RecComGarry

This is what the takeroll looked like. Wind ~23 kns, 45 deg to right. Crash to the left.

I may have made a mistake in my post about Ashby flying at Kalgoorlie. My co pilot at the time thinks that one of the people who I classified as a passenger, may have been the pilot.

About a year ago, we were at the refuelling pumps at Kalgoorlie airport. Ashby was also there. He had a retractable, single engine, piper. Three passengers, including Pauline. Susgest he has, at least, a GA licence.

Vale Ben Sandilands, renowned aviation journalist and Crikey blogger - Plane Talking Ben was a great friend to aviation of all types. RIP.

Evans Heads!! My dad was there just after the war. He tells the story of Spitfires being buried in the sand. Nobody wanted them at the outrageous price of 50 pounds each. The sand was wet with salt water. Nobody has even bothered to look for the aluminium oxide that would be there now. Garry

Did you enjoy the hospitality at Forrest? I remember sitting on the veranda into the night drinking red. We were charged for two glasses, but I lost count of the bottles after 4. Did almost the reverse trip earlier in the year in a Tecnam. Notham to Goulburn.

A few years ago I was launching high altitude balloons out of Alice Springs. These were big. Balloon itself weighted about a ton, and the payloads at least a ton. We needed clearance to launch and the cut down. ATC gave us 15 nm radius around the launch site and cut down position. Only up to 60,000 feet, after that we were on our own. The balloons flew at around 140,000 feet. Cutting down was fun. After you got clearance you would cut the balloon away (explosive bolts), and cut the top out of the balloon. Both the balloon and payload would fall to about 60,00 feet where a parachute would open for the payload. The balloon would just keep falling. Imagine a ton of glad-wrap falling on you. IFR traffic was ok, but we just used the BIG SKY theory to avoid VFR traffic. Basically we could drop any where from Newman to Longreach. Once we had a balloon drifting towards the Indian Ocean. There was a bloody 737 in the way, thankfully he agreed to divert. The payload ended up 200 m from the salt water. We are talking about $10m worth of payload.

For those looking for a deeper understanding, have a look at: http://k9yc.com/KillingReceiveNoise.pdf

What we have here is: DC-DC converter from ~12v to 5v. Another DC-DC in the IPad charging the battery. Modern DC-DC have gone up a lot in frequency to minimise loss and size. Also to get the frequencies away from AM radio frequencies. Right up to the frequencies used for aircraft comms. Also remember aircraft comms is also AM. Things are not going well here. Now we want to place the USB charger right next to the radio, along with the IPad. Also prop close to the antenna. Things are getting worse, not better here! What to do. 1. Is it the USB charger, or the IPad. Get a long USB cable and get the IPad away from the radio and antenna. If the noise stays, it most likely the USB charger. Plenty of advise in other posts about that. But also you might consider wiring for the USB charger to be much further from the radio. If it's the IPad, you may gain from moving it away from the radio. 2.Terminate the radio cable, at the antenna, with a 50 ohm load. If you still have the noise, you have a crappy radio, or cable, or installation. You need to fix that. That probability will also fix your general radio comm problems! 3. If the problem goes away with the antenna termination, then the noise is getting into the antenna. If you can't fix the noise at the source, then consider reposting the antenna further from the cockpit. 4. I usually also advise a sacrifice to the GODS here, as most interference issues don't seem to have a rational cause. However that tends to be frowned upon these days.

I was about to blame you for taking my training Evektor from Goulburn! The pick up trip is lots of fun. A few weeks ago we picked up my Tecnam Bravo from Northam and flew her to Goulburn. Bit over 17 hours. Great trip. If you every get the chance to fly into Forrest, you won't regret it. Stuffed an interview Paulene Hanson was doing in Kalgoorlie. Why you would conduct an interview on a taxiway beside the fuel is beyond me.