River

Hi Phil, welcome to the aviation world where 'our media' are all instant experts on the how and why's of flying the Big Boeing triple 7... Reading the well known err professional pilots forum thread on this accident, man... Has it lit up all the media, aviators, sim flight computer jocks and the occasional genuine airline pilot trying to all analyses and hang one and all involved makes your humble comment right at the bottom of the list. This mob are so far in front of you, it make one think you are sane Cheers Rodger

The Northern Star Pilot makes miraculous landing after engine fails Hamish Broome 8th Jul 2013 7:02 AM AN AMATEUR pilot and off-duty police officer was forced into a nail-biting emergency landing yesterday morning near Casino Aerodrome when the engine of his ultra light plane conked out 300 metres above the ground. Richmond Local Area Command Inspector Nicole Bruce said the pilot had only just taken off and was roughly 350 metres from the aerodrome, near a water tower on the corner of Hare and Walker streets, when the engine stopped. Forced to make a series of quick life-saving decisions, the pilot banked his now gliding plane back towards the aerodrome, losing precious altitude in the process. Witnesses at a cabin park and retirement village a few hundred metres west of the aerodrome described seeing the light plane gliding delicately just metres above their roofs. In a desperate last-ditch manoeuvre while losing metres every second, the pilot was forced to swerve his plane mid-flight to avoid striking the last house before an unused section of the runway. The last-second turn forced him to land on a grassy area north of the runway, and while the touch down was reportedly smooth, one wheel of the plane struck an electricity meter which caused the plane to flip over. Inspector Bruce said the pilot, hanging with his seatbelt on, was able to dislodge himself and crawl out. He was miraculously unharmed. Fire and Rescue NSW, Casino Volunteer Rescue Squad, and local police arrived at the scene within minutes where they quickly cordoned off the area due to concern over leaking fuel from the aircraft. Investigations into the cause of the mechanical failure are continuing.

A total loss of that brand new glider Pilot: I’m sorry, I have to report a total loss of that brand new glider I just insured with you? Insurance Company: Oh no… Is everyone OK? Was there some undetected mechanical or manufacturing problem with the glider? Pilot: Yes, everyone is fine, and no, the glider was absolutely flawless, what a beautiful aircraft. Insurance Company: Did you crash land? Pilot: No, I did get a little low on my third flight and decided to land off-aiport rather than take a chance that I couldn’t make back. Insurance Company: Were you able to find a good field to land in? Did the landing go OK? Pilot: Yes, I found a great field, smooth grass, no obstacles, only a single cow off in the corner. My landing was perfect! The glider was stopped, safely down on the ground without even the smallest scratch. Insurance Company: So if your landing was perfect, and the glider was stopped, what happened? Pilot: The cow wasn’t a cow, it was a bloody bull.

