kgwilson

I think that all single engine piston powered aircraft under 1500kgs should be governed by the same rules. Most of the top end Ra-Aus aircraft have better performance than the current Cessnas, Pipers etc. 2 additional passengers shouldn't make any difference other than in a crash 4 people may die & not just 2. The PPL/RPL/RA-Aus certificate should become one licence with appropriate endorsements. So long as the aircraft has the required equipment (transponder, Nav lights etc) & the pilot appropriate endorsements VFR night flying & CTA should be allowed.

 

What I think CASA may be trying to do is to get the the RAA top end in with GA & then those pilots must possess a PPL or RPL.

 

The Australian RPL is nothing like what the RPLs are in the US, NZ, Canada or UK who have had this licence category for 7 or more years & was originally simply a way for ageing pilots to keep flying (with certain restrictions like only 1 passenger & no night VFR) after they were unable to maintain a class 2 medical & a signoff by their GP that they were medically fit to drive a car was the only requirement.

 

 

I live in hope that Mark Skidmore can manage to change the culture at CASA to one of a co-operative nature with the Industry. He seems to be making the right signals at this stage. His support of the Jabiru restrictions (see Feb Sportpilot) was quite predictable as he can't possibly be seen to disagree with what his staff have done just as he comes on board.

 

 

TransAsia GE235: Shutting down the wrong engine

 

good summary

 

By: David Learmount

 

London

 

Source: Flightglobal.com

 

This story is sourced from Flightglobal.com

 

19 hours ago

 

Taiwan's accident investigators have taken the unusual step of publishing part of the flight data recorder printout for the crashed ATR 72-600 almost as soon as it was available to them. There are no rules or protocols saying they must do so, and none saying they should not.

 

The printout they released concerns only the data for the engines. It is a series of graphical lines describing the state of 12 different engine parameters against a timeline, with barometric altitude also displayed. The graphs provide numerical values for some of those parameters; others just show whether a switch is on or off – like the fuel shut-off valve for example.

 

This data tells the investigators, in great detail, what happened, but still not – at this stage – why it happened.

 

The graph shows that the crew certainly suffered the engine "flame-out" they reported in a Mayday call to ATC: the turbine temperature for No 2 engine (the right-hand one) dropped, power was lost and the propeller auto-feathered.

 

But then, in the stressful situation prevailing from that point, the crew carried out the shutdown drill for the working engine, so it stopped too.

 

Why would the investigator release this information so soon without knowing the cause?

 

The investigators knew the information about this critical mistake would soon have to be released, and it looks as if they believed it would be better to publish the cold data that shows what occurred, rather than to make a statement – without releasing the data – that could be interpreted as a premature judgement about the human factors of this case.

 

Perhaps the most famous previous case in which a disaster occurred because an engine failed and then the crew mistakenly shut down the good engine (rather than the damaged one) was the British Midland Boeing 737-400 crash at Kegworth, UK, in 1989. In that case 47 of the 126 people on board died.

 

In the TransAsia case the total airborne time for flight GE235 was 2min 40s.

 

All was going well for 45s after take-off, but as the aircraft was climbing through about 1,200ft (pressure altitude) the turbine temperature for the No 2 engine dropped and the engine auto-feathered. It is not clear why. The aircraft continued to climb on the power from the remaining engine, reaching a maximum height of about 1,650ft.

 

But during that short period the crew allowed the power lever (throttle) of the failed No 2 engine to stay where it was, and started slowly pulling back the power lever of engine No 1 (the working left engine). When it had been reduced almost to idle setting, the fuel was shut off and the right engine also feathered. Just before they shut off fuel to No 1, they advanced the throttle of the failed No 2 engine as far as they could, as if it would provide them with additional power.

 

At that point there would have been a total absence of engine and propeller noise, but lots of alarms going off as systems lost their electrical power. From that time onward the crew had, as it turns out, 1min 15s of gliding time before hitting the surface. That is not really long enough to go through a successful engine re-start drill, but they did begin an attempt to re-light No 1 about 15s before impact.

 

 

I use a PC mainly so the top drop down menu style is best. Also I have an old 4:3 aspect ratio screen rather than a modern 16:9 aspect ratio so the menu narrows the effective area for viewing. I also use a tablet but use the browser not an app for accessing the site but as the screen is 16:9 it is OK.

 

The "back to top", "home" and "contact icons" are superimposed on top of "Tagged Forums", "Tagged Threads" and "Whats new" options in the Android Tablet in landscape browser mode so you cannot access these options. The browser settings are to autofit pages to the screen. Removing autofit had no effect. In portait mode there is no side menu, just the menu hamburger at the top right. This worked once by opening the Menu as a separate page & then wouldn't work again till I put the tablet back in landscape. Tried again and it worked once then no go again.

