mnewbery

I was just thinking the same thing.

The weather hasn't been conducive to outdoor activities round here so there has been a lot of resting and renovating - the nail and paint kind not the spiritual kind.

I took my kids ice skating because it was so hot and smoky. On the ice, we witnessed a pretty nasty and avoidable collision that led to a visit from the ambos. It gave me pause for thought.

 People who would travel over the holidays are staying home due to the weather and road closures.

Likewise for the flying, sadly. Its more hot and bumpy than ever plus the smoke haze reduces visibility. This happens in the afternoon or just after dark.

I got a bit glum for a bit then I realised rather than stay home and hibernate I need to keep my hope alive, to hope for the best but plan for the worst and stay alert. At home and out travelling.

Seasons greetings to you Farri!

They are locking in 30+ years of coal power

 

https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/chinese-coal-power-panic/

TLDR;

121 Gw of coal power under construction, 25 Gw suspended but likely to go ahead lets say 148 Gw in China as of November 2019 ... down from a forecast 259 Gw in September 2018. We can't do anything about it but they are doing something.

One explanation might be that both China and India are seeing explosive growth in renewables beyond what their coal fired assets are needed to supply. Another might be that they are both factoring a big slow down in economic growth

In university I cared a lot more about this than I do now. We had this new thing called "high temperature superconductivity" or just HTS. It was "new" then. The most well documented of these was BSCCO which was so easy to make, its production in a domestic oven became part of a few high school curricula. BSCCO and YBCO are still being studied today. High temperature here means "warmer than liquid nitrogen at sea level".

BSSCO is made from exceptionally toxic ingredients. That being said one of my lecturers designed a machine that could spit out finished material like a slow firing machine gun. The manufacturing process had no practical application. 

(By now you know where this is heading...)

The heating loss from the laminated cores in the transformer(s) or similar losses in heating the wires plus the hysteresis place limits on the power density and packaging. Spot heating is quite common and its a black art to overcome effects which seem quite random until a sufficiently detailed computer simulation can provide some explanation. Magnetic field leakage is also an issue with high power applications

A solenoid is a transformer with only one winding and some choice of core (movable, "air", fixed)...

A superconducting solenoid will typically consume 1/5 the power for the same field strength as a traditional solenoid, at scales around 200Kw. For reference the Warp 11 DC electric motor produces 58 Hp and weighs 100 Kg. The Siemens SP260D weighs 58 Kg and produces 350 Hp at a conservative 20x the price ($3k vs $60k)

Now imagine an electric motor weighing 100 Kg capable of producing 1500 Hp (300 Hp x 5). This would be possible using superconducting magnets - probably solenoids. A lot of liquid nitrogen would be required too.

So between the rare earth magnets, the toxic superconductor ingredients, the unproven packaging and the sheer inconvenience of getting LN2 ... oops forgot to mention this all runs on batteries and a starting price around $1M  (have a look at used MRI prices).

I think I'll stick to 100 low lead 

They should have been used to replace mechanical transmissions and driveshafts years ago

 

... and were, in locomotives

I was wondering if the drift to motorcycles was related to my avatar?

 

No.

...so perhaps this is the link

 

Yes.

GS850 to R1100RS with a trailer. Kids are still at home so after I wore the last Money Waster out, my wife and I got commuter bikes, one of which has been ridden all over the country from new and refuses to die

http://www.australianflying.com.au/latest/casa-seeks-feedback-on-stall/spin-training

A fair question from @nomadpete. I was poking a bit of fun at the people and organisations who denigrate the journalism of the ABC because it doesn't fit their narrative. It's not about what I believe, people need to make up their own minds about the details presented. In the two articles linked the facts seem to be well considered and various well known subject matter experts quoted.

Just because information appeared on the ABC News website, that doesn't point to the information being right, wrong or agenda-driven. 

I do believe that one outcome of the current collection of bushfire disasters will be a review of building construction materials and methods in rural and peri-urban areas. I believe the insurance companies will get involved and start making their expectations well known when the review comes

Unfortunately this isn't about aviation but stuff it, I need a rant while referencing that esteemed leftist anti-government mouthpiece, The ABC.

