Garfly

But with so much international attention, all seems to have been forgiven!

As long as you pass under the LL2000 shelf of the WLM C2 (southern half of the Lane) you shouldn't need any clearances. So it's pretty much as it was for VFR transit, except for another 400' of headroom in the lower part of the route. And, if you are able (a/c rego and licence) to request clearances, you might be better off asking for the coastal route.

Adding just a Phone sized EFB would provide an ADSB-IN display for use as and if needed. Not to mention up-to-date local maps, etc. (Minimalism plus peace of mind ;- )

Things have changed with the Williamtown Inland Lane. As I understand it, the south half of the Lane from Dungog to East Greta/YMND no longer penetrates a Restricted Area but lies underneath a new Class C space WLM C2 LL2000 The northern half still does (D589 'tunnels' through R584B - UL2500) Effectively the main change for VFR flights on the south half seems to be an extra 400' headroom. (up from 1600') Also, there's a new 2,500 LL above YMND (Maitland). CLICK FOR FULL REZ: Williamtown (YWLM) FAC.pdf a23-h45 (1).pdf

Interestingly, there's a similar sequence of transmissions from this 737-800 crew from an incident in May 2023. Flight AAL329 out of Miami also had a rapid decompression. Their comms are, naturally, incoherent at first but soon come good, presumably after they've donned their masks and taken a few seconds to understand WTF just happened. Even then, their only communications priority is "On descent 10,000" (After that, most of the discombobulation is back on earth. ;- ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtptbpDd_FU

Chinchilla pilot Cameron Obst's flying for RFDS Fundraiser | Queensland Country Life | QLD WWW.QUEENSLANDCOUNTRYLIFE.COM.AU Chinchilla pilot Cameron Obst's $500,000 RFDS fundraiser. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-XYZHucRPLyLZRWWpy0YoA

Apparently it was difficult due to headsets, checklist folders etc. etc. being blown clean away in the explosive decompression followed by the scramble to don masks amid the chaos (presumably SOP, even from 16,000'), So this would explain the first incoherent words on frequency but then it seems only seconds after that big (dusty, foggy) bang (hard to emulate in the sim, I guess) that they'd settled into clear professional comms and did what they had to do. I'd imagine it was not easy.

Who, I wonder, would have expected otherwise?

This is another educated guess coming from the Comments Section of this Capt. Brady video. : @USAmerican100 2 days ago (edited) As an Aerospace Engineer, my "guess" is the lower hinge bolts were not installed properly. It looks like they are in an out-of-the-way, hard to see location. Could have been overlooked during a demanding work day. So as the plane climbs to altitude air pressure pushes out on the door, and it bends the door outward slightly. The lower hinge sliders move up slightly due to this bending. All of the upwards loads are now being taken by the two upper bolts. After a few dozen flights/cycles, those two overloaded upper bolts fail and allow the door to pop up and off.

And then, Northrop gave the Flying Wing a go ... (another incredible story, very well told by Mustard, methinks)

Inspections turn up more loose bolts:

Well now we all KNOW! ;- )

Well, except, perhaps, for this one ;- )

I think that the time limit has, historically, been more about pilots' privacy concerns than about technical constraints. EASA already mandates 24 hours at least and the FAA is trying to match it, at least for new aircraft. https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/media/25-Hr-CVR_NPRM_Issuance.pdf EXCERPT: "C. Privacy Concerns The FAA acknowledges that pilot-focused organizations may have concerns regarding how the NTSB or the FAA would use the CVR data collected for investigative purposes. This issue previously arose when the FAA increased the CVR recording duration from 30 minutes to 2 hours. At that time, the FAA determined that the investigative need and benefit of this information outweighed these privacy concerns. The FAA maintains this stance. The proposed increase to a 25-hour CVR recording duration would further improve current investigative capabilities. It would also provide investigating bodies, such as the NTSB, with more complete context surrounding the accidents and incidents under investigation and support their safety analyses. Importantly, this proposed increase is designed to provide more context for any flight deck activity that might be pertinent to an investigation. Specifically, this increase expands the possible range of data available to investigators. This proposal does not alter or modify the existing processes for requesting or use of this data. Sections 91.609(g), 121.359(h), 121.227(f), and 135.151(c) specify that the information obtained from the CVR recording is to be used for investigation purposes and that the FAA will not use the CVR record in any civil penalty or certificate action. This proposal does not modify these regulations."

I was wondering to what extent the lump of metal up-front puts traffic just below and ahead into an ADSB shadow. (Like it does to the pilot's eyesight).

And I guess that Brendan would do well to hold on to the old Garmin Mode C to use together with the SkyEcho2, no? A 'proper' transponder (even an oldie) allows you to operate in Class E and is needed for any Class C transit/entry which one day (soon?) may be more relevant for RAAus craft than it is now.

This is a tech explanation of the various 737 mid-cabin doors/plugs configs. The Alaskan incident is referred to near the end (21:45).

But that's in your RV. If you'd taken your Thruster into town, you'd probably have landed back in 2022.