old man emu

On the whole, the program seems to have been an insult to the lives lost.

 

OME

 

 

Shut up and eat your TV dinner!

 

 

Disappointing enough to turn if off early. Reminiscences from ill-informed schoolboys does not make an investigation.

Quite right. This wasn't an in-depth investigation that the blurb suggested it would be. The blurb hinted that there was some sort of official cover-up which was to be exposed. To me, there wasn't anything sinister about the "investigation". The sole survivor was probably on one of the first flights of his life, and being way down the back he wouldn't have been able to see what the crew was doing. It was interesting to have the mechanics of the superchargers pointed out and how they would cause an layman to think that there was an engine fire.

 

Given the flat approach angle described by witnesses, I think you can rule out a "stall - spin" as the cause. A possible scenario was that there was an engine problem after the plane had made a climbing turn to cross-wind. Don't forget that the planned departure procedure involved two turns within the circuit area - the second to provide an "overhead airfield" position check before gaining planned track. When the problem happened, the crew decided to make a landing on the strip. Perhaps they made a wrong identification of the runway and put down on cleared land they thought was the runway. There were no pictures to show the position of the landing gear at the time of impact.

 

This documentary failed to make a decision on whether it was an investigation of an air crash, or a human interest story dealing with the victims. That being said, it was a better way to spend an hour than watching some fools pretending to be codon bleu chefs.

 

As for the ads on SBS - I taped it and watched it an hour later so I could fast forward through the ads.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

Oh! What sad news. A nice quiet bloke. I can remember him doing his conversion to that Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Aviation_Twin_Pioneer ) at Camden a couple of years ago.

 

OME

 

 

6th of September is a nice date.

Not if you are a Yank. The nice day comes on June 9th.

 

OME

 

 

I have set up another site which is all about Beauty Therapy for my wife Corrine

I think it is not very nice to suggest that Corrine is in need of beauty therapy. I've spoken to her on the phone and she seems to have a nice personality.

 

OME

 

 

Dr Arthur Pape took CASA to the AAT regarding his colour vision blindness and won (at significant financial cost). I seem to recall that Avmed later tried to change the rules so that they would be able to enforce the decision they wanted. That's simply not cricket! Kaz

According to CASA's site, http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_101277 there are two options

 

Reconsideration

 

Reconsideration is a formal process in which a doctor other than the one who made the initial decision leads the process of decision making. If the initial decision was made by a single individual, the case is submitted to a special panel of doctors who consider the matter afresh. If the decision had formerly been referred to the Complex Case Management Panel, an external consultant is asked to provide input into the matter.

 

Please note that reconsideration of the decision that has been made will require a processing fee of $150.

 

Review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal

 

Any person whose interests are affected by CASA’s decision, may, subject to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975, apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for a review of the decision within 28 days from the date of the decision. You should seek and rely upon your own legal advice in relation to your rights of review.

 

The fee for an AAT review is $861.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

Strewth, there are more conflicting opinions about treating diabetes that there are about the quality of Jabiru engines.

 

Anyway,

 

Is there anything like an Administrative Appeals Tribunal at the Commonwealth level? I reckon if there was, we should band together to back someone's appeal against disqualification due to cardiac anomoly that has been OKd by a cardiac specialist. Make CASA prove that its decision if fair and equitable.

 

OME

 

 

Kyle,

 

Thanks for that detailed post. I didn't realise that the liver was the culprit in high blood sugar, but since it's the industrial centre of the body, it makes sense. MY wife's doctor has been talking about some type of surgery if she doesn't get her bloods down. He's put her on to forxiga (dapagliflozin 10 mg), which he told her would "flush" the sugar from her blood. She's watching her intake of simple sugars. Her BS readings have come down to average out at 8 in the middle of the day. I've noticed that if she has a reading of around 10 at the start of the day, and then does a fair bit of walking (weekly shopping etc) she can drop down to nearly 5 by dinner time. With this in mind, we bought a treadmill so she can get the walking exercise inside as she can't take the heat and humidity we are having at the moment. Of course all thought of exercise has stopped for the Silly Season, but she's still eating light. We have until March to lose 10 kg to make the quack happy for starters.

 

Keep us informed of your progress.

 

OME

 

 

My issue was diabetes got me. I still have this issue with the diabetes but early next year I think that will hopefully be fixed and if all goes well after a operation and I will no longer be a diabetic.

I'm interested in what you are going to undergo next year. What surgical intervention will beat your diabetes? I take it that you are Type ll.

 

(An aside - isn't it tragic that we'll natter away about diabetes and cardiac problems , but we are backward in coming forward about stress and depression?)

 

OME

 

 

My best wishes to all for a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2015.

 

By the way. Did you get the gas bottle for the Bar-b-que filled?