If I am reading this article correctly

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-20/hazard-reduction-burns-bushfires/11817336

... hazard reduction burns can and could only do so much. The article suggests this time round, conditions are so extreme that hazard reduction burns were not going to make a difference. University of Melbourne associate professor Trent Penman stated in the article [at some point the] "while fuel has a small effect, it is overwhelmed by the weather".

So we can blame Bob Carr for locking up the NSW state forests until they were filled to the brim with dry fuel, we can talk about state and federal funding, bad luck, poor back burning conditions ... or dip @fly_tornado in phos-check and use the resultant goopy mess to beat the flames away.

If the article is correct, the fire season was always going to be this bad. I believe that new or previously discarded ideas will be investigated. Below is an article on how fires start

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-11-20/bushfire-ignition-source-how-we-know/11701132

Only 10% of the fires are listed as "naturally started or "other". I'm not sure what "other" means. Possibly things like discarded ammunition or old reading glasses plus "we really don't know". The rest are people being stupid and can be proactively managed. Fire fighting may need to evolve and I think the things that burn (houses) might need to be changed the same way Cyclone Tracy changed building codes in NT.

If anyone hasn't figured it out yet, we (Australia) are officially off the charts this time - The Coulson L100 and 737, the Erickson Aircranes, the Conair Stumpy four - are just the start

I'm waiting for the smoke to clear. The instructors are taking a well-earned beak from the summer weather and I won't be flying GA solo for a few more hours.

Anyone near Cootamundra or Goulburn who wants to take me for a fly in a Drifter or a Thruster, I am all ears (and cash)

These are my picks

Ants Airplanes Drifter model for FSX https://www.antsairplanes.com/drifter.html

Piper cub in Flight Gear http://wiki.flightgear.org/Piper_J3_Cub

aerolite 103 in X-Plane https://www.x-plane.com/2018/03/new-aircraft-x-plane-11-20-aerolite-103/

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/6552280/plane-crashes-near-south-coast-airport-runway-after-engine-fails/?cs=12

According to the media release, the plane landed 800m short of runway with a mayday and an engine failure. A Westpac helicopter based at the airport was in attendance shortly after

Another example that people writing exams might refuse to let die:

http://flysafe.raa.asn.au/navigation/Safety_Net_Using_GPS_as_a_VFR_navigation_tool.pdf

and Bob Tait's reply:

https://www.bobtait.com.au/forum/air-law/4492-avoiding-controlled-airspace-restricted-areas#6464

I think he attributed the reformed behavior to CASA when the publication actually belongs to Air Services

I bought this exam and did it several times in 2016

https://www.conceptaviation.com.au/search-info/books/307-ppl-sample-cyber-exam-set-dyson-holland

The exam was very clunky. I think it was originally written using a technology known as Active Server Pages. The questions are mostly up to date but a few were not. Most exam questions referenced the AIP and Part 61 correctly. The question book was straight forward, the work sheet needed to be downloaded.

One thing I keep noticing is references and exams to parts of AIP that don't exist anymore. One example from the VFRG is

https://vfrg.casa.gov.au/general/rules-of-the-air/vfr-navigation/

"Keep the airplane out of controlled airspace when the pilot doesn't have a clearance" 

and it references AIP ENR 1.1

This isn't in the AIP and hasn't been for a while. So even the most recent VFRG is referencing a version of the AIP that doesn't exist.

It used to be AIP ENR 1.1 section 19 then it was moved to section 4. Then it as removed as of about 2014.

Yet, I still see exam questions that say 1nm mile by day and 2nm by night for clearance from a controlled airspace below 2000 AGL and so-on. Bob Tait, guilty. Aviation Theory Centre Online, guilty. 

Be ready to really dig into the books when going the computer based training. People (instructors) get certain answers in their heads and don't keep up with the changes. AIP ENR section 19 is one example and it gave me a lot of grief. My instructor was adamant I was a lazy idiot (he was right) because I didn't know the day VFR clearance limits for flying outside controlled airspace, from memory (but this wasn't the reason).

