onetrack

Peter, I do think you're being excessively anal about the risk of static spark igniting fuel. I know it can happen - but how many aircraft are on record, as having been burnt as a result of a static-induced fire, in the last 50 years?

Not any more than a very low single number, I'll wager. I reckon you probably stand a much higher chance of being hit by lightning whilst refuelling.

Now, I know that fuel companies, aircraft refuellers, and the military, take static discharge when refuelling, very seriously. But they have millions and multiple millions of dollars of assets at risk when refuelling.

They believe in ensuring any risk is reduced to as close to zero as possible.

But the average manual (or home-made electric pump) refueller of a light aircraft is at greater risk from fuel spill caused by tank overflow, couplings detachment, or petrol fumes coming into contact with an ignition source, than the risk from static spark igniting fuel. 

Static buildup on your body is caused by clothing and upholstery rubbing across each other. Synthetic fibres are notorious for creating static buildup and releasing as a "ZAP" when you touch the body of the machine, and the ground.

My missus' Toyota Camry is one of the worst machines I have ever encountered for static buildup, it zaps you with a ferocious zap every single time you get out, and you place your hand on the door frame.

I've even fitted a permanent static body strap - but this does precisely nothing to counter the static zap as you climb out - thus proving that static straps are not necessarily the answer to static buildup.

The static buildup from the Camry is generated on my body by sliding across the seat to get out, and then released when I touch the car door.

Obviously, I'm a shorter path to the ground, than the static body strap is (which is located near the rear axle).

I've never yet set fire to the Camry, but in theory, it should be at great risk during refuelling operations. Yet millions of vehicles are refuelled daily (without refuelling static straps being attached), and the number of vehicle refuelling fires barely registers on the records. What about the people refuelling petrol-powered fibreglass boats with inbuilt tanks, in service stations? Never seen a single one of them connect a static strap yet, when they refuel.

I see no reason why an aircraft should pose any greater risk than a road vehicle in the case of potential fire from static.

If there is a fuel fire when refuelling, the cause is generally a reason other than static. Smoking, fumes entering areas where there are gas appliance flames, unsealed electric motors, etc.

Even despite the dire warnings against mobile phone use near bowsers, they appear to have caused no recorded fires.

It's the perception that a fire may result from radio wave energy from a phone near a bowser, that drives the oil companys to be anal about mobile phone use at bowsers.

The commercial refuelling operations involve power sources (electric motors, engines driving pumps) that all offer a potential and increased likelihood of an ignition source, rather than just fuel-movement static alone.

But if you really want to go to the commercial/military level of static protection, the following website provides a wide range of equipment for refuelling and refuelling protection.

Page 52 of the catalogue lists several anti-static cables and clamps that may satisfy your need for 100% static protection.

https://www.liquipvictoria.com.au/liquipvictoria.com.au/pdfs/liquip-aviation-parts-catalogue.pdf

".....is to ensure that the great iron ore mines of Western Australia are slowly wrested from Gina's control and full ownership is handed over to the Chinese Govt".

"The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee have set up various shelf companies in places such as Delaware, the Cook Islands, the Caymans, Liechenstein, etc, to ensure the ownership transfer is untraceable, and that no tax is paid on ore production, or assets transfer, at any time. If this arrangement is good enough for Google, Apple, eBay, etc., it's good enough for us!"

"This arrangement will ensure the Partys 50 year plan of the takeover of the Western World is complete, and we will be in a Monopoly position - and even be able to infiltrate and dismantle the U.S. Bureau of Competition!"

"This is a dastardly plan", muttered Mr Nice Rat, under his breath. "I have to do what I can, to thwart this scheme - and see if I can reap some cream off the top of the arrangements, while I'm at it!"

He held a quick conference with Gina in a room that he suspected was probably bugged. As a result, he made sure he spoke lots of key words of interest to the Chinese, loudly - while he wrote the body of his plan to thwart the Chinese domination aim, on a notepad, and handed it to Gina.

Gina read his note and looked shocked. "This is worse than my plan to defeat Rose getting her hands on all of Langs money and royalties!!", she gasped. "You're utterly ruthless!!"

"Yes, I know", smiled the Nice Rat, showing his toothy grin. "But you should see me in action on a bad day, when.......

Airbus are certainly sitting in the sweet spot at present - but it will be interesting to see what happens, when Brexit occurs.

