old man emu

Variable pitch props were not common in English aircraft in the 1930s when both the Anson and De Haviland Dragon were designed. The Anson has twice the MTOW of the Dragon, and its much more powerful engines give it a cruising speed of 137 kts against the Dragon's 95. Can you imagine flying from Bourke to Tooraweenah in a Dragon on an Outback Summer's day? Overall distance would near be doubled if you accounted for the vertical distances the aircraft would have travelled in air pocets. The Anson wasn't available in Australia in its original civil guise until surplus military ones became available at the end of WWII. Then they replaced the Dragons. All pre-WWII wooden-winged aircraft suffered from the failure of glued joints due to a lack of anti-fungal/bacterial glues, or glues having better setting qualities due to the chemicals they were made from. AC 43-13 states "Resorcinol is the only known adhesive recommended and approved for use in wooden aircraft structure and fully meets necessary strength and durability requirements" for certificated aircraft. Resorcinol-formaldehyde resin glue is very strong and durable which was introduced into aircraft manufacture in 1943,

Avgas at Coonabarabran, Coonamble, which are likely to be waypoints for the event. Also at Dubbo and Narromine. Check your WAC Mogas could be obtained by arrangement, but in light of the risk of litigation, ?????

The Arthur Butler Aviation Museum at Tooraweenah is exploring the idea of hosting a bit of flying fun next April/May when the weather is at its best. The idea for the activity is to carry out a practical test for the position of PIC on a Butler Air Transport route. Participants will be given a route starting at Tooraweenah to return after passing over a number of waypoints. Crews will submit a flight plan indicating their estimated time of return to Tooraweenah. The position will be given to the crew whose actual time is closest to their ETA. In order to deal with dead heats, crews will be required to locate landmarks en route, and there may be some touch & goes at a place or two. It is expected that the flight time would be about 2 hours, based on a cruise speed of 90 kts. (Haven't worked out the route yet.) The idea would be to leave Tooraweenah about 1100 am to get back mid-afternoon. There would be a dinner in town where a guest speaker would award the PIC job. Accommodation in town could be booked, or crews could camp under the wing. So, would this be a goer?

After the war a lot went into civilian use. Butler Air Transport had a couple. The NSW Police one was named "Nemesis". The Sydney Morning Herald had VH-SMH

I'm so glad that you came! The Arthur Butler Aviation Museum is now attacking a few things to make visiting Tooraweenah a great thing to do. 1. We have instituted a weed control program to kill the nasty thorny plants that lie to stick in your Dunlops. We now have dead and dying weeds. 2. We are putting together a grant application to build a toilet and perhaps shower block on the airport. 3. We will talk to the publican to arrange a special meal deal for those who fly in. 4. We might invest in a simple weather station to provide current aerodrome weather for in-bound flights. We have to buy a transceiver, too, so we can communicate tht information. 5. We might be able to have a bit of a jalopy available to get you into the pub. Otherwise we might cut a track so you can walk the 750 metres there. 6. We are speaking with the pub, the caravan park and a B&B to see what sort of accommodation deal we can organise. 7. We hope to get Council to return the original Butler Air Transport Bellman hangar so we can use it as free undercover parking for overnighters. 8. We will fight tooth and nail to prevent the imposition of landing fees at Tooraweenah ( but we'll have a donations box). As for fuel, we might get the town's servo recommissioned, to the delight of the locals, and to source mogas for pilots. I spoke to an avgas supplier and at the moment, setting up for avgas is not economically viable. The really big project will be to convince CASA to let us recommission the two cross runways that appear on the Dept of Civil Aviation plan of 1947. Old Man Emu

Here is the original question: The first modifier was that your Desired Track had did not involve a full-on headwind, or maybe there was a tailwind component. The first error I made in posing the question was to write " looking for a place to land". If you delete those words, I believe it clarifies the point of the question and directs discussion towards the point being enquired about - does the direction of unpowered flight with reference to wind direction affect the TIME it takes for an aircraft to lose altitude? The discussion then turned to "ranging", which, if I'm correct, is related to Ground Speed, not Airspeed. The question of altitude loss in turns was also brought up. Perhaps the words "swing around" were a poor choice, implying something like a split-arsed turn. As Thruster88 has shown above, one can make a gentle turn without significant increase in load factor that would require increased air speed to overcome. From his graph, an angle of bank of about 20 degrees make a relatively insignificant increase in load factor. Finally, the words "while you search for a place to put down?" could have caught another red herring. The initial need when this unexpected event occurs would be time to think and decide on which course of action to take. Wouldn't the first step be to try to determine why the windmill stopped? Maybe getting it spinning again could be as simple as changing tanks. Robinsm said, I would have thought that the best effort would be put into finding a convenient landing spot and concentrating on that, not recalling master of physics lessons Identifying situations and developing procedures to minimise them are the basic steps in Risk Management. Better to learn the procedures well before they might need to be used, than trying to reinvent the wheel in the middle of a situation. Isn't that what ground schooling is all about? Finally, I posed the question for the simple reason that I didn't know the answer. Isn't what this particular section of the Forum is all about? I was not trying to be didactic. If I posed further questions it was because the replies while correct of themselves, were not dealing with the point of my enquiry. I'm sorry if that sometimes I ask for calculations to be shown. Everyone learns in their own way. The meaning of some words can be subjective, while hard, cold numbers can only be objective. I happen to be a person who needs the objective.