Re "What's the easiest aircraft to learn to fly"... Reckon I should take a bowl at this subject too (Glutton for stoning) Noted that no one has mentioned the 'old gravel truck', the Lightwing GR912 or the tricycle version Sport 2000 model. After running up quite a few hours on the Lightwing and thinking that this aircraft was quite good at flying 'easily' I had occasion to fly the Gazelle 912 and was amazed as to how very very easy it was to fly, sideslip and land etc etc - actually I though the Gazelle was too-easy to fly after my earlier hours on a Lightwing's. The Lightwing in my humble opinion made for a great seat-of-the-pants training aircraft where you had to leant to fly-the-aircraft, be it maneuvering, correct attitude and handling or landing. But its best learning area I've always thought was its landing with the use of air speed, flaps and learning to stop the aircraft in a straight line using the Lightwing's less-than-spectacular braking ability I found one (the pilot) had to be in control otherwise the Lightwing could become a little 'cranky', especially if your flying the tricycle version. The taildragger model was a gem on landing, however for some reason the tricycle model (Sport 2000) undercarriage felt as if it was not 100% perfect in its geometry, it just always felt wrong with the interaction between the front wheel and its two main gear. Making a good smooth landing on the piano keys with a Lightwing taught you to fly the aircraft correctly to the full stop where-as the Gazelle, well you could really make a mess of an approach, flare and landing worst than any dogs-breakfast and still walk away thinking what a great pilot one is... Hmmm. The Lightwing's flaps made for great barn doors with heaps of drag and very little lift, a good aircraft for training as you come in with full flap and unless you are in command of the aircraft you'll drop like a rock where-as the Gazelle has no flaps. Admittedly though, the Gazelle did teach you to land without flaps quite well. I also recall that in level flight the Lightwing required you to correctly trim the aircraft and continue to trim the aircraft for different speeds and attitudes, etc. With the Gazelle, with-in reason, you could get away with quite sloppy piloting skills (no offense intended with fellow members who fly Gazelles). It's just that in leaning to fly there's two trains-of-thought on leaning to fly, one is fly an aircraft that does not 'frighten' a new learner/pilot and is very easy to fly. The other train-of-thought is to learn to fly on an aircraft that teaches the learner/pilot the correctness of flight and understanding the various vices that both a aircraft and flight attitudes. I believe the old Lightwing was the latter of these two trains-of-thought. It's harder to fly and whilst built like a gravel truck, it's a great overall general purpose aircraft able to carry quite a good load too. Err legally that is Today though one see's a number of reasonably new aircraft that would be suitable for learning to fly including the Foxbat, Tecnam and Eurofox spring to mind and no doubt a number of other aircraft too. You may notice I'm slightly biased towards training aircraft that you as a pilot have to fly and not having you come along for the ride so-to-speak. There, that's broken the prop... Rats! Rodger

Motorcycles and Aircraft... Started riding and racing motorcycles from 15yo, before that raced bicycles on both road and velodrome from about 8 or 9yo. Motorcycles - just about ridden or taken bike for major 'test ride' of just about every bike one can think of since 1965 to 1990. Still try to do 'test rides' today with any current bike. Raced road, dirt track, scrambles, moto-cross, trials and stunt riding... Had my fair share of close-quarter geology lessons and even the odd low-level unpowered flight experience too being launched from my motorcycle. Landings were somewhat undignified though :-) Military Aviation - Have flown in just about all military aircraft with exception of fast jets from fixed winged DC3's, Porters, Caribou (Gravel Trucks), Hercules C-130's, Boeing VIP 707, Lockheed P-2 Neptune's and rotory winged Bell Sioux's 47's, Bell Kiowa 206's, Bell Iroquois 204/5's etc and the The Boeing CH-47 Chinook in capacity as either observer, special work or passenger, etc plus of-course many civilian aircraft both RPT's and GA's of all type and sizes. Hmmm, did I tell you I liked aircraft :-) and yet I joined the Army? That was because of my earlier love for firearms and explosives. Ooh, can I say that today with all this bloody 'political correctness' !!! There goes my ASIC card application :-( Recreational aviation - flown most of the 'usual suspects' though my real love of aircraft are the STOL types were one gets to experience the real essence of seat-of-the-pants flying. Personally I'm not a fan of the current direction that we are heading we're most new recreational aviation aircraft are all designed to be as sleek and fast as possible with every little thought put into the structural abilities of protecting the crew in the event of a hard landing and nose over or just a unfortunate stall, spin crash at low level or a possibly survivable terrain impact and having the crew area totally crush in onto the crew. The same disappointment goes with our current designs towards fuel tanks and ground impacts causing major fuel tank fires... Arr... Rats, I'm drifting off course here with a couple of pet hates. Back to bikes and planes - in closing its my two-bobs worth that pilots that have had considerable earlier experience with motorcycling will make better pilots. Cheers gang, Rodger

Perfect Airport Security Solution Here’s the solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners at the Airports: Have a booth that you can step into that will not x-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your body. It would be a win-win for everyone, and there would be none of this crap about racial profiling and this method would eliminate a long and expensive trial. Justice would be quick and swift. This is so simple that it’s brilliant. I can see it now. You’re in the Airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, “Attention Standby passengers. We now have a seat available on flight number 4665 ….Paging maintenance. Shop Vac needed in booth number 4.” Sure sounds like a win-win to me!

