Phil Perry

Sorry if this has been posted previously. . . http://www.chonday.com/Vide...

This 'Faulty aluminium' problem was Alleged to have been responsible for the recall of a number of Evektor Eurostar aircraft ( Made in the Czech Republic ) following the failure of of a wing mount casting on one aircraft, causing a fatal crash. . . I didn't read the final detailed reports regarding the outcome of this, ( If there ever WAS one ! ) other than the fact that the factory had changed it's foundry source for these vitally critical castings. . . Billets. . .Castings. . .all can be compromised by poor / shoddy metal formula composition / furnace control / insufficient / poorly applied Quality Control / Destructive testing methods in manufacturing procedures. . . +5G / -2G loading specs are meaningless if the component parts are not up to spec.In order to achieve this claim. . . ( Arbitrary - not TRUE loadings for that particular Flying appliance BTW - but you Know wharrimean. . . a Chain only being as strong as it's weakest link and all that. . .) Epilogue. Castings on the recalled aircraft were replaced free of charge, BUT disassembly / reassembly of the airframes was not. Nor was the loss of revenue incurred where these machines were used by training organizations either. . . As a complete aside ( Whilst I am on the subject of the Evektor Eurostar aircraft,) there appears to be a design / manufacturing fault with the FOUR stub exhaust assemblies, which have a flexible metal hose welded to stainless steel fittings at each end. . .These things have been failing after very short periods, particularly the exhaust unit located at the rear left side of the Rotax 912 80HP engine. These have been failing at under 40 hours. The replacement cost from the manufacturer's agent is currently £230.00 Plus 20% VAT. . . I have a friend here in the UK who is refurbishing these units, ( approved by the BMAA /LAA and Light Sport Aviation, the importers ) at a charge of £115..00 NO VAT. . . .and they are substantially better engineered than the originals. . Since they are not 'Brand New' parts, you could get them sent to Australia as a 'Gift' and pay via paypal PLUS a 10% commission to Ian since you heard about it on Recreational Flying. . . . [ You gotta send your old one though. . ] ( just joking )

Darned Interesting stuff Mr. onetrack Sir ! Fascinating stuff. I was going to construct an article on the RR Merlin engine for one of the blogs I frequent, but you've gorn and spoiled this idea by writing it for me with FAR more interesting side issue and Packard parallel references that I'm sure, I would have dug up. . . . I present you with TWO 'Winner' accolades with alacrity. The tightness of any RR fastener was measured by the RR craftsmans "feel". My friend Mike O'Grady ( The ultimate Diesel specialst ) was working on a Rolls Royce ( Car ) cylinder head replacement. He couldn't find the torque figures for the head bolts anywhere, so he phoned the factory ( I'm talking 40 years ago btw ) the engineer told him to "Use a five inch tommy bar in your wrench, and apply ADEQUATE PRESSURE' on the bar to facilitate tightening of the bolt. . . . . Craftsman's feel ? ?

I'll bet that the Chinese could make some. . . Oi, Bex ? ? ? ? EDIT : Sorry Mr. Bex, I missed your post above ! . . .

I thought of the 'MERLIN' problem as soon as I read about that too. . . There is definitely not a surfeit of those around now, unless a lot of them are found intact under the mud in Myanmar along with the intact Spitfires in crates ( ? )

@benfarmerDT

Yes Mr. Callaghan SIr. . . .that would be 'Philz' bizzare / sarc humour . . . with a bit of irony added,. . although I should add Aluminumy, iron is a tad heavy for most flying purposes. . . .

Ah yes, the 3DB Seabee. . . memories . . . . .Someone told me that one day, it's pilot braked a little too energetically whilst taxying at Moorabbin and briefly stood it on it's nose !

I used to fly 'Shark Patrol' around Port Philip Bay using an Auster based at Moorrabbin. . ., fitted with a Klaxon. . .this was back in 1975. . .I only fired off the hooter twice, when I saw a couple of REALLY LARGE sharks getting a a bit close to to the beach near Frankston, and later St' Kilda. . . .no one seemed to take a blind bit of notice, even when I got down really low and kept on blasting the klaxon. . .silly buggers in the water just waved at me. . .. .. but the Surf rescue guys did, gawd bless 'em. . . .they got everyone out of the water sharpish. . ..

