Garfly

I think the main use of the electronic compass is to enable real-time winds-aloft display.

(And probably very much worth the effort.)

Otherwise, I can't think of a practical use for electronic HDG when you've already got reliable TRK.

I think I heard it said on Radio National today that there'd be a long talk with Bob Tait about GA flying in the 'Conversations' program tomorrow, Wednesday, June 21 at 3.00pm.

I presume, after tomorrow, the program will be available for replay/download here:

Conversations

Have a look at this thread:

Man's best friend?

True, the temporary restricted areas were there in SUP for all to see.

Still and all, the controllers, seemed to cut blunderers a bit of slack on the basis of it not being on the charts yet. They also tended to give out a lot of pre-emptive warnings on the same basis. It must have taken up a lot of their time and attention, actually.

So, all the area stakeholders must be pleased to see the new R zones finally get into print - of the map kind.

Those blunderers without transponders, though, might just remain fat, dumb and happy to this day. Romeo? Wherefore art thou?

Another blessing of the EFB age is that pilots - even the ill-trained and the errant - are more likely to be working with up to date charts. Plus, they're far more likely to have that AIP/SUP close at hand.

By the way, that lane is only 3 miles wide for much of its length as it follows the railway. And because we're expected to keep right of the tracks, that gives 1.5NM useable width. So, no way to give a nice wide berth to the fast-jet playground surrounding the tunnel on three sides. (And the ground squeezes up to scarcely 500' in places, too, so no marginalia there either. ;-) It's a beautiful flight, though, on a nice day.

I think there are other tight squeezes around the traps, as well. For example, between Amberley and Brisbane airspace it gets down to just a 4NM eye to thread, at one point. At those tolerances, in a strange land, thank goodness for our (extra-legal) GPS/EFBs.

If you're unfamiliar, one hill and/or one shopping centre can looks sooo much like its nearby neighbour.

Speaking of Restricted Areas, I see that the 'temporary' Romeo zones to the west of Willy have finally made it onto the charts.

I think it's been a couple of years now that they've been in force but not indicated on any charts.

Whenever I've been listening to Area (125.7) the controllers seemed to be forever chasing errant aviators out of those spaces.

I'd made my own little waypoints on OzRWYs to remind me of the boundary corners.

I think they used to be called R976 and 977 in their temporary form.

But now they've taken the names of their close relatives:

R578F (4500/8500) and R578G (3500/8500)

So if you're buzzing around Cessnock/Maitland/Lake Macquarie or heading for the VFR lane (The curvy corridor top centre of screenshot) northbound, don't forget to duck your head in time. (Although you need to be at or below 1600' by the time you enter the lane anyway.)

I see that Belite are now resellers for the Honeycomb Aluminium they're using on the Chipper:

Honeycomb Aluminum - Belite Aircraft

I built this 10 ft. wing Champ to give my wifes cat a ride.[ATTACH=full]45499[/ATTACH] When it came time to give it a test we could not find the darn kitty:yikes:

Not exactly a new design, the Super STOL has been available in kit form and has been flying around for a fair while now.

Anyway, I always find it interesting to hear designers talking about their various choices and compromises.

An interesting Dan Johnson video about the new Just Aircraft design

Experimental | Belite Aircraft|Kits

Yeah ... and imagine flying a twin with both chambers loaded. ;-)

Good story, Ferris. Were you able to talk to the Virgin and the chopper throughout the saga? On 121.5? Did you get a call out to Area, as well, before you landed?

With so many of them out there now, let's hope that the high rate of false alerts doesn't break the system.

False alarm reignites debate on EPIRB disposal guidelines

The EPIRB that cried wolf: false alarms the main cause of recent call outs - ABC Goldfields WA - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Yes, a real tragedy. The Chinese students are really up against it there, trying to get on top of two sets of aviation lingo, English and French (and, to them, possibly indistinguishable, at times) in a very busy environment while still learning to control the aircraft. Both of these guys were solo, low time students. Anyone in that situation could easily descend into cognitive meltdown.

It's hard enough for native speakers to learn to decode quick-fire, locally accented, avspeak. I don't know how the big schools handle it here in Oz, but it seems communication is, by far, the greatest challenge these students face. It's like the aviating part is simple by comparison. Imagine needing to learn aviation-Chinese in order to fly as a career.

Most of the local area controllers (and pilots) that I hear, try to slow down a bit and be patient with the foreign students but then this is Sleepy-Hollow compared to other parts. It's not easy. Students such as these will soon have to face JFK controllers in their careers. I wish them well. Better them than me.

Of course, there's nothing to say, yet, that this accident had anything to do with coms problems.

The fact that it was a mid-air in perfect visibility gives us all pause regarding the reliability of 'see and avoid'.

Air traffic controller gave four warnings before fatal midair collision in St-Bruno

Today: Two Cessna 152 collided mid-air near St-Hubert YHU Airport close to Montreal around 12:37pm today (16:37z)

2 planes collide in midair on Montreal's South Shore - AVCANADA

Some recent discussion here:

EPIRB PLB Suggestions

Last June we were discussing here the Tenerife disaster in relation to the need for correct RT phraseology. I see in this newly posted batch of ACI episodes that the story of the 1977 disaster has been remade using modern cgi:

[MEDIA=dailymotion]x4ixi6l[/MEDIA]

[MEDIA=dailymotion]x4k1yrj[/MEDIA]

Proteus Airlines Flight 706 - Wikipedia

The conclusion of the film suggests that because of this 1998 accident transponders were made mandatory in Class G airspace in France. Which would be interesting but it seems not to be the case:

Transponder required France ? [Archive] - Microlight Forum

Anyway this site is a good resource for heaps of other ACI programs.

Litespeed said (in #106, above):

"I know we have to wait but James is doing a great job and uses the best available tech to meet his needs and price point. His previous designs were great but now the shackles of part 105 are cast aside, a real two seater can emerge, and still cheap. Actually can be as cheap as the single seater- low weight costs strength and money."

Here he is explaining his design philosophy for his single seat models (pre-Pipper):

Commercial infill at our (privatised) Canberra International Airport:

2002 (West up)

2016

Yes, even us weekend warriors know what it's like to quickly lose sight of other aircraft, finding ourselves in empty sky, but knowing damn well they're somewhere close. That much we can sort of imagine.

BTW, on the vision thing, I read somewhere that even though the Spits had the advantage of a better rear view (than the 109) the drawback was the optical distortion of the bubble canopy. In that respect the German pilots with their flat glass panes were better off; able to get a bead on their enemies at a greater distance.

Just came across this really good simulator-graphics version of the dogfights over Dover.

I think that watching it, I'm getting a handle for the first time on what it was really like to be in it. (Been struggling with that task of imagination since reading Reach for the Sky as a kid). Whatever its makers lack in true photo-realism is made-up-for in their ability to literally 'call the shots': whatever the ideal angle, whatever the best frame to show the aircraft and their relative positions etc. can be created by the storytellers. Add to that the painstaking aerodynamic modelling of the simulations and the obvious effort to be historically accurate (both visually and tactically) the effect is amazing.

It still uses lots of movie conventions - documentary and fiction - but for those of us fascinated by the aviation aspects, per se, it's really something else.

This is a pretty interesting doc comparing the Spit and the 109:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpTrygZfC-g