onetrack

I need Mike to start selling stuff for me, with salesman abilities like that! 😄

The Return Link ability of the MT620GR makes it a winner. No wondering about whether anyone got your cry for assistance. https://whatsupdownunder.com.au/research/reviews/gme-mt620gr-plb-review/

It looks like an airstrip roughed in by the local earthmoving contractors, as a temporary strip for a project close by? Like the ones across the Nullarbor, installed by the Eyre Hwy construction companies in the 1960's.

....soon proud to become a Patched associate of CASA (#nottherealCASA#) and the orders for leather jackets with the yellow smiley face poured into .... yes, you guessed it ..... Turbine Leather Jackets Inc., a subsidiary of #nottherealCASA#. However, it wasn't long before there were a long list of complaints from old phart pilots (because they aren't happy, unless they're complaining), that the leather wasn't real leather, the yellow smiley face actually looked more like it was sporting a scowl, and the.............

.....the black-marketeers were always desperately trying to find new blackmarket products and to keep one step ahead of the Law. To that end, the black-marketeers soon realised there was scope for huge profits in the aviation (long-overdue avref) sector, simply because they could see the huge profits made by legit businesses. With no need for legitimacy, black-marketeers eyes went like poker machine reels, as they calculated the monstrous profits to be made from backyard aviation parts and component dealing. And where else was there a huge supply of parts and components for black-market aviation - but the Middle East! - where aviation parts and components regularly and literally, fall from the sky! Especially right after some aerial action by the USAAF or Iran. To that end, the black-marketeers only had to decide on the modus operandi involved to gather up and catalogue all those (only lightly-used!) aviation parts and components from the deserts of the Middle East, so they investigated the companies most likely to take on the job, no questions asked, and with corporate headquarters about as traceable as a Facebook-ad "wonder cleaning product" company. To their great relief, they found a dubious corporate operator in the Moorabbin region (although the company was registered in Afghanistan, with associate operations in Lichenstein and Monaco), and the CEO was noted for his ability to turn his hand to anything that involved "edgy" products and services, so it was a no-brainer to............

You'll be right, Moneybox. Just round up a pile of broombush, weave it into that framework, and you'll have a first-class gunyah for overnight stays! You could possibly even have your choice, of how you want your 'roo cooked! 😄

......then the goasts of ISIS fighters from the past started to appear, and the mob scattered in terror - even faster than if someone had yelled out, "LOOK OUT!! A THROUGH-BOLT BOMB!!" .......

Caterpillar engines have two marks on the dipstick, one mark for when oil is cold and engine is stopped, one mark for when engine is at operating temperature, and idling.

Well, I guess coming across a flock of parachutes makes them easier to see! But does that then mean, you have a higher chance of taking one out? I mean to say, it's like driving through a flock of birds - despite your best evasion techniques, you often take one or more out.

A lot depends on your primary requirements in a PLB. You need to list the features most desirable to you, for your own personal needs, and go looking for the models that supply those needs. The features I look at, are; Subscription model or free version? Is there a need for messaging? Messaging models cost more, and need a subscription. Primary design of the unit? For land or water, or for all uses? Battery life and manufacturers warranty life. Weight? Some people seek out lightweight models, if there's a need/desire to carry it constantly on their person. Perhaps durability as regards crash survivability in a light aircraft crash, is also something that needs to be considered. I don't know how you'd measure this. Inbuilt GPS. GPS-equipped versions have much greater positioning accuracy than those models without GPS. It's interesting that the article produced by CASA centred around ELT's and PLB's, determined that only about half the ELT's fitted to crashed aircraft, actually worked in/after the crash event. Against that, PLB's need to be activated, and it requires a person to be conscious after an impact event, to be able do that.

Nev, the bottom line is, every single A330 aircraft manufactured, flew consistently without a major fatality in passenger service - for FIFTEEN years - between 1994 and 2009. AF 447 became the first major fatality disaster and hull loss for that model aircraft, and it can only be put down to crew incompetence in dealing with a flight upset. This problem is common to many aircraft disasters, and it's the reason why pilots and crew are found to be at fault in the vast majority of aircraft disasters, where perfectly good aircraft are destroyed due to inadequate piloting skills, and personalities that are unsuited to the peculiar demands of piloting. No doubt, you have personally declined to train some students in the art of flying, due to the fact you recognised that they were an accident looking for a place to happen.

The sad emoji was about people who own good vehicles, but fail to do even basic maintenance such as on-time oil changes. I've seen and had to repair the destruction caused by poor maintenance, I'm fixing an engine right now, that was abused to a standstill. Some people should never be allowed near mechanised equipment.