I've just had a two hour conversation on BookFace about this one Marty . . . .plenty of armchair warriors giving it large about what a cnut the pilot was,. . .Hang on,. . .he was a Student pilot with an Instructor in charge. . . .I won't go through all the arguments, some of them from 'Alleged Pilots' . . .but it seems that the armchair warriors have sentenced this instructor to death for landing on a beach. . . . NOW. . . . WHY HE WAS FLYING SO LOW that he had to land on the beach is another story entirely. . . . Every Pilot I know just LOVES to fly low along a beach. . . . .I'm sure that we've all done this at one time or another. . but usually along a deserted beach. . .Doing this on a crowded beach is called 'Showing Off' . . .'Look at me. . .I've got a Plane. . .and you haven't. . . GREAT. . .until something goes wrong. . .seen it dozens of times. . . .Last year, Angie and I were standing on a clifftop on the Northern end of the Isle of Wight after a really great walk,. . when we saw a formation of five Flexwings ( Trikes ) flying around 'The Needles' ( google it )at a level that, with my vast experience of aviation ( ! ) I would guess was around 20 to 30 feet above the seawater. . .with absolutey Nowhere to go in the event of a problem. . . . This is, I am sure exciting, and makes for great videos to send to the British Microlight Aircraft Association Best Picture / video competition, . . .but Clever,. . .it Isn't.

Sunbathers killed after plane makes emergency landing on beach near Lisbon An eight-year-old girl and 50-year-old man have been killed after a plane crash landed on a beach near Lisbon, according to local media reports. Eyewitnesses… INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

Indeed Kasper Sir,, . . .the advertising is being a little 'Economical' with it's description here, Perhaps they feel that calling the product a Powered Hang Glider would not attract much interest ? I dunno, but I had a couple of comments from non-pilots yesterday with regard to this ad. They were assuming that it can be bought and flown by Joe public, removing the need for all that expensive and boring training stuff. 'Unquote' ( ! ) 'Flying Car' syndrome perhaps ? Phil.

Here 'Tis Steve. . . . .

Don't mean to sound arrogant here, but my take on 'Licence Free' flying is that it would almost certainly be a method of killing yourself rather quickly, if they REALLY MEAN this can be flown by non - experienced persons.

Commiserations mate,. . . at least you dodged the opportunity too nearly choke to death on your own vomit inside a well fastened Oxygen mask ! !

Thanks Frank. . . If I can ever afford a trip to Australia, SNF pass a GA medical ( ! ) that will be very useful info,. . .providing every other bugger uses it properly just like they Don't bother doing up here ( /sarc ) strange,. . .I always thought that using Quadrantals was one of the better, more sensible ideas for 500 feet of separation BUT, Obviously, greater minds than ours have prevailed. . . I really Liked the 'Quad' rule. . .made sense. . . North to 089 ODD,. . . East to 179 ODD +500,. . South to 269 Even,. . . West to 359 Deg, Even + 500. . .what was wrong with that ?. . . .If it ain't bloody well broke,. . .why fix it I wonder ?. . or was it too difficult for these poor Newbies to grasp you think ? . . . flying cars for the public ? ? ? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. . . oh dear, my sides hurt. . .we can't even organise the damn sky for people who are Good at using it . . .it would seem. . . .!

