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old man emu

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Everything posted by old man emu

  1. The Rolls Royce Merlin was the beating heart of any number of WWII military aircraft - and would you believe that it powered the Cromwell Cruiser tank? This link is to a lecture given by one of the developers of teh Merlin engine to de Haviland technical people in late 1945. I post it here in order to preserve it. http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/merlin-lovesey.pdf The Rolls Royce Merlin fitted in a Spitfire Just some of the aircraft powered by Rolls Royce Merlin engines. Avro Lancaster Hawker Hurricane Supermarine Spitfire CAC CA-18 Mustang
  2. At 760 kg you are morbidly obese according to Body Mass Index standards, unless you are 5.4 metres tall.
  3. I was speaking to a bloke at Ausfly a few months ago. He said he was in partnership with the original owner and that the local council had OK'd the concept of an airpark development. Since I'm not in that neck of the woods anymore, I'm not up to date with what is going on.
  4. I have heard that approval has been given for one at The Oaks.
  5. Looking into this, I think there is a problem of semantics. What exactly does "bunt" describe? The “bunt” is really the first part of an outside loop. The pilot pushes the nose down from level flight to the vertical and then to the inverted position. Easiest to do if you have model in your hands. Simply move the model to the response each control surface would cause, taking into account the "further effect" . This is the Aresti symbol in aerobatics for a bunt. English bunt Half an outside loop starting from upright, straight and erect level flight. (The pilot pushes the stick forward and draws a half circle in the sky from the top down).
  6. It seems to me that those qualified in medicine at CASA who are setting medical standards have chosen to ignore the great advances in medicine since the mid-20th Century. They also ignore the medical requirements of all other forms of powered transport.
  7. A grain of Good coming from this incident. If you do, remember good practice is to implement a procedure, then review its effectiveness it attaining the goal it was introduced to achieve. If it falls short, anend, implement and go through the process again.
  8. I'm too old and ugly to be chick bait, so I use clickbait to attract.
  9. old man emu

    Supermarine Walrus

    Loved the incident of picking up the crew of a Yankee heavy and having to taxi home because it was overloaded and couldn't get off the water. Then when the Yanks were off loaded the Walrus was too full of water to take off, so carry on taxying.
  10. Well, I began this thread because the question "Will volunteers working airside for this event need an ASIC card?" had to be answered so I could organise the running of a flying event. I think creating the thread was worse than playing pinata with a hornets' nest. By the way, my question has been answered - ASIC not required.
  11. I agree. It is impossible to interpret what the passenger meant. Fortunately, I think that he is alive to ask.
  12. old man emu

