hihosland

I want to fly in a culture where I am responsible for my own actions. I am not my brother’s keeper, however when my brother dies I lose a brother. I want to fly where the flying siblinghood does a bit more “keeping” in order that there are fewer spouses, siblings, children, friends and colleagues mourning dead aviators. I want to fly in a culture where if something less than best practice is observed advice/counselling will be offered without judgement or censure then adopted without recrimination or ill grace. I look forward to a culture that when there is the slightest question when on the ground or in the air one can confidently seek and will receive guidance without criticism or penalty. That guidance from friends, colleagues, instructors, Airservices, CASA, BOM to be the expected norm. I want a culture where when non aviators overhear BBQ conversations they will hear something other than tales of near misses and disaster. I want an airborne culture where by the pilot not flying is expected to intervene whenever less than best practice is observed and the PIC accepts. I want to fly in a culture where volunteered guidance from friends, colleagues, instructors, Airservices, CASA, BOM is be the expected norm. I want to fly in culture where by all the various aviation groups are united in presenting a positive image of flying to the community at large. I want to fly in a culture whereby my impression of the various governing authorities is one of them working towards the promotion of aviation in all its myriad forms. Why is it not so? How can we make it so?

Fairoaks did say "unless you climb and ask for radar assistance." A significant factor, I believe, contributing to the human factors involvement in aviation accidents in Australia is a cultural reluctance to ask for assistance. When in the '60s I did my initial training in NZ a strong emphysis was placed on using all the services available:- "when in the slightest doubt use the radio; that's what it is there for" On moving to Australia I found that the pervailing aeroclub bar talk was to keep your head down and shut up else the authorities would slap some penalty upon you. There still remains too much of this attitude in Australia. Something that the designers of human factors programmes should be addressing and something that the authorities should tackle. The pervailing pilots view of CASA Airservices et al is not one of a source of assistance. I know nothing of the circumstances that lead to the tradgedy under discussion and make these comments as a personal observation about local small aircraft aviation in general.

By not being a wildebeest [ATTACH]26610[/ATTACH]gnarled or otherwise

It is as though we have grown wings, which thanks to Providence, we have learnt to control. — Louis Blériot, 'Atlantic Monoplanes of tomorrow.' Flying was a very tangible freedom. In those days, it was beauty, adventure, discovery -- the epitome of breaking into new worlds. — Anne Morrow Lindbergh, introduction to 'Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead,' 1929.

only your numbers?

Lovers of air travel find it exhilarating to hang poised between the illusion of immortality and the fact of death. — Alexander Chase, 'Perspectives,' 1966 —

Never stop being a kid. Never stop feeling and seeing and being excited with great things like air and engines and sounds of sunlight within you. Wear your little mask if you must to protect you from the world but if you let that kid disappear you are grown up and you are dead. — Richard Bach, 'Nothing by Chance,' 1963. —

