onetrack

Now it looks like there wasn't any DOS attack at all - it's just a BS story to cover up the fact that 5M Aussies all got up from the couch at the same time - right when the ABC News ended - and they all tried to log on to the Census site at the same time, and it just simply crashed and burnt.

 

So much for the "1 million people logging on at the same time", test. Don't these clowns understand that there's 24,000,000 people in Australia, and you can virtually clock what most are doing at any one time by the TV programs playing?

 

I'll wager all the power station meters show a power spike, as well - right as all the kettles get switched on at once, too, straight after major TV programmes end.

 

 

There's no sign of the MLG being extended in any previous photos I've seen - those taken right about evac time. If "gear up" had been selected, wouldn't the gear have cycled right through, until the uplocks engaged?

 

It looks to me like the gear fell down when the hull was lifted - leading one to presume the gear was partially cycled up, but the uplocks hadn't engaged.

 

What I find interesting, is the relatively little signs of hull and engine pod scarring on the underside - which I thought would have been pretty substantial, when you have 250 tonnes skating on its belly (well, on engine pods initially, then belly), starting at somewhere around 150 kts, and continuing for perhaps 1200-1500 feet? I would have expected some pretty major scars.

 

It certainly looks like Boeing build 'em tough alright - I reckon a few other Brand X's would have broken the fuselage in at least a couple of places.

 

 

The Gumbyment paid a half million dollars to a company to analyse and run a dummy load test to make certain it wouldn't crash.

Natch. Only the best and smartest project managers are in charge of this, and they have access to unlimited funds to ensure it all goes off without a hitch.

And those project managers wouldn't even remotely consider, that a website and project like this - containing a vast amount of prized personal information - would be like a golden egg prize for hackers.

 

Tried to access it at 9:30PM AWST last night, only got the message that the "site was extremely busy, and I should try again in 15 mins time".

 

Tried again about 11:30PM and it was still the same message. Today, the message is ....

 

"The Census website is unavailable

 

We apologise for the inconvenience. There will be no fines for completing the Census after August 9. We will keep you updated."

 

I hate to think what will happen when we really need some serious IT efforts, such as in a war footing. It looks like we'll be back to chalk and slate, and rolling out field wiring to communicate.

 

 

Gee, those crane operators are pretty careless! Don't they understand you can seriously damage an aircraft by slinging chains around it??

 

 

So .. does this mean, the design should now be renamed, "The Midnight Design Special"? Let's hope the components are not being sourced from "Midnight Spares".

 

 

Haven't seen anyone mention the lag in spool-up time for the engines, either, once the throttles are shoved forward.

 

I've seen 6-7 seconds mentioned as the time before full thrust is available, after the throttle movement.

 

I'm guessing even 3 seconds lag would mean a lot, when you've either touched the runway, or you're only 15-20 feet off it.

 

 

Stickshaker, have you seen the size of many people today! The official figures are, 63% of the nation is seriously overweight, and probably 20% is clinically obese - meaning that their obesity is seriously impinging on their health and movement ability.

 

When I said "stuck", I wasn't actually referring to the exits themselves, more along the lines of getting stuck trying to get out of their seats and into the aisles.

 

 

Has there ever been a verifiable instance of pax grabbing their cabin luggage in an actual crash, that has actually created and resulted in fatalities? Haven't seen this in any report I've read.

 

I seem to recall the greatest problem is trying to get 200-300 pax out of the exits in an orderly and rapid manner. Isn't the evac timing supposed to be 90 secs max? Not easy with panicky pax who often behave irrationally.

 

Bodies actually jamming the exit as they try to get through, 4 at a time, would be my main concern - and I note that the large Manchester crash death toll was caused by this.

 

Then there's the problem of obese or unfit people - of whom, I see many, on the commercial flights I take.

 

These people would pose a huge problem in trying to organise rapid evacuation, with fat people getting stuck, and the unfit causing blockages.

 

Personally, I think locking the overhead lockers is a waste of time and $$'s. It would only make those desperate to access their cabin baggage, spend more valuable time trying to break the locking mechanisms.

