Old Koreelah

Outsourcing can result in efficiencies BUT when it becomes a fashion/faith statement (following the economic basket case & undisputed fashion leader the User Pay Ununited States Of America) ...

 

I'd bet that industry lobbyists are right now trying to extract even more taxpayer dollars from our governments;

The party which claims to favour private enterprise and which is gutting our traditionally independent and impartial public service are happy to subsidise their mates in private industry- who probably find an easy way to avoid paying any of it back as company tax.

Onetrack I wish we had those 000 operators! Maybe city mobile coverage is better, but we never get accurate locations and sometimes split up to drive in opposite directions to actually find the prang.

Besides getting vague locations on highways, finding a rural property can be a nightmare. Even if we actually know where "Strathleah Park" is, the new owners have probably changed the plurry farm's name, along with the 5km access road, without telling anyone. 

 Over a decade ago our VRA teamed up with the local SES to attach big reflective Rural Addressing signs on every property. For the uninitiated, Rural Addressing numbers give distance along a particular road, to 10m accuracy. 1436 means 14.46 km from the start of that road, usually heading north or west. Odds on the left, evens on the right or, if at the end of a road, straight ahead.

A valid response, but in defence of emergency services: when we get called, info is very sketchy and often dead wrong, so it's prudent to err on the side of caution. That might explain why so many units attend.

Unless the officer in charge sends them home, they might have to stay for hours.

Our own VRA squad has had mobs of calls to accidents on the nearby New England Highway. The initial report usually comes from a random motorist who has no idea which town he just drove thru; so, after setting off in our trucks we get redirected, often by twenty km or more.

IF you are serious about this stuff you wouldn't be using fatigued aeroplanes that are NOT strong in the first place. Most Hercs are past their use by date. There would be plenty of them just sitting around out of time. You would always find "someone" to fly any piece of crap but that doesn't mean it's right to do so. Nev

 

During the famine in Ethiopia in the early 80s it was suggested that Australia provide a couple of retired Hercs. A family member in the Air Force told me they had been stored in the open near the coast and were corroded beyond recovery. 

Alice Springs has only recently opened a long-term storage facility for aircraft.

".The course left quite a bit to be desired but it endeavoured to make the students think a bit more about their own shortcomings and vulnerability. On that score alone it was worthwhile. "

 

BULL...

 

Spacey I agree that the HF course run by RAA is far from perfect, so perhaps we could help them improve it.

After all, it is our organisation and we should be doing our bit to make it work better.

What are your suggestions?

That now makes it:

 

• The infinitesimally small river farmers abusing the Federal Government for screwing up the Murray-Darlin Basin...
   
  

Turbs that's a quite factual response, but it ignores the leadership role that national governments often take during difficult times- a role this PM has avoided. 

John Howard immediately took a leading part in coordinating state responses to the Pt Arthur Massacre. 

Various cyclones, floods and droughts have elicited rapid responses from our national leaders, even though they are the responsibility of state governments.

Why is Morrison downplaying this crisis and focussing on a non-existant religious discrimination emergency?

Could it have anything to do with the growing hordes of overpaid lobbyists who seem to be running this  government?

As usual, Australia’s favourite newspaper tells it like it really is.

My wingtip strobes have a switch, but I tend to leave it on. Serves as an automatic warning to nearby people when I'm starting up, but some people do find them offensive at close range.

Fit a switch.

This has worked for me.  Move the oil cooler to the rear of the engine and duct air to it via a side naca duct...

 

NACA inlets are not a panacea; they might work if placed well forward, where the cowl is still "sloping" into the airflow.

I wasted lots of effort with a separate oil cooler NACA intake- it was "around the corner" from the front of the cowl and led to oil temps of 130C.

In this discussion I haven’t noticed any mention of sudden temp change.

Unless that spray of water is very fine and subtle, surely it could be a cause of damage due to shock cooling.

On the weekend I stopped for a yarn to a local farmer who was sitting in the shade with his horse while his cattle grazed the roadside. This used to be a common practice and greatly reduced fire hazards.

