kgwilson

90% of EV owners charge overnight at home. The technology is still in its infancy. When ICE cars were invented there were no petrol stations. You had to buy fuel from a pharmacy. The newest high speed chargers can charge the LiFePo4 batteries from 0 to 80% in 5 minutes. That means you can charge the Zeekr-1 with 800km of range in 5 minutes far quicker than filling up with petrol. Towing capacity is far greater than with a huge petrol guzzler. There are plenty of new Utes etc coming on to the market now even one being built in Brisbane. Tesla will be introducing its Cyber truck in 2023. There are 1.5 million pre orders.

Agree in the circuit ADSB may as well be turned off. It would just be a distraction. On XC with up to 40NM range it is very useful. Gives you time to change course if you think there is any conflict & you can always call the other aircraft as the rego is displayed, but is he on the same frequency as you?

Well, No. CATL is the worlds biggest battery manufacturer & supplies batteries for Teslas and European EVs. Geely owns Volvo, Lotus, Polestar, Proton. MG as well as a number of Chinese brands like Zeekr the worlds first EV with 1000 km of real world range. The MG4 & 5 have been praised by the automotive reviewers worldwide. Then there is BYD. They have just released 2 models in Australia with a LiFePo4 blade battery. They sell around 115,000 electric cars a month in China, the number is going up every month. Chinese electric car and battery technology is the best in the world. That is why Elon Musk built a giant Tesla factory in China. Whether you like it or not ICE powered vehicles are becoming extinct. None will be produced in Europe from 2035 if the planet manages to hang on that long. Companies like Ford & Toyota will disappear if they don't embrace the change. Hydrogen may become a great source of clean energy but keeping your eggs in that basket is fraught with massive risk

China is far and away the biggest producer of Electric vehicles, about 1/2 the worlds production with 100 manufacturers and about 700 models. They also have the largest solar installations, massive wind farms etc but with 1.4 billion people who have been brought out of poverty to being first world citizens there is massive demand for the trappings of modern society. They also have a lot of fossil fuel requirements and consume enormous amounts of coal and oil. Xi Jinping may be an autocrat with dubious methods and a ruthless MO but the rise of China during his tenure cannot be denied. The Lib/Nats got it completely wrong so we end up with billions in sanctions. Albo will try to mend that and perhaps agree to disagree on certain things and leave some things completely off the Agenda, like Taiwan.

I don't have any figures but it is obvious. Small turbines are not as efficient as large ones for a start. The amount of bypass is minimal so they are more turbo than fan. The diameter of large turbines with high bypass on long range ETOPS aircraft is greater than the fuselage diameter on a lot of executive jets, possibly all of them.

So the science is all wrong then. CO2 levels aren't rising, the oceans aren't becoming more acidic and global temperatures are not increasing.

You are on a merging course and yes a collision could occur. Both at the same altitude and without ADSB what about lookout/situational awareness? Don't just look ahead or bury your head in the cockpit looking at the Nav screen, scan the sky all the time. It helps keep you alert and allows the focus of your eyes to adjust from infinity to up close continually

Yes strobes are useful around the circuit but not a lot of use elsewhere. There was a long thread on strobe effectiveness years ago & the general consensus was that you only see them up close at night and on the ground.

It doesn't matter what colour you paint your aircraft you won't be seen more than a couple of NM away and if an aircraft is flying towards you the closing speed will be 150 to 300 knots. 150 knots at 2 NM is 24 seconds and only 12 seconds at 300 knots.

As we all should know, there are NO MANDATORY RADIO CALLS in CTAF other than to avoid a collision. There are of course recommended calls. I always make a 10 mile call even if I am just out for a local flight or lesser NM if I don't get more that 10NM away. I then make an overhead/joining call & if I hear nothing after both calls and see nothing I don't make any further calls and land. If others are on the ground or inbound or in the circuit I make downwind, base and final calls as appropriate. On takeoff I always make entering and intentions calls and a rolling call. Everyone should download and read the booklet "Be seen, be heard, be safe. The link is below. If you write to CASA they will send hard copies free of charge as well. https://www.casa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-05/radio-procedures-in-non-controlled-airspace.pdf When I am on the mower at our aerodrome I have a small airband radio receiver with earplugs under the earmuffs tuned to 126.7. Some people make heaps of calls some make only a few and some none at all. On Friday there were several visitors. One of the aircraft left and I heard nothing at all. The pilot may have not made any calls, been on the wrong frequency or his radio was not working. This is why ADSB would be beneficial in all aircraft, though not for me on the mower. Nothing is guaranteed though as radios and Nav aids have to be 1 working and 2 turned on.

I don't know the cost of the FLARM licence but they did it for SE2in Europe & Avplan has it so it can't be that expensive.

