onetrack

Wowee! You wouldn't want to get caught up in that, would you!! 

I can recall reading about a pilot in Germany many years ago, who flew a glider into a cumulonimbus cloud. The glider broke up with the vicious air currents in the cloud, and the pilots body was found miles away - encased in ice!!

Wheel studs are pretty reliable, and have a lot of inbuilt strength. The three biggest problems are;

1. Tyre-fitter dills using torque wrenches to fully tighten nuts, instead of just snugging them up, and finishing them off by hand.

2. Extremely dry threads and rust causing stud thread pickup ("galling"). I always use a tiny bit of anti-seize - despite Toyota stating that no lubricant should be used on wheel studs.

3. The failure to understand that steel wheels utilise a tapered cone for the nut - but alloy wheels virtually always utilise a flat seat and a steel washer under the nut.

You get people using coned nuts on alloy rims, when they have a flat seat - which is a recipe for losing wheels.

The standard wheelbrace in the vehicle toolkit is all you need to use, to reach the required nut torque - but the nuts tighten with extended use, and generally require extra leverage to undo.

Turbo brings up a very good point about ensuring mating surfaces are clean, and free of paint, dirt, dust etc.

.....a place where they could watch numerous Drifters crawl painfully into the sky, while they sat on their camp chairs outside their vans, and discussed things of global importance and gravity - such as whether brown bread was more nutritious than white bread.

During one of these long lazy Spring afternoons, while the Grey Nomads sat and sorted out the worlds pressing problems, a strange aircraft arrived at Wodonga airfield.

While it was Canopys regular job to ensure that no-one without proper authority got past the airfield gate (after all, security was his forte) - and that arrivals were extensively and thoroughly scrutinised upon landing - this particular afternoon, Canopy had delegated his crucial security job to a minor subordinate.

This was a huge mistake on Canopys part, as the junior subordinate had no security experience - and even worse, had little aviation experience. He didn't even know what an ASIC card was - let alone an ASIO card. The strange aircraft landed within a short distance, turned around and then pop-popped its way up to the terminal building. Amongst the assembled watchers, there was one interested...........

I've seen fully reconditioned engines stored in a regular dry warehouse lock up with corrosion in the bores within 2 years. Oil drains off vertical surfaces enough to allow corrosion to start, with 3 months.

As OME says, learn how to preserve your engine. Anyone who owns a fossil-fuel powered machine that doesn't start it, and run it up to operating temperature once a month, is looking for trouble.

You don't ever want to fit a Roots-type blower, the rotor scream will drive you insane!

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The front cylinder cheeks will need to be made a bit wider in the case I reduce compression with cylinder shims. 

Glen, you will have to reduce the compression ratio if you fit a turbocharger, or the increased heat level at TDC will cause pre-ignition - unless you move to a much higher octane fuel.

.....premium-grade Rose nursery. However, many communication problems that originated around Canopys and Ah Weekly's regular intel reports, came about, due to the fact that many of the ASIO operators pronounced Canopys sidekicks surname wrongly.

So, "Ah-Weekly Phong" was regularly spoken of as "a weekly pong", which led to huge misunderstandings at headquarters, as large quantities of air-freshener were ordered by the ASIO logistics providers, and forwarded to Canopy and Ah-Weekly - when in fact, what they really needed, was........

From the article below ......

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Iran is also well known to have entire networks dedicated to circumventing sanctions and acquiring various military and dual-use tech, as does Russia and especially North Korea. Everything from fake cutout companies to just straight-up theft could account for some engines, and that is on top of the secondary marketplace. In other words, there are likely many vectors for Iran to get its hands on Rotax engines.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/rotax-engine-found-in-iranian-mohajer-6-drone-downed-over-ukraine

Another graduate from the "Bud" Holland school of flying training? As Blanco Lirio says, where was the need to fly so recklessly in pursuit of a small fire in rugged terrain, in gusty conditions, where that fire didn't really pose a major threat to life and limb? He banked nearly vertical at a very low altitude, and obviously right near stall speed. The outcome is completely predictable, when there's only 300-400 feet between you and the terrain.

The Dutch conducted the MH17 investigation simply because the vast majority of the victims on MH17 were Dutch nationals.

It is not true that no Russian participation was allowed, and no Russian evidence was admitted.

The Russians refuse point blank, to take any responsibility for the crash, have tried to undermine and block the MH17 investigation at every turn, and have refused to participate in the investigation.

When alleged offenders refuse to participate in any investigation into their potential crimes, the investigation continues without their input.

