onetrack

Not really a suitable comparison. Most heavy truck drivers only use the clutch for takeoff, they do clutchless gear changes regularly, from then on, once moving. Of course, I'm talking heavy duty, non-synchro truck transmissions, such as Spicer or Eaton.

Brett Northey appears to be extremely clever with his efforts to screw lots of money out of investors for his exotic eVTOL ideas. However, I don't see much information by way of ongoing research into his design on his Ace website - and possibly more importantly, I don't see any "qualified" experts, from the fields of aviation, physics, electronics, materials, etc., offering their opinions, advice, or design input on his website, as regards the viability or advancement of his eVTOL plans. Northey is effectively the exotic car salesman with the slick pitch - and no cars to sell. He's effectively saying, "give me a heap of your money, and I'll try and see if I can build an exotic car for you, that matches my vision." He is also CEO of a company called "Blue Energy", which is purportedly a company involved in Blockchain in a big way. The problem is, Northey has picked a company which is identical to several other fully-operational companies, whereas Brett Northey's Blue Energy blockchain company appears to have little other value and substance besides promotion of his Blockchain monetary ideas. A lot of Australians are pretty blunt with their opinions on these type of people. They're generally described in a neat Australian double word term, that involves artistry, and BS.

.....what are ya? Some kind of nong? I was referring to that Pommy crap you still prefer to drive over good ol' Yankee iron!!" Cappy was flabbergasted. He was known for his flabber, but it wasn't all that common to see him gasted. He stuttered .... "I - I - I, errr, ahhh .......

Of course, I forgot to mention that two engines that are close-coupled are going to be a much lighter setup than two engines that are coupled using belts, chains or gearbox.

The answer is Yes. Plenty of big engines around that are two engines bolted end-to-end. The Detroit Diesel V16 is two Detroit V8's coupled together. Many big ships engines are built with the number of cylinders you order, they just keep adding cylinders. Many dragsters have two (or more) engines coupled together. I would think CASA is more concerned about two propellors. Two single cylinder engines coupled as one must have a phased connection, so they balance each other out. The problem is, generally, two engines coupled together are heavier than if all the cylinders were encased in one block. In industrial and marine applications, not a problem - in an aircraft, the weight penalty may be excessive.

I'd imagine the transition from regular aircraft level flight to rotorcraft flight would take some managing. Probably has a fair amount of computerised control? Have to agree somewhat with Nev, they look like the most complex of any machine you could build, that flies.

....doesn't appeal, as we're constantly surrounded by green jungle - and "green" is the most over-used, burnt-out, tired word in the current lexicon of colour descriptions". "How about we produce something in pink?", said Cappy, in a hopeful and earnest manner. "After all, pink is the colour of the year, Barbie and Ken are noted in every corner of the globe now, for their widespread use of pink, and pink is best described as a colour that........

......a sickly dirty green colour, which colour constantly reminded Cappy of his flight over........

I'm not sure if this mob is just vapourware, or if they really do have a chance of making it big in the E-VTOL industry - which has supposedly been coming for 2 or 3 decades, but which is yet to actually appear in commercial form. They've got exotic designs and exotic promises - including a totally new electric arc plasma reaction engine - on which engine they claim to have 6 new patents. There's just one thing wrong at present - everything they have is still on the drawing board or computer. They have no prototype, have not done any actual real-life testing, and they're talking Blockchain and AI control as well, in their control systems - which are both in their infancy when it comes to real-world use. However, that hasn't stopped an American company from lobbing an AUD$250M preorder at them - which looks great in the news releases - but which has yet to translate into any tangible sales - and which order can no doubt be cancelled at a moments notice, when the product isn't delivered on time, in the required form of usefulness and reliability - and having met ALL regulatory requirements. Of all the hurdles this mob have yet to jump - not the least of which is manufacturing a working, safe, prototype - the regulatory hurdles will be amongst the biggest hurdles they have to jump. https://www.acevtol.com/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/08/16/are-electric-flying-cars-a-real-thing/?sh=7637de095b32 https://evtol.news/ace-vtol-slipstream-elite-concept-design

....he will join the few other still-living, world-famous aviators, for a celebratory dinner at the Gumly RSL hall. The problem for the dinner organisers is what to put on the menu for choices, as Nobu's favourite, Sashimi, has recently been banned from importation after the release of a million tonnes of radioactive water from the Fukushima power plant. Further to that was the concern that Nobu has yet to learn the proper use of a knife and fork, and always prefers chopsticks, thus leading to great concern amongst the dinner organisers, as they planned to put savoury mince and mashed spuds on the dinner menu, and this will cause great consternation amongst the chopstick users amongst the invited guests, many of whom are........

