Garfly

Hi Glen, I haven't turned up the flight path image yet but I came across this from a Colorado based newspaper: "Both aircraft were about 7,000 feet above sea level when the Cessna 172 made a right turn, and the flight paths of the two planes merged. Both aircraft descended rapidly, said Folkerts. The accident sites were not far from where the collision occurred. Neither aircraft was in contact with an air traffic control, and neither craft was equipped with a collision avoidance system, Folkerts said." Of course, that's probably only a couple of thousand feet AGL at that spot. https://www.coloradohometownweekly.com/2022/09/17/report-three-dead-after-two-planes-crash-in-boulder-county/

Yeah, that's the Cirrus on Metroliner midair near Denver last year, right? In that case, a simultaneous parallel approach problem. https://kdvr.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2021/05/Report_CEN21FA215_103073_5_24_2021-3_19_37-PM.pdf

RFguy said "we need a TCAS for light aircraft. having a sky echo and a tablet is one thing , but having a self contained box listening to ADSB broadcasts , with alarm and some indication of where to look is another." Yes, the Qld. based AvTraffic app (with some EFB integration) has made a (low cost) start on this idea. https://avtraffic.com/index.html

It seems the feds, too, are less than convinced (you even get a special mention): GEN 3.4 - 20 23 MAY 2019 AIP Australia 4.14.2 ... // Examples are as follows: QLINK 122: QLINK ONE TWENTY TWO; QANTAS 1220: QANTAS TWELVE TWENTY; CAR 21: CAR TWENTY ONE; CLASSIC 12: CLASSIC TWELVE; VIRGIN 702: VIRGIN SEVEN ZERO TWO; BIRDOG 021: BIRDOG ZERO TWENTY ONE

As the G&S ditty goes: Things are seldom what they seem, skimmed milk masquerades as cream (vice versa, too ;- ) As it happens, our SP has close to 30,000 stick and rudder hours as an aggy/fire guy - with a soft spot for all manner of flying things. But he insists he's still learning; thus the moniker. (One of these days he'll pass that test and get a licence. ;- )

In this video, the Dark Aero project designers discuss flutter (aeroelasticity) as they get close to flight testing their new bird. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZGo-R2mtb8

Yeah, it can get tricky. If Rans S-21 Ravens become popular in Oz it'll be interesting since 'Raven' is the callsign for certain ADF helos. (On the plus side, such a rego prefix might get you quick clearances through Amberley, among other jurisdictions ;- ) Some other Amberley ambiguities (regarding ultralight callsigns) might be: Brumby Cheetah Cruiser Hornet Kestrel Mustang Vampire But, to be fair, the AIP (as far as officialese permits) does address issues arising from ambiguities and basically urges common sense wherever confusion is likely. I imagine that the two-group preference applied to four-digit rego/flight numbers, is an attempt to avoid confusion with other important four number phrases such as transponder codes and QNH values.

Yes, precisely: 4.19 Callsigns - Full and Abbreviated Formats 4.19.1 When establishing two way communications and for subsequent communications on any frequency, Australian registered aircraft must use one of the following callsigns: a. for VH-registered aircraft, the last 3 characters of the registration marking (e.g. VH-TQK “TANGO QUEBEC KILO”); or b. the approved telephony designator of the aircraft operating agency, followed by the last 3 characters of a VH registration marking (e.g. “QLINK TANGO QUEBEC KILO”); or c. the approved telephony designator of the aircraft operating agency, followed by the flight identification (e.g. “VELOCITY EIGHT FIFTY SIX DELTA”); or d. for recreation-category aircraft, the aircraft type followed by the last 4 characters of the aircraft’s registration number (e.g. “JABIRU THIRTEEN FORTY SIX”). // 4.14 Flight Number Callsigns - Using Group Form 4.14.1 Within Australian airspace, “group form” is the preferred means of transmitting callsign/flight number. Group form should also be used with military and other aircraft using a rootword callsign with numeric suffix. 4.14.2 Group form is the grouping of numbers into pairs ... // 4.14.3 Pilots and ATS should be aware that the preference to use “group form” does not invalidate any transmissions made in conventional formats. However, to retain the integrity in the communication between ATS and operators, the identification format used should be consistent. 4.14.4 A pilot not using “group form” in establishing communication, but subsequently addressed by ATS in this format, should adopt the use of “group form” for the remainder of the flight in Australian airspace.

