Phil Perry

I'd actually be surprised of our 'Boiler' was made from copper,. . Mum and Dad bought the house in 1951, a year following my Birthday,. . .It was a damned expensive house actually,. .. I found out many years later that Dad paid over £390.00 for it on a ten year mortgage. . . . and Copper would have been in short supply just 6 years after the war. . . .My memory doesn't recall what metal our boiler was made from. . . So, I will have to plead ignorance in that regard.. . .on the subject of 'Agitators'. . .I was fascinated at how the agitator in the Baby Burco washer could rotate one way, and then reverse to rotate in the opposite direction,. . .My Dad explained to me how it actually worked, which sparked my interest in engineering thingies. . .and why I got Meccano sets for several birthdays and Christmas prezzies. . .he obviously saw in me a bloke that was going to follow in his footsteps and I did. . .whilst my two male siblings followed other paths. . .I worked for his Company for five years until I achieved my engineering qualifications, whilst studying other things at night school ( aviation stuff ) in between playing in rock bands, and flying Tiger Moths on weekends . . .as you do. . .how the hell I did all this and found time to actually go to bed,. . .I cannot remember. . . I only needed around four hours sleep per night, and was off again. . doing something else. . . Which is quite possibly why I feel absolutely fecked at 67 years of age. . . . .unable to drag myself out of bed before 7.30 in the mornings, feeling like I've just done 4 rounds with Mohammed Ali. . . . .

And don't forget the Naval verb to Mine an area of navigable water . .

Only problem with that is that you're going to end up crying 'Infamy. . .Infamy. . ..everyone's got it. . .Infamy. . . .'

Our Boiler was origjnally a cylindrical metal drum which was heated by a gas burner, which had to be lit with a taper whilst kneeling on the floor . . .I remember fro my earliest years the cussing and swearing emanating from Grandma and Mother whilst struggling to do this without having it flash back and burn their hair and eyebrows !. In around 1953 though, we went all 'Modern' and had a 'Burco' boiler which was powered by that new fangled elastic trickery. In both cases, there was a well worn 'Stick' for stirring the sheets, it's other purpose was so that Gran could chase young Philip down the back yard waving it angrily. . . I Must add here that she never actually hit me with aforesaid weapon. Dad was starting to do well with his new Engineering ( Press tool making ) business and shortly thereafter we had a Baby Burco 'Washing Machine'. . .the neighbours thought we were rich gits. ( We were also the very first family in our street to have a car. An Austin 7 Ruby, reg AFK 698 - it is strange how minor things like that stick in one's mind. . .) I do not recall if the Boiler stick was consigned to the bin, or perhaps donated to a chamber of horrors style museum of mediaeval torture weaponry. .

Innit ? ? ? ? ?

Being eduficummicacted at a Grammar School . . .and having a Wonderful Mother,. . who was herself an Ex-Grammar school English teacher, ( Beatrice May, wherever you are,. . I still Luv Ya ) I learned at a rather early age which way to construct a sentence, and if I ever spelled anything incorrectly,. . .well,. . .that was jankers and tuppence off my weekly pocket money ! ( She actually said that it was 'Untidy, Lazy and incorrect to use 'And' directly following a comma,. . .and that I should really use a Full Stop to end a sentence . .. but I digress. . . .) I used to get lambasted on Recreational Flying,. . . for my use of a series of dots following a comment,. . . . . .which was intended to allow a breathing space. . . .but I ignored all them bloody Colonials and still do it now. . . .Mum would have slapped me around the back of the head with the boiler stick. ) Criticism IS important. . . but forgiveness is divine. . . .when I see a really good rant from the heart, on another blog,. . the last thing I would do would be to comment about the grammar and spelling. . . . .this would be CRASS. . .and would reflect on me . . .more than the commenter I feel. . . Any 'SPELLING errors I might make on here are merely 'Typos' because I touch type at roughly 28.765 WPM. . . . not to put too fine a point upon it . . .thanks to the Flight Service Training School in Melbourne ( I failed the MET exam and was chucked off the course. . .SODDIT ! )

