Remote areas

[Mathew Ker]

Bilby54,

 

My initial response to Bigglesworth is that once more he seems only interested in cutting corners, at the expense of being responsible to himself and to others who may become involved in his (or anyone else's accident). Certainly equipment may have changed over the years, and we may go close to being over regulated in some areas, but when I read the posts Bigglesworth has put here and in other areas including the test flying of his newly finished Cheetah, I'm concerned for what seems to be his lack of care to anyone's safety, including his own.

 

I don't think its appropriate to advocate an attitude of being intentionally unsafe so you know where you think the danger is coming from. That doesn't make sense at all. Surely good airmanship is about knowing what the risks are and mitigating against those risks. To fly in the face of the regulations or to just give them 'lip service' would seem to bring Recreational Flying as a whole into disrepute. If anyone disagrees with the regulations in place, wouldn't we be better to try and change them, rather than just doing our own thing.

 

Having said all of this, I've not met Biggleworth and he's probably a great guy face to face. I said in other posts I'm envious of the fact he's actually got off his butt to build his plane in the first place. Murphy's Law being what it is, Biggleworth will probably being flying for the next 50 years, incident free, and it will be me who ends up on the incident and accident pages of our magazine! :black_eye: It may be that he's really just sitting back having a laugh at people like me who take his posts seriously - I just can't shake a sense of foreboding when I read some of his comments though.

 

Bottom line for me - please keep safe. Follow the regulations that are put in place for everyone's safety. No, we can't legislate against stupidity, but if you don't agree with regulations, lobby to have them changed.

 

Cheers, Mathew

 

 

[Guest High Plains Drifter]

...maybe there's a book and movie deal in-it

 

The Chaser - Lost mountain-climber already envisioning book deal

 

There is a more serious side to things -

 

Rescue crews have called off a search for a second Perth man missing on New Zealand's Mount Cook since Wednesday.

 

Miles Vinar, 42, was found by emergency workers this morning but his brother remains missing, 6PR radio reported

 

Search for Perth mountain climber called off in New Zealand

 

 

[Bigglesworth]

I couldn't resist......

 

I just got the True newsletter Weird News -- Randy Cassingham's This is True check it out; its good...... anyway this was in it:

 

THE LONG, UPHILL BATTLE: The "mindless" attempts by government and

 

society to eliminate all dangers in life are threatening personal

 

freedom, says Tom Mullarkey, chief of the U.K.'s Royal Society for the

 

Prevention of Accidents. "The application of common sense and balance

 

is much more reasonable than the seeking of mindless increments towards

 

'absolute safety'," he said, which is "a destination which is neither

 

feasible nor, in all probability, desirable, since it would come at

 

such cost to our freedoms." While some areas obviously need regulation,

 

he says, such as nuclear power and aviation, individuals should merely

 

be given information on safety and be allowed to make their own

 

decisions on whether risks are worth taking, so long as they don't put

 

others in danger.

 

BTW, I went for a fly today, talk about bad weather...... tried to cross from Moruya to Braidwood......was about 10nm off the moutains, at 5000 feet, full power,climb configuation (normally would be about 900-1000fpm) 65-70kts on the clock. Not climbing, battered by tubulence, and the gps showing 35kts groundspeed :-s

 

I gave up at that.......

 

 

[Bigglesworth]

Hey, its interesting that I put my MySpace link there, but still no-one knows me :)

 

Someone mentioned Murphy's Law. One of my favourites. But I use it in its original: as a safety principle.....

 

Murphy's law originally went more like: plan to expect that the whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and make sure it is still safe.

 

Basically all electronic devices can fail, motors stop at the wrong time, your survival kit gets damaged/lost, you can take the safest route and it can still kill you.

 

And all the gear in the world can't save you in a lot of conditions. In fact the epirb etc. only caters for the small window of accidents where

 

a: the devices work and you are in a position to be rescued

 

b: you can't get out of there anyway

 

So they are pretty limited

 

 

[turboplanner]

You've probably scared thewm all off, but pleased to see a reference to a stack of safety magazines on one of your posts.

 

 

[facthunter]

Product presentation.

 

BW, Some of what you say strikes a chord of reality, but do you really want everyone reading your posts to take what you say as a method of running their aviation matters? I cannot determine what you are actually presenting, (the article), and whatever it is , you seem to have oversold it. (The presentation).. Cheers Nev..

 

 

[Guest The Bushman]

Think Positive

 

I Live in Whats called remote B.Hill and the areas around it

 

I Carry a EPB the latests no GPS as in isolated area a torch and single mirror, Water Food and Shelter

 

If you listened to them you wooden take of don,t take risks but cover your Back

 

The Bushman:help:

 

 

[bilby54]

Bilby54,My initial response to Bigglesworth is that once more he seems only interested in cutting corners,

 

Cheers, Mathew

It seems to me that Bigglesworth has done some study to know that he needed an ELB in remote areas and has gone and bought one. I think that you would get a better response by suggesting what you would have for remote area operations as maybe a lot of pilots have not considered it.

 

My main concern is the reliance on electronic devices to get rescued but accident survivors forget about how to survive before the cavalry arrive and that could be many hours. i_dunno

 

Actually, BW writes some interesting stuff that may not be the safest escapades on the planet but they make for entertaining reading.:clown:

 

 

[sleemanj]

This thread makes me think of people who don't wear seat belts in cars "because I'm such a good driver, I don't need no stinking seat belt" - it's why there are seat belt laws, and it's why there are EPIRB rules.

 

I think it's largely a very poor expression of macho pride, "a real man could get himself out of this situation, and laugh about it after downing a few at the end of the day" - well here's the thing, macho pride means diddly squat when you are trapped in an aircraft with broken bones and god knows what else, what a "real man" does is to use all the tools available an be prepared for that eventuality.

 

There is no "shame" in pulling out that PLB antenna in an emergency situation, the only shame is when you don't do it and cause not only the potential loss of your life, but maybe even put other people in danger when they have to conduct a search for you.

 

Real men, they are the ones with the EPIRB, it's the fakes who don't.

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

This thread makes me think of people who don't wear seat belts in cars "because I'm such a good driver, I don't need no stinking seat belt" - it's why there are seat belt laws, and it's why there are EPIRB rules.I think it's largely a very poor expression of macho pride, "a real man could get himself out of this situation, and laugh about it after downing a few at the end of the day" - well here's the thing, macho pride means diddly squat when you are trapped in an aircraft with broken bones and god knows what else, what a "real man" does is to use all the tools available an be prepared for that eventuality.

 

There is no "shame" in pulling out that PLB antenna in an emergency situation, the only shame is when you don't do it and cause not only the potential loss of your life, but maybe even put other people in danger when they have to conduct a search for you.

 

Real men, they are the ones with the EPIRB, it's the fakes who don't.

I couldn't have put it better myself. Back in the days before EPIRBs were invented I was part of the "...large and very thorough search..." for this aircraft:

 

Cessna 180 ZK-BMP

 

The aircraft and its occupants were never found, and have still not been found. I crewed in a helicopter that spent days in the search area. We found all manner of things that you would never imagine. We didn't find ZK-BMP and I still have unpleasant dreams about it from time to time.

 

Your time may be up as far as you are concerned. It may be the end of your road in your view. Your disappearance however has far reaching implications for many, many others. At least carry a PLB and set it off as you breath your last. That way you won't leave your family, the searchers and everyone else wondering what happened to you. They can home in on the PLB, find your body and close the case!

 

Kind regards

 

Mike