in QF72 in 2008 when one of the 3 systems went haywire. The fact remains though that accidents have continued to decline since FBW has become the norm, the current 2 Max 8 disasters beginning a reversal of the trend.

 

 

I have a Gen 3 Spot & agree with JG3 100%. The Gen 3 also has a tracking facility which provides a GPS location & altitude every 5 minutes. My wife can track my flight progress in real time as the satellite location is overlaid on google maps. You can pay a bit extra & get this down to 2 minute intervals. I can't understand why it can't be used as PLB as it provides very accurate location data & the SOS function provides exactly the same location beacon messaging as a PLB. I presume it is all about money & who gets paid for what.

 

 

I don't think anyone is suggesting that you make no calls in the circuit when there is traffic. A 10 mile inbound with ETA and overhead calls should alert any other aircraft in the vicinity that you are joining the circuit & they should advise their position. As soon as you establish there is another aircraft incoming or in the circuit then a call every leg is advised including whether it is T&G or FS. If after making the 2 initial calls & you see nothing and hear nothing there is no point continuing to make calls.

 

 

The design of the 737 in 1966 was never meant to have to deal with such powerful engines. Moving the new engines forward provided only a small correction for the additional weight and thrust with MCAS designed to do the rest. The main competitor, the A320 didn't appear for another 20 years and quickly made inroads into the 737 marketplace. It was a new FBW design with a wider fuselage. It is now the fastest selling narrow body jet airliner with over 6000 firm orders, a position previously held by Boeing which has 5000 orders for the 737 Max. 

 

It is understandable why Boeing has persisted with the design being the most successful jet airliner of all time but perhaps a new total redesign would have been a better option given the current issues. The main reason why this did not happen is most likely Cost. Boeing may rue this decision depending on the final outcome of the current investigations

 

 

I initially trained for PPL in CTR. Calls were determined by ATC. Once airborne and in the circuit the only call made by the pilot was down wind. All others were "readback" unless ATC requested a "Report  Base" or whatever. I did my initial RPC conversion at a CTAF aerodrome, Caloundra. There was plenty of radio traffic from Caboolture and Redcliffe on the same frequency. I was never advised by any instructor to limit radio broadcasts. I did a couple of hours on week days & went solo on a Saturday morning. The radio was amazingly busy. This was the first time I'd heard pilots telling their lifes story via VHF. I never got a chance to announce my intentions to land & while on short final heard an exasperated experienced pilot tell them all to shut up as the frequency was far to busy for idle chit chat. From then till shutdown there were only a couple of calls heard so it worked.

 

 

Interesting none the less. I always give a downwind and base call but according to the book I only have to give a taxying  or take-off call unless there is other traffic. That is when flying circuits!

Quite right. There are no mandatory calls in CTAF unless to avoid a collision. All are advisory. I give a 10 mile call & an overhead call. If there is no-one else in the circuit that's it. On takeoff I give entering/ backtrack (with intentions) & rolling calls. When there is other traffic I call each leg in the circuit or departing call when leaving.

 

 

Boeings own lawyers will now be in full damage control mode & probably have been for a while. I would have originally expected one of the most respected names in Aviation with an incredible safety record to have been totally up front and transparent from day 1 & by that I mean when they originally got the Max 8 in the air. It now seems that the aircraft has progressed past its realistic limits requiring levels of automated input approaching the low end of the military stuff that is so unstable it won't actually fly without the massive control inputs by the on board flight control systems. Their failure to tell pilots about these (MCAS) systems and provide appropriate training from the beginning is unforgivable.

 

 

A  good free navigation app for Android or IOS is Airmate. It has all the latest VNC, VTC maps plus ERSA aerodrome data & METAR, TAF, SIGMET, weather, Wind & satellite charts Notams etc. Radar & rainfall not available in Australia as it isn't free. Easy flight planning & you can rubber band the route to another waypoint etc. I run it on my phone & a cheap tablet. Logs all flights for later review & there is a 138 page manual but you don't need anything to get up & running.

 

 

The truth begins to surface . See this report published in the Washington Post.

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/111297163/boeing-pilots-fume-at-being-left-in-the-dark-over-changes-after-lion-air-crash

 

 

Donald Trump said pretty much the same thing. (I actually don't mind The Donald. Unlike GWB, he didn't start an illegal war and kill 500 000 civilians and counting. And unlike Hillary, he is capable of intimidating China.) 

You are of course entitled to your opinion. Someone who has an overbearing narcissistic personality and has made 9014 false or misleading claims in 773 days to 3/3/19 since taking office is not particularly trustworthy in my book. Neither China or N Korea are in the slightest way intimidated by Trump. He got nothing from the last so called summit & Kim is now rebuilding his armament capability.

 

 

All of this was previously discussed and documented in the original thread so why should a number of comments voicing opinions of those who were not there have any bearing on this. Everyone had an opinion about Pell & documented it on social media & his conviction was the worst kept secret in recent memory.

 

 

His statement then was he saw the trees & knew he could avoid them but just didn't see the Ferris wheel. Old Bar is pretty short and he hit the Ferris wheel on the second go-around. It was definitely within the 5 degree splay.

 

 

The pilots of the Max 8s were experienced high hours pilots & yet they failed to disable both Autopilot & MCAS systems. A couple of points to ponder are

 

1. Why does the MCAS system continue to operate when Autopilot is disengaged? The pilots manually change trim (by switches on the yoke) & MCSA then takes over after 5 seconds to negate their input. They should know this but at the time their mind is in overdrive.
    