.....the wings of the Drifter disappeared from his upper arm, every time he clenched his fist and swivelled it. However, he was able to entertain a lot of girls and boys with his "wings disappearing" tattoo trick, which made for..........

....who also had trouble identifying which cutlery item to use, and in which order, any time a formal dinner was held to celebrate another.......

Skippy - I'll put the link up again, as you obviously missed it. A Risen, piloted by Alberto Rodolfo Porto, claimed a record 323kmh in 2015, powered by a 912 Rotax - and it's recognised by the FAI. https://www.fai.org/record/17912?type=node&id=24616

You definitely need to try harder, Skippy .... https://www.fai.org/record/17912?type=node&id=24616 All the latest FAI Microlight and Paramotor record claims .... https://www.fai.org/page/cima-records

Skippy, have you searched the FAI Table of Records? https://www.fai.org/records

Photoshop, and a pretty bad photoshop at that. You can see where the cockpit has been at the nose, they could've at least rounded off the fuselage! Eurofighter Typhoon, badly modified by a 16 yr old with a computer, and lots of time on his hands.

That looks suspiciously like a lube oil problem to me. Does the oil you're using have specific cam and lifter additive such as ZDDP? Zinc is being reduced or removed from current oils as the zinc and phosphate additives coat the precious metals in catalytic converters and damages their proper functioning.

I couldn't recommend any of those Horusdy tools. They brag their tools are "professional" quality. They're the finest low grade Chinese tool quality. I bought a set of their NPT thread taps, and they look like they were knocked up by the rice paddy planters during their Friday afternoon coffee break.

Oooh! It looks like he might be keen to develop the Jabiru fighter aircraft, with his track record! A Jabiru Jet?? https://scgroup-global.com/about-us/meet-the-team/michael-halloran/

....fix it to a volunteers head (volunteers were usually pushed to the front of the crowd), the volunteer would then stand in the centre of the runway, while Greg made a no-doors low pass at high speed, with a hockey stick in his right hand. Unfortunately for the occasional volunteer, the hockey stick routine didn't go exactly as planned, due to........

Why would Jabiru damage their own engine sales by offering a Rotax option? That would be a suicidal move for Jabiru, their margins on engine manufacture are probably already slim, and offering a Rotax would simply mean that Jabiru engine sales would plummet, and cost of Jabiru engine manufacture would rise, on a smaller number of engines produced. It's not like Jabiru engines are a dead loss.

Litespeed is somewhat right - it is an engine and a combination of part, hoses, etc, all piled together, that is not precisely what a BMW M Series twin turbo V8 actually looks like. But the reality is - the real thing definitely IS a nightmare of hoses, plastic crap, wiring, sensors and piping. And what's worse - they run big end bearings every 80,000 to 100,000 kms because they're producing around 700HP, and BMW engineers underestimated the bearing loads and bearing clearances needed. Yet the BMW fanbois still love 'em! Here's a bloke who happily fixed his buggered BMW M Series V8 by swapping in a complete replacement engine. I reckon his problems have only just started! Apparently the twin turbos mounted in the centre of the "V" simply concentrate massive levels of heat, and increase oil consumption. https://f10.m5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1733004

They might be $500 each by the time they get to Moscow, what with all the current sanctions!

That little bloke in the cockpit has got an easy piloting job! - he just has to sit there, and the 'plane drives itself!

Looks to me like a bunch of Egyptian hippie surfers, holding up their surfboard, ready to catch a wave on the Nile! The surfboard's decorated with a snake image. You can see the surfboard leg rope on the far lower left of the carving.