onetrack

......Tasmanian who managed to flee to warmer tropical waters, so he can't be all bad. And it is a shame he's missing a few buttons on his shirts and jackets, but bull never learnt to sew them back on, and besides, he reckons they're just a nuisance at the best of times, he prefers zippers and press studs, because they're so much faster for access! "Ooooh!!", said PA, "I must say, I do prefer a man who rips things off in a hurry, when it comes to getting access to the important parts!" "Well", said Cappy, "Talking about ripping off things, did you ever...............

.... I can start the job!" "Just hold on a minute, OT", said Anne. "Before we start, as a matter of Royal policy, I need to sight your testimonials". OT was horrified. "But I haven't got any!", he said. "I've never been asked this before, by anyone with horses I've ever serviced! Besides, it's not my style to produce my testimonials before I start - although I believe that daring Cappy has been known to flash his testimonials to anyone within sighting distance, and I believe he's gotten himself into trouble by producing his testimonials when no-one asked him to, and this was.....

.......add, "I'm recommended as the best nailer in town!". Anne thought for a moment, and said in that plummy Windsor accent (that's Received Pronunciation to you plebs), "Oh my Gosh, Yes, I do believe may horse is in need of new shoes. I'm very glad I've found an Orstralian who can look after may horses, so can you please present at .............

.........plastic bonder (to hide the gaping rust holes), metres of fencing wire (to make sure the doors stayed shut after they were closed), multiple numbers of Tek screws (to hold the reinforcing plates over the panel cracks), and a gross of nails to use as temporary fuses when the electrics went...........

Danny, you forgot to mention that Enzo Ferrari insulted Lamborghini when he went to see the great man, and complained about the Ferrari clutch and transmission design. Enzo is reported to have said to Ferruccio, "You are a tractor driver. You know nothing about racing cars. Stick to making tractors!" This insult apparently drove Ferruccio to make his own high performance cars in competition with Ferrari. But the Lamborghini tractors were nothing special, anyway - and the earlier ones used Morris engines!

I think the major thrust of any action against the RAA and its officials is that they lied and obfuscated to the coroner, as regards the pilot training information. Those actions implies a certain degree of guilt feeling within RAA as regards the inadequacy of the pilots training, but I think BurnieM has nailed the percentages of culpability pretty well.

Benny, please let us know the critical attitude information that the Hula girl provides? Is it all related to the level of skirt sway?? 😄

Thruster88, the Big Bell Mine is a large, old-established gold mine just S of Coodardy, and it has produced huge amount of gold over more than 120 years of operations. It is still in operation today, but it has had periods of inactivity, largely due to low gold prices or financial problems of the mine owners/operators. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bell_Gold_Mine The Big Bell Hotel was a mainstay of the area for many years, and even abandoned today, it's still impressive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syL77b0b_HA And yes, there was a rail line running at one time from Cue to Big Bell. See "Railway" in the link below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bell,_Western_Australia

Danny, over 60 years of fixing every type of machine and vehicle that has an engine or drivetrain, gives me memories of plenty of ventilated diff and gearbox housings. The problem is, most gears run with very little clearance to the housings, and it only takes a stray piece of bearing that's failing, or some other component that has come adrift, to get caught between the gear and the housing, and KAPOW, there's your daylight peeking in!

Wow, imagine the bill when a gear or some other reciprocating part lets go, and ventilates that housing somewhere??!! 🥹 "Dear Customer, we are sorry to inform you that due to major component failure, you need a complete new engine, transmission and rear axle! The replacement cost will be $478,000 (!)"..... Ah well - I guess if you can afford a Lamborghini Miura or three, the cost of a complete new drivetrain wouldn't bother you!

Moneybox, you mean those with the vision of a 16 yr old? I'm struggling to see the airstrips, let alone the name spelt out in tyres!! But a low pass does help a bit! .....

Just 200kg payload cuts out a lot of Americans, for pilot weight! 😄 And get a look at the contortions required, to climb into it! 😘

Forget the fold-up ultralight helicopter! - get an eyeful of those perfect TEETH!! 😄

I've seen a 6 cylinder 1930 Bentley engine in an engine reconditioning shop, and it was an amazing piece of engineering - a monobloc with no separate head, and I hate to think of the amount of finicky work involved in repairing it and reassembling it.

...........manufacturer of that particular version of the Thruster, a dubious backyard operator registered as Turbine Thrusters Inc. The TIO Cappy refers to, actually stands for "Turbine Induced Oscillations", as these particular Thruster models were noted for scrimping on the number of rivets and fasteners, and thus they performed like a GAF Nomad that was built on a Friday night by the factory cleaning crew, on their coffee break. The ducking and weaving aerial movements of the TTI version of the Thruster was simply due to structural flexing and panel warping, and to say it made for an interesting style of performance would be the understatement of the year. In fact, when Kitplanes tested the TTI Thruster, it was only some time after landing, that ground crew could force open the fingers of the white-faced test pilot from around the control column, and even then...................