Herewith a repeat of my take on the 178 seconds, submitted some years (decades) for one of the flying magazines How many of us as pilots have ventured into that 178 second realm and been fortunate enough to return.? I know that I have been there and the three things that came together to bring me and my passengers back were an AH, sufficient fuel and recent simulator time. Without any one of those essentials and a very large dose of luck the last 235 years of the joys and the sorrows of life shared by the seven of us on board would never have been. What follows is what I wrote of those events for a one of the flying magazines. One Monday in March some years back, saw me pacing the early morning dew at Bathurst airfield. Our driver, desperate to get back to open his business was looking at his watch as often as was the passenger who had a shop to open in Melbourne. Neither of them understood nor wanted to understand the problem. They could see that the field was clear of storm, gale and fog so why the delay? Days earlier on the outward journey storms over Katoomba had forced us to abandon the rented Cessna 210 at Bathurst and finish the journey by taxi. When making plans for a family reunion and celebration weekend in the Blue Mountains this level of stress, uncertainty and delay was not anticipated. On the morning that we were all due back at our various workplaces everyone was stuck at Bathurst while I struggled with the go/no go decision. So much for a relaxed weekend and for my reputation as someone who gets thing done - on time and on budget. My credibility was eroding fast, while the cloud, with tantalizing slowness , was just barely eroding from the ridge tops. To balance the briefing office’s gloomy predictions, I obtained an actual weather from and aircraft at Canowindra. Since he was reporting CAVOK below high cloud I decided to take off and check the cloud/ridge interface from up close. The passengers were loaded and advised that we would be returning to Bathurst if a clear path could not be found. Viewed from the sky the gaps were larger; the horizontal visibility was definitely an improvement on the slant view from the ground. Not good, but not too bad; & I did have that actual report. Another decision made and VH-BEV rolled onto a track up the most open valley. There was plenty of width between fingers of wispy cloud that barely reached down to the peaks. Straight ahead of us was a tunnel large enough to turn the QE2 . All I had to do was pop through that tunnel and then it would be smooth flying all the way home. One small obstacle to clear before I would get everyone home with all obligations and promises honoured. Minutes later those wispy fingers became hands, hands gathering the land up into the cloud. The valley was narrower, and all ahead was grayish white down to the green of the trees. Or was it? Surely it was just another slant line illusion? And if only we were low enough it would again reveal that clear path up the valley. It had after, been clearly visible mere seconds ago. Gently carefully, I eased the first millimeter off the throttle,. The pasture was now streaming past. A view abruptly punctured by a clump of trees, the mates of whom, I suddenly realized were a bout to obliterate two families. It was time to stop laying the odds and to seriously aviate. Throttle forward, wings level, ease the trim towards climb. A wisp of mist swiped at the windshield as I checked the power. Then the view completely disappeared. The abruptness was a shock, as was the glaring white blackness. Glaring white blackness? That’s the very question that I asked myself. But I saw what I saw. The engine note changed in step with my reflex snap back on the column and with the passengers’ silence. They were not pilots, but had been oft regaled by pilots’ stories. Do pilots ever tell stories that are not about being disoriented in cloud, stall and spin or other disasters? I forced myself to focus on the AH. It showed winds level and the nose slightly up – we were climbing straight ahead. What next? Something about scan? Yes Attitude, altitude, speed and direction. Attitude? Climbing straight ahead, wings level – good. Altitude? 3500 and climbing at 400 fpm. Speeds MP? and airspeed OK for climb. Direction? What direction ? I’d been chasing valleys wherever they led. All sense of direction was well lost. Fossicking for the charts I remembered Scan! Scan scan, scan., forget the charts. I looked out to where there was no wing to see, merely water streaming along the Perspex. Beyond that , nothing, absolutely nothing; just more of that glaring white blackness. Attitude, altitude, speed and direction Attitude, altitude, speed and direction Attitude, altitude, speed and direction Good training , earlier ignored, asserted itself. The memorized litanies returned. Aviate, communicate, navigate. Communicate! My God, communicate!. I had so far avoided the rocks in those clouds but what about speeding aluminium rocks? “Canberra this is Cessna Bravo Echo Victor , VFR to the south of Bathurst seven POB. Passing through seven thousand VFR in solid cloud. Request assistance”. “ Bravo Echo Victor , say again VFR in cloud?” “Affirmative VFR in cloud” “ Bravo Echo Victor, stand by….. Bravo Echo Victor remain this frequency and keep wings level on AH”. “ Bravo Echo Victor” ” Bravo Echo Victor say again POB? And do you have an instrument rating?” “Seven POB, no rating” “ Bravo Echo Victor I am clearing this frequency of all other traffic. Maintain wings level 0on AH. I repeat keep wings level on AH” “ Bravo Echo Victor”. “ Bravo Echo Victor keepings wings level can you advise your present position”. “Maintaining heading two zero zero leaving 8500 feet on climb. location unsure”. “ Bravo Echo Victor, concentrate on wings level on AH. If possible maintain climb. We do not have you on radar at this time”. “ Bravo Echo Victor” Attitude, altitude, speed and direction Attitude, altitude, speed and direction Attitude, altitude, speed and direction A tense 40 mins after we had entered cloud and as suddenly as we had originally been engulfed, we were spat out into brilliant light. Clear unblemished blue above and a solid froth of white below. “Canberra, Bravo Echo Victor is maintaining 11200 on top of solid cloud, heading one eight zero”. “ Bravo Echo Victor, keep wings level on AH and, if possible, maintain heading and remain clear of cloud”. ‘ Bravo Echo Victor” “ Bravo Echo Victor your you are radar identified. Can you come onto a heading of one five eight, remaining clear of cloud?” “One five eight Bravo Echo Victor”. “Canberra Bravo Echo Victor is visual, ten thousand over Lake George”. “ Bravo Echo Victor, remaining clear of cloud, descend to 5500. At 5500 contact Canberra approach on 124.5 “124.5 Bravo Echo Victor” What else to say? No one factor created the situation. Just the usual story of a cascading sequence of small deviations from best practice. Thankfully good training eventually did take over. On the ground, an excellent service shepherded two vulnerable babies and their families to safety. Thank-you is so little to offer for such a big service. So little in exchange for seven lives. But thank you ATC was all that I had to offer then and all that I have today. Calm, assured and professional guidance brought us safely home. That and the instructor who in supervising my transfer from a New Zealand PPL to an Australian one had insisted on a couple of hours of real IFR training in IFR conditions. Today both of those infants have children of their own . Children who, we can only hope will grow up p forever protected from that subtle cascading sequence of small deviations. That killer cascade that converts people into statistics. And, I wonder, VH-BEV where are you today?.