As it happens, there are a couple of Bristells with 'phone-number' regos that regularly operate in and out of YSCB as trainers - so Canberra approach and tower will know precisely what to expect. I've noticed that the preferred RT format there for RAAus craft is the two pairs of numbers - just as you use. Actually mine is 5001 but "fifty, zero-one" sounds awkward to me and, I imagine, hard to mentally process. So (in CTAF comms, at least) I stick with "five-zero-zero-one". I believe both are acceptable but if ATC started the transaction in one way, I'd just follow their lead. [I've also heard 0000 operating in and out of Canberra. That's a challenge. "Uh-oh, Uh-oh" would be fun. Not sure what it is.]

Kerry visited Lavrov in Moscow mid-last year. It was not only Kerry who was concerned. They seemed to agree that it wasn't any kind of religion that was melting the Siberian permafrost, much to the locals' alarm. And both sides were keen to lower the heat, both globally and diplomatically. So "global warming hysteria" was not the only reason for that visit (facts getting in the way of a good story again) : "Biden has used the non-confrontational issue of battling climate change to smooth over relations with the Kremlin in the past. Putin took great offense when Biden agreed with an interviewer in March that the Russian leader was a "killer." After Biden called him in April, Putin accepted the olive branch, first attending the White House's virtual climate summit, then agreeing to meet in Geneva. // The Russian president has evolved on climate Putin, who rules a carbon superpower with vast deposits of oil, gas and coal, used to be a climate skeptic ... [but] Putin has begun to address the necessity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This month, he signed a law requiring Russian businesses to report carbon emissions starting in 2023." https://www.npr.org/2021/07/15/1016526228/the-u-s-climate-envoy-went-to-moscow-and-talked-about-more-than-climate

No I didn't and no it doesn't. But never mind. It's complicated.

Sure ... we're in furious agreement over the facts shown here. But this clip shows little of "Trumps views on Russia" (always as incoherent as they are self-serving) and quite a lot about the longstanding US posture on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline (as discussed in the articles above). US sanctions, aimed at de-railing Germany's sweetheart deal with Russia, actually became tougher under Biden than under Trump (until they failed finally and were dropped) but the reasonings of successive administrations were mash-ups of instincts; not wanting to give Russia long term energy leverage over Europe, not wanting to weaken Ukraine by letting existing pipelines get by-passed and, oh yeah ... another little issue (about which Trump would've been lobbied by one Senator Ted Cruz) : "Why did Cruz take lead in opposing Nord Stream? ... Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn, a fellow Republican cosponsor of his sanctions bill, represent Texas, the nation’s largest producer of liquified natural gas. Without Nord Stream 2, Germany and other European states might buy more Texas gas. “I’m not even sure he really cares about Ukraine,” Daniel Fried, who worked as the State Department coordinator for sanctions policy under President Obama, told the American Prospect in December. “It’s just politics.” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/03/no-ted-cruz-was-not-right-about-russias-ukraine-invasion/ Interestingly, this was the reverse of the US energy sector's attitude in Reagan's day. Back then American companies were heavily invested in Russian pipelines and thus opposed State Department moves to contain Russia's capacity to use oil and gas in geo-politics. Anyway, notwithstanding the tragic impact on millions of lives, it looks like the war could end-up a long-term win for all except Putin's Russia. It might finish with Volodymyr Zelensky, Greta Thunberg and Ted Cruz (even most Germans) all glad to see the back of Nord Stream 2 - under circumstances nobody saw coming. History has a habit of throwing a spanner into the simple narratives we try to pull from it.

