onetrack

Despite Skippys regular praise of Hengst inline fuel filters, I have found from long experience (60 years of fixing mechanical things), that those small inline plastic housing filters containing cellulose-treated paper as the filtering medium, are a prime source of fuel flow restriction and blockage. Even a partially-plugged inline filter increases the load on a fuel pump and shortens its life. Remember, these little filters are the cheapest filter you can purchase, and it's hard to find specifications on them as regards construction materials, because they are cheap, and the lowest level of filtering you can acquire. A fine mesh screen filter is a preferred choice for primary inline fuel filtering. https://www.industrialspec.com/about-us/blog/detail/screen-versus-paper-small-engine-fuel-filters/

Sharp eyes, there, Nev. You're correct, the Packard diesel was long ago scrapped and a buyer from Argentina fitted a Wright Whirlwind. That engine was lost along the way and the engineless airframe sold back to a buyer in the U.S. in 1989. That owner passed away before any restoration work could be carried out, and the sad remains of the aircraft only just escaped being dumped. Another American purchaser bought the remains and rebuilt the aircraft completely and fitted a Wright R-975. I have seen photos of complete Packard DR-980 aircraft diesel radials, some have survived, but it appears none are fitted to aircraft. https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/packard-dr-980-radial-9-engine/nasm_A19710893000

Interesting to see the black Buhl running a Packard diesel radial. I believe this aircraft was purchased by Packard to be used as the "show machine" for their Packard DR-980 diesel. Sadly, the designer of the DR-980, one Capt L.M. Woolson, was killed in an air crash in April 1930, and coupled with the onset of the Great Depression, work on further development of the DR-980 ceased immediately. It could have been a different story for aircraft diesel engine development, if Woolson had survived, and the Great Depression had not interfered. https://www.autoevolution.com/news/this-1929-buhl-air-sedan-was-a-private-plane-for-packard-now-it-s-for-sale-201213.html#:~:text=This 1929 Buhl Air Sedan,Now it's for Sale - autoevolution

........a dress shop, so he can match his dress to the snakeskin boots he "acquired". Now, it's not generally well known, but Cappy is actually a top-level cross-dresser, making Peter Wherrett look like an amateur, when it comes to cross-dressing. However, Cappy started to become really stressed out when he couldn't find a decent dress shop in Broken Hill because............

I'd never get that close to the limit with baggage today. I learnt my lesson about 20-odd years ago, I packed a set of car coil springs in my bag and got overweight, so I had to repack my bag, and transfer weight to my partners bag, in the airport. They probably wouldn't allow that today. Besides, I've now learned how to travel light, and buy what I find I need when I get there.

News media article - https://au.news.yahoo.com/chopper-crash-near-holiday-hotspot-041137433.html

Wow!! What a great shot! Fancy getting such a good photo of an Mi-26, right after it's just given birth!!

.......keskin boots! I've left them in my unattended and unlocked car! I'll have to get back there quickly and ensure that...........

It's interesting that the above-mentioned crash happened during training. Training crashes seem to be much higher in helicopters than in fixed wing aircraft, I believe it has a lot to do with students having difficulty developing the unique skills set and control sensitivity, that's required to fly a helicopter. This company insists helicopters are safer than fixed wing aircraft - but they would say that, wouldn't they? - they're a helicopter company! https://www.helicopterexpress.com/blog/helicopter-safety#:~:text=Myth %231: Helicopters Are More,operations%2C and disaster relief efforts.

.......away the charge of "urinating in public". Bluey had to think fast. He said, "See that bloke loading up that ute! He's stealing all that stuff from the pub!" Const Doubtfire immediately released her iron grip on Bluey and marched over to Turbo with a grim look on her face. But, once she got a clear view of Turbo's face, her expression changed to one of.........

The wreck is black and white. The white sections (the upper structure) were badly crushed and dislodged when the helicopter landed upside down in the River, thus leaving only the black lower portions mostly intact.

