dodo

Graham may be a bit bored, so might be happy to run you through the tests? As it may be a few months before we have an instructor again, you could consider getting the PPL up to date - I think there is a school at Wagga - but that is a fair financial commitment, as you are then up for the medicals and GA BFRs, before you even play with RA aircraft. A couple of hundred here, couple of hunded there, and it adds up. dodo

I think you will also have to do Human Factors (a good idea, badly executed). I would suggest you run through the RA tests (they cost nothing), just as a refresher. dodo

iPad? Is this thread about female sanitary products? dodo PS I did hear of the new Apple product. Their market research was used to target the female population, who are only a small proportion of their customers. The new iTit will be an implantable mp3 player: Apple heard women complaining that men always just look at their breasts, and never listen to them.

If there was only one position, only one vote. Two positions, two elections, one vote per member for each elections/position. Or put it another way, consider if because we have two positions, everyone filled in two ballot papers, one for each position. Now assume you like candidate A more than B, and B more than C. The sensible way to fill in your ballot paper would be to vote A, B, C on both papers. So candidate A then gets elected to both positions. At this point, the counters say candidate A can fill only one position, so we give him the first position, and recount the second position election, ignoring votes for candidate A as he can't have both positions. You get exactly the same effect as if a single ballot is sent, and counted once per position. This is how it has been counted in this election, and sounds normal. I can't see any sensible way of doing it otherwise under the current constitution - except to complicate the hell out of the process by issuing each member with one ballot paper per position, then check that the ballot papers per member matched, then you still get exactly the same result. I would have preferred to be represented by Col Jones, but I can't find anything to criticise in the counting process, dodo

Stuff the children. I will play with it myself. dodo

Not an Alpha Jet, I think (maybe an S211 or similar), but high wing, lots of anhedral, narrow inlets (not Jaguar of Harrier), four hardpoints, plate windscreen. Definitely not a Jaguar or Harrier

Manfred Mann's "Stranded in Iowa". Not perfectly accurate as to flying, but rather cool effects and use of weather transmissions...and the melody is the morse SOS!

I find this ASIC card and security too bloody hard. Last time I wanted fuel, apart from the ASIC, I thought they wanted a search! When I was ready to pay for my fuel, the cashier said, "Strip down, facing me." Making a mental note to complain to my local member about Security running amok, I did just as she had instructed. When the hysterical shrieking had finally subsided, I found out that she was referring to my credit card. I have been asked to get fuel elsewhere in the future.

It is true, and has been successfully prosecuted. The reason it is illegal is that in our culture, the usual protest against these stupidities is by making jokes. So the jokes were made illegal. However, there is a very true saying that you can't legislate for stupidity... I got some very dirty looks for saying to my elderly mother (loudly) about the bloke looking self-important with a bomb dog - "Look Mum - that cops got a guide dog!" He didn't say a word, but the look I got...so I just looked innocent and dumb at him. He wasn't happy. dodo PS all quite true and accurate, except the bomb dogs are not really dogs, they are more correctly EDCs (Explosive Detection Canines). I had to do the accounting for their dog food once, so I had to learn the terminology.

http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/man-dies-in-plane-crash/2584881.aspx I can't tell much from the link except it looks like a rag and tube. Very sad. dodo

I'd try it... "How do you think we light the bloody burner, officer? With a cigarette lighter? " dodo

Try using a DNS lookup to derive the actual IP address, then type in that number instead of the www.popsci.com part of the address. If they are redirecting on DNS, it may work. If they are redirecting otherwise, it probably won't, in which case you need a proxy. Ian is probably a guru on this stuff, so he would have be the one to ask, dodo

I was living near Abingdon in the mid 70's, and the Bulldogs used to cut their engines and practice emergency landings over our house -the only three clear (non-grain) fields were in a row just beyond our house. Dad used to be working in the study upstairs, and used to listen for the engine start-up after hearing the engine cut (or idled), and just waiting, waiting, until the power went on just over the roof. They never failed to power on, but I don't think they were putting on the power back on very high. I remember a friend of mine used to take pot-shots at them with his airgun, so if yours turns out to have a small ding underneath, I may know the culprit. dodo

