onetrack

.......and at that, DG immediately became known as the place where hard men lived, lives were short and fast, guns were in huge abundance, and produced at every minor argument, and most of the population lived underground, to avoid the sudden death that came with popping your head up unwisely, at any sound that could be................

Yes, that's good thinking in one respect, but grubs also live in grass, in their root systems, and plenty of birds go looking for grubs in the grass. I was watching the black kites on the oval directly adjacent to the Broome runway, and was surprised to see them walking considerable distances around the oval, checking the grass, and occasionally digging a grub or two out of it. There was a gathering of about 20 kites in one group, and quite a number of individual kites walking around. The grass on the oval is very short. I was quite interested in this behaviour, because I've never seen them on the ground much, they're usually spend 98% of their time just floating in big circles about 150'-200', looking for prey. They flock to any fires, knowing full well the fire is flushing out small prey. Cocos-Keeling islands runway on West Island provide some amusement, as regards bird discouragement. The runway has golf fairways each side, and the islands are full of wild bantams, brought there by the Cocos Malays. The bantams are fast and good flyers, and they can fly several hundred metres at probably 50'-60' altitude. They come out of the thick vegetation each side of the runway, and go looking for insects on the golf fairways. Discouragement of the bantams around the runway consists of a fast run down the runway in the airport ute, with all lights going! This makes all the bantams scatter, and fly back into the thick vegetation! This routine is carried out directly before each takeoff, whilst the aircraft is taxiing, to reduce the risk of bantam ingestion!

I'm in Broome at present, and it's a planespotters paradise of course, with everything from Cessnas to big and small choppers, B737's, A320's and a range of various size turboprops between about 10 and 30 seaters, all barrelling over the main streets of town at low enough altitude to nearly see the brand marks on the tyres. What surprised me is there appears to be no attempts at discouragement of birds around the airport, and there are PLENTY of them - all hanging around town, Roebuck Bay, and the airport, where all the food is, I guess. The black kites are a pretty big bird, much large than even the biggest ravens. However, the ravens seem to know where to avoid aircraft, but the black kites just don't care. The kites are constantly circling in steady glides with an occasional wing flap - and I watched a Cessna on descent roar overhead, at less than 200 feet altitude - and he passed directly over the top of two circling kites that were right in the flight path, and they never even changed their pattern. I reckon he only missed them by about 30 or 40 feet, I guess he would've seen them, but he made no course alteration to avoid the kites. I started checking up, and was surprised to find that not a single crash of an RPT due to bird strike, has been recorded in over 65 years of commercial aviation in Australia. There have been incidents of bird strikes where aircraft have had to return and land, due to bird strike damage, but never any incident where a bird or birds has brought an RPT aircraft down. Just goes to show, that the design engineers have bird strike protection well covered.

.......misheard what he was supposed to bring to the piss-up. However, Frankenstein soon turned out to be a riot, with his clown face, and antics such as digging up corpses for body parts. CT9000 was quite perturbed when he realised one of the "unwise men" he'd buried surreptitiously, appeared to arise on the third day (with the assistance of Frankenstein, of course), and when this unwise man was promptly produced at the piss-up, by Frankenstein, it gave CT9000 such a start, that he took to.........

One struggles to understand why a pilot with long standing in the aviation community, supposedly excellent piloting skills, and a fine aircraft, would place themselves in such a high-risk environment, as in flying right over the top of the Snowy Mts in seriously adverse weather and even more dangerous terrain. No doubt it will also puzzle the ATSB investigators, as well. One can only presume that old trait of complacency, that often comes with long experience, was the reason behind his poor decision-making.

That's excellent news. Now the real learning starts.

