Old Koreelah

Where is old K involved in this conversation?

 

Left Right Out!

I did a little bit of experimenting on my own installation a few years back, partly inspired by Dafydd Llewlelyn's work testing the CAMit engine. Like much in life, I learned just enough to be dangerous. Based on my experiences, I suggested that in-flight cameras should record all the data, so the pilot can concentrate on what he should be doing.

I agree, Butch. I subscribe to several publications and none of them delivers the value of Ian's two sites.

I'm happy to set up a regular deduction. 

... I don't think these two sites have much to worry about. 

 

Ian you must be doing something right.

I have recently noticed four long-time forumites have returned to the fold after a long absence.

... With aircraft there isnt the same need for advice as everything is strictly regulated and people are not improvising and modifying. Having said that, I am also in EAA and find their workshop suggestions very useful for non-aviation work at home.

 

That may be true of most pilots, but there are still many of us in the 19- and Experimental categories who modify.

There are several thriving forums we use to share ideas and solve problems.

... I live in the country and find that people I mix with share the same conservative views. They would mostly vote Lib and don't accept the global warming nonsense.

 

PM I disagree. I too am a country boy, and find much support for action on climate. It's just that in small communities, harmony is valued and many people keep their opinions to themselves

I do agree that lots of people may be deterred by a predominance of differing views. Lots of people don't want to debate.

...Before they invested a billion dollars getting the base ready for the F35, they should have relocated to Tamworth.

 

Crickey Don, you want us to be a target instead of you?

...at any time you could be facing a commercial flight, whether corporate jet or RPT aircraft, flying a holding pattern within its allocated box. And like us all, its pilot could be preoccupied and straying slightly out of his boundary. Take a look on the ATSB at Airprox incidents and Incursions, and you'll see why the space has to be reserved...

 

Valid point, Turbs.

Update your training and fit the required equipment/specification, and problem fixed.

 

Not everyone may be able to do this. 

So all is right in the world; our betters set the rules and they are always right?

Can you see no scope for change to allow small aircraft to avoid the Yowie country west of Coffs and Willie?

Alf good points about having a BRS; it's just an expensive, heavy decoration unless integrated into your checklist.

I agree with Kevin about the light aircraft lanes; even if they aren't a factor in this tragedy, they have been in past ones and will be in future ones.

It beggars belief that little aeroplanes are forced to fly over dodgy country when safer airspace nearby may not be in use.

...What would you suggest to do with wildfires in remote country with scattered populations? Leave them burn?

 

Yes. That's what has traditionally happened. Better management of fuel build-up would limit their spread. 

As Yenn and others have mentioned, there may be too many restrictions on common-sense hazard reduction burning.

Fire-fighting has become an industry, with plenty of vested interests. SplitS has a point about the PR-driven trend to ever-more spectacular water bombers, when prevention may be a better approach. 

The RFS and other agencies do a great job, but, like many a government authority, they have become unwieldy and often get it wrong. There are plenty of stories of experienced locals having their initiatives stymied by distant bureaucrats. 

That said, I can't remember such a year of atrocious fire weather; for months now we have had a week or more of ferocious winds, with a few precious days respite between.

Our Aero Club hanger has been damaged by wind and is full of dusty aeroplanes that haven't flown for months.

Airline crews act as fire spotters, or used to. Fires started by lightning strikes are becoming the issue.  What about some high metal towers to attract the big discharges so they don't start a fire. Nev

 

Even better, how about we channel those lightning charges into super capacitors; another source of renewable energy just when you need it most- when the power network gets cut.

My understanding of the accident is that he was test-flying an aircraft after doing some maintenance.

Shortly after takeoff the engine stopped and he decided to turn back. If he had been in his own Lightwing he might have made it, but it seems he forgot that this particular Lightwing, though similar, had shorter wings, so stalled in the turn.

Me too Alf. He is not forgotten; every time I scan my intruments I see the fuel flow and fuel pressure gauges he sent me. 

My cockpit also has momentos of my dad: the rosewood flap and throttle handles, plus my wife's dad, who wound my control stick with rawhide.