If you are flying an Instrument approach or even a Night VMC approach to a runway using standard circuit procedure, then the AI, along with other instruments would indeed be a very important part of your scan. . . .I still don't know what your fixation with Fixed angles of bank is attempting to establish. . .? A 15 degree AOB is recommended for Two Minute timed turns in IMC, and also for students of Blind Flying so that they do not easily lose control of the machine in IMC. . . When I was flying in Australia in 1971,. . my instructor said that 30 degrees AOB was the maximum AOB to use in a circuit.. . . .this was at Casey Airfield, Berwick Vic. using ancient C-150s. . . . He seemed to know what he was talking about. . . . Airliner crews also try to keep the bank angles small, where any steeper bank angles might upset the Pax. I could tell you just by looking out of the front window what my angle of bank was,. . at least to within 3 or 4 degrees. . . But I have been flying aeroplanes for over forty years. . .why are you insisting on reliance to ONE clock / gauge ? . . this takes / distracts your attention away from the outside view. . . . I'm trying to stay on topic here, which is difficult I realise, AS one thing almost always leads to another. . .ad infinitum. ( I think that's Eytie. . .) Anyway,. . .when you've had a couple of hundred hours of flying,. . like wot some of us have. . and not gotten yourself dedded. . . (!) come back and have the same argument and tell us what you have learned.. . .we promise not to take the Pi$$. . . . Oh,. . .and do what DJA suggested. . .get some aerobatic training. . . .you might wee yourself, but it's good learnin' I mean this in the nicest possible way Sir.. . . I hope that you are not a troll. . .just here to wynde up us old greying eagle fartes who are only here to help . . . .

Sir, you have admitted to having fairly low experience of flying. I have to take issue with your last but one statement highlighted hereinabove. I would suggest to you that a Base - to - Final turn stall IS THE REASON for the very 'Common Cause' of fatal accidents. I have personally witnessed four of these in pursuit of my flying hobby. One was only a few months ago Usual reason, ie, Holding Off Bank with inside, or 'bottom' rudder applied, failing to note your actual AIRSPEED and falling for the rudder 'Secondary Effect' trap. . ( ie 'Into Spin' controls ) and stalling the inner wing. This happens to all sorts of light, three axis aircraft and as far as I am aware is far and away the MOST Common Killer of all the disparate types of flight accident; which continue to occur with frightening regularity. An Inner wing stall on the final turn is normally at around 500 feet or less, which is why there is very little chance of recovery with the height remaining, unless the pilot instantly recognizes the condition and takes action within a split second. . ..most don't and then are removed from the gene pool. I fail to see how having an AI on the panel would have saved any of the pilots who have met their demise in that scenario. I will, of course defer and accept correction if my experiences in this regard have been misinterpreted. No offence intended BTW. Phil.

RED - NOOOOO NOT YOU ?. . . . Shirley nott. . . .

The great bloke who taught me to fly in a DH82A, was a Sergeant pilot on Hurricanes, although he finished his training too late to be involved in the Battle of Britain ( 1943 ). . .said he never even got a sniff at a Spitfire, but loved his Hurricane(s) as they could take a lot more punishment than the Spit. He got shot down twice, and picked up in the channel by air sea rescue. Once he got his engine damaged but managed to land intact in a field. He noted that at no time during these events did he see any enemy aircraft, nor deduce where the shots came from and it all happened very quickly. His comments were that, one minute the sky was full of aircraft twisting and turning all over the place,. . .and the next minute, you couldn't see where they all went ! ! Said he got his engine shot at when he flew level for too long for a look around. around 20 seconds he thought, - too long evidently ! He was around three miles off the Kent Coast that time, flying at around 14,000 feet. He didn't bale out, as there was no fire, he just lost all the glycol and had to throttle the engine back to idle. . . said he was glad to land on grass that time as he was sick of the taste of saltwater. . . He finished his RAF career as a flight instructor, with the rank of Pilot Officer. The last aircraft he flew was a Canberra.

