Jerry_Atrick

Re my last post - sppfed = spoofed

The flaw will not necessarily be in the COVID app itself., nor, on the assumption it downloads the infor into a big data store, runs analytics and when it needs to, it pings you with a SMS text message to say you need to get tested. The app itself doesn't know much about you and let's face it, the guvmint, if they wanted to track your whereabouts can already use the technology and as I understand, telcos and ISPs have to provide the guvmint the info already.. Certainly the case here and since Aus is part of the 5-eyes alliance (US, UK, AUS, NZ, CAN), I would be surprised if Aus didn't require it, too. The security flaw is this: I install some malware into your phone that hacks yuor phone's data. Can come from anywhere (admittedly a little harder on a non-jail broken iPhone or iPad, but still doable. Now, as the pesky little rooski/ukrainian/nort korean (while we're stereotyping) or Aussie (not stereotyping) hacker says to him or herself, "Hey.. These guys in Aus (and coming up to the UK) are downloading an app that now connects any phone in its proximilty and I now have a tunnel to another phone to infect and hack. Of course, both iOS and Android have safeguards, but application ids can be sppfed (easier said than done - but even whatsapp encrypted comms have been hacked). Agree. it's remote, but possible. It's a question of your aversion to risk v the reward.

This Man Owns The World's Most Advanced Private Air Force After Buying 46 F/A-18 Hornets

Wow! I thought the Europeans (inc UK) were petty...

@Flightrite - can't provide a rationale argument? Doesn't bug me.. illustrates a lot, though... I do Miss Flight Bhindi - when is he going to return?

@Bruce Tuncks - I don't know about flying to the right of a GPS track, butin the, before the Single European Rules of the Air (SERA), the rule was when tracking a line feature you should fly to the right of it. The reason is obvious - there are very few true straight line feature in the UK and as they twist and turn, you have sightof them easier than on the right. But also, there is a chance that someone may be tracking it the other way. It may just lessen the risk of a collision. Since taking on the SERA, it is no longer a rule in the UK, but most people I know, when flying VFR still adhere to it.

No, @octave has said [edit] why he thinks its a good idea to use it and [/edit] he finds it hard to understand the reasoning as to why people don't want to use the app.. Rather than a gratuitous excerise of "rights" and opinions, why don't you explain why you don't want to use the app so Octave can understand? We are all ears (well, eyes)...

These are all risk mitigation measures.. As an employer, I cannot be expected to enforce every minute of the day social distancing - if employees go out for lunch, I can't do it there. I cannot be expected to provide someone to go around after everyone at all times and disinfect everything they have touched before another employee comes around. The app aint perfect, but it is another weapon in the arsenal I can use to keep my employees safe - they may not be symptomatic yet, be tested because they have been within 1.5m of someone who has tested positive and if they come back positive, that is one less worry I have,... It's a question of risk - you do your assessment and work out what works for you...

I bought my whizz wheel back in '95 at La Trobe Airport (LVAC). It was expensive - about $60 or $70 from memory, but it is a solodly made metal one; not one of the current day plastic stuff. Part of the reason why I sill manually PLOG is just to get to use it...

Hmmm.. so am I absolved of my obligations to maintain a safe workplace with respect to COVID-19 if I can't force my employees to download and use the app? I see a lot of workcover claims coming... and it is I, the employer that has to pay the increased premium as a result... (I am not an employer in Aus, but you get my drift).

In what way dangerous and on what basis?

It depdends on how the privacy laws are worded. In Europle, GDPR (general data protection regulation) is currently considered the gold standard of data protection. However, it clearly states that where it conflicts with other regulations, those regulations prevail. So, if you, as an employer or manager are responsible for providing a safe workplace and subject to regulation in doing so, and in accordance with H&S regulations deem the app necessary to provide a safe workplace, GDPR, if it would normally not allow an employer to force an employee to use the app, may not apply. It is a very grey area though, because one will be forcing the employee to download it on their private device or any device they take with them. Also, unless you take your device with you at all times, it is going to be a bit useless.. .There are all sorts of practicalities to be overcome. This goes back to my comment, we are all in it together and we should do what we need to as a community to overcome it.

