This bloke's seen it all...

[Marty_d]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-17/man-who-worked-75-years-as-an-aircraft-engineer-turns-95/10501728

 

 

[johnm]

he could write a good book with a lot of interesting incidences

 

 

[farri]

WOW! Does he have some stories!!! I have a few myself! I did the scuba diving to retrieve a Drifter from the bottom, 12 meters down, in Lake Tinaroo! The pilot had a passenger on board, got it badly wrong and ended up in the lake beside some of his mates in a speedboat... I think you`ll get the picture.

 

Franco.

 

No! It wasn`t me in theDrifter! The pilot came to me for assistance.

 

 

[onetrack]

He's lucky it was only 12M deep! Mates in a speedboat? Sounds like there's more to the story.

 

Possibly showing off, and watching the mates in the speedboat, probably meant he was distracted from flying the Drifter, at a time/altitude, when he should have been giving it 100%.

 

The old LAME is great encouragement to keep going in your old age. While you're still upright and reasonably fit, and able to carry out tasks satisfactorily, you should keep doing what you like to do.

 

The problem with advancing age is a lack of body flexibility, thin skin that tears very easily, and legs that don't hold you up, like they used to. 

 

You can get around these problems by making adjustments to your jobs, so you can sit more often, get the young blokes to do the jobs that require twisting and contortions, and by using skin protective wear as much as possible.

 

At 70, I'm finding that jumping down off things from a metre or a metre and a half, is not something my knees like any more. So I have adjusted to that, by not jumping down from those distances any more, I use steps.

 

It's interesting to see that he reckons pilots are 98% responsible for crashes. A LAME would say that!

 

I think the official figures are a little lower, somewhere around 80% - but he's right in that pilot error is a vastly increased % of the reason for crashes, as compared to mechanical failure.

 

 

[facthunter]

Pilot error is a dumb term. Serious  and professional investigators wouldn't use it It's totally outdated and not of great meaning.  People who design crook cockpits and make fuel selectors  backwards on some planes make pilot's jobs harder.

 

       Pilot's do prove the adage that it's hard to make anything foolproof. Pilot's also fly planes that should have never been able to stay in the air, in the condition they were finally in, and pull off near miracles at times.. I could list a book full of in flight problems caused by the plane, and it's system components , Not me or the pilot buggering up. Either the design or the maintenance was suss. NOT the pilot in those instances.. There's also some really crap designs with inbuilt  faults, mechanical and aerodynamic..  Cost cutting is often evident. with many designs .Nev

 

 

[Thruster88]

Pilot error is a dumb term. Serious  and professional investigators wouldn't use it It's totally outdated and not of great meaning.  People who design crook cockpits and make fuel selectors  backwards on some planes make pilot's jobs harder.

       Pilot's do prove the adage that it's hard to make anything foolproof. Pilot's also fly planes that should have never been able to stay in the air, in the condition they were finally in, and pull off near miracles at times.. I could list a book full of in flight problems caused by the plane, and it's system components , Not me or the pilot buggering up. Either the design or the maintenance was suss. NOT the pilot in those instances.. There's also some really crap designs with inbuilt  faults, mechanical and aerodynamic..  Cost cutting is often evident. with many designs .Nev

Yes in 2018 lion air 610 should not have happened 

 

 

[spacesailor]

Just a  note

 

"The old LAME is great encouragement to keep going in your old age. While you're still upright and reasonably fit, and able to carry out tasks satisfactorily, you should keep doing what you like to do."

 

Was under my Delica today, & it's not just the normal things that get you,

 

But to get down & squirm around on the floor, or pumping the jack while on your back is bludi hard, compered to when we were younger.

 

Now can I remember where the Grease-pump was, the last time used.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[farri]

 Getting old is terrible, but the alternative is far worse!!!  

 

 

[facthunter]

 I find I'm not trained for it, Franco. It's certainly NOT a promotion either. Nev

 

 

[eightyknots]

he could write a good book with a lot of interesting incidences

 

Someone should really encourage him to do that. It would be a great read spanning a large part of aviation history.

 

 

[spacesailor]

FOUND IT

 

My OLD grease-gun is worn-out,

 

Cleaned it out but the piston is loosing most of it's pressure from the bad wear, so will have to be replaced.

 

Worked out I have owned it for about 61 years, a good run !, but WORN-OUT, its a grease gun, never used without being lubed. LoL

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Steve L]

ahhhhh spacesailor you have been using the wrong grease 

 

 

[pmccarthy]

You need aviation grade grease gun lubricant.

 

 

[derekliston]

I’ve long been of the opinion that an aircraft designer, having come up with a design, consults another designer who says “ Mate, a LAME could fix that, go and redesign it until he can’t” Case in point, PA38 Tomahawk elevator cables. One of them travels forward from the control column, down around a pulley before making it’s way aft. I am convinced that the factory instal that before fitting the firewall because changing it is as close to impossible as any job I have ever had to do. Used my entire vocabulary of swear words and probably coined a few more!

 

 

[spacesailor]

They'r making cars that way too.

 

If all the airbags go off, the cars scrapped, because to replace them all, requires stripping the entire inside of the vehicle.

 

The outside of same vehicle can straightened, and panels replaced.

 

spacesailor