 

Cheers

 

Kevin

 

 

When I did my PPL in a C172 I was told to wriggle and make sure the seat was locked and make sure the passenger was also locked in seat position. The seat rail is fitted with stops on the pilots seat to prevent it from moving all the way back. People have removed these stops to allow easy access to rear seat which is dangerous and not allowed !, There is also a modification to the pilots seat on C172 I have seen and it is an inertia reel seat stopper, I don't know if it is a mandatory AD but I believe it is supplied by Cessna at no charge. The seat rail in my C172 were inspected every 100hourly and eventually all replaced, I was told the reason cracks occur apart from wear is that they were a structural part of the plane.

I was also taught this & always did it. A mate of mine bought a C172 from the DEA in the US after being seized in a drug bust. It had been sitting in the desert for years & the paint & upholstery were stuffed but with a 180 hp engine & coarse pitch prop it went like the clappers especially in the climb out. I flew it just after he got it & did the normal jiggle but must have not got the holes lined up right as the seat let go & I grabbed the top of the panel & that came off along with the plastic panel trim but it was enough for me to somehow get the yoke forward enough to prevent stalling. Very scary though. I didn't fly it again until it had been completely refurbished along with brand new $2000.00 seat rails.

 

 

Is this the one you have in mind? Bruce is one of our club members and has looked after his D9 like a baby since he has owned it. He is selling it due to his age and as his health is not getting any better. Have a look at http://graftonaeroclub.com/sale

 

 

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes

 

from the poor and campaign funds from the rich,

 

by promising to protect each from the other.

 

~Oscar Am ringer, "the Mark Twain of American Socialism."

 

I offered my opponents a deal:

 

"if they stop telling lies about me,

 

I will stop telling the truth about them".

 

~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952..

 

A politician is a fellow who will lay down

 

your life for his country.

 

~TexasGuinan. 19th century American businessman

 

I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious

 

a matter to be left to the politicians.

 

~Charles de Gaulle, French general & politician

 

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city,

 

it might be better to change the locks.

 

~Doug Larson (English middle-distance runner who won gold medals at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, 1902-1981)

 

We hang petty thieves and appoint the bigger thieves to public office.

 

~Aesop, Greek slave & fable author

 

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being

 

governed by those who are dumber.

 

~Plato, ancient Greek Philosopher

 

Politicians are the same all over.

 

They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.

 

~Nikita Khrushchev, Russian Soviet politician

 

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become PM;

 

I'm beginning to believe it.

 

~Quoted in 'Clarence Darrow for the Defense' by Irving Stone.

 

Politicians are people who,

 

when they see light at the end of the tunnel,

 

go out and buy some more tunnel.

 

~John Quinton, American actor/writer

 

What happens if a politician drowns in a river?

 

That is pollution.

 

What happens if all of them drown?

 

That is a solution .......!!!

 

 

Details from Associated Press below. It seems like the plane was destined for Australia. The insurance company will be half a million out of pocket I guess.

 

"Two small planes ran out of fuel and crash-landed into the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii on the same day, with one briefly nose-diving before leveling out and drifting down to the water beneath a massive parachute.

 

The five people aboard the planes survived after dramatic rescues, authorities said.

 

In one of the crashes, the pilot put down the aircraft near a cruise ship and was pulled aboard it in a life raft amid giant waves.

 

The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday it is investigating the separate incidents, which occurred Sunday.

 

One of the planes, a single-engine aircraft carrying only a pilot, crash-landed about 250 miles off Maui. The other plane was carrying four people and went down several miles off Oahu.

 

NTSB investigator Josh Cawthra said both planes sank, and he didn't know if they would be recovered. He said he had not yet spoken with either pilot and had few other details.

 

Dramatic Coast Guard video shows the plane carrying just the pilot — a Cirrus SR22 traveling from California to Maui — as it releases its parachute. The plane drops nose-first and then levels out and plops into the sea.

 

The pilot escapes out the top of the aircraft and drifts away in a small raft.

 

The SR22 pilot traveling from Tracy, California, radioed authorities at 12:30 p.m. about plans to ditch the aircraft because of dwindling fuel. The plane has a range of about 1,200 miles — only half the distance to Maui — but it was equipped with an auxiliary fuel system, according to Cawthra.

