onetrack

People win 1st prize in OzLotto every couple of weeks, too - and the chances of winning Division 1 are 45,379,620 to 1.

The problem with calculations associated with number of aircraft VS area of the sky is that, so often, many aircraft are converging to a point that is an area of concentration of aircraft numbers - so the chances of a MAC then increase enormously.

Have you not noticed the increasing use of imperial measurements, particularly by Australian businesses? Remember when it was a crime punishable by large fines? Was that statute/regulation ever removed?

What about Japanese Metric threads? Initially, the European metric thread system worked on 0.5mm increments. 1.00mm pitch, 1.5mm pitch, 2.00mm pitch, 2.5mm pitch - it was easy.

Then the Japs just had to introduce 0.25mm variations in thread pitch - so we now have 0.5mm, 0.75mm, 1.00mm, 1.25mm, 1.5mm, 1.75mm pitch, etc, etc. What a shambles that becomes with re-assembly.

I work with a lot of American equipment, and my shop is full of A/F spanners, dual-measurement tapes, and UNF and UNC fasteners!

I was told way back in the early 1970's that all the major American manufacturers were set up, to go metric overnight - but the U.S. Govt refused point-blank to go metric, because they reckoned the cost to the nation, and particularly small businesses, was too high a burden on them.

Funnily enough, these are the people who reckoned the British were backwards, using fractions in their imperial measurements, when the plans for the Packard-Merlin arrived!

So the Americans converted all the Merlin plans to the "superior" decimal inch measurements!

Fractions/Decimals/Millimeters in length. - Art Tech - Grand Valley State University

Sweden was the last country to change from LHS of the road driving, to RHS, in 1967. It cost them £40M or roughly USD$53M or AUD$70M.

That was a staggering sum in that era, for a country that is roughly the same population as Australia, but only one-seventeenth of the land mass.

The job of changing all the road signage and markings was so huge, the Swedish Army was impressed into helping.

Road markings were changed many days ahead of the changeover, so Swedes were driving against RH road markings for several days before the changeover.

All headlight globes and sealed beams had to be changed over for RHS driving, as LHS headlights dip left, and RHS headlights dip right.

It made economic sense for Sweden to change over in the long run, as Sweden was the last country in Europe to drive on the left.

However, 83% of Swedes voted against the changeover - but the Govt went ahead with it, anyway! So much for Western democracy!

The greatest problem after the changeover was that the huge majority of vehicles were still RHD, but driving on the right. This caused an increase in accidents.

You can't see ahead properly for overtaking if you're driving a RHD vehicle on the right, or a LHD car on the left. The accident rate came down as more LHD vehicles were purchased.

Here in Australia, the Govt banned the registration of LHD vehicles from about 1947 to about the early 1970's, as I recall.

This was due to the upsurge in accidents involving American military vehicles that were sold at the Disposals Commission Sales from 1945 to 1949 - mostly Jeeps and trucks.

For a long time, you could only use LHD in Australia on a farm, minesite, or other off-road use. Today we're seeing an upsurge again in a lot LHD stuff, mostly classic American car imports, and things such as Gators and other UTV's/MTV's.

This Day in History: Swedish Traffic Switches Sides – September 3, 1967

Western Samoa went against the LHD trend in 2009, swapping over to RHD - because the Prez reckoned it was easier and cheaper for Western Samoa to source RHD vehicles from Japan, Australia and EnZed, than to try and procure the more expensive LHD vehicles from the U.S. It must make the American Samoans thoroughly confused, and cause a few local traveller problems!

I can't ever see Britain going LHD - even more so, now it has voted itself out of the EU.

Never had a problem up to at least 8,000ft

I have 2 mates who are ex-Telstra linies and they advise me that any digital phone connectability at height in the sky, is just sheer good luck.

They told me about 15-20 deg above the horizon is generally about the maximum angle of the signal from the towers. If you have a tower in a raised location, or it's pretty flat country, you're in luck to a certain degree.

However, the greatest problem is, that the digital phone signal is weak at best.

