onetrack

.....restart the Voice referendum. However, all this news-making talk, reached the ears of the management of the Lions Club of Victoria, who immediately called a top-level meeting. The Chairman opened the meeting with the Lions Prayer (and accented the "weak" part) and went on with his speech. "Lionesses and Lions, we have gained knowledge of a problem affecting our esteemed Brotherhood, whereby it appears at least one of our dearly esteemed members is being treated like an animal, and is being bought and sold like a captive circus entertainment creature. He's being used and abused for political purposes, and he has even made it to the pages of the infamous NES. This outrageous situation cannot continue, and as our Club policies and aims are to protect our brotherhood and the weak, we must now take action to........

The interviewer is being pretty gentle, and asks about a "best case scenario" - but he needs to be asking the hard questions, such as a "worst case scenario". One thing is for sure, any Vans aircraft owner is going to be paying a LOT more for a kit and parts, and there's going to be a huge delay in supplying both, as new production will have to be financed - and I didn't see any mention of where that financing might come from. If Van's Aircraft is re-constituted as a new corporate entity (almost 100% likely), then any production by the new entity is likely to be hobbled by demands for COD payment by suppliers for materials/components supplied, or hobbled by a lack of funds because neither the owners of Vans nor any financier has supplied enough funding for production to continue at the previous pace. And it is very likely that the "new Vans" will have a substantially lower number of employees, to keep costs down - so this will mean lower production levels, and higher costs per unit produced, by the new entity.

It'd be great if someone produced an affordable gyrocopter - but every time you look at something interesting in the gyrocopter market, it doesn't take long before you're looking at $100K in costs.

That would be a great little unit for shipwreck rescues relatively close to the coast.

Geez, the bloke was a B787 Captain!! You'd think, of all people, he would be most aware of the risks of low flying. This would have to be a case of total complacency, where "familarity breeds contempt". https://bizjetjobs.com/pilots/lanekokshoorn/

Spare a thought for the mother and wife. What a dreadful way to start your Christmas, burying a child, as well as a bloke in the prime of his life. The problem it seems, is pilots continue to crash in exactly the same way, despite their training, and despite all the crash report summaries. How many times this year, have powerlines caught aviators out? There's probably 3 or 4 I can think of, straight up. All is takes is 10-15 seconds of inattention or distraction.

I wonder if the designer got his ideas from the Bugatti Model 100 aircraft? I wouldn't have liked to have been in a crash with one, that Elektron alloy was 90% magnesium, and any fire that started after a crash would have been massive. https://www.key.aero/article/sleeping-satellite

Well, the police have determined the problem - it was one of those "home-made" aircraft. Jeez, you'd think a copper would have more intelligence. https://www.9news.com.au/national/lilydale-plane-crash-two-dead-in-northern-nsw-plane-crash/2c25a84c-5c69-4b12-939c-24f8d50379cb

......which, in an amazingly roundabout way, led to CT9000 becoming greatly interested in the movie and then realising the great value in Hondas, and then buying a well-worn Honda 600 - which, when cut down to a roofless version, provided CT9000 with the ideal bunny-popping outfit to keep the runways at DG International Airport totally free of rampaging, copulating rabbits. Just the very sight of a copulating rabbit sent CT9000 into a rage every time, and he'd reach for his best bunny-popping artillery, which also comprised a cut-down.........

The temperature of the exhaust gas going through the turbo affects its output - because of gas expansion. So the hotter the exhaust gas, the more power the turbo produces.

....."You likeee lice? We got big lice banquet set up to honour outstanding pilots and we are offalling you plime seat at table, in honour of your flying skills!" Turbo thought for a moment - and the memories came flooding back of the time he had that huge Chinese banquet in HK and how it contained many mysterious ingredients deep-fried in batter, or hidden in dumplings - and how his stomach had suffered for days afterwards, as he...........

And the company has gone belly-up? Because nothing exists at any of their sites, and even their last Farcebook posting was in 2019.

Here is an update on the trials. Matt Wright has been committed to stand trial next year in the N.T. Supreme Court on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, and fabricating and destroying evidence, as well as associated charges. Helicopter pilot Michael Burbidge pleaded guilty to a charge of destroying evidence this morning, as well. Former NT Police officer Neil Mellon also pleaded guilty to a charge of destroying evidence related to the crash. Additional charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, and making a false declaration were withdrawn against Neil Mellon. Matt Wright strenously denies all the charges laid against him, and states he is going to defend them. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-07/croc-wrangler-matt-wright-committed-to-stand-trial-nt-court/103199446

Nev is right, mechanically-driven superchargers were far more common than turbochargers on WW2 piston engines, because they did not need operate at the high temperatures that turbochargers operate at. However, turbochargers were being used on aircraft engines early in WW2, but they were initially referred to as "turbosuperchargers" by the Americans. Early on, they were used in conjunction with geared superchargers to gain maximum benefit of forced induction, especially at high altitudes. However, the U.S. engineers well understood the over-pressurisation problems caused by geared superchargers, so the two-speed and two-stage superchargers were then introduced. Below is a link to a 1943 article written by GE engineers fully explaining all aspects of WW2 turbosuperchargers. Interestingly, they used ball and roller bearings for the turbine shafts, and also had their own independent oil supply and tank. There is also a description in the article of how these turbosuperchargers were balanced and repaired in that era. http://www.rwebs.net/avhistory/opsman/geturbo/geturbo.htm

Skippy, the NASA pen story is a great Urban Legend - but it is simply untrue, and you're only continuing to promote an Internet myth. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/#:~:text=But%2C alas%2C it is just,%244%2C382.50 or %24128.89 per pencil.

