onetrack

They are all named for convenience and reference purposes. The first one in MB's list is called Chadwick Roadstrip. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chadwick+Roadstrip/@-31.5739973,130.1602548

Further to my suggestion that a rodent on board Flight 171 could be responsible for electrical damage leading to the crash - I find that the crash aircrafts, sister aircraft (VT-ANA), was involved in a flight diversion when a rat was spotted on board, mid-flight, in 2015. That reported rat was never found after landing. It is significant, IMO, that other Air India aircraft have had rodents on board. They enter via catering vans, and once on board, food dropped by passengers keeps them alive. Rats need to chew constantly to keep their teeth to a healthy length, as their teeth grow constantly. A rat chewing wiring on a fly-by-wire aircraft is the stuff of nightmares. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/four-hours-into-journey-rat-grounds-air-indias-milan-flight/articleshow/48288464.cms

The latest information is one of the two black boxes has sustained damage. The Indians state the damage is from "a fall", and from fire. I get the impression the outside casing has suffered extensive damage, no doubt from impact and post-crash fire, which is making the Indians jittery about opening it, and potentially losing critical data. They are weighing up whether to attempt opening it (obviously with advice from the likes of the NTSB and Boeing), or whether to send the damaged black box to Singapore, or the U.S., where there is more extensive knowledge and experience available, when it comes to opening damaged black boxes and extracting the data. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/exclusive-air-india-flights-black-boxs-outer-surface-damaged-after-fall-8713835

It's amazing to see the wingspan of the PC-24 in relation to the highway reserve width. Even with the additional width of sealed highway edges, there's not a huge margin for drift error in the event of a strong crosswind. One of my former business partners owned a Piper Cherokee, and about 1985/86, he took a young girl for a joyflight, departing Kalgoorlie to the West. Not long after becoming airborne, the engine stopped due to fuel starvation. He put the Cherokee down on the (recently-widened, fortunately) highway between Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie. All went well, avoiding the low level of traffic, until the middle of the rollout, when a large roadside sign loomed up! The roadside sign was well built with dual heavy pipe uprights, and he had no chance of avoiding it due to inadequate control surface authority at low speed, and he clobbered the sign with a wing, doing major structural damage to the aircraft. No-one was hurt. He claimed to me in later discussion that the crossover fuel tank selector valve failed. Knowing him and his generally erratic style, I suspect he was lax when it came to correctly setting the fuel tank valve, and inadvertently shut off the fuel supply.

.....squawked and flapped, escaped from Ahlocks clutches, and flew up into the buildings rafters, whereupon it started crowing loud and long, with a raucous call. As it was already well past midnight, the crowing awoke many people within an 800M radius, whereby they all thought it was near daylight, so they stumbled out of bed, got dressed, and started making breakfast. However, one by one, they realised they'd been "had" by a rogue rooster, and set out to find the source of the crowing - and the owner. They gradually gathered at the Blue Oyster, as it rapidly became obvious, that was where the sound was emanating from. Ahlocks sighted the angry crowd after being alerted by Cappy, and he became.........

Turbo, I can't see any tie-up between the Gulfstream crash and your personal experience, as there was no company or other entity involved in a sale and transfer of assets and liabilities in your event. Your event would come under "chain of responsibility", would it not? A company is a distinct stand-alone entity which can be sold or traded, along with its assets and liabilities, but those assets and liabilities are normally clearly defined at the point of sale or trade. However, I must admit, it has been the case on more than one occasion that new company directors or owners have discovered that liabilities attached to the sale were not fully listed, and undisclosed liabilities were only discovered after the handover. But I have never known of liabilities incurred by breaches of laws or operating procedures by previous owners or directors, to be included as part of a corporate structure handover in any sale. The new owners would have to be total mugs to knowingly accept such liability. This crash appears to be a pretty straightforward case of failure to adhere to even basic aviation regulations and aircraft manufacturer instructions, and I find it incredible that an aircraft operator could get away with such lax procedures and illegality in this age of ever tightening controls and scrutiny.

Yes, several locations on major highways in Western Australia, in particular, are specially widened and painted with piano keys to facilitate the landing of RFDS aircraft for highway crash emergencies, and other local medical emergencies. The reason they do not appear on OzRunways is because traffic control must be formerly initiated with the Police or Main Roads W.A. staff, before they can be used as airstrips. The highway is effectively and officially closed to traffic for the duration of RFDS aircraft use. See 6.4.1 "Traffic Management Plan" below. As all major W.A. highways permit the use of triple road trains running to 120 tonnes gross (and oversize loads to considerably larger levels, up to 300 tonnes and occasionally even higher) - and that the frequency of road trains in rural and remote locations is at a considerable level (I've come across 8 double road trains in a row, on a rural highway. They are obliged to stay 200M apart) - then you can imagine that the authorities don't want to see serious interaction between the likes of a large road train and an aircraft, thus the reason for intensive traffic management when aircraft traffic and road traffic are likely to come into conflict. https://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/49c4d6/globalassets/technical-commercial/technical-library/road-and-traffic-engineering/guide-to-road-design/additional-road-design/emergency-landing-strips/emergency-landing-strips-policy-and-application-guidelines.pdf Main Roads W.A. actually provide instructions on the construction of airstrips on the major highways under MRWA control. https://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/globalassets/technical-commercial/technical-library/guideline-drawings/emergency-runway-strip-details/200431-0003-emergency-runway-strip-details.pdf