NAIPS integration with Avplan & Ozrunways may toe the official line but it is less accurate in most cases than Windy which uses several forecasting models. GFS (US & fairly basic & not that accurate), ECMWF (UK based & very accurate), ICON (German model fairly good), METOBLUE (Swiss, very accurate in Alpine areas, average elsewhere), ACCESS G3 (BOMs model, OK & where most NAIPs data is sourced). I compare them and ECMWF is my choice almost all of the time.

The government should instruct CASA to work with Uavionix and fast track approval for the Australian FLARM frequency to be included in a Firmware upgrade. That is far simpler and would be considerably cheaper.

Try Enroute Flight Planning. Works on anything (phone/tablet IOS or Android) Simple, Free and very useable. Created by a bunch of German Aviation University students & is constantly being upgraded but they have avoided adding lots of fancy unnecessary features. It is a bit like back in the 70s when VCRs came out. Everyone bought the ones with the most features & then only used the basic functions.

No, only if you have the premium version of Ozrunways which is pretty poor given free Nav systems have the functionality.

The cost of upgrading Mode C transponders to mode S with the installation of ADSB out equipment was ridiculously high at $5-6,000.00 installed. The Skyecho 2 was conceived by some ex RAF pilots/electronics engineers & the Uavionix company set up in Montana in the US. They now have a raft of innovative navigation equipment. The US mandated all aircraft to be installed with ADSB by I think 2020 but they had to extend the timeframe. They also came up with their own unique frequencies so SE2 will not work in the US. FLARM functionality was added in 2018 for the UK & Europe but Australian compliance (ADSB) was not added till 2020. Adding the Aus FLARM frequency would only require a firmware upgrade but the biggest problem would be certification and compliance costs. In other words CASA. SE2 is small, portable, weighs only 200 grams and is ADSB in and out & with the current rebate scheme costs only $500.00. Local GA pilots who have spent 6k for ADSB out only are also buying them. They just disable ADSB out on the unit. It will interface to any number of NAV software products including Avplan & OZ runways as well as free software such as Enroute Flight Nav & Airmate. I fly with mine always. I am amazed at the traffic I see that I had no idea was probably there before. I have never had a conflict. Other traffic shows on my Nav system as green (no conflict), yellow (possible conflict) but a fair way off and red (change course now). Even with its low power traffic up to 40NM or even more away can be seen. They are never going to be fully subsidised, so buy one now while you can still get one for 1/2 price.

The tow aircraft was not involved in this crash.

SE2 can see all FLARM equipped aircraft in Europe as their frequency is different. It would seem the market here is not large enough for them to add the Australian FLARM frequency. Neither of the aircraft in this incident may have had FLARM or ADSB.

Perspex and plexiglass are just a brands of acrylic and it is easy to restore and remove scratches. There are plenty of branded products but they charge a lot for a few squares of wet & dry, some cutting paste or cream and then some acrylic polish. My bubble canopy somehow got scratched & it was basically quite simple to remove them. When you start with the coarse (about 600 grit) W&D it looks terrible, just an opaque mess. Then as you get finer 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000 it gets smooth and you can start to see everything fairly clearly. After the cutting paste it is almost perfect and then a polish at the end and you would never know there ever was a mark there. Deep scratches can be got rid of the same way but you may end up with a little bit of distortion due to removing a fair amount of the acrylic to get back to a polished surface. Just check out you tube. There are dozens of clips that show you how. The same process is used to completely restore old yellowed headlights and most of these are polycarbonate so the process works for both materials. They come up like new.

It is a prehistoric payment method inscribed in hieroglyphics on a stone tablet upgraded 100 years ago to paper but still used by a few dinosaurs.😁

The whole system is a crock. Initially a kneejerk reaction to 911 with cards being issued by CASA & RAA. Then an industry in extorsion was created & CASA & RAA removed as issuers. I have never had one & never will. I was asked once at Ballina for it & was told I could not go in to the cafe but went in anyway. What can they do? I can't show a card to anyone when flying in. It's too late when you are on the ground and ALREADY INSIDE THE SECURITY FENCE. Then they tell me I can't go outside of the security fence where Joe Public is in the millions. WTF. Run by a bunch of money hungry morons supported by an even more moronic government department and politicians.

A midair? Terrible news. So sad if two died. My condolences to family & friends. I assume more details to come.

If you get accosted tell them to pi$$ off and do something useful. If that doesn't work tell them you will send a cheque, then actually send one for $2.22 but don't actually sign it. You can keep them running around for months with stalling tactics. It can be a fun game.

I can hold my aircraft on the Matco disc brakes at full power on bitumen but it will skid on grass. I wouldn't do it for any sustained period though, firstly because of possible overheating and secondly because my calf muscles would get too tired.

Have you downloaded and read the FAA Amateur built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook FAA AC 90-89. This is a question I'd ask any potential test pilot. This has the most comprehensive test flight information available. RAA put one out but it pales in comparison to this. I followed this guide and successfully test flew my own amateur built aircraft. It was always my plan to do everything and following well documented and proven procedures is the way to go.