I am (slowly) reading through the Flight archive. The first issue was in 1909 and the lot are available on the web. I am still reading through 1909, but this is the same magazine I started reading in the 80's as Flight International, and now, Flight Global. Slow reading, but the pioneer stuff is fascinating - the arguments over propeller design, engines, control surfaces... Available here (or just Google for Flight Global Archive): http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/search.aspx?ArchiveSearchForm%24search=&ArchiveSearchForm%24fromYear=&ArchiveSearchForm%24toYear=&x=21&y=10

And did you do the same with your own children? "Eat your Laksa or you don't leave the table!" Dodo PS cold laksa is probably as unappealing as cold lambs brains

I think it may be the engine out of a Padmini - locally built Fiat 1100 - looks about right. And I suspect it might be a Bollywood plane - the relationship between prop and engine looks odd, so I wonder if it is just intended to taxi, get shot at and from, and then end in a huge fireball while the hero and heroine sing and dance away... Jim

I don't think another election is the solution. I think RA-AUS need to seriously consider how to deliver both to CASA (as RA-AUS are responsible to CASA for regulating us), and to deliver as representatives of the membership. At the moment, I think RA-AUS does well in terms of regulating us, but not so well in representing us, especially in the most obvious responsibility to the membership - keeping the membership informed. I would very much like to hear from the board members who resigned (if they have!) as to why. They were elected on their stated intentions to do the job. The explanation doesn't have to be in any particular detail, but it needs to inform electors why they have changed their intentions since they stood for election. Jim

Working :<

A Sapphire from Holbrook - I hope it wasn't pinched from the post by the highway!

Nice to hear - I got a similar reception when I first visited (and immediately joined)! I'll see you there sometime, Jim

Or you offer to slash his quote for him?

Guernsey, get over it! You know what they say: "You can always tell a New South Welshman! You can't tell him much, but you can tell him!" dodo

Knoke is a Knutter, but if you want the really loony German pilots of the era, it is him and Rudel. Rudel was a Stuka pilot, seriously considered as Hitler's successor, mainly because he was a devoted Nazi, but as a"true believer" in National Sociaism. Lost most of a a leg? Give me a few weeks and I'll be back on those Godless Red Horde Commie tanks. Published in English as "Stuka Pilot". Oh, and that bloke that blew up the harbour in Greece,and started Wild Sow..can'tt remember the name and can't find the book... ...note to self - "Stop lending these books to others - no one returns them!" I'd read Steinhoff any time. Or Jean Zumbach, who flew for the Polish airforce, lost, escaped via Hungary to France, flew for the French airforce, lost,, escaped to England, flew for the English, and knew then their was nowhere to escape to from England when the Nazis won as they always had to date! Ended up flying B26s in the Congo - but his book is hard to find. dodo

I am just a student pilot, but I think the lack of recovery training is just dumb. I wouldn't teach someone to drive without letting them experience the feeling of losing control, and understanding how to get control back - and how and why it happens. While GA aerobatic training is an obvious answer, I went and tried GFA, which was very useful, and a lot of fun. GFA can stall and spin, and make a habit of it. And think that anyone who doesn't is, at best, a bit strange or inhibited. They teach you stalls and spins very early, and don't hold back with soft level "only just" stalls. It is also instructive when they pull a simulated rope break at 350' and the plan is that you turn back at that point - something that would be suicide in RA. That experience taught me why low level flying is illegal - turning hard at low level with the trees close is just a a mind blowing exhilaration, especially without power. Hard to explain, but you realise just how seductive these maneuvers can be, and just how controlled they need to be, if you want to survive. Using GFA to get stall & spin training has a downside - I found the desire for another expensive hobby. dodo

Try a bicycle shop. They are practical and into light weight gear, but just remember they do low volume & high pressure (tiny tyre at 90-120 psi), while a Jab tyre is higher volume and low pressure (about 35 psi). They also charge aviation prices. I'd look for a light hand pump with a foot strap (the bend over style), widest bore you can find. dodo