turboplanner

My sister lost her house at Quaama but at least wasnt hurt.

 

Sorry to hear that; when you lose your house you lose a lot of your life.

Current situation tonight: 17 missing. This area is thick bush with small clusters of houses, very few towns Princes Highway is the main common access, mostly rough bush tracks if that is cut. Phone lines are out, hence no one is sure if these people are OK. 

HMAS Choules has arrived Mallacoota today, 4000 people in the town and 800 being evacuated by barge to the ship, then 20 hours back to Melbourne.

Choules has six containers with food for 3 weeks for the town.

The problem with Mallacoota is its only exit is one bitumen road out to the Princes Highway and that is covered by fallen trees, may take a couple of weeks to clear.

Chinooks flying in for other evacutations.

The people had been told to evacuate last week from this general area extending to NSW.

In southern NSW back burning is taking place along Princes Highway to provide a safe exit if the fores flare Saturday which is going to be hot and windy.

One possibility would be a medical episode.

I apologise to all if I have appeared to be negative to the RAA. As one how has operated two recreational aircraft in a parallel universe for more than 20 years with only one of them benefiting from the "help" of RAA I can't help it, sorry. 

 

I’ve always thought your posts were balanced and reflects someone who doesn’t have a political agenda. 

I think people will see what the real situation is.

....volunteers who wanted to rebuild the East-West tunnel. Turbo suggested they get on social media and write about being athesists, their version of politician, and encourage them to start by building the tunnel. Soon there were thousands of gullible people consisting of youths and other ages inlcuding 214 Men's Shed groups who thought it was a political rally. Turbo had a shovel for everyone, and soon they were all in the tunnel, and had dug out the first train. Then.........

Out here on the farm in the backblocks of Vic, I feel like Dad with my Jabiru and my son is like Dave with his Lancair. Young Dave has definitely had more training than me, what with the retract endorsement and stuff. He doesn't know as much as me on account of just being a kid ( 47 ) and therefore lacking experience.

 

The best thing about being Dad and Dave is that we are a long way from officialdom.  Not that anything illegal ever happens around here.

 

The 760 kg weight thing once appeared to offer the possibility of the Lancair being RAAus, but there are disadvantages in this move so it may not have happened anyway. But the stall-speed limitation rules the Lancair out for sure.

 

You clearly haven't heard the stories of Hartley Gericke and his favourite trick of taking the tops off chimneys with a wheel.

If there was true leadership at a Federal level, there would be no need for the State to have to ask for support in times of such dire emergency.

 

I explained the Sovereign State relationship to Skippy. Each State has been fighting its fires, and asking for help as needed from each other, from their overseas peers and from the Commonwealth, and in each case in each State, they have received the response. they asked for.

What we do need is an education system which teaches students and migrants how our political system really works.

The antipathy displayed by our politicians at both State and Federal level by just buggering off on holiday at such a time just because they planned it before the emergency is not only disrespectful to those who have suffered loss but indicates a "business as normal" approach when things are far from normal.

 

Hyperbole is cheap and sells newspapers.

I see this time you're at least aiming some of it at Premiers, where the buck stopped as far as the RFS, CFS and CFA are concerned; you need to absolve those premiers who were not on holidays from the cheap slurs.

What really is disrespectful to those who have suffered losses are the cheap political slurs on the people who have done their best to save them from those lossed and that included the State and Federal Ministers who are working at it day by day right now.

For my part I dont give a monkeys what the historical (lack of) relationship is between the redundant States and the Fed.

 

Well you probably should if you want any credibility, because the States are not redundant, they are the primary form of Government in the six States.

They build the roads, they build the power stations, they manage the water they do the planning of future towns and cities, and so on.

The Federal government collects the taxes and distributes them in an orderly way, so that people who populate the smaller states can have about the same standard of living as those in the big states. It took people in the States from 1857 to 1901 - 44 years of debating before they agreed on a Constitution which would prevent a Commonwealth meddling in their internal afffairs. So far it has worked very well.

It is just such situations as the fires /Murray Darling that show how poor our system is. Mired in vested interests and bloated glacial bureaucracy.

 

The fires we just covered; fought by the States with assistance from the Comonwealth as requested.

Murray Darling, at present the centre of social media dission since the current drought started, discussing low water levels due to eveything from Big Cotton (Cubby Station no rain since 2017, dams dry, not cotton planting - that killed that one), and various states stealing water depending on which state the Social Media stirrer is based. The four States, Qld, NSW, Vic, SA each have a percentage of water allocation, and the Commonwealth gets an "environmental" flow. The percentages were agreed to between the States and Commonwealth, and those percentages are staken from the available water, so in a drought, while you may have a licence for 1 ML/month, you may only be getting 0.1 ML/month. The MDBA allocates this water down the channels in accordance with this States agreement, and there is online live gauge reporting, updated daily which the general public can see if they want to click a few keys. About 90% of the social media suggestions show no understanding of what happens in a six metre flood. If you took a map which covered your desk and drew over the Murray Darling Basin lines with a felt pen and stepped back, the pen lines would show you the area of the 4000 kilometre (N-S) basin - the area pulling water from the basin for stock or irrigation, which is pretty much negligible compared to all the primary production going on on your map, where farmers drill for water - so pretty much a non-event except for the towns. The month by month stirring however has prompted the Victorian, NSW and SA Ministers to get very restless about what they percieve is threatening "their" farmers, so we are seeing a situation where the balance could easily be upset.

