old man emu

Dave is quite correct in what he says. An organisation without a Quality Management System is like a ship without a rudder, just drifting along at the whim of the winds and currents.

A QMS is not a big bogie man. As a matter of fact, I've just finished writing an Environmental Management System for a number of clients I have on Bankstown and Camden Airports. The system I have written follows an International Standard, and the QMS for RAAus would follow AS/NZS ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems - Requirements.

I've been following all the conversation about the management of RAAus and it sticks out like a "Remove before Flying" streamer that there never have been any systemic management procedures employed by the RAAus, or if they exist, they have never been followed.

Is it hard to write a suitable Quality Management System document? NO!! Given half a day I could have one ready for viewing. The really big thing about a QMS is that procedures have to be developed to set out how different activities will be carried out. This becomes the Procedures Manual, and that manual is used as the basis for auditing the organization's performance against its QMS.

I'd say that it has been the lack of internal auditing and management review that has let the RAAus get itself into the hole it is in.

Old Man Emu

Certified Management Systems Lead Auditor.

This is a very critical point. Most of us who have been involved in them over the years have screwed up and overwritten them, and people have ignored them until they were fixed.

The reason that systems are ignored is that those responsible for implementing them do only that. They don't monitor their application and review them with a view to improving them.

That means that if a procedure as written is impracticable, then those who it affects will ignore it. If those affected have input, then the procedure is more likely to be practicable and therefore not ignored.

OME

Please don't use the initials of a name the first time you mention it. Please state the full name, then abbreviate.

(Pedantic) Old Man Emu

It has long been known that if you got water in a car fuel tank, then adding alcohol (usually methylated spirits - ethanol + menthanol ) would get rid of it by mixing and then this mixture would go through the combustion cycle and out the exhaust.

The problem with normally aspirated aero engines being fed petrol with ethanol and water, is that due to evaporative cooling at the fuel jet in the carburetor venturi, the water deposits as ice and blocks the fuel jet, leading to fuel starvation and lack of engine noise. Th1s situation is worsened if the fuel has cooled down to near zero temperatures in nthe outside air at altitude.

I believe that water injection as a means of boosting the power of an engine at power settings is not done through the carburetor, but somewhare else in the intake manifold. (I could be corrected on this point.)

OME

I don't know if I'm correct in this, but recently I made the following observation involving E10 petrol.

As you know, I've got an old Harley, and they say that if it doesn't drip oil, there's none in it. Well, I was putting a sheet of oil soaked plywood under the bike to protect the garage floor. It seems that the float valve got stuck, and overfilled the bowl. The excess fuel dripped down onto the plywood.

Now here's the observation. After a couple of days, I saw quite a few, large beads of water on the oily plywood where the pool of leaked fuel had been. There was no fuel left on the plywood. That got me thinking. Had the water been absorbed into a fuel by the ethanol in the E10 fuel, and been released when the fuel and ethanol evaporated?

If I'm correct, would that send alarm signals to you about using E10 in an aero engine?

Old Man Emu

D'yer think that this would this rate as an. . . ( wait for it ) OXY MORON ? Phil.

OME

Were these the two blondes who failed the detective entrance exam?

OME

There is one being built around Sydney, but I can't remember where or by whom.

OME

Yep. I'm in.

OME

I'd be checking for corrosion in the bar that runs across the cabin roof from the left to right hand wing mainspars. For this model, the part is a special order from Cessna and would take 6 months to deliver. (Did one a year or two ago). Engine is definately a rebuild, $30,000. CofA upwards of $5000. Assembly? A few guages missing $1000.

I reckon that puts the value of the stuff in the container at around $4000.

OME

Lovin' it!

OME

Can anyone get a copy of the template?

OME

Nice work, Eric, but you didn't read the question.

What is your plane's "cost per seat mile"?This is a simple calculation based solely on fuel and oil usage, cruising speed and number of seats. We are not interested in fixed costs etc. Old Man Emu

The point of the exercise was to show that the cost per seat-mile of all airplanes should be very similar. You've considered all the variable costs, but these vary from airplane to airplane, and where it is flown from. Also hours per year will affect costs. Do the calculation again using 100 hrs per year and see how you get economies of scale.

OME

OK. We've got a J230. What about the J160 and 170?

OME

What is your plane's "cost per seat mile"?

This is a simple calculation based solely on fuel and oil usage, cruising speed and number of seats. We are not interested in fixed costs etc.

The equation is:

[{( litres per hour x cost of fuel per litre) +(litres of oil per hour x cost of oil per litre)} /cruise speed)]/number of seats.

For the purposes of comparison over the whole of Australia, set the price of fuel at $2.00 per litre and oil at $10 per litre.

If you reply to this post, please indicate the type of plane, number of seats, cruise speed and fuel burn rate.

Old Man Emu

Somebody had to draw a line in the sand, and say, "Enough is enough!"

OK. It has taken up to now to draw that line, but at least Mr Herring has had the balls to do it. Isn't this what you have all been crying out for? You want a Board that will make the decisions that will lead to improvements in the RAA. One step at a time. But push has come to shove, and Mr Herring has shoved. I can't see why you are bickering over a money decision when this appointment could go towards the long term viability of the RAA.

OME

It is interesting to do the calculations of aircraft hire on a $per seat/mile basis. It's a long time since I did it, but I think you will find that it comes out with a very similar result from the two-seater upwards.

According to Boink, his Mini Cab cruises at 80 kts burning ~16 lph.

16 litres avgas @ $2.10 per litre = $33.60

140 ml oil per hour @$10 per litre = $1.40

Total Fuel & Oil = $35

Fuel/oil cost per NM = 35/80 = .44 per NM

Cost per seat mile = 22 cents (with a tailwind)

OME

The killers with ownership are the fixed costs - hangarage, insurance, registration, foregone return on capital investment (plus depreciation), annual maintenance (offset a bit by inclusion in hourly operating costs). These are what make ownership a "rich" man's game. However, having said that, ask around amongst your friends and acquaintances who have hobby cars or boats. I bet some of them spend similar amounts on their toys as you would on yours. Then there's the golfers and such. Even going to a football game with the family would cost nearly as much as an hour's flying.

OME

I got one hell of a shock today. I went to one of the flying schools at my local airport to see what the hourly rates were on either a C-152 or a Tomahawk. I've got a Class 3 medical and a PPL. I just need to sharpen my skills.

Would you believe that they wanted just over $300 per hour for either one? I went next-door and found I can fly a Piper Sports for $200, or a select from Citabrias, Warriors etc for much the same. No wonder the first flying school doesn't do much flying.

OME

My suggestion is to go for the perceived higher qualification in whatever you do in Life. I'm not meaning to demean an RAA pilot's certificate in any way by that "perceived higher qualification" comment.

There is no law that says that you can't fly as an RAA certificate holder using the standards that apply to a GA licence. With only a couple of hours to go, you'd be throwing good money away if you didn't stay the course. The optimum situation would be to complete your training on a GA registered Jabiru, then you'll have your RAA conversion done and your GFPT as well.

OME

Can I get a tattoo of a firing button on my joystick?

OME

I think it gramatically incorrect to put 'cheap' and 'avgas' in the same sentence

OME

I'm watching the low cloud and rain showers drift across from Picton to The Oaks.

OME

That face looks frozen in terror:crazy:

OME

Why not just keep up to date with CASA's publications like the rest of us?

OME