Clumsy post again Frank, sorry. I should have added that the REGIONAL PRESSURE SETTING is also 'DECLARED' The settings, whilst not arbitrary, are CALCULATED are based upon long term monthly means ( 'Means' equating to 'Mean averages' in case of confusion here ) combined with the Lowest forecast pressure for that region on the day. In the UK, the LOWEST level which can be used as a Flight Level, using the international standard ref 1013.25 mB / hPa, is FL35. But this level can only be used for flight planning if the forecast pressure within that region will not create a ground clearance issue. Since Ben Nevis in Scotland is 4,409 feet elevation, and Mount Snowden in Wales is 3,560 ft, you could not use FL35 if your flight transited anywhere either of these bits of ground. . . in reality, I do not know anyone who has ever planned a flight in the UK below FL45, but that's anecdotal. If you want to go mountain flying in VMC, then most pilots would simply use the Regional setting whilst outside of controlled airspace. . .Flight levels are for RPT and or IFR ops AFAIAK. . . .( But if you don't like this opinion, . . .I DO have others ) I have not seen a general Nav chart covering large 'ish sections of Australian states for rather a long time. . so I do not know if the charts are divided into graticule squares having a large and a small number in the top left corner indicating MEF. These are Maximum Elevation Figures, so that a number 2, followed by a smaller number 4, would indicate that the highest elevation within that graticule was 2 thousand four hundred feet. NOW this means terra firma. It does not indicate a 1500 feet high radio mast on top of a 2 thousand feet high ridge. . .so these are only a general guide. ( I must point out here that I am currrently referring to the 1:500,00 scale Nav charts, as supplied here in the UK. ) The MEFs are there to attract the pilot's attention initially, so that she / he can check her / his intended track against various elevations and look up any TV masts shown thereon. . . One other thing, from memory the 'Transition Altitude, above which all reports regarding the vertical displacement of your aircraft should be reported in Flight Levels is, or Was 11,000 feet in Australia. In the UK it's still 3,500 feet, with the slight difference that you MAY use QNH and fly quadrantal heights if you wish, and do not have to use Flight Levels if you do not wish to. One Other, Other thing Frank ( ! ) I DO rmember in the dusty recesses of what uesd to be a brain, that I was flying on Area QNH on a flight from Casey Airfield, Berwick, to Jeriderie and then to Nhill via quick visit to collect another ne'er do well friend at Mildura. . . On the Mildura to Nhill leg, mate Gerry in the Right seat, screamed LOOK OUT !!!! . . #'F#CK*#'@* . . .just then,. . a twin aircraft passed across in front of us from right to left VERY Bloody close indeed. . .I DO know that I was flying the correct quadrantal for the heading, and we were above 8,000 feet. . 'ish. . I had to do it properly with 3 other pilots on board ! ! ! ! ! Memory is now fading but it was only around fifty metres OR LESS. . .we were flying VH-IWK , a C-210 borrowed from Keith at Berwick, and cruising at 142 Kt TAS. . . .I had no time whatsoever to react, other than to turn and get a quick rear end view of him disappearing into the distance. Gerry reckoned it was a Piper Aztec,. . .?? Must've had brilliant eyes then, all I could tell from behind was that it was a low wing twin. . . I reported this when we got back to Berwick, but was advised not to open Pandora's box, unless I really wanted to enter into a paper swapping competition with DCA for a few months just because some poor bloke got his quadrantal wrong . ..maybe his Missis was on board nagging 'im ? ?

Thank you Mr. Track Sir !. Interesting site that, now bookmarked. Appropos your 'Flying Car' remark about the American public feeling at home with a 'Steering Wheel' control column; I must admit to some initial derision when I had a ride in my first ever Cessna type, at age 14, after winning a flying lesson in a newspaper competition. I got the feeling that I was the only one who bothered entering ! After flying with 'Sticks' from a tender age, I thought that the C-150 Yoke was a bit 'Girly' and the Instructor agreed,. . . making a very similar comment about yanks and steering wheels asking, "Have you ever seen the size of the bugger in a DC3 lad ? ? ? " I remarked that I had not.. . . Phil.

There could well be something in that Bob. . . but to 'take out' two engines sequentially, without injuring or killing Anyone on board, using obviously very accurate 50 Cal.cannon fire was in itself a miracle. Not to denigrate the C47 pilot though, he had to ditch it successfully !

This is a brief story from WW2. It begins with the rather odd 'Kill Score' on a P51 Mustang. 'Kills' depicted of all three of the Axis forces during WW2. Plus . .AMERICA ? ? https://southernarizonaguid...

No worries mate. . .Good juxtaposition of the old / new pictures that. . . nice pic, definitely 'Quirky' . .

I don't give a toss how old the plane is mate. . . . the first ( And ONLY the second ) Military Jet fighter ride I've ever had was in an EE Lightning. . .mentioned before in these pages. . .I was a 14 year old Air Cadet and I barfed me ring up. . . . I did not enjoy it at all at the time, but I'd like to do it again with what I know now. . . . . .The first time was fcuking terrifying but now. . .it would be just PURE orgasmatronic mate. . . .