I should have mentioned Johnson's book 'Wing Leader' by 'Johnnie Johnson' ( in case you try to find it ) published by World Books. I have a battered copy of this book, given to me by an old RAF lad, now sadly deceased. It is a well written story, and Johnson makes no attempt to 'Big' himself up therein. He was a product of his time, a fairly wealthy man, 'Officer Class' who even had his own personal trailer taken across the Channel to France folllowing D-day. . .and he had a personal 'Batman' to look after the humdrum stuff ( ! ) He had his shotguns along as well, and engaged in a bit of wildlife shooting for food, between 'Ops' . . . Some cracking action narratives in there, including the bit where a duff cannon shell nearly had him, but did not explode. Darned good read if you can get hold of a copy, and if you can't . . .I probably won't read it again, so you can have mine. . . My email addy should be in the profile. I would happily post it to you. When thoroughly read, you could always pass it around the guys for a peruse !

Yes, I've seen some speculation on Both those scenarios today, . . one comparing it loosely with the Hawker Hunter accident at Shoreham Air show a couple of years ago, top of the loop too low, insufficient height to recover, even though the Hunter pilot 'Nearly' made it and walked away. . .Eleven innocent motorists didn't though. This Typhoon was being flown by a test pilot, who ought to have been fully aware of his own physical tolerance for 'G'. . . Also, I would have thought that an aircraft full of 'Intelligent' electronics might have prevented such an occurrence ?. . . I expect that it will be a while before investigators discover the cause, but being a front line military aircraft, it's doubtful that they would release information which could highlight any weakness of the design for the benefit of competitors or 'The Enemy'. . .. . . 'Pilot Error' would be the easy get out clause in that event perhaps. . .

Indeed.

Italian Eurofighter Typhoon Crashes During Terracina Airshow Killing Test Pilot

Johnson also never got shot down, although he had a cannon shell go through the wing of his Spitfire leaving a large hole, the shell did not explode. He had the hole plated over and used the same aircraft for nearly a year, until the end of the war. . .

'Polish war hero leads the way in RAF campaign to find best Spitfire pilot after massive social media campaign in his homeland' "When the RAF Museum decided to launch a public vote deciding the greatest Spitfire Mark V pilot in history, they might have presumed the winner would be found somewhere close to home. After all the expected target of the ‘People’s Spitfire Poll’, hosted on the Telegraph website, was the British public, whom the RAF have protected for 99 years. But after being hijacked by a massive groundswell of public support from the Polish community, Franciszek Kornicki, the last surviving Polish World War Two squadron commander, is leading the poll by a landslide - more than 250,000 votes and counting........" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/... The vote is here:- 'Britons, the RAF needs you: have your say in the vote for 'The People's Spitfire Pilot'' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Here are some responses to this story, form several different websites. . . * * * * * * * Well it has been made a bogus poll by the Poles plus I was quite surprised to see the top British pilot was actually Douglas Bader as have met prosthetists that had actually made his limbs at Roehampton and the general consensus was that he had a very bad attitude to everybody [he even used to say 'Do you know who I am?!?!" to junior staff who was not aware he expected to be treated like royalty...] I am sure there are more braver British pilots who made a bigger difference than him - I guess it is more of a 'PC poll' than a genuine one... * * * * * * * * * Even the Germans were glad to see the back of Bader. An insuffereable man. * * * * * * * * * That is the nicest thing I think I've heard said about him ;-) * * * * * * * * * * Some big names there - Beurling, Bader, Malan - but cheapened but some obvious box ticking (first I'd heard of Ian Gleed being gay). I voted for Yule and his noble passing. * * * * * * * * * * A lot of people are going to have to vote to catch up with the cheating Poles though and everybody really needs to vote for the same one to make sure he/she overtakes the Pole... so a 'gay' one, a 'leg;ess' one, a 'black one', a 'female' one and a 'Pole' - any other diverse airmen they can find for their next list... * * * * * * * * * * Bader was not popular as a leader but his pilots did respect him. Funnily enough Guy Gibson was similar in personality (not that well liked but highly respected), problem is people think of Kenneth Moore as Bader and Richard Todd as Gibson and both didn't play their characters that accurately. Personally I don't have a problem with the pole if the Polish vote for a Spitfire pilot so what? * * * * * * * * * * Well I can only think what the staff who treated him told me about him - they had no reason to lie to me at all ;-) * * * * * * * * * * What was the name of Guy;s dog then, the name escapes me :) * * * * * * * * * * WELL .. . .this is the flavour of the replies. . . .from five assorted blog sites. . . . Best of luck to the winner.

