onetrack

......of the old saying, "2 litres only comes in milk bottles!". This saying was always immediately guaranteed to raise hackles, and if you mentioned "rice racer" in the same sentence, then that statement would certainly bring about a raging brawl based on the number of litres, and what you could expect from 2 litres of....................

Have you investigated your local planning laws and restrictions on airstrip installation and use? Have you spoken to your neighbours as regards flying directly over their house? If you cause deaths by crashing your aircraft, there would need to be negligence or unlawful/illegal behaviour on your part, which would result in an expensive lawsuit or lawsuits.

Marty, you need to check those bores with a borescope. I've seen fully-reconditioned engines, stored in supposedly good conditions in a warehouse, develop rusty bores within 2 years of storage. You need to turn the engine over regularly, and having a heat source under the engine, such as a 100W incandescent light globe kept on permanently, will provide an adequate engine temperature minimum, to keep condensation at bay. If you've had condensation/corrosion problems with tools in your workshop, then you have reason to be concerned as regards engine bores, which never have a decent coating of oil film, that can keep corrosion at bay.

......so it immediately became obvious that Turbo had become confused, and mistook the DG Uniting Church for a pub (it's very similar, just a different kind of worship to a pub, takes place there), mistook the War Memorial Hall for a Shire Hall (that's easy to do, there's a very subtle difference), and the "pub dog" that Turb sighted isn't a pub dog at all, it actually belongs to DG, and it's his best rabbiting dog, and it was a most unfortunate event when it spotted a rabbit, and ran into CT's line of fire. However, Turbo can be forgiven for these small lapses in memory and identification, we can put his feeble state of mind down to his advanced age, and the fact that's he's been in many wars (mostly with councils and VCAT), has plenty of mental scars to prove it, and often has to be reminded what day it is, where he is, and what he's there for. Regardless of his health and age problems, Turbo's contributions to the NES are so substantial, it warrants creating a special award for his efforts, and accordingly CT "rattled the can" for Turbo amongst the DG flying fraternity (all 3 of them) and raised enough to...........

Marty - Skyshop has 1 litre bottles on special for $20.50, can you get a friend or relative on the mainland that's heading to Tasmania, to pick some bottles up from Skyshop, and then bring them across in their luggage? Perhaps even someone making a personal flight across, could stow them on board for you? https://www.skyshop.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=1075

Jackc, you might want to consider the standard penalties for flying an unregistered aircraft, or flying without a pilots licence/certificate, if things go pear-shaped, and don't follow your carefully-orchestrated, secret aviation plans. One standard Commonwealth Penalty Unit is currently $330 (current as at 7 November 2024, and subject to indexation), so the cost of 50 PU's is $16,500 today. Then, there's the little issue of the damage or injury caused to third parties during your unregistered/unlicenced flying operations, that went contrary to all your carefully-laid plans. It's odd, how someone, or someones elses valuable property, often has a nasty habit of being located in the wrong place, at the wrong time, when you have a little "flying upset" - no matter how remote the location. https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_reg/casr1998333/s200.030.html One "sovereign citizen" of Mackay Qld, who killed his passenger when he crashed whilst flying unlicenced and unregistered over Ball Bay in Qld, managed to squeak out of a manslaughter charge on technicalities last year - but he still faces a trial on another 6 aviation charges this year, one of which charges includes operating as an unlicenced pilot. But perhaps the worrying part is the potential civil lawsuit still hanging over his head for the loss, or losses, associated with the death of his passenger - who was apparently a "good mate". It seems like the families of the deceased are not such good mates nowadays with the unlicenced pilot. But according to reports, the unlicenced pilot makes weekly phone calls to Donald Trump to sort out his predicament, and to have all the Australian aviation charges dismissed, so I'm really interested to see how that's going to work out for him. All I can suggest is, if you want to carry out lots of secret, unlicenced/unregistered flying activities, far from "prying eyes", then you'd be well advised to have a top-class KC on your list of close contacts.

