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walrus

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Posts posted by walrus

  1. Sorry to hear about Wal - the Rotax Whisperer. I run a 912 iS and I don't like that flexible line at all. If I had to use one at all, it would be a reputable make of AN6 teflon and braided stainless with fire sleeve.

     

    The oil lines also need fire sleeves but they are not under much pressure and they also have to be able to take vacuum which can be considerable with a cold engine - which is why you can't apply full power until the oil is at or above 50C.

     

    I run Goodridge convoluted teflon and braided SS forward of the firewall because it is very flexible although expensive. NB if using Teflon and SS hose, be very careful not to overtorque the securng nut because it can split, leaving you with a difficult to trace fuel weep.

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  2. Turbo, yes, that is the way it is supposed to work in a free market capitalist economy that we are supposed to have. We should always be looking at the donut, not the hole.

     

    However, although I have no direct experience of CASA and certainly haven't seen any bad behaviour personally,

     

    I don't wish to be dragged into the discussions of alleged bastardry that appear to be continuous.

     

    What I think I can say, taking an overall view of the situation is that over the years I have read enough, including Parliamentary publications, that document Government attitudes and associated CASA regulatory behaviour that increases business risk for potential investors in aviation compared to other forms of investment, for example, property development, mining, agriculture and even manufacturing.

     

    When you evaluate an investment opportunity, you start with consideration of Sovereign risk, that is the risk of doing business ina p-articular country and then drill down to business risks, competitors likely reactions, technical risk, etc. etc until you arrive at a return on investment adjusted for the risks involved. IF the risk is high, then the returns must be high.

     

    A component of sovereign risk is regulatory risk and aviation is a regulatory minefield as is allegedly CASA's behaviour in promulgating, interpreting and enforcing the same, at least according to Sen. Fawcett and many other MP's. The risk of investing in aviation in Austrlia is too high compared to other investment opportunities

     

    That means that we are likely to be underinvested  in the aviation sector of our economy compared to say, USA, New Zealand and even UK. NO investment = no economic activity = no jobs and it's a vicious circle.

     

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  3. Tuboplanner: "The problem is Rodger the people complaining most likely don't know how to order a pizza or an Uber, and, like the old geysers that used to wander abound the banks saying they were "awful" for not having as many counters, one day there's going to be a puff of fairy dust and it will be learn the systems or nick off. "

     

    Err..No, period. Your faith in computer systems and technology is touching but misplaced. Computer systems are as unreliable as the people who specify them, let alone  code them. Examples? The British Post Office scandal - ongoing and robodebt in Australia. Imagine the cluster**** possibilities of CASA training an AI if you want a real nightmare.

     

     

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  4. The window arrangement does not look like a Zenith 750 Cruzer or STOL, neither does the door, which on a 750 is a one piece bubble. The Cruzer doesn't have an inverted stabiliser and the 750 STOL doesn't have those tips on the stabiliser. Neither of them comes standard with hub caps. Both the Cruzer and 750 STOL are good for 650 kg MTOW. Perhaps it is a 701, 801, Savannah or some sort or some modified combination.

     

    It appears that the aircraft was only registered a month ago, so that suggests the pilot didn't have much time on type.

    The behavior of  some light aircraft in a strong crosswind can be challenging. You need to remember the rules for control positions when taxiing and be very, very careful to ensure that the upwind wing never gets too high an angle of attack.

     

    If it is a ZEenith type, the full span flaperons get quite heavy when drooped as flaps and while they are very effective you have to be ready to apply some muscle make them work and to keep that into wind wing down and under control.

    In any case I hope the pilot pulls through.

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  5. If at all possible, transport an aircraft kit crate yourself. Apart from the cost, using a commercial freight service will bring your aircraft kit into contact with the number one destroyer of kit aircraft - "Mr. Forklift".

     

    Now Mr. Forklift is a very, very dangerous beast; it is not very bright, it cannot read those signs saying "Fragile Aircraft" and  "do not stack", it assumes that your crate is as strong as a bank vault full of anvils and it will treat it accordingly. The lads who empty shipping containers are equally rough. The reality is that your crate weighs next to nothing, you have no idea how strong the box is, nor what shipping damage it may have sustained. It contains aircraft skins - large sheets of .016 aluminium that will dent if you frown at them. You need to watch the whole performance yourself. My crate was damaged by a fork in transit and I lost a rudder skin - its not the actual cost of the part - it's insured, but the buggerisation of making a claim and getting a new one is extreme. HIre a vehicle trailer if necessary. If you are going to build an aircraft, you will devise a way of getting the box on and off yourself. If you can't solve that problem. well, you probably shouldn't be building a kit aircraft.

