Phil Perry

Phil. I know how you feel with Mother in law. mine is in Abergavenny, also lost her marbles, but can put on a very sane act for a short while with strangers. ie she can fool the doctors and me. She however is going on 103, we didn't think she would make 100 at one stage, now we just don't know. Hard on my Sister in law.

It IS hard on the family, my Brother in law just doesn't want to let go, he had her transported to hospital 2 days ago for re-hydration, as she can no longer swallow fluids, the Consultant Doc said that they would only do it once, for 24 hrs, and suggested we just keep the old girl comfortable . . . Very sad business.

 

On another tack,. . . I notice your home llabel is Benarby, is that near Rockhampton, or Gladstone ?. .I know we drove up through Benarby the first year we arrived in Oz,. . .having a bit of alook around the place whilst we lived in a Melbourne suberb ( Vermont ) Hell of a long drive, me being more used to a place half the size of Victoria ! !

 

 

The thing I like about most Cab Sav's is that you can throw them in the wine rack and they'll improve over 10 years.Note that this is theoretical as I've never left them there that long...

I've recently seen a wooden bottle advertised on the web, which - it is alleged - will age wine in a couple of days improving the taste as well,. . .and that it works aslo with brandy . . . . . save you having to wait ten years. . .?

 

 

Pochwy silne

Thank you muchly PA. while you're at it, can you translate "Dark chocolate digestive biscuits, .. Large free range eggs,. . Oven cleaner and Australian dry white sparkling plonk please mate ? ? Oh yes,. . .and of course. . . .MARMITE.

 

Thanks. ( my google translate is on strike ) Phil

 

 

Hey Phil, waiting for the hate mail but not a big fan of the Spit, now the F4 Corsair that's a sexy WW2 aircraft, had a few guys up here that used to fly the Frightning, you getting a ride in that has turned me physcodelic green with envy:plane:

Can't compare the Spit with big stuff from Uncle Sam, . . . . and the only green I got as a sprog cadet in a Lightning was airsickness !

 

 

Phil. 2 days into Summer and rain and gales, Is it correct that they start Summer early and run it on late in the hope of getting two days of good weather together.Don't knock Wales, I am laways telling the Poms that Wales is the best part of England.

When I land at Heathrow, the first thing is to get a hire car and hit the M4, don't stop until I am over the big bridge.

Funny thing about the M4 Severn Bridge Yenn, . . is that you get charged a toll to ENTER Wales, but reciprocally on the same bridge, no toll payable to Leave . . .? D'yer think the Taffies are trying to tell us something ?

 

 

Marmite here does not taste much like Vegemite Phil.....something to do with the yeast extract that Kraft has some patent on. Dick Smith foods tried his version called Ozemite...tastes more like Marmite or Promite than Vegemite and is not very successful. Dick's peanut paste and Tomato sauce is great though

I hope ypu don't misunderstand me here mate,. . .I get ORIGINAL vegemite, from approved sources. . . . . AND IF THEY'VE CHANGED THE FORMULA,. . .then I've got no way of knowing, but they certainly have NOT changed Marmite . . . .!

 

Thanks for the heads up mate ! ! !

 

 

Hmmmm,. . . .I've got lighting,. .. but no ring main 240 volts,. . .I think perhaps that I shall have to go out in't rain and storm to see what has happened to my switcbox gear . . . . . I hate this,. . . as I am going to get very wet,. . .and it's half past darned midnight. . . . . see ya'all later. . . . .

 

 

Our little island isn't much smaller than yours Phil - it's only the size of the big one above us that makes us appear so tiny![ATTACH=full]34848[/ATTACH]

 

I'm green! I make no apologies for my firm belief that aviation peaked with the Spitfire.