Time for a big change in how we govern ourselves (not holding my breath on this) Blind Freddy has known this since we moved from communicating by horse delivered mail to the telegraph.

 

Well we are a democracy; there's nothing to stop you and blind Freddie putting up a thesis "How Australia should be run"

....Turbo.

"Mahmood, it's better to work with what you have than to rush up to heaven in the hope that there's better up there" said Turbo cryptically, as they rode out of the war zone in an International Maxxpro MRAP.   An MRAP is like a Land Rover on steroids.

Just when Turbo's ear drums had recovered the MRAP took and IED hit, but thanks to the International truck chassis work and the MaaxPro engine, we all survived, and Turbo still caught his flight to Melbourne, where he was met by........

I put my reasons in and you can even go and read them Turbo

 

I know, and that's why I said "very few".

My concern was the people putting their reasons up in social media after the consultation had closed.

 

Ye Gads! better late than never.

 

No, it's not Ye Gads! better than never; It's time some people went back to the school books and worked out the difference between State Governments and the limitations of the Commonwealth Government; the Commonwealth doesn't just sit on top of the State Governments like the head office sits on top of state branches inj a national company.

Overnight the NSW Premier also called in the Commonwealth Government to provide support and the ADF will be doing mass evacuations and people movements. Already at Mallacoota Defence helicopters are doing crew changeovers for  fire trucks cut off from the Princes Highway, and some generators are about to be brought in.

and during the comment period which closed last September, very few of the RAA frogs even decided to jump off and make a comment, but plenty have not only decided, but jumped after the water ran out.

 

Here is the afternoon sun plus Aussie smoke from Wellington NZ note this is not sunset. Apparently much worse on the south island.   The last house I live  and built (luckily sold it recently) was only just saved, the house before that 360km away is also threatened.   My sister lives on a property near Quaama, the fire passed through this area and we cannot contact her. Phones are out my parents are frantic.  Not a great start the year

 

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I went through that on Ash Wednesday, but if it’s any consolation, it’s the phone lines that go first, and often from a fire front 20 km away, while the house is fine, But it’s no fun when those lines are silent. 

"I'm waiting" said Turbo after a day of horrific pounding, two eyes full of dust, Ears so sensitive they can hear a dog pee. "I'm..............."

......be a computer centre for the software they bought at a cost similar to the new Tennis Centre extensions in Melbourne, but which was leased to the NES Crew for $221.78 per year, and furnished with perfec tly good lounge suites, beds, coffee machines and outdoor BBQs thrown out in hard rubbish collections by the idle rich, who.......

For people who earlier were wondering how the ADF related to bushfires, this shows the sequence:

1. A request by a State Government

2. A response by the Commonwealth Government

"Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds have agreed to deploy a fleet of aircraft and ships at the request of the Victorian Government.

As part of the deal, the Australian Defence Force will send Black Hawks, Chinooks, fixed-wing aircraft and Navy vessels for firefighting support and evacuations."  Source: The Age 1/1/20

May I wish all of you and your families a very Happy New Year.

 

Phil Perry. . .

 

And to you Phil.

.......the top of the mountain above his dugout which....

[Turbo apologizes but there has been a prolonged exchange of mortar and gun fire and Turbo was told to switch his phone off, get his head down and shut up]

Afghaistanistanei”

”Don’t worry about talking Schneider Greta, Sweden has a few schools and if you attend regularly you should start making sense. You’re not alone; ABC we’re doing a beat up on the fires this morning and described a remote bushfire as Ar

madeggon [sic]

......................................................... ...........sorry, incoming missile...which missed and flew.....

.........futuristic hydrogen fired zero emission aircraft which....

[Turbo is writing this from a secret location in the hills of Afghanistan where he is on a mission and it’s difficult to use captitals, but he has been told some prankster filled in the tunnels to the west. Scott just sent a signal to say the $6000.00 has been approved.

....effect on his finances and he decided to go for these steam gauges that so many Rec Flyers (Av Ref). “I managed to get a cheap steamer” he said “now how do I connect the steam to the gauges.

........ban Drifters.

"They're just a rag and bone relic from the past" said one plastic flyer, and then..........

.......he gets a run, because the Chief Marsall has the final say, and Turbo's not getting any faster.

Speedway was invented in Australia at West Maitland in 1923; the Jawa engine Cappy mentioned was a single cylinder four stroke, magneto fired that could pull stumps started if you looked at it, and lasted for multiple seasons, slow revving, it would be worthy looking at for a small aircraft (avref).

The names bring back memories too; we had a Wong, a Wight a Schitt, a Wing, Clapp

Alby Dorning, the commentator, would often be confused as he called  "It's Wight from Wong who just hit Schitt and Clapp"  or

"Leading the pack is Wight, followed by Wing, Wong Schitt and Clapp"

It's amazing how the memories come back; there were a couple of older riders on a BMW at one stage; they kept to themselves but often got up to 5th or 6th. We never learned their names, thought they were gay, and the commentator just referred to "Number 5"

Turbo decided to put a Jawa in a Drifter (avref), but first decided to run the idea ion WF (avref) to see how much people knew, and......   

Has to be cheaper than owning.

 

If you have the license or cerificate that is, if still learning, they may want your house as garantee you don,t bend it.

 

spacesailor

 

Plenty of schools have aircraft on the line from private owners.

The student phase consistently comes in as the safest in flying, and the flight schools and clubs usually have insurance in the hire fee, so no draconian house forfeits needed.

Hiring is thousands of dollars a year cheaper than owning if you are only a casual flyer.