 

I reckon there's a need for experienced pax with an authoritative manner and abilities, to be selected as additional evacuation controllers, when they board.

 

In a panic situation, you need a few additional competent and authoritative people taking control of panicked pax, and guiding them.

 

The cabin crew are certainly the main force there - but they need helpers scattered through the cabin, who can help prevent the problems of cabin-baggage grabbers, and who can insist authoratively that people just GO! Sort of like a big rough NCO yelling at you!

 

Then there's the problem of footwear. Young women wearing high heels must pose a threat to slides - yet they need decent footwear that protects their feet and which enables them to run from the wreck. 49ºC air temp is 75-80ºC tarmac temp.

 

IMO, suitable covered footwear has to be worn - and this needs to be stated before boarding. Thongs should be a no-no.

 

Then, there's the cultural thing. As a relatively wealthy Westerner, I'm not going to waste time grabbing cabin baggage that I know can be easily replaced.

 

But for someone from a 3rd world country, and of a lower wealth level, it must be very difficult to stop them from grabbing cabin baggage, that represents real loss to them, if burnt.

 

 

Or this one? .....

 

HB-2036 Farner HF Colibri (Keiheuvel 1990)

 

And this one is even better! - the Luscombe P3 Rattler .....

 

luscombe aircraft | luscombe | 1983 | 0426 | Flight Archive

 

Photo by Keith Newsome

 

 

Yes, that would be true. Ettore Bugatti was known for his arrogance. Asked about the worthiness of the Bentley race cars, he merely described the Bentley, as "the worlds fastest lorry".

 

He was fixated on the aims of speed, and beauty in his design - but not necessarily the practicality of his designs.

 

If a problem arose in any of his designs, he was loath to change anything, claiming the problem lay with the owner or operator. He was often rude and abusive towards Bugatti owners who complained about design faults.

 

I can recall the story from the late 1920's or early 1930's when the Type 35 racing Bugatti's brakes got so hot, the heat transferred to the wheel rims and started to melt the tyres, causing huge problems for the Bugatti race car drivers.

 

The team manager fronted Ettore and told him the brake and axle design needed to be modified. Ettore reportedly flew into a rage, claiming there was nothing wrong with the design, and blamed the drivers.

 

In the same vein, when Bugatti persisted with his abominable cable-operated brakes, after most manufacturers had converted to the superior hydraulic brakes - and purchasers of the Type 35 started to complain - Ettores answer was simple. "I make cars to go, not to stop!"

 

 

What a bummer. Just reminds one of how inherently dangerous the testing of novel aircraft designs is - and even more so, when it's a vintage design that never previously flew.

 

 

I know it's ugly but I love the benign flight characteristics of the 2nd one, from 1.15 minutes.

It really is quite a novel design and one that probably warrants further development.

It kind of reminds me of how the majority of car manufacturers went from rear-mounted steering linkages, to front-mounted steering linkages, because front-mounted linkages gives improved steering control.

 

 

If you equate planes to cars, there's plenty of BMW's through to Ferrari's out there, especially related to price, but not so many Toyota Camrys.

Yes, and a lot of people forget that the Toyota Camry is one of the biggest-selling cars in the country (beaten only by the Corolla) - and there's very little I can't do in a Camry, that can't be done in a BMW or Ferrari - except perhaps, run at exceptionally high speeds.

The missus has an ASV50 Atara-S and it's actually a very very good car to drive. It corners like its on rails, it's a superb highway car, it produces quite adequate power at 135kw, and I can get it down to 6.4L/100km consistently on a smooth level freeway at 100kmh.

 

The motoring journalists will tell you the Camry is just a POS, typical Toyota whitegoods offering - but these blokes worship the European badges, and won't even consider the massive problems that come with Euro badges, such as horrendous parts prices, over-engineering resulting in constant niggly problems, and massive depreciation.

 

Roll on with the Ornithopter. Just remember, putting a bend in the wings has to have advantages on more than one front, besides looks, and not consuming more material.

 

I'd personally be concerned about the bend producing control and linkage complications, and control surfaces operation complications.

 

 

If you did it in some of the traditional styles of building then in some cases you might be right, but you may have noticed already that I don't do things like other people do.

