onetrack

Well, this is certainly looking interesting - but the regulatory and control framework around autonomous aircraft would appear to be lagging behind the design and development stage of this machine.

The big problem as regards kit planes is that the older generation (those over their early 60's) were often taught a trade, and working with your hands wasn't looked down on quite so much as the last 3 or 4 decades.

As a result of the destruction of our trade colleges, and other useful training institutions - plus, the advent of mass production of cheap goods from Asia (along with constant advertising and marketing), the younger ones no longer have the manual skills or trade training to do things, such as build a kit plane.

Add in the constant impact of the Internet and electronic devices, coupled with instant gratification seeking (aided by that smooth and persistent marketing and sales), and the younger people want everything NOW, they want it NEW, and they want it delivered, ready to operate, out of a glitzy box.

Example:  A good mate is a fitter & turner/machinist, a year older than me at 72. He restores and reconditions machine tools. He's rebuilding an older lathe gearbox, and one of his three sons (all born in the 1970's) comes up to him and says, "What are you doing, Dad?"

Dad: "I'm cutting a new gear to replace this damaged one in the gearbox, so I can get the lathe operational again".

Son: "Why don't you just bin this lathe, and buy a new one?"

Dad: "Because these lathes were built to last and to be repaired, and it's wasteful to bin them, just because one gear in the gearbox has stripped teeth".

Son: "Oh. I couldn't be bothered spending the time and effort you put in to fix these old things. I just chuck stuff in the bin and go buy the latest and greatest".

Son goes back to his new iPhone, new laptop and new electronic gaming devices. Makes plans to meet up with mates to have a gaming session. Is looking at trading his car, because it's 6 yrs old and he doesn't want to spend money fixing it, and besides, the new cars look HOT!

He wouldn't think of trying to repair anything on it, anyway, because everything to do with any repairs on cars today, is simply hook up the laptop and OBD reader, get the fault codes, and "scrap that component, go buy a complete replacement component".  

I used to watch the Caribou pilots in Vietnam landing in a strong cross wind. They'd crab at an alarming angle until only a few feet before touchdown, then straighten up with a rudder kick and plonk down smoothly and very neatly, in line with the runway centreline. It was quite amazing to watch.

Strawberry growers, Old K? Yes, the stories we read, they're doing it tough. But in the wanton destruction of ripe strawberry crops, I see a failure to address the current situation, and little attempt to find a way to utilise the fruit.

Many a grower has had to re-adjust their plans to find a different way to process and sell their fruit, when their normal market area collapsed. There must be some options available to use the fruit to produce a strawberry product in a different form.

A friend used to grow about 20 Ha of (irrigated) onions in the late 1970's. But onion prices were notoriously extreme in that era, and when time came to harvest them, the price he was offered was less than the price of production - so, he simply ploughed them all in, rather than pay out more to harvest them. Seemed like total stupidity to me, particularly when onions will store for an extended period under the right storage conditions.

Today, a group of 55 aviators in 23 aircraft, have commenced a Commemorative air trip to celebrate Australia's first scheduled air service - the regular flight service from Geraldton (W.A.) to Derby (W.A.), by the-then Major Norman Brearley, and three aircraft of his fledgling Western Australian Airways, on 5th Dec 1921.

The commemorative trip is being carried out more than three months early, to avoid the Wet season and the extreme heat of the North of W.A. in December.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-16/brearley-commemorative-flight/100463236

It's not well known that Major Brearley beat QANTAS by nearly a year in starting up Australia's first scheduled air service. But the first trip to the North of W.A. in three Bristol Tourers (G-AUDG, G-AUDI & G-AUDK) by the fledging airline, resulted in a terrible tragedy, when G-AUDI crashed for no apparent reason, at Murchison House Station at Kalbarri, after circling another Bristol, G-AUDG, which had made an emergency landing with engine problems, on a bank of the Murchison River.

The crash of the Bristol Tourer G-AUDI, resulting in the deaths of Pilot Bob Fawcett and mechanic Edward Broad, resulted in Brearley suspending W.A. Airways operations for many months, while Brearley attended to improvements in landing grounds in the Northern areas to ensure an increased level of safety. Many of the early landing grounds were "rudimentary", to say the least.

W.A. Airways scheduled services recommenced again on 21st Feb 1922, but only on the shortened Geraldton-Port Hedland sector. The full Geraldton-Derby service was not re-instated until 3rd March 1922.

