Garfly

Hi Mike, yeah, Oz Mooney Pilot has heaps of great in-flight videos - mostly IFR and VFR trips in and out of Canberra. https://www.youtube.com/user/sactu1/videos I'm spending a lot of time in Canberra lately and and planning to renovate my old GA licence at a local flying school. Among other things, I want to brush up on controlled airspace procedures. (Who knows, that knowledge might come in handy one day, even for lowly rag 'n tubers ;- ) Anyway I'm currently devouring all the local procedural savvy I can. (As well as reminding myself of the lay-of-the-land before burning avgas - thanks to Oz Mooney.)

Yes, of course! So much cheaper. And for those who can only afford to abandon VFR instruction (regarding YSCB procedures): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aokjw5HApsA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ-LJHb2bgk

And another useful one:

Watch on YouTube for more info in the comments.

Recent mixed messages on the A380

From the YouTube description: "Jul 9, 2022 During this webinar Adrian Eichhorn, the 2016 FAA National Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year, discusses six methods for monitoring the condition of your piston aircraft engine, including borescope inspection, oil analysis, and digital engine monitor data analysis. He also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of two old standbys: compression testing and oil filter inspection and how compression tests are only part of the story—a smaller part than most owners and mechanics believe."

This video of the approach to Vágar Airport Faroe Islands is a bit similar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4aP1Jq48XU From Wikipedia: On 26 March 2016, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) began to fly from Copenhagen to Vágar, the first airline other than Atlantic to do so in many years.[13] SAS has had trouble with fog landings which caused cancellations. But in February 2019 SAS started using the Required Navigation Performance procedure, which allows landings in more fog, but requires special onboard equipment, pilot training and approval from the aviation administration.[14] Atlantic Airways began using the system in 2012 as first airline in Europe.[15]

That's Queenstown NZ, Alan. This is a similar one:

An excuse to have another look at this old favourite:

Yeah, according to this mob (US National Snow and Ice Data Center) the extent now is not as low as in recent summers. It'd be nice to take heart ... if one could just get a handle on it all. http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/ July 18, 2022 Arctic sea ice extent continued its summer decline. Extent is below average but not as low as in recent summers. In the Antarctic, sea ice extent is currently at record low levels for this time of year.

Of course. From what I'm hearing, nobody's saying otherwise. The ICE will see most of us lot out (even if the ice cap doesn't ;- )

I doubt that truism would have eluded them. It's clearly an interim measure. Better to spend a few mill moving forward on this experiment than a few bill on a clean sheet project when, either way, a lot of the tech will be obsolete in a matter of years. (How ironic, though, that a 60 year old airframe design is being re-purposed for the project. When the Cherokee was born, the Wright Flyer was a 60 year old design!!) As the ABC reported this week even pilots may be obsolete sooner than we think: Regional councils back plan for electric air taxis during 2032 Brisbane Olympics as 'future' of transport https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-21/electric-air-taxis-coming-to-south-east-queensland-2032-brisbane/101256380

I think you pick up on the reasoning (economic and technical) in CAE's own blurb: “The development of this technology is a first for CAE. As an engineering powerhouse and one of the largest Piper Archer® operators, CAE is uniquely positioned to make electric-powered flight a reality at our flight schools and beyond. CAE’s partnership with the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec for investment into R&D has enabled us to boldly look to the future and prepare our electric aircraft for take-off,” added Parent. “Piper Aircraft is excited to support CAE’s development of an electric aircraft modification conversion kit for the Piper Archer®”, said Piper Aircraft President and CEO, John Calcagno. “With 28,000 aircraft in global service, the PA-28 is the ideal platform for real world flight training curriculums and professional pilot training programs like CAE’s. Piper Aircraft is focused on aviation’s commitment to greenhouse gas reductions and as such, we look forward to collaborating with CAE on the integration of an electric propulsion system for the Piper Archer®.

