onetrack

The biggest worry there, would be pax getting off the aircraft and getting lost in the corn crop! That's some crop!

This must be a rare event - a Russian aircraft crash-landing with no loss of life. Kudos to the PIC and FO, that was some dead-stick landing feat. 

Wrapping PTFE thread tape around fastener threads is a simple method that vastly improves fastener retention rates. But you must wrap the thread tape in the direction that the fastener screws in.

One of my favourite fastener retention products is Parfix Polyurethane Sealant and Adhesive. It sets, but remains pliant, it keeps out moisture (which causes corrosion), and its grip on threads is second to none (Loctite excepted). It also doesn't melt, when it gets heated, unlike Loctite. Loctite will melt at 250°C.

But when you want to remove a fastener secured with Parfix PSA, it unscrews easily - unlike many of the Loctite anaerobic products.

You could set 3 time zones and people in between would still start their own local time zones, just as the Nullarbor people set their own time zone, because they reckon they're too far out of kilter with Perth or Adelaide.

Warakurna and Giles run on CST, even though they're well inside the W.A. border, and should be on WST.

Mark, you can get the Meccano aircraft off Amazon.com.au for $19.00 (delivered free if you spend $39.00). Best of all, it doesn't require batteries! 

Unbrako socket head capscrews are the answer, they are alloy steel that is stronger than 12.9 grade in metric.

Under 16mm diameter, they are actually 1300MPa (189,000psi) Tensile strength. Over 16mm dia., they are 1250MPa.

Be aware that capscrews in Inch sizes are one standard high strength, 170,000 to 180,000 psi Tensile strength. Unbrako Inch sizes are 180,000 to 190,000psi Tensile strength.

But Metric capscrews come in metric 10.9 grade, metric 12.9 grade, and Unbrako grade.

The Metric capscrew listing is on Page 38 of the file below.

http://www.unbrako.com/images/downloads/engguide.pdf

It's O.K., Derek - Mark already knows what the finished product is supposed to look like - it's on the box! Even better, the instructions are bi-lingual - and all the tools are included! 

I just hope he understands that those plates he pictured, are part of the fuselage and firewall. 

I personally believe, he'd be a lot better served by swapping those trapezoidal wheels for round ones, but I guess that's a matter of personal choice.

I'm still trying to get my head around how we can be travelling through space at 1600kmh, and yet it feels like we're standing still! - let alone stuffing around with various clock times, for various locations! 

You see, the sun doesn't rise or set - we are actually just getting flung around and around, and we just see the sun going past us, on a regular basis, as our high-speed rotation happens!

Marty - Stainless steel is not as strong as you tend to think it is. It is made for corrosion resistance, not extreme strength. 

High grade steels are heat-treated low-alloy steels. But these steels need a protective coating of some type, because they're prone to corrosion, as all high grade, high strength steels, are.

Lifting equipment, and aviation components, are strength tested, and load rated accordingly, with load ratings that are only a small percentage of their tensile strength.

Those cable shackles from Aircraft Spruce are a bargain at US$10.85 each. Most aviation suppliers are asking a lot more for them. Bite the bullet, this is your life you're playing with.

On a boat, a coupling snaps, you might end up with a flapping sail, or a mast with a lean. On an aircraft, a coupling snaps, and it's all over, red rover.

Never fear, any revolt by the Walmart people will just be "fake news". Captain Edward Smith ... errr, sorry ... President Trump, knows exactly who's in charge of the ship, here .... 

John, that is Billion, not Million. When you talk about Waltons, and Walmart, Billions are the standard measure.

I seem to recall reading that Walmarts total annual transaction value with the Chinese, was more than the total transaction value for the whole of Australia, with the Chinese.

The pilot above, is John T Walton, son of the Walmart Founder, Sam Walton. Unfortunately, his casual attitude caught up with him, he was killed in an air crash in 2005 at age 59.

He owned a CGS Hawk Arrow ultralight, and he had improperly reinstalled the rear locking collar on the elevator control torque tube. 

This allowed the torque tube to move rearward during his flight, and loosened the elevator control cable tension. 