     

    As for moving a completed airframe, I hired a plant trailer which will take a little wider wheel track than a car trailer. Whatever you do, either remove or double lock all control surfaces and hatches because you will probably be travelling well above stall speed on the road.

     

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  6. Further to my Wednesday post. If Ozrunay sales and marketing staff are "let Go" or find that they no longer have any sales growth targets in their KPI's, or if product development staff are Let Go or merged into Foreflight,  then you will know that Boeing is going to euthanise OZrunways, for if a business isn't growing, its declining.

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  7. Sfgnome - helicoils by any chance?

     

    There is a long list of Australian technologies that have been sold overseas and lost to Australia from the value adding standpoint.

     

    The main reason being that our taxation laws make it virtually impossible to run a global corporation from Australia, as if the tyranny of distance wasn't already enough.

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  8. ....or more likely; Boeing bought Ozrunways to kill it. That is also a favourite American tactic.  They just "put it on the shelf and let it gather dust" - convert the customer base to Foreflight.

     

    The giveaway, if that is Boeings intention, will be the absence of any performance incentives for the previous owners and managers in the purchase agreement, or if there are, the absence of any clause committing Boeing to invest in and  foster its new purchase.

     

    One thing is for sure; whatever amount they paid - they intend to screw out of the Australian customer base.

     

    If I was an employee without any share options, I would start looking for a new job right now, because Boeing is managed by human Hyenas - which is why they have quality issues. They will destroy Ozrunways.

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  9. Well that is the end of Ozrunways. I won't renew my subscription.

     

    No American company can be trusted not to nickel and dime you to death.

     

    First to vanish is the agility and fast updates and new features.

     

    Then they start to charge for product support while at the same time complexifying the product and the documentation so you need support.

     

    Then we segment the product offerings like a Starbucks coffee.

     

    Let's see;  "Student starter pack", "RAA special", ""GA Pro", "Commercial Piston", "Jet IFR".

     

    Then we have flavours - "Australian', "US", "Intercontinental".

     

    Support levels; "Gold", "Platinium" etc.

     

    Then we get airline and company specific.

     

    ....and I give you ; "BLOATWARE" that only runs on the most powerful tablet available.

     

    But we promise that won't happen.....   .........not when you have five million in share options maturing next year.........

     

    Because Wall street drives everything and they are utterly ruthless. Wall street will have at least five analysts specialising in electronic flight bags next week and it is those guys at JPM and Goldman Sachs who are in the driving seat, not the former management team..

     

     

     

     

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  10. The problem with this discussion is that the issue with medical certification that prompted CAA and FAA to act, is not about "hidden health problems" at all.

     

    The facts of the matter are that the FAA and CAA proved to their own satisfaction that there is no statistical correlation capable of being detected by a medical between a GA  pilots health and the potential for that pilot to have an accident.

     

    This is not to say that there is No correlation between health and propensity for accident but that, if there is, an official medical examination is a very, very expensive and ineffective way of trying to find it, to the point of being a total waste of time and money.

     

     

     

     

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  11. Brendan: "Just to be clear, I am not going to jump in my ultralight and go crossing mountains tomorrow, it's just something I would like to consider down the track. Maybe even the odd trip up to the licola area and back . It's not very far from west sale.".

     

     

    Yes Brendan, but we don't know that you aren't a complete idiot like the guy who killed himself attempting something similar, who had zero experience. That is why we all react..

     

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-20/mount-beauty-plane-crash-victim-mathew-farrell-mourned/101458134

     

     

    ''I know the Mansfield region pretty well and have had one or two closes shaves.......

     

    ''Remember that there are old pilots and bold pilots, but not old and bold...

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  12. 1. This is real tiger country, if you crash here, we may never find the wreckage.

     

    The weather is your enemy because you are using a slow machine. Furthermore, going from Mansfield to Gippsland you will encounter at least TWO separate weather systems, maybe more; for example hot inland concditiond with turbulence around Mansfield, a seabreeze front on a Gippsland afternoon and thunderstorms over the ranges where some mixing occurs. Then there is sea fog (yesterday around Portsea) and smoke, haze and dust north of the ranges.........and that is all on a settled day.