"Airplane" Flight Review? When did the FAA and Americans take over our Australian aviation language? It has always been "Aircraft" or "Aeroplane" in our aviation technology terms. What next? All aviation words using "s" in the middle, replaced by "z"?

Bloody hell!! How could you not see a bright orange paraglider right in your flight path?

You forgot to tick the options box that said, "Wings - extra $15K". Nice runway checking vehicle, anyway.

No rego?? Is this from the days of wild west recreational aviation? 🙂

It sounds to me like high-level property developers with huge airport development plans have been whispering in CASA's ear about how they need to fly their drones around airports so they can get fancy aerial images for glitzy marketing purposes for new developments. You only have to see the real estate ads today, I don't know how we ever bought a house or property in previous times, without a hundred different drone views of it!! Or perhaps it's the developers need the drones up regularly for planning purposes. Either way, they'll get their way. Hundreds of millions of dollars - nay, billions - hang on airport developments today. The Perth airport expansion is gob-smacking. Two new multi-story carparks, a new airport hotel, a third runway, kms and kms of new taxiways - and that's just the airport. The commercial development around the airport that is following the airport expansion is also staggering. They've already knocked down tens of millions worth of large commercial buildings, just to make way for the third runway.

I'm sorry Nev, there's no quote in your reply, so I'm at a loss as to what you need enlightening about. My last post in this thread was at 10:43AM Friday, and it read - "They may be painted to look like Rotax filters - but I'd have to opine, they're the filters that don't meet with Rotax approval."

Well.... he did swing that prop very briskly!

Perhaps a recap of the precise events involved in the crash is warranted right about now, to refresh memories. In particular, the activities and voices of the 3 pilots in the cockpit. The confusion, the lack of proper cockpit procedures, the inability to even read instruments (that WERE working) properly, and the failure of the most senior pilot to take a seat, and take full control authoritatively, is astounding. What is even more astounding is the sheer constant panic of the junior pilot, and the inability of the senior pilot to grasp the worsening situation quickly, to regain aircraft control. It's like he was lackadaisically unaware of what to do. These three pilots all had major flaws in their training, their ability to follow correct procedures, and in their abilities to hand fly the aircraft. It's as if they always believed the aircraft would fly itself out of any trouble. And the bottom line is that the pilots were the ones at the controls, and had all the information they needed to keep control once they lost airspeed indication. But Ronin, the junior pilot started panicking the instant airspeed indication was lost, and just keep pulling back on his sidestick for the entire trip to the ocean surface - and neither of the other, more senior pilots, did anything definitive to stop Ronins constant, panicky control inputs. https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/the-long-way-down-the-crash-of-air-france-flight-447-8a7678c37982

Lawyers are there to find loopholes in vast reams of documentation surrounding insurance, carriage regulations, terms and conditions and hundreds of other legal requirements. They usually find them. In this case, the aircraft was perfectly capable of continuing its planned flight, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it by way of design, as proven by millions of other successfully completed flights by the same model. The reasons behind the crash are simple - inadequate piloting skills. Vast numbers of properly trained pilots transit the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone with no problems, every day and every night of the week. That failure to provide pilots of adequate and competent skills (which all the pax thought was being provided), would have to fall on Air France, and around their levels and styles of training and competency checking.

I'm on a roll here! Another option is - Kelpro produce a range of CV joint boots. Many are for specific vehicle fit, of course - but they also produce about 3 sizes of "universal fit" boots. If you find the Kelpro part number, a Google search on the Kelpro part number will usually bring up the boot dimensions - or some sites selling them will provide dimensions. The only problem with the CV joint boots that I can see, is that the base is designed to fit a circular CV drive forging, so you would need to fabricate a metal adaptor that screws to the firewall, and which would have a circular top to allow the securing of the larger diameter of the CV joint boot to it. The CV joint boots are exceptionally durable, I'm pretty sure they're nitrile rubber. Nitrile rubber is not as flame resistant as silicone rubber, but it's not highly flammable, either.

You can also purchase "rubber bellows" for hydraulic cylinders, which are designed to keep contaminants away from cylinder shafts and seals. These are also available in silicone rubber, and they have the advantage of being vastly more flexible over a longer range of movement, than a simple gear shift boot. https://www.steerforth.co.uk/standard-rubber-bellow-gaiter-p-4433.html

There's actually a whole pile of YooToob videos of people sewing up their own custom-shaped shift boots (or gaiters as they're also known) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaPqzw2eGJk

Or ... you could simply check the dimensions of a larger size, off-the-shelf rubber shifter boot, off eBay - typically for big American pickups - and see if that would do the job. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/277258163920