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What happened to caveat emptor? 

Caveat emptor was deemed illegal by sharp lawyers, and they have turned it around to "Caveat Venditor" . There has to be a balance somewhere, and I guess the balance swings back and forth a fair amount, before the scales level out.

I always remember my insurance broker telling me that all insurance policy relationships operate on the basis of good faith - i.e., the insurance company believes you are being straightforward and honest, and not indulging in deception when you provide all the relevant insurance particulars. 

And the insured relies on the good faith of the insurance company, that it will do what it says in the documentation, to the letter of the law. Unfortunately, this is not often the case, and good faith in insurance companies is often sorely tested by their devious behaviour when insurance payouts have to be made.

Add in the fact that large insurance companies have virtually unlimited monetary resources when it comes to lawsuits, and the balance is not there, when individuals with little by way of financial resources, have to take them on.

It's an unfortunate fact of life that many sellers are less than truthful when selling items, and are often intent on hiding faults, or a less-than-stellar history of use, and are fully intent on maximising the sale price, regardless of the outcome.

That is why when a large purchase investment in a highly complex item of machinery is being contemplated, it always pays to seek out independent professional advice as to the likelihood of any potential problems in the machine or its history.

The linked article below is a U.S. site, based on U.S. laws - but Australia follows U.S. legal decisions and legislation more closely today, than it ever did in the past.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/caveatemptor.asp

The British de Havilland DH.106 Comet jetliner was designed and built by engineers, and fell out of the sky multiple times. The first two production aircraft blew apart with explosive decompression in normal flight. Out of 114 Comets built, 26 crashed - an abysmal safety record.

Yet, hundreds and hundreds of aircraft have been designed, built, and flown successfully, by people who possessed little official aeronautical and engineering qualifications.

Selby Ford was the Beverley (W.A.) powerhouse manager with a modest level of electrical training - but no official aeronautical or engineering training. Yet he built a "home-built" aircraft (the "Silver Centenary") that survives to this day, and it has never crashed.

Yet, Captain C. H. Nesbitt, who did the largest portion of the flying hours that the Silver Centenary accumulated - without incident - was killed when the almost new, "professionally-built-and-engineered" de Havilland Puss Moth he was flying in, had a massive wing spar failure in normal flight. 

In a short space of time from initial production, nine Puss Moths crashed, killing numerous skilled aviators - including Bert Hinkler. An Aeronautical Research Committee had to be assembled to determine the cause of the regular Puss Moth wing spar failures, and what could be done about it. So much for highly educated engineers and aeronautical designers!

Yes, I believe Sabco came under intense scrutiny after a number of unexplained crashes of this model. Sabco protested that the model was being used outside its design parameters, and therefore they could not be held liable.

CASA still have an ongoing investigation into the crashes, and the investigation should be formally completed around 31 Oct 2029.

The delay is being caused by the need to question the head of a group originally based in Salem, that is believed to be the main user of the model. The group now appears to be global, thus complicating the questioning process.

From the Courier Mail - "Two men have been injured after a ultralight crashed on landing at Caboolture airport, with emergency services currently on scene. More to come."

....out laughing. "You proud Gulgugary Men are always bragging about your legendary capabilities, but how is a Gulgugary Man going to cope when the missiles start dropping around your ears?"

"No wucken' furries, Bro!", said AHNgingeri. "We been used to hurling big spears at each other, and dodgin' 'em, for forty tousand years! Not much difference between dem and a few hundred dodgy Russian missiles dat don't go off half da time, eh? Bring 'em on, Bro!"

At this, Vlodomir stopped laughing. These Australians, and particularly the ones from around Wagga with the mostly indigenous ancestry, seemed to be made of the right stuff, and perhaps they could show the Ukrainians.......

Yes, that engine material, that is largely of Chinese origin today, is well known for not being able to meet the rigorous temperature requirements of high speed flight. They always fail to meet the specifications - largely due to cost-cutting, I believe.

The biggest single problem with academia, is the often large disconnect between research studies, results, and figures, and their application in real-life practical terms. There's a lot to be said for getting academics out into the workforce, and the real world of practical problems, that are often solved simply by pragmatic people. 

I used to run into this problem with tertiary-degree, highly trained mining engineers, who, despite their good mining engineering knowledge, thought that mining engineering knowledge translated into practical earthmoving equipment and principles knowledge.