It's pretty unfortunate that Brearleys scheduled air service started off so badly, and QANTAS' scheduled air service in November 1922, has been more often seen as Australia's first scheduled air service.

But Brearley and his pilots were gallant and true aviation pioneers (along with their passengers!), and the history of W.A. Airways must not be forgotten, when it comes to remembering these brave men and their pioneering, if somewhat unreliable aircraft.

The crash of G-AUDI was eventually deemed pilot error, in that Bob Fawcett had apparently banked too steeply whilst examining a landing area, and had stalled the aircraft from a height of about 50 feet.

Triumph to Tragedy - Remembering the pilot and mechanic killed in Australia's first scheduled air service - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-12/murchison-air-crash-grave-revamp/10221318

Aviation Pioneers of the Outback - https://www.outbackfamilyhistoryblog.com/aviation-pioneers-of-the-outback-of-wa/

"Weekend News" Flashback - Sir Norman Brearley and W.A.Airways - https://catalogue.slwa.wa.gov.au/record=b1908687

Another thing to be aware of in paddock, is low areas that become waterlogged in Winter, and where tractors and plant get bogged, and then get pulled out - leaving massive ruts. These ruts are often not filled in.

Knew a farmer bloke who loved barrelling around his large W.A. wheatbelt farm at speed on his big 600cc Honda trail bike.

All went well until the day he hit a couple of metre-deep ruts (hidden by long rye grass) at 110 kmh - where they'd bogged the Steiger 4WD tractor, the year before.

It was Summer, and the ground was like concrete - including the ruts.

He came off and broke both ankles and a leg, and he ended up using a walking stick in his late 50's. 

Ian, didn't the majority of users agree that the Xenforo software and page layout was less attractive and less user-friendly, than the IPS software we're using now?

Didn't you mention to me earlier this week (and I quote) - "IPS is not an easy to manage software solution like for example Xenforo is, Xenforo is very limited though."

In what way is Xenforo "very limited"? Another forum I am on is going through this "Xenforo or IPS"? soul-searching right at present, as a forum upgrade is planned.

What is to stop Xenforo from pushing their prices up within the near future, as well, so that it ends up costing the same amount in increased costs?

The cost increases seem pretty savage, on a percentage basis. There's nothing "modest" about them. If I got a pay rise of that percentage, I'd be very happy!

One hopes there would be some level of pushback against the size of the cost increase.

.....cattle, known as Herefords, who were happily munching on some........

.....their version of MacBeth for an upcoming show in the new Darraweit Guim multi-storey Performing Arts Centre (which was recently built in record time and under budget by Trackbine Industries).

The MacBeth story is based on Cappys life and political ambitions, and dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power purely for its own sake.

Cappy's poor physical and psychological condition today, can be directly sheeted home to his ruthless driving ambition, which has led to him committing......

.....and he started running for his life. He'd just realised CT had mistaken him for a very big rabbit, and he didn't want to end up as a pelt hanging off the tray of CT's ute.

In his hasty exodus, Cappy had forgotten about.......

Meantimes, here I am in W.A., State population 2.667M, an economy largely booming, thanks to careful COVID-19 control - with a total virus caseload since March 2020 of 1089, total number of deaths 9, and just 3 currently active cases - all of which came from outside the State, and were detected upon arrival.

I know where I'd rather be living if I was given the choice of Florida or W.A. And Mark McGowan, our Premier, has the support of 98% of the electorate.

https://covidlive.com.au/wa

Bull - Florida has a population of 21.4M, just a little less than Australia's population. Floridas policy of "keeping the State open with no lockdowns", has resulted in the deaths of 48,772 Floridans.

If that's a good price to pay for "keeping the economy open" - well, all I can say is, that Florida only represents the very worst of the American Capitalist system - where money assumes a greater value than peoples lives.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/florida/

Bull, you're still missing the point about lockdowns, and preventing "contagious disease" transmission. If everyone just ignores any mandated lockdowns, feels that the regulations don't apply to them, believe that the virus will have little impact on them, then the scene is set for - not "herd immunity" - but a major escalation in death numbers, a major escalation in people being incapacited by sickness over a long period of time, and a large number of businesses being just as severely impacted, as lockdowns might cause.

We are now seeing a major resurgence of the virus in Asia, as many of these Asian nations take a lackadaisical approach to stopping the spread of the virus - which is now seriously impacting their industries with this resurgence, fully 18 mths after the virus initially reared its head.