.......totally unaware of what all the words to the Hymn were, anyway - because he'd lost his Hymn book on the way in to the Strip Club. Now, it's not generally known that Cappy regularly carries a Hymn book and a clerical collar stuffed inside his shirt. This is because he managed to escape a very, VERY, sticky situation many years ago, whereby he was almost certainly going to be pounded to a pulp by a gang of threatening thugs - when he suddenly realised he was carrying the Hymn book and the clerical collar, purely by accident. So, as the thugs were advancing on him, Cappy promptly donned the clerical collar, and held out the Hymn book towards the thugs, saying, "I come in Peace, brothers, and may the Lord look............

A body has been retrieved from the aircraft wreckage at around 3:00PM EST today, and it is believed that it is the body of the pilot, David Stephens. The body is currently being examined to produce formal identification. The crash appears to be a high speed impact with terrain, an unsurvivable crash, and with wreckage spread over a sizeable area. Body found in Snowy Mountains amid search for missing pilot David Stephens - ABC News WWW.ABC.NET.AU A body believed to be that of a missing pilot has been located in the wreckage of a plane in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains.

.....immediately, as always when things were hotting up, Cappy couldn't be found. But Turbo knew of his weakness for Wahinis, and went looking for him, at the hard-to-find, Wahini Strip Club and Poker Joint. You must all know of the place, it has a discreet small sign, saying, "Liquour in the front, Poker in the Rear". The club and its entrance were extremely well hidden, and this was because of the local leaders disapproval of such a decadent place in Tahiti, due to their Missionary upbringings. But Cappy, as always, was right into decadence and outrageous behaviour - and as soon as Turbo gained entrance to the Club (having garnered the secret entrance password by raking through Cappys wardrobe), he immediately spotted Cappy in the throes of.........

They are a big bird, for sure, but nowhere near 20 kgs. The references all state around 6kg as a maximum body weight. Their sheer size does make them look like they weigh 20kgs, though. I've raised a wedgetail eagle from a hen-sized chick to full adult size, after we unintentionally knocked its nest down during clearing operations. This was 50 years ago, when there were no laws on keeping or raising wildlife. We called him Samson, but it's quite possible he was a she, because we never sexed the bird. When Samson was full grown, his wingspan was huge, easily 2.4M. Their talons are massively powerful, and razor sharp. They're utterly fearless, as most aviators would know, they see light aircraft simply as intruders onto their territory, and are often quite prepared to confront them. They love attacking and destroying drones. Samson kept every dog that sighted him, utterly cowed. But even a 6kg bird hitting your aircraft when you're travelling at 90kts, is enough to do a lot of damage. Wedge-tailed eagle - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

More expansive information from the ABC ... Wreckage of missing plane located in Snowy Mountains, no update yet on pilot David Stephens - ABC News WWW.ABC.NET.AU The wreckage of the plane was located on Thursday afternoon by a rescue helicopter, with NSW Police yet to provide an update on the pilot.

Well that report diverges in a major fashion from the preliminary report, which stated that one pilot asked "Why did you cut off fuel?" - and a reply was recorded as, "I didn't".

The aircraft is indeed, the Beech 35-C33, rego VH-KZK. It's a 1966 model originally registered in Oklahoma, then it was imported to W.A. in 1967 and put on Australian registration as VH-KZK. Powered by a Conty IO-470. The search resumed again this morning, reported heavy snowfalls in the region - with very rugged terrain, it must be a slog for search crews. No updates at this time. Ed Coates information about the aircraft is pretty good, but not entirely correct, it wasn't new when it came into W.A. https://airport-data.com/aircraft/N2045W.html https://airport-data.com/aircraft/VH-KZK.html /graphics/ICAOtype/BE33.gif Incident Beechcraft 35-C33 Debonair VH-KZK, Tuesday 15 July 2025 ASN.FLIGHTSAFETY.ORG A Beechcraft 35-C33 Debonair, carrying one occupant is missing in the area of Snowy Mountains, New South Wales. <br />Search operations are being conducted. VH-KZK WWW.EDCOATESCOLLECTION.COM

Nev, the 10 seconds is being taken out of context, because there's no timeline on the voices in the cockpit, and no full record of cockpit conversation - and no audio record produced, of cockpit noises. I'm reliably informed the clicking of switches and controls is picked up by the CVR, despite the noise of the engines. I suppose, if a devious criminal act was being carried out on the fuel cutoff switches, it would be possible to switch them relatively silently, by keeping hold of the spring-loaded locking collars, and lowering them slowly onto the notched locking ring. That would certainly darken the picture for investigators. The ball is in the Indian crash investigators court, there is a need for a lot more CVR and FDR information.