There's an interesting previous incident in 2020, involving a B787-8 Dreamliner on descent into Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan, when at 15,000 feet, the flight crew of Jetstar Airways flight JQ15 received an engine thrust warning on the number 2 engine, which subsequently started to surge. The crew then received an engine fail indication on the number 1 engine, without any shift in parameters indicating any engine power loss. That warning was followed by an engine fail warning on the number 2 engine. The number 2 engine auto relight activated, and the engine continued to surge during the descent. High concentrations of biocide in outer tanks resulted in magnesium salt residue jamming fuel controls at low fuel flows, so both engines momentarily dropped below idle on descent. The conclusion of investigators was that a dose of biocide containing magnesium salts was poured into the outer wing tanks, but this dose of biocide didn't mix properly with the fuel in other tanks (or it was an inaccurate dosage), and the high concentration of the magnesium salts caused the fuel metering spools to become impeded in their travel range and thus caused fuel supply disruptions to the engines. Same type of aircraft, and same types of engines. https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/223675#:~:text=As for the higher accumulation,was fed to the engines.

.....the problem with that idea, was no-one had asked the rooster if he wanted to be part of the show. As the old saying goes in the media/entertainment world, "never work on-stage with children or animals" - but no-one had told Ahlocks that wise old saying, and he proceeded to dress the............

I would opine that all liability for aviation laws and procedures breaches at the time of the crash, or prior, would be on the directors and management of the company at that time. When a company changes hands, only the assets and liabilities and contractual obligations in place at handover, or those items specifically listed at handover, are transferred to the new owner/s. Liabilities for previous statutory breaches would most certainly not be listed as being one of the liabilities being transferred.

The Chairman of TATA Sons/Air India, N. Chandrasekaran, has stated he expects to hear some preliminary crash findings within a month.

Yes, my apologies, I was going on my faulty memory, thinking FADEC instead of ADIRU, and I should've checked the official incident summary before posting. The Incident Summary for VH-QPA, 07/10/2008: "The official investigation into the incident concluded that the accident 'occurred due to the combination of a design limitation in the flight control primary computer (FCPC) software of the Airbus A330/Airbus A340, and a failure mode affecting one of the aircraft’s three air data inertial reference units (ADIRUs). The design limitation meant that, in a very rare and specific situation, multiple spikes in angle of attack (AOA) data from one of the ADIRUs could result in the FCPCs commanding the aircraft to pitch down'." Yes, no conclusive proof of the cause was ever derived - from the available evidence. That evidence was lacking, because the U.S. Navy refused to reveal what type of radio transmissions are generated from the Holt VLF station. They merely state their transmissions don't affect aircraft systems. But what are the chances of TWO separate incidents, involving TWO different makes of aircraft, BOTH happening in the vicinity of the Holt VLF station? And what exactly is that "very rare and specific situation"? "On 27 December 2008, a Qantas A330-300 aircraft operating from Perth to Singapore was involved in an (uncommanded control) occurrence, 350 nautical miles (650 km) south of Learmonth Airport while flying at 36,000 feet. At this time, the autopilot disconnected. The crew actioned the revised procedure released by Airbus after the earlier accident, and returned to Perth uneventfully."

......the outrage caused by his wilful destruction of a couple of Australia's finest aviation products, which led to a campaign calling on AUF members to tar and feather him and.............

That's sad to hear about, I'm surprised at the number of people who pass on early. Maybe if she had lived with someone, there might have been a different result. RIP.

Well, the final report is out on this one, and it only reinforces the preliminary report, and it's pretty damning of the aircraft operators procedures. I can see lawyers rubbing their hands over the liability claims here. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-19/atsb-final-report-fatal-plane-crash-outback-qld-2023/105435330

It looks like an aerobridge driver will be looking for a new job that suits his skills - "Would you like fries with that?". On a par with driving under low bridges and overpasses, and being unaware of your vehicle height.