Gone.

No, I didn't. I asked the question to stimulate thinking. Is it my idea to increase my own knowledge? Partially. Is it my idea to have student pilots think about some aspect of flight - yes. Did my twisted mind come up with this method? NO!!!! Way back in the centuries BC (that's Before Computers) the Greek philosophers and teachers came up with the Socratic Method. The Socratic method is a teaching tactic in which questions are asked continually until either the student gives a wrong answer or reasoning or the teacher is satisfied with the student’s responses. Teachers usually employ this tactic to develop critical-thinking skills in students, to improve their intellectual thinking about the subject. If this method is anathema to people, then I can only form the opinion that it there is no longer time in this Life to sit under a tree and ponder the Why of our activities to gain a better understanding of the How.

Well you might say that, but do you ever provide anything more to substantiate your comment? I asked you to show mathematically that I thought I asked that politely and would get a considered answer. Things never change, do they?

That's what I like about the people on this forum. - NOT. If you ask a question for the sake of better knowledge, you immediately get attacked for being a fool. Nobody ever tackles the question to provide an answer, or else they take the proposition to extremes.

That's because he's a stunt pilot who has practised the routine.

There's the source of the confusion. Do you agree that the speeds quoted in the POH are "air speeds" - the speed of the air over the wing to produce lift. Does the airspeed indicator tell you anything more than the speed of the air relative to the wing (pitot tube, actually)? Remember that on a windy day, the ASI will give an indication when the aircraft is still tied down. For navigation, we know that you have to power up when flying into wind, but back off with a tail wind to attain a desired ground speed, which is covering ground distance over time. If the windmill has stopped, then to get to a desired airspeed (best glide speed) which will keep you above ground for the longest time, you have to use the relative movement between the wing and the air. With a tailwind you have to convert the potential energy due to altitude to airspeed by descending. On the contrary, flying into wind allows you to lessen the amount of the same potential energy you have to trade off to produce lift, so you stay up longer. Are you able to show mathematically that an aircraft of 500 kg at 2000' agl with a wind of 10 kts will hit the deck at the same time headwind or tailwind? Just for interest's sake. According to the FAA Gliding clean, with the engine at idle, you may find the IAS for maximum endurance, precisely where the variometer shows the minimum descent speed. Then multiply that IAS by 1.32 That's the best glide speed. Going back the other way, if you multiply the best glide speed by 0.75, that's the maximum endurance speed.

When I posed the question, I was thinking that most often you want to maximize the distance you can glide. That means getting your airspeed to the aircraft's best glide speed. If you have no thrust from the engine to move the aerofoil though the air to generate lift, why not turn into wind and let the moving air add a bit to the air movement resulting from the horizontal vector of your downward motion? Turning into wind won't keep you aloft any longer? I know that it was only with RC gliders, but I could keep one of them stationary if I faced it into wind.

Suppose that you were going on trip. You obtain the forecast winds and create your flight plan, and you find that the winds will be anything other than headwinds not more than about 10 degrees either side of your desired track. Things are going well, and you find that the wind forecast is pretty spot on. Then the propeller jerks to a stop. Do you continue on track, looking for a place to land, or do you swing around the the reciprocal direction of the forecast wind, and use it to maintain airspeed to maintain flying for longer while you search for a place to put down?

Our roads are no longer simply the cleared and prepared tracks which allow us to get from A to B. They are an intimate part of our whole economy. We know that "Time is Money", and that should be foremost in our decisions about where we place our vehicles on the road, and at what speed we travel. A retired bloke might not be in a hurry, but lots of other road users are "on the clock" and every minute spent in their vehicle is either lost income because they can't do their paid work (tradies), or lost productivity because they can't get enough work done (truckies). The most commonly broken traffic Regulation on multi-lane roads is the Regulation requiring that you drive in the left hand lane. A common misunderstanding about Australian roads is the rule about staying in the left lane when driving on a major road or motorway. While most drivers obey the rule, some believe it doesn't apply unless there is a "keep left unless overtaking" sign visible. To clarify, according to road legislation, you are legally required to stay in the left lane regardless of whether there is signage indicating so. This applies in all states and territories across Australia with slight variations depending on where you are. Basically, if the speed limit is 80 Kph or more, then you can't sit in right hand lanes. What about Peak Hour on motorways? That's the exception. If travelling in the right hand lanes would result in lowering the congestion and have the traffic flow improve, then it's OK. Actually, I'd like to see a penalty for travelling at a speed more than 5 Kph less than the posted speed limit on multilane roads. That would keep Learners. P-Platers, Grey Nomads and heavy vehicles to the left, allowing other vehicles to travel up to the signposted speed limit to overtake. We should introduce the European rule that slow vehicles must travel in the kerbside lane.

I think that's the one I want to use. The trouble is that the Pobjoy R7 had a geared output and that gearbox cover is the problem.