Check the dimensions of your old o-ring. MS29513-007 is listed as a fuel drain valve seal with the following specs. I've even included the metric dimensions, as you appear to be challenged by imperial/inch dimensions. 😄 O-ring ID: 0.145" (3.683mm) Thickness: 0.070" (1.778mm) Preformed packing Hydrocarbon fuel resistant MS29513 Series o-ring (The last numbers after the dash, are the size indicator. i.e., MS29513-008 is the next size up, in that fuel resistant o-ring style) This a military-grade o-ring, so should be highly satisfactory for your use - even suitable for when you go gunning for someone. 😄

Highly unlikely, as the thread sizes vary, so the o-rings would vary accordingly.

I second Area-51, the brown and green Viton o-rings are exceptionally durable. I keep them in a PVC ziplock bag in the top sliding drawer of my toolbox - where you always know where they are, because you have to shove them aside, to get the tools out. 😄

Clinton, I posted a link to the ABC News article just as you were posting.

News media are reporting a light aircraft with only the pilot on board, has failed to arrive at its planned destination at Moruya after leaving Wangaratta earlier yesterday. Emergency services were notified at 4:30PM yesterday and AMSA have been searching with their Challenger jet, and the Victorian ambulance emergency medical helicopter, and a Toll rescue helicopter from Bankstown are assisting. The search was suspended at 4:00PM today due to poor weather conditions. AMSA has reported they suspect the aircraft has crashed in rugged terrain E of Khancoban in NSW. Police are saying their search area is in the region of Dargal Trails in the Jugungal Wilderness area. Overall, the scenario outcome doesn't look good. Search for missing plane underway in NSW Snowy Mountains - ABC News WWW.ABC.NET.AU The search was launched after aircraft, with one occupant aboard, failed to arrive at its destination on the state's Far South Coast.

Thanks Ian, for all your good work. I'd just like to add, to all websites users - Please ensure you assist Ian with the website running costs - it's only $50 a year to become a full member, and even if you're cash-strapped, I'm sure he'd appreciate any level of donation to help offset website running costs, which run into many hundreds of dollars a year. With this site, you get free classifieds, free valuable aviation information, aviation camaraderie, plenty of opinions, and many aviation contact opportunities, so I believe the small annual donation requested is pretty good value.

Garfly, the timeline is definitive, there's no place for ASSUMING any action. The fuel cutoff switches were moved to OFF, and then returned to ON, between 10 and 14 seconds later. That's not cycling the switches to reset the engine EEC's, as recommended in the POH checklist, you would expect a cycling of the switches would be much faster - and the timeline says the engine thrust ceased AFTER the switches were moved. Take a look at the above video I linked to, starting at 27:33, and stop the video at 29:19 when the timeline appears. Capt Sam Thomas' assumption is, that a double engine failure can happen spontaneously, but nothing in the B787 design, nor in the timeline, support his assumption. In fact, his assumption is based on a conspiracy to blame the crew. Conspiracy theories are easy to promote, but far harder to prove, as they rely on multiple actions in concert, in a planned path, by multiple agencies or persons, and all with a common supposed agenda. As a result, conspiracy theories should get short shrift in any professional investigation.

