Ferris

Early Fordson?

ATSB have conducted a long, and exhaustive investigation, finally getting a handle on the problem. The owner had been overloading for years, and one final tight manoeuvre was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Due to political interference the matter has been swept under the carpet.

Quick refresher. BBQ at YWKB this Sunday, if you’re looking for somewhere to go for a day trip. Weather is looking good.

Looking for a Sunday fly, about midway between Melbourne and Adelaide? Hi all. Warracknabeal Aeroclub is hosting a bit of a get together, BBQ and AvSafety Seminar on Sunday 20th March 2022. Barbie from Midday and Seminar from 1.00 pm. Great strip, avgas available, good company and NO LANDING FEES. We’ll even shout you a cup of tea and chockie biscuit before you go home. Give us a thumbs up if you’re coming so we can throw an extra snag on the barbie for you.

Two factories on fire at the end of 17L. Let’s hope it’s not the worst.

If you really want to get brave, contact Melbourne Approach and request Flight Following. They will treat you very similar to an IFR aircraft and talk you all the way through. Very helpful service except when they are especially busy. At the moment with the beer virus, you should find ATC will go out of their way to assist you. I’ve used this service many times at night and in poor weather and it is a great service. All you have to do is fly the plane, they make all the decisions for you.

Try Tony or Peter Brand at Horsham Aviation 03 5381 1727. They finished a complete glass panel in a 172 with all the bells and whistles last week. Tony or Peter will be able to put you in touch with the owner for a chat if you want. Brands also did the radio upgrade on the 172 I fly about three years ago. Very satisfied. Tony is the boss, and Peter is the avionics expert.

Hey RF. Welcome to the club of perpetually looking skyward towards your next flight! As a pilot, especially from Canberra you will eventually have to fly over tiger country. Sometimes there are just no other options. You have to have trust in your equipment, the same as NVFR and IFR pilots trust their instruments, no matter what they are feeling in the seat of their pants. Its a calculated risk. Personally I would not be comfortable going over Perisher at 8500, that’s just too close to the granite. All you can do is make sure you and your aircraft are as prepared as you can be. With regard to this trip have you considered going coastal? It’s only about an extra 50 nm.

This is a tragedy for the deceased pilot's famiily and those involved, but almost certainly preventable. The ATSB report indicates a post mortem blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of between 0.140 and 0.200%, dependant on where the alcohol was measured. Both are high readings and not solely the result of decomposition. To my mind the BAC found in the bladder is irrelevant as the body has already discarded this alcohol and it was not in his blood stream. The alcohol found in the chest cavity is a different matter, suggestive that the pilot's true BAC was closer to 0.200%. The collision occurred around 8.00 am on a Saturday morning. The accident report does not detail what the pilot was doing on the Friday evening, which I would have thought was relevant to the investigation. After drinking the body continues to absorb and process the alcohol, but typically reaches peak BAC 30 minutes to an hour after cessation of drinking (typically 45 minutes, but there's a whole heap of variables). The body disposes of alcohol at between 0.01 and 0.02% per hour. So doing a count back, this puts the pilot at between 0.15 and 0.22% when he refuelled the aircraft at 7.15 am. Counting back even further. Assuming the pilot stopped drinking at midnight. His peak reading at about 1.00 am would have been between 0.22 and 0.32. Even had he stopped drinking at 3.00 am he would still have been significantly drunk. Another option is that the pilot stopped drinking at some time during the night and then topped up in the morning (alcoholic behaviour). Either way, his workmates and those around him would have known this pilot was unsafe to fly. What we will never know are the peer group pressures that were placed on the pilot to fly when he clearly was not in a fit state. Ultimately and sadly this accident was caused by pilot error long before he took off.

The incident was several years ago and was properly reported at the time to RA Aus and CASA, including the subsequent investigation of engine fault, which in our case was a faulty circlip on an exhaust valve, which allowed the valve to drop down on top of the piston. Engine then started making horrible groaning noises, before going mute.

I've had the misfortune to need one at very short notice. The device needs to be super simple to operate as trying to push buttons when your specs are no longer attached to your nose ain't much fun. A couple of things I learnt from AMSAR after our little incident was that some PLBs are not GPS equipped and they are next to useless. With GPS AMSAR have your position locked typically within 3 minutes to 100 metres accuracy. Without GPS takes up to three passes of the satellite over 4.5 hours and then only provides your position to within 5 km. The difference between the cheapest and most expensive is less than $100. In our case we had a GME and 20 minutes after activation a Virgin RPT was overhead and rescue chopper arrived 2 hours later. Would have been a very long day had the authorities had to search for us. Another victim of Jabiru's engines.

