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onetrack

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Posts posted by onetrack

  1. I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this news, but as the information deals with a communication game changer in 2024, I would hope this is the right forum.

     

    SpaceX has just successfully sent a text message to the mobile network via one of their new Direct to Cell satellites. 

     

    What is even more interesting is that SpaceX have plans to rapidly launch hundreds of these new satellites, so there will be a rapid and major upgrade to mobile communications in 2024.

     

    They are doing it for text messages first, then talk, and then followed by data. So, soon there will be nowhere on the planet where you cannot use your ubiquitous mobile phone or tablet, just like you do in mobile coverage areas today.

     

    Of course, there will no doubt be a certain level of charge for the service, but the charges will no doubt be far outweighed by the convenience and economic advantages of having the equivalent of city-level communication 1000kms from the nearest human habitation.

     

    image.thumb.png.e93d18678dafe96ad0875924b06205aa.png

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  2. The kids around Portland have developed a new, locally-oriented, "hide and seek" type game. It's called, "Let all go find an aircraft door!"

     

    The door is the major prize, minor prizes are awarded for passengers personal items found. The rules say the game must be played along Boeing flight paths.

     

    image.thumb.png.0d0133b3daeffd9c2c0d13d11f2e7569.png

    • Haha 2
  3. Be firm with people who are going to stuff you around, saying they'll take it, and then not putting down a deposit. If someone wants it, they need to back their talk with a CASH or a BANK TRANSFER, NON-REFUNDABLE, deposit.

    It's not sold until money changes hands. Don't rely on verbal agreements. Write up a sales agreement that covers everything that might go wrong.

    It doesn't need to be a 50 page agreement drawn up by a lawyer - just a simple handwritten agreement has authority in court, if major problems develop.

    Ensure the description is accurate, that buyer has made himself/herself aware of all faults in the machine. Itemise the sale amount, the date, any terms such as deposit amount and when the balance is strictly due, specific sale conditions, if anything is included, or not included - and of course, both buyer and seller sign the document, and each gets a copy.

    If you make the deposit non-refundable, you're covering yourself from losses of a sale to other potential buyers, who you missed out on, while the non-performing buyer was stuffing you around.

    If a potential buyer makes an appointment to check it out, make yourself readily available - and don't put up with no-shows, and dreamers who want to talk about pricing without inspection.

  4. ......which is the latest aviation design on offer from W.A. and it's based on outstanding Boeing principles (at this point, a smart-alec journo interjected with, "Oh, you mean profits before safety?" - but he was ignored and was hustled away before he asked more awkward questions).

     

    "Furthermore", the speaker went on, "thanks to my wide business connections, we will also be able to offer a fabulous finance package to assist would-be marina buyers to get their marinas at low initial cost!" (note the lower-case "marina" name, as CT uses the same cheap keyboard as bull does, and even went to the same typing school).

     

    "Just WHO is this bloke, anyway?", said a keen aviator in the assembled crowd. "Don't you know?, said another. "Of course, he's not well known amongst West Australians either, as he keeps a very low profile, but his track record is outstanding in his fields, which cover everything from mining to finance to aviation, and even shipping!

     

    However, he does have some opposition from some quarters, and especially from the East Coast, where there's at least two ar**holes who............

     

     

     

  5. I saw an interview with a NTSB senior woman manager and she was at pains to point out that there was an indication of confusion between cabin crew and flight crew, with the flight crew apparently unable to gain correct or accurate information from the cabin crew, as to "what was happening down the back?".

    As a result, the NTSB was keen to acquire the CVR record, so they could determine where the communication problems were, and whether there were possibilities that this communication difficulty could be another B737 MAX problem that needed to be addressed.

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  6. The PT-6A is one of the most reliable turbines around, it's highly unusual for it to fail. However, the indications are, it may have been a partial engine failure.

    It appears it had enough power to do a return to the airstrip from around 4000', however the landing was obviously less than successful, and with a runway overshoot on the return, it appears the pilot may have landed long.

     

    https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/349706

     

    https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2024/report/ao-2024-001

     

    • Informative 1
  7. The stuff-ups continue, unabated. There's no CVR recording available as a result of the tape being overwritten.

     

    News article:

     

    WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The cockpit voice recorder from the Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet that suffered a plug door blowout during an Alaska Airlines flight and carried out an emergency landing on Friday was overwritten by the time it was recovered, the National Transportation Safety Board chair said Sunday.

    NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were sent to NTSB labs on Sunday to be read, but no data was available on the cockpit voice recorder because it was not retrieved by the two-hour mark, when recording restarts and previous data is erased.

     

    "It's a very chaotic event. The circuit breaker for the CVR (voice recorder) was not pulled. The maintenance team went out to get it, but it was right at about the two-hour mark," Homendy said.

