onetrack

What an incredible effort! Surely he must have had some helpers? One thing's for sure, I bet he's never watched much TV!

It's a trick photo. Find the hidden error! 😄

They don't get used to erratically-timed noises and lights. Another stunt is applying sticky gels where birds perch. Most birds are perching birds (passerines), and their feet are three-toed, designed specifically to hold onto branches and roosting spots. They hate roosting or perching spots that have surfaces that make the perching uncomfortable, unpleasant or unstable. The sticky gel is very unpleasant to them. Another trick is spikes on roosting spots. You can buy dirt cheap long narrow sheets of plastic spikes from Temu or AliExpress. They have long sharp spikes on them, and they are very effective as deterrents for many animals. We use them to stop cats and possums climbing into our roof spaces. They would be effective bird deterrents, cable-tied to rafters and beams inside a shed, where birds like to roost.

Pressurising a carburettor via a supercharger brings with it a substantial number of problems. For a start, all carburettors operate on vacuum and venturi principles. When you pressurise a carburettor, it reverses all the basic carburettor principles. Supercharger pressure means all shafts must be sealed to prevent fuel leaks. The standard venturi effect does not compensate for air pressure. As boost rises, the carburettor can lean out, leading to dangerous combustion chamber temperatures, even broken internal engine components (pistons/rings). It is difficult to keep a supercharged carburettor from running too rich at idle and light throttle, because the idle circuits are pressurised. Carburettor gaskets must be seriously modified or eliminated, as standard carburettor gaskets can blow out, or leak fuel under pressure. The boost pressure from the supercharger can force fuel past the carburettors needle and seat, causing the float bowl/s to overfill, flooding the engine. Standard fuel pumps cannot handle a supercharged carburettor setup. You must use a boost-referenced fuel pressure regulator that increases fuel pressure in direct proportion to boost pressure. If the fuel pressure does not remain higher than the boost pressure, fuel will be forced backward, emptying the float bowl/s. If the carburettor floats are not designed for high pressure, standard floats can collapse under the intense pressure of the supercharger, leading to a catastrophic loss of fuel control. Supercharging a carburettor can lead to intake icing. As the supercharger compresses the air, the cooling effect of fuel vaporisation can cause intake temperatures to drop below freezing inside the carburettor, leading to ice formation on the throttle plates, even in warm weather. The high-velocity air forced into the carburettor may not supply all air or emulsion bleeds in the carburettor evenly, causing some cylinders to run leaner than others. In summary, the addition of supercharging to an aircraft engine via carburettor pressurisation, brings with it a substantially increased level of complexity in components and tuning requirements, which is not desirable in an application where that level of complexity lays the groundwork for increased engine unreliability.

There were a lot more than 30 airfields used by the US Air Force in Australia during WW2. Over 300 new airfields were built in Australia during WW2, and the U.S. Air Force used them all in varying amounts. The history of the RAAF Airfield Construction Squadrons - "Always First", is a worthy read, to see just what these hard-working blokes achieved.

Bird distress calls, bird predator calls, and flashing lights all combine in this device to keep pest birds unnerved, and they'll move on to another spot more to their liking. https://www.pestrol.com.au/buy-online/bird-chaser-pro-bird-repeller/

Never feel guilty about shooting starlings! There'll be another 20 tomorrow, to replace the 2 you shot! Any starlings that make it to W.A. are shot on sight! The damage to our cropping and fruit industries would run into hundreds of millions, if they established themselves in the West.

The Wentworth Jabiru crash thread is here......

What's to clear? The engine manufacturers state a maximum TBO, and that's it. Anything over that period, you're on-condition, on your own, and the risk is all yours. RA-Aus management is not going to accept responsibility for every engine out there that is running on-condition, they have no day-to-day control over how they're maintained. Engine life is a major variable, so much depends on how they're run and maintained, and the conditions they operate under. I see no reason why a carefully maintained and well-treated engine wouldn't run to 4000 hrs - but the risk of engine failure increases steadily, as the hours advance over the listed TBO. https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/longest-after-tbo.144535/

Don't all Melburnians go inside, and shelter under airconditioning, when the temperature reaches 37°C? 😄

...... lunch after a period of wild manoeuvering in the Drifters and Gyros in the chase scenes (where Turbo only plays a bit part, unfortunately), and the smell of puked lunch makes even the toughest of the hombres (we're looking at you, Turbo), go green around the gills and start to.......