My mates reckon 10-15kms range is the original calculated coverage - thus the reason for the need for lots more towers today, as compared to analogue.

I can remember when I had a 3W Uniden "brick" phone in 1990, I made a call to Perth from Wandering (110kms S of Perth), standing on a hill on the farm.

I later found out that the signal bounced to Geraldton, and then was bounced back to Perth! What a pity we couldn't still get that range with digital!

Under what circumstances would "caution" be needed?

As in, "Caution! - I smell BS, and someone out of their depth?"

Or, "Caution! - you're likely to be stepping on toes"?

Don't start on RHS or LHS on trains! That's an even greater c***-up!

And as for the Americans - in the 224 years since driving on the right was made mandatory in the U.S., they had steering on the RHS for 126 of them!

Henry Ford was the bloke who moved all the Ford steering wheels to the left in 1908 - and then all the other U.S. manufacturers slowly followed suit, with Pierce-Arrow still building their cars in RHD in 1920!

So ... in another 2.5 yrs time, we might have the decoys turn up on Mauritius - or they might turn up on the W.A. coast, and no-one will still have any idea of where MH370 is?

What about getting hold of some of that Malaysian 1MDB scammed money from off the Americans, and pour that into some major, major efforts to find the wreckage?

I'm still puzzled at this stage, why Woods Hole and David Mearns haven't been invited into the search. Both have stunning success rates at finding underwater mysteries.

8 choices is good. "Creative" is the one I find is pretty useless. All the rest are very useful to have, and I wish more forums had these.

So he was entitled to assume that his right flank was more or less protected

Another factor in the MAC between G-BOLZ and G-EYES was that the pilot of G-BOLZ had only flown 3 times in the previous 12 mths.

You keep up to speed by getting out there regularly, and practising keeping familiar with the demands and intricacies of the tasks of flying.

Plenty of good and important advice here - https://www.aopa.org/-/media/Files/AOPA/Home/Pilot-Resources/ASI/Safety-Advisors/sa15.pdf

Most importantly, does the landing on the Hudson end with the Airbus exploding in a massive fireball, just as the last passenger steps off it??

Wouldn't be Clint Eastwood and Hollywood, if it didn't.

Oh, and I trust there was the regular amount of gunplay, and crazies with assault rifles included.

Did Tom Hanks say in it, somewhere, "Go ahead - Make my day!!" If he did, I'm off to see it, pronto!!

I posted the news of this crash yesterday, red750. Keep up!

http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/air-tractor-bites-the-dust-esperance-w-a.152839/

Yes, it appear a hand-propping went seriously wrong. It's sad, that someone who was plenty old enough to know the ropes, has paid the ultimate price for an apparent failure to abide by some very basic safety rules.

Machines have no hesitation in killing you in milliseconds if you disobey basic safety tasks.

The Secret of the Machines - by Rudyard Kipling

We were taken from the ore-bed and the mine,

We were melted in the furnace and the pit—

We were cast and wrought and hammered to design,

We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit.

Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask,

And a thousandth of an inch to give us play:

And now, if you will set us to our task,

We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!

We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive,

We can print and plough and weave and heat and light,

We can run and race and swim and fly and dive,

We can see and hear and count and read and write!

Would you call a friend from half across the world?

If you’ll let us have his name and town and state,

You shall see and hear your crackling question hurled

Across the arch of heaven while you wait.

Has he answered? Does he need you at his side?

You can start this very evening if you choose,

And take the Western Ocean in the stride

Of seventy thousand horses and some screws!

The boat-express is waiting your command!

You will find the Mauretania at the quay,

Till her captain turns the lever ’neath his hand,

And the monstrous nine-decked city goes to sea.

Do you wish to make the mountains bare their head

And lay their new-cut forests at your feet?

Do you want to turn a river in its bed,

Or plant a barren wilderness with wheat?

Shall we pipe aloft and bring you water down

From the never-failing cisterns of the snows,

To work the mills and tramways in your town,

And irrigate your orchards as it flows?

It is easy! Give us dynamite and drills!