    
   
2. Most of the flying hours of these pilots is sitting there while the autopilot flys the plane. There is probably only 1 takeoff & landing for each 3-5 hours of experience and most of that is assisted. I had more than 150 takeoffs & landings in my last 50 hours.
    
    
   

 

 

 

It is hard to get a perspective of scale when you look at a photo of a wind farm until you see one under construction with the massive crane and the Utes on the ground that would fit on the tip of the blade like a fly sitting on a blade of a portable house fan.

 

 

I was at the aerodrome today & there was some discussion of the two 737-800 MAX crashes. After a while I decided to ask the question "If you had booked a flight somewhere leaving today and the aircraft was a 737-800 MAX what would you do?" Not one person said they would go if that was the aircraft. Their concern may well be unfounded but until the cause(s) of both crashes have been fully identified it is entirely reasonable. With many countries and airlines grounding these aircraft the travelling public are likely to avoid them like the plague. This must be a massive concern for Boeing as they appear to be tight lipped on this. They could announce all is well or temporarily ground the 800 MAX fleet. The trouble is they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Public opinion has already determined what to do though.

 

For the record I also said I wouldn't go in answer to my own question.

 

 

It's strange that years ago when something happened you dealt with it and moved on. Now everyone has psychological problems or suffers embarrassment, humiliation etc at the drop of a hat spurred on of course by the promise by lawyers of a big payout. The lawyers are normally the only winners with their costs eating up most of the payout.

 

 

I think that this is the first time this particular video has been released. The original newsreel videos showed the aftermath only. It clearly shows the Ferris wheel within the takeoff splay. The "Aviation Fuel" was actually Mogas but nonetheless equally dangerous if there had been a spark big enough to ignite it. I met Paul when I was in Taree to pick up my Sierra kit before this happened. He seemed like a nice bloke. Later he bought a Cheetah from Garry Morgan ( possibly to "Get back on the horse") but developed psychological problems I believe related to the crash and sold it and gave up flying.

 

I am surprised that the Council hasn't settled these claims by now. They can't surely believe that they did everything right.

 

 

Im lucky in that ive had the Microair 760 in my Jabiru last 5 years and no issues so far.

There is difficulty however reading the display in bright light.

 

Last Signal check with Centre on a recent cross country was readabilty 5.

 

I understand the Microair Factory at Bundaberg no longer sells or support these Radios so if/when it fails I will probably go for the Trig equivalent.

Microair is the manufacturer of the M760. They are still for sale new on Skyshop & at Ians Clear Prop store on this site. Mine works great. I did have problems when installing due to poor wiring but I resolved that. I think support from Microair is pretty much non existent. I remember when I installed mine I wanted a power filter as per the manual, rang them & they didn't have any & had no idea where I could get one. Eventually I got one on line from China.

 

 

This is probably one of the easiest & simplest functions in the cockpit. Presumably the manual over ride for the ailerons & elevator is just attached to the yoke assembly & if it needs to be used probably needs a bit of muscle? In the Lion air crash reports stated the pilots were struggling to bring the nose up. If they'd disabled the system & flew it like a Cessna I assume it would be "Problem Solved".

 

 

Any aircraft with electric trim has the potential for a runaway trim event. It's up to the pilot to know how to disable it. The 737 has two switches that disable electric trim, there are two large manual trim wheels.

I can't believe this accident has the same cause, the pilot's would have been all over it.

The 737 must be the only airliner left with cables connecting servo tabs for ailerons & elevators & trim as well it seems. With todays fly by wire multiple redundant systems I don't think that makes it any safer

 

 

Boeing may have a published procedure now. They didn't before the Lion Air crash.

 

 

An Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi has crashed, leaving no survivors of the 149 passengers and eight crew members aboard, Ethiopia's state broadcaster has said.

 

Key points:

 

• A spokesman said the plane crashed on its journey from Addis Ababa
   
   
  
• The airline is yet to release a statement
   
   
  
• Up to 157 people were onboard the Boeing 737 when it crashed
   
   
  

 

 

 

 

 

The crash occurred after the plane experienced an "unstable vertical speed after take-off", Swedish flight-tracking website flightradar24 said.

 

"Data from Flightradar24 ADS-B network show that vertical speed was unstable after take off," the organisation said on Twitter.

 

Flight ET 302, a Boeing 737-800 MAX from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, lost control with air traffic controllers on the ground six minutes after take-off.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-10/ethiopian-airlines-flight-to-nairobi-crashes-with-157-people/10887840

 

It is too early to tell what happened but there must now be some serious questions about this model 737. The plane was only 3 months old.

 

 

A lot has been said about the F35 and most of it has been far from complimentary. They have a software system that is multi functional and they have tried to make that system into an aircraft, the F35 and make it  do everything. It is like a Jack of all trades but master of none. It is not very good at any of the roles it is built for. Not only that the first examples were 10 years behind schedule and by then avionics, stealth and every other technology had advanced exponentially. Lockheed Martin & the US Government has dragged so many other players and countries into the mire and after more than $US1.5 trillion has been spent they have a lemming. The trouble is the cost means it is like GM during the GFC, deemed too big to fail.

 

 

Yes Minister in full voice. It could have been said in one paragraph.