onetrack

....."You likeee lice? We got big lice banquet set up to honour outstanding pilots and we are offalling you plime seat at table, in honour of your flying skills!" Turbo thought for a moment - and the memories came flooding back of the time he had that huge Chinese banquet in HK and how it contained many mysterious ingredients deep-fried in batter, or hidden in dumplings - and how his stomach had suffered for days afterwards, as he...........

And the company has gone belly-up? Because nothing exists at any of their sites, and even their last Farcebook posting was in 2019.

Here is an update on the trials. Matt Wright has been committed to stand trial next year in the N.T. Supreme Court on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, and fabricating and destroying evidence, as well as associated charges. Helicopter pilot Michael Burbidge pleaded guilty to a charge of destroying evidence this morning, as well. Former NT Police officer Neil Mellon also pleaded guilty to a charge of destroying evidence related to the crash. Additional charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, and making a false declaration were withdrawn against Neil Mellon. Matt Wright strenously denies all the charges laid against him, and states he is going to defend them. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-07/croc-wrangler-matt-wright-committed-to-stand-trial-nt-court/103199446

Nev is right, mechanically-driven superchargers were far more common than turbochargers on WW2 piston engines, because they did not need operate at the high temperatures that turbochargers operate at. However, turbochargers were being used on aircraft engines early in WW2, but they were initially referred to as "turbosuperchargers" by the Americans. Early on, they were used in conjunction with geared superchargers to gain maximum benefit of forced induction, especially at high altitudes. However, the U.S. engineers well understood the over-pressurisation problems caused by geared superchargers, so the two-speed and two-stage superchargers were then introduced. Below is a link to a 1943 article written by GE engineers fully explaining all aspects of WW2 turbosuperchargers. Interestingly, they used ball and roller bearings for the turbine shafts, and also had their own independent oil supply and tank. There is also a description in the article of how these turbosuperchargers were balanced and repaired in that era. http://www.rwebs.net/avhistory/opsman/geturbo/geturbo.htm

Skippy, the NASA pen story is a great Urban Legend - but it is simply untrue, and you're only continuing to promote an Internet myth. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/#:~:text=But%2C alas%2C it is just,%244%2C382.50 or %24128.89 per pencil.

It is true, as johnm says, that the Nazis did not have access to the exotic metals - nor the pool of skilled metallurgists that the U.S. had - that were needed to produce the higher quality metal alloys that could resist the extremely high temperatures inside jet engines. Not only a shortage of nickel, but also a shortage of titanium, vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, and chromium. Added to that, they had forced labour in their factories and a level of sabotage by those forced to work, that the Allies didn't have to contend with. Both sides had to contend with human error in the manufacturing process, but trying to watch for sabotage as well, would have been another burden that simply exacerbated normal human errors.

The "evidence" you refer to is a report by investigators, which contains opinions that were derived from interviews with people who weren't under oath. As the ATSB reports says, much of the information provided was conflicting, and some was understood to be mistruths and diversionary - so the investigators had to draw their own conclusions. The truth is only revealed under oath in courts with intensive questioning and consideration of the "facts", by a learned judge. Making firm statements of fact on an internet forum, where those facts have not been confirmed by a court of law - and where the case is yet to be heard - can land you in hot water.

Litespeed, none of what you're stating has been proven to be true in a court of law, and I would remind you that there are criminal cases and case results hanging on evidence yet to be examined in those courts, under oath. As regards the widow of Chris Wilson, I guess she has been encouraged by the successful out-of-court settlement between CASA and the widow of David Black, who died when his Dromader lost a wing when firefighting.

Why not? As long as the turbine blades are not cracked, or haven't come into contact with the housing, there's no reason why they can't be re-used. They're simply soda-blasted and rebalanced. The shafts can be rebuilt and machined back to the required dimensions.

Cadillac produced a wide range of high precision components for aircraft, and their smooth V8 engines were manufactured on a large scale for the M5 Stuart and M24 Chaffee tanks. The Cadillac engines also powered the LVT (Landing Vehicle, Tracked) amphibious vehicle, and the Cadillac factory actually built all the above armoured vehicles in their entirety. Cadillac manufactured 175 high-precision components for the Allison V12 1710 aircraft engine, as well as a range of other aircraft components, such as reduction gearboxes. I actually have an original copy of the brochure "Cadillac - From Peace to War" that is displayed on the webpage below. Cadillac continued to build U.S. armour right up until after the end of the Vietnam War. http://usautoindustryworldwartwo.com/General Motors/cadillac.htm

John Clifford Garrett started the Aircraft Tool and Supply Company in 1936 - but his company only played a small part in WW2, and had nothing to do with turbochargers or superchargers until 1954 - when Caterpillar approached Garrett to supply his newly-developed turbocharger for heavy duty diesel engines, to be fitted to the all-new Caterpillar D9 tractor. So Garrett developed their turbocharger technology from heavy duty diesel applications in the 1950's. https://www.garrettmotion.com/corporate/our-story/#:~:text=The Garrett name ties back,era for the automotive industry. During WW2, Cadillac were the go-to company for cutting edge engineering and advanced technology. Cadillac V8's had hydraulic valve lifters in 1937 - in a side valve V8! William S. Knudsen, president of GM was such a respected figure in manufacturing, he was appointed Director of War Production during WW2 and made a 3-star Lt. General - the only civilian to ever have been given that rank. Under Knudsen, the car factories in America swivelled all their production over to War equipment (no new cars, or even parts for civilian cars, were built in America between Feb 1942 and Oct 1945), and it was this massive production ability and technological edge that really won the War.