Back to the Hydrogen Dream - below is a very good and a very comprehensive (and lengthy) article outlining the near-total failure of the Hydrogen Dream, in Public Transport, in the EU. Essentially, only a couple of Hydrogen Transport schemes remain in operation, and they are only "viable" (and I use the word loosely), because of a ready supply of waste hydrogen from industrial processes in nearby major industrial zones. Even at that, the Hydrogen buses are still more expensive overall than battery-electric buses. An interesting point is the amount of hydrogen loss caused by leakage. It's around 1%, all the time - from tanks, from vehicles, from everywhere H2 is made or transported or contained. That's quite a bit of loss as compared to fossil fuels loss. Even taking into account ships sinking, vehicle crashes, and pipeline failures, I wouldn't think that fossil fuels losses or wastage would come anywhere near 1% of the total volume extracted and transported and used. The bottom line is, the battery-electric bus is making great strides into the public transport realm, and hydrogen is becoming a more distant dream each passing year. https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/14/hydrogen-vs-battery-buses-a-european-transit-reality-check/

After having had many people try to kill me, in dozens of different ways, including people shooting at me (none of them succeeded!), I guess you could say, I'm a little risk-averse!

Well, if the ever-suspicious "cash crop" growers don't get you in your ultralight, then the hunters will! https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/hunter-pleads-guilty-to-shooting-ultralight-pilot/

Of all the failure causes, a mast bump rates highly as the main cause of this crash. It would have to be a major maintenance fault that caused a Jesus nut failure. It appears to me, from what I've seen in videos of 206 in the air, the entire mast, rotors and main gearbox tore away in one piece. For that to happen, there would have had to have been a rotor impact with the fuselage at some point. It's not unknown for tail rotors to fail, in which case all bets are off, and anything can happen from there on in. Who recalls the 1966 Bell 47G helicopter crash in central Sydney, at Circular Quay? The Circular Quay crash was caused by a maintenance crew who left a washer off a nut on one of the tail rotor bolts. The missing washer caused tail rotor flex that eventually fractured the blade. The crash investigators went through every rubbish bin in the aircraft workshop, until they found the missing washer. They had to find the washer, to determine whether it was left off accidentally, or if it had fractured in flight, and fell out. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-10/the-helicopter-crash-that-changed-australian-aviation/10585722

.....was even given any of this dodgy Chinese tucker, I wouldn't feed it to my dog!! That Chinese cat is the biggest giveaway ever, and I wouldn't be seen dead in a Chinese restaurant! - let alone go into one to vote!" Turbo sighed. This bloke was a major problem, and he needed to be dealt with in a manner suiting his abrasive nature. Turbo decided it must be all the exposure to West Australian sand that gave Bluey his abrasive nature - and God knows, Esperance has sand aplenty. "Let's go over to the Sailors Arms pub and have a little talk over a beer and good old meat pie", said Turbo. "They not only serve Emu Bitter over there, they sell good pies containing real beef!" "Now yer talking!", exclaimed Bluey. "Lead on, I need to..........

Quite a good video, but the AI sections fail to show just how dark and often foggy, the landscape was. I wasn't aware that AJ-Y returned with its bomb intact, due to damage to its rear turret and weather stopping them from finding the target. Nothing is mentioned as to whether AJ-Y landed with the bomb still aboard or whether it was dumped offshore. I couldn't imagine a Lancaster (and a damaged one at that) landing with a large bomb still aboard. The video states the damage was only temporary and the Germans soon recovered with rapid dam repairs. However, I think that's not entirely correct, the dam water damage was substantial, and over an extended period. Possibly the saddest part was over 1000 POW's and forced labourers losing their lives as a result of the raid. The British obviously considered those people expendable. Barnes-Wallis stated he would have never thought up the scheme if he knew beforehand, the number of air crew that would be lost. But he obviously didn't even consider the civilian losses potential. Overall, the successful number of bombs was quite low in comparison to the number originally sent aloft. By any other measure, on any other raid, it would not be declared a successful raid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise

The link is to a Private Facebook group, you need to apply to join the group, and if the admin of the group approves you, only then can you see what is on the group site.

