onetrack

.....this time there had been an abject failure in procurement. However as the telephone box conversation proceeded, it was revealed from the box labels, that OT had outsourced the supplies procurement to a little-known company in Kapooka, curiously titled, "Cappys All You Can Eat Pte" - a company with its main office in Singapore, and sourcing its products from a wide range of el-cheapo, dubious street food suppliers based in China. Some of the boxes still had Chinese labelling, such as "Happy Treasure Golden Time Chinese Bao Buns" - all dated pre-COVID. "I can't believe this!" cried Turbo to Cappy. OT was obviously relying on you supplying good tucker with your contract, and you've sub-let the supply to a bunch of street food hawkers in Shenzheng!!" "What do you think this is going to do to the troops morale, when we get to the Khyber and open the boxes and find this rubbish?" "Well", said Cappy, "I was hoping I was going to be far away when that happened, so I couldn't.................

......being shined into the darkest areas, to more clearly display the level of looseness, and to confirm the correct approach to tightening up the looseness, until offending parts are once again stiffened to the required level for......

.....rocking and bouncing, which can lead to........

It's obvious he married the wrong model, then!

Well, they've got a Cobra symbol on them, that should give you a clue that they've been manufactured exclusively for Cobra, and there is no "previous life" for them, in other uses besides aviation.

.......pumping system, which involves hand operation of the primary member until it........

The 236 kg EW is apparently correct. Wood and fabric construction, plus no starter or electrical system, plus a hand-cranked retractable undercarriage is what all keeps the weight down. Don't you just love the "ash tray" in the "optional equipment" list? Nothing like having the necessities of life fitted! https://mooneymite.org/articles/mooneyspecs.htm

236kg doesn't seem like a realistic EW, for an aircraft that has retractable undercarriage. And yes, targeting ex-fighter pilots for a market, seems like a brain-dead idea from the word go.

The demand for such an aircraft would be extremely limited, and confined to areas with a large volumes of smooth water, mostly inland lakes. Australia is one of the driest continents on Earth and as such, contains very little by way of large areas of smooth water suitable for such an aircraft, so virtually no demand here. North America and Canada would be the areas with a small potential for such an aircraft. Amphibians are quite restricted as regards rough water and wave heights (and winds, which are normally higher across expanses of water), so they start off with serious use restrictions before you can even start to define their area of operations. I fail to see where an aircraft of this design would promise great usefulness. Are you proposing a rescue unit that is capable of major water rescues? In that case, if the jet ski operator finds survivors from a marine disaster, what is the jet ski operator going to do with the survivors? Multiple survivors need to be taken from the water to a life-sustaining situation, so that means a liferaft at least - but it's better that they're taken to land, or another large watercraft that is close. I cannot see a situation where this design would provide a high and effective level of rescue ability, as compared to fast rescue boats, that would be much more capable of rough water operation. Remember that poor weather is responsible for many disasters, and aircraft operation is limited by poor weather. Add in rough water precluding the use of a small amphibian, and the field of operations is very small. The flying boats of WW2 were very capable of water rescues, even in open sea conditions - but these were extremely large amphibians, and shared more on-water abilities with boats, than a small amphibian would.

It is the design that will eventually rule. Why buy a fixed size and style battery that is a major construction part of your vehicle, when you could have the choice of sizes and styles of batteries, according to your requirements or needs? With a swappable battery, there will be no more having to scrap your EV, simply because the battery is at the end of its life. Buying an EV with a fixed inbuilt battery is like buying a BBQ with a fixed inbuilt gas bottle, and the BBQ becomes worthless when the bottle become out of date.

It's incredible what the machining abilities are, of the new types of cutting tips. Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) coatings have revolutionised machining with their ability to cut like diamond-tipped tools without the level of breakage that DTT's suffer from. Cylindrical grinders have become obsolete today, as you can now acquire tips that will machine chrome like butter.

Link to the auction - https://www.slatteryauctions.com.au/auction-catalogue/AN-1-4-1-04854

"Foot impaired"?? He was a totally legless double amputee, not just "foot impaired"!!

It appears so - but the reverse is the case - were forged, now billet. The article says "Jabiru has now reverted to machining crankshafts from imported (solid) billets". The suspect crankshafts were forged. It's a curious decision, because I was always under the impression forged crankshafts were superior, with a better grain flow in the metal, leading to improved strength and durability and better resistance to cracking. Crankshafts machined from solid billets mean the metal grain is cut and discontinuous, caused by the machining, and as a result are generally regarded as weaker. I would suspect the faulty forged crankshafts have been produced from a substandard metal that either failed to meet specifications, or it contained internal flaws - or it was heat-treated and tempered improperly. I would opine that Jabiru have taken over direct control of the crankshaft manufacturing, possibly doing the machining in-house, whereas previously, it's likely the forging was outsourced and therefore less ability for Jabiru to keep control of product quality. Ongoing and constant checks are very necessary in repeated production, as errors can creep in, resulting in large-scale disasters. Even robotic manufacturing is not immune, someone has to keep a watch on the robotics parameters to ensure they don't move from their settings.

My personal opinion is that any "flat-tyre-fix-in-a-can" is a substandard, very temporary repair at best. The only sure way to repair flat tyres is disassembly and repair with vulcanised or adhesive-type patches.