Watch the iron-shouldered rocks lie down and quake

As the thirsty desert-level floods and fills,

And the valley we have dammed becomes a lake.

But remember, please, the Law by which we live,

We are not built to comprehend a lie,

We can neither love, nor pity - nor forgive.

If you make a slip in handling us - you die!

We are greater than the Peoples or the Kings—

Be humble, as you crawl beneath our rods!-

Our touch can alter all created things,

We are everything on earth - except The Gods!

Though our smoke may hide the Heavens from your eyes,

It will vanish and the stars will shine again,

Because, for all our power and weight and size,

We are nothing more than children of your brain!

Kathryn's Report: Diamond DA20-C1 Katana, Falcon Aviation Academy LLC, N85WP (and) Beechcraft F33A Bonanza, N6027K: Fatal accident occurred September 07, 2016 at West Georgia Regional Airport (KCTJ), Carrollton, Carroll County, Georgia

From Mastery Flight Training comes this highly relevant and statistic-based information .. the quoted paragraphs are referring to this crash ..

AOPA Air Safety Institute’s “Collision Avoidance Safety Advisor” tells us that 40% of all midair collisions (MACs) happen at less than 500 feet Above Ground Level in the traffic pattern. Where are you below 500 AGL in the pattern? Short final approach, right where this collision occurred. 39% occur in converging traffic [one airplane on base, the other on final] and a whopping 47% occur when a faster airplane overtakes a slower one from behind. “The majority of MACs occur in the traffic pattern.”Further, “while flight instructors comprise only 15 percent of the pilot population,” a “flight instructor was aboard one of the aircraft in more than one-fourth" of all MACs. Possible explanations? CFIs spend more time in the traffic pattern [with their students] than pilots as a whole; “their attention is often focused on teaching, instead of scanning for traffic.”

I haven't found any information on the length of the flight time of the Bonanza (N6027K) before the crash - but it's not unreasonable to assume that due to the lack of fire, the Bonanza tanks were on the low side, thus indicating a lengthy flight, and possible fatigue issues at the end of a lengthy solo flight.

Both the instructor, and the 79 yr old pilot of the Bonanza have been highly praised as dedicated pilots with rigorous and thorough attention to safety and regulations, so that is what makes the crash even more puzzling.

Garfly, in the G-EYES/G-BOLZ collision, it appears not only were there ATC failures, but it's highly likely the pilot of G-BOLZ was under the impression that G-EYES was carrying out a normal landing, instead of high-speed GA's involving instrument calibration, so he probably would have dismissed G-EYES as a collision threat, fully expecting G-EYES to be on the runway within a very short time.

The angle of approach of G-EYES to G-BOLZ is described as "likely to have been visible behind the trailing edge of G-BOLZ’s right wing."

To sight G-EYES, the pilot of G-BOLZ would have had to rotate his head more than 90 degrees. Table 4 in the report indicates the possible approach angle of G-EYES to G-BOLZ was 121 degrees (to the right), shortly before impact.

In addition, converging objects, even when travelling at substantially differing speeds, often appear to produce no relative movement, thus becoming virtually invisible to someone looking out for a moving object.

Finally, there is that curious human factor called "inattentional blindness". One looks, the eyes see, but the brain does not register the object seen.

In my personal observations, I believe IB becomes a more common problem, as one ages. Once you are aware of the possibility of IB, you can train yourself to be more cautious, and increase the amount of checking that you do.

What were those Minimax blokes thinking, with the AeroMax? That good ole boys who like riding astride the Harley, would just love to do the same style of ridin' your Hog, in an aircraft?? Yee-Haaa!!

I can't imagine what the buffeting must be like, at cruise speed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKoI71fB2tY

The media are reporting the crash of an Air Tractor cropduster N of Esperance around 09:55Hrs this morning.

From the W.A. Police Farcebook page ...

"At about 9.55am today a crop dusting plane crashed on a property approximately 105 kilometres north of Esperance.

The pilot, a 29 year old man from Victoria, sustained serious injuries but managed to alight the aircraft.