PenName's already known around here for keenly seeking answers through further training:

Hmmm .... but if you were up for a narrative with a bit more complexity: 'News Analysis: Trump delayed weapons to Ukraine and praised Putin. Did that trigger war?' Excerpt: "Putin had already bitten off bits of Ukraine with the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, and a swath of neighboring Georgia six years earlier. But nothing compared with the massive attack he launched across Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, on Feb. 24. Numerous experts and current and former officials say Putin was emboldened by the Trump years. The former KGB officer, turned president, ably manipulated Trump into publicly backing his denials of having interfered — to Trump’s benefit — in U.S. elections. And, according to former aides, Putin convinced Trump to accept his claim that Ukraine was part of Russia." Source: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-03-21/trump-impeachment-ukraine-russia-putin-invasion

Another fatal wherein high DA, low perf and downdrafts are seen as suspects. (It seems that the aircraft was a Comanche not a Cherokee as stated in this video.) And below is a video made by a local flyer in a bid to better educate visitor aviators about local conditions. http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/10/fatal-accident-occurred-october-20-2019.html

These excerpts from the YT Comments go to the main theme of FC's recent video: Pinned by FlightChops Scott Hunziker 6 days ago Oh gosh, please don't call the tail motion "flutter"! For the last 40 years my job has been the prevention of flutter (that is, aeroelastic instability) for military and commercial aircraft, using sophisticated analysis, ground test, and flight test. If you got that Cub going fast enough, the tail would inevitably flutter and come off. But that's not what you're seeing in these videos. It does seem like a lot of motion, but it's a dynamic response to unsteady loads. Flutter is a very different phenomenon, involving self-excitation. FlightChops 5 days ago Thanks for the insights here. I think it is safe to say a lot of GA pilots, myself included could stand to learn more about what “flutter” really is.

Well, the US attitude towards Europe's getting hooked on Russian energy is complicated; often with the US gas and oil industry vigorously opposing the foreign policy establishment. It seems to have gotten a head of steam with Reagan: How Europe Got Hooked on Russian Gas Despite Reagan’s Warnings "A Soviet-era pipeline, opposed by the president but supported by the oil and gas industry, set up the dependency that today helps fund the Russian assault on Ukraine." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/climate/europe-russia-gas-reagan.html?searchResultPosition=3 But by 2021, parts of the oil industry had switched from supporting the new gas pipeline (for their own reasons) to opposing it (ditto the reasoning): In Deal With Germany, U.S. Drops Threat to Block Russian Gas Pipelines The agreement infuriated both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who accused the Biden administration of being soft on Russia. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/21/us/politics/nord-stream-2.html?searchResultPosition=2 Which brings us to Trump's supposedly prescient opposition to the idea - for reasons very different to Reagan's - and also, more latterly, Biden's. Anyway, had Putin not been so obviously emboldened by his adoring Trump, to launch the disastrous Ukraine war, Germany's position on the pipeline might have worked out for them, at least as far as cheap energy goes. So the potentate of Mar-a-Lago's foresight is better seen as his blundering into a bloody self-fulfilling prophecy. Anyway, it's not him who's laughing about all that now. If anyone, it'd be Greta Thunberg - and her cohort, which stands to benefit from the eventual (unintended and otherwise tragic) outcome.

At least in Melbourne you have lots of suitable airfields ringing the city - albeit at some distance. Sydney is far worse off in this respect. WX, of course, is the big bugbear if you've gotta be there. But with forecasting so good these days, at least you can plan to go by air when it's fair. I guess it won't be that much quicker in the end, but it'll be a lot more satisfying.

Matt, I suppose you'd go for Riddells Creek over Penfield since at the latter you'd need to get into Sunbury before getting a train into the city. But if you did choose the standby-car option, YPEN would have its attractions, no? Presumably you'll be able to pick your days to do the 'commute'. Anyway, it must be great living and flying at YMBT.

If it's Boeing, I'm not going! (until they get a Gazza).

According to the Brisbane Times: "Three people have died near Brisbane after rough weather caused their light plane to fall from the sky."