The fracturing of the EU by Britain leaving, is going to assist in fracturing the current cosy engineering/manufacturing arrangements between the British and the Europeans.

I'm not sure how this might play out in the long run. The wing design and manufacture of the Airbus wings is largely done in the U.K. - and the reason for this is the British competence in wing design, that goes back to WW2 and even before that time. Only the wings for the Chinese A320's are built in China.

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

The problem with the Nice Rat is, it appears he has a mind like a steel trap that has sprung. He often fails to notice that this is the NES - the Never Ending Story.

The story often gets very fragmented, with the Nice Rats regular failure to keep up.

Meantimes, Hi-Ho has apparently flown a Harvard back from Saffie-land with the intention of running some kind of escort on MI-26's hauling buckets of iron ore.

But he fails to realise that those huge buckets of magnetite have screwed up his compass, and he promptly gets lost, thinking he's on 35° bearing, when he's actually on 96° bearing.

Hi-Ho ends up in the middle of the Gibson desert, and the fuel gauge shows empty. He's way past trying to find an alternate, so he picks out a suitable-looking claypan, and sets the Harvard down.

As he rolls to a stop, and looks down, he suddenly spots some camel harnesses, some tin cans, a few pots and pans, and realises he's found the remains of Ludwig Leichhardts Lost Expedition!

"Woooo-Hoooo!!", Hi-Ho yells, "I'm gonna become famous! Except, I have to.......

A$10K is a pretty cheap overhaul for an O-320 E2D. I'd have to say they spent the bare minimum, and only replaced the basic components, such as the faulty camshaft, the rings and bearings, and seals and gaskets.

http://www.airpowerinc.com/productcart/pc/TLEngineDetail.asp?catID=33&prodID=9853

The bulk strip could have been for a condition other than prop strike - bore corrosion sighted, metal fragments in filter or sump, or just the owner reporting a strange and unusual noise, and initiated a bulk strip as a result, trying to find the noise source.

As I understand it, only the manufacturer can produce a zero-timed engine. A ZT engine has every single engine component inspected to ensure it meets factory specifications, and components which do not are replaced with new or fully reconditioned components.

A ZT engine is produced with a new engine S/No and data plate, and may even have factory component upgrades, making it a different model of engine.

Nothing wrong with running an engine "on-condition", particularly when you know it has had a sizeable number of its major moving components replaced.

But you must be aware that in a bulk strip, some components such as the crankcase are likely to be original, and may not provide the same level of reliability as a factory ZT engine with a new or reconditioned crankcase.

Continental state the differences quite clearly -

http://www.continentalmotors.aero/Rebuilding_Benefits/

Ahhh, that's better, then. Haven't seen an Ozito inverter welder around, but the Ozito brand has actually garnered a few kudos for surprisingly satisfactory durability and reliability, for a cheap Chinese product.

The bottom line is, be aware of the duty cycle. I note the Ozito is only rated at 20% duty cycle @ 120A, the Rossi is rated 35% @ 200A, 60% @ 160A, and 100% @ 120A. Duty cycles are rated on 10 min time periods.

So, in practical terms, 20% duty cycle means you should only be full-time welding for 2 minutes, before giving it 8 mins rest time.

.....an apoplectic fit, particularly when he also sees how much Gina gave to the LNP, as compared to her Labor donations. "But think of the job opportunities for Aussies in the conveyor belt construction!", said Tanya, trying to sooth Albo.

"You sound like Gina herself", snarled Penny Wong, who would have preferred the conveyor belt be built in China, so her ancestral family and friends would be able to cream some froth off the top of the deal.

"Tell me more about these fully autonomous MI-26's", said Karen Andrews, who was yet to find out even where W.A. was located on the map, let alone where W.A.'s iron ore mines were.

Karen was one of the original developers of the Canberra bubble, and knew that Australia would crash into a black hole if Canberra didn't exist.

"They got shipped in in seatainers, as Automotive parts and accessories, right under Border Force and AQIS's noses - while BF and AQIS were too busy looking for Chinese knuckledusters and illegal pork products", said Michael McCormack.

"We didn't even know they were there, and at work, until one of our RAAF flyboys was taking a leisurely jaunt from Sale to Curtin in one of the F-35's - trying to see if it would keep running for that long, without a major component failure - when the onboard Enemy Identification System picked up a Threat Frequency and tried to shoot down one of the fully autonomous MI-26's!