The outcome of the failed repair was an in-flight loss of pitch control, without which Walton could not control the aircraft's attitude.

At the time of his death, he was reputedly the worlds 18th richest man, with a net worth of US$18.2B. 

You'd think he'd be able to afford a highly-meticulous LAME to repair his ultralight, wouldn't you? - instead of doing it improperly, himself.

This video was shot in the 1970's. Mississippi Delta cropdusting with an old Stearman biplane. Real seat of the pants stuff. I love how easily the old radial fires up.

I get the shivers when he handles the organo-phosphate insecticides so casually, not even using gloves - and he how he talks so coolly about getting sick, after getting a heap on himself, cleaning out a hopper.

The flying style looks as safe as a commercial jet, compared to the casual handling of the insecticide. 

You know the old saying - "If a man says something in the woods, and there are no women there, is he still wrong?" 

Litespeed, I think you're thinking of Kenneth Horatio Wallis, not the designer of the WW2 "bouncing bomb".

While we're on the subject .....

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,

I've got a little list - I've got a little list,

Of societies offenders who we wish were not around,

And who never would be missed,

Who never would be missed!

To start with, trolls in forums would be first to get the chop,

They continually aggravate, with their drivel that runs nonstop,

They target some individuals with constant spiteful diatribe,

And then claim that other forum users hunt them, to proscribe!

I’ve got them on the list - I’ve got them on the list;

And they'll none of 'em be missed – you know they’ll not be missed.

The trolls are nasty and inflammatory in all their words displayed,

They reckon they know all the answers, making everyone dismayed,

It makes you wonder just what it is, that makes a troll behave,

So badly in the internet forums, where they seek the attention that they crave,

But I’ve got them on the list - I’ve got them on the list;

And they'll none of 'em be missed – you know they’ll not be missed.

What drives them? Is it Aspergers or Autism, or another unknown malaise?

They snipe and needle endlessly, demanding that their words be praised,

Sometimes I begin to wonder whether it's because they needlessly imbibe,

And perhaps they don't belong amongst us, they come from another tribe!

But I’ve got them on the list - I’ve got them on the list;

And they'll none of 'em be missed – you know they’ll not be missed.

Etc, etc .......

Apologies to G&S and Ko-Ko .....

I was under the impression the Yank/Canadian pilots were to fly the Coulson airtankers locally?

NEWS ITEM QUOTE:  "They (the Coulson aircraft) are accompanied by a ten-year operational contract, where Coulson will provide all flight and maintenance personnel" ... END QUOTE

The clever and wise old mechanics in the U.S., used to dealing with weather extremes, would insert a lit light globe into closed toolboxes left in the shop, with the heat from the light globe being enough to drive out moisture, and prevent their high grade steel tools from rusting.

It would be useful to devise a similar, low-heat source arrangement to install into engines, to drive out moisture.

Not so sure that inserting a lit light globe into a fuel tank would be advisable, the risk of a spark would overwhelm the heating-to-drive-off-the-moisture advantage.

AFAIC, the Polish Tupolev 154 crash was good riddance to a bunch of ignorant, arrogant, Polish politicians and senior military personnel, suffering from the "me first", "entitlement" mentality.

But it was a total tragedy that they took a lot of good innocent people with them. That Polish President and his overweening military cohorts should only be historically remembered as selfish mass murderers.

Good oil will cope with huge amounts of water. The real worry is the dry exposed cylinder bores that will rust in a few days.

The newest photo in the news story shows an aircraft that has crashed in the classic flat spin crash position, not a nose dive.

The aircraft may be highly susceptible to relatively small CoG shifts, with a rearwards CoG shift, quite often behind a flat spin crash.

Or the Liberty may be similar to the Lockheed Hudson, which one test pilot warned, was, "not a machine for the careless or the ham fisted".

The Hudson design engineers in the 1930's, had settled on a highly-loaded wing of relatively small span and area, to enable much higher cruise speeds.

The Hudson wing had to utilise Fowler flaps to reduce landing and takeoff speeds to acceptable levels.