The blokes in the video below are very, very good. They're aircraft maintainers and crash investigators, and they're three proper experts sitting around having a clinical discussion of the facts. They're not scripted, as are many of the YooToob "crash experts". They savage a lot of the airline captains who present as crash experts, but lack maintainer and crash investigation knowledge. They absolutely slam the wild theorists, the conspiracy merchants and the outright loonies who propose answers with little logical reasoning and even less technical knowledge. They point out that the lag in providing information by the Indians was a factor that has led to stupid opinions on the reasons for the crash. They also point out the preliminary report information is deficient, and hope that further AAIB information will be more enlightening. But they come to the logical conclusion that no matter what the potential for computer or data glitches, the simple fact remains that the switches were physically moved, they were moved by one of the crew, they were physically returned to run by one of the crew, and that the fuel shutoff valves functioned precisely as designed - from off and back to on, on instructions from the physical movement of the cutoff switches. A software glitch must be eliminated in this conclusion, as it is basically impossible for it to happen in the above defined events timeline. The conclusion can only be that the cutoff switches were moved in a criminal act, or in a "brain fart" action that seems incredible, but which as we know, can happen, because humans are humans, and they do stupid things. This video is a little long-winded, and you can skip the few minutes in the centre where they talk to an underwriter in an "infomercial" - but overall, it is a worthy watch.

......relegate both himself and Turbo to history as minor players, on a par with Capt James Cooks crew, who fell under the spell of the Wahinis, and who had to be physically dragged back on board the Endeavour. In fact, to this very day (as Cappy is one of Capt Cooks direct descendants), Cappy immediately turns into a dribbling incoherent shell of his normal self, immediately he sights a Wahini in a traditional costume (that's topless, of course). Cappys displays of socially unacceptable and uninhibited behaviour in this arena, have led to him being...........

As with all investigations trying to discover all the facts, the timeline, the motives, and to examine all the potential scenarios, the worst approach is to rapidly come to a conclusion, and to then make the facts fit the conclusion one has come to. Many Police forces have failed dismally when trying to solve major crimes with limited evidence, damaged crime scenes, lies, and often, seemingly no motive - because they approached the cases with preformed ideas, and ignored seemingly small pieces of information, instantly considering them as having no value, and dismissing them from the investigation. In essence, despite air crash investigations being based on avoiding the placement of blame on any one party, the principles of crime investigation should also be applied to air crash investigations, to ensure that even the tiniest piece of evidence of the crash cause or causes, is not ignored, or dismissed out of hand. There is sufficient power pressures at play in this major crash (almost on a par with the Erebus crash), that suspicion is harboured in many quarters, that political or corporate pressure will be applied to ensure that either Air India, Boeing, or even the Indian Aviation regulator come out of the investigation, squeaky clean. An interesting factor now is that a U.K. based law firm, intent on placing blame on a particular party involved in the crash, has commenced its own separate crash investigation, utilising the skills and knowledge of a very senior commander from the IAF. I do feel that this law firms investigation may be skewed from day one - and they are still reliant on the AAIB providing them with information, whereupon the AAIB may withhold critical information if it reflects badly on Air India or Indian aviation training, or the Indian Aviation regulator. However, it's perhaps not a bad thing to have another investigation running alongside the primary AAIB one, to maybe uncover facts or issues that the AAIB may overlook, or ignore. I've seen one of the victims relatives describe the preliminary report as "reading like a product review", rather than placing all the facts on the table. The preliminary reports failure to address the timing of the crew voices on the CVR, and to identify those particular voices, is something that seems to be a major failure in the report and has numerous aviation experts carrying on at length about the 10 second delay in returning the fuel cutoff switches to run. That 10 second delay could easily be explained if the voice records had been given a precise timeline in the preliminary report. There would almost certainly be a "WTF" few seconds in the cockpit as the engines spooled down, power to the displays flickered (as it does in the switching from the primary generators to backup power), and a visual check of thrust control positions was carried out, immediately after major thrust failure.

Aircraft Spruce says they should be replaced, not repaired. Curtis Pipe Thread Drain Valve - CCA-1650 | Aircraft Spruce Australia WWW.AIRCRAFTSPRUCE.COM.AU Curtis Pipe Thread Drain Valve - CCA-1650 Quick opening brass drain valve for aircraft oil or fuel systems. A slight twist opens valve.