 

The Coast Guard directed the plane to go down near a cruise ship, and the pilot deployed the parachute system around 4:45 p.m. and safely got into a life raft. Amid 9- to 12-foot seas and winds of 25 to 28 mph, the cruise-ship crew rescued the pilot, who was in good condition, authorities said.

 

Parachutes are standard equipment on the SR22, and all other aircraft manufactured by Duluth, Minnesota-based Cirrus Aircraft, according to company spokesman Ben Kowalski.

 

He said parachutes have been deployed on Cirrus aircrafts in 51 incidents, and are responsible for saving a total of 104 lives, including the pilot in Sunday's crash.

 

Kowalski said he was not at liberty to identify the pilot, an agent who was en route to Australia to deliver the aircraft to an owner. The SR22's starting price is listed at $499,900.

 

In a second crash Sunday, a single-engine Cessna flying from Kauai to Oahu with four people aboard declared an emergency at 6:18 p.m., saying fuel was running low and the plane might need to ditch, the Coast Guard said.

 

It crash-landed about 11 miles west of Oahu, and a Coast Guard helicopter rescued three adults and one child.

 

All four received emergency treatment, but their conditions were not immediately available."

 

 

Wow, do you have any pics of that?

I did have one photo of it somewhere I took on an old instamatic but it would take me forever to find it now. I just looked at photos of the original Rogallo designs, heard of others building them out of bamboo & knew where there was a grove of 50mm -60mm diameter bamboo so cut down a bunch of canes & bolted them all together in the appropriate shape. The parka nylon was ridiculously thin & stretched massively but I just cut it to a shape I thought looked right & sewed a leading edge pocket in each side, passed it under the keel & then hand sewed about a dozen tabs over the top of the keel to stop it moving from one side to the other.

I found some old galvanised multi strand wire for support wires fore & aft & to the crossbar intersection but had none on the top & no kingpost. The control bar was just 3 bits of bamboo & I made a swing seat out of a piece of wood & some rope to somewhere near the C of G. My first dozen or so flight attempts failed & I crashed but eventually with mods & new parts got about 2 metres off the ground. It was hopelessly uncontrollable & it was eventually sacrificed in a bonfire we had at a party after I'd bought a real glider, a Seagull III.

 

 

I have loved flight and flying as far back as I can remember. I made kites & model aircraft as a small child & always wanted to fly. My teenage years saw me change to chasing girls and getting involved with motorbikes so the flying urge diminished for a while & then I wanted to travel around the world. In 1973 I saw a Swiss bloke jump off the Eiger in a primitive hang glider & was fascinated. When I got back home that was what I wanted to do & formed a club with a bunch of other crazy young blokes, built my first glider from parka nylon & bamboo, then progressed to real factory built hang gliders which I flew for 20 odd years but gaining my PPL along the way. I can't think of the time in the future when I will not be able to pilot an aircraft. I know it will come eventually but would like to think I can still get up there with a pilot beside me who will still allow me to feel the thrill of commanding the machine I am flying in.

 

 

There are certainly plenty of armchair experts out there who without any real expertise but with a vociferous opinion KNOW how to fix the problems but haven't, or they don't have a Jabiru engine but get on the bandwagon because they heard that their mates brothers uncle had major problems. There are also those who haven't had problems so wonder what all this is about and others that have had problems, analysed them, got expert advice and put in fixes and now are happy with their engine.

 

 

Wasn't it just. Good clip.

 

 

The Statistics as I know them.

 

Jabiru have produced approx 7000 engines over 20 years. (not 20,000 Gandalph)

 

Jabiru have sold about 250 engines to a UAV manufacturer over 15 years.

 

At peak production Jabiru produced 20 airframes & 50 engines per month.

 

Jabiru have sold 1547 aircraft into 47 countries.

 

Jabiru advised at a particular point in time that 500 engines had exceeded 1000 hours TIS.

 

Annual fleet (presumably Jabiru aircraft in Australia) hours are estimated at in excess of over 20,000 hours.

 

End of Statistics

 

You can extrapolate all manner of data from this but without further information in a time based, operational, maintenance, usage type, private or commercial and numerous other factors the resulting answer will always be wrong.

 

 

Son: “Dad, we’re learning about prisms at school. They’re fascinating.”

 

Dad: “That’s good son, because as a dyslexic black boy, you’re bound to end up in one.”

 

Paddy decides to take up boxing and goes for the required medical. A few days later the doctor ‘phones and says “Paddy, you realise you’ve got sugar diabetes.”

 

Paddy says, “Nice one, when do I fight him?”

 

It was hard getting over my addiction to the Hokey Cokey. But I’ve turned myself around and that’s what it’s all about.

