Methusala

This accident illustrates the variability of factors which can conspire to bring an aviator unstuck. Hindsight is often 20/20 and gives observers a comfortable leg-up. The purpose of this section of the forum(I believe), is to give us the opportunity of putting forward our observations for the consideration of more fortunate pilots. That is we can respectfully offer our opinions for others to debate. No disrespect meant by me. Don

The Piper failed to negotiate the ridge by a matter of a few ft. There was no ground impact prior to the wing striking a tree which resulted in a 180 impacting the other wing. The tail cone was almost detached and the prop tips were sheared by impact. I think the engine was delivering full power and the plane struck with a high nose attitude. The passenger's side was deformed inward. The pilot should be buying a bucket full of lottery tickets.

Greetings, Rip van Winkle. Don?

Yeah, I have been flying Thrusters for that long and I love it too. We picked up a Jab powered Vision last year but the wheels are small and the landing gear stiff so not so much of a rough field performer. Will cruise at 65kts tho if you want to go somewhere which I seldom do.

G'day Justin, Is that a Hornet? Nice looking ride whatever. I had a Volksplane VP-2 for 11 yrs. I ended up with a 2l Aeropower which I EFI'ed with original VW Bosch Jetronic hardware scavenged from a 1600 TS and a Haltech ECU. It never let me down over 550hrs. It would climb out at 3600rpm and then cruise at 3100. Don

My home base. Weather was 15kts from the east blowing over a ridge. In those conditions I would turn right after take off to avoid the rotor off the ridge. There is a power line up there so lucky to avoid that and also extremely fortunate there was no fire. Some times I am with CASA, ie. the fewer people in the air the less chance of a catastrophe!

All that I get is this! Maybe my poor old computer?

Sorry, can't see the video! Is it me?

G'day Justin, our J6 is in a shed at our strip with the wings off. I would like to find a keen enthusiast like you to take it on as a project. I'm old enough to enjoy the flying I do but don't have the time at present to re-engine it and sort it out. We built the wings with a full D-box and have a 20l tank in each wing. The cabin has much more room than the Kitfox or Avid Flyer.

??I'm not Cecil B deMille. Just reality. Let's see some of yours.

G'Day Justin, the vid is posted but I don't guarantee that it will be accessible (not a highly able tech head). The plane is lovely but originally had a Subaru EA81. It was too heavy and so we changed to a VW. Have had good results in my VP2 but ran out of enthusiasm so Karatoo is not operational. Lovely to fly when we put 20 hrs on it 15 yrs ago. It was an original plans built A model not the C that you have. PS. It plays through something called TWINUI on my desktop. AVI file (27.3 MB)

This is a bit of video to sample, Don karatoo_007.avi karatoo_007.avi

our A model with VW conversion

My Volksplane would make 250fpm on a good day!

G'day Frank, Went for a fly yesterday in my mate's Drifter for 35m. The country around here is holding up well due to some heavy rain in t'storms. However it is still very hot and this has killed tomato plants in our garden. Hope that you and Fran aren't too badly affected by the floods, cheers Don

Mine has about the same hrs but was owned by James B Waller at Holbrook and was used for training. Might be worth a look!

Hey Frank, how is it up there? Growing fins yet? Cheers Don

Did you find anything? What have you heard? Mine looks sound from the outside. Saw this point fracture on a Gemini at Holbrook 25 yrs ago. Not fatal but still not good. Rgds Don

G'day Kaz, just ordered a copy of, “First Light” by Geoffery Wellum on your recommendation. Thank you Don

Before D King's Hummel, Bryan Gabriel built one. He mounted the 503 inverted and achieved a far more pleasing blending of exhaust to fuse. Don't know what became of it. Don

Well, $50bn for 4 subs to be delivered sometime in the next 20 years and untold billions on fighter jets that cant run , can't turn...etc. Perhaps we haven't gone too far in 40 years.

I take exception to the view, that is, that the economic troubles experienced by the Whitlam govt, were solely, or even mostly, caused by the govt’s actions. It is convenient to forget the effects of the world wide “oil shocks” of 1974. Action taken by OPEC members to create a spike in the price of oil which reverberated through the world economy causing inflation and unemployment in most economies. The Labor govt had been excluded from power largely through the efforts of the DLP throughout the 60’s and so were very inexperienced. It took most of the 2 shortened terms for Gough to sort out his ministry. Having exiled Cairns and sidelined some others, he was assuming a dominance and control over the parliament in 1975. However, Whitlam's lack of a majority in the Australian Senate, and the hostility of the conservative state governments made it difficult to effectively manage the economy. The CIA were very much active during this period, having achieved the violent overthrow of another leftish govt in Chile and institution of the new “voodoo economics” (as Nixon himself had called it) neoliberal economic policies was the aim. Kerr was known to have been a CIA recruit in his earlier academic roles. Additionally, there is still a blanket over the role of the Palace and Her Majesty's communications with Kerr to this day. BTW peak interest rates were experienced under Fraser’s treasurer, John Howard in early 1981 (23%) While many people and businesses had some hard times in the time of the Whitlam govt, the real economic damage was felt under Fraser. I still recall that he appeared relieved when Hawke won in ‘82. The wages and prices accord, under Hawke was a continuation of Whitlam’s prescription revealed in the latter half of 1975 when Hayden replaced Cairns as treasurer. It is convenient, in some people’s minds, to air brush a lot of the background to the dismissal and events leading up to it. The establishment, represented by the press, business and political conservatives have the whip hand in Australian politics. This partly explains their political success, even though their policies and personnel are largely unimpressive. Don

I refer to Australia as the "upside down country". When all is going well with the economy the Aust voters ditch the Labor mob to install the economic idiots such as Peter Costello (who gave away the economic benefits of the resources {construction phase} boom to tax cuts). These where artfully angled to the well off but lower income cohorts loved their small cut as well. When Australia was riding high with the OECD nominating the Australian economy as the best managed in the world voters took the bait( don't vote for a tax on the miners) and voted in the individual who would qualify hands down as the worst equipped to be leader, onions anyone? We have seen the local vehicle manufacturing industry destroyed and the area where Australia has the best resource base in the world, converting sunlight into clean energy for a fraction of the cost of fossil fuel burning, left to others to capitalise. This thread could continue until the cows come home but trying to convince some that politics is not about "one side is exactly the same as the other", NEVER WORKS HERE. Enjoy the present but don't stress about down the track! Don

The other day, on the access rd on the property where I keep my plane, saw a skittled wombat. It was not an accidental casualty. What hope when nongs just can't help themselves in plundering the wildlife?