rgmwa

He's surprisingly calm given what happened. I would have been too stunned to say anything let alone discuss who did what and when. rgmwa

That's something that I'm sure puzzles everyone. It's hard to imagine he spent the time wandering around an aircraft filled with dead passengers and crew, or simply sat there looking out the window waiting for the fuel to run out. The whole thing is bizarre. Even if they find the aircraft and the black boxes, while they might discover what happened, it still wouldn't explain why it happened. rgmwa

Well, any landing you can climb down from is a good landing! rgmwa

Ian, I changed my vote from Clear Prop (which I rather like the sound of) to Aircraft Pilots (which I'm not that keen on) for the practical reasons you outlined. You should go with the name that makes the most business sense. rgmwa

Plenty of odd birds here. More like a menagerie really. rgmwa

Correct. It used to have a pair of Limbach motors, until the two owners decided to go for something a bit different. Very short endurance, makes a lot of noise but flies well. Not something you see every day. rgmwa

I don't have any names but these is quite a bit of flying activity down that way (airpark). Maybe take a trip out to the airfield at the weekend and have a talk to the locals. rgmwa

Plenty of room for a production line there, Bex. rgmwa

Hey Bex, just the thing for that plane. Rivets are so last century! rgmwa

Bex, I think he was talking about the plane. rgmwa

Apparently SAP stands for `Suffering And Pain'. Luckily, I wasn't one of those at work who had to use it every day. rgmwa

I don't pretend to understand the aerodynamics, but it looked to me to be flying `tail-heavy' and sluggish in the climb. A tragedy for all concerned. rgmwa

Sorry OME. I agree that most TV documentaries cover much the same ground. On the other hand, for those who are particularly interested in details, there are a lot of original instructional videos available on uTube that show you how the controls work and how to fly the plane. Kermit Weeks has also made quite a few walk-around and cockpit view videos on various aircraft that are well worth having a look at. rgmwa

Airplane or aeroplane? Seems like we are gradually adopting the US pronunciation more and more. The newspapers seem to use `airplane' these days, and even the ABC newsreader was talking about`airplanes' recently. rgmwa

An RV-12 should tick most of the raffle boxes. rgmwa

Trump comes across as crass, unpredictable and erratic with more than a hint of megalomania, but he obviously appeals to a lot of Americans who like his simple `just leave it all to me folks, I'll fix everything' message. His ego may be in for a rude shock if he ever gets elected and actually has to start dealing with real-world problems. With no previous political experience, that experiment is not likely to be good for America or the rest of the world. When Putin was asked what he thought of Trump, he said "he's a very intelligent man isn't he?' but he couldn't wipe the sly grin off his face. rgmwa

Cheque's in the mail Bex! Don't worry about the tow rope. He wasn't much of a mate anyway. rgmwa

No wonder he cropped it. rgmwa

You might like this recently published book then: The Man Who Saved Smithy - Rick Searle - 9781760113407 - Allen & Unwin - Australia. Probably available on Amazon, and well worth reading. rgmwa

Sounds like the jig might be optional. Others may prefer a jug. rgmwa

And still missing 50% of the rivets! Not looking good! rgmwa

Charles Lindbergh was a good friend of Henry Ford and was closely involved in advising Ford's executives and helping the Willow Run plant to work through the many teething problems they had in getting the production line and workers up to speed on building aircraft to the required standards. Not surprisingly, early production examples had lots of quality problems, delays in delivery schedules, etc. There was also a lot of friction between the Ford operation and Consolidated over lack of adequate drawings, parts incompatibilities, resistance to making design changes that Ford wanted to suit mass production, and personality clashes between senior executives from both companies. Still, they got it done in the end. rgmwa

Might be worth checking the area around Tyrendarra too if you're over that way. There's a similar aboriginal settlement there: Tyrendarra Indigenous protected area rgmwa

This may be helpful: Pirep: Rutan LongEze rgmwa

Out of curiosity, decided to see how high the RV-12 would go today. Got to 11,100' (12,400' DA), and was still going up at better than 300 fpm before deciding it was high enough for me, even though the plane could have gone higher. Not bad for 100 hp. The view was pretty good too! rgmwa.