Although VFR is not technically banned in the UK, the guidance is only for essential flight (i.e. emergency services) or maintenance flights of not more than 30 minutes and 10nm from the airfield an only when there is no pulished POH or engine manufacturer procedures on how to inhibit the engine - if there is, then it should be inhibited (as well as other inhibiting normally required for winter layovers). And, although only guidance, all airfield operators are adhereing to it; ours only opens to non-essential GA one day per month and you have to book a slot.. Thankfully the days are long at the moment, but may owners, including ourselves have gone down the inhibiting route, so slots were avaialble. As it is, although zero-timed about 12 months ago, we have had the engine stripped and inspected by our shareholder LAME, as it was sitting for 6 months without inhibiting over winter due to a 1 month paint job taking 6. The engine is inhibited now and we don't plan taking it out - hopefully restrictions will be eased towards the end of this month. Regardless, the airfield received numerous complaints from the first maintenance flying day from locals about why aircraft were allowed to fly, despite a PR job beforehand letting people know. It took a hell of a PR job afterwards to educate them as to why and that only a handful of the aircraft there were taking it up as they have no option -whereas most have inhibited. The UK, especially the SE is far more densly populated and people cannot see how a jolly is considered essential and they do complain. For the record, most farm strippers are flying only when they need to (e.g. I know a farmer who has a farm near Newbury, about 60 miles, I would guess, west of London, and anouther holding in Devon, about 130 miles from his Newbury farm. He has a strip on both and does fly in between them when he needs to be there and back on the same day - otherwise he drives). As I said, we're all in this together. In our case, the lockdown is actually in law just guidance, but many people are adhereing to it; some aren't. When its optional, we assess the risks and the benefits, hopefully rationally (which is subjective anyway) and then take a decision. If you're allowed to fly and in your risk etimation you decide to. If I think you are making the wrong decision, I will explain why - if I can't then I am acting on gut and not thinking. If I can and you choose to reject whatever I have to say, that is your perfectly valid decision. In Aus, even from Moorabbin, you can take off from RWY 13 or 17, head SE and you are over open, fairly sparesly populated country in a short period of time (though I am guessing the Dandenon --> Carrum belt is starting to be built out on - and just checking google maps - wow! Hasn't the Cranbourne area had the carp built out of it).. In the SE of England, it is a whole different ball game... Even those rural areas that look sparesly populated have houses dotted all over them - and they do complain - and complain hard. So for us, when we're all in it together, there's not much hiding.. so our decisions are partly based on that. I know that when I'm in the car, the airfield and the air, I am easily able to socially distance... but sometimes there's sympathy suffering, I suppose. Hmm... The market for what I do has completely capitulated (it was coming to an end anyway, which is one reason why I am looking to go back to nuclear). And investment banking is on a downard spiral anyway. However, thank's to the Aussie financial services industry catching up with the rest of the world and playing bad boy, the Aussie market for what I do is quite bouyant. I may pop over, take a 2 week hotel holiday and see what I can get there, and enjoy a sneaky flight in the mean time... ;-)

Hmmm.. Just went onto Skydemon to check the NOTAMs, and noticed Fairoaks, my previous airfield has just permanently withdrawn their NDB... Guess they now have a published GPS approach (they have been wanting one for about 5 years from memory).

I will go flying.. It's not a them and us.. it's a "we're all in this together." We all have choices - we make them.. I am certainly not judging (not that anyone would care if I did).. Ahhh... I was missing Flite Bhindi.....