    The NTSB has pushed to extend the cockpit voice-recording requirement to 25 hours. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a proposed rule in November that would increase the requirement, but it would only apply to newly manufactured aircraft, Homendy said.

     

    "If that communication is not recorded, that is unfortunately a loss for us and a loss for the FAA and a loss for safety, because that information is key not just for our investigation but for improving aviation safety," she said.

  8. The ABC has a slightly more informative news article - and it says the Cessna (yes, it really WAS a Cessna!!) flipped on takeoff "after hitting some trees".

     

    Looks to me like the pilot hit about the only trees on the island! - but they are in line with the runway! 

     

    There's going to be a lot of awkward questions asked here, over the level of aircraft loading, and the settings for the control surfaces for takeoff.

     

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-08/lizard-island-light-plane-crash/103292742

     

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lizard_Island_Airport.jpg

  9. ......as they talked, the subject progressed to "blowing things away" and "blowing things up", and they both then realised they had mutual common ground in a love of explosives, firearms, dead rabbits, and general destruction, where mind-numbing, boring peacefulness usually ruled.

     

    Together they hatched a plan to position explosives behind the dunnies, as OT gleefully related "Gelignite Jacks" exploits with explosives and dunnies, and OT's fun experimentation with various home-made explosives as a teenager, as well as the sheer pleasure he'd gotten from blowing up VC and NVA caches of explosives.

     

    "Right!" said CT, "First off, we'll need a couple of sausages of Powergel, a few electric dets, some sandbags to reduce the whooomph, and a........

     

  10. News is coming to hand of a microlight crash a few kms WSW of Beverley townsite, near Little Hill Rd, off the York-Williams Rd. The pilot, a man in his 60's is reported as having incurred serious injuries as a result of the crash.

    The crash occurred around 11.00AM WST. It is understood the pilot was the only person on board. Emergency services have responded to and attended the crash, and further news should become available later today.

     

    It's hilly and rocky terrain, with cleared paddocks on the lower slopes and flats - and numerous rural power lines run through the area - so I trust he wasn't another power line victim.

    It's been blowing a gale for the last 3 days across most of the lower part of W.A., but today has been a fine day with only a moderate breeze, a perfect day for flying. Windy says a 4kt wind from the SE out there.

     

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-06/person-injured-in-beverley-plane-crash/103290378

     

     

     

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  11. Well, I guess that situation is typical, flight crew can't often see flames on the inside of the wing, between engines and fuselage, so they rely on cabin crew to alert them to what's happening, "down the back".

     

    Airbus has complimented JAL crew on a "textbook evacuation", and I think the fact that all 379 people got off with no injuries is an outstanding effort, regardless of any errors on the flight crews behalf.

     

    It appears the Captain of the Dash 8 may have been fatigued, he put in a sizeable amount of hours in preceding days, checking out earthquake damage and flying in supplies. He had also previously been getting takeoff priority, as a result of him carrying out disaster work.

     

    Bottom line is - he was told ""JA722A Tokyo tower, good evening. No.1 taxi to holding point Charlie 5". This is certainly not clearance for takeoff - but with inoperative red lights at holding point C5, the Dash 8 Captain obviously thought he was "No 1" in lining up to take off. The problems stem from ATC not using better U.S. style ATC terms, such as, "Hold Short at runway", which is clear and unambiguous. Add in the fact that runway incursion warnings were also not operating on 34R, and there's all the holes lined up.

     

    Also, sitting on a well-used runway for 40 seconds is not good. I've regularly heard "takeoff without delay" from ATC, as soon as we lined up on the main runway.

  12. A carpet python? Nasty buggers, I don't like them. Found one crawling across the road and through the bush once, just West of Brookton.

    I stopped the ute and followed him over to the fenceline, and he reared up like a King Cobra, and was going to have a go at me! So much for "harmless pythons"!

  13. It's pretty obvious the Dash 8 Captain thought he had takeoff clearance, even though he was told to hold. Surely a glance skyward when approaching the main runway would have alerted him to the oncoming Airbus?

    And it's claimed the Airbus crew did not sight the Dash 8, thus their reason for not going around. I'm quite surprised by this claim, it's not like there was only one pair of eyes looking out the front window.

    It was a clear night, so no level of reduced visibility that I could see, but maybe a lot general airport lighting and too many flashing lights distracted them from sighting the Dash 8, until it was too late.

    Or maybe they saw the Dash 8, and thought it was going to stop at the hold point, and it didn't, and they were too far into landing to conduct a go-around.

     

    The puzzling part of the communication transcript is the Tower talking to JAL166 (which appears to be lining up behind JAL516) and during the communication with landing instructions Tower says, "we have departure", with no other reference. This looks like fuzzy communication techniques to me.

     

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-04/japan-airlines-crash-permission-to-land-coast-guard-not-cleared/103283704

     

     

     

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