Skippy, a useful trick to prevent thread seizure is to coat the fastener in Permatex PermaShield Fuel Resistant Gasket Dressing and Flange Sealant, before installing. This product does an excellent job of sealing against dissimilar metals corrosion, resisting unscrewing, and resisting petrol fuels attack. The fastener can still be easily unscrewed. Plain anti-seize will possibly encourage fastener loosening under severe vibration.

Facthunters advice is good. Ball bearings are designed for light loads, taper roller bearings are designed to carry heavier loads, and to last longer. The early automotive wheel bearings were simple ball bearings, but the manufacturers gradually found taper roller bearings provided better service under a much wider range of road conditions, and wide variations in loading. In addition, taper roller bearings became cheaper as manufacturing methods improved, and sales levels increased. However, in recent years, the light vehicle manufacturers have returned to using sealed ball bearings in a move designed to reduce friction losses, and to improve fuel economy figures. As aircraft wheel use is designated light duty, intermittent use, sealed ball bearings in the wheel hubs would be a completely satisfactory alternative to taper roller bearings.

The grease caps are not designed to keep grease in, they are there to keep dirt, dust and moisture out of the bearings. If the wheel hub is overfilled with grease, it will leak out and spread across the wheels. The simple solution is to take the hubs off, clean out the excess amounts of grease, and reinstall the hubs and bearings with just the bearing cups and cones containing grease. As Moneybox says, the centre hollow section of the hub does not need to be filled with grease, it is only hollow to save a lot of unnecessary weight in the hub casting.

Someone has mis-typed, and left a "1" off the front, or left a "5" off the end, of the shipping figure! 😄

I can remember the Canada Post fuel surcharge, about 12-14 years ago, was 34%!! It's still around 14% on CP international parcels. Plus, Canada Post moves stuff at a glacial pace.

If it's coming from Canada, you'll get a revised freight charge shortly, that will floor you. Freighting anything from Canada is hugely expensive.

An Albon Merlin diesel...

I've watched sea fog roll into Broome around midday on a bright fine day, like a fast-moving cold front! It was amazing to watch, and it was as thick as pea soup.

600ml of water would not last you more than a few hours in warm conditions. 2L of water would be a far better amount to carry.

Skippy, scroll down the page in the following link, the DRA is outlined in orange. I find it incredible that it's not marked on aeronautical charts. https://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2024/02/planning-for-remote-possibilities/

Clinton, as I understand it, virtually all commercial airliner holds are pressurised and heated and ventilated the same as the cabin. This is to ensure luggage, perishable goods, and pets being carried in the hold, are not damaged/killed by extreme cold and low pressures.

Moneybox, unfortunately, this pilot hasn't done the right thing by anyone, and especially his mate that he killed. He purposely chose to fly without abiding by any aviation laws, and he especially chose to fly without a licence, as he deemed no Australian laws applied to him, as he claims to be a "sovereign citizen" and above all that. He also ignored a directive that required seatbelt tongue replacement - which was supposed to be carried out a couple of decades ago. As a result, CASA is taking him to court on multiple aviation offences, and the charges are yet to be heard, so it's better to keep comments to a minimum until the legal outcome is known.

Blueadentures, I can't get any details of the case, it's all behind a paywall. Do you have a summary? Seems to me that the drugs charges are just a minor part of the aircraft crash story, I believe he's yet to face 17 charges related to aviation offences?

Yes... but it was largely ethnic Ukrainians who were the drivers behind improved Russian aviation products, and space exploration major gains. They don't have the luxury of Ukrainian support in those two areas today.