Ahhh, Yes! So this design improvement, is just the gradual progression, towards the fabulous and unique Bex Ornithopter?

 

 

This series of old film clips has to go into the laughter forum, because they're a laugh a minute!

 

 

 

Bex, doesn't the gullwing design mean more fasteners, and multiple wing sections, that detract from the inherent strength of one straight, simple section?

 

 

My grandfather won one of those letterbox lotteries many years ago and ended up with a Porsche Boxster which he had traded in on a Mercedes before even taking delivery of it.

My best mates brother won a Porsche - and he traded in on a new VW Kombi Caravelle! It was one of the later water-cooled Kombi POS, too!

My vote is for a Jabiru, because they're locally made, and we need to support local industry.

 

If the winner hates Jabs with a passion, he/she can always trade it on the aircraft of their choice!

 

 

I bet the fine for stopping on a freeway is going to hit his wallet, big time!

 

 

Looks like the GA training and procedures are going to have to be sharpened up, in more than one airline operation!

 

I bet that was a pretty wild ride, before all the bouncing stopped!

 

I hope they didn't damage my fragile freight that I'm waiting on!

 

Accident: ASL Hungary B734 at Milan on Aug 5th 2016, overran runway

 

 

Could've been worse, you could have landed somewhere on the Nullarbor Plain!

 

I can recall sometime in the late 1970's, when I was an agricultural contractor, I called on a potential farmer client, looking for work, in the area NE of Hyden - because I was working my machines in the area.

 

We had a 10 minute discussion, the discussion ended, I farewelled him and roared back out the long entrance drive to his farm, to the front gate.

 

Now, most of that country out there is relatively treeless, and the farmers never left too many trees or shade patches. The only break is undulations in the countryside, when someone or something can actually hide in a depression.

 

His driveway had a couple of raised areas of ground, with a couple of matching depressions, which meant you could hide something in one of those depressions, and get a surprise when you came over a small rise, and it suddenly appeared in view.

 

Unbeknowns to me, when I roared out, the farmer had jumped on his trail bike, and roared out the driveway, probably a couple of minutes behind me. It was Mid-Summer, he was only wearing stubbie shorts, thongs, and a T-shirt.

 

I got to his front gate, and suddenly remembered there was something important I wanted to ask him. So I did a U-turn, and roared back up the long driveway to the house, in the ute.

 

I crested one of the couple of rises in his driveway - when suddenly, I was confronted with farmer squatting by the side of the driveway alongside his bike - shorts around his ankles, trying to lay a length of brown cable!

 

I dunno who got the biggest shock - me - or the farmer - who didn't hear me coming back up the rise in the driveway, and who only realised I was coming back, when I crested the rise, 200M away at 60kmh!

 

I've never seen a bloke stand up and whip his shorts back on, so fast in all my life! I reckon he broke the world record - it would have only taken him around 5 milliseconds, I estimated. It was faster than any reflex action.

 

He was as cool as a cucumber, I asked him what I wanted to know, got my answer, and I farewelled him again.

 

I often wonder if he managed to lay that turd right after I left, or if it got clenched back in so tightly, it took 2 days to release it again!!

 

 

The reported temperature of 49 deg C would have had a pretty sizeable effect on performance, of even a B777, wouldn't it?

 

And that's just at the temperature reporting location - the temperature over the runway would have to be a lot more, wouldn't it?

 

It's not until you've stood out on a big area of hotmix bitumen for an extended period, on a 38 deg C day, that you understand what "heat sink" means (that's heat sink as in heat absorption).

 

There have also been reports of windshear, which I understood was their reason for selecting TOGA.

 

If there was a combination of windshear and the performance-reducing heat effect, coupled with a few seconds delay in the decision to GA, then one can perhaps understand the reasons behind the crash.

 

What puzzles me, and a lot of others, is the apparent gear-up position. Surely the Capt and FO would have ensured a positive climb rate before raising the gear?

 

I've been in, and also watched at close range, large RPT aircraft who carried out a GA. The one I was in, was due to departing military aircraft debris on the runway at YPDN, a couple sighted at YPPH were due to extremely gusty conditions.