It is true, as johnm says, that the Nazis did not have access to the exotic metals - nor the pool of skilled metallurgists that the U.S. had - that were needed to produce the higher quality metal alloys that could resist the extremely high temperatures inside jet engines. Not only a shortage of nickel, but also a shortage of titanium, vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, and chromium. Added to that, they had forced labour in their factories and a level of sabotage by those forced to work, that the Allies didn't have to contend with. Both sides had to contend with human error in the manufacturing process, but trying to watch for sabotage as well, would have been another burden that simply exacerbated normal human errors.

The "evidence" you refer to is a report by investigators, which contains opinions that were derived from interviews with people who weren't under oath. As the ATSB reports says, much of the information provided was conflicting, and some was understood to be mistruths and diversionary - so the investigators had to draw their own conclusions. The truth is only revealed under oath in courts with intensive questioning and consideration of the "facts", by a learned judge. Making firm statements of fact on an internet forum, where those facts have not been confirmed by a court of law - and where the case is yet to be heard - can land you in hot water.

Litespeed, none of what you're stating has been proven to be true in a court of law, and I would remind you that there are criminal cases and case results hanging on evidence yet to be examined in those courts, under oath. As regards the widow of Chris Wilson, I guess she has been encouraged by the successful out-of-court settlement between CASA and the widow of David Black, who died when his Dromader lost a wing when firefighting.

Why not? As long as the turbine blades are not cracked, or haven't come into contact with the housing, there's no reason why they can't be re-used. They're simply soda-blasted and rebalanced. The shafts can be rebuilt and machined back to the required dimensions.

Cadillac produced a wide range of high precision components for aircraft, and their smooth V8 engines were manufactured on a large scale for the M5 Stuart and M24 Chaffee tanks. The Cadillac engines also powered the LVT (Landing Vehicle, Tracked) amphibious vehicle, and the Cadillac factory actually built all the above armoured vehicles in their entirety. Cadillac manufactured 175 high-precision components for the Allison V12 1710 aircraft engine, as well as a range of other aircraft components, such as reduction gearboxes. I actually have an original copy of the brochure "Cadillac - From Peace to War" that is displayed on the webpage below. Cadillac continued to build U.S. armour right up until after the end of the Vietnam War. http://usautoindustryworldwartwo.com/General Motors/cadillac.htm

John Clifford Garrett started the Aircraft Tool and Supply Company in 1936 - but his company only played a small part in WW2, and had nothing to do with turbochargers or superchargers until 1954 - when Caterpillar approached Garrett to supply his newly-developed turbocharger for heavy duty diesel engines, to be fitted to the all-new Caterpillar D9 tractor. So Garrett developed their turbocharger technology from heavy duty diesel applications in the 1950's. https://www.garrettmotion.com/corporate/our-story/#:~:text=The Garrett name ties back,era for the automotive industry. During WW2, Cadillac were the go-to company for cutting edge engineering and advanced technology. Cadillac V8's had hydraulic valve lifters in 1937 - in a side valve V8! William S. Knudsen, president of GM was such a respected figure in manufacturing, he was appointed Director of War Production during WW2 and made a 3-star Lt. General - the only civilian to ever have been given that rank. Under Knudsen, the car factories in America swivelled all their production over to War equipment (no new cars, or even parts for civilian cars, were built in America between Feb 1942 and Oct 1945), and it was this massive production ability and technological edge that really won the War.

In WW2, all the aircraft turbochargers and superchargers were manufactured by Cadillac, as the Cadillac division of GM was the only manufacturing operation in the U.S. that had the ability to produce high RPM, cutting edge technology components that required machining to 1/10,000 of an inch. There are probably a few NOS turbochargers and superchargers left from WW2. Otherwise, they can be rebuilt using modern engineering machinery, and current high-tech materials.

The writing was on the wall many months ago. This is just formalisation of the mess to prevent the corporate wolves from destroying what's left of the company. Unfortunately, bankrupt aircraft manufacturers are a dime a dozen, and this is how it always will be.

The only thing I can see in my crystal ball is that our power/energy sources will become a lot more fractured/diverse in the next couple of decades - and that's not a bad thing. Nuclear power stations means we're putting a lot of eggs into one big basket.

Seeing as you can convert from RAA to VH-experimental, and from VH-experimental to RAA, without major roadblocks (provided the rules are met), I would have thought the SAAA document would have been relevant to any RAA aircraft.