Carbon Canary

In there latest update, CASA has delayed the proposal to allow RPC holders into Class D and C airspace until at least 1 qtr next year.

I always wondered why a particular type of file was called a 'flat bastard'....until I accidentally filed the top of my knuckle with one. Again theoretically, the differential thermal expansion of the piston and ring should release the ring at op temperature, but the glass-like deposit may act as a glue. I dunno !

Melting point of silica is around 1700C and theoretically a smidgen of silica could come from quartz type dust getting through the air filter. Melted (and then frozen) silica would look like and is closely related to glass. I can't recall what the combustion temp inside a mogas ICE is, and too lazy to look it up, but it's probably in the 1700C ballpark. I've seen glass like deposits in a hog-fuel (tree bark) fired boiler from sand entrained on the logs that go through the de-barker, so it can happen. The issue becomes that glass is a reasonably good insulator, so you could have a differential heating influence on the piston ?? Is the assumption that the rings are seized onto the piston at operating temperature as well ? Anyhow, I should butt-out here - I'm barely a backyard mechanic, so risk leading you down a rabbit hole through speculation. CC

I'm no fan of the ASIC card, but I get the need to manage the number of people that can be airside at an RPT airport to those with a genuine need. If someone has an evil intent, I'm sure they could still find a way to get airside, ASIC card or not. The entry gate codes are usually readily known for starters. ASIC cards are just another (expensive) form of ID that are a pain to renew. I use my face to open my iPad and I don't need an ASIC card for it. I came through passport control at Sydney airport about a month ago and just looked at a camera. I wonder if that's where we are headed ? George Orwell was right.

Plus your Class 2 medical.

Onetrack - well, sort of.... Ethanol and water are completely miscible and ethanol is hydroscopic, so will tend to scavenge water from petrol so the old bush trick holds some merit.. However you will still be left with petrol + water/ethanol mixture which you may or may not be able to separate out. Fortunately, as you say, engines will tolerate a bit of entrained water in fuel to an extent anyhow. You could probably run an engine on whiskey.....if you could afford it ! Methylated spirits is approx 90%ethanol /10% methanol and added benzoate agent to make it taste bad. I was once jokingly told that if you strain Metho through burnt toast first, it then tastes alright. I chose not to test the theory. There could actually be a scientific basis for it though with activated carbon stripping out the benzoate....but let's not go there. Just saw Facthunter's good reply as well. Key point is that "petrol" is not a single molecular product but is a mixture of a bunch of different hydrocarbons and that's before value-added additives are thrown in for marketing reasons.

Cycling back to an earlier part of this thread regarding ethanol...... Be aware that ethanol forms an azeotrope with water. That is roughly 95:5 water. This means that despite the difference in boiling points, you can distil an ethanol/water mixture all day long, but you won't separate them beyond 95:5. Keep this in mind if the day ever comes when you want to use ethanol in an aircraft engine.......and you won't see the presence of water (in the ethanol) in a fuel drain check.

Oh, and back then the various refineries had a seasonal bias as to what crudes they would source. For example, the Viva (ex-Shell) refinery at Geelong had a base diet of Gippsland crude from Bass Strait. This crude was great for making 'light's such as petrol, LPG etc but not that great for diesel and heavier fractions such has heating oil which was used a lot in Vic, way back when. Hence, leading up to harvest time, the crude buyers would source Indonesian and middle east crude that would produce a greater diesel fraction and in winter heavier crudes for a greater heating oil fraction. As the product demand changes, so too must the crude oil diet to the refinery. Of course that's all largely academic now as Australia imports most of its fuel as finished product. If anyone is interested, I could bore them for hours on the hydrocarbon chemistry in an oil refinery !

In relation to pumping different fuels down the same pipeline, I vaguely recall the same practice was used from the Whangarei refinery in NZ down to Auckland. I also recall from a previous life that the Mobil Stanvac refinery that once existed south of Adelaide (next to where the desal plant is now) produced lube oils and bitumen amongst other things......but the larger market for bitumen was in Melbourne. Hence the bitumen was blended with kerosene so it could be easily shipped to the Mobil Altona refinery where it was treated in the 'Cutback Bitumen Unit' to separate the bitumen from the kero by simple distillation, with the kero then becoming Jet A1. I also vaguely recall the avgas contamination crisis way back in the late '80's (?) which I believe had some origins in the alkylation unit at the Altona refinery. At that time the sulphuric acid-based akylation unit experienced frequent upsets which led to acid carryover to downstream distillation processes. To reduce the corrosion impact, loads of amine-based corrosion inhibitors were dosed into the distillation columns. The presence of the amines in the ultimate Avgas product were not kind to rubber seals, etc. I was involved in oil refining back then, but no doubt some of our more 'senior' forum members may be able to refresh my memory.