In WW2, all the aircraft turbochargers and superchargers were manufactured by Cadillac, as the Cadillac division of GM was the only manufacturing operation in the U.S. that had the ability to produce high RPM, cutting edge technology components that required machining to 1/10,000 of an inch. There are probably a few NOS turbochargers and superchargers left from WW2. Otherwise, they can be rebuilt using modern engineering machinery, and current high-tech materials.

The writing was on the wall many months ago. This is just formalisation of the mess to prevent the corporate wolves from destroying what's left of the company. Unfortunately, bankrupt aircraft manufacturers are a dime a dozen, and this is how it always will be.

The only thing I can see in my crystal ball is that our power/energy sources will become a lot more fractured/diverse in the next couple of decades - and that's not a bad thing. Nuclear power stations means we're putting a lot of eggs into one big basket.

Seeing as you can convert from RAA to VH-experimental, and from VH-experimental to RAA, without major roadblocks (provided the rules are met), I would have thought the SAAA document would have been relevant to any RAA aircraft.

I would think the SAAA advice below, probably contains all that you need to know, about approvals for flight over populous areas. https://saaa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IPM-FO-002-002-Flight-over-populous-areas.pdf

We need more Duramold construction aircraft? And here was me, thinking that Duramold had been made obsolete by carbon fibre and Kevlar?

I was under the impression that aircraft and parts are duty-free? However, after searching, I find it only applies to certified parts and certified aircraft. GST is payable on all overseas purchases. Make SURE you acquire and keep ALL records relating to the purchase, otherwise the tax collectors will simply calculate the tax on their estimations - which may or may not be favourable to you! They will also tax any costs incurred in acquiring the goods. https://www.abf.gov.au/trade-and-goods-compliance-subsite/files/fact-sheets/item-34-fs.pdf https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/importing/cost-of-importing-goods/gst-and-other-taxes#:~:text=GST is payable on imported,as customs duty is paid.

And this is where the automotive/snowmobile/whatever-your-engine-selection conversion method is, is a dead-end. Not one of these converted engines lasts any more than a few years before it's superseded by a "new, totally redesigned" engine - thus leaving the conversion gurus out on the proverbial limb being sawed, and on the wrong side of the saw.

Ingersoll Rand must have manufactured quite a few units of the Spot-Air, because they're not all that hard to find for sale.

The Ingersoll Rand Spot-Air is perhaps what Nev was referring to. 6 cyl vertical radial with 3 cylinders driving and 3 cylinders compressing. You even started them with a rope wrapped around a pulley! - because they weren't fitted with a starter. The railways used them for tamping ballast.

Because a motorcycle or snowmobile engine doesn't face the same constant heavy engine load as an aircraft engine does. There's subtle changes in engine stress loads between loads that ease off for a period, before coming back on again - as compared to constant heavy load with no letup. Caterpillar thought they could get into the rail loco business by installing their engines in locos. After all, they'd been building heavy duty tractor and construction diesel engines since 1931, so why not get into the loco business, it's just another engine-driven machine, isn't it? Cat produced a number of diesel locos using their heavy duty construction engines, and they were an unmitigated disaster. Their unreliability was legend. Cat engineers failed to understand that loco engines require extremely heavy duty build, as the load on them is huge and almost constant and unrelenting. And on long railway grades with a huge tonnage behind them, the stress buildup on loco engines producing maximum power on a constant basis for long periods, soon sorts the men from the boys. Cat gave up on their foray into loco-building and left it to the people who knew what kind of build strength was needed for loco engines. Then Cat decided they really needed to get a slice of the loco market - so they simply bought EMD, a long-established manufacturer of locos. They just renamed EMD to "Progress Rail", the supplier of "Caterpillar" rail products.

I'd suggest dragging a caravan from Melbourne to Cairns is one of the stupidest ideas out and the economics don't stack up. These people pay $100K for a van, $100K for a massively overpowered 4WD to haul it, pay out $300 a day in fuel costs for dragging their hated highway clogger the 3000kms to get there - and when they get there, the school holidays are half over, they get a few days in Cairns, then have to depart again and clog the highways on the way back. I've owned plenty of vans for work purposes and they're a constant PIA, with high maintenance costs, insurance, licencing, tyres - and plenty of them are poorly built as caravan manufacturers pop up everywhere, trying to get a share of the RV dollar. Caravan parts are always half the size and twice the cost. My holidays involve no $100K van, no $100K fuel-hogging 4WD, and no clogged highways stress. Airline fares are the cheapest method of going long distances, accommodation is available in most places, and hire cars are cheap, and always the latest model with good reliability. It's about time people woke up to the idiotic "RV dream", it's not a dream, it's an expensive nightmare, and it means stress-filled holidaying.

Nuclear power stations come at mind-boggling cost to build. They need to be earthquake-proof, flood proof, fire-proof, and have triple redundancy built into every system. They consume tens of thousands of tonnes of concrete and thousands of tonnes of lead shielding. They must be be made 100% foolproof, and breakdown proof, and this costs a fortune. There has to be millions of tonnes of water available at all times for cooling. The cooling systems have to be mind-boggling in size and complexity. There have been multiple nuclear power station accidents, of which 3 Mile Island was the worst in the U.S. We all know about Chernobyl. It only takes a pump to break down or a valve to become stuck - and no-one notices - and there's your nuclear power station accident. Few countries are going ahead with major nuclear power station development, and the reasons are, it's the cost as well as the nuclear waste generated - which non-one wants. We could build a few big solar power stations in the interior and they would take over from our coal-generated power. All that's needed is storage - and pumped hydro appears to be the best response for that requirement.

It was actually $2 a day - but it wasn't that she reckoned $2 a day was good enough for Australian employees - she actually said that Australian workers had to learn to compete with African workers, who got $2 a day. Of course, many people presumed she was obliquely referring to her employees. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-05/rinehart-says-aussie-workers-overpaid-unproductive/4243866