onetrack

.....Jones, tall thin Jones, slow-walkin' Jones, slow-talkin' Jones ... who heard the evil fiend CT, chuckling and saying to Sweet Sue, "If you don't give me the deeds to your Ranch, I'll saw you all in half......

(dear NES readers - please note the cameo part, played by Cappy in the red and white suit, as he saunters in to save the gal .......)

...... means that instead of popping bunnies in DG, the nocturnal activities have turned to popping dogs, which have become a real nuisance in the DG town centre, ever since CT released a.......

Carolina Barnstormers Spring 2022. Barry did these stunts there last year, too! That Extreme Dominator gyroplane is obviously pretty stoutly built, but he only needs an engine cough at exactly the wrong time, and we'll be reading his obit.

I hope he also checks every highly stressed mast component daily, too!  It's amazing how many YooToobers are cheering him on and "in awe of his skills". I don't know if they'll go and worship at his headstone, though?

I must say I'm impressed with the fuel supply arrangement for that little beast, that it never even looks like spluttering, despite the loops and gyrations.

https://www.rotaryforum.com/threads/barry-flying-his-dominator-at-the-carolina-barnstormers-spring-2021-fly-in.1146275/

I think this is the same little beast - the owners done it up with "U.S. Army" markings and painted it Olive Drab. It appears to me, they like to think they're driving a gunship, and huntin' down Commies!

.....agencies for all brands and models of ultralights - and to help sales along, Sam was soon offering a decent size Kincrome toolkit, free with every new ultralight kit sold. He learnt this sales technique by watching the infomercials on TV, offering free steak knives with every item sold.

Sam had thought about offering a free steak knife set with every ultralight kit, but decided that was cheapening recreational flying down to daytime TV level, and decided against it.

Besides, a set of Kincrome tools was more useful to the average ultralight builder - whereas a set of steak knives might end up being rammed in frustration through every second component in a kit, that didn't line up properly.

Sales rocketed when the news of the free Kincrome toolkits got around, and the ultralight kits rolled up faster than he could find places to store them for pickup - until that fateful day, when the Kincrome  sales agent said, "Sam, you can't....

Those tiny choppers are an extremely risky method of getting airborne. Choppers are extremely sensitive to control inputs at the best of times. The tiny choppers don't carry enough mass to be stable in every adverse situation encountered. The Mosquito helicopter has a pretty abysmal crash record.

But the biggest factor in the risk involved in flying these "bare bones" machines (designs without any cabin) is the lack of a visual reference to the horizon, thanks to a lack of forward-mounted structure. During testing, this feature was found to cause spatial disorientation once out of ground effect, resulting in crashes.

There's some interesting reading below, as regards the Oct 1965 testing of the Hiller YROE-1 Rotorcycle, which had a GTOW of 562lbs (255kgs). The "summary of the pertinent parameters determined" is quite revealing. Despite the U.S. military claiming the Rotorcycle was extremely stable and only took 8 hrs to master, the NASA test results do not support the U.S. military claims. Of course, the military are rarely overly concerned about regular aviation losses.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19650025802/downloads/19650025802.pdf

https://www.si.edu/object/hiller-yroe-1-rotorcycle%3Anasm_A19610202000

26 minutes ago, FlyBoy1960 said:

It would help if you said a few words about the man, what exactly did he do that warrants a museum ?    sorry to ask this dumb question but I just don't know and haven't heard of him

C.A. (Arthur) Butler biographies, below. He did pretty well for a lad who was born dyslexic. He gained his aircraft engineers licence in 1923 and ended up working for the Larkin Aircraft Supply Co, another famous Australian aviation pioneering manufacturer.

From Geoof Goodall's site -

"The first Comper (aircraft) seen in Australia was G-ABRE in which a young Arthur Butler made a record-breaking solo flight from England in October-November 1931.  Butler was an Australian engineer and pilot who had sailed to England to find employment in the aviation industry. When he was ready to return to Australia, Nicholas Comper loaned him G-ABRE to hopefully gain publicity for the Swift design.

Butler repaid his generosity with feverish press coverage of the successful flight and his subsequent 8 week publicity tour from Sydney to Perth, at which he was mobbed by public at each stop. 

Newspapers delighted in reporting that Butler wore carpet slippers while flying the small aircraft, and that on his way to Sydney had landed at the small town of Tooraweenah NSW to propose marriage to his young lady.

After Butler's sales tour of southern Australia, with no sales forthcoming, G-ABRE was quietly shipped back to England.

A new company Swift Aircraft (Australia), 74 Pitt Street, Sydney was formed as sole sales agent for Comper Aircraft. Managing Director was Esmond B. Wilshire.

Arthur Butler subsequently established Butler Air Transport Co, which grew into a significant passenger airline with DC-3s, Herons, Ambassadors and Viscounts before Ansett Airways gained control in 1958, after which it was renamed Airlines of NSW."