Fortunately, the F-35 weapons system failed, as it does regularly, and the MI-26 went on it's merry way, unmolested. I guess we can be thankful it wasn't a genuine Rooskie Military MI-26, or all our Iron ore mines and LNG plants would just be piles of rubble by now, given the capabilities of the latest Rooskie nukes."

"That's terrible!", complained Turbine. "Do you mean to tell us those F-35's that cost us mega billions, are now about as useful as the proverbial hip pocket on a singlet!?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to actually say that", said MM. "What I would like to say is.....

Sorry to tell you this, OME, but that welder you've pictured is obsolete technology, and I wouldn't even pay $88 for one. Inverter technology has superseded Transformer technology, and the advantages are;

1. Much lighter weight (7kgs as against about 40kgs). No more back-breaking work, lugging a welder into position.

2. Lower power draw (saves $$$'s).

3. A finer level of control over actual welding amperage (better welds in difficult conditions and materials).

4. A better and more stable arc, leading to a better weld quality.

I bought a Chinese (Rossi) 200A inverter welder off eBay about 5 or 6 years ago. One of these units (link below). I think I paid about $100 for it.

https://www.edisons.com.au/rossi-welder-inverter-arc-200amp-welding-machine-dc-igbt-stick-portable

I formerly owned a 140A CIG transformer welder, which provided good service from about 1985, until it died about 2013. The CIG welder was one of the first to have a PCB in it, and when the PCB fried, I found you could no longer buy it as a part.

So, I invested in the Rossi - making sure it used genuine Toshiba MOSFETS in its construction (the secret to reliability). I have done a lot of welding with that little Rossi, and it is, in a 2-word description, a "little pearler".

It has never failed to work, welds amazingly well, even on heavy thickness steel, and it works in dusty conditions, hot conditions, and generally cops a fair bit of abuse, and it has never faltered.

I would never go back to a transformer welder, they are like stepping back into a Sopwith Pup, after flying around in your Cessna.

And substantial numbers of Councils put their investment monies into CDO's, because they were told they were a solid investment, backed by some of the biggest banks in the world. 

But collectively, they still lost about a third of their huge investment, and I don't think I'd be too far wrong, to state we're all still paying for those losses.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-14/armidale-dumaresq-council-expects-243m-from-lehmann-case/5157128

The greatest single problem is a lack of tight financial regulation, allowing banks and other financial entities to create "financial products", that not even half the banking fraternity understand - nor do they understand the ramifications when values go down, instead of up, as values tend to do, over periods of time.

In essence, the worlds major banks and finance houses created a great big investment casino up to 2008, betting our money in the great gambling institution they created - and for which creation, they paid themselves mind-boggling sums of money, in the form of exorbitant salaries and bonuses.

https://fcic-static.law.stanford.edu/cdn_media/fcic-reports/fcic_final_report_chapter8.pdf

The worrying part today is, it appears CDO's are making a comeback. Talk about needing a silver dagger.

South African or Perennial Veldt Grass was introduced to W.A. in the era of lax bio-security, as a drought-proof forage grass, with the additional benefit of erosion control.

It has ended up as an invasive and constantly-spreading pest, choking out other good local plants and grasses.

We did have some success with an import - dung beetles. But the dung beetles were carefully checked and tested for adverse impact, and were not released in the wild until no adverse impacts were found.

The little dung beetles have worked wonders in our soils, and reduced the fly pest as well.

https://csiropedia.csiro.au/dung-beetle-program/

M16A1 - The problem was fraud - they were called CDO's - rubbish, unrealisable debts from the portion of the population who had virtually no hope of ever repaying those debts, bundled up and presented as a viable, reliable product.

Kind of like a seller of supposedly-good tools, selling you a closed box of tools marked as such, then you opening the box and finding a bunch of broken, obsolete, and unusable tools.

In any other area of commerce, you'd have a right to get your money back immediately, as the product was not as described. In the case of the CDO's, the suckers had to fight through the courts to gain some compensation, and they rarely got full compensation for their losses.

We won't even start on the bank interest rate rigging, currency rigging, the selling of worthless insurance products to clients, and the endless list of white-collar crime committed by bankers, that never seems to reap any penalties.

If you desire to increase your welding knowledge and skills, you can't do much better than the Lincoln Electric website. Lincoln Electric have been around since welders were invented, and probably built some of the earliest arc welders.

Their articles are clearly-written, informative and straight to the point. Their welding and metals knowledge database is massive, and they hand that knowledge out freely.