The UK has been slow to adopt GPS apporaches, therefore, it has been slower to decommission radio navaids, though is doing it. However, I like doing things sometimes the "old way". I will manually mark the maps, do the PLOG, dial in the VOR/ADF/DME. Of course, I will use the GPS - we have an Avidyne 540 and I use Skydemon (OzRunways equivalent) to flight plan. I cross check my PLOG to Skydemon's. Occasionally there have been differences and I am happy to say, even less occasionally, the my differences weren't my ones to be corrected.. I learned through a minor mishap that I fly VFR using my PLOG and map; One time, in the PA28 Shareoplane I had, which did have Skymap III, that I would go to a work meeting in West Wales by plane as the client's office was a short taxi ride from the airport. As it was last minute, I did the plan throgh Skydemon and relied on it's moving map to navigate me there. From juest west of Cardiff, both the device and the Skymap were unable to get a GPS signal. Thankfully, I printed out the PLOG, picked a feature in the distance on my heading and flew to it.. Was probably the most accurate track I have ever flown...

If the CC cards were wearing those losses, they would be out of business.. Your interes rates are calculated on four main factors: Credit Risk, Market Risk, Operatonal Risk and profit margin. Ever wondered why credit card interest rates are so high.. It's the first three factors that are the risk charge and the fourth represents the free from risk profit. The second would be relatviely small - mainly interest rate swaps to hedge variations in interest rates they pay to fund you and FX/current rate risk. Now, since they have to offer an interest free period, the free from profit rate has to be higher to cover those of us who use free money. So those that are a good payers, but allow a balance to build up are subsidising the free funders and the poor performers.. Anyway, banks have to hold tier 1 capital reserves (cash, cash like instruments and intruments easily converted to cash - such as blue chip shares that are not their own) to cover losses for credit, operational and market risk. Credit card fraud comes under the operational risk category.. so they have to estimate each year what their actual credit card fraud loss will be, amongst other things, and hold capital - and that is part of what is embedded into your interest rate is for.. So, of you do allow your credit card to build a balance, you do pay for it. Getting back to track... The UK is about to launch an app as well.. testing it on the Isle of Wight.. I personally think the benefits outweigh the risk... People will think opposite - that's OK... it is still nominally a free society we live in...

Still do...

I did much the same thing - except I bought a transceiver as it makes a back up if the radios in the plane go kaput.. Of course, they don't have the same range as the fitted radsios with a decent VHF aerial, but it was a good excuse. The CAA here provide a free PDF download of radio phraseology requirements - CAP413 (not applicable to Aus). Does CASA do the same? If so, print out the relevant bits, which for VFR should be pretty minimal compared to say IFR, get yourself a receiver, listen to the calls and compare to what the requirements are- that will help drill things home.. Either Trevor Thom or Bob Tait should have a FRTO book and in these, there would normally have mnemonics for the calls. Commit these to memory.. Occasionally I have had to fall back on them.. there has been a second or two break in my speech, but I got the message out.. In our FRTO books, they say 1) determine what you want to say ahead of time; 2) make sure so no-one is already transmitting; 3) press the PTT button and wait a second as some older sets in particular can take a second from being pressed to transmitting - therefore if you start straight away, the beginning of your message may be chopped; 4) say what you have to say with the mic about an inch from your mouth - speak slower than normal (not too slow) and at normal voice volume; 4) wait until you have said everything before releasing the PPT button... As an example in the UK, when making an enroute VFR freecall (contacting an ATC unit without being handed off to them by a previous ATC unit), after initial contact, the mnemonic is TRPACER (which is easy as it could be a tri-pacer).. It stands for Type, Route, Position, Altitude, Condition, Expected time at next turning point, Requested service... So, when climbing out of Blackbushe, if I am not penetrating the Farnborough CTR, Blackbushe Information will tell me to freecall Farnborough.. The initial contact is: Me: "Farnborough West, November two-zero tang bravo, request <service type>" Farnborough Radar (West): November two-zero tango bravo, pass your message Me: "November two-zero tango bravo is a TB20" (T) "From Blackbushe to Le Touquet via Popham" ® "3 nautical miles west of Blackbushe" (P) "one-tousand, fife hundred climbing tree-tousand on one-zero-one-niner" (A) "VFR" © "Expect Popham two-fower" (estimate time at next turning point) "Request Basic Service" ® They will return with an area QNH, squawk code and type of service offered; and you just read them back., and at this stage I will ask them to open the flight plan as it is an international flight... It is a lot of faff specific to the UK and most, including myself will omit the condition (VFR or IFR) and the expected time at next turning point. But, from the longwinded message it is.. I have occasionally had to stop and say the mnemonic in my head to get it all out correctly... And it doesn't matter if you do because it is better to take a second or two longer in that message then omit something vital or say something wrong... You have to say the same think on requesting a join to the airfield.. It is a right royal pain in the proverbial - but it does allow you to show off your wankering skills in front of ignorant pax ;-)