    Supermarine Walrus

    Launching a Walrus and other stuff
  13. The Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act), allows the ATSB to investigate transport safety matters in the aviation, marine and rail transport modes within the Australian Government's constitutional jurisdiction and, to release transport safety information, including investigation reports that detail the findings and significant factors that led to a particular transport safety occurrence. ATSB Transport Safety Investigators exercise statutory powers delegated by the Chief Commissioner in accordance with the provisions of the TSI Act. These powers allow ATSB investigators to interview anyone involved directly or indirectly in a transport safety occurrence.[16] A comprehensive regime of provisions within the TSI Act is in place to maintain the confidentiality of, and legal protection for, a range of sensitive safety information gathered by ATSB investigators. TRANSPORT SAFETY INVESTIGATION ACT 2003 - SECT 32 ATSB may require persons to attend and answer questions etc. (1) Where the ATSB considers it necessary to do so for the purposes of an investigation, the ATSB may: (a) require a person to attend before the ATSB and answer questions put by any person relating to matters relevant to the investigation; or (b) require a person to produce specified evidential material to the ATSB. TRANSPORT SAFETY INVESTIGATION ACT 2003 - SECT 47 Self-incrimination not an excuse (1) A person is not excused from answering a question or producing evidential material in response to a requirement under this Part on the ground that the answer, or the production of the material, might tend to incriminate the person or make the person liable to a penalty. (2) However, if the person is an individual, then: (a) the answer or the production of the material; and (b) any information or thing (including any document) obtained as a direct or indirect result of the answer or the production of the material; are not admissible in evidence against the person in any civil or criminal proceedings.
  14. Porepunkah looks like one of those airpark developments.
  15. First job qualification for aircraft systems investigators is that the applicant has the technical qualifications and aircraft maintenance experience on type or similar types There's a terrifying shortage of experienced AMEs an L2s just to maintain the current fleet. The vacancies being left by retirement and other factors are not being filled by the younger generation in number to either maintain current requirements or to handle fleet expansion. So if there's not enough AMEs and L2s to handle the demand for service now, where will you draw the ones needed for investigation come from?
  16. Poor Frank Whittle. What Rolls Royce and Rover in England, and General Electric in the USA did to Whittle makes the Rape of Nanking look like a tea party in a nunnery for a bishop. Fast forward to 42:30 and watch from there. He paid the price of loyalty to his Country.
  17. I wonder if this thread would have reached page four if the aircraft involved had been a C-150 or PA28-140.
  18. That ATSB guy has been working flat out since before Christmas. Slip of the tongue, maybe? I would not make too much of it at this stage.
  19. To get it to come loose would require a good whack in the direction of force I indicated, and a good deal of oil in it to give it the inertia to stay put while the firewall moved away from it.. Even if it did, how do you explain the unhinged cowl?
  20. Let's get back to the initial post. I ask: "Where did BirdDog get what he posted from?" To me it reads like a media release - therefore I am suspicious of "The 'Jabiru' ultralight lost power". That reeks of ignorant journalism. Now, let's inspect the aircraft. Am I wrong in suggesting that the flaps were extended to a degree? That the elevator position indicates a controlled flare? I'll concede that the position was caused by the twisting of the rear fuselage that could have shifted the control connections. Are they cables to the elevator and rudder? Wing position in relation to the cabin seems normal. The plane clipped trees That mark on the leading edge of the right wing looks more like a slap than a whack, and a single impact with something - tree, not "trees". I can't see a likely tree back along the approach path. Can a Jab pilot tell me what the yellow thing hanging out of the engine bay is? That cowl is held in place by the axle of a piano hinge. I can't see the hinge having been broken at impact. I surmise that the cowl was opened by the Evidence Eradication Team "to disconnect the battery to prevent a fire". The distortion to port of the lower engine cowl tells me that a force was applied from front starboard side to the rear port side. I surmise that it was as a result of the nose wheel hitting the ground under the water. That force, acting on the aircraft forward of the CofG would induce an anti-clockwise rotation to the airframe, resulting in the bending of the rear fuselage to starboard. The rotation could account for the separation of the left wing at the root. This final photo doesn't take us any further in the analysis, except to say that the pilot got selecting the best place to land correct.
  21. Thirty pieces of silver?
  22. I don't think that it is fair to be dissing the Jabiru engine in 2023, based on the pre-2010 products. That engine was in development pre-2010. If Jabiru had not continued development to correct identified faults, the company would be like Humpty-Dumpty at the base of the wall. Do you think that the first Rolls Royce Merlin was perfect in every way? In a lecture to the de Havilland Aircraft Technical Department in November 1945, Mr A.C. Lovesey told the attendees that "It is well known that a completely new design of piston engine takes nearly five years from the date of its inception until it can start quantity production." And he was referring to design and development by a company that had (in 1935) been building engines successfully for thirty years. And the 1935 Merlin was a doddering grandfather to the later 51 different Marks of that design. And that development was kicked along by a savage war. http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/merlin-lovesey.pdf It's probably wise not to place one's absolute faith in one of the early Jabiru engines, compared to a 2022-built one. However, if that early engine is still performing within specs, then I'd say the owner has scored a good'un. We go on and on about these engines suddenly stopping, but you must consider all the possible ways to stop an engine, from catastrophic component failure to an insect blocking a fuel line.
  23. Butler Ait Transport lost a DH82A in the Warrumbungles on May 23, 1952 at 1730 LT. The official record of the incident reads: While approaching Tooraweenah from the north, the pilot encountered poor weather conditions with heavy rain falls. He elected to make an emergency landing when the aircraft crashed in flames in a dense wooded area located in the Warrumbungle Mountain Range, about 18 km north of Tooraweenah. The airplane was destroyed by fire and all five occupants, among them pilot Keith Brown were injured. The local history is that the weather was crappy, and last light on that day was about the time of the crash. Knowing that the plane was due to arrive from Baradine, it is probable that the ground staff had set out the kerosene lamps to mark the runway. Unknown to everybody was that a farmer had been clearing trees and had pushed them into piles, in lines. The farmer chose that day to set the timber of fire. According to a passenger on the Rapide, "We took off in a clear sky but in a few minutes you could hardly see anything for the mist. Most of us dozed. When I opened my eyes I thought we were at Tooraweenah Aerodrome. Down below I could see what looked like flares. The pilot too seemed to think this." The crash did not seem to put the passengers off flying with Butler Air Transport. After being checked over by a doctor in Gilgandra, they were back at Tooraweenah the next morning to join the DC-3 flight to Sydney https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/112850228/11510351 VH-UUO, Construction No. 6259 was built in the English summer of 1934 and registered as ZK-ACO and named Tainui (the first Maori war canoe to reach NZ) for entry in the Melbourne Centenary Air Race, where it carried race number 60 and on 3/11/34 Reached Melbourne, the ninth and last race aircraft to cross the finish line. Total time 13 days 18 hours 51 mins with a flying time 85 hours 42 mins. Came fifth in Speed Section and sixth in Handicap Section. On 14/11/34 it Departed RAAF Richmond NSW for a direct flight to NZ, with the same three crew. Landed at Palmerston North NZ after 12 hours 14 mins flying time. They carried extra fuel in 4 gallon cans which they emptied into a feeder tank in flight. Publicised at the time as the first aerial crossing of the Tasman Sea by NZ born pilots. That's enough for here. If you want more, come to the Arthur Butler Aviation Museum
  24. I had a look at this https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/dh84-pt2/dh84-dragon-pt2.htm What I got from it was that the Gypsy engine was not the most reliable thing ever built. But one could say that about any engine - aircraft, motor vehicle or boat - from that time. Although I'm sure that the manufacturers could quite easily meet the design tolerances of the engine parts, the problem probably stemmed from the metallurgy involved. That's one I don't think you can lay at Pig-Iron Bob's feet. In 1946 it was Chifley who was PM then. Chifley, who tried to nationalise air transport by forming TAA and created a Constitutional storm in the process. Chifley who stifled even the purchase of the most modern British aircraft of the time. There's a lot of aviation political history that has been forgotten.
  25. Sir, I have a cunning plan ....
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