Vietnam originally claimed it had beaten the virus with very few cases - Vietnam is now currently a basket case of 589,000 COVID-19 cases, such that many of their industries have had to shut down.

FYI, Toyota has just had to scale back monthly vehicle production from 900,000 new vehicles a month to 500,000 vehicles a month, simply because not only is Toyota being directly affected by increasing COVID-19 cases in Japan - all its supplier countries in the region (Thailand, Vietnam, etc) are suffering from the ravages of a major resurgence of COVID-19.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/viet-nam/

The WHO estimates, on current best figures (given that accurate recording of deaths in 3rd world countries is highly deficient, and is possibly much higher than officially recorded), that the death rate from COVID-19 is around 3%-4% - while the death rate from seasonal 'flu is generally around 0.1%.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-similarities-and-differences-with-influenza

Keep in mind that WW2 was a horror of sudden death, diseases, accident and training deaths - yet the U.S. death toll for WW2, over a period of just under 4 years, was a total of 418,500 (military & civilian).

But the COVID-19 pandemic, in a period of approximately 18 mths, has taken the lives of 677,700 people in the U.S., to date - many of whom didn't believe this virus was to be taken seriously.

It amuses me somewhat that the people here who claim that COVID-19 isn't a serious threat to our society, try to match figures from road deaths, heart attacks, strokes, and a dozen other causes of death - all the while conveniently ignoring the fact that none of these other reasons for deaths, are highly transmissible!

What part of "highly contagious disease", resulting in a declared pandemic, don't you understand?

Road deaths, heart attacks and the dozen other death causes compared to COVID-19, have absolutely zero relationship to COVID-19 deaths, as the root causes are completely different!

.......xxxing freezing cold day, particularly when you've just crossed the Antarctic Circle, as Capt Cook did on that day. As a result, Capt Cook had no problem wearing the moleskins with the tight crutch, because everything inside his moleskins had shrunk to one quarter their size, at the point of crossing the AC.

However, it was when Cappy started parading around in the white moleskins with the tight crutch, trying to emulate his famous ancestor, that he was besieged by a horde of schoolgirls, who mistakenly thought he was one of the more famous rock stars (who are prone to wear white jeans with a tight crutch).

But when Cappy protested and shooed the girls away, and the schoolgirls suddenly realised their mistake, they all..........

Flightrite offers no explanations, but he's pretty good on posting one-paragraph vitriolic accusations and belittling, without any proof. Seems just like a former U.S. Presidents modus operandi.

I guess there's a few of them around, and the Rod Culleton Gt Australia Party is a good place for them all to gather - the Party of Alternative Realities.

.....OT decided the 50,000 people he would transport to AA for quarantine would all become honorary AA citizens, and English would be the AA official language, as English is the language of Science and Medicine (you don't find scientific or medical theses in the Inuktitut language, do you? Yes, I thought so!) - and the AA flag would be the Yellow Jack with a white border added, to represent both quarantine and the AA landscape.

OT called up Turbo about assistance with financing the quarantine station on AA - which Turbo was reluctant to do at first - until OT explained how a captive market and audience of 50,000 for Turbine Industries products would be a Godsend to his companys finances overall - whereby Turbo immediately offered $100M to assist with the construction of the station.

Cappy was quite disappointed he'd missed out on a major opportunity to further his career by becoming involved in the quarantine station from the outset, but OT consoled him by offering him a job package that included a $250K salary, a large office, a secretary, a hot line to ScoMo, and a jacket with imposing gold braid, epaulettes and rank insignia, that far outranked any Rear Admiral - even African ones.

Cappy was stunned by this offer, and accepted it with alacrity, pleased that at long last, he would........

Quote

Why not just put huge big tattoos on the unvaccinated, so they can be demonised and attacked just like hitler did in ww2  i,m sure that is what they want isnt it?

This statement is pure right-wing American BS scaremongering, and one of the most stupid statements I've seen here recently. No-one, anywhere, is suggesting they want all the unvaccinated demonised and attacked.

Some of the authorities are going overboard with a demand that anyone employed in a front-line position must be vaccinated - or lose their job. I don't don't believe this is the correct approach, and it's too heavy handed.

I notice some police are already protesting the demand that they be vaccinated or lose their job. I agree with their protest. I certainly wouldn't like to be told, I had to be vaccinated or lose my job, if I was still in the workforce. 

