Jump to content

fatmal

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    119

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Posts posted by fatmal

    Taffy Holden - the accidental Lightning pilot

    in Aviation Videos

    Posted

    I stumbled across this video, which is both hilarious and frightening! An engineer accidentally engages the afterburners in an English Electric Lightning and has no option but to take off. While a licensed pilot, he had experience on only two types - the Tiger Moth and the Chipmunk - quite a bit different than a twin engine fighter that'll get to 36,000ft in under 3 minutes!

     

     

    mal

     

     

    • Like 1

    Watching my wife go through flight training...

    in AUS/NZ General Discussion

    Posted

    This is my worst nightmare - I am really terrified when she drives the car and I am in it.

    Many years ago I saw a television interview with Juha Kankkunen (sp?), at the time World Rally Champion, and the interviewer asked him "When you go for a drive with your wife, who drives?"

    His response - "She does, until she gets sick of me telling her to brake later, turn in here, gas it now - and then she lets me drive"

     

     

    Angled Instruments

    in AUS/NZ General Discussion

    Posted

    Slightly off-topic, but I was once peeking inside a helicopter at Echuca, and the engine instruments looked like they'd been thrown at the panel - nothing was straight, with some instruments up to 45 degrees rotated. It all became clear when I asked the pilot about this; at normal pressures & temps, all the needles should point straight up. This allowed a much quicker check on P's&T's.

     

    mal

     

     

    • Like 3
    • Agree 2
    • Informative 1

    Lessons for the 'market' from aviation

    in AUS/NZ General Discussion

    Posted

    How to Escape a Death Spiral

     

    Politicians and economists often use the term 'death spiral'. Maybe there are some lessons from aviation for the market - just like aviation checklists have helped surgeons not leave instruments inside people!

     

    And for all of us who (rightly) complain about journalists knowledge, Toni Wall Joudon, who wrote the story linked above, has done a LOT of research! We need some journo's like her here in Oz!

     

    mal

     

     

    • Informative 1

    Fantasy Air Allegro, anyone flying one?

    in Other Rec Aircraft

    Posted

    Hi Weejah,

     

    I used to own an Allegro, and have approx. 75hrs logged in them. Mine was the long-wing 2000 model – tapered wing, with a 100hp donk. MTOW was 522kg.

     

    Let’s start with the bad – or less good anyway. Control balance a little odd at first. Roll is quite slow – a symptom of the long wing, while pitch is quite sensitive. It took me a few hours to stop overcontrolling in pitch – including having to having to remove grass from the tail skid a couple of times 001_smile.gif.2cb759f06c4678ed4757932a99c02fa0.gif. Yaw weight is somewhere between the two.

     

    Range, with the standard 55 litre belly tank is OK, but in an Australian context (I see you’re NZ-based), I would have preferred having the wing tanks also, so I didn’t have to source or carry extra fuel.

     

    Because of the rather laid-back seating position, the view on climb-out is limited, with the cowling seemingly well above the horizon – again, something you soon get used to.

     

    Ergonomically there were some issues. The flap and carb heat controls on mine were in the middle of the panel, so with the centre stick I had to reach across with my left hand to operate these. I should have just moved them to the left of the panel.

     

    The good. Fuel burn at 90knots/4,400rpm was 11l/hr, 100knots/4,900rpm was 17l/hr, so it’s cheap to run.

     

    With the 50-degree flap (stage 2) you can land very short. Putting out full flap (65-knot limit) is like slamming on the brakes!

     

    Stalls are reasonably energetic, only breaking at what seems like a very high deck angle (probably due to the aforementioned laid-back seating position). The nose would seem to drop well through the horizon! To get it to stall you have to be positive about it – if you’re too gentle with getting the stick back it just seemed to sink at 1,500ft/min at a high deck angle without ever breaking into a stall.

     

    You can fit a range of sized people in it – I had people up to 6’4” fit comfortably. I’m nowhere near that so I fit very well!

     

    Overall, I think that the Allegro, when bought at the right price, is a bit of a bargain. It’s safe (well, as safe as any light sport), cheap to run, fast enough when you want it, and slow enough when you need it. Happy hunting!

     

    mal

     

     

    • Like 1
    • Informative 2

    DiY ADSB-in

    in AUS/NZ General Discussion

    Posted

    I was reading a slashdot story about the recent AirAsia data entry error that led to a Syd-KL flight diverting to Melbourne (story & comments at Data Entry Blunders Force Air Asia Pilots To Land in Melbourne Instead of Malaysia - Slashdot).

     

    One of the comments had a link to home-made ADSB-in receiver based on a Raspberry Pi - Stratux by cyoung

     

    Appears to be an interesting project, and integrates with a few EFB's.

     

    All we need now is for someone (smarter than me!) to extend this to ADSB-out - could be a much cheaper option for ADSB compliance.

     

    mal.

     

     

    Aircraft down Lancefield Vic

    in Aircraft Incidents and Accidents

    Posted

    A person who has flown the aircraft has confirmed it didn't have one.

    If you're thinking of my post above, it was a long time since I flew, or even looked at, Brumby 7322 and my memory of whether a chute was fitted shouldn't be taken as gospel.

     

    did the passenger freeze preventing the instructor from making an effective recovery?

    The 'student' was doing a GA to RAA conversion, so in my view would be unlikely to have frozen on the controls. While Terry was quite elderly, I'm sure that given the right motivation he could have taken over control.

     

    Sadly, like many accidents, we may never know what transpired in the cockpit. Hopefully we find out, so lessons can be learned by all of us.

     

    mal

     

     

    Aircraft down Lancefield Vic

    in Aircraft Incidents and Accidents

    Posted

    Can anyone confirm the one media report that this aircraft did have a ballistic chute? The non-deployment of that if the aircraft suffered sustained control difficulties is puzzling.

    I flew this aircraft November last year, and haven't seen it since, but in my memory it does not have a chute. The Texan online at the same school does, so maybe there was some confusion between the two aircraft.

     

    mal

     

     

    Aircraft down Lancefield Vic

    in Aircraft Incidents and Accidents

    Posted

    Can anyone confirm the one media report that this aircraft did have a ballistic chute? The non-deployment of that if the aircraft suffered sustained control difficulties is puzzling.

    I flew this aircraft November last year, and haven't seen it since, but in my memory it does not have a chute. The Texan online at the same school does, so maybe there was some confusion between the two aircraft.

     

    mal

     

     

    • Like 1
    • Informative 1

    Aircraft down Lancefield Vic

    in Aircraft Incidents and Accidents

    Posted

    The instructor on board has been named;

     

    http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/lancefield-plane-crash-two-people-dead-after-light-plane-disaster-in-macedon-ranges-20160409-go2eeg.html

     

    My instructor - and my friend. A man who always demonstrated the highest levels of airmanship. A man with great patience, and a great teacher. This makes me seriously consider not flying ever again - if a crash can take the lives of two experienced pilots - one with over 20,000 hours and a former airline training captain, then something must have gone seriously wrong.

     

    Rest in Peace my old mate!

     

    My sincere condolences and sympathies to the friends and families of both men.

     

    Mal

     

     

    • Agree 1
    • Informative 1
    • Winner 2
×
×
  • Create New...