Insurance?? Safety equipment? Safety regulations? What are they? 😄

Of course, that's correct, and that is CASA's definition of an aeroplane. But you're missing the point that flying a weightshift paraglider at relatively low speeds, as against flying an engine powered, three-axis aircraft, requires substantially more training for the latter - especially in relation to weather understanding, and how it affects higher speed, powered aircraft, and pilot performance.

Paragliders can, and regularly do, fly at 20kts.

Of course, Dementus is way behind the original motorcycle charioteers of the 1930's! These blokes make Dementus look like an amateur!

Training is supposed to not only give a person adequate skills for the operation of any powered machine, it should also weed out those who are entirely unsuited for the position of driving that machine. And when you take to the air, the last factor becomes more important than in any other field of endeavour.

Marty, all is revealed in the video below. If you're in a hurry, start at 4:59 in. Did you notice the bloke sitting very low in front of the chariot tub? He's obviously got a lot to do with controlling gearchanging and throttle openings, the bloke in the chariot tub is just doing some pretty "iffy" steering, via the reins!

It sounds to me like the steaks are being raised here...

.....but their output was sadly lacking, resulting in many complaints from Tasman and Kimberley owners. But it was CT, as the Chief Austin Tester, who found the Tasman and Kimberleys real weaknesses, when he found their handling was nothing short of appalling, and this poor handling was resulting in excessive losses, to the point where it became embarrassing to even be seen with......

....then found it was too confusing as the gun models were called Morris Eight, Morris Ten, Morris Cowley, Morris Minor, Morris Major, Morris Oxford, Morris Isis, and Morris Marina - all relative to the gun size and capabilities and performance, of course - but the confusing part came when Morris named all their cars the same as their guns. This led to total chaos when aircraft fitters wanted to know what a pilot did with his Morris Ten after he brought his aircraft back in - and the pilot started relating tall tales about how he beat an Austin Twelve in the Kop Hill Climb, and how he was next planning to supercharge it. The aircraft fitter looked at the pilot like he was a raving madman, and reported back to the Squadron CO, that such-and-such a pilot should be relieved of his piloting duties, as he'd obviously gone..........

An interesting story below about the Australian-built Cicada radial (by CAC) that came close to being fitted to the Winjeel. The Cicada was produced using half of a P&W R-1830, with 7 cylinders on a smaller bore and stroke than the R-1830, giving 795 cu inches, and producing 450HP. But the Cicada project was cut off by the ready availability in large numbers, of R-985 Wasp Junior engines, which ended up being the engine used in the Winjeel. https://www.enginehistory.org/Piston/CAC/cac.shtml

And you didn't get video footage, complete with the radial song? Shame on you! 😄 And Nev's right, it's actually a Winjeel, built in 1955. It was originally A85-407, but is now displaying registration as A85-443. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a85.htm

He might have been an exceptionally adept pilot, but his personality traits of continued arrogant risk taking, deemed him an exceptionally bad risk for him to be issued a pilots licence/certificate. It's just fortunate that he only killed himself, and not others as well. It's telling that even his girlfriend wouldn't get in the Jabiru with him. People with these type of personality flaws are on a path to a short and spectacular life. Their self-preservation skills are way behind their "pushing the boundaries" aims.

......promptly crashed into the top branches of a huge gum tree that he hadn't seen, as he was too busy "middle-fingering" the people on the ground. The Jacka lost its undercarriage, one elevator, part of the tailplane and 100mm off the end of the prop blades - but it was still flying! - as bull found out, whilst hastily pulling his finger out of...........