When a man fears that he will lose the woman he loves, he will take on a horde of demons to prevent that happening. Arthur Butler was a man who battled and defeated the demons Time, Distance and Uncertain Weather to secure the hand in marriage of his special woman. Cramped alone in an open aeroplane cockpit, over nine days he sat for hours as his tiny Swallow crossed oceans, deserts, jungles, and the great Outback to bring him to the front steps of the Garling’s Store in Tooraweenah where his real prize awaited him. Ignoring the fact that the trip set a yet unbeaten record, ninety years on, the Arthur Butler Society of Tooraweenah is making plans to celebrate that “Flight to a Lady” over the weekend of the 12th and 13th of November this year. The Society is working to provide all the facilities at Tooraweenah Aerodrome to create a magnet that will draw in people and aeroplanes from across inland New South Wales where the success of that Flight to a Lady eventually lead Arthur Butler to develop a network of passenger and freight air routes to service the people of rural communities. A feature of the weekend’s activities will be the unveiling of the Society’s plans for the establishment of a museum dedicated to preserving the history of Arthur Bulter’s contribution to the people of New South Wales, and the development of Tooraweenah Aerodrome as an important stimulus to tourism in the Warrumbungles and surrounding shires. The Society is asking for the community’s help in collecting and preserving Butler Air Transport memorabilia. Of particular importance are photographs or even 8mm home movie material that can expand the story of Butler Air Transport and Tooraweenah Aerodrome. The Society would like to borrow photographic material for copying and return. The Society can be contacted by email at: [email protected]

Plans and laser cut parts arrived today. Unfortunately I can't find a set of 3D printer files for the Pobjoy engine. I'll have to fudge and use the ones for a Cyclone engine. The Pobjoy has its rocker levers in the rear and all other radials have them in front. My son just bought himself a 3D printer, so he can do the printing for me.

I've done two things. First, I bought a digital copy of the Pobjoy R7 engine that should give me the dimensions. Secondly, my son has just bought a 3D printer and I found some stl files to print a 7 cylinder engine. Unfortunately, the Pobjoy is a geared engine and the files are for a direct drive so I'll have to fudge it a bit.

The plans and some laser-cut parts for the 1/4 scale Comper Swift are on their way from Blighty. I'd like to get the covering as close to original in appearance as possible. Can you suggest a covering that looks like doped linen? This is what I am going for:

Tooraweenah is the go to town to go to.

The leaseholders are squeezing the aviation businesses off the airport through unreasonable rents and draconian lease conditions. They are even forcing the fuel suppliers off. Pretty soon the only airport in Sydney for training will be Camden, and with the opening of the Western Sydney airport, the only airspace available for training will be south of Camden over the Cordeaux Dam catchment area. That's tiger country with no forced landing areas.

I'm setting up a publicity network with newspapers, Australian aviation publications and flying clubs. I've already sent a press release to the paper at Coota. But I need help to get more contact details. I'd love to know what Australian aviation publications you read. What are the contact details of your flying club? If you live along these air routes, what is you local newspaper? To save clogging this site, you can reply to: [email protected]

While the flight to Australia set a record, his motivation wasn't simply the current at the time fad for setting records. He had his eye on a bit of skirt who lived in Tooraweenah. He was in England about to start working for Saunders-Roe when a mate in Australia let him know that a local grazier was spending a bit too much time with the skirt. So he decided that he had better get back to Tooraweenah pretty damned quick and pledge his troth. A ship would have taken at least six weeks, so, telling his story to Comper, who he had met by chance, the deal was struck that Butler would fly the Swift to Australia, and after taking care of affairs of the heart, would do a sales tour of Australia to sell Comper's aircraft and Pobjoy's engines. Unlike a lot of these 'one hit wonders', Butler put his heart and soul into developing air services for inland NSW and Southwest Queensland. Before he had left for England, he had run a section of the Australia to England mail service, carrying mail from Cootamundra to Charelville. He started his airline before WWII, based at Toraweenah, and was allowed to keep operating during the War. After the War, he expanded the airline and built the all weather strip at Tooraweenah. Eventually Butler Air Transport covered most of northwest NSW. Reg Ansett white-anted him in when the Two Airlines policy was introduced, and Butler Air Transport was absorbed into the Ansett conglomeration. That Broke Butler's heart and he walked away from the industry. However, in partnership with Nancy Bird Walton he campaigned for the establishment of the NSW Air Ambulance Service. So, in a nutshell, that's why he warrants a museum. Oh! And he married the skirt a couple of months after the record flight.

Given that this engine is to go into a 1/4 scale static museum piece honouring the record breaking solo flight of Arthur Butler from England to Australia in a Comper Swift, I'm sure that Matt wouldn't refuse a request. Even more so, I would hope that he would come to the anniversary celebrations next November. I'm going to buy the maintenance manual for the R model. A contemporary news item states that the engine was 75HP, and that info would have been supplied by Butler as the item also indicates that the aircraft could be purchased with a lower powered engine for a lower price. Comper loaned the plane to Butler on the proviso that after he got to Australia he took it around the country on a sales tour.