Below, is a link to Lincoln's Aluminium GMAW welding advice - if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll find a heading, "View more aluminium welding how-to articles", which articles even provide information as to common mistakes in design, when choosing types of aluminium.

Maybe even our Chengdu-based UL-building guru will learn something from their information base, that will help him build a totally indestructible UL. 

https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/support/welding-how-to/Pages/guide-aluminum-welding-detail.aspx

Nev, I am sure the U.S. Govt sees Boeing as too big to fail, they are a National Icon - and to most Americans, Boeing represent the pinnacle of American and global technology in aviation.

However, I can see a possible U.S. Govt bailout scenario arising soon, purely and simply because Uncle Sam is very reliant on Boeing for their military products. Could be a real test for Trump.

On that basis, why would you stick with IPS? XF sounds like a more reasonable company to deal with, to me.

I find little difference in the operating systems and layout between the two, and I note that you always "tuned" the site, in response to forum users requests.

Personally, I don't have a problem with you returning to the XF platform.

The problem is that Boeing has decided they have a perfectly good aircraft that they can keep manufacturing (and have done), on the basis that it only needs a bit of modification and everything will be O.K., and the general flying public and the FAA will accept Boeings line.

The reality is, the FAA doesn't believe anything Boeing tells them now, they are going to be grilled and checked on every single thing from here on in - and the general flying public is not going to be easily convinced that a particularly flawed design which has killed a lot of innocent people, can be fixed with a few software upgrades, and soothing noises from Boeing.

Those 737MAX's lined up everywhere, look like car yards full of 1958 Ford Edsels, in 1960, to me.

The sheer cost burden of producing, storing, and preserving, 380 aircraft that no-one wants now, and no-one is very likely to still not want in the future - even after Boeing claim to have fixed all the MAX problems - is a burden that will weigh on Boeing for decades to come.

......starting whipping Cappy with it. Cappy grimaced, but he was actually enjoying it, it had been a long time since he'd indulged in a bit of BDSM.

"Oooh, tie me up now, you naughty boy!", Cappy chortled, as the Xhosa bloke whacked him a few mroe times.

"I don't understand this?", the Xhosa bloke said to one of his mates standing nearby. "I start giving this whitefella a good bull-whipping, and he's actually enjoying it!!?"

"They're a strange lot, those blokes from Kappookistan", said his mate. "I tell you what, how about we tie him to a tree and really belt him up?"

Ooooooohhh!!", exclaimed Cappy in excitement. "Will you really do that to me?? What about putting a nappy on me, too, to add to the excitement!??"

"Nappy??", exclaimed the Xhosa together. "This bloke has really lost it, let's let him go, he's too weird for us!!"

Right about then, a Harvard roared down out of the blue. It was Hi-Ho, clad in his best pressed, old Rhodesian Air Force uniform, dragged out again for the day - and he was aiming right for the Xhosa - who promptly scattered.

"Wheeeeee-Haaaaaaaaaa!", they all heard Hi-Ho yell, as he dived, and then pulled up into a sharp bank over their heads. "Long live Rhodesia and the Smith Regime!!"

"Hi-Ho's gone nuts!! He's lost it!!", cried Turbo. "He thinks he's still back in the 1960's. It must have been that bush brew the Xhosa gave him!!"

Hi-Ho firewalled the Harvard, looped around, and came back for a second strafing run, but........

There's a known trend locally, of males in the early retirement stage, investing in HD's to "live the dream" - without previously having had big bike experience.

They take up a lot of hospital beds with major injuries when they just run wide on sharp bends and clean up trees, cars, trucks, etc. More than a few took their last ride on a recent HD purchase.

I haven't seen any information on whether this crash was an RA or VH-reg aircraft, or even the make/model of aircraft. The news paragraph that refers to ATSB being notified, appears to indicate a VH-reg aircraft.

Nev, my impression is that the Americans did a vast amount of aircraft design testing during WW2, probably more than at any other time in aviation history.

They produced a vast amount of results that favoured certain designs - but as with all designing, it's the practical design that wins out.

In the case of the copper-plating of fins, it was proven to be beneficial - but I have little doubt, that the reason it was never used in practice, was simply the following practical reasons.

1. Copper was a strategically important metal during WW2, and it was deemed important to conserve what copper was available for more important and critical areas of use, such as wiring.