It appears one single factor resulted in a good outcome for the relatively uninjured passengers - after the aircraft nosedived into the ocean, it sat vertical for quite some time, because the water at that point was only 8 metres deep, and the nose of the aircraft was sitting on the seabed. This vertical positioning enabled a large air pocket to remain in the rear of the aircraft, thus enabling the rear door to be easily opened, and for boaters, that were promptly on the scene, to break a cabin window, to rescue others. I have no idea why someone didn't try to rescue the pilot and the remaining passengers, who were underwater - maybe someone tried, and it was too hard to get to them, and release them from their harnesses. It was no doubt quite a chaotic scene, and the emphasis was probably on helping survivors who were O.K., and helping obviously injured passengers who were accessible. It only takes a short time to drown, around 3 minutes. https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/strong-winds-central-to-fatal-rottnest-island-seaplane-crash-atsb-20250227-p5lfma.html

I presume you meant to write "causal factor", as there's major difference in meaning between casual and causal. Yes, the primary cause of the crash, in physics terms, was the aircraft stopped flying and stalled. But no aircraft does that by itself, so it was essentially pilot error that was the primary cause of the crash. He made more than one error of judgement, and you cannot afford errors of judgement, when multiple numbers of people lives are in your hands. His chief pilot correctly advised him against making decisions if he was feeling pressured, but I believe he was intent on taking off regardless, and failed to appreciate just how marginal the takeoff conditions were. Rottnest Island is noted for extremely blustery conditions developing in the afternoons, and they often develop from mid-morning. It's no place for poor judgement when flying.

(OT notices that Cappy has failed to ID the big bloke trying to beat Hilary to the BRB - he should've advised all the NES readers, that it's actually Turbo.....) ......ensure that it OT couldn't reset the WO, instead. Meantimes, bull was seen running away, with a message on the back of his T-shirt, that read.........

There would need to be an unacceptable impost on RAA members to cover the cost of RAA-run aircraft crash investigations and subsequent reports. It cannot be justified. The bottom line is the telling Coronial witness evidence given in the email written by Iain Clarke (page 50 and 51 of the Coroners report). Iain Clarke describes Matthew Farrell as an accident looking for a place to happen, with a brash and arrogant attitude that he knew everything, better than anyone else. The question remains as to whether the RAA pilot training syllabus needs to be modified to weed out people who suffer major personality defects, that makes them unsuitable for pilot training. It should be noted that the commercial pilot of the Metroliner that crashed at Lockhart River managed to escape detection, as highly unsuitable for commercial flight operations, due to his personality defects.

......all breathe easy, and not risk world annihilation!! "NO!", cried Turbo, retreating further from the advancing and threatening figure, which figure was truly terrifying to Turbo. "This Briefcase with the Big Red Button, is my only protection now!! I'll only give this briefcase up if you stop advancing, and tell me who you really are!?" OT stopped advancing, pulled off his Patton face mask, and grinned widely. Turbo promptly fainted and collapsed, and OT promptly rushed forward and picked up the Briefcase with the Big Red Button, holding it high in triumph. "Look at this!!" he said, "Now I've got the Briefcase with the Big Red Button, and I'm going to...........

The ATSB released their initial report into the crash yesterday. Indications are the primary causes of the crash were:- 1. Marginal conditions for takeoff 2. A decision by the pilot to alter the normal takeoff track to a more Easterly direction, instead of the regular Southerly takeoff direction (likely due to rough water N of the takeoff zone) 3. Taking off into a strong quartering wind, which was possibly on the limits for the aircraft type The ATSB reports the aircraft lifted off at 57kts in a nose-high attitude, which seems to point to the pilot trying to get airborne urgently. The right wing dipped, then the left wing dropped in an aerodynamic stall, within 5 seconds from lifting off the ocean surface. All the indications are, from Cessna 208 floatplane performance figures, that the aircraft really needed another 10 kts airspeed to avoid stalling on takeoff. https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/news-items/2025/atsb-releases-rottnest-island-floatplane-accident-preliminary-report https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2025/report/ao-2025-001 I was surprised to find out how new the Cessna was, it had only done a little over 1100 hrs TT, and it was a 2016 build, so flight performance should have been very close to "as new" flight performance.