skippydiesel

13 hours ago, BrendAn said:

you really have no idea what you are on about. https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=0003e7a4241d3e10e7ec5dde029e391abaeeb998bcdc117cfd967ac6e45defcfJmltdHM9MTc0MjUxNTIwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=3fb660a2-cc63-62fe-19da-75a5cdb663f5&psq=machete+crimes+melbourne&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuOW5ld3MuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3BvbGljZS1pbnZlc3RpZ2F0aW5nLWZhdGFsLW1lbGJvdXJuZS1zdGFiYmluZy9kYWJiOWM3Ny1lNDBkLTQ3NzYtYWMxZC1mZTQzOGQ4MzExMjg&ntb=1

So  - two attacks where no "civilian" was harmed and you think this is a good reason for arming our general duties police  - I am sorry you feel so strongly about this, it seems to have clouded your judgement.

No police were on hand, armed or otherwise, so they could not have prevented what happened. This is the most likly scenario, when crimes are perpetrated. So arming our general duties police, is just putting the population as a whole, at risk, especially those poor mentally disturbed individuals who may come into contact with them, without a measurable increase in crime prevention. In short an ineffective  knee jerk over reaction (check out the origins of arming our police - see any similarities?).

Should the criminals be found, the police response is likly to be spearhead by a specially trained and armed unit - not general duties officers. This is the appropriate response to a dangerous situaton.

The inescapable reality is, that arming our general duties police has little effect on reducing crime, while exponentially increasing the risk of "legally" authorised gun killings/injury. Might make the paranoid amongst us feel safer  but it's just an illusion - just like ASIC but more dangerous.

"you really have no idea what you are on about"

Well actually I do - have you lived through a civil war???😈

25 minutes ago, BrendAn said:

 

".........there are random machete attacks every day in melbourne and people murdered with them at least weekly."

Odd? Our usually blood lusting media seem not to have not got wind of all that  blood running in the gutters of Malborne - Could  their lack of interest  be something to do with being "south of the border, down......."?🤣

 "cops don't  just sign for a gun and walk off with it.  in reality they are highly trained in firearm use."

Dear BrendAn -  The very fact that ALL cops are issued with a firearm, is testimony enough, to a lack of SPECIALIST SELECTION & TRAINING .  It is just not credible that every general duties cop has had sufficiently in depth initial psychological, ongoing assessment & training in alternative responses to perceived threats, so that they only resort to the gun, when ALL OTHER AVENUES OF, SUBLETHAL RESPONSE ,HAVE BEEN EXPLORED ie as a last  resort.😈

Years ago there was a "story" that Rotax engines were sold to the USA military, on condition that none would ever enter the civilian market ie would, after decommissioning, be destroyed 😈

"TDS is not an official medical diagnosis................However, it is currently not recognized as a mental illness in any U.S. state. "

Ah! but what of the rest of the (sort of) sane World????😈

Me thinks you are  lot of paranoid alarmists.

(Note: I do accept the need to have a specially trained, rapid deployment, armed police group, that can respond to those, thankfully rare, situations requiring such )

How often is a law abiding Australian even threatened with a machete, let alone attacked?

Seems to me that most weaponized violence is against others of a similar persuasion, rarely against ordinary Australians. 

A bullet is not an appropriate response, in a civilised/compassionate society, to a person suffering a mental episode - this could be you, a family member or friend.

A bullet is not an appropriate response to a  person high on drugs (including alcohol).

So gun happy are our general duty police they have, in my memory,  shot dead a;

• French tourist on a beach, standing in the surfe, surrounded by a half circle of trigger happy cops, no threat to anyone but himself - cold blooded murder .
• A young man, in his own home, having a psychotic episode, threatening to kill himself, murdered by a police woman, who shot him in the back - I think she got a promotion for this action.
• A demented old lady, true not by a bullet but just as deadly Taser, to a fail old woman, wielded by a delinquent clod, who should not have been allowed near so much as a toothpick, let alone a Taser - I am only surprised he didnt use his gun.
• Questionable executions of a number of Aboriginal people, for which no one seems to be appropriately held accountable.

General duty police are just run of the mill public servants doing a routine job. They are just as prone to prejudices/fear as the rest of us - they do not need & should not have a gun. If the situaton demands - call the highly trained experts.

Once you issue a gun, to all but the most highly trained/disciplined and carte blanche authority to use it - you legitimise murder. The holder, when faced with a real or imagined threat, will understandably turn to their most powerful response - THE GUN! rather than seek a more nuanced solution.