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/butler-cecil-arthur-9645

Upon further reading of Geoff Goodalls Comper Swift page, I see that VH-UVC, which is fitted with a Pobjoy engine, is also undergoing restoration (in 2021) by Matt Webber / Luskintyre Aircraft Restorations - so perhaps it is worth a call to them to see if you can acquire the measurements you need. Alternatively, a 345km drive will enable you to examine and measure the engine yourself! (provided that you can gain approval from Matt Weber to do so).

I think it still has the original piston engines, Nev, even though the nacelles look bulky enough to house a turbine. These Aero Commanders were ferried to Australia by the North Atlantic route, 18,500 miles and 110 hours flying time!

They cost £50,000 each ($100,000) in 1959, a serious amount of money in the days when a new Holden sedan cost £1000!

There's 4 fine looking, very impressive military appearance Captains, amongst the ferry pilots there, Nev - are you one of them? 

http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/Aero Commander 560 delivery press release.htm

There's a variety of models with the Pobjoy 7 cyl radial engine, so it's a bit confusing. One site says the basic original Pobjoy P engine (72mm bore) and Pobjoy R engine (77mm bore) is 25" in diameter, and another says the enlarged Niagara V engine (81mm bore) is 26.5" in diameter.

It appears the Comper Swift utilised the smaller bore Model P engine. There also seems to be confusion over the engine naming, with some sites calling all the models either Pobjoy P or R model, and others calling all the models, the Niagara engine, with Roman numerals identifying the development stages.

I get the impression the Niagara was a further development of the P and R models - and then the Niagara appears to have been further developed into the Cataract and Cascade models.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Pobjoy_P

http://www.all-aero.com/index.php/contactus/64-engines-power/13383-pobjoy-niagara-pobjoy-cataract-pobjoy-cascade

Geoff Goodall says there's a Comper Swift under restoration in 2021 at Luskintyre NSW, by Matt Webber / Luskintyre Aircraft Restorations. I initially thought you could possibly get measurements from that machine - then I realised this Swift had been repowered in W.A. in the 1970's with a Gipsy III engine, so that idea is out.

https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/comperswift/comperswift.html

Wow, she's certainly a historic aircraft with a 1959 production year. According to Ed Coates, VH-CAU is one of 4 Twin Commanders ordered by the DCA to replace their Avro Ansons. David Eyre appears to err is saying that only three 560's have been registered in Australia. It would be a nice machine to get fully operational again, but I'd imagine you'd need a fairly big budget to cover the restoration work.

http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austcl/VH-CAU(2).html

https://aeropedia.com.au/content/aero-commander-560/

This one is very nice, and it's new, and ready to fly! - oh, and they're open to offers, too! It's a 4-seater, 145kn cruise, power from 2 x 912S3's at 100HP each, 2000hr TBO, retractable undercarriage, all metal with full epoxy corrosion proofing.

Just have to go for it, and extend the borrowings a little! I was somewhat surprised to see Tecnam have already built 578 of them, so you wouldn't own a "one-hit wonder".

https://www.aviationtrader.com.au/listing/for-sale/213476701/tecnam-p2006t-piston-twin-aircraft

That FB site is private, and only visible to members of that group. If you're genuinely keen on selling an item, that is no way to advertise the item.

That's a little more altitude than the average ultralight would see! They're certainly an impressive sight.

The Himalayas?

Well, the Norks are off the hook, and it wasn't space junk from some other country. The answer is - it was a bullet. A very large one. From an antique, black powder firearm, that was obviously fired in an artillery-style manner - and more than likely, from not too far away from the young couples house. Black powder is a slow explosive and it doesn't produce high velocity bullets, and it doesn't propel bullets long distances.

Whoever did it, should have his firearms licence confiscated, and his firearms removed from his possession. It's an offence to discharge a firearm in a populated area, and it's even greater stupidity to fire up into the air, no matter where you are.

The worst part is, the police aren't interested, and are not going to commence an investigation. I regard that decision as pretty weak, and it just makes you wonder if they know who the shooter is, and are protecting him.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-03/mystery-gympie-object-through-roof-identified-as-bullet/101123628

Peter, you need to get a faster plane! 

On the ground, dirt is your best fire extinguisher, readily to hand, and in quantities that are not likely to run out. The most amazing firefighting stunt I've seen (in a crop fire), was a bloke who rolled up with a disc plough, he set it on a steep angle, and roared off at high speed (for a tractor - 20-25kmh), just shallow cutting about 50-60mm deep - and the dirt thrown up and out (6-8M) and onto the crop on fire, was more effective than any fire truck with water. He put out more fire than 3 fire trucks combined, and he didn't have to worry about running out of water.

......oasted that Wagga Wagga would become the poster boy for airfield redevelopment, Australia-wide, and just the tourism stream from coming to look at it, would be valued at $38.677M, calculated on an annual basis, taking into account seasonal conditions, and external influences.