The Hudson wing also incorporated wing slots located just behind the leading edge, which slots were reputed to prevent stalls, below normal stall speeds.

But they didn't, the slots only led to an abrupt wing stall characteristic on the Hudson, due to the highly loaded wing design.

This characteristic caught out a lot of new pilots with slow reflexes, with the all-too-common Hudson sudden stall, and resultant crash.

The NSW Govt would quite likely have been far better off, to buy a couple of the BAE 146/Avro RJ85 airtankers, instead of the 737-300.

The RJ85 carries less fire retardant, 11,400L, as compared to the 737's 15,150L - but the RJ85 has the perfect design for firebombing.

It has 4 engines, making an "engine-out" situation easier to cope with - it has superb STOL and low-speed handling characteristics, fabulous brakes, excellent steep approach and climb angles, and it can use nearly every reasonable size available runway that's close to the fire, making very quick turnaround times. 20-30 minute turnaround times are quoted for the RJ85. In addition, it's quiet.

On top of all that, it can still do 380kts to get to the fire.

The RJ85 engines are your run-of-the-mill heli engines, the Avco Lycoming ALF502R-3, which uses the Avco T55 core engine, which is fitted to Chinooks, the Bell 214, and a heap of marine and industrial applications. These little engines are common, and highly reliable.

The BAE146/RJ85 was actually designed for use in high/hot conditions in remote locations - a perfect fit with firefighting.

There are still 220 BAE146/RJ85's in service, with 50 more in long-term storage.

16 of the 22 airtankers on call from Conair in the U.S. are RJ85's, and one of the RJ85's provided sterling service in 3 States of Australia in 2016.

The airtanker companies say they see no problem with getting another 20-25 yrs service from these highly capable little jets.

https://www.aerosociety.com/news/whisperjet-waterbomber/

https://conair.ca/conair_fleet/rj85at

https://www.regional-services.com/avro-rj85-airtanker-successfully-completes-australian-fire-fighting-missions/

Here's a rather interesting L.A. Times article about aerial firefighting (from 2008) - but even though the article is 11 yrs old, I believe a lot of the points it makes, still hold true - you can't beat fire trucks and firefighters on the ground. There are many conditions under which aerial tankers are ineffective.

https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-wildfires29-2008jul29-story.html

There's another angle in all this, too - noise. Sizeable numbers of people complain about aircraft noise at the best of times, and many airports capable of taking a 737 have noise abatement procedures in place.

I wonder how people around a bushfire will feel about a 737 swooping around their houses at extremely low level, with those CFM56 turbofans pumping out 75-80% power?

Maybe the fire authorities think the people living on the ground will appreciate the sound of a couple of big screaming turbofans coming in at low level, and start relating them to being saved?? Could be the case.

I agree. The 737 firebomber is certainly going to be well up in weight, even with half fuel.

I see estimated 737 stall figures of 108kts in landing configuration, and 128kts clean configuration.

With substantial weight, and travelling slow, the AoA is going to be high, so adequate speed is becoming critical.

Dropping at 130kts sounds like BS to me, unless that's a figure the pilots are talking, after they've unloaded the fire retardant.

Or maybe these American firebomber pilots come straight from the Arthur "Bud" Holland School of pilot training, where stall warnings are just an annoyance to be ignored, and 90 deg bank angles are SOP.  

Nev, I don't have any Coulson figures - but the basic 737-300 figures are as follows,

MTOW - 63,277 kg

Empty weight - 32,900 kg

Fuel capacity - 20,100L

The two water tanks hold 15,150L of water = 15,150 kg.

Jet A1 weight, rough rule of thumb, 0.8 kg/L = 16,080 kg in full fuel weight.

So, with full fuel, that makes the total aircraft weight, 64,130 kg - above MTOW.

The tanks would possibly add some amount of weight to the empty aircraft - but in the photos I saw, all the seats are stripped out, so I'm guessing Coulson went on a weight-reduction drive.

Regardless, they need to be running with considerably less than full fuel, to keep the weight down.