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kgwilson

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Everything posted by kgwilson

  1. kgwilson
    Rain all day today to the North. 80mm at home. Very wet Anzac parades. Not looking flash for tomorrow either.
  2. kgwilson
    Boeings stock keeps declining after their disastrous failings ever since the Max 8 crashes. When things go bad a company usually begins to divest interests that are not core to its business. The US government is keeping Boeing going with its military contracts. Their foray in to space didn't go well leaving Astronauts stranded & doors falling off because they forgot to secure the bolts doesn't inspire confidence. I'd say that Ozrunways/Foreflight will probably become combined but will be in better hands (possibly).
  3. kgwilson
    Plus a different wing configuration & no prop ducting
  4. kgwilson
    The photo is not as described. No front canard or retractable nosewheel. Either these were dropped or they were a later modification.
  5. kgwilson
    R22s & R44s seem to appear in a lot of rotorwing crashes. Maybe that is because there are a lot of them in service (AFAIK they are the largest selling choppers in the world) or some other cause. I have not done any research at all. A friend of mine flew R44s for some years in the NT & QLD doing survey work for mines & had an auto rotate incident in the middle of nowhere on a ridge when he had both magnetos fail.
  6. kgwilson
    I guess things must have changed. I built my aircraft & test flew it plus flew off the first 25 hours. I had bugger all recent hours because I'd spent most of the previous 4 1/2 years building the plane. I bent the nosewheel at 12 hours when I'd adjusted the idle too high & finally put it on the ground , ran off the seal on to wet & muddy grass. Reported that to RAA. Finally got a new nose leg & made it an inch too long. Broke that one plus the wooden prop. Reported that to RAA as well & had to remove the engine & replace the flywheel bolts. Reported the repairs & videoed flange runout which was perfect. No issues & now over 400 hours. RAA never even commented.
  7. kgwilson
    It looks like the so called "Jesus Nut" failed dramatically in this mechanical failure. Helicopters are very reliable these days and also due to the requirements of very high strength components and rigorous maintenance regimes luckily don't have too many main rotor separations.
  8. kgwilson
    Just a comment on Electric trucks. There are plenty of these especially massive dump trucks in the mining industry, many of which are autonomous. The main reasons are reduced emissions (none out the non existent tail pipe), lower operating cost, improved safety and most of all improved performance especially on steep grades due to electric motors producing full torque from 0 rpm. https://reneweconomy.com.au/fortescue-strikes-4-billion-deal-for-electric-trucks-and-dozers-to-eliminate-fossil-fuels-at-giant-mines/ Also Janus Electric are converting diesel B-Double tractor units from diesel to electric and have a replaceable battery that can be swapped in 3 minutes and has 600km of range. The cost of conversion is apparently cheaper than a full diesel engine overhaul. They will operate on the main highway between Melbourne & Brisbane. https://www.januselectric.com.au/
  9. kgwilson
    Brendan posted a video on this last September. This is one of many under development using drone technology so they are able to fly under full automation or with pilot input. Drones are already pretty big & a few weeks ago when floods threatened in the Northern rivers, NSW a drone was practicing the delivery of hay bales to stranded cattle. That one had a lift capacity of I think 45 kg.
  10. kgwilson
    Avalon is an Aviation Industry event more akin to Farnborough or Paris where all the latest civilian and military aircraft are on display & sales teams abound. Oshkosh is the US Experimental Aircraft Associations annual fly-in & everyone is welcome. About 10,000 aircraft fly in for the event. It is aimed at a completely different demographic.
  11. kgwilson
    The last Avalon I attended was 2005. Then they had a mock up of a F35 with it's V or STOL capabilities, a B52 made a flypast, the Connie flew, there were lots of other flypasts & aero displays & even hang gliders towed up behind Utes. There were several new plastic fantastics & a Foxcon Terrier Camper. Did they become a thing? The indoor stuff was all commercial & of not much interest. I was never inspired enough to attend another Avalon.
  12. kgwilson
    This is an issue that is there due to the rules around RA where RA pilots do not have access to CTR. If they did then Camden CTR could include the Oaks & everyone would be on the same frequency. A similar situation is at Blenheim in NZ where the main RPT (& also a minor military presence) Airport (Woodbourne) & the recreational, gliding & sport pilot aerodrome (Omaka) are only 5km apart & at the same altitude. On arrival you contact the tower & they clear you to enter the circuit & report back when on the ground. You must get a clearance for takeoff & departure from ATC. I've flown in there a number of times & it works well & there is a lot of activity as well. I think it is still the same. The difference is that all RA aircraft are on the same register & RA pilots must have a CTR endorsement & I assume a transponder. If RA finally gets access to CTR (30 years later than the rest of the world) then this problem would go away.