Marty,. . .I agree with you vis a vis the Spitfeur. . . . . .but. . . . ( see below )

Not much smaller than ours Marty,.. . . . .are you MAD,. . .? ?? ? your little island is less than a third of our landmass, and that's excluding Ireland. . . .Geez Mate. . . . . If you are having a "Landist" argument, then PLEASE get the Math ( if you are trained in America ) or the MATHS right if you are trained properly. . . .before arguing a lossmaking subject. . . . If we squashed Tassie up,. . .it would fit into Wales. . .and then you'd all be called TAFFY. D'you seriously want that ? ? ? ? Then you'd have to shag sheep, and speak in a really ridiculous 2000 year old language and have all your roadsigns changed to bi-lingual. . . . . I cannot believe you would countenance this. . . . . .

 

 

Oh Bugger,. . .the screen's gone darker,. . .that means we've had another power cut. . . . . it must be v=because of the wonderful Wind farms we have all over this land to ensure that his doesn't happen. . .it is blowing a gale here at the moment,. . .I would guess around fifty knots. . . but I can''t tell you for definite, as my weather station is dependent upon some mains volts,. . .which we don't have at the moment. Maybe it is due to an asteroid hitting the Earth, as we were prommised last Friday,. . . .strange that none of the news channels repported it, but then again,. . .they probably wouldn't. . .to prevent all us blokes form jumping onto the nearest good looking lady and shagging her to death,. . . . . and then finding it was a false alarm and all getting done for sexual abuse. . . .you can't win in this currnet PC environment mate. . . .. (Posted with twelve volts. . . . . )

 

Phil

 

PS. . .if it's the end of the world,. . . . tell the Forumites that I really enjoyed their company. . . . . . . .

 

 

The movie's not bad too Phil! Typical overblown American hyperbole through it, but there's some great flying scenes with the A6, lots of carrier stuff, and Danny Glover does a great job as the CO. Willem Dafoe does what he does best, which is act crazy. (Not sure he's acting sometimes). Anyway if you get the chance and want to watch something decent while you're quaffing "Uncle Joe Stalin's 150 proof", I can recommend it.

Hey Marty. . .( American greeting I think there . . . ) I didn't know that there was a MOVIE about that book,. . . . where can I find it ? I've already had a look on the interwebby thingummy, and all I get is Geman girls pornograpically messing about with animals on motorcycles.. . . . . ?

 

 

That's why I said "paraphrased". I figured a high percentage of us weren't fighter pilots.

Don't take any notice of him Marty,. . . .he's just one of the gifted few that get to fly the best aviationonal appliances man has to offer,. . .(and if he was a real Bloke,. . .he wouldn't have told us, just ot make us feel sexually inadequate . . . Which it Does ) . . .but I don't care, cause I've flown a REAL WW2 SPITFIRE . . . . and I'm hoping it turns him GREEN. . . ..( LOL ) No, I don't really,. . I just consider myself extremely lucky. ( Benny,. . . .can you get me a flight in a fast jet mate, please. . . .??? Ive only flown in an English Electric Lightning fighter,. . .and that was years ago. . . . )

 

 

Better to yak in a Yak than cack your dacks.

Oh,. . . Marty,. . . . You've obviously driven home for many miles / frenchometers, after a bad chicken madras as well . . . .? ? ? ?

 

 

They've got quick disconnect buttons for autopilots for a reason.

Yes they have,. . .in fact, at one time some manufacturers, . . .including Douglas,. . . had an "Autopilot disconnect" which could be switched OFF by simply manually moving the control yoke,. . . .which resulted in an aircraft descending steadily into an impact in the Everglades and not one of the flight crew noticed this as they were all . . .aparently. . .distracted by a faulty indciator lamp of some sort, and when the Captain left his seat, he inadvertantly bumped the yoke as he left his seat, and thereby disconnected the autopilot. . . . . why he aircraft went into a descent profile when the autopilot was inadvertaantly disengaged, I really DON'T understand,. . . .but the rest is history, and they even made a damn movie about it. . . . .Which didn't explain ANYTHING AT ALL. . . .

 

 

Better to yak in a Yak than cack your dacks.