He has been conveyed to Royal Perth Hospital by Royal Flying Doctor Service in a stable condition."

Glad to hear the pilot has survived, and I trust his injuries are not that serious, that he suffers long-term problems from them.

Just looking the wreck gives one a suspicion that it's possible he'll be suffering from serious leg/foot injuries.

The Air Tractor looks to be rather sad, I suspect she may be a write-off. (news article below wrongly states pilot is in "critical" condition - Police advice is more accurate)

Pilot injured in plane crash in WA's south

I recall an incident from way back (1989 to be precise), when one C152 (VH-BFT) collided with another C152 (VH-TNO) at Jandakot when both were on final approach.

It was a very close thing, with the RH leading wingtip of one C152 buckling the VS of the other C152.

They separated immediately after contact, and both landed safely, despite the damage. There were 3 controllers in the tower, but the workload in the tower was intensive, due to heavy traffic.

The causes were multiple, as is quite often the case.

1.) Mis-identification of another aircraft in the circuit (a Piper Navajo) as the C152, VH-TNO, by a relatively green pilot in C152, VH-BFT.

2.) Sighting of VH-BFT by VH-TNO, and assessment by the pilot of VH-TNO, that VH-BFT was well clear of him.

3.) A heavy workload in the tower that led the controller to believe that all aircraft on approach had sighted and identified each other. The controller didn't understand that there was a developing collision between the two C152's, due to the mis-identification of the Navajo, until it was too late to do anything.

http://www.atsb.gov.au/media/26296/aair198900238.pdf

I wasn't engaged in "old-people bashing" - merely pointing out that the physical and mental deficiencies of advancing age creep up on you.

I'm 67, and I'm just starting to learn what happens to the old body as it ages - and the need to be consistently rigorous with all safety-oriented tasks, and to not let bad habits creep up on you.

Older people are high on the pedestrian-fatalities statistics, and you have to ask why. It's because of simple failure to consistently follow good safety habits - along with reduced hearing ability, reduced muscle ability, and becoming single-task focussed (crossing the road) - instead of ensuring they're carrying out the multi-tasking mode, of looking both directions for traffic, and looking for traffic "springing out of nowhere on you", from side-streets.

I have this vision in my brain of the 79 yr old Bonanza driver saying, with a startled look, "where in h**** bells, did that Diamond come from??"

Interesting to see that one of the victims was 79 yrs old. Reports indicate he was the pilot of the Bonanza, the young woman instructor and her male student were in the Diamond.

One thing that a lot of people don't understand, is that your ability to swivel your head, as you reach the years past retirement age, becomes more and more restricted. It's simply due to aging neck muscles, that don't have the flexibility of younger muscles.

This is a common and known problem with car drivers, and it results in car crashes, when elderly drivers don't turn their head far enough at intersections to look for oncoming traffic. In an aircraft, the ability to swivel your head to look past 90 deg each side (and over your shoulder), is more crucial even, than in a car.

In addition, older people develop bad habits that are hard to break. Two of those bad habits are;

(1) An increasing tendency as we age to become "single-task" focussed - to the exclusion of other important tasks that are important to keep focussed on, simultaneously.

(2) A tendency to become "sloppy" when carrying out crucial tasks. I guess this is the old "familiarity breeds contempt" take. Many older people become casual with their carrying out of crucial tasks, to the extent that they become a safety risk because they are not carrying out those tasks to the required high standards and strict procedures.

Not saying that the older gentleman here is totally at fault - it takes two to tango - but I would hazard a WAG in this case, that the instructor was distracted from keeping a proper lookout by her students performance - and the older gentleman just didn't apply himself with the necessary intensive rigour, to the proper lookout angle.

In his case, his age, and his reduced ability to turn his head to the required degree of articulation to scan the sky, could have been an important factor in the crash.

I guess the age-old problem of thinking you're the only one in the area, because of the low traffic volume, can also be a major trap.

Gee, the climb rate of the HB could only be described as "leisurely" at best, couldn't it?

Buttt!! How many tons of fuel are you responsible for each day you go to work!!