As a result, they would insist on trying to control the operation and methods of the wide range of earthmoving equipment used in shifting ores and waste - with the result that major inefficiencies and higher costs involved in moving the material developed - simply because they failed to understand the basics of earthmoving equipment principles and operation - but they thought their university-acquired mining engineering knowledge covered that area.

I read a book about railways by one Ron Fitch, who was Western Australia's first tertiary-educated railways engineer - in 1929. Prior to that date, there was not one single tertiary-qualified railways engineer, in any West Australian railways construction project, or railways operation!

But virtually all the railways in W.A. were installed between 1886 and 1917 - by people with no tertiary education! These railways were also all operated successfully by thousands of men with no tertiary qualifications!

These people constructed and operated railways on the basis of time-honoured basic calculations, and on-the-job training by older men, who possessed a vast store of practical, on-the-job experience and knowledge.

It's interesting to note, that even normally good reference sources, still fail to mention the dangerous vortex risk posed by helicopters. They appear to concentrate on the risk posed by heavy aircraft.

https://www.skybrary.aero/articles/wake-vortex-turbulence#:~:text=Vortices typically persist for between,the lower air density there.

The constant wet weather and regular flooding of roads in Victoria and NSW is probably the biggest single factor in the proliferation of potholes. The adhesion between the asphalt and the underlying road base is substantially lowered with continuous wet road conditions, which makes the asphalt lift.

Once a small piece of asphalt lifts, it's only a matter of a short time of repeated hammering by thousands of tyres and the small pothole becomes a big one.

Cracks in asphalt with road movement (and road formations do flex regularly under heavy loads), leads to water ingress that gets in between the asphalt and road base, and that is how and where the majority of seal adhesion failure occurs.

In the old days, the highways depts would send road workers out with a watering can of hot liquid bitumen, that they would pour onto asphalt cracks, to prevent water ingress.

Constant cost reductions, and the dangers of working amongst heavy traffic travelling at high speed, has seen this job largely disappear.

.....someone in CASA found out about a highly illegal fleet of Drifters, fully armed, running way over factory authorised MTOW, and operating in the Ukraine, using Australian registrations. 

The managers in CASA were apoplectic. Not only was this a major infringement of nearly every regulation they'd drawn up over more than 20 years, it was reflecting badly on CASA, that these operators could thumb their nose at CASA regulations, thinking they were outside any reach of CASA. However, the pilots of these Drifters were soon to find out just long the reach of the CASA operatives really was, when Cappy and bull landed, and faced a furious.........

You would probably be surprised at the number of stolen Rotaxes, or Rotaxes purchased with cash money from wrecked aircraft here, that end up in sea containers, listed as some other type of goods - that go to a 3rd world country with lax importation checks - and the sea container is then transhipped to Iran, without being opened or inspected. The Iranians aren't going to reject imports of useful items that benefit their arms industry.

A typical useful 3rd world transhipment destination is the big island directly to our North.

I can remember a bloke from NSW who had his Toyota Prado disappear from its parking spot in the street in Sydney a few years ago. He duly claimed insurance, as the vehicle could not be located anywhere here - not intact, nor even as a wreck.

Then, about a year later, he takes a holiday to India - and whilst touring in a rickshaw, he sees his Prado going the other way on the road! - still complete with its NSW number plates!!

Devious nations, Govts and arms dealers, know how to acquire the necessary equipment, even when it is banned from sale to their country. It involves the same level of deviousness as drug dealers indulge in - hiding goods in crates marked as some other product, corrupting customs/border force/quarantine employees to look the other way, sending goods via torturous routes via other countries, that throws investigators off the scent - or importing "parts" in separate shipments, that are then assembled in-country, into the final required product.

They also purchase goods via innocuous and unsuspecting third-party legitimate businesses, and then transfer ownership to uncheckable companies located in tax havens, thus hiding the true ownership of the goods.

Spacey, you're asking for trouble having different size/width front and rear tyres. It always gets me how manufacturers can get away with those deadly, skinny, "temporary" spare wheels? They're simply an accident waiting to happen.

Well, slow reflexes were certainly behind it - along with, more than likely, inadequate tread depth on rear tyres. Yes, alcohol and drugs feature right up there in the reasons behind many crashes. Medical episodes, not generally so much.

Every now and then, the webmaster of a site takes his eye off the ball, and a website he's supposed to be maintaining and taking general care off, goes down - because a server failed, a certificate expired, or some programming glitch occurred, which made the site programme crash. The only way to fix it, is to contact the webmaster of the site and advise the site will no longer connect to internet users.