A Flying students’ diary Week 1 Monday: Rain Tuesday: Rain Wednesday: No rain; no visibility either Thursday: Take instructor to lunch. Discover I don’t know enough to take instructor to lunch. Friday: Fly! Do first stall and second stall during same manoeuvre. Cover instructor with lunch. Week 2 Monday: Learned not to scrape frost off Plexiglas with ice-scraper. Used big scratch as marker to set pitch. Tuesday: Instructor wants me to stop calling throttle “THAT BIG KNOB THING.” Also hates when I call instruments “GADGETS” Wednesday: Radios won’t pick up radio stations, so I turned them off. Instructor seems to think I missed something. Thursday: Learned 10 degree bank is not a steep turn. Did stall again today. Lost 2000 feet. Instructor said that was some kind of record — my first compliment. Friday: Did steep turn. Instructor said I was not ready for inverted flight yet. Week 3 Monday: Instructor called in sick. New instructor told me to stop calling her “BABE”. Did steep turns. She said I had to have permission for inverted flight. Tuesday: Instructor back. He told me to stop calling him “BABE”, too. He got mad when I pulled power back on takeoff because the engine was to loud. Wednesday: Instructor said after the first 20 hours, most students have established a learning curve. He said there is a slight bend in mine. Aha–progress! Thursday: Did stalls. Clean recovery. Instructor said I did good job. Also did turns around a point. Instructor warned me never to pick ex-fiancée’s house as point again. Friday: Did circuit work. Instructor said that if downwind, base and final formed a triangle, I would be perfect. More praise! Week 4 Monday: First landing at a controlled field. Did fine until I told the captain in the 747 ahead of us on the taxiway to move his bird. Instructor says we’ll have ground school all this week on radio procedures. Tuesday: Asked instructor if everyone in his family had turned grey at such an early age. He smiled. We did takeoff stalls. He says I did just fine but to wait until we reached altitude next time. Three Niner Juliet will be out of the shop in three days when the new strut and tyre arrive. Instructor says his back bothers him only a little. Wednesday: Flew through clouds. I thought those radio towers were a lot lower. I’m sure my instructor is going grey. Thursday: Left flaps down for entire flight. Instructor asked why. I told him I wanted the extra lift as a safety margin. More ground school. Friday: Asked instructor when I could solo. I have never seen anyone actually laugh until they cried before.

The Chain of Command.... VIP Visit at Unit Level. Commanding Officer to Adjutant: “At 1000 hrs. tomorrow the Adjutant General will be paying us a visit. He doesn’t want any special arrangements made, but would like to walk around and visit the Officers’ and Sergeants Messes. It’s too early for a drink, but he’d like to say a few words. We’d better be ready for him from 0945 hrs. onwards.” Adjutant to Company Commanders: “The Colonel says that the Adjutant General is paying a special visit to the battalion at 0945 hrs. tomorrow. He’d like to say a few words as he walks around the barracks and then have early drinks in the Officers’ and Sergeants’ Messes. You’d better be ready for him from 0930 hrs. onwards.” Company Commanders to Platoon Commanders: “At 0930 hrs. tomorrow the Adjutant is bringing some General to have an early drink and a few words with the battalion, and then walk around the Officers’ and Sergeants’ Messes. We’d better be ready for him from 0915 hrs.” Platoon Commanders to Platoon Sergeants: “At 0915 hrs. tomorrow the Adjutant is having early drinks with the General. The battalion is to walk around barracks while the General has a few words with the Officers and Sergeants Messes. We’d better be ready at 0900 hrs.” Platoon Sergeants to Section Commanders: “The General is coming at 0900 hrs. tomorrow to have a few words with the Adjutant about his drinking. We’d better stand by from 0845 hrs. in case he walks around the barracks.” Section Commanders to Soldiers: “The Adjutant is walking around barracks at 0845 hrs. tomorrow because some General has had a few words with him about early drinking. We’d better stand by from 0830 hrs.” Soldiers - amongst themselves: “The Officers and Sergeants will be walking around barracks tomorrow drinking with the Adjutant, who’s just been made a bloody General. We’d better keep out of the way from 0815 hrs.”

Ohhhhh How I hate software that overrides one's written text with what "it" thinks is what you meant to mean and you don't know it has occurred until after you have sent the item...