 

They don't stuff around, the rejection decision isn't left to the last few seconds, but more like 150-200 feet - and the gear isn't raised until they're properly climbing.

 

I would suspect a very late and poorly-initiated decision to GA could be behind this crash. Could have perhaps also involved some miscommunication between the Emirati Capt and the Aussie FO.

 

NOTE - I'm not a SIM expert, not a commercial pilot, not a 16 yr old wanna-be - just expressing a personal opinion, which is what most people do on forums.

 

 

It looks like I'm not the only one worried about Trump having unfettered access to the Big Red Button ...

 

Former Nuke Weapons Officer Goes Off: Trump Is 'So Damn Dangerous'

 

The comments below the article are interesting enough in themselves. Noonan, I might add, is regarded as a hawkish Republican, as well as a former nuke launch officer.

 

 

The media is reporting a Cessna 172 has made a successful dead-stick emergency landing on the Cape Leveque-Broome Rd (Manari Rd) after reportedly running out of fuel.

 

Now, while this immediately sounds bad, it is more than likely the story is a lot more involved than what has been reported in the couple of paragraphs below.

 

Light aircraft makes emergency landing near Broome

 

1. The aircraft left Cape Leveque after an overnight stay, destination Broome. It is entirely possible the fuel tank/s were "milked" at Cape Leveque, and the pilot didn't do a final check, just immediately prior to takeoff.

 

2. It's possible the fuel supply line was disrupted in some manner, and serious amounts of fuel were lost in flight.

 

See scenario 1 for the possibility that the "milking" involved removing a fuel line and it was not replaced properly.

 

3. I had a former business partner who put his Cherokee down on the Coolgardie-Kalgoorlie Rd many years ago, due to a fuel tank crossover valve failure and resultant fuel starvation.

 

He landed O.K., but then took a wing off on a large roadsign that got in the way!

 

It's entirely possible the Cessna suffered a similar style of problem, but I'm not familiar with Cessna tank/plumbing setups, so this is merely conjecture on my part.

 

Glad to see the emergency landing was successful and no-one was hurt. The Manari Rd is full of caravanners, campers and 4WD's at present, he's lucky he didn't land on a 4WD or a caravan or a camper!

 

 

It's funny how the only ones who recognise Trump as a worthy leader of the U.S., also just happen to be the most erratic and dangerous people around - the NK military - who also view unquestioning, dictatorial-leader-worship, as the ideal method of Govt.

 

What amazes me is how no-one has pinned Trump on his policies - mostly because he doesn't have any.

 

He believes in policy-on-the-run, divide-and-conquer, abuse of opponents, and rapid-backtracking on statements, as hallmarks of a fabulous leader.

 

He cannot produce a firm policy and direction statement on anything of major importance that any previous President has been unable to solve.

 

The greatest self-promoting statement that reveals the level of his BS - which BS, I'm firmly of the opinion, he actually believes - is his statement that the day after he is elected, "Beginning on 20th January 2017, safety (in the U.S.) will be restored (to all its citizens)!"

 

Stupid Donald Trump Quotes 2016

 

Full text: Donald Trump 2016 RNC draft speech transcript

 

Maybe if Trump produced a worthy policy outline on how to reduce the number of easily-accessed, billion-plus firearms that the U.S. is currently awash in, one could actually imagine he did have some method of attacking the gun violence problem that plagues America.

 

I can predict one thing with great certainty - even if Trump is elected President, the safety of the average American will not improve, and neither will U.S. gun-violence reduce, one iota. Mostly because Trump has no worthwhile ideas on how to reduce U.S. firearm violence.

 

He will be no different to any other U.S. President, they are totally unable to deal with rabid "2nd Amendment" protesters, nor can they deal with the "untouchable" firearms industry, or its well-financed arm, the NRA.

 

 

I cannot even begin to comprehend the maths, the science, and the skill behind being able to jump from 25,000 ft precisely into a 100 ft square net!

 

Let alone the nerves of steel it would take to even contemplate a jump without a 'chute! The bloke must carry his cojones around in a wheelbarrow.