 

A Muslim bloke I work with was bragging he had the entire Koran on DVD. Being interested, I asked him to burn me a copy. Well, that’s when it all kicked off!

 

Paddy caught his Wife having an affair and decided to kill her and himself. He puts the gun to his head, looks at his Wife and says "Don't laugh, your next!!"

 

An Irishmen wanting to become a Priest went to see the Bishop who said "You must answer 3 questions on the Bible".

 

"1st - Who was born in a stable?"

 

"Red Rum" he replied

 

"2nd - What do you think of Damascus ?"

 

"It kills 99% of all germs" he replied.

 

"3rd - What happened when the disciples went to Mount Olive ?"

 

"That’s easy" he said "Popeye kicked the sh1t out of them!!"

 

Little boy gets home from school and says "Dad, I've got a part in the school play as a man who's been married for 25 years."

 

His Dad replies "Never mind Son. Maybe next time you'll get a speaking part!!"

 

A dwarf goes to a very good but very busy doctor and asks "I know you are busy but do you treat dwarves?"

 

The doctor replies "Yes, but you will have to be a little patient".

 

In hindsight I should have posted my Facebook status as: "I've blown the head gasket on my 1997 XR3i" rather than "I've just buggered a 14 year old escort". The police still haven't seen the funny side, my lap top's been confiscated, and the wife has gone off to her mothers.

 

Police have just released details of a new drug craze that is being carried out in Yorkshire nightclubs.Apparently, Yorkshire club goers have started injecting Ecstasy just above their front teeth.

 

Police say the dangerous practice is called "e by gum"

 

.............................................................................

 

A Yorkshire man takes his cat to the vet.

 

Yorkshireman: "Ayup, lad, I need to talk to thee about me cat."

 

Vet: "Is it a tom?"

 

Yorkshireman: "Nay, I've browt it with us."

 

.............................................................................

 

A Yorkshireman's dog dies and as it was a favourite pet he decides to have a gold statue made by a jeweller to remember the dog by.

 

Yorkshireman: "Can tha mek us a gold statue of yon dog?"

 

Jeweller: "Do you want it 18 carat?"

 

Yorkshireman: "No I want it chewin' a bone yer daft bugger!"

 

.............................................................................

 

Bloke from Barnsley with piles asks chemist "Nah then lad, does tha sell arce cream?"

 

Chemist replies "Aye, Magnum or Cornetto?"

 

 

If CASA handledthis in an intelligent manner it could and would have been solved years ago. Doing it the way they did is

really strange !

Strange? It is completely outrageous, without proper foundation and completely lacking in actual evidence or valid reason. But then they are the regulator & can do what they like no matter what agenda they have.

 

 

When you are a totalitarian regime and you make the rules, then bend them and break them it is all OK and above board because you don't answer to anyone who has any interest in fair play or reasonableness. You do it in the name of the 3rd letter in your acronym with no definitions or limits.

 

 

Do you have any BIG known facts.? By the way Polar Bears don't have hands. Nev

I know but they act like they have. Apparently they have a pretty fierce left hook & they don't wear gloves so remove several layers of whatever their claws catch onto on the recoil.

 

 

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

 

(Hardly seems worth it.)

 

If you passed wind consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb..

 

(Now that's more like it !)

 

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

 

(O...M…G.!)

 

A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes.

 

(In my next life, I want to be a pig..)

 

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy.)

 

(I'm still not over the pig.)

 

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour

 

(Don't try this at home, maybe at work)

 

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.

 

(Honey, I'm home. What the...?)

 

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field.

 

(30 minutes. Lucky pig! Can you imagine?)

 

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.

 

(What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

 

Some lions mate over 50 times a day.

 

(I still want to be a pig in my next life....quality over quantity)

 

Butterflies taste with their feet.

 

(Something I always wanted to know.)

 

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

 

(Hmmmmmm.......)

 

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.

 

(If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

 

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump.

 

(Okay, so that would be a good thing)

 

A cat's urine glows under a black light..

 

(I wonder who was paid to figure that out.)

 

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

 

(I know some people like that.)

 

Starfish have no brains

 

(I know some people like that too.)

 

Polar bears are left-handed.

 

(If they switch, they'll live a lot longer)

 

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

 

(What about that pig??)

 

 

The following is an excerpt from the article "Indecent Haste" published by Proaviation & while it is Rod Stiff making the comments it shows the "Agenda" CASA appears to have in this scenario. The ATSB report also showed a reduced rate of Jabiru engine incidents between 2012 & 2013 while those for Rotax engined aircraft increased. CASA only used data from RA-Aus for 2014. The email I got from CASA stated "CASA has identified more than 40 Jabiru engine problems and events that have occurred in 2014 alone" but provided no other information. It seems that they didn't have any prior data.