.....sly advert for the Turbine Cat Farms operations!! And what's in those Chinese dumplings that are simply labelled "meat dumplings"? Suddenly Turbo appeared and grabbed Blueys elbow, and propelled him (avref) to a quiet spot in a lane adjoining the restaurant. "Listen", Turbo hissed between clenched teeth, "I don't want you making a song and dance about things like Chinese cats and..........

........flee Chinee glift for every Osstralian voter who attends voting booth (oh, and voting booths are made in China, too! How good is that?)" But Bluey was still suspicious. "I dunno, theres something about these offers that just doesn't look ridgy-didge to me", he opined, whilst chewing on piece of barley straw. "For a start, why is the local Chinese restaurant the polling station, and what's with the big red.............

Not so, as evidenced by the substantial number of West Australian mines in remote regions with huge solar installations. https://arena.gov.au/news/port-gregory-wind-solar-and-battery-hybrid-plant-to-power-mine/ https://www.cefc.com.au/case-studies/remote-wa-mine-pioneers-solar-and-storage-potential/ https://www.apa.com.au/operations-and-projects/renewables/solar-farms/chichester-solar-farm https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2024/10/31/pacific-energy-delivers-3-8-mw-solar-farm-and-bess-to-pilbara-iron-ore-mine-site/ https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2024/11/01/24-mw-solar-farm-and-13-mw-bess-powers-up-western-australia-gold-mine/ https://arena.gov.au/projects/degrussa-solar-project/ https://www.stantec.com/en/projects/australia-projects/t/the-northern-goldfields-solar-project The above is just a selected number of renewable energy projects amongst the W.A. miners, there are a lot more, it would take up too much space in one post, to list them all.

The Hueys were reliable beyond belief in the Vietnam War, and they often took a lot of fire, and still kept flying.

......to supply many thousands of electric Dlifters (that's a Chinese Drifter) to Australia at a very good price, provided Australia didn't impose a tariff on Chinese aircraft. "I can't guarantee anything, Xi, ol' mate", siad Turbo - "but as there's an Australian election coming up, we could install a Manchurian candidate, and even beat Clive Palmer at his electioneering efforts, provided you supply enough funding to back a major election campaign. If we put up a part-Chinese candidate with an Australian father, no-one will notice he's a CCP stooge, and we'll be virtually guaranteed to win the.........

There's one small problem with flying Part 103 in the U.S., and it's the simple fact that the population of the U.S. is 346M, in the same area of land mass as Australia, with 25M people. It's not like vast areas of the U.S. are like Outback Qld, with 1 person per 1000 sq kms. And this sums up Part 103 flying in the U.S.; "While Part 103 prohibits flying over congested areas (defined as one or more people), it can be difficult to ensure absolute compliance, especially in urban or populated areas." The place is chock-o full of people and aircraft, and you plan flutter around in the equivalent of an airborne bicycle, with no equipment that you can use, to find other aircraft in the vicinity? Then there's the not-so-small problem that law enforcement in the U.S. is brutal, and you may find yourself in jail for infringements of laws you didn't even know existed. Add in the litigious nature of U.S. society (whose reach is not limited to America), and if some offended party claims injury or otherwise, and launches a lawsuit against you, you may wish you'd never seen the place. Then there's the point that virtually every American owns a firearm (or 113), and they're basically very angry people, and they're ready and willing to shoot at anything overflying "their patch!", with high-powered weaponry (AR-15's and AK-47's are very popular), and this could make flying just a little more dangerous than you ever imagined. I've seen more than one American on other forums bragging about shooting down "nosey" drones, and annoying "noisey" RC aircraft, overflying "their patch".

Even the slightest level of damage to an aircraft needs inspection. Not a pilot I'd fly with.