I was wondering how the phase of when an aviator passes away he's usually referred to as "Gone West". In conduction some research into the origins of this phrase I came across this explanation, do you agree this may be close to the truth of this phase? "I think we are all being blind-sided by our interest in WWI. But the use of the term “ go west” —meaning to die— is very much older than that period. Generally, it seems to be connected from the earliest parts of human history with the direction of the setting sun, symbolising the end of the day and so figuratively the end of one’s life. “Going west” has been used to refer to dying in English since at least the sixteenth century, though the idea is surely be very much older. The land of the setting sun was thought to be the abode of the dead for many cultures, for the sun was seen as "dying" each night, and being "reborn" each morning. It has been pointed out in some references that the idea goes back at least to Roman times where west and death were linked. In fact, the word "occident," meaning west, comes from the Latin *occidere* meaning to kill or to die. The Celts believed that the land of the dead was in the west. Avalon and other such abodes of the dead were called the Western Countries. To the Celts, nothing was out to the West but water and the end of the world, past that was found Paradise. An interesting and almost WWI period reference to this question is found in the Masonic magazine, “The Builder”, (July 1918 Vol IV, #7). It is on the web at: http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/the_builder_1918_july.htm "GOING WEST" It may surprise some of us to be told that "Going West" was a phrase well known to the old Egyptians, to the men of the Torres Straits, Fiji, Brazil and India. And they used the phrase with more definite conceptions than our soldiers do today. The belief in an under-world, to which the souls of men journeyed, was common, of course, to the Hebrews, Greeks and Romana. Certain tribes as far apart as South Africa and Mexico had a similar belief. If such a place existed it was only natural that it should have an entrance. And speculation, of course, was rife as to where the entrance was. The Romans believed it to be in the Comitium. In Ireland there is an old legend, which tells how Sir Oswain and a monk, Gilbert, discovered the entrance in an island of Lough Derg, in Donegal. These, however, were purely local, and there was the suggestion of an entrance obvious to all. The sun, it was thought, passed into the under-world at his setting and emerged from it at dawn. Obviously, then, the sunset was the real entrance to the spirit abodes. A conception arose, therefore, in some races that it was essential to journey with the sun, and under his charge to pass the clashing gates that guarded the entrance to the land of spirits. Such was the "Going West" of primitive man in Australia, Polynesia, India and Brazil. Among the Aryan races such a picture did not, however, prevail--to the Romans, e. g., it was unknown. Amid the more primitive peoples it did exist, and was by some extended to embrace the idea of two worlds. To the idea of the gloomy underworld was added that of islands of the blessed which lay in the sunset, and to which went only the virtuous and the brave. The underworld was for bad men only. The nether world thus assumed a gloomier aspect. But the islands of the blessed were happy and fruitful abodes of joy and peace. Ah, the beauties of a bit of historical education!! Doc __________________

My congratulations to the flow of this thread... Well written questions and informative and non-emotional factural type replies. This is what I believe is how our forum site should flow - good fairdinkum question, replies by individuals who have genuine subject knowledge and everyone either offering further questions/replies all relating to what our aviation is all about. No the unfortunate 'blasts, dummy spits, miss readings and association assassination of individual who whilst may have thought they were doing the 'right thing' were regrettably out-of-their-expertise and had become fortress minded... This period now appears to have boiled over and majors charges are now afoot to bring our house back onto order, thou this WILL take time and we must all be patient and allow for the major admin and culture changes to take effect. Reading this perticular forum threat, it is refreshing to see a well written and level headed talk about our beloved recreatation aviation.

