onetrack

That's a far better view than the one you get from the Bastion (Five Rivers Lookout)! - although the lookout view is still quite impressive!

You wouldn't want to do an emergency landing on those mudflats, the crocs just at the jetties in Wyndham are MASSIVE!! - and they'd be homing in on you, quick-smart, on those mudflats!

The missus and I flew from Sabiha Gokcen to Cairo in 2013 on Egypt Air. The aircraft was 3 hrs late and the driver drove it like it was a Greek taxi. Seatbelt use was apparently optional for most pax of local descent.

Thought we were glad to hit the ground in one piece in Cairo, but the fun then started, when we landed on dusk at Ramadan, and we missed our connecting flight with Qatar to Doha.

I didn't do my homework on Cairo Airport terminals, and didn't realise there were three terminals up to three kms apart. The shuttle bus wouldn't stop to pick us up - but then, when one did, the driver promptly pulled into the bus depot after a km, shut the bus off, and went home, because he hadn't eaten all day!

Then a taxi driver with the greatest POS of a taxi I've ever ridden in, charged us US$20 to take us a bit over a kilometre to the terminal where Qatar left from.

Spending a night stuck in the Cairo airport, with no help from anyone, and all airport offices closed while everyone went home to eat and sleep, wasn't an experience we would want to endure again.

Airport Security was non-existent and people wandered back and forth through the "Secure" and "Non-secure"areas, like sheep in a paddock.

Then a bloke was wheeled in on a makeshift trolley, suffering numerous wounds from local factional fighting, bandaged and bleeding, and moaning and groaning.

He was wheeled off through some distant doors to some waiting aircraft somewhere, obviously to get decent treatment for his wounds.

The Qatar office didn't open again until 3:30AM - then Middle Easterners waving "baksheesh" in large rolls of notes, got served first, over Westerners.

Finally, when we did get served, it was pay another $325 Eygptian Pounds (each) for a ticket re-issue, because we missed the flight. So, we thought we were set, when we got our 1st class tickets issued again, and we took the lift to the VIP lounge.

But the VIP lounge was merely an open-to the-air rooftop setting! - complete with hordes of flies! Made us feel like we were 4WD camping in the Outback of Australia!

Add in the waiters who brought the prepared food in for the bain maries - and then placed the full food trays on the floor, while they removed the old trays from the bain marie!

Cairo (and Egypt) is well down my list of places to revisit, and I reckon Pakistan is probably well behind Cairo.

It looks like she was knocked up in a Russian Tractor factory. Nothing stylish, elegant or wind-cheating, about that cockpit design.

It was Colin Chapman of the Lotus race car fame, who is often quoted as stating, (when building race cars) "Simplify, then add lightness". It worked for him and Lotus.

You can often purchase oil filters of the same type of thread and diameter, with an identical seal - but with a shorter body on the filter. Not only Rotaxes have problems with filter accessibility.

It pays to scout through the filter cross-reference numbers, then check the dimensions of the filter body with the manufacturer, until you find one with a shorter length that allows fitment without removing other components.

We have Fuel Standards for every fossil fuel used in transportation in Australia, under the "Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000". There are set parameters for many features of the fuels - even the maximum water level content of ethanol!

However, much of the legislation around fossil fuels, is about lower emissions and ever-cleaner fuels.

The current gripes about "poor quality fuels" in Australia, centre around the sulphur content of our fuels, which is still higher than many other "developed" countries.

https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/fuel-quality/standards

https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/fuel-quality/standards/petrol

The largest percentage of our transportation fuels are refined in Singapore, Sth. Korea and Japan - to meet Australian Fuel Standards. The fuels are checked and tested in the ship to ensure they meet specifications, before they are unloaded.

Any failure to meet every fuel specification in the Standard, means the fuel is not allowed to be unloaded, until the problem is remedied.

Marty, we have an aircraft storage business based in Alice Springs.

https://www.ft.com/content/2bcb6e12-22ed-11ea-b8a1-584213ee7b2b

The PIC was obviously away, the day they went into detail at training about "stabilised approach".

Ozzietriker - Look up your local bearing suppliers.

Power kero was around half the cost of petrol in the 1940's, and despite the poorer octane level and the crankcase dilution, power kero was still very popular as a tractor fuel in rural and agricultural areas.

Caterpillar had a specified option for "tractor fuel" (power kero) which involved factory-fitting a different (heated) intake manifold.

Interestingly, I have a copy of a Caterpillar booklet called "The Dotted Line" from May 1931, which covers in great detail, all the various types of "low volatility fuels".

The booklet runs to 12 pages in great detail, including the various low volatility fuels available in the worlds regions and countries, and the distillation curves of those fuels - as well as extensive testing by Cat, of those fuels.