Frank,. . .as I said in my post, AREA QNH just can't work in a country the size of the UK. Yes,I REMEMBER IT, from my flying time in Aus. This is why the UK adopted the REGIONAL PRESSURE SETTING system. Which works very well. To illustrate this a little, a local man, who owned a Butcher's shop in Shropshire, owned a nice Mooney aircraft. One day, he flew out of Sleap airfield in Shropshire, taking a random passenger with him, and flew down South to an airfield called White Waltham, not far from London, and beneath the Heathrow control zone. They had lunch,. . had a bit of a look around at all the vintage aircraft owned by the local London millionaires, and then proceeded to fly back to Sleap in the mid afternoon. The WX forecast was badly wrong,. ( what a surprise. . . / sarc. ) and a cold front was moving over the British Isles from the North West. The last message received from the aircraft was that it was flying overhead Halfpenny Green Airfield, ( 20 NM from home base ) at 1,600 feet in IMC. . . the Pilot was the current holder of an IMC certificate. . . . Shortly thereafter,. . .radio contact with the aircraft was lost, and witnesses said later that they heard a sort of 'banging crunch' sound in the foggy conditons around the Wrekin,. . the only piece of high ground for many miles in any direction, this being a long extinct volcano of some 1500 feet elevation. . . . For some reason, the pilot had not accounted for the fact that he was flying rather quickly into an area of rapidly reducing atmospheric pressure,. . .thereby causing his altimeter to over-read the actual level at which he was flying in real terms. . .ie, he was unwittingly flying DOWNHILL. . . .. Halfpenny Green Information gave him their current QNH, but after the examination of the wreckage the AAIB said that he had not changed the altimeter reference to reflect this information .. . . his aircraft struck a near vertical rock face called 'The Eagle's Eye'. . .just 50 feet below the summit of the hill,. . whilst travelling at circa 185 Knots. THIS is ONE of the reasons that why we use REGIONAL pressure settings for VFR flight outside of controlled airspace in the UK. . . . the pressure changes far too rapidly to use an 'AREA QNH. . .) One Millibar of pressure = 30 feet of height displacement ( The bloody Europeans now insist that we drop Millibars, and use 'HECTOPASCALS' this measurement is identical to the Millibar, and even the beloved BBC, have ignored this edict completely in their shipping reports at 6 AM and midnight. . . On;y thing they've ever done which makes any sense. . .! ) However,. . .I don't have an argument with your 'Area QNH argument. . ., as Australia is mightily larger than the British Isles mate. . . . .

That's Bollox Desky. . .where's the Bristol Boxkite in the second pic then ? ? ? ? Or should we juxtapose a Lightwing ? ? ?

I think you might have been referring to the BF109 there mate,. . . I've sat in three of those over the years,. . and NO, I didn't fly one. These are iconic warbirds and if I owned one, I wouldn't let just any jock take it up into the LUFT. . . .I found THE ME109 cockpit VERY tight and uncomfortable, I've never been a 'Little Bloke,. . .I've always had broad shoulders and muscles like a Brickie's labourer and the cockpit is so narrow you'd have to be a very slender example of manhood to find it altogether a nice environment. I wouldn't have been able to rapidly access all of the controls for this reason, but the Mustang was made for big, solid Yanks. . so it is quite spacious by comparison. . . . One of the 109s I sat in, was owned by a Vintner bloke in Bulgaria, ex-airline pilot, who had purloined the aircraft from a relative. He actually allowed me to taxy it up and down his runway, but I had to give him a solemn promise that I would not try to fly it. . .( ! ! ! ) Oh yeah ?. . . without any briefing ?. . . I enjoy life too much to try a stunt like that mate. . . I gave up after two runs up and down the strip as the exhaust fumes entering the cockpit from inside the fuselage, were making my eyes water. . .even with the cover slid back. . . I reckon that if I'd actually taken off, I'd have been dead from excess carboxyhaemoglobin overload before I could finish a circuit ! . . . A guy in Croatia had an FW190, in 'almost' flying condition back in 1989. . .bigger cockpit, lovely radial engine. . but I didn't get a chance to taxy that one around. . . . He promised me a 'GO' in it later, but due to circumstances, I've never been back there. . .this pi$$ed me off bigstyle, as I researched the Flight manual on it and got all the speeds burned into my tiny brain. . . BUT later, after a business downturn, and the Brit government raiding my private pension fund to the tune of £29K . . .I decided that I couldn't afford it. . . NOW,. . as of a month ago,. . my mate Kal ( Ex-Russian Military aviator and current Pilot with Aeroflot ) tells me that he could organize a ride for me in a Mig. . . .I hope he meant the plane, rather than the welding machine. . . Apparently, the Russians are STILL allowing stupid Westerners to take rides in their military aircraft at certain bases, as they are desperately short of funds due to US and EU sanctions and the low price of oil and gas. . . and their pilots are not getting the hours they need to remain current, or 'SHARP' as he put it. . .. . . but I doubt if I would ever be able to afford it. I didn't ask how much, or did they do reduced rates for pensioners. . . . . Friend Marcel, resident of France and a nice pilot bloke I've known since the solar eclipse,. . .had a ride in a Sukhoi last month. . . in the Ukraine apparently, with a Russian trained pilot. He didn't say which marque of Sukhoi, but he said he went up to ( Altitude in Metres, so non understandable here. . .) near to the edge of space, but that it cost his company 7,000 Euros for the privilege . . .he says he would do it again tomorrow,. . .and that it was Fangoo Magnifique. . .whatever that means. . . .