Had a really close look at your little island on goggleearth tonite Marty, and I can see why you're such a poor agrieved little onion farming bugger,. . . . . Geez, I used to fly five blokes to the casinos in Hobbart at night from the mainland but never actually visualised in my smallish brain how actually SMALL Tasmania is,. . . . . If I'd seen it in daylight, I'd have been worried that I might miss it one night in the C310 by a couple of degrees nav error, and end up dropping the punters of at Mawson base. . . .not much profitable gambling down there,. . .and bloody cold as well. Fortunately,. . .NO Polar Bears . . . . .

 

 

yes but they could have a double code. The pilot enters his and if a cabin crew deems the pilot is fit to re enter, and they enter a cabin crew code, the door immediately opens. Banks and all sorts of security firms have used double coding for decades to over ride lockouts and beef up security.Similarly a two person access code to over ride the auto pilot could be required. just sayin

But, since we have had several cases of pilots in the UK being breathalysed and found to be over the blood / alcohol limit to be legally flying,. . .how would the cabin lady know if the pilot was legally entitled to be there .. . . . would she have to breath test him / her first ? ? ? ?

 

 

I actually ( true ) flew with an ex-russian air force lady pilot in a Yak 52 in 2007,. . . . . the first thing she asked me was., "YOU LIKE GEEE ?" of course, I responded with "Yeah mate, . . .no worries" . . .I had been Pre-warned that this particular lady liked extreme aerobatics, . . . . and relished making MEN passengers reach for the sickbag ( if they could counterract the G and reach for it ! )

 

I was told that her party piece was to roll inverted immediately on takeoff and buzz the rest of the runway at zero feet, . . .pulling up at the end into a negative gee climbout. I was asked if I'd got any aerobatic experience and of course I said I had,. . . it was with Baron Von Eric, at Berwick in a Victa V115 Airtourer, ( he now lives in the states and still contributes to this forum ) and later in an Aerosubaru Fuji FA200/180 . . .Also at Berwick,. . .then a Pitts S1 in the UK. . . etc. ( Whilst on the subject of Pitts, and taildraggers in general,. . .I can't understand pilots who say that high performance tailwheel aeroplanes are a bitch to land. . . . NO THEY ARE NOT ! ! ! ! That is a load of Airbollox . . . . ( AIRBOLLOX is a term used regularly in the UK by pilots who use BS to cover the fact that they buggered it up,. . . .and need an excuse ) if you are checked out on the type P R O P E R L Y . . . by a competent instructor, and there is no medical problem with your bloody brain to feet connection,. . .then you can land a Pitts,. . .or any other high performance Bipe without any drama, even in a crosswind runway situation.

 

It was probably all this BS that gave me a reasonable ride, and she allowed me to do most of the flying BUT she still did the "Roll inverted on takeoff" routine, which nearly made me carp my kimbies. . . . I think she should really be in the astronaut programme, as she's wasted on this planet. . .what a pilot,. . .never seen anything better to this day. ( yeah, I know,. . .it hurts to admit it. . . )

 

 

Remember when the pilot's union opposed female pilots on the grounds that they could be emotionally unstable once a month?

I've happily flown with quite a few female captains on cargo ops, but I tell you what mate, . . .they're rubbish at reverse parking. . . .

 

 

"Never ask a man if he's a pilot. If he is, he'll soon let you know. If he's not, don't embarrass him!!"(paraphrased from "Flight of the Intruder")

HEY Marty,. . . damn good book that . . . . recommended reading to any aspiring ( or perspiring ) aviator . . . .can you believe his "co" got shot by a Vietnamese peasant with a rifle thru the edge of the canopy at night . . .? weird or damn lucky shot ( Depending upon whos side you were barracking for. . .) Anyway,. . .we are "Feet Wet" here in Cannock, as it's bloody Pi$$ing down. . . .on the official second day of UK summer. . . . .yeah,. . .right. . . .