My Work Experience... My first job was working in an Orange Juice Factory, but I got canned. Couldn’t concentrate. Then I worked in the woods as a Lumberjack, but just couldn't hack it. So they gave me the axe. After that I tried being a Tailor, but wasn’t suited for it. Mainly because it was a sew-sew job. Next I tried a Muffler Factory, That was too exhausting. Then tried being a Chef, figured it would add a little spice to my life. But just didn't have the thyme. Next I attempted being a Deli Worker, but any way I sliced it... I couldn’t cut the mustard. My best job was a Musician, but eventually found I wasn’t noteworthy. I studied a long time to become a Doctor, but didn't have the patience. Next was a job in a Shoe Factory. Tried real hard but didn’t fit in. I became a Professional Fisherman, but discovered I couldn't live on my net income. Managed to get a job working for a Pool Maintenance Company, but work was too draining. So then I got a job in a Workout Centre, But they said I wasn't fit for the job. After many years of trying to find steady work, I finally got a job as a Historian, until I realized there was no future in it. My last job was working in the Coffee Club, But had to quit because it was the same old grind. So then I tried Retirement and found great satisfaction. I'm perfect for the job...

You Know You’re Addicted To Aviation When… …you have to write a post about it. …you almost crash your car because you are craning your neck to look out the sunroof at landing aircraft. …you notice airport codes on license plates. …you recognise planes at 33000 ft above your house. …you know already wich type is coming along according to the sound it makes. …you whine and fret every day that the wx is too bad for flying. …you become an instructor so you can be paid to go for airplane rides! …you build a spotting platform on top of your house. …your flight simulator folder is 50 GB! …you successfully transfer the aviation-virus to some of your relatives and/or friends. …departure day – you arrive at the airport in the morning although your flight only leaves late in the afternoon. …you are spotting at night and you know the aircraft types just by the pattern of the landing lights. …you think of FS as your part time job and not a game. …you are on a flight and your seat neighbor asks to be relocated because you wont stop talking about aviation! …you know exactly what plane is flying over your house. …your flight sim folder surpasses your computer’s memory. …you refer to cities by their Airport Code. …your first date is going spotting at your local airport (might be the only date ) …you have more flight sim airplanes than actually exist. …you paint your car in Airline colors (seen it before).

Ace... Damm that's close to some young ladies I've seen at 'standard' ATM's... :-)

G'day Ian, does the PM (Private Message) service still available as I'd like to offer some thoughts re your ISP/Server setup. River

Don't fly too low over your neighbours... :-)

AdelaideNow Newspaper March 17th 2013 A PILOT has been killed when his replica World War II Spitfire plane crashed between two businesses in Adelaide's northern suburbs, narrowly missing a soccer match. Police said Roger Stokes, 73, of Monarto, died when his seven-year-old plane, a replica of the Mark XXVI Spitfire, crashed into a fence on Frost Rd, Salisbury, just before 2pm. Relatives have been advised of Mr Stokes' death. ----------------------------------------------------------- Aviation airshows or aerial displays tragedies always feel more personal and sad even though one personally does not know the pilot. My heart, feelings and condolences go to his family and loved ones. He went west doing what he no doubt loved. RIP

PPRuNe Forum... An aircraft has crashed possibly into the RM Williams shop (Frost Rd) at Parafield Airport after a slow pass with wheels and flaps down. Reported as a near vertical nose down attitude on descent after a stall. Details are sketchy and will post more information as it comes to hand. Either way it does not sound good for those in he aircraft or on the ground. +++++++++++ VH-VSF, Mk26 replica Spitfire crashed killing the pilot today at the classic fighters airshow at Parafield. The Media like normal have a small fact wrong at the moment. Apparently it was doing a "dirty" pass before stalling and crashing nose first. Info from people who are there at the moment. Pilot killed in Spitfire plane crash at Salisbury in Adelaide's northern suburbs | adelaidenow +++++++++++ I landed on 21R just minutes after the accident. The conditions were extremely gusty and it was difficult to maintain a decent profile or speed. My understanding is the cause was a stall/spin turning onto final. Sad indeed. ++++++++++

ABC NEWS Pilot killed in air show plane crash Sun 17 Mar 13, 16:07pm AEDT A person has died in a plane crash near Parafield Airport in Adelaide's northern suburbs. The replica spitfire was taking part in a classic aircraft air display when it crashed into a fence on Frost Road just before 2:00pm (ACST). Police say the pilot is dead. Police have encouraged witnesses to contact 131 444. More to come.

That's been done, a couple of years back in a Gazelle. Authorities were not impressed! As an sideline my great grandfather was the first to fly under the 'Coat Hanger' way back just after it was officially opened in a Gyspy Moth, strangely again the authorities were not impressed then neither. That's him in my avatar.