The booklet states that the fuel refined and in Borneo and sold in the Far East, Malaya, the East Indies, Africa and Australia is a good quality Power Kero, with easy starting on Kero when warm, smooth idling - and crankcase dilution levels were tested and reported as "low" at 0.33% to 1% per hour.

It was reported that this Power Kero was "especially blended for use in spark ignition engines", and its distillation temperature was 240 deg C, as compared to 220 deg C for regular American gasoline.

https://www.ausgrain.com.au/Back%20Issues/191mjgrn09/22_Tractor.pdf

......a certain pilot who was known to wear rank insignia well above his normal level. However, this pilot regularly slipped through security and ID checks and is still being sought in relation to illegal low-flying, entering controlled airspace without authorisation in a Turboencabulator-powered Drifter, and other highly dangerous aviation manouevres.

This pilot has been sighted in Moorabbistan, Kapookistan, Wogga Wogga (where all the Wogs come from), and various other centres of aviation activity.

However, authorities are unsure if there's just the one offender, or if there are more than one, or if one offender is posing under different disguises in different locations.

"It's very difficult to nail this imposter and regular offender", said a CASA mouthpiece, speaking off the record. "But I'm sure we'll soon.........

The old engine and tractor restorers wail over the non-availability of power kerosene for their old engines and tractors. Run on petrol, they guzzle the fuel, that's where power kero was good, it was cheap and gave better fuel consumption.

But you had to have heated intake manifolds to run on power kero, it was extremely low octane and burnt poorly.

As Facthunter says, crankcase oil dilution was a major problem with kero, particularly on cold days when the engine was running cool.

The restorers resort to making their own mixes out of petrol and lighting kero, or even petrol and some diesel. But someone figured out that a product called Bitumen Cutter or Bitumen Cutback, used to thin bitumen, was almost identical in composition to power kero. The problem is trying to source drums of Bitumen Cutback, it is usually only available from major oil company depots.

I'll second the Inox. Got some in the workshop, it's much better than WD-40.

Peter, that would be a WW2 Air Force galvanised drum with the broad arrow denoting Govt property. I still have a number of these drums, they are built out of about 2mm thick steel and have massive pressed rings around the top and bottom of the drum. The galvanising is impressive, they didn't spare the zinc in those days. I'd have to say the contents could be power kerosene, they stopped producing power kerosene in the early 1980's as demand for it had dropped right off.

Wartime fuel drums kept getting recirculated into the civilian fuel supply stream, even up to the late 1970's. All the earlier 44 gallon drums have a manufacturing date stamped on the bottom.

As the old drums wore out and new ones replaced them, the new ones became a lot thinner, and they stopped putting date of manufacture on the bottom.

You can never have enough lights - just ask the average Interstate truckie!

I can recall flying Jetstar redeye Perth-Cairns a few years back. About 0230 Hrs, in the middle of nowhere over the Outback, my half-asleep eyes caught a flash out of the corner of them, through the window (I had a window seat on the LHS of the aircraft). The strobe was approaching at approximately 70 deg to my left.

I opened my eyes and watched the strobe flash get closer and closer over two to three minutes. It got very close, very quickly, and then I was startled to see another jet whizz straight over the top of us - obviously at a higher flight level.

But that flashing strobe could be seen in clear air for a very long way. If strobes have little value, why are they fitted to all ground equipment that works around people and other machines?

It's common sense that you can't see a strobe in bright daylight and hundreds of miles of visibility - but they come into their own, in reduced visual conditions.

Marty, Whitworths have a good range of nautical nav lights.

https://www.whitworths.com.au/electrical-lighting/lighting/navigation-lights

.....tell everyone he had picked up COVID-19 and was in quarantine. At the very least, it would keep the crowds baying for his blood away from him, and also slow up any AUF branch-stacking investigations that might become uncomfortable.

While he was in hiding, he received a text from his manager at Turbine Industrial Cleaning Inc, that there were more interesting waste removal contracts in the pipeline. There was the huge Federal Parliament waste removal contract up for tender, the CASA waste removal contract was also coming up (as both places produced more XXXX than anyone could imagine, for their size) - and there was also a possibility of overseas contracts. The Sky was the limit (avref), the text ended.

Turbo was amazed. This was getting bigger than Ben Hur. He would soon be able to afford his own personal Lear jet (avref) - and he'd likely need it, with the amount of work and projects in the pipeline.

He needed help (many would say he's needed help for years - but this is different). He cast his mind around for an able assistant to aid him in his time of need, He had to be.......

That's Ballidu, I'd know it anywhere! A typical centre of no excitement in the W.A. Wheatbelt! It's a bit sad the way all these little country towns have died off in the last 40 years.

I own an industrial property in Calingiri, a typical little W.A. Wheatbelt town. It's only 130kms from Perth, yet it has only 200 people, no pub, and nothing ever happens there!

