Spin

Great photos as always John, your Savannah sure does get to some beautiful places. Look forward to reading the expanded story in due course. Rgds Carl

As I said above, make your own call regarding whether to open lee windows during the cyclone, but make the decision on the basis of some hard information. Here are two sources I quickly dug up, I've also got an article written after studies involving a large wind tunnel along with on the ground investigation after hurricane Andrew in Florida, buried in my hard drive somewhere, I'll dig a bit deeper, however the thrust of it was that whilst opening leeward windows did reduce internal pressure by a miniscule amount, it was unnecessary and given the sometimes unpredictable, turbulent airflow actually increased the chances of breakage and of having a windward opening - something everyone agrees is undesireable. http://www.onestorm.org/prepare/storms-explained/hurricanes/CycloneMyths.aspx, http://www.snopes.com/science/hurricane.asp, Maj I'm not sure quite how to take your comment about university bred experts, but I find it surprising that pilots who generally have a good understanding of scientific principles and accept wind tunnel data wrt aircraft, will dismiss the same source of data in regard to the behaviour of a structure. Agree wholeheartedly re tiled roofs, had quite a bit to do with them after Larry - tiles peeled off wholesale and ended up showering down on the neighbours which didn't go down very well! Edit: A slightly more authorative source, see p2 http://www.jcu.edu.au/cts/idc/groups/public/documents/newsletter/jcuprd_045829.pdf

Guys, obviously do whatever you think best with your own house, however opening windows on the leeward side is a furphy and potentially dangerous - have a look on BoM under cyclone preparation, it is actively discouraged. A number of studies have been done on this over the years and I've yet to read one based on scientific evidence that pushes this approach. I'll dig out a couple of references later. Frank, seems the bulls eye has shifted right over you guys - can you not rather move out or are you happy that your place is up to it? Cheers Carl

Sounds like a good call Windsor68, I haven't been through a cyclone myself, but was in Innisfail 2 days after Larry, spending the next 10 days working with the people and structures that had. Truly horrifying, particularly because it isn't something that you can really predict - similar houses only 50-60m apart received vastly different damage, whether thanks to flying debris or imbedded tornadoes I don't know. One was a write off, the other needed some new gutters and flashings! A lot of people were badly shocked and a recurring theme was "I wish I'd known how bad it was going to be, I'd have been long gone if I had". Good luck guys.

Jimmytwo, if you have a decent internet connection, SBS normally have these programs available via their website for a week or so.

Counterintuitive it may be, but it is true. The trim surface normally works by moving in opposite sense and deflects the control surface so as to achieve the desired change. If control surface is jammed, this cannot happen, so trim then acts as a mini elevator, but this requires you to use it in opposite direction to what is usual. Try it next time you're preflighting.... Now if the control linkage broke, that would be a whole different story:oh yeah:

Pud, how did you "westies" fare with Bianca? From the bits I saw she seemed to do a bit of scattered damage coming down the coast, but had faded quite a bit by the time she actually came ashore. Sad about the lass who got electrocuted.

Hi Maj, commercial unfortunately, followed by hire car. Although there are opportunities in my job for the odd flight, (I even get to use my boat on occasion:cool:), until I buy my own aircraft or get a share with understanding co-owners, it is all too complicated to be practical. I could keep myself gainfully occupied if I were delayed by weather, esp with internet and mobile access, but most hirers wouldn't be too keen:sad:.

Hope those seaplanes are still there Maj, sounds as though it got a bit blowy there overnight. Initial reports are that there wasn't too much damage or flooding, hope daylight doesn't reveal too much more. Without selling our friend Anthony short, I am getting rather concerned about Yasi; Cat 2 already, a nice warm Coral Sea in front of her and no current atmospheric obstacles, she could quite easily turn into something highly unpleasant. I'll be watching developments carefully over the next few days, but I'd say there is possibly going to be some evacuation required ahead of her. I was due in T'ville and Ingham for meetings on Thurs - but you know what, I don't really feel the need to be visiting or travelling through that sort of event! I was just looking at some forecast track maps and it is pretty unusual to see how closely the major forecast models agree with one another - there are normally some real funnies amongst them, but this time they all barrel roughly WSW across the Coral Sea and clobber QLD more or less between Ingham and Sarina.

Options?? Made me sit and consider what I would do if a nosewheel decided to part company with one of the (fixed gear) aircraft that I fly these days. The Tecnam's stabilator is pretty effective and you can keep the nose up until the speed drops fairly low, but short of 20kts plus of wind on the nose, you're still going to be travelling at a couple of clicks when it drops to the ground. Depending on what remains of the strut, you may well be in for some unpleasantness on a soft surface:yikes: Of course in the good old days when men were men and .....(fill in your own:oh yeah:), some clown would volunteer to ride on the bonnet of a handy Landrover and leap onto the tail plane whilst the pilot proceeded down the strip with enough power on to keep the nose up, causing the aircraft to slither to a halt on its tail skid. There was a well documented case at the airfield where I first trained, C150 flared and landed squarely on top of a Cherokee 140. The meeting of C150 nose strut and Piper propellor was not a happy one and both broke off, leaving the hapless Cessna to take power and stagger back into the air without the requisite trio of wheels. After some headscratching on the ground, an apprentice from the workshops volunteered (so they say) to give it a go. The Piper was cleared off the runway and they duly proceeded to try and match speeds. I believe they overestimated the old Jeeps acceleration first time around, but the exercise was brought to a successful conclusion, all within 900m of available runway.