However, there was a niggling problem that started to raise its head, right after redevelopment started. A company with tenuous links to Turbine Inc., was revealed as the financier behind the project, and it was being rumoured that this company didn't actually have any funds itself, but it was still attempting to raise funds to finance the whole development, mainly from "Mum and Dad" Asian investors, plus the odd Chinese company manager, who had some miscellaneous "surplus" funds to invest. 

As the project started to flounder thanks to subbies not being paid, suppliers still waiting for payment after 6 months, wages arrears, superannuation not being paid - plus the lunches tab at the local lunch bar being outstanding for so long, the lunches became "cash only" - and the whole deal was starting to look like the wheels were falling off, before it even got off the ground, so to speak.

Turbo announced he'd hold a special meeting to address the funding concerns, and soothe the growing anger. He took the podium, and no sooner than he'd arranged his notes, than the first tomato landed on his.......

Here's a fairly identical compact fire extinguisher product located in Australia. The FAQ's are useful. If you wait for a minute while on the site, an extra $15 discount offer pops up. Of course, that involves signing up to marketing emails.

https://assentpro.com.au/products/fire-stryker?variant=40055831396546

The worst part about fire extinguishers is you usually empty them on some strangers fire, and get no thanks, or replacement for it. If you use it to save a mate, that's the price of mateship.

Many a firefighting attempt is bungled with trying to determine if the fire extinguisher is suitable for the fire, extinguishers not checked and pressurisation depleted, and fumbles and struggles with locking mechanisms, due to unfamiliarity. 

Is that Snoopy's younger brother? With those aviator sunnies, he obviously drives an enclosed cabin aircraft, or he'd be wearing WW1 goggles, as Snoopy does.

Well, if you don't like the blue stripes, you can choose red, yellow, or green as well. It seems your poor opinion of the livery is shared by a number of the commenters at the bottom of the article below. The design certainly polarises people.

I feel for the crew who have to wear the same coloured outfits!

https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2022/04/09/the-big-picture-condor-unveils-new-striped-livery/

I would guess that smoke in the cockpit of light aircraft presents as a more common event, and a precedent of flames. Smoke in a small cockpit would have to be very life-threatening, very quickly, and it could also cause problems with viewing instruments.

There doesn't appear to be any standard format to follow with light aircraft when smoke appears in the cockpit, apart from ventilating the cockpit, and trying to identify and eliminate the source of the smoke. 

I would have to opine you'd only use an extinguisher as a last resort, when you're actually seeing visible flames. It would be a situation of simply trying to do the best you could do, under the circumstances.

https://www.australianflying.com.au/news/what-can-we-learn-handling-smoke-in-the-cockpit

Some good reading in the link below. To eliminate confusion between "BCF" in extinguishers, and "BCF" as in the retailer (because BCF sell marine extinguishers that are dry powder), BCF extinguishers are more often known as Halon extinguishers.

Halon gas is used where expensive components can be damaged by other types of extinguishers.

They're commonly used in confined, enclosed areas, where opening up that area to access for a firefighting stream, can cause a flashover (i.e. - a major thermal runaway event when areas in a fire zone are at a high temperature, but not actually burning, and the opening up of the area creates an inrush of oxygen-laden air which results in an immediate, major upsurge in the fire event).

Halon is quite toxic as regards inhalation (as well as damaging to the environment), and smoke hoods are recommended when using Halon in confined areas such as cabins. However, in a cockpit, you simply need to be aware of the breathing toxicity.

https://skybrary.aero/articles/halon-fire-extinguishers

......the day he employed a dyslexic embosser. The dyslexic embosser scrambled all the letters in the assets embossing, until Turbo didn't know his A from his Z.

He thought he was losing it, as the orderliness went out the window. He had to do something to clear his mental confusion. This called for a blast in the Drifter to clear the confusion from his mind.

As someone else had previously noted, "I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things". So Turbo climbed into the Drifter embossed "A1", and took off.

But the main problem that developed from then, was the dyslexic embosser had marked Turbo's Drifter as "Z1", and Turbo had taken someone elses Drifter, not his!

The owner of A1 arrived to find his Drifter missing, and all hell broke loose. An alert was put out to notify authorities to keep an eye open for Drifter A1, and to detain the offender who stole it, as soon as they were sighted landing in it.

Turbo arrived back at the airstrip and was extremely pleased to see a huge crowd gathered, obviously waiting for him. He thought to himself, "How nice it is, to see how popular I am, and how many people wish to gather, to greet me on my return!"

But as he got closer, his pleasure evaporated, as the appearance of some of the people on the ground was less than welcoming. In fact, it was only when Turbo saw the weapons being waved, that he........

It's good to have a very thorough understanding of weather, too many people have died because of their lack of understanding of weather conditions, and adverse signs in the sky.