These days you almost never see stock grazing "the long paddock"; grass is waist-high while just thru the fence, animals are scratching at bare dirt. Why?

He had to spend heaps of time at local council getting numerous bits of paper, plus authorisation from his insurance company. Even then, he was restricted to a small area and set times.

No wonder so many fires start on our roadsides.

You lucky buggers, being able to actually fly and do some testing.

We've had months of crap weather. Dust, smoke, near-constant wind. 

On Saturday morning for the first time in months, I got to taxi my baby around for half an hour, but you couldn't see the other end of the strip thru the smoke haze.

...Thought about flying (up to fresh air...

 

Tempting thought. I suspect media may be downplaying the crap air quality lest there be a wave of panic. 

The smoke haze is having a major impact, not just on people's mood and health, but on aircraft movements.

This morning I was asked for visibility advice by a local returning from delivering a water bomber pilot. A few minutes after I gave my call it became denser; the pilot couldn't see our airport and had to divert, leading to lots of inconvenience. Safe, but spoiled someone's day.

A small optional annual subscription shouldn't hurt most budgets, and might provide planning stability for the site owner.

Ozrunways seems to be thriving on subscriptions, which surprises me given the limited size of the local market which they share with significant competition. 

Meanwhile, RecFlying has a global reach, with greater potential membership.

I'd be interested in a survey of users to see which features attracted them to the site and what could enlarge clientel. 

There's a big turnover in people, many are temporary volunteers, there are operational politics, there are government interventions and technical difficulties that make RA look like simple paper planes. All in all they do a great job.

 

What's missing is the strong and wise national leadership to achieve commonsense compatibility and cooperation.

I certainly agree about the politics.

I've seen first hand how a powerful union does underhand things to extend their turf.

...Even amoung fire trucks great improvements have been made in recent years in getting the various fire services to use compatible equipment...

 

Compatibility and inter-service co-operation should have been ironed out long ago.

We are slow to learn lessons from past stuff-ups.

Australia has a long history of expensive and exhaustive investigations leading to...

government inaction.

In emergencies like this it makes sense for a country to use all resources available and suitable for the task.

I believe huge water tanker trucks from nearby mines have on occasion been used against grass fires, but I bet their size makes them unsuited to general use.

Ian, Greetings from the middle of Montana USA.  I purchased a Savannah S kit in the fall of 2015...

 

Great to read your post, Bodie.

I don't have a Savanna, but I walk past one each time I get my plane out. 

When you install your pitot tube, please put it on the wing strut, not sticking out of the wing leading edge, where it's a lethal weapon!

On many of the pages you will see a Site Donation box

 

Sorry to be a pain, Ian, but your Site Donation option requires me to hand over more personal details than I'd like to. Why do I need to give my home address etc?

I'm happy to set up a small fortnightly transfer to your account, just as I do for Wikipedia and others.

All I need is a BSB, account number and name.

Keenaviator, thanks for your reply... please tell us more about what you have done. 

 

Just today, I have put a 32mm ribbed hose between the 2 ducts, as suggested by oldK  who was right about how the difference between the RHS and LHS ducts should be measured. The measurement showed 45mm of water head difference.

 

Tomorrow I will fly with a connecting duct in place. My hope is that it will equalize things .

 

Bruce I'm blushing get the credit for such a good idea, but it wasn't me who suggested this.

Epoxy is great for amateurs like me who can't achieve the sort of precision required by resorcinol.

One downside of epoxy is heat; you can undo a cured epoxy bond by heating- whether you intend to or not.

That makes it unsuited for areas near hot engines. That's why I used mostly Vinyl ester resin in my engine cowl.

I believe resorcinol is pretty tricky to use, but is a "forever" job.

No worries,Yenn. I'm used to getting the blame; I'm married.

Military airspace is like nuclear reactors, great idea as long as they aren't in my backyard!

 

I don't mind having CTA near us; pretty easy to keep clear of the steps. 

When vast areas of your region go red that's a worry. The probability may be remote, but who wants to meet a jet fighter?