 

 

I have heard that it is addictive, so to prevent that I vary mu tipple. Cab Sav, Shiraz, and best of all Durif.

Yenn mate,. . .I Agree with that one, . . .I've had a hell of a week tooing and fro ing at the care home where Mother in law is teetering on the edge, she's 89 and a bloody tough old bird. She lost her marbles four years ago and just REFUSES to kick the bucket. The missus wants to be there when she does, ( ? ) I'd rather remember the woman the way she was,. . .wicked sense of humour and a great lady. . . . anyway, we are travelling the 2 mile journey four times daily to sit wit her as she battles on. . . . . . .while we were on holiday in Greece with her a few years ago, she saw a poor bloke in a wheelchair dribbling all over the place and said to me,. . ." If I ever get like that. . . . shoot me" But you can't do that can you,. . .the missis would never forgive me, and the neighbours would complain about the noise and I've only got a black powder pistol, and a blaclk powder rifle,. . .which means the whole nursing home would have a coating of blacky soot. . . . . I'd never get away with it mate. . . .

 

ANYWAY, . . . . .TO THE POINT OF MY RESPONSE ( you knew I'd get there eventually didn'tcha ) I said to the old bat when we got home, "I could do with a stiff bloody drink". . .she says," well, what about the vodka I bought you for Christmas ? " . . . ( I forgot that,. . .so I'm sampling it as I type . . . . I'd like to tell you what brand it is, but my keyboard doesn't type in Russian . . . . ) it says 1894 on the bottle, but I dunno if that's what it cost in Roubles. . . . .

 

 

Merrrrrrrrrllllllloooooooooooot. ...... Very smoothI can sing as good as Elvis!

OK, if you like bloody Elvis. . .go and listen to my mate Les Swazzo on DOOWOPCOVE.COM he's based in New Jersey, and runs an internet only "Oldies Music" radio station. Great fun.

 

And you can stick your Merlot mate, too earthy,. . . .although I must admit that I tried some Banrock Station stuff last week and it wassssssn't toooooooo bad ! ! ! !

 

 

Some years ago, I watched as a really nice bloke in his Mid fifties I would guess,. . ( older than me then I might add. . .! ) had bought his Wife a Microlight flight as an "Unusual" birthday gift.

 

We watched as she was briefed and loaded into a Michelin man Ozee flying suit 2 sizes too big, and strapped into the rear seat of a tandem Flash 2 Alpha trike by the CFI. He had decided to overrule his AFI and take the ride himself, as the lady was absolutely, fashion model style, drop dead gorgeous. . . .)

 

When they'd disappeared over the horizon, I said to the husband, . . ." Would you like a flight yourself, ? it won't cost anything because I'm just a club member. . ." He was a bit reluctant, but the family members there with him gave him a hard time and eventually he agreed. So I got him kitted out and sat him in the rear of my Gemimi Flash 2 trike ( 1986 vintage with a 503 / 2 stroke motor ) I gave him an ongoing briefing as we taxied out to the active, and finally lifted into the luft.

 

The old flash 2 was a bit spartan, ie, the pilot ( me ) had no backrest, unlike late model trikes, the passenger seat was elevated around 250mm higher than the pilot's chair, so that the pax could see over the head of the driver. . . but it was simply a stepped seat, meaning that my backrest was basically, his goolies. His legs were wrapped around my sides onto the rear footpegs, which were connected to my foot steering bar for the nosewheel. On taxying, I had to tell him to put his feet outside the pod, so that he wouldn't interfere with the nosewheel steering, which can jam the heels of the pax if a tight turn on the ground is required. . . this he did without complaint, but I was a little concerned, that even after I had asked if he was OK to go,. and had completed my ground checks, he didn''t actually SAY ANYTHING AT ALL. Neither did he say anything other than to confirm that the intercom was working during the takeoff. . . . I told him that I had to make radio calls at varying times during the departure, but he didn't reply.