Thanks Robbo it works well on the ipad would be useful to have it on my phone which is an Android

Dr Zoos did say "It works fine, but you must paste the entire AREA FORECAST" True, but does not seem to work for an AMENDED FORECAST

Is rwy-go only available for Apple devices? When I attempt to download it to my Android phone I only seem to be able to download the full OzRunways EFB. Or is there some simple thing that I am doing wrong? any and all advice appreciated Davidh

The airplane is just a bunch of sticks and wires and cloth, a tool for learning about the sky and about what kind of person I am, when I fly. An airplane stands for freedom, for joy, for the power to understand, and to demonstrate that understanding. Those things aren't destructable. — Richard Bach, 'Nothing by Chance,' 1963.

My airplane is quiet, and for a moment still an alien, still a stranger to the ground, I am home. — Richard Bach, 'Stranger to the Ground,' 1963. Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there's a reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly! — Richard Bach, 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull,' 1970.

Any suggestions for a still camera to mount on plane and operate wirelessly. I have been thinking of getting a Fuji XP8O a "ruggedised" point and shoot camera that can be operated from a smart phone. Any and all suggestions welcome

I believe Mugabe has changed ships and the local economy is to function henceforth with Chinese Yuan, something to do with China forgiving some 14Billion US$ ( IIRC) equivalent loans

We are all pirates at heart. There is not one of us who hasn't had a little larceny in his soul. And which one of us wouldn't soar if God had thought there was merit in the idea? So, when we see one of those great widespread pirates soaring across the grain of sea winds we thrill, and we long, and, if we are honest, we curse that we must be men every day. Why not one day a bird! There's an idea, now, one day out of seven a pirate in the sky. What puny power a man can attain by comparison. Compare a 747 with a bird and blush! — Roger Caras, 'Birds and Flight,' 1971.

The exhilaration of flying is too keen, the pleasure too great, for it to be neglected as a sport. — Orville Wright Within all of us is a varying amount of space lint and star dust, the residue from our creation. Most are too busy to notice it, and it is stronger in some than others. It is strongest in those of us who fly and is responsible for an unconscious, subtle desire to slip into some wings and try for the elusive boundaries of our origin. — K O Eckland, 'Footprints On Clouds.'

There was once a man with twelve inches but he didn't use it, as a rule. ‘cause he being a disciple of Boole Embraced his version of logic And avoiding the acid lysergic did shine as dux of his school

More than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination. — Wilbur Wright

*********It's wonderful to climb the liquid mountains of the sky, Behind me and before me is God and I have no fears. — Helen Keller, at age 74, on flight around the world, news reports of 5 ***********February 1955.

All agreed that the sensation of coasting on the air was delightful. — Octave Chanute, regards people who tried his gliders, 1894.

"Neither my brother nor I have the means to support both a wife and a flying machine." - Attributed to -Orville Wright