     

    Now if you are in some sort of bullet like a Cirrus or Bonanza, you just need a short window. You can get high enough 9500 - 10000 to pretty much see the whole route. Furthermore, at 160+ knots, a 10 knot seabreeze sprining up or a thirty km diversion around a thunderstorm is no big deal, plus you have an autopilot and excellent navigation gear.

     

    BUt you are only doing 65 knots aren't you? That means a ten knot seabreeze can ruin your day and forget about 30 mile diversions, you dont have time or fuel so your route planning needs to be very different and by the way, dont forget density altitude;  if you have to land some where high you will be walking home. The advantage? At 65kmots its prettyy hard to inadvertantly go from VFR into IMC.

     

    My bugsmasher is somewhat in the middle. What I would do is treat such a project as an adventure with very wide time frames and a very flexible itinerary - like the old sailing ships - they never contracted to go for example "Melbourne to Sydney", the contracts specified they were going "from Melbourne in the direction of Sydney".

     

    Now if you can set out with an open mind about where and when you might end up, plan your trip as a succession of small stages that only nibble at tiger country with go/nogo points between them and lots of alternates you will have a wonderful tme. Just dont get caught on one side of the range with a long slow trip home in darkening weather.

     

     

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  13. The devil is in the detail - this is where AVMED and Spence will short change us; look at all those qualifiers:

     

    "most of Australias private pilots".   .....AND RECREATIONAL pilots.

     

    "private pilots who meet fitness requirements"

     

    "those who meet eligibility criteria and satisfy requirements"

     

    Then of course this massive disclaimer...

     

    '"The self-assessment would see applicants answer a simple set of questions using CASA's current online systems.   ....simple??

    Access to training modules and comprehensive guidance material will help you  make a well-informed and appropriate decision........appropriate? says who?

    Adoption of the proposal will mean that most people who fly the majority of hours in private operations will be able to apply for a Class 5 medical self-declaration, noting the medical exclusions and operational limitations........most can apply, but most won't get it.

    We estimate the new system will cover about 70% of the Australian aircraft fleet.".......about 70% of the fleet? Aeroplanes don't need medicals, - pilots do.

     

    ...and we conclude:

     

     

    There will, of course, be exceptions and some people will still need to see a doctor."........ in other words anyone with a "condition" - which means everyone, is still fair game for the medical inquisition.

     

    The only thing absolutely sure is that AVMED will require a bigger budget and more staff to give us this new "freedom".

     

  14. Thruster, I fear you the GA and the RAA community are in for a huge disappointment regarding medical certificates very shortly.

     

    Don't you realise that the simplest approach to medical certificate reform is to remove the RAA self declaration option?  That will silence GA regarding the equity issue.

     

    AVMED will not do anything that threatens their careers.

  15. Where does it say RA-AUS registered aircraft are banned? It IMPLIES permission is required but not that it isn't forthcoming unless you are a microlight/ultralight/weight shifter. It also says that the aerodrome is not available to anyone for training and suchlike. There is no blanket ban on RA aircraft in controlled airspace.

     

    Having said that in my opinion and remembering certain events involving previous mass "arrival" of RA aircraft, it would be extremely unwise for someone without a CTA endorsement to head for Bathurst and the operator is entirely justified in excluding unqualified people.

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  16. The core of Qantas strategic weakness is that it isn't a national airline at all. It is a Sydney - Centric organisation with very deep connections to the NSW political establishment. 

     

    The reason for this connection, and it's importance, is that direct international flights are a major determinant of the destination for international business investment and tourism. Qantas deliberately biases its offerings to intending travellers from London and Los Angeles towards Sydney and have been doing it since at least 1975.\\

     

    The way this works is that flight schedules are arranged so that Brisbane and Melbourne are effectively at least three hours further from LHR and LAX than SYD ona round trip basis. There is a cost penalty too. That means that investors get off the plane in Sydney and choose it as their headquarters. This is how Sydney became headquarters for arriving foreign banks and IT companies in the 1970's.

     

    A recent check using a VPN to masquerade as a British or American traveller shows they are still doing it.

     

    'Every business decision Qantas makes has to take account of this secret bias and it seriously distorts their business. For example Qantas hogs the available Sydney slots but still opposes foreign competition because they will run direct flights out of Melbourne and Brisbane.

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