sfGnome

I used to (and hopefully will soon be able to start again) fly from Sydney(ish) to Bairnsdale (eastern Victoria), and there’s no direct path there that doesn’t go over some very ‘ordinary’ country. I used google maps in satellite view to pick out a path between Delegate and Nowa Nowa that had consecutive sequences of “light green patches” following a slightly circuitous route, on the basis that the light green was more likely to be some farmer’s paddocks rather than remote heavily wooded stuff. That, combined with staying as high as possible, made for a comfortable (ie not buttock-clenching) trip.

Wow! And I thought plans-builders were nuts dedicated. 😀

CASA’s VFR Guide (free to download) has a whole chapter on dealing with emergencies (plus it just notes that in DRAs, you are required to carry “appropriate survival equipment for sustaining life” without attempting to define what is considered “appropriate”).

Well, I enjoyed it, but I’m not an expert so I guess it was aimed more at my level.

Google’s take on it is “Flightradar24 primarily relies on its huge network of ground-based receivers picking up ADS-B signals from aircraft transponders, but it also uses other data sources like MLAT (Multilateration) and official radar feeds for better coverage, especially over oceans or for flights without ADS-B. While ADS-B is the main source, other technologies fill in gaps where ADS-B coverage is limited, giving a more complete picture of air traffic.” That would explain why it was showing Skip’s plane as 1200 - it was picking up his transponder, not his ADSB (which, of course, raises another question…)

Wonder what happens to the balance when the pax in the front seat decides to have a chat with the bloke at the back?

Welcome to Venture Capital takeovers… 🫤

One of the issues with patents is that if you release them gradually, and a competitor issues a patent that references one of your earlier ones, then your later patents can be claimed to be dependent on your competitor’s one. Hence, some development companies with a big new idea will hold the info really tightly against industrial espionage and then file an enormous set of patents in one sitting. A company I used to work for did this, and one time they walked into a patent office in the USA with two trolley loads of new patents.

Well, I’ve just ticked over 1000 hours building, and that’s just the time in the shed. All the hours on the computer investigating options and sourcing parts are not included. Probably about another 1000 to go. Funny thing I noticed yesterday. With the heatwave, it appears that all my heat shrink tubing has shrunk a little. The size that used to slide over a spade connector now just doesn’t. Now all I need is for the heat to help my gut to shrink a little… 😛

I reckon that if you had asked that young pilot what he should do if the nose was pointing up and airspeed was dropping, he could have told you, no worries. Knowing what to do is not the problem. Dealing with the startle factor is. In my training, I’d done heaps of touch and goes. Wheels on the deck, trundle along resetting the flaps, power up and away. However, the first time I had to go around from near ground level (and I was solo), I discovered exactly what that young pilot discovered; you pour on the power and the nose points skyward. In my case, I hit the stick ‘real quick’ and all was good, but was I well trained or just lucky? It’s not like there weren’t other times where I froze.

Interesting question with, I believe, much disagreement between the experts. Australia used to have some fantastic megafauna which all died out about the time that humans arrived in country. However, whether they were hunted to extinction or died as a result of the same climate variation that provided the human access bridge from Asia is not agreed.

Have you noticed that it seems that the majority of new ‘light’ designs are coming from Europe. Most of the ones listed from the US were designed in the 60s and 70s. There seems to be lots of different companies designing small aircraft in Europe, whereas in the US it seems that there’s just Vans, Sonex, Rams and Zenith with Vans dominating. (Disclaimer! This is just a thought bubble. Happy to be corrected).

Highly misleading title on that video. It wasn’t the fact that it was 3D printed that caused the crash; it was the material that caused it. It would be like using cardboard for spars, and then after a crash implying that you should never have spars…

Geez, you must have a crook lot over in the west! Our previous Aus Post delivery bloke knew everyone and was really good. When he left (to go to a job more suited to his skills and education), he shared the job with his replacement for a couple of weeks and introduced him to everyone. Now, if you want to talk about poor delivery service, talk Aramex (*%&#$%&!! 😠).

Funny. I was thinking how much I’ve enjoyed this latest issue. Each to their own, I guess.