Any chance that SES chainsaw was filled up with petrol without 2 stroke oil added ?? I've nearly done it myself - a fuel tin for 4 stroke lawnmower and trimmer, separate pre-mix fuel tin for 2 stroke chainsaw and leaf blower. Don't grab the wrong one !

If you believe Flightradar, there was a previous 50min flight that morning. Maybe the A/C started with half tanks or less, and managed to run one dry - if it was fuel exhaustion at all. This was an ab-initio student still busy managing the aircraft and fuel was probably not top of mind. But it should have been top of mind for an instructor. Then again, maybe he blew a piston or something completely different - we are speculating here. If ATSB actually decides to investigate, we may eventually find out.........or I'll ask just around a few people.

The initial report stated (and flightradar track tends to confirm) he had done eight touch 'n' go's ......prior to first solo.

Geeez ! Were the medical evacuations before or after you flew in it ?

Kevin, I'm still flying both GA and RA-Aus types. I haven't flown a Warrior for a few years, but routinely fly a C172.....and ultimately prefer it over the Warrior, but so be it. As Flightrite suggests there is no perfect aircraft and maybe it's important to also have a firm view of what you intend to do with the aircraft rather than the individual aircraft personality ? Will it be fun to fly and handle like a sportscar, or will I be taking a less than confident passenger and need something a little bit more docile ? As well as.......long cross-countries or a few laps around the park on the w/e ? How much useful load was a critical factor for me in my decision. In my limited experience in RA-Aus, a lightly loaded RA-Aus A/C can be a bit of a handful in gusty conditions compared to GA and the lack of inertia in the flare took a bit of getting used to - but they are a lot of fun to fly ! I'd say handling wise, RA-Aus A/C vs GA are different - not better, not worse, just different. With a few hundred hours, I call myself a low-hour PPL, a green RPC and a permanent novice, so take my advice with a large grain of salt. Dunno - maybe try a Tecnam ? Low wing, and a bit heavier than some others. I haven't flown one, so have no opinion either way. Nominating a specific aircraft I know is opening up a minefield on here. If you intend to make a purchase decision based upon renting vs ownership you will need some seriously creative accounting, but don't let that dissuade you.

By asking questions, we all learn something, or at least get entertained along the way. Now we know why emergency vehicles and heavy aircraft have flashing lights - someone did the math.

So after all that, I suppose a ‘good’ strobe is more discernible then ?

IAS was prob around 115 kts, so a long way short of Vne......down the Darling R. to Pooncarie then to Lake Mungo.

A few years ago I got 154 kts out a C172........(well, GS that is !)

I suspect strobes will get more attention than a steady light at the same strength.

Be aware that at Bankstown there are three closely-aligned parallel runways with contra-circuits occurring on the outer two. I would think that early in the training up to 1st solo at your home field, using landmarks as reference is quite OK to get into the groove. Students aren't let loose away from their home field until after gaining their RPL. (I think)

You may have all the training in the world but the startle effect may still turn your brain to mush when it counts. This young guy had little training under his belt and also got the startle. He walked away from it, which was a good result. In GA, I still try to fly with an instructor every 6 months or so, and engine failure practice away from the circuit and glide approaches are a common feature.

Where’s Flyboy ? He thought the Platzer was a Jungmann. Similar, but different. And on this occasion, located around 20 mins flying time apart down the Rhein.

Our Ronaldson Tippet was stolen out of our shearing shed around 20 years ago. It would have taken at least two very strong blokes to lift it. Whenever I see vintage engines I take a very good look - I’d recognise it immediately due to a particular braze repair on it. I believe these vintage engines bring big money these days. Frogs lived in the cooling water tank, but by morning smoko she would be pretty warm so they would be out on top lifting their feet. On one occasion the old engine spluttered and coughed and the shearer’s were going crook. A frog had got too hot and jumped from the top of the cooling water tank straight onto the spark plug lead. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire !!

This one is for Flyboy, because he came close last time.