Try this mob. They may not be cheap but their lights are excellent quality. No complaints after 5 years in a Cessna 172. Much brighter than halogens and we're not blowing globes any more. Landing / Taxi / Recognition - Whelen Engineering Aviation

I'll qualify my comments, that I don't pretend to be an expert, but the way I interpret things, is that the VFR transit lane falls within G airspace and is therefore accessible to all aircraft. BUT, it falls within a restricted (R1 area). When the area is not active, transit is allowed. When active, the military may grant access, provided you seek approval as per the ERSA and conditions are VFR, not SVFR, or IFR. Submitting a flight plan may help. Cheers

I've owned several of these head sets. In short they are good value for money, and the warranty excellent. However they are at the lower end of the market, and are no comparison to a Bose or Lightspeed Zulu set for comfort and clarity. Recognising the latter two cost $1000 more than the Rec Flying ones. If you're used to a high end brand, you won't like these ones. If you are on a limited budget they are excellent value for money.

Apparently the yanks specified how they were to be disposed of. Very sad really.

Hmmm, landing with a head wind, that becomes a cross wind and finally a tail wind. Guess you could have head wind again if you don't slow down soon enough. Would soon learn rudder control!

We were only at 2000' when the engine failed, so issued a distress call on both the CTAF and AF, but once on the ground no comms with anybody. We were able to talk with the RPT once he was nearby. We also had very limited phone service after walking to the top of a nearby sand hill. Spoke to AMSAR in Canberra and they were really helpful, although the phone kept dropping out. Biggest problem was that we knew we were ok, just couldn't tell anybody for a while.

All right, I'll put my hand up. I've used one during an emergency, when the fan on the Jabbie went quiet. GME MT410G. Quick and easy to deploy on final approach, as we were in unfamiliar terrain with sparse scrub and about 16 km from the nearest road. Had a Virgin RPT overhead within 15 minutes, and a rescue chopper was on scene within 2 hours. An excellent outcome - no injuries and no damage to the aircraft (apart from a dead donk). We did offer to walk out, but the S&R authorities were having none of that. As a bit of a tangent, neither pilot of the Virgin RPT were able to spot us during any of their three passes, but several passangers did. Apparently we caused a bit of excitement amoungst the pax! Back to the main story. As this was a genuine emergeny, AMSAR replaced the EPIRB free of charge - very kind of them. Information from AMSAR during the debrief was that because we had used a GPS based EPIRB, they were able to locate us to within 100 metres in just three minutes. In the same scenario with a non-GPS equipped EPIRB, the typical location time is upwards of 4.5 hours and then only to a radius of five km. Those extra 60 bucks for a GPS equipped EPIRB was very cheap. Worth it's weight in gold if there were injuries. The GME EPIRB was simple to operate, just lifted the antenna and showed it to the sky while we were preparing to land. I would not like to try and activate some of the smaller ones in a hurry, that require buttons to be pressed etc. Whatever EPIRB you choose, make sure it is super simple to operate (I can't emphasise that enough) and GPS equipped. Aint worth a pinch of you know what otherwise.

Statistically 6 out of 7 of all dwarfs are not happy.

Unspecified medical emergency........., apparently

You were lucky only getting the short version. I suffered through the 1.39 version.

Missing fuel should have been detected in the pre-flight - if it was conducted. I have heard of Cessna pilots leaving a fuel cap off after refuelling. The fuel is then sucked out during flight and this is undetectable while inflight. Guess we'll have to wait for the ATSB report.

I have a recollection that separation is 600 metres when airborne. I'm happy to be corrected on this.

Try Westprint Maps in Nhill Victoria. They may not have a WAC but they do stock a good range. Their customer service has always been very good in my experience.

Hey Pearo, this Sounds like a fantastic trip. Your quite correct about the EFBs, they make life so easy and we become lazy. BUT don''t forget your radio nav aids. I know in these days with GPS, the ADF and VOR are boring, but you will always know your position relative to the nav aid. Just by tuning to the aid as flying past will confirm your bearing to it (sorry I'm telling you how to suck eggs here). Just don't forget the value of the NDB and VOR and keep an eye on last light. Safe flying and remember to cancel your SARTIME.