Yet it's the town the Shire of Victoria Plains is located in, they control over 2500 sq kms, with half a dozen towns - but the average town population today in VP Shire, is about 50 people!

.....besides, after discussions, Magnum 357 was deemed to have undesirable connotations, what with the recent unrest, and the occasional accidental Police shooting of dark-skinned people.

The decision was made to change the anti-branch stacking name to "Root & Branch", epitomising the need to remove the entire gnarly outgrowth with substantial pruning, involving uprooting stackers, and de-limbing advisors.

This move then appeared to greatly appease the rank and file, who were on the verge of gathering to carry out a mass protest. Instead, they started to chant, "What do we want? TURBO! When do we want him! NOW!!"

"Isn't that amazing to watch?", said Turbo from the balcony, as he surveyed the crowd. "I made a few small changes, and now they're chanting for me to be Prez of the AUF! I find that quite touching!"

"You'd better re-assess that view", said Cappy as he backed away from the balcony, and retreated inside, out of view. "They're actually calling for you, so they can lynch you!! That's an angry lynch mob, if ever I've seen one!!"

"Impossible!", exclaimed Turbo. "They must love me for what I've done! I've straightened out all the problems in the AUF in one fell swoop, and now........

These ill-fated warplanes are all classic examples of companies being given too much leeway by way of defence expenditure, without proper oversight of the sales and income potential of the final product.

Canada paid out another $500M in 1993, for precisely nothing in return (cancellation fees), on the cancelled Sea King helicopter replacement contract. They really are suckers for losing huge money on ill-thought-out defence disasters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Sea_King_replacement

Years ago you could put a parcel on interstate coach ( bus ) for transport to major centres

Yes, that was a good system - until cheap airfares drove the coach companies out of business.

Oh-ho! So it's not jist those wee Asian chappies that hae a wee bit o' trouble wi' the Inglish language!

[MEDIA=dailymotion]x74ud38[/MEDIA]

Nitrile rubber, the most common rubber used in hoses, is adversely affected by any level of ethanol in fuel. Nitrile rubber softens and swells, and can be permeated by ethanol in fuels.

Many other rubber compounds generally regarded as suitable for fuel are also badly affected by ethanol, even at levels under 10%.

Fluorocarbon and Fluorosilicone rubbers are the most durable of all the elastomeric compounds when it comes to resisting the effects of ethanol.

As a result, you should utilise these types of elastomers in fuel hoses, gaskets and seals in your engine, if there is even the slightest risk of ethanol being in the fuel you use.

Remember also, that service station owners of the dubious morals variety, are often caught adulterating the petrol in their tanks - paint thinners, xylene, methanol, and various other tax-free chemicals are often added by these unscrupulous operators. I would fully expect these dodgy operators to jump on any "cheap" ethanol that became available, so they could add a bit more of it to petrol.

https://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/adulterated-fuel-sold-to-drivers-20100823-13gkx

One of the problems today is the number of courier "agencies". I used to use Temando, they were good, you'd request a quote, and as soon as you supplied the item details, up would come quotes from about 6 or 8 of the well-known couriers and freight providers, immediately. The quoted prices would vary from day to day, depending on whether they had full trucks or empty trucks.

Then Temando closed down, they obviously got overwhelmed by the number of other freight/postal agents.

I use AustPost for most smaller parcels, Fastway and Startrack for some things, Couriers Please for items to well-serviced areas, Interparcel occasionally, and Transdirect in place of Temando.

For larger items, Freightseek and Loadshift are good, they are "direct line" to truckies looking for freight. Uship can also be useful for bigger parcels.

But AustPost own Startrack, even though Startrack will often appear with a direct quote on the quote-seeking sites. Interparcel handled my last parcel, and gave it to Fastway.

Fastway obviously rate Interparcel pretty low, because the item I sent from Perth to Maffra at the end of May, is still in transit between Sydney and Melbourne, after having gone to Sydney first.

This is because Fastway mostly utilise the Indian-Pacific for their parcels, and the parcels are trucked to the Perth railhead, loaded onto the train, end up at the railhead in Sydney, and then have to be handled again by truck or van.

What is annoying is that Interparcel promised delivery to Maffra by 5th June - advice that persuaded me to give Interparcel the job. They're not likely to get another parcel job from me.

Fast, largely direct, road express, is turning out the best solution with the current virus restrictions. There are trucking companies who do Perth-Melb and vice-versa in 2 days with road express, running 2-up in B-doubles.

The truck hardly stops, and the handling is minimalised when done this way. I'm not sure how the air freight business is going, it must be picking up, because I watched 4 Red Rat big aircraft land at Perth yesterday, all in the space of 15 mins.

Wouldn't laser cutting create heat distortion in the panel? Water-jet cutting avoids this, but I'm not sure that WJ cutting is any cheaper than laser or plasma.