What of the young police ambushed by a small group of religious' fundamentalists? I hear you say - The police were armed - did them no good. It's possible that if the weirdos knew the police were not armed, there may have been a very diffrent outcome - we will never know.

It seems that ASIC is not the only political knee jerk reaction, to what was likly a one off incident:

"In 1894 as a result of the Bridge Street Affray, a number of Police in Sydney were injured while attempting to arrest a group of safe-breakers. Parliament subsequently passed legislation authorising the arming of all members of the NSW Police Force and all Police have carried firearms ever since."

😈

"I think you should re-read my post as I was using it to support your position"

Yes and I thanked you for that. However as you continued, I felt that some of that support had been undermined/lost.

"And yes, the gun analogy in this context does work because, including yourself, people assert ASIC didn't work in this case; as it transpires, neither did the gun laws."

Obviously I do not agree.

As for the gun laws; I think they do work.

• The buy back policy removed a staggering number of guns from our society. The presence of these guns, just made  them more accessible to the bad people, removing them less so. That it took the likes of Martin Bryant to bring about these laws is a tragedy.
• Having a firearm is a privilege (much like flying)  that now requires some training, justification and licensing - all good.
• Licensing means that legal firearms & their rightful owners are traceable , delivering some degree of control.

• No law will prevent bad people from doing what they want, at best it will make the pursuit of their nefarious activity more difficult.
• Having fewer firearms in the community may reduce opportunistic violence and accidental injury/killing, especially of/by children.
• Requiring firearms & ammunition to be responsibly stored, adds to the above point
• There is no justification for a private person having a firearm that is designed specifically for the killing of people ie machine guns and pistols.

Personally I am against general duties police carrying firearms - there is no good argument for this. It leads to is the unnecessary death of mentally disturbed people, who for the most part are a threat to themselves, rather than to the police or the public at large (way too many tragic examples to list). 😈 

This Forum is excellent - Unlike some other forms I am on:

• Great feedback (for the most part)
• Great debates, that rarely descend into personal attacks
• Good people, nearly always willing to help, no matter the topic/question
• Fantastic tangential departures (Thread Drift)

Enough  "gush" safe to say I regularly recomend The Forum to fellow pilots😈

6 hours ago, skippydiesel said:

Anyone know why the Sonex Builders Forum has gone "off-line"?

 

Could it be a Trump  inspired export embargo to the rest of the World?😈

Good one!

I taught the Forum was part of /connected to Sonex, so contacted them - Apparently no direct relationship and they are also unable to access the Forum.😈

Anyone know why the Sonex Builders Forum has gone "off-line"?

Could it be a Trump  inspired export embargo to the rest of the World?😈

5 hours ago, kgwilson said:

I don't understand your 4th symptom. The US has very poor healthcare, in fact virtually none with a totally inadequate safety net for the poor. It is user pays or have health insurance at exhorbitant cost that only the wealthy can afford.

Sorry! worded badly  My position is simply - A country that invests in the education & health of its citizens, is investing in its future.  The USA is the opposite of this. 

For about 20 years now, I have expected the United States to disunite. It has been been subject to huge social pressures for quite some time. The rise of Trumpism may just be the last straw😈

1 hour ago, Blueadventures said:

Got mine today; looks to have some good reads.  Liked the Orion Cub article  Empty weight is a bit more than J230 but useable for the 600 category; 760 will be better for it.  Kit price listed is ok.

Your easily pleased -

No quality/independent commentary on flying characteristics

May have missed it but what engine/prop combination generated the minimal specifications?

No price delivered in AU from basic to top of the line.

In short, a light weight gushy article, short on the sort of detail a prospective purchasers would want to know.

A slight content  improvement on the last SP aircraft featured.

Pretty typical of the current editor😈

Were they "hand" flown?😈

How is the hydrogen fuel stored/transported??😈

1 hour ago, coljones said:

I'm not sure that there was much misrule in the states except that there appears to be a large chunk of the USA who hate dark people and women. 

Surely you jest ?

An ever widening gulf between the haves & have nots is a recipe for disaster. At some point the proletariat will rebel.  

Some symptoms of this are ;

• Failure to appropriately tax the rich - further exacerbating the gulf
• Systemic corruption - a feature of all societies & systems however when it become entrenched/enshrined things have gone very bad indeed
• Allied to above; The rise & rise of  the subcontractor/consultants/ government funded but private service providers - horrifically expensive, subject to criminal influence
• Have free or at least very cheap, universal health service, which covers ALL aspects of health ie optometry, dentistry, medicine
• The same for education, primary through to university level
• Failure to appropriately invest in national services, like road & transport systems, power & water

The last three are demonstrably in the best interests of the nation as a whole, being an investment in the populations current & future well-being and competitiveness. 