Moneybox, your local Shire Planning Scheme is the primary legal document governing virtually any type of development within the Shire. In your case, it's the Shire of Cue, Local Planning Scheme No. 2. Amazingly, neither the word "aircraft", nor the word, "aviation" appear in the document, essentially meaning the Shire has no interest or control over airstrips within its boundaries. https://www.wa.gov.au/system/files/2022-05/LPSC_Cue2-schemetext.pdf What I find even more amazing, is that the above Scheme text document, should have a Planning Scheme Map associated with it. It doesn't, and the only Town Planning Map for Cue that I can find is their "Town Planning Schematic, 1993" map, which is tied in with TP Scheme No. 1, which is now obsolete - and it's likely this 1993 Schematic Map is also obsolete, due to its age and the fact that TP Scheme No. 2. has superseded all previous Schemes. https://www.cue.wa.gov.au/documents/plans-and-policies

I've always been amused at the story (perhaps apocryphal) that reputedly occurred between the RR engineers and the Packard engineers, when the discussions were taking place with regards to manufacture of the Merlin by Packard. The story goes, the Packard engineers asked for details of the engineering stress and strain calculations on the Merlin components by RR engineers. It's reported the RR engineers replied, "Oh, we never bothered with those type of calculations, we just ran the engine under huge loads until something broke - and then we made that part stronger!" This news apparently horrified the Packard engineers who normally went into great detail regarding calculations of stresses and strains, and who never considered testing engine components to destruction. I think the best comment I've seen regarding the Merlin, is one that said, "if RR had ever known they were going to have to produce 150,000+ engines for aircraft during the War, they would've designed a different engine". If it wasn't for WW2, we would possibly only have ever seen a few hundred Merlins manufactured, before a new improved design was produced.

One of the problems with a large firebomber, is that everyone from the top politicians down, sees it as the total and complete answer to fighting large fires. Unfortunately, it's not. They are certainly good to have on hand when a major fire threatens, but the bottom line is, hundreds of firefighters on the ground, are ones who do most of the heavy lifting, when it comes to putting out bushfires. My middle nephew has 2 x Cat D6T's on call by the W.A. Dept of Parks, Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, 24/7/365 during the fire season, Oct to May each year. The dozers sit on his low loaders ready to go, and when he gets a call from DPBCA, he has to have the dozers on the fire site within 2 hrs, day or night. The dozers are crucial for cutting access roads and firebreaks, knocking down big trees that are spreading hot coals from substantial height, and even pulling out bogged or damaged fire trucks. He gets paid a very substantial sum for this contract, but I can assure you, he earns every penny of it. The cost of an out-of-control bushfire can run into billions. https://www.screenwest.com.au/made-in-wa/production-highlights/bushfire-wars/

No-one manufactures new Merlin parts - but because there were so many built, and so many spares produced during WW2, there's still enough new parts, components, and reconditionable parts around, to keep the Merlins that are still running, going for many more years. Rolls-Royce reportedly built around 150,000 Merlins. Final, carefully collated production figures, makes that 168,000 Merlins. Packard built 55,000 Packard-Merlins. Continental built 3000 Packard-Merlins. Ford of England built around 30,000 Merlins under licence. Even CAC in Australia manufactured more than 100 Merlins. No-one has recorded the amount of Merlin parts manufactured, it would run into at least the equivalent in parts to put together around 10% more engines than the above production figures. It could even be double that. The Allies produced lots and lots of parts for their war machines - it was a factor that helped the Allies win the War. The Nazis put all their manufacturing production into producing fully built aircraft, and failed to keep a decent supply of parts on hand. When a Luftwaffe aircraft broke down, other Luftwaffe aircraft were cannibalised for parts. This soon reduced the amount of operational aircraft available to the Nazis, and it cost them dearly. Some good info below, but neither article gives the full story of the Merlin. https://www.key.aero/article/many-factories-built-merlin https://www.jrcengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Packard-Merlin.pdf

There's a big difference between an exploration lease, and an operational mining project. The latter has to be officially approved and recognised as a project, with all the attendant extra permits and approvals from all levels of Govt. An exploration lease is simply a licence to explore for minerals with set expenditure provisions. W.A. mining laws are in the process of altering for smaller mining operations, the new legal structure for small scale mining is called an MDC (Mining Development and Closure Proposal). An application to install an airstrip in W.A. must cover local zoning laws, infrastructure laws, aviation regulations, and environmental laws. In mining areas, a GPL (General Purpose Lease) must be taken out for airstrip use. https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-mines-petroleum-and-exploration/mining-development-and-closure-proposals

Pick a golf course every time for a forced landing! Lots of nice smooth fairways - just the odd sand trap or water trap to add excitement to your day - and when all the crashing noises have stopped, you can get out with your clubs, and play a round to steady your nerves! 😄

There was no way the Rotodyne could have ever been economic, despite its touted fabulous abilities. The cost of the project just kept on soaring and soaring and the noise levels were most certainly never overcome. It's not just the decibel rating of noise levels, it's the frequencies as well. You can have a decibel rating that is within regulated limits, but if the frequency of the sound is extremely annoying, it will (literally) never fly. High speed electric-powered rail is more effective at moving people, and there's no delay as in getting airborne, a lot less traffic control and regulation is needed, bad weather affects them less - and maintenance and running costs are much lower than aviation. https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3311483/chinas-airlines-raise-alarm-travellers-ditch-planes-bullet-trains

More importantly, there's no "D" in the word "pigeons". 😄

.......there had to be a sizeable number of LBGTQIA employees involved. But when a Workplace investigation was commenced, it was found that Thai Ladyboys made up the majority of the workforce (the factory was based in Thailand of course, to keep costs down), and this was all fully approved by the investigators, as they sampled the delights of Thai Ladyboys and Thai bars during the investigation. Amazingly, somehow, Cappy managed to wangle his way into the OSL investigation team - and once he found out that Ladyboys were involved, the rest of the team had to drag him away from the.........

I've been using Penrite oils for quite some time now, and I find they produce better overall performance, than the Valvoline oils I was using previously.