 

We had a really nice flight,. . .the weather was gorgeous, 23 degC , hardly any wind,. . .no turbulence up high, . . .I took him up to 3500 ft and flew around the tops of some puffy cumulus, and even this didn't elicit any comments, apart from the occasional "Yes, I can still hear you" when I checked the intercom. . . .weird I thought,. . .usually, when I did the cloud top thing, most "First Flight" people had a religious experience, or weed themselves occasionally, ( you can feel the warm sensation when they do that, as it's going down the back of your flight suit. . ) especially when they saw the shadow of our plane surrounded by a rainbow. . . . . you all know how beautiful this can be ( although a bit illegal ) Finally, we returned from a 35 minute foray, with me explaining everything to him, including what an ASI does and why, what an altimeter is, and how it works, how the plane actually FLIES, and why, and how it is controlled, . . .he declined my offer of "Having a go at driving" using the rear extended training bars . . . I noticed that his leg muscles tightened up around my ample thighs as we approached to land, with my flight instructor patter narration of the flight still going in full flow that he actually spoke,. . .asking nervously,. . . . . .are you sure we're going FAST enough ? ? ? ?

 

And it was not until they were sitting in the flying club bar later on, that his Wife told me what a wonderful flight she had experienced with Mad Gordon, the CFI, that her husband was a senior B747 training captain with British Airways. . . .

 

Felt like crawling into the nearest hole . . . . . I've found, over many years of experience that, . . .young pilots waste no time in TELLING YOU that they are pilots. . . .whereas the old hands. . .well,. . .just don't. Harking back to Dutchies comments about going our for a meal with friends, and being grilled about it. . . . I am the only ( living ) aviator in our extended and very large family,. SO. . . . I've had umpteen phone calls and texts this week asking if I can explain what happened to the Germanwings flight. . . . . people seem both terrified and fascinated at the same time regarding this, and I don't know a word which combines the two things.

 

Phil

 

 

We had a girl the other week bringing us a cuppa who couldn't open the cockpit door of an Airbus from the inside to let herself back out. "These doors are all so different! How do I open this?" She asked. After giving her instructions I turned to my colleague and said "I'm not often lost for words, but this is one of those occasions".

Aw come on Dutch, . . . . . . .can't expect CoffeeEffie to have read the A320 tech manual,. . . . . even if she COULD read in French. . . . . .

 

 

Several of us have flown into aeroplane beach and got a feed of oysters off the rocks. It is used now as a camping spot for fly in tourists so I doubt that there would be any oysters left.

That's interesting mate, . . . . where is Aeroplane beach ? heard of it, but no idea where . . . . ( bet there's no oysters with pearls in 'em left anyway )

 

Phil

 

 

Don't know about flora, but I sometimes "harvest" a roo or two here. Good replacement for beef in a madras curry.

I don't mind a bit of Roo actually, . . . . but it needs a bash with a tenderizing mallet before being diced, then blanching in a hot pan with a bit of oil for a minute or two first, ( just until it starts to turn a bit white. . . ) then marinating with the curry mix overnight before slow cooking all day. ( If you've got the patience ! )

 

Phil. ( No relation to Phil Harbon, the famous English chef. . . )

 

 

Cheers Alan but being right handed I am thinking Clockwise but I suppose the weather will play a part in the final decision.

Not sure about the rules nowadays Harry, but when I was flying in Australia, the rulebook stated that 50 NM was the maximum planned overwater distance when flying a single engined beast I don't know if that rule still exists. We used to get around that when flying to "Tassie" by "Rock - Hopping" ie, passing over bits of ground sticking out of the water on the way !

 

The "Gulf" is somewhat wider than 50 Nautical methinks ! I believe you may well also require some special overflight permissions from Aboriginal tribal Authorities up at the North end beyond Cooktown and Cape York Peninsula as well, . .but again, things may have changed. ( Everyone on this forum will know about tht )

 

Phil