Bruce when doing this test pilot stuff I found it necessary to have a camera recording the in-flight data to avoid being distracted from the important job of keeping the aircraft within safe operational limits.

Sadly, the most ancient, excellent and highly organised system of Parsi sky burials is no longer an option...pharmaceuticals having decimated the vulture populations...

 

Yep, drugs have made our bodies toxic. It's been decades since the average human was fit to eat.

My 'kids' are in their 40's with no permanent or serious partnerships, the likelihood of grandkids is looking more and more remote. As the saying goes, it looks like we've come to the end of the line. 

 

Red it looks like you are part of an expanding group. Many of our friends also remain childless; sometimes by choice, but it sure affects their parents.

Its an individual thing...

 

I totally agree, Skip.

This fascinating discussion (thanks Red) shows a huge range of preferences, some of which I share, but all of which I support.

What is it with our species - always going for the high cost high tech solution (pun intended) - Just put the carcass on an ants nest OR let the blow fly maggots do the job - nil cost, nil pollution, feed the ecosystem and beautiful clean bones...

 

Several cultures do this. I visited an open cemetery in Asia where bodies are left in the open to break down. Maggots in the eye sockets, etc. didn't upset me like I expected. I found it to be a peaceful place.

I like the old idea of burial on the family farm, but it's not available to most of us. With increasing job mobility, most graves end up neglected.

Eco burials sound like the least wasteful way to dispose of our used corpses, but they still cost money and the location may be far from family. That's a major attraction of cremation: you can put the ashes pretty much wherever you like.

Sacred ground is a nice idea. I believe the Mebourne Cricket Ground staff have quite a problem with people spreading ashes.

...Here's my intentions: firstly, to get some clear plastic tube and put one end in a duct and the other end in the lower cowl. Make a "U" tube on the panel and fly to measure the cooling air pressure differential...

 

An experiment well worth doing, Bruce. Here is the setup used for testing the CAMit engine.

Starting with floggers and feet - still the most appropriate for some fires.

 

Yep. Very effective for small grass fires without too much wind behind them.

 After lots of experimenting, I found oleander branches to be the best.

...and don't forget that the most suitable aircraft is sitting idle, unused for seventy years:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules

Why not go the whole hog and hire a properly large aeroplane, the Antonov?

The Govmint could build up a huge fleet of water bombers to replace all the common sense approaches that worked for the last few thousand years...

 ...Soil compaction, tarred roads roofs all worsen the problem, of quick and excessive surface run off, so called Flash flooding.. Always happens in poorly designed urban /city areas when localised, heavy and short term downpours happen...

 

Sadly true, Nev. Modern tiny suburban blocks shed almost all their rainwater. The piddly little tanks allowed in urban areas would make little difference.

...In the Country  known flooding areas were well known  by the locals. Once the area gets developed, Supermarkets and big houses etc are erected in these flood areas and the natural creeks  swamps and watercourses disappear...

 

Nev I doubt it was ever as ideal as that. Even in small country towns there was always someone who'd sell flood-prone land to the unsuspecting. Even today, I'm amazed to see new homes being built a poofteenth above the last flood level.

Trees are still being removed from catchments. The regular news reports of disastrous landslides, flash floods and mudslides are just confirmation of how people value the dollar ahead of human life.

The only scientists that count are those who went through Uni in Climate Science, and they understand the meaning of all the heating and cooling cycles which are overlaid, the time cycles and how they work, the greenhouse effect, the activities offsetting that, and so on...

 

I disagree, Turbs. Much of human progress has come from people who were either new to a particular discipline, or totally outside it. Never underestimate the capacity of outsiders to innovate, or of insiders to hold us back by blindly following orthodoxy, despite the evidence.

I have Bluey’s biographer by Paul Brickhill (Dam Busters author) and Bluey nearly didn’t make it into the airforce because he used to round out to land his Tiger Moth about 15’ above ground. Every landing was a crash.

 

Sounds a bit like von Richthofen. It's said he was a crap pilot, often crashing, but an excellent shot.

Much as I admire pilots with wartime experience, we should remember they were trained for different priorities to what we expect of civil pilots today.

It’s always better to put the pilot before the navigator.