The USA is  the most extreme example of  the  "user pay" philosophy -  a disaster for the poor & the not so rich and ultimately society/economy as a whole. User pay carefully implemented with an understanding of synergistic effect and future investment, is quite a good idea but when blindly applied to almost every service, becomes  a slowly unfolding disaster, that may take several generations to play out. 

The rise & rise of the far right and with it the allied symptoms of racial, religious, minority intolerance, is but an expression of the populations feelings of hopelessness. The failure of US (& our) politicians, of all stripes, to address this is what leads to the rise of totalitarian (often religiously allied) leaning regimes (Trump, Erdogan, Netanyahu, Modi , Putin, Khemani, al-Houthi, etc, etc)😈

Back to political commentary:

The rise of Trump and all similar totalitarian leaning ratbags, is what happens when the electorate/people become desperate for change, after decades of miss rule by successive governments. 

I hope our selectively deaf political parties take note.😈

46 minutes ago, Moneybox said:

 

My LAME chose to not rebalance my carburettors and propeller even though he brought the gear with him. He said it was a smooth and quiet as any Rotax so best not stuffed around with. If it's vibration related which it must be then I may have dodged that one.

No offence Moneybox but your LAME is conning you.

Humans do not possess the sensitivity to judge, without instruments, the need or not, to balance the carburetors or propeller.

Your engine should have the carburettor balance checked & adjusted, if necessary. (This should be a routine check every 100 hrs) Do this before prop balance. Should include idle speed adjustment (about 1600 - 1800 rpm). You can do it yourself with a cheap motorbike twin carb balance kit. You will, need extra vacuum tube.

Your engine & propeller may benefit from a dynamic propeller balance check and adjustment, if necessary. Static (blades weight matched) first. Dynamic balanced down to .05 ips.(almost turbine smooth)😈

Speculation - I don't think all erly 912ULS engines suffered from this. Seems to me mounting type, management, airframe and prop type, likly all had an influence.😈

11 minutes ago, Moneybox said:

 

It depends on what you want to read. If you want articles of interest to aviators then perhaps you'd get the most interesting written by aviators and where are you going to find those?

True! Up to a limited point.  In the (unlikly) event of a slew of pilot articles being submitted, additional staff may have to be employed to;

• Read & evaluate each submission
• Fact check all claims
• Possibly reframe/precis 

Of interest to me would be articles on; 

• Independent test flight of aircraft with full review of actual performance, rather than the marketing/sales drivel we usually get. Included would be price range (delivered to AU)  from basic registerable aircraft  to top of the line fit out. This would require pilot/journalist to be properly compensated for their time & costs - unlikly scenario. You get what you pay for & we have Mr Heath.
• Flight control surface set up & effects
• Engine management maintenance/cooling/etc
• Obtaining best  trip fuel economy

😈

There is no comparison between an amature/club magazine produced by the mebers and one that employs, supposedly, skilled people (journalists?)to deliver a professional publication (SP?).😈

"You're confusing the RAAus team with the Publishers and Editors of the Sport Pilot magazine." 

This winger has no confusion - SP  is supposed to represent Recreational Aviation Australia (RAA) AND MEMBERSHIP.

I haven't been around long enough to know if it ever represented the opinions/concerns/interest of the members. What I do know is its sunk, from a mediocre publication,  to an unbelievably low standard, since the last editor .

With the exception of most of the RAA staff submissions and the very occasional little gem, it has become just a trash magazine.

If I didnt get it as part of my membership (a sore point - rather pay less ) I certainly would not buy it.😈

5 hours ago, BurnieM said:

I always replace the whole coax length even if the work takes significant time.

 

20 years of corrossion but leaving the last 10% does not make a lot of sense to me.

 

 

I agree with you - don't skimp, replace the lot.