The Rescue of Flight 771 ?

Looking good, it's at that stage when you can sit in the cockpit and make "Brrrrrrm, takka-takka" noises:oh yeah:. Must say I fancy your shed too!

Ahhh, now that opens a whole new line of thinking, how could I have forgotten the BD5J in Octopussy I think it was. Couple of other Bond stunts are worth a second look too - Pilatus and skydiver etc

Yeah Maj, I've just been trawling through weatherzone, BoM and a few others - thinking of you blokes. As you pointed out, the second twisted sister is the one to watch out for, she looks plain evil on the sat photos. The scary thing is that BoM and others have called this situation pretty accurately so far and they are confident that Yasi is going to steam straight down our throats and may give the state a good kicking while she is about it. Anyone for another tax levy?

First off welcome aboard, hope you enjoy the site and the company. I'm quite obviously not spending enough time out at the field, I didn't realise there were any J230's onsite. Which part of Brisbane, long way to travel to Caboolture if you're at Redland Bay, say? If you're anywhere from the City, south I'd suggest staying where you are. Most places around here will tell you that they don't have hangarage, however experience has shown that if you hang around and are politely persistent, something turns up sooner or later. I know Boonah has some new hangars although I believe they are fully subscribed, there are also a variety of private strips out Gatton way, some of which were badly affected by the floods, so tread a bit warily with bruised spirits out there. Only covers I've had anything to do with are Punkinhead (spelling?), fitted quite nicely and seemed to do the job, although the owner complained that they were quite pricey. I know some people do leave their Jabiru outside, but I'd only consider it as a temporary measure myself.

Thanks Nev, I see where you're coming from, although going asymmetric with the average light twin in the hopes of extending your glide or going around, sounds like a sure fire recipe for getting hurt. While I'm playing devils advocate though, I notice the reference to grass above. I've managed to avoid the necessity of landing sans undercarriage up until now, however more than one experienced aviator has suggested that wheels up on asphalt is preferable to grass as there is less chance of it catching, digging in and either flipping or spinning off laterally. All else being equal I think that would be my choice. As regards this particular incident, the instructor is both experienced, and familiar with the aircraft and strip, so I'd say it was a reasonable course of action in the circumstances - he certainly did slide her on rather nicely, you could hear the the flaps brushing through the grass for a while before the belly touched and she went more nose down from the drag.

Nev I'm curious, why would having more than one engine make any difference in this situation?

The Sabre reportedly lost its nosewheel on rotation for take off, which was spotted by a second aircraft. Fortunately a very experienced microlight instructor on board, I'm told this was forced landing #37 for him! Anyhow they elected to land gear up, engine off. Although there are arguments for and against the latter step, they carried out a text book belly landing, which resulted in minimal damage apparently. Video here;

On at the moment, looks interesting

Thanks for the heads up - read a book about women in the ATA, very interesting. I enjoyed the section about their developing a kind of condensed checklist and handling notes booklet for each aircraft, some of which had fairly idiosyncratic handling or systems.

Starting to look as though the various forecast models got it about right, Anthony is a cyclone again, heading this way and is supposed to strengthen over the weekend before dropping in for a visit. Best guess atm is Townsville and further north late Sunday/early Monday. Hope your yards are clean and aircraft safely tucked away. And if that isn't enough, Fiji Met and others are keeping an eye on what is likely to become Cyclone Yasi, who, if the various ridges/highs/jetstreams etc behave as forecast, may well come steaming across the Coral Sea and land around the same area at the end of next week! Sheesh, enough now.

Yeah Ian, I'll second Pearl Harbour, it may have had a bit of a soppy storyline but I enjoyed the flying sequences. 633 Squadron - there's another I'd forgotten, similar to Dambusters in that it was made back when the real aircraft - and crews to fly the wheels off them, were still freely available. There was some hair raising footage of Mosquitos playing in and around the fjords I recall. JAG was a good series, particularly as many of the stories had some basis in fact - including the back seater inadvertantly ejecting from a Tomcat and going missing in a forest overnight. I've got a photo somewhere of the aircraft returning to base as a cabrio, apparently some rear admiral off for a jolly wasn't strapped in tightly enough and grabbed the lower ejection handle to steady himself when they rolled inverted:yikes:, not the only time that has happened by any means.

OME - Its a mad, mad etc world, now that brings back memories! Dazza, likewise Final Countdown. Anyone remember Capricorn One - fodder for the moon landing conspiracy crew, the last part with choppers chasing a Stearman or similar was pretty good I thought. Also, Those Magnifient men in their Flying Machines; along with Tora, Tora Tora about Pearl Harbour and what followed.

Dambusters - hadn't seen it for ages and then tripped over the opening sequence on tv the other night. Acting perhaps a little too "stiff upper lip" for some tastes (although I suspect Tom Cruise's antics won't stand the test of time either) and the we've been spoilt by modern special effects - however the plentiful shots of Lancasters flying right on the deck amply made up for it - not too much trickery there I believe! Out of Africa - Moth flying over the Rift Valley etc in Kenya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PboA8sP3SFA

I'm a bit puzzled about the comment regarding the confusion with Lismore and Casino being unavoidable - surely they could (should?) be assigned their own frequency or am I missing something?