G’day fellow members, Thought I’d start a new thread with regards to the thread on GOPro cameras thread. Firstly let me state the GOPro cameras are an excellent unit and excel at what they do. However there is one drawback if one wishes to use the unit running on a continuous base with looping (when it gets to the end of and memory cards capacity it starts again at the beginning overwriting the original video). This is where I believe the new VisionDrive Car Black Box VD-9000FHD would be an excellent recreational aircraft in-flight ‘Black Box’ unit. It comes with a built-in 2 ½ inch colour LCD screen to allow for easy setting up of what you desire to be viewed and captured plus you can remove the unit and immediately review what you have recorded on the LCD screen if you wish too. With the quite recent series of most distressing fatal incidents/accidents involving recreational aircraft, if the individual aircraft had one of these new VD-9000FHD units fitted in the cockpit of these aircraft, the post analysis investigations would have been exceedingly enhanced in the investigation teams ability to possibly pinpoint the cause and reasoning of the incident/accident. The only cleat may be if the incident/accident aircraft was totally consumed in a high temperature fire as the unit is not fireproofed although depending on circumstances there is the possibility that if the actual memory card is one of the quite expensive Super Pro Extreme conditions versions the card may have a better chance of fire survival. If you as a pilot are able to conduct a successful forced landing and am able to err… walk away from the incident then this unit would be of great assistant in reviewing what went wrong or right with your actions, etc, and could make for a good training video at a later time. Or just use it to review your personal performance or in student training. Part of my reasoning is the VD-9000FHD records both very high quality video vision and audio too. The lens has some 120 degrees of view plus the unit has software settings to automatically tag and save various incidents of your settings choice to a separate secure recording file along with the original video too. This unit, once mounted in your cockpit is a fully automatic system in-that once you turn on the key the unit starts working. A audio voice will come on and confirm the units self-test is OK and that the video and audio are now in operation. There is also an override button which will allow for recording with the key turned off too. It’s very easy to remove the memory card and replace it with another card allowing you to then view the flight etc on your home computer or TV set and of-course if you wish and have the experience you can edit and make a ‘movie’ of your flight. I worked out that the following memory card sizes will give you approximately this much recording time before the original video is started to be overridden. 8 GB = 1.6 hours 16 GB = 3.2 hours 32 GB = 6.6 hours 64 GB = 13.2 hours 128 GB = 26.8 hours Remember, this is the genuine high definition rate at 1920 x 1080 @ 30 FPS VisionDrive Car (Recreational Aviation?) Black Box Web Address: www.visiondrive.net.au I think its well worth giving this 'Black Box' unit some genuine consideration to use it. Pip..! Pip..! Team Rodger PS: No, I do not have any association with the supplying and selling of this product.

OOPS... Sorry team, the web address is incorrect. Its www.visiondrive.net.au not (com.au) Thanks Djpacro for posting the correct address.

Here's a new camera/recorder/audio/data logger that may fit the bill as a 'in-cockpit' flight recorder. It's sold through a business called VisionDrive on www.visiondrive.com.au or their FaceBook page and its latest version is exceptionally good. The unit is VD-9000FHD Full HD Black Box. Runs at 30 fps at full high definition of 1920 x 1080 and runs in a continuos loop. With a 32 GB memory card you'll get around 7 hours of recording before it starts running over the old video. It'll take though up to a new 128 GB card too! Recording quality is exceptionally high and it's possibly biggest plus is its rated to 85 degrees C for hot operating conditions. It starts recording the moment you turn on the 'key' and a electronic voice will inform you that the self test is OK, video and audio are now operational. Further it measures the 3 G loading as a chart plus speed and GPS tracking over lay on Google maps. I've had a number of various brands over the past few years all all have either had poor vision quality or have died from 'heat stroke'. The main bit I really like with this unit is the many software options you have available and as it runs on a continues loop, you don't have to worry about how much recording time do I have left or available. To view the video there's either using the built-in 2 1/2 inch colour LCD screen or take the card out and view on your computer,etc.