However if you insisted on cutting & splicing/joining;

• Cut  so as to have about 20 mm extra length
• Slid a suitable piece of shrink tube onto one end
• (Both cut ends)
• Peel back the insulation & remove
• Peel back the wire shielding & retain
• Strip the insulation of the inner wire
• Twist the inner wires together, to make a neat mechanical join (solder if available) OR join with small tubular crimp joiner
• Tape to insulate
• Restore wire shielding as best as you can - wrap with aluminium foil, to make good shielding
• Slip heat shrink over join and shrink in place

Job done!😈

On 20/02/2025 at 1:28 PM, Roundsounds said:

Your response simply reinforces my comments. You do not need to nor should judge / sense airspeed, particularly when below 100’ AGL, the effect of wind has resulted in many low level stalls by mistaking ground speed as airspeed.

You need to know the appropriate attitudes and power settings for various configurations and phases of flight. If they are set the airspeed will follow, no judgement required. I have logged over 6500 hours of flight instruction in tandem seating aeroplanes without ready access to flight instruments. This taught me to rely on attitude and airspeed, which I had been taught but really only made sense when that’s all I had. Students would often look around and ask where my ASI, ALT, Tacho were hidden as I was able to fly so accurately - nothing to with any special skills, just because I was flying visually attitude and setting power by ear. Until you are actively taught these skills you won’t develop them. 

You should be setting the appropriate power and attitude for the phase of flight, allow them to take effect, trim, then check airspeed.
I’ll guarantee your backup ASI uses a common pitot / static source, so will only display same invalid reading. Most errors are the caused by a fault in the pitot / static system. 

Just redead your this.

Seems to me that you are on the verge of stating that humans do not belong or a bound by the limitations of their species. Of course this is true, but only when assisted by technology.

Without technology we are no better, probably less capable, than most of the rest of the animal world.

With your many thousands of hours of experince, you will have the advantage over the majority of (low time) private/recreational pilots. With your advantage, I have no doubt you are capable of landing an aircraft, you are familiar with, in benign wind conditions, without recourse to technological assistance. The low time pilot is at much higher risk. Throw in a blustery cross wind, unfamiliar landing ground, new to the aircraft and the very human pilot will be struggling.😈

31 minutes ago, Moneybox said:

 

I see the biggest risk for me is that these electronic devices fail at high ambient temperatures. A couple of days ago I tried to use my AEG angle grinder. The battery was showing charge but the device wouldn't operate. I removed the battery and brought it into the laundry to charge. The charger indicated that it was overheated so I shoved it into the fridge. Then I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket to see if it was lunchtime. It was blacked out with a banner across the screen saying it will return to normal when it's cooled down. Not a lot of help on a aeronautical device.

 

Use iOS and iPadOS devices where the ambient temperature is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F). Low- or high-temperature conditions might cause your device to change its behavior to regulate its temperature. Using an iOS or iPadOS device in very hot conditions can permanently shorten battery life.

 

Our summertime temperatures are rarely within these temperatures and that's without being enclosed in a bubble canopy.

Thanks Moneybox - Thought provoking observations/information - I wonder if the summer temperature within my parked, closed,  cockpit  (60C) may have been the factor which killed my Dynon ADAHRS module.

My guess, with time, all of this technology will become far more robust, able to tolerate extremes of temperature.😈

1 hour ago, BrendAn said:

Have to agree. This thread is turning into a never ending rant with no possibility of achieving anything.

Simple - If you are not learning/enjoying/have constructive comments - don't participate. The choice is entirely yours😈

Hi Jerry,

Thank you for your considere input.

The incident at Avalon is but an extreme example of failure in what should be a highly regulated/secure civil aviation environment. The crux of the debate is the hundreds of RPT/Security Controlled Airports around rural Australia.

I have no recollection of anyone advocating to remove ASIC from being used at major domestic/international airports in Australia.

In my view this conversation is about the merits ASIC, as applied to low volume rural airports, designated Security Controlled Airports - does it confer an improved security benefit? I would say not for all the reasons previously articulated.

Flowing from the decision to impose ASIC, on these minor ports, is the impact on touring private pilots - Cost benefit analysis, where cost is not just financial, more importantly, includes loss of pilots automatic right of access to public airfields, there being no evidence for an enhanced security benefit to individual/population.

As for an "industry around it employing many people" - there are several service providers delivering ASIC to applicants. No idea what the number of employees would be - unlikly to be significant numbers.  As for the small rural airfields - at best a handful, as it would seem the existing ground/maintenance person (or similar) is most often tasked with the additional responsibility of security, that is if even this small step has been taken.

Unfortunatly your gun analogy does not apply - if here is a "black market" in unlicensed small aircraft, aircraft being stolen for criminal purpose, in Australia, I haven't heard of it. Nor can you secrete a manned aircarft on your person, baggage. May be possible with a drone (see my earlier comments)😈