Don't you have 'Pilot Shops' at your major airfields guys 'N' gals ? Most FBOs, Flying schools etc have maps for sale as part of their existence. . .. as they tell students to update them ASAP, so they keep new charts on the shelf for airfield visitors I don't understand this complaint about 'Excessive Postal charges' as we pay a Goddamm fortune in the UK to have ANYTHING posted via the not too recently 'Privatised' Royal Mail Service anyhow. . . . . We have Pilot sjpps dotted around various Airfields, IF. . . you want paper maps then they are always available, IF. . . .You are happy to pay the arbitrary landing fee for wherever you land. . .whether you upload fuel or not, you are usually liable for a fee of between £12 and £25. . . .for the 'Pleasure' of landing at that site. . . . .SOME sites give you a £10.00 discount ifyou buy a certain amount of fuel. . . .Others do not bother with sensible discounts like this and continue to screw themselves into oblivion due to their their greedy stupidity. . . . . It all boils down to the 'If they can afford to own an Aeroplane. . .they can affford our chrarges ' Bullcrap . . .and it has been proven over MANY instances that his just don't work cobber. . . .get stuffed.

Another consideration of vital importance is Girlyfriends. AVOID at all costs ! I met one of those and she messed up my flying plans for nearly three years ! ! ! ! Just Joshin' mate. . . Good luck with fulfilling your dream. . .

Thanks Ben, sorry, clumsy writing. I should have said 'Approach'. . .which also handles some departures ( it does here at EGBB - Birmingham ) 'Tower' handover at the hold ( following airways clearance issue ) also used at some smaller provincial airport facilities where traffic density may not be as frenetic as LHR, Gatwick, Manchester etc. ..

They are certainly on different channels in the UK AND elsewhere in my experience, as far as pushback and taxying is concerned. This is known as 'Surface Movement Control'. . . . . The only way an aircraft commander would be alerted to this odd kind of collision risk would be if one of his radios was already set to the 'Tower' frequency, and that he, or his first officer heard it. . .. .Unlikely. . . .too busy doing other system checks . . . . Since Dutchroll doesn't seem to post here any more,. . . . we are bereft of his knowledge of such things.. . . .Having flown P2 in cargo ops a few times,. this radio procedure seems to be used at most places that we visited. . . . A Landing aircraft will be talking to the Tower.. . . .A Taxying aircraft will not, until he is handed over to the Tower at the appropriate holding station., told to Change frequency and therefore be aware of what the Feck is going on on That channel. . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI2kmMhvub8

Jus Just as an aside. . . . A bloke I know ( nothing to do with flying nor drones ) told me that he had one fly very low over his family barbecue party last Saturday. ( !9th August ) It circled his garden, he could not estimate how high t was, as he had no knowledge of flights and heights. . . .His mates 'Geed him up into getting out his high power comptetition .22 air rifle and having a pot shot at it, which he apparently did.. . Whether his pellet caused it to crash, is not known, but, when it then circled and then hovered above his garden, he took another shot at it and apparently hit the drone camera. . . .it spun around and crashed into the trees across the road from his house and he showed me the 'Trophy' wreckage. No one has claimed it thus far, and he has decided to keep it. . . .Unless he hears from the owner and does a deal. He hit the camera lens and screwed that up completely, which was probably why the owner lost it., he found Two .22 pellets, one in the cam lens, and one in the control circuitry so this would explain why the thing descended over his garden and was lost to the owner, as these units normally have a 'Return to base 'function when things go awry. I dunno who was in the wrong here,. . .the Drone owner for fecking about spying on a private party, or Him, for having an over powered air rifle. . . .there's one fir the legal eagles innit ?. . . This was a very expensive looking machine, with five rotors and a diameter of around five feet OH. Sorry,. . .150 cm. . . .

And don't forget to reduce them in filesize, or they may not upload onto the site !

I was just trying to imagine what those PNG Highland natives would say when CASA told them, . '.Hey guys,. . .we're a bit sorry it took you fourteen years of backbreaking manual work to build your runway, BUT. . . it doesn't comply with OUR regulations. . .sorry about that,. . .try again and give us a call in another fourteen years. . . .'.

A 'Ply Wood' I trust ? . . .