onetrack

The latest ATSB stats only cover the period from 2010 to 2019, so it's difficult to determine if there really has been a major upswing in aviation crashes recently. I tend to believe the crash rate is relatively static over a period of time. https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/2020/ar-2020-014

The W.A. road toll has been relatively flat for the last 10 years. However, the variation between the metro road toll and the country road toll is quite substantial. The reasons are simple; 1. Higher speeds in the rural and remote regions, resulting in worse crash outcomes. 2. Crash victims are often not found in time, nor have someone try to resuscitate them in time, due to delays in rescuers getting to them. 3. Failure to wear seat belts (because there's no cops around!) 4. Driving drunk. 5. Driving whilst distracted (texting) 6. Driving whilst excessively tired 7. Medical episode (drops dead at the wheel due to stress of long period behind the wheel). Of all of the above, the cops have been staggered to find a substantial majority of fatalities in the rural and remote regions were caused by not wearing seatbelts! https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/road-safety-commission/road-fatalities-year-date As I said above - people continue to kill themselves in precisely the same manner, over and over again, failing to heed safe procedures, and to make a habit of following them rigidly. Familiarity breeds complacency - "She'll be right, I know this terrain like the back of my hand" - as the individual takes a shortcut against a published safety procedure.. "I can get through this cloudy patch, it's only a thin layer, and it's not the first time I've flown in a little bit of IMC". "No point in trying to spot other traffic, you can't see them anyway, and besides, there's no-one within a bulls roar of us". "That other aircraft's gone, isn't it?" (said without making 100% sure it's gone). "I'm sure we can beat that cold front rolling in". "I need to be home tonight, I've got a big day tomorrow, and a lot of people to see". CFIT by a highly experienced pilot is not only often unexplainable, it's nearly always as a result of overconfidence, lax following of rules and safety procedures - and a pattern of risk-taking. The worst outcomes are where total aircraft destruction is the result, and the reasons behind the crash are shrouded forever in mystery.

Accident events have peaks and troughs, they're not a steady figure. You can have a dozen crashes in a month, then none at all for 3 or 4 weeks. A wide range of factors affect the accident rate. Pilots keep making the same errors - and IMO, because so many always appear to be acclaimed and highly experienced pilots, after the disaster - it appears that many became lax or complacent in their approach to dangerous conditions, and it finally caught up with them. In particular, CFIT's by "highly experienced and well-regarded" pilots indicates to me that they were regular risk takers, and that that risk-taking finally caught up with them.

Crashed aircraft now identified as a Socata TB20 Trinidad - owned by the pilot, who appears to have been a citizen of Mackay. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/347333

ABC is reporting that rescuers have deemed the crash of this light aircraft "unsurviveable", and are presuming the occupants, a man aged 73, and a woman aged 75, are deceased. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-29/two-people-presumed-dead-in-north-queensland-light-plane-crash/103036876

Helicopters missing and crashed don't seem to rate as high as light aircraft missing and crashed, on here. The disappearance of the R66 seemed to be overshadowed by other bad news, such as Gaza.

Red, that's old news. The wreckage of the missing R66 Robinson has been found, police divers have dived on it, and recovered some items from the wreckage. Included in the recovered items is an on-board camera, which the ATSB is hoping will yield some information on the crash. Neither the pilots body, nor his dog, have been found. I would hope he had the dog properly restrained, and I would hope that something the dog did, wasn't the reason behind the crash. The R66 was relatively new. https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/grim-discovery-in-search-for-missing-helicopter-pilot-and-dog/news-story/8b54c6a53ab7db9cdc175a66d81a78b0

C'mon fellas, let's not get into mudslinging and personal attacks, everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if you totally disagree with it.

Oh dear - where have we heard this before? .... QUOTE - "we learned that one of our overseas contractors had used an inferior primer, resulting in aluminum corrosion forming on a large number of quick build kits. This required us to scrap many kits, while further increasing production to replace affected kits. This alone represented a multi-million-dollar setback for us." If you hand over manufacturing to an overseas supplier and do not install on-the-spot QC checks, of course a supplier is going to try and ream you. Oldest trick in the book, and one especially prevalent in Asia.

No further accurate info yet, but the reports are saying "grave fears" are held for anyone on board the aircraft. That's some real Tiger country up there, I've been through that region - "inacessible" is a good description. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12682293/Finch-Hatton-crash-responders-rush-scene-light-plane-crashed-mountainous-inaccessible-terrain.html

My apologies, the videos and news articles made it look like you were operating on Perth Water.

The boat speeding past in the background is most likely operating in the high speed watersports area. I've done enough boating on the Swan River to know where the speed limits are. Perth Water is between the Esplanade and South Perth. Melville Water is a different patch of water again, West of the Narrows bridge. Melville Water is open water.