I gather they're only thinking of it as a basic trainer so 2 POB and one hour could work, I guess. Anyway, they seem serious.

https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/farnborough/cae-piper-to-develop-archer-electric-conversion-kit/ https://www.cae.com/news-events/press-releases/cae-launches-electric-aircraft-modification-program-with-piper-aircraft-inc

Good job not everyone in the industry has been so fatalistic over the years: How aviation safety has improved “When I started in the business almost 30 years ago, my boss had one basic message: You have to expect an average of 20 jetliner losses around the world every year,” recalls Josef Schweighart, Head of Aviation Germany, AGCS. “Thankfully, such statistics are now history,” he says. “There has been a staggering reduction in the numbers of both fatal accidents and fatalities in the intervening decades, the result of technology, improvements in air traffic control and pilot training,” he adds. Source: https://www.agcs.allianz.com/news-and-insights/expert-risk-articles/how-aviation-safety-has-improved.html

My view is a bit different on this issue, as expressed previously in this little rave:

A mere glance at their CDTI (cockpit display of traffic information) would have done it, though.

We all need our self-affirming certainties challenged from time to time. But 'hair of the dog' ain't much of a remedy.

Sure, T88, that's the default situation and that wouldn't change. What's new (to me) is that with an additional ID for the device itself (used only when needed) you can take your SE2 along even in an aircraft that has no ID at all. In that case you presumably transmit a generic ID ('Unknown' ?) but you're still squawking 1200. I guess it'd still be at least as useful as an old fashioned transponder, no? I think it'd be better than nothing - and better than transmitting the wrong ID. That could get confusing.

BTW, FWIW I just learned something new from this: https://support.ozrunways.com/help/en-gb/2-3rd-party-hardware-integrations/42-skyecho-2-ads-b-in-out I knew that you could move the SE2 around from aircraft to aircraft as long as they each had an ICAO address programmable into the device at each plane change What I hadn't realised was that you can also apply for a code to be assigned to the SE2 device itself which you can use in case the aircraft you move to does not have its own code. I think that could be quite handy, from time to time, so might be worth getting, anyway. As I understand it, though, all VH registered aircraft already do have - as a matter of course - an ICAO hex code. Excerpt from the doc. above: "Not an aircraft owner? The SkyEcho is a portable device. If you are not an aircraft owner and/or moving between aircraft that do not already have their own ICAO addresses assigned, upon request CASA will issue the SkyEcho device with its own ICAO address. This allows the EC device to be used on multiple aircraft without re-programming. Please note: * If the aircraft you are flying already has its own ADS-B Code/24-bit ICAO address, you must program that code into your SkyEcho. * If the aircraft does not have its own code, then you can use the code assigned to your EC device instead."

I think the young man who said "We are at war because old men wanted it" got it in one. Even by low estimates, 20,000 of this generation of Russians (alone) have died this year at the behest of - for the sole benefit of - old 'rogue politicians'. An entire Sydney-to-Surf fun-run crowd, slaughtered in their prime since February. Not even counting Ukrainian losses. And for what, exactly? What strikes me about the attitude of these young folks (admittedly, a skewed urban sample) is how few of them show a hint of the Putin-esque world-view that apparently fuels the war: mother-Russia under imminent military threat from NATO and the west. (How many actually do feel threatened? By percentage, probably similar to the number of Americans who believe Trump won in 2020. And for similar reasons.) But this national paranoia was not, at all, the spirit of the Gorbachev/Yeltsin era - not even of the early Putin era - quite the opposite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia–NATO_relations#:~:text=Formal contacts and cooperation between,program on 22 June 1994.. But what our ex-KGB guy, clever and cruel in equal proportions, understood was that to take and hold power for life (despite the constitution) he needed to beat up and exploit ingrained historical anxieties around the outside world bent on humiliating and defeating the motherland. (Thanks Napoleon. Thanks Hitler.) Yes, of course, inept and chauvinistic foreign policy wielded by old, rogue western politicians helped Putin enormously along the way. But in any case, nothing infuriates citizens of former Russian vassal states more than the idea that their wish to join NATO could only have originated in the (expansionist) West. As if they have no authentic agency of their own; or perfectly good reasons of their own. Ask the average Estonian or Pole - and now the average Finn or Swede - whether they jumped or were pushed. It seems that most informed Russians don't think it necessary - or even reasonable - to defend the Putin / Lavrov war in order to defend Russia as a whole - in its cultural fullness. After all, if Alexei Navalny was in Putin's place, the whole problem would go away. Only the prospect of young Russians having a fair shot at a long life would remain.