  13. kgwilson
    I have no problem with the sites being combined. They almost are anyway. You can just choose the subjects you wish to be involved with and ignore those that you have no interest in. Simples.
  14. kgwilson
    I finally got round to reading the article. Every pilot should know what all the airspeed terms are and what they mean as well as their relationship with one another. It is part of the training and qualification process. I think the authors presentation and sequencing could have been a lot better & he failed to mention calibrated airspeed at all which is the AS corrected for position installation errors but maybe that would just serve to confuse some even more.
  15. kgwilson
    I assume so. It is spectacular part of the world to fly around. I've flown there in my old Archer 2 & in a club 172 N model but more than 20 years ago. Not so many houses then. Attended Warbirds over Wanaka in 2000. We based ourselves in Queenstown & flew to Wanaka for the show. 600 light aircraft flew in on the Saturday morning even a few twins from Australia. They had temporary ATC set up & when I got to the reporting point was given number 10 or 12 & told to come straight in. No GPS or ADSB in those days. 4 in the 172 & all looking & we saw no-one till we got close & then there was a string of black dots in front. I think we were landing at about 30 second intervals. It was fantastic.
  16. kgwilson
    And the opposite runway on a good day.
  17. kgwilson
    There is an excellent video of an RPT ILS approach in to Queenstown through low cloud on youtube. See below.
  18. kgwilson
    I don't understand your 4th symptom. The US has very poor healthcare, in fact virtually none with a totally inadequate safety net for the poor. It is user pays or have health insurance at exhorbitant cost that only the wealthy can afford.
  19. kgwilson
    Incorrect, he got 77.3 million votes which was just over 49% of the vote but just under 64% of people eligible to vote actually voted so in fact 67% of eligible voters in the US did not vote for Trump. Trump called this a landslide but he failed to gain 50% though the electoral college system saw him with 312 votes to Harris' 226. Trump won by 230,000 votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania & Wisconsin rust belt states where there was intense campaigning. If just over 115,000 voters in that group had instead picked Harris, she would have won those Rust Belt swing states, giving her enough votes in the electoral college to win the presidency. That is how screwed the US system is.
  20. kgwilson
    This system is a great option for short runways that have limited over run and dire consequences if that happens. I've flown in to Queenstown a number of times and at the Western end of the runway below runway height are houses in the town of Frankton & then Lake Wakitipu. At the Eastern end is the confluence of the Shotover and Kawarau rivers well below the runway height. The distance between the 2 EMAS pads is about 1760 metres. Check it out on google earth. There is no over run capability at either end.
  21. kgwilson
    I've read nothing of the new Mag I received today but a glance through indicates very little of interest. The Dolly girl had 2 articles in last quarters Mag both with very staged pics & articles that appeared well beyond her age & the same in this one & I agree with Headwind. There is little of interest to real aviators. The mag has become a travelogue. What happened to builder logs and technical info. What would be of interest would be an article on the scandal regarding RAA being referred to the Vic DPP over the lies & cover up that saw the demise of Jill Bailey & Matt Boutell.
  22. kgwilson
    My all alloy amateur build was supposed to be 313kg but after adding electric flaps, Matco wheels & disk brakes, wing tanks extra instruments & comfort stuff it ended up at 335kg. This still left 265kg which is still 45kgs under for me with full 170 litres of fuel, me & 20kg of baggage. With Pilot & medium weight passenger I am on the limit with 2/3 wing tanks full but everything else. Carbon fibre jockeys should do somewhat better with weight.
  23. kgwilson
    Don't call out "Hi" to the pilot if his name is Jack. You may never know what hits you.
  24. kgwilson
    I have been flying since the 1970s and have flown in to many private strips. I would never fly over any ones house at such low level to land unless I had spoken to the home owner and requested permission, not just assume I had the right. You have a valid right to be concerned but a discussion about the issue with your neighbour is the best first step in my opinion.
  25. kgwilson
    If you are going to do these things that contrary to all of the rules, regulations and laws of the land you sure as hell don't tell anyone especially on a public forum site.
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