It looks like an Infinity 1 to me. https://infinityaerospace.com/product/featured/infinity-1-quick-build-kit-canard-sport-aircraft/

Stand and ride, hands free, on a delta wing canard aircraft? I'm not entirely convinced that would be easy to do.

Convair CV-990

The circumstances behind this crash just makes you wonder if any EFATO situation plan was ever discussed before takeoff. To start a LH turn and bank and then change that to a RH turn and bank after the EFATO, seems to me that no EFATO plan was discussed - or if it was, it wasn't followed.

Convair 880

Nev, you've been listening to, and believing too much breathless marketing hype. There's not a hope that any petrol engine can ever come close to the torque output, economy or efficiency of a diesel engine. The simple reasons are that diesel has a considerably higher energy content than petrol, it is a much slower-burning fuel, and a diesel operates at a higher compression than any petrol engine. If petrol engines could even remotely hope to match diesels in torque output, economy or efficiency, then the major diesel engine manufacturers would now be producing petrol truck and tractor engines again.

All vehicles for at least the last 25 years have had CANbus architecture installed - the system used to ensure that ECU's, microprocessors and sensors can all communicate with each other. It is one of the most important developments since the silicon chip. CANbus architecture is used in a myriad of machines, not just cars, trucks and aeroplanes. We would never have the integrated functionality of modern electronics without the CANbus system. https://www.can-cia.org/can-knowledge/can/can-history/#:~:text=In February of 1986%2C Robert,most successful network protocols ever. ECU's, microprocessors and sensors in automotive applications are reasonably reliable today. The greatest single failings of electronics in automotive applications today is inadequate protection of harnesses and connectors, and major contaminants such as water, dust, chemicals from soil and air getting into these areas. Damage whilst in use, and faulty assembly, are the other areas that produce faults. Electronics are complex on IC-engined equipment, because IC engines in themselves are complex devices, with many demands for rapidly changing inputs and controls. Electric motors are much simpler, they only require input power and a method of controlling it. Regenerative braking or battery regeneration under deceleration is a huge hidden asset of electric motive power. Vast amounts of energy are wasted by IC engines - in wasted heat, in unnecessary fuel burnt just to keep things ticking over. An electric motor only draws the level of current and produces the power output required for any particular time and level of power demand. Once a vehicle is rolling, only a tiny amount of power is needed to keep it rolling. An IC engine produces far more power than needed, under light load. Aircraft are a somewhat different kettle of fish as major power draw is needed to take off and climb to the selected flight level. But even in level flight, aircraft demand more power to keep up the desired speed, as aerodynamic drag is a massive drawback to cruising through the sky. So, electric aircraft will always be behind the 8-ball, as compared to road vehicles, and until major gains are made in battery lightness and energy density, pure electric aircraft will never ever be competitive for anything more than short hops. On that basis, I see hybrid power as being more likely to be the power source for longer-haul electric aircraft in the future.

With the incredible amount of money and research effort currently being poured into battery development, we can look forward to battery energy density increasing to a viable level within a few short years, possibly as little as 5 years. https://www.monash.edu/news/articles/smaller,-lighter-lithium-sulphur-battery-lowers-costs-and-improves-recycling-options#:~:text=Smaller%2C lighter lithium-sulphur battery lowers costs and improves recycling options,-13 October 2023&text=Researchers at Monash University have,required in a single battery.

I finally found the ATSB report on the crash of VH-RMQ. https://www.atsb.gov.au/sites/default/files/media/24427/196800001.pdf

I understand the double row Cyclone wasn't too reliable when it was carburetted, it only became reliable when they fitted fuel injection to it.

I tried to open the ATSB file on the crash this morning, but it wouldn't open. It appears the investigation report has been sent to the NAA, but is possibly still waiting to be digitised. They never found the reason for the damaged bushing, or who installed it - against Viscount installation specs. I think someone was being protected there.

Somebody just being silly, they placed the chocks there for a laugh, just for the photo.

Nev, Wikipedia has a basic level of info on MMA, but Geoff Goodall has the comprehensive story. He split the MMA story into two parts, the S.A. part and the W.A. part. Geoffs story is interesting, informative and well written, as is his competent style. https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/mma-1/mma.html https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/mma-2/mma2.html https://www.goodall.com.au/photographs/mma-70/70smma.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacRobertson_Miller_Airlines MMA had the 3rd worst airline crash in Australia, when one of their Vickers Viscounts (VH-RMQ) lost a wing just out of Port Hedland on descent, on NYE 1968. All 26 on board were killed - a good mate was supposed to be on the flight, but picked up a bug and couldn't fly, and another bloke in his company took his place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacRobertson_Miller_Airlines_Flight_1750