Old Koreelah

Too busy running to notice, Nev. If it was yellow, those bloke had plurry huge bladders!

When packing up after a day of training at Narromine, a common hazard was getting buzzed by smart ass pilots of high performance gliders, who liked to dump their water ballast on us.

Good question, MD. Do they still use bags of sand? Can’t recall our balloon pilots releasing ballast, but you’d expect it to be a routine event when the get in trouble.

Very like balooning: a silent, windless flight experience that isn’t beyond most budgets. Like wind turbine blades? I suspect the size of them (like the Space Shuttle’s solid boosters) is limited by the land transport they must travel on.

Mark that yacht lift job should have been one of those times when you just do it, and ask for forgiveness afterwards!

Just watched the movie 303 Squadron and also the You Tube vid on why Polish pilots were so much more effective in the BoB. Turns out they were the best of their nation’s elite, with vastly more comprehensive training than British and Commonwealth pilots. Too plurry right, Clint! The effect of discomfort on human efficiency is now well understood. It’s easy for us to sit back in our safe, warm houses with a full belly and pass judgement on the performance of others in wartime situations. If I had suffered weeks of poor diet, dysintery, battle trauma and fear, I might easily commit a war crime.

In his book Samarai, Saburō_Sakai describes the post-surrender attack on what he thought was a B-29. Making his approach, he was amazed at how big it was. He ignored the intense defensive fire and poured cannon shells into the cockpit area. He claims to have followed it down to it’s destruction. Sakai and his comrades were incensed at the surrender and disobeyed orders to make this attack. Technically a war crime, it’s interesting that after the war he was well-received by his former adversaries duriung his vists the US.

Better than having a rapid, unscheduled disassembly.

On a long trip away from known charging outlets, I habitually connect my devices in flight, so they get some charge. Anything wrong with that?

Of course; was focussing on their noisy props, not the threat title.

One of the noisiest. Like the B-52, this Societ bomber looks like being in service for almost a century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-95

I bought my SE2 months ago, before the start date of the rebate scheme. I waited until recent days to apply for the rebate, allowing plenty of time for the bugs to be ironed out of the system. Two hours wasted today; just as I was on the home straight, the plurry site dropped me out. Might start again in a week, after my blood pressure has recovered.

Agreed Nev, but perhaps you need to say “Some blokes”. That “massive attitude change” is happening fast. I’ve worked with lot of women in positions of authority ; most were excellent.

As Kiwi says, Zongshen should have built up considerable expertise by now. For years they sponsored an Endurance racer I know. Admittedly their race bikes were Suzuki-based, but surely contributed a lot to their street bike designs.

I hope everyone has a SkyEcho or similar. Everyone, including those of us on the ground, could then see the big picture.

I suspect some pilots will be too focussed on the clock as they make their approach. For this low-time pilot, joining a busy circuit woukd be less stressful if I knew there was a skilled caller on the ground, as we have had at AustFly. He/she can warn of someone sneaking up in my blind spots. Would it be feasable to have a Battle of Britain-style plot board to show the location of competitors, especially as they near the finish line?

A family member is a frequent flyer and predicts a rosy future for this upstart airline; too many people have had a bellyful of Qantas. I’d like regional travellers to have a chance of affordable air fares.

Me too, Mark. It’s useful to have alternative sources of info if you lose an instrument. My Tacho has gone crazy a couple of times, but the Mizer (bought second hand from Maj Millard) always tells me how much load I’m putting on the engine. After dipping the tanks and setting the fuel quantity on the Mizer, it’s my only fuel gauge and has never let me down. Swapping tanks every thirty minutes is a good way to be ahead of a potential fuel problem.

Bugga! But on the bright side, it shows the value of having an easily repaired, non-structural bit take the impact.

Only the French could build such an ugly aircraft, but they were not the first to put the air intake ready to gobble up the pilot if the ejector seat failed. On the other hand, intake of foreign objects off the ground would be eliminated. Some Soviet designs prevent this by having a special intake above the wing for takeoff.

European motorcycles like Guzzis and BMWs have always produced a noticeable torque reaction due to the engine. Honda cancelled much of this by spinning the Leadwing’s clutch (or was it alternator?) the opposite direction to the crankshaft.

I found quite a few of them in the back of our fuel shed at Qdi Airport. We also have a collection of heavy cast runway light bases- they look a bit like old truck gearbox housings. Do you need any for your museum?

Bruce I have fond memories of a similar competition at Narromine. Last flight of the day we’d land fast, close brakes and taxi all the way home. I once got right to the hangar door.

You’d better be quick Bruce; they’re a dying breed… https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/how-the-mysterious-deaths-of-23-elite-russians-sparked-a-global-murder-mystery-20221230-p5c9gb.html https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/12/russian-tycoon-pavel-antov-dies-putin-ukraine/672601/ https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/chilling-clues-that-seven-russian-oligarchs-were-murdered-by-putin/news-story/f43a9907df4b58d20cf7ea3c7e2f3de3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious_deaths_of_elites_during_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine_2022–2023

Trying not to join a pointless debate between valued members of this forum, but it occurs to me that too many flyers have died due to too much faith in their engine, such as the fatals resulting from Rotax failures. I fly behind an early hydraulic Jab 2.2 which is approaching the statistical “danger zone” of 300 hours. I accept that it is more likely to stop than a 912- but less likely than a 2 stroke or a dak dak- and fly accordingly. I’ve happily flown in lots of aeroplanes, including those with a Jab engine, but getting into a gyro or helicopter is outside my comfort zone.