Age doesn't mean a thing to the TSA, they will jail old grannies if they're considered suspicious. Just hope you don't see the four letters "SSSS" on your airline ticket. Australia is probably regarded as a source of anti-American feeling under the current administration. 😞 They'll go through the entire contents of your phone, and even look for your stated opinions on social media sites - let alone search you and your luggage intensively. And they won't put anything back, that's your job. And locks on things mean nothing to them. https://www.travelandleisure.com/ssss-on-boarding-pass-7547257

You'd have to have handfuls of anti-seize applied, before any of it migrated to brake pads. A dab of nickel-based anti-seize is the cure to any corrosion/sticking problems.

......Cappy, Turbo, and others. Only OT's contributions are stimulating and interesting, just like Cappy's long delirious nights, down at the..........

Good luck with getting through the TSA without a body orifice inspection!! 😄 Always remember in America, it's, "Yes, Sir!", "No, Sir!", when anyone has some kind of authority over you! https://www.mensjournal.com/travel/tsa-sends-clear-warning-to-all-airport-travelers

Qatar Airways is basically an arm of the Qatari Govt, it is wholly-owned by them, so limitless petro-dollars go into ensuring they're a "premium flying experience". I flew business class from Doha to Perth on a Qatar B777 about 12 yrs ago, it was the best airline experience I've ever experienced. Meals are cooked on board to your order, and the fully-reclining seats that lay flat for sleeping, have inbuilt massagers! Even better, there were 34 seats in business class on the Qatar B777 flight, and there were only 9 occupied!

If you run a Wasp R-985 for a power plant, you'd better have an Arab Sheik for an uncle! I can remember talking to Bill Charney about his "Red Rockette" Staggerwing fuel burn, it was an eye-watering figure, around 25-30 U.S. gallons/hour!

The electrical system of the Dreamliner is staggering in its complexity, as compared to earlier models. It uses six generators along with miniature "substations" to provide electrical power. Its design relies a lot more on electrical componentry, and a lot less on pneumatics, with the design aim of reducing weight and increasing efficiency. Even the hydraulics are electrically controlled on the Dreamline, a major design change from earlier Boeings. However, I harbour a feeling that the investigators will find a cause for the thrust and power failures that will come from out of left field - a reason, that no-one, especially the Boeing designers and testers, ever imagined could happen. Remember the FADEC blips on the Qantas Airbus that flew near the U.S. Navy communications base at Exmouth in 2008? The aircraft did an uncommanded descent of 650 feet before the crew intervened and corrected the flight path deviation. It was found after extensive investigation, that the U.S. Navy low frequency radio wave generation overwhelmed the FADEC protection systems and more FADEC shielding had to be installed in the Airbus. I'm wondering if some unexpected powerful radio signal generation in the Ahmedabad airport area, produced EMI interference with the Dreamliners electrical power systems? GaryBPilot on YooTube points out an interesting thing about Flight 171 after takeoff. Everyone is trying to figure why the undercarriage didn't retract - which it should have, as soon as positive climb rate was established (normally only seconds after liftoff). GaryBPilot outlines how the Dreamliner MLG bogies are electrically canted forward, prior to being retracted into the wheel wells. Conversely, the bogies are electrically canted backwards prior to landing. This bogie canting process assists in improved undercarriage stowage when retracted, and assists in softer runway contact when landing. Gary says he can see the undercarriage bogies commence their canting, which indicates the undercarriage retraction lever was selected. But then, the undercarriage goes no further in the retraction process. That would seemingly indicate a major power failure to the undercarriage retraction mechanism. This could be an indicator to further electrical failures that led to loss of thrust. Another point is that India is the home of some pretty destructive critters, such as rats. If a rat got aboard undetected and chewed up important electrical componentry or wiring, and thus damaged redundancy features as well, that would go a long way to explain how "foolproof" aircraft systems could be damaged to the point where redundancy failed. http://787updates.newairplane.com/787-Electrical-Systems/787-Electrical-System#

It's amazing the uses to which you can put a hair dryer. A good one is using them to remove decals that are otherwise difficult to remove, without damaging the underlying paint. Warm them up, and they will come off a lot easier.

The BBC article below outlines the investigation procedures. The Boeing investigation team are deferring to India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) as the investigation leaders. As the article states, investigators will have a pretty good handle on what happened within a few days, but gaining understanding of WHY it happened, will take a lot longer. The recorders on the Dreamliner are high tech, and record a vast array of inputs, unlike early recorders. Therefore I would presume that they have backup power in the event of total engine failure. I'm not sure that the engines failed completely, but a check of engine component damage will soon reveal whether they were running or stopped. The BBC article is fairly well done, but there's an error where it states the aircraft was carrying 100 tonnes of fuel. The aircraft is capable of carrying 100 tonnes of fuel, but according to my information, 50 tonnes of fuel is adequate (with statutory reserves) for a flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, and that's what Flight 171 was carrying. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gkd555jlko