 

"CASA actually asked RA-Aus for their numbers after they had drafted the instrument – they didn’t have anything until I asked RA-Aus and they sent them their unedited list of incidents which included everything and listed 40 engine failures, so that’s where CASA’s magic 40 figure came from.

 

“Jabiru had addressed most of the identified problems over three years ago. I believe CASA has been negligent because they never consulted with us before they introduced the consultation draft, and they pulled the rug out from under us while we were on the plane on the way down. They couldn’t wait another day to talk about the issue, which really tells you what the intent was; the intent was obviously to damage us to the point where we couldn’t survive.

 

“When we finally worked that out with RA-Aus we spent a whole weekend going through the 40 events, comparing it with our list of failures, and working out which were just maintenance items like leaking fuel pumps, or simply running out of fuel, which were all on the CASA list. When we’d tidied it up we actually added some to the CASA list and when that was sorted out there were 12 actual in-flight engine failures which led to genuine forced landings. But that was in 93,000 flights, and 43,000 flying hours. And it was mainly flying schools because Jabirus are such popular training aircraft. "

 

So the risk of a failure requiring a forced landing based on the statistics is 0.000129 per flight or 0.000279 per flying hour. This is what the CASA instrument is based on. A bland statement of a "high and increasing rate of engine failures". What is an acceptable risk? CASA has not answered that question

 

 

This article is an interesting read on what possibly happened. http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/travel-qed/2015/01/clouded-judgment-consequences/

 

 

We flew in to Evans Head early this morning, leaving South Grafton at around 7:30am & called in for a chat with Bob McIntyre at Palmers Island on the way. With the RV6 cruising at around 160 knots the trip didn't take long & the early morning still air made the flight even better. We didn't exceed 1500 feet the whole way & came in from the sea, joined crosswind for RWY 36 & parked among the 30 or 40 overnight fly in campers. VH aircraft were well represented & it seemed there were more RVs than any other type, mainly 6s, 7s & the odd 4. Just up from us was a home built Bearcat as I recall with the rego VH-POO parked right next to the Portaloos. Very appropriate.

 

Getting there early meant the circuit was not busy & there were only about 4 others in it when we joined. This year there were a lot more market stalls and food outlets than before but few people were there early. Well that changed rapidly & by 10am there were thousands of aviation enthusiasts & the general public there, way ahead of the same day last year as far as I could tell. The first warbird to get going was a Mustang followed closely by the T28 Trojan, the Grumman Avenger & Yak 52. The aero modellers put on a good show with a couple of jets, one a Mig 29 & something else I was not able to identify.

 

The circuit really began to hot up with planes coming in from all directions competing for a slot with Warbird flights and others giving Joyflights & TIFs. The closest issue I saw was an aircraft on short final & a C172 with a bunch of joyflighters on board taxying onto RWY 36 forcing the incomer to go around. The weather was good with some cloud cover & even a light shower at around 11:00am. By then there was a good mix of GA & RA aircraft & at one time 3 or 4 Pipistrel Sinuses (or is it Sinii) flew in one behind the other.

 

This year is the 75th anniversary of the aerodrome & the Bombing & Gunnery school & there was a mid morning flypast tribute by 3 warbirds. A lot of the entertainment for the crowds was after lunch with the Paul Bennet Pitts & a Yak 52 but we'd departed for home by then. It was hard trying to find a slot to take off but we did after waiting for half a dozen warbirds to take off & a couple of latecomers to land. A few pics follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a common statement often made about some who progress through the management ranks that "some people are promoted to their level of incompetence". I have seen this many times in my life and would add the following to the statement that they are often then promoted "Beyond their level of incompetence".

 

 

This article in another thread quotes the pilot (Clemments) as engine failing at 2000', it isn't a lot of time to get your gear together.

Strange that when I looked at the Incidents/Accidents forum I didn't even see the original thread. Must need new glasses.

 

 

A PAC XL-750 with the pilot, 6 instructors & 6 passengers all parachuted to safety when the engine failed shortly after takeoff from Taupo Airport in NZ. The pilot was the last to leave after steering the plane towards the lake & ended up with a few scratches after landing in a blackberry patch, the location from which he phoned his boss.

 

It was reported he was taking a couple of days off while the instructors had a debrief at a local pub & were all back working the next day.

 

Full story at http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/64754138/plane-crash-pilot-calls-boss-from-blackberry-bush