We spent maybe three hours with three sets of paper AIPs and two sets of company exams. We found a lot of other stuff that wasn't in the AIP anymore.

Summary: Aviation law exams suck. The planning and maths bits are generally ok. Generally the paid exams aren't better than the resources that are free online.

I paid a fortune for access to updated Aviation Therory Centre online books. I will be sending a large number of amendment requests. Not worth it, inaccurate and not kept up-to-date. Bloody hard to search too.

Another parallel to consider. Didn't a bunch of retreads who survived Honda CB750s Z1s and GS1000s come back after their kids left and write off things like K1200RS ( ssses) and ZZRs in the 1990s?

Is it possible a bunch of retirees are getting back into flying under similar circumstances?

its an open question

If private pilots over sixty are the ones that fly the most, it makes sense that their number would be reported more often. Another question to ask is "what do these fatalities have in common?"

Queensland transport ran a "fatal six" campaign decades ago. The six were:

fatigue

poor maintenance

inattention/inexperience 

tailgating 

weather; and

alcohol or other drugs

Speed was never mentioned. Neither was was being too old

Only four items built ... and then there were three

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-14/two-killed-in-far-north-queensland-light-plane-crash/11800404

Apart from paid leave in order to keep fighting fires, I'm not sure if anyone understands how to support the current and future FF efforts.

I was at the shops today. The local RFS had at least four people collecting $donations at every entrance plus more people inside. That might be a hint.

Also, in (the) Canberra (bubble) there are some pretty pointed messages written in fluoro paint on the FF appliances. That might be another hint.

This crap about enquiries into corrupt payment for aerial FF contracts comes up every year in every jurisdiction that have contracts.

I've got an idea. How about we all figure out a way to fight and prevent fires without aerial FF?

I think our indigenous traditional custodians may have got on for a few thousand years before the invention of the turbine crop duster

I'm going to give a +1 to @M61A1 here. The hourly operating costs for military assets are mostly known. For example in 2005 an Army AU chinook ran to about $65k/hr when averaged out over an engine lifetime. Same aircraft in civilian hands is operated for logging (quoted) at $10k USD.

Army = $65,000 AU per airframe hour. The engine lifetime could be one year, ten or whatever. Our 1966 kiowas were waved bye bye only this year

An AS350 hires out in Australia for less than $1500 per airframe hour. The sky cranes are going to be somewhere between $9k AU and $15k AU. All this stuff was second hand civilian and readily available when moved to aerial fire fighting and the people who use them only use them for fire fighting. Parts can be had quickly 

So yes the military have "bought and paid for" assets but when they are used up, the bill to replace them must be paid by federal taxes. Alternatively, the army and airforce could use all of their aviation assets in one summer then have nothing left for international disaster relief, support of the Bougainville referendum, joint exercises, training ... Or actual Defence of the country.

Sounds like a very expensive way to disarm an entire country. Military hardware doesn't grow on trees.

I've heard of camping at Leeton Aerodrome.

Moruya has a camp ground outside the fence and picnic tables at the Aeroclub. Plus one to the earlier post.

Temora has lots to see and do

Bex is right. If you know the maximum lift coefficient of the wing (which should be known), the effective wing area and mass are accurately known, the airspeed that just holds the aircraft level before a stall may be calculated. 

The actual value isn't going to be much different unless the test is done at or past max aft CG, at which point good luck you are now a test pilot.

RyanAir stays profitable by using a well-understood bait-and-switch marketing method. Examples include using the phrase "London Luton" in its communication. If I was a German pilot in WW2 and I got told to go photo London  but I came back with a photo of Luton I think people would get upset with me.

Londo and Luton airports are an hour apart by train.

Then there is Avalon (friends don't let friends fly DeathStar) 

Another example RyanAir is famous for is their bag check policy which changes every 7 weeks in order to keep catching people out. Many complaints have arisen where UK travellers have bought an airfare under one checked bag policy and had it changed (then brutally enforced) on the return leg of their trip. Plus the complaints feed the news cycle invariably. This is just free advertising for Mister O'Leary.

If this is what it takes to keep an airline in business, thanks but no. Leisure travel was never risk free. Remember the cheap seats on the Titanic.