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

This is the stupid part about this. I can understand a very stringent medical for someone in commercial ops like flying a jet with 800 pax etc...but I can drive a B-double weighing 65 tonne at 100 kph or a bus or a train carrying 500 pax...yet I can not pass the CASA version of the Ausroads medical let alone a class 2 with all the crap. I just want to fly with 2 people total in any aircraft up to 1500kg I don't want to fly in CTA at all I have no interest in it. I am sure there are many pilots in the same boat.

I think I said something along these lines a month or so ago.

 

Somehow I don't think all the tests in the world can predict when your number is up. I've seen young, fit blokes drop on the spot with heart attacks and fat old bastards go on and on and on.

 

OME

 

 

Got caught a bit when in the U.S, when the bill came, suggested gratuity 18, 20 or 25%...... What can you do, the service was great so didn't want to go the cheap one so had to add 20% to the already high prices..... Almost had to wash the dishes to get out of there

Thank God for the Australian Arbitration system. Wages fixed at a "living" level. Overheads factored in to the price of products. Go to a restaurant and get service that is more than just order taking and delivery, and you are happy to sling the waiter a quid as reward. Too bad that it is hard to sling the chef something if the meal that has been prepared also exceeds your expectations.

 

I actually find it offensive in the US that employees in the service industries have to pan-handle to make a living wage.

 

OME

 

 

Geez, a bloke'd only need 6 rounds and a ferret to get in!

 

OME

 

 

I'm like PMccarthy - 62, just the wrong side of 12o kg on blood pressure pills. I went for a heavy vehicle driver's licence and my doctor noted a heart murmur. So off I went for a session wired up and on a treadmill. The cardiologist reported back that my blood pressure was good (124/78), Pulse 58 but there was a T-wave inversion. Result for flying: Cardiac change, sit on the ground. I had a bit of a Google about the T-wave inversion and it seems that if the patient is not showing any cardiac problems, then the T-wave inversion could be put down to a genotype difference. In other words, there may be a small part of the human population who natrually have a T-wave inversion and it causes no harm. The improvement in the ability of new cardiac test equipment might even be throwing light on this previously unidentified group.

 

However, I can't get a CASA licence until I jump through the hoops at the behest of the Aviation Medical section, and the first step is a session with a DAME at more expense.

 

I reckon I'll just keep operating in ground effect.

 

OME

 

 

Comma knockers are noisy. Nev

Geez! You'd have to be a very old truckie to get that one.

 

The even funnier thing is that now, a Commer would be a good subject for an historical vehicle restoration. God I feel old!!!

 

OME

 

 

It's still mother's milk no matter if it's canned, bottled or in a glass.

 

OME

 

 

OME, I'm guessing you are not ex RAAF. I'd love to know why members of the RAAF are so low in your esteem. Just because someone is ex RAAF does not make them incompetent or unable to do a job outside the RAAF. In my state there are no ex RAAF airworthiness inspectors. I have not heard anything good about the ones we have.

No, I'm not ex Armed Services. I'm mentioned their being ex-RAAF because that's the story that has been told to me. However, the military's maintenance methods seem to be "Pull it. Bin it. Replace it. And if you haven't got a replacement, leave the airplane in the back of the hangar out of service until the replacement part arrives. " That approach doesn't cut it in the private sector. There's no money in unfinished work. And having to employ someone to maintain these records is a further impost on the profitability of the small workshop. That's why " They are all ex industry and are now pinging people for doing the same things they did when they worked for a living." CASA over-regulation sent them to the wall.

 

So perhaps the problem with airworthiness inspectors is not that they are ex RAAF but that they have been sucked into the CASA culture.

That's probably a good summation of the situation.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

The latest up this way is expiry dates on grease, if you can believe that stupidity. At Air Whitsunday it was not uncommon to go through 6-8 grease cartridges a day when servicing the Caravans on Wipline 8000 amphib floats.

 

Greases and fluids do time expire, but a lot of the ones used in Airlines are pretty sophisticated having to operate at temps below minus 55 degrees C. I have no doubt from what I hear that working in Aviation in this country today you have a lot of people who are bigger on theory than having practical knowledge. Someone will insist that a certain clause appears in a document that the next person who inspects said document will want removed. After a while you don't even argue. You just change it as the fools want. and keep going . Nev

Nev, your comment about expiry dates is true, but with respect to the discussion of CASA Cloud LaLa Land audits being carried out with common sense, I doubt if Air Whitsunday would ever operate where the OAT was below zero. I bet most of their operations are carried out with an OAT above 20C., so the really fancy greases are probably unheard of. I would imagine that the greasing is done more to provide waterproofing than lubrication.

 

The other thing to consider is where grease is used on the types of aircraft we use. I know that washing and repacking wheel bearings was standard practice with the mob I worked for. The only other places that needed regular lubrication were door locks and door hinges. A silicone spray lubricant was used in those circumstances.