There are far better ways of approaching this problem. Just encourage employees to be vaccinated - and if they object, move them to an area where they have minimal contact with people. A remote rural posting.

There are way too many references to Facebook pages by the anti-vaxxers on previous pages, to give them much credence. Facebook is notorious for aiding misinformation.

Facebook exists to promote Facebook, and more billions for Mark Zuckerberg - not to promote accurate scientific information and health education.

Markdun, you're guilty of faulty logic if you think that someone looking to check your vaccination status, is the same as being accused of a crime.

There's no accusation of committing a crime in being asked for vaccination proof. You're guilty of using Trump logic. You're obliged to carry an MDL when you're driving, and produce it on request (or produce it for viewing at a police station if you happen to have left it behind), and this is not being accused of a crime, it is merely asking for evidence that you are licenced to drive.

What do you do, when you're asked for your MDL when stopped by police? Tell them they have no right to ask such a question, and tell them you've done nothing wrong, and therefore you have a right to proceed on the highways without interference from police, courts or the law? Good luck with that argument, it's been tried in court plenty of times.

It's a simple requirement of our legal and governmental systems that you present ID or evidence of licences when requested by those with policing authority.

Perhaps you simply have a problem with authority?  

Big is not necessarily better, despite the impressiveness of a 747 dropping huge amounts of retardant in one hit. Ants take down large animals with combined effort.

The actual point is to reduce the COVID-19 virus to one where it is not termed a "pandemic". Perhaps you need to check up on the definition of "pandemic", which is exactly what this virus is, and what it has been declared in every country in the world.

Bull - So you're quite happy to have a large number of people unvaccinated, and getting the virus - and reportedly, having 99% of them recovering? - because it's "just a little 'flu"?

There are major problems with that outlook, which comes directly from the Donald Trump School of Misinformation and Twisted News.

For a start, those who are unvaccinated and catch the virus, usually require intensive health care and ventilators. They take up a disproportionate level of health care.

They also suffer from serious, long-term health effects, as result of catching COVID-19 - many of which are still not properly understood. Many COVID-19 victims are still suffering from these health problems many months after catching the virus and recovering. This is an additional burden on our health care system.

Vaccination is a proven method of protection from many diseases since the late 1700's. It has been refined until it has reached a high level of understanding today, as to what works and what doesn't.

Your narrative is grounded in the American fear of authority leading to tyranny, to be avoided at all costs, even if it means your death. This is the narrative of the uneducated and paranoiac, who are fearful of things they don't fully understand, and who are more prepared to believe conspiracies and disinformation, rather than listen to doctors, health professionals and scientists. 

The bottom line is that vaccination is our only way out of this pandemic, to reduce the massive damage that it causes to the unvaccinated and the nation in general. In the future, there will be a line drawn between those who are vaccinated and those who are unvaccinated. Being unvaccinated will be like having a criminal record, which prevents you from doing many things, including overseas travel.

....Trackbine Industries, a proven operator from the West, with a great track (pun intended) record of major projects finished on time, and under budget. OT and his team ripped into the job and had it completed faster and more efficiently than even Wagners Wellcamp Airport. In addition, OT threw in a 2000-person quarantine centre for free, to ensure that Tasmania stayed completely disease-free. 

"Wow, that's just fantastic!", cried bull as he admired his new setup. "Ahh, that's nothing, we do this kind of thing all the time over in the West, you know? We have massive airports in the middle of Nowhere, where you wouldn't even expect an airport!"

However, right about then, bull received a summons. It wasn't good news. It was a charge of being in possession of suspected stolen gold, taken from an area that he hadn't even pegged, and he was also charged with taking gold without a prospecting licence! Bull went quite pale as he read the summons - this wasn't good news, and he'd heard about how cold Risdon Prison was, and he had visions of sharing a cell with......

(And dear NES readers, just to show Trackbine Industries huge capabilities, here's a recent shot of just one of our minor airport construction projects. The area where the airport is, was previously a sizeable mountain range)

You only have to mention Rod Culleton to turn a lot of people off, on the spot. The man's record speaks for itself - failed businessman who took a lot of farmers for a ride, carried on like a pork chop when his company was liquidated, got involved in fights over repossessions, acted like an idiot when he fronted court - he's Australia's Donald Trump, he lives on another planet and has a distorted view of reality.