kgwilson

Juan Browne provides some interesting comment in his 2nd report. The runway safety area (over run) should be a minimum of 1000 feet (300metres) and solid concrete structures no higher than 75mm (3 inches) and anything higher constructed with low impact supports and barriers made of frangible materials. These localisers are normally lights for glide slope requirements etc. It was the massive solid earth berm covering a solid concrete core that was the problem which was also well within the recommended 300 metre minimum distance. Even if this wasn't there with the aircraft still producing thrust it would have hit the concrete wall surrounding the airport. Fast forward to about 12:30 in the video for the explanation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_ith5t_TK8

You can get it from automotive suppliers. Sceet is lined with the wire coil sandwiched between the layers, Scat is not. The perceived issue with Sceet is that the inner lining can become detached though it has a higher temperature range and is more flexible than Scat. Usually double stitched either side of the wire coil and allows for smoother airflow. A metre of No 9 or 10 cost me about $45.00. Over $200 from Spruce.

Unless you crash in to a country fair or footy match. I don't think there is much difference between recreational GA flying and recreational 600kg and below flying. I've had a GA licence for over 40 years but built my aircraft and registered ii with RA mainly because I figured over time it would be more difficult to maintain a class 2 medical. Now we have class 5 self declaration medical & recreational licence. It took CASA 10 years longer than any where else, is completely different & it isn't valid anywhere else but then that is CASA all over. When I left NZ in 2005 they had a recreational licence which did not require a class 2, allowed ageing pilots to keep flying the C172, C182, Piper Archer etc but with only 1 passenger, VFR & not at night. Also RA & GA aircraft are on the same register while administered separately and are allowed in to CTR if the pilot & aircraft are appropriately equipped & qualified. If my memory is correct the aircraft can have only 1 engine & weigh less that 5500kg. This makes sense to me. The current situation is just bureaucratic BS IMHO.

Just checked the PE guide OT has posted. It was legal when the instructor did it but not when I did it.

I have had instructors turn the engine off when performing a BFR though I've no idea of the legality of doing so. I have done the same to check glide performance and really didn't find any difference. There may have been a little but it wasn't obvious. The important thing is to turn the Mag switches back on as soon as the prop stops just in case you need a quick start

When I was doing my GA to RA conversion at Coffs after the tower closed at 5pm I was taxiing and heard an RPT inbound call at Red Rock about 21 NM to the North. By the time I'd got to the holding point I could see the landing light probably about 10NM away. We'd acknowledged positions & intentions & was very easy to watch the approach and touchdown. I can't remember what it was just it was a twin RPT & on touchdown the pilot called me & advised he was turning off at an early taxiway & I could line up.

When I built my aircraft I installed LED strobe on the wing tips. They are very bright to look at and most aircraft have LEDs now as the old tubes were expensive, caused radio interference if not adequately suppressed and required a lot of power. I've seen strobes in the air but very rarely. See them on the ground always. Two landing lights in a wig wag configuration are very easy to spot when an aircraft is on its glideslope. The very powerful landing lights on commercial aircraft can be seen from a long way out.

I imagine that there will be a post mortem, however without any crash investigation results are not likely to be made public.

If there was a control system failure taking over from the rear seat would probably not have any effect. At 500 feet it is all over in a few seconds. Reaction time to an unexpected event is about 3-4 seconds so if this was the case it would be too late.

Sadly i have to report a fatal crash today at around 11:30am at Palmers Island near Yamba, Northern NSW. The pilot was a friend of mine and had his aircraft hangared at South Grafton. He was well known, well liked, very experienced. My sincere condolences to all of the family. There were a number of witnesses and we will know more in the days to come.

RAA public liability insurance is not $10 million, it is $20 million. Passengers are only covered for 250k though. I don't insure my hangar or my aircraft. The aerodrome floods and the cost of premiums soon exceeds the cost of building a new hangar. Premiums for insuring the aircraft hull would have been about 25k since I finished building it so i am well ahead. If I crash it I will either rebuild it myself, scrap it completely or i'll be dead.

The US has been in decline for some time like all "empires" before it. Their once great auto industry is now a basket case. I checked out a video the other day of the cars NOT to buy in 2024. The first comment was everything from the US that is not a Tesla. They are at war with themselves. Capitalism gone mad. When Telsa awards a salary of $US 65 billion to Musk with the approval of shareholders & Trump wanting to dismantle the justice system among many crazy ideas, the fuse is well alight.

Things are changing all the time and quite a number of media outlets are now saying it was likely shot down by a Russian missile similar to the one used to down Malaysia MH 17 back in 2014. That one, a Buk M1 also had a proximity detonated warhead. The reports now seem to agree that the GPS was jammed by Russia as there were a lot of Ukraine drones heading their way at the time & that the Russian operators were both poorly trained & pretty trigger happy. I think that Juan Brownes report will be shown to be pretty accurate in the end.

And the Russians say it hit a flock of birds. How pathetic. They always under estimate the ability of people around with smartphones and cameras to reveal the BS. I imagine they will eventually try to pin this on Ukraine.