 

The very worst thing about these CASA audits is that the auditors never want to give out full marks. Nobody gets 100%, so they look up something that is irrelevant and hunt it down so that the organisation being audited can me marked as less than perfect. For the times between audits, they put no time into coming around to workshops to discuss maintenance issues to see if trends are developing. (For example, engine bolt shearing in Jabiru engines), or to see if any particular make or model is throwing up faults due to age.

 

The best thing that could be done to improve aircraft maintenance is to demand that CASA safety staff prove that they have practical, private industry experience in the area they are supervising. That will get rid of the ex-RAAF Remove and Replace maintenance engineers and the career bureaucrats and maybe get some common sense into CASA activities.

 

OME

 

 

I friend [small GA repair shop ] had a CASA audit the other week and they wanted to see the release notes and batch numbers for the loctite joining compounds and the star/lock washers he was using. Also calibration date for torque wrenches and to note serial number of torque wrenches used for each job.

Don't think that these CASA auditors are all knowing. The majority are ex-RAAF and have no insight into the private sector world. I'd be surprised if a maintenance record for a RAAF aircraft would list batch numbers for common jointing compounds.

 

When I was working for a small GA maintenance facility, I was recording tracking details for minutiae like washers. However, since these things were simply kept in storage trays in the workshop and were of free issue, I couldn't go to the tray and pick out a washer and be able to provide full traceability. The best I could say was that on a certain date I put 100 of these washers into the tray from a bag whose allocated ID number indicated that the bag had been obtained from so-and-so supplier on Invoice Number dada which also contained the supplier's traceabilty record.

 

The correct way to audit parts traceability is to determine if there is a procedure to record traceability details and if so, can items affecting aircraft safety be traced back to manufacturer. It is clear that the CASA "auditors" have no idea about how to carry out a systems audit. And I do have qualifications and training in that area.

 

As to recording calibrations dates for torque wrenches and other measuring equipment, that is standard practice. However, if a small shop only has one torque wrench and one leak down tester, it's pretty obvious which tools have been use to do a job. More pedantism for pedantism's sake.

 

I once heard a story that one of these CASA whizz kids wanted to know when the plumb bob used during weight-and-balance measurements had last been calibrated. As yet the Australian Standard for plumb bob calibration has not been located.

 

If you run a CASA approved workshop, it might be worthwhile going up to your local pharmacy and buying a nit comb which you can loan to the CASA auditor as a sign of your full cooperation in the auditing process.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

This is why I'm an emu and you are an eagle.

 

I've always felt very comfortable on the Base to Final part of the flight. I scare myself on climb out and turn to crosswind.

 

OME

 

 

Base to final turn seems to have the worst track record. rgmwa

I've been pondering this opinion all day. I can't argue whether the statistics show if it is right or wrong, but I'm truly baffled as to how an airplane on a descending flight path and turning into wind can stall. (I'm assuming here that the turn is relatively gentle - not a pirouette around a wingtip.) What better situation is there - low AoA; fairly constant airflow. The only reason I can see for a stall in this phase of the flight is the pilot trying to correct an undershoot with the elevator [ raising the nose and increasing AoA] and not the throttle [halting the rate of descent with Power until the airplane intersects the correct descent path].

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

Elsewhere we are discussing someone's dissertation on the how to instruct students about stalls.

 

I wandered off the track and as I recalled my stall training, I wondered if anyone had actually thought of what part of a flight was an airplane more at risk of stalling. I think the riskiest time is climb-out from the runway.

 

My training mostly involved power-off stalls. I suppose these were meant to replicate the Base turn/ Finals part of the flight. What scares me most is the possibility of stalling on climb-out after take off. Pretty much full power; raised nose, and a climbing turn. Yet I was never shown what happens when too much back-stick is applied at this stage.

 

I am probably wrong in what I do, but my technique is to monitor the airspeed and try to pin it at Best Climb. But how am I going to handle Best Rate, or Obstacle Clearance?

 

From Buddy Holley and the Big Bopper to now, how many take-offs have resulted in otherwise mechanically sound airplanes becoming scrap a couple of hundred yards off the end of a runway?

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

Someone like Professor Avius who likes to show off his (or her) knowledge would find this forum irresistible. So own up, which of our well-known posters are you?

I definitely ain't me. The buggers don't pay for contributed articles.

 

OME

 

 

I just did a search of this forum. Seems we have been unhappy with Professor Avius since 2011. The topics he/she has written about may change, but the response of readers has remained the same - incredulity at the errors in the column.

 

Perhaps members of RAAus should contact their Regional Reps and complain that erroneous material such at this, appearing in the organizations official publication raise serious doubts about the competency of of those entrusted with the supervision of flying activities conducted under the RAAus banner.

 

Old Man Emu