2. The process to copper-plate the fins is labour-intensive and time-consuming. None of the Allies had excess labour, nor lots of time to spare, to spend it electroplating aircraft engine fins for only modest gains.

3. Copper is actually one of the three important precious metals, and as such, is used in currency, and largely treated as a precious metal.

Thus no-one in Govt or the Military would have been willing to use up a precious metal on something as simple as cooling, when one of its major features is as a store of value.

Nev, the track log for the B737 air tanker shows it travelling at up to FL130 on the way South to Collie, and FL160 on the way back.

It also shows 769km/h at one point, which is 415kts, if the tracking has any degree of accuracy.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N138CG/history/20191215/0823Z/YPEA/YPEA/tracklog

Skippy, how do you determine when a tank is full, and when/how to shut off the pump? Splash from overflow (along with vapour fumes), poses the greatest risk of fire.

You need to ensure there is not the slightest possibility of any sparking in the electrics and connections - how do you manage this? (after seeing a basic toggle switch, which is probably not rated as spark-proof).

Anderson plugs are not spark proof, and I can envision that accidental disconnection of the Anderson plug whilst fueling (such as tripping over or stepping on a cable), presents a real ignition-source problem.

Personally, I would prefer to see a power connection that is spark-protected, and unable to be accidentally disconnected with just a jerk - such as a twist-lock design connection with a rubber boot.

I've had a petrol fire caused by shorting of battery terminals when a metal article was accidentally dropped onto a battery terminal, causing arcing.

So, I'm fully aware of how easily fire can start, and how you must ensure that even the slightest possibility of creating an ignition source is countered, when there's open petrol containers, or petrol fumes about.

Well, the Yanks did extensive aircraft engine testing, and proved the copper coating on the aluminium fins provided improved cooling, simply because copper has a higher thermal conductivity rate than aluminium - around 66% better.

Here's an aerial view of the Coulson B737 doing its first run on the Collie (W.A.) fire yesterday (15/12). You can see from the photo, that 15,000 litres of retardant is still just a "drop in the ocean" against the length of the fire front.

The fire is in heavily-timbered Jarrah/Marri forest country, and it's a slow job stopping it. It still depends largely on ground firefighting efforts, and cutting firebreaks and back-burning. 

My nephew has an annual contract with DPAW to supply Cat dozers for cutting firebreaks, and he has 2 x Cat D6H dozers sitting on low-loaders, ready to go at all times, between late November and early May.

He's on call 24/7 during this period, and he's got 2 hrs to be on the fire site, anywhere in the SW of W.A. as soon as DPAW call.

I've seen him work 120-130 hrs a week, snatching a couple of hours sleep in his dual-cab Ford Raptor, and then getting back into firebreak cutting, or running operators back and forth, on shift changes.

The B737 air tanker takes an average of 50 mins for a round trip from Pearce airbase to the Collie fire and back. The B737 speed is quite something to see, didn't take long after takeoff to be doing 370kts.

It takes 25 minutes to refill, and it did 4 runs on the Collie fire yesterday, and it did have a serious checking effect on this fire, with containment lines being able to be started right after its runs, and the fire danger level has been downgraded today.

Aluminium needs to have its normal aluminium oxide coating removed, and a surface amenable to copper deposition prepared.

This is quite a complex process, and usually, some other coating such as nickel is used as the initial coating, and copper is then deposited onto the nickel coating. 

The first pump in the eBay links is only an oil, kerosene or diesel pump. It is NOT rated, nor recommended for use with petrol. Using one of these pumps to pump petrol is asking for trouble.

The second (battery-operated) pump in the eBay links has some pretty pathetic level of output (LPM) once you try to lift fuel any height. It is really only good for liquid transfer at approximately the same level as the pump.

Neither is there any indication this battery-operated pump is safe for use with petrol. There certainly is no mention by the seller that it is compatible for use with petrol.

For a pump to be used for pumping petrol, it must be made of materials (including seals) that are 100% petrol-resistant, and the electrics must be fully sealed against any fumes getting into the motor area.

As most Chinese pumps use low-quality seals, I would not be using this pump to pump petrol, either.

The pump in the link below is compatible with petrol, alcohol and methanol fuels, and it pumps 8.3 LPM, and only draws 4 amps.

It appears to be very similar to Skippys pump, but I couldn't be sure what the difference is.

https://www.scintex.com.au/collections/12v-pumps/products/high-flow-fuel-pump