I agree.. But in the case of the App, what is the risk.. someone could get who you are and where you have been and maybe if you have the virus (though I doubt the latter).. Unless it gets access to your account payment details (whcih I don't think it can), what is the worst that could happen and what is the probability it could happen? This has to be weghed up against the good it can do. I would imagine your energy company, ATO, state vehigle registration, all necessary institutions we have our details with - and probably far more sensitive (unless you have something to hide), and there is every change that your details get leaked from there, too.. Same with yur mobile phone operator. You don't have a choice with these - you have to have to have an energy supplier (unless you are totally off grid) and they could also have a bad apple in them. I am not trying to say one outweighs the other.. All I am saying is that this is not the only place where you have to give info that could be leaked as we saw today. You make a risk assessment and make a decision.

Unf, in every organisation you get people who flout the rules or worse. The question is what that organisation does on learning about it.. Seems the right thing was done this time.

I understand that ATC have a responsible job where a stuff-up could cost them their career and in bad stuff-ups, their freedom (at least in some countries), so that when things are busy and a pilot does something non-standard or downwright stupid, their levels of frustration will rise quicker than a helium balloon escaping the clutches of a kid's hand. But they should be trained (and I am sure they are) not to berate a pilot on air no matter how bad the stuff up. As @Geoff_H, experience showed, it causes the pilot to doubt and second guess themselves and withdraw from communication presumably when no one wants that and also becomes a safety issue. That same FISO at Elstree that berated me for saying ready to take-off versus ready to depart, gave a student returning from a solo a diatribe of what I would call abuse for not getting something right. Screaming over the radio while calling the student everything under the sun - and that was what he was doing - when the situation was urgent but not imminently a safety issue is a sure-fire way to take teh student's focus away from the task at hand rather than on it. Someone complained the the CAA and he was instructed to take a remedial course of some sort is what I was later told. Pilots don't know what ATC is going through at the time; but similarly, ATC don't know what's going on in the cockpit at the time, either. Although we are told to communicate issues, there is a natural tendency not to do so unless it is really urgent to save face or not be seen to not have control or whatever. Certainly, in the PPL syllabus, there was not much about maintaining calmness and the avoidance of letting frustration get the better of oneself when communicating over the air (have heard pilots bicker amongst themsleves).. For ATC, there should be, if there is not already, a system where a review of such events (or the useless shotgun/rapid-fire talking) take place and a discussion with the controller of the importance of correcting their ways. Over here, ATC and FISOs are obliged to fill out a mandatory obeservation report when a pilot is alleged to have breached a rule and materially impacted safety. The CAA then contacts the pilot and notifies them of the report and asks them to to give their sid of the story. Often, no action was taken, but if action was taken, it was usually in the form of remedial online training. Although politics have diminished what was a very good system, the outcome of learning from mistakes has to be better than causing people to potentially hang up their headsets - or worse.

Personally, I blame it on what I call the Harvard School of Management.. Not pointing fingers at Harvard per se, but a lot of people who do MBAs and such, spout a lot of carp about how this authoris says this or that author says that... the authors are usually academics rather than experienced in their field, and the MBAs just take what they say at face value because it sounds intuitive and then implement it. I can't even recall a HR department in the old days - there was a payroll office and that was about it. Now, the carp we have to deal with, with HR, who add zippo real value, is insane. Look at ISO requirements - if you want to be ISO9001 qualified and you're a small business, forget it as you can't employ enough people to look after your quality systems and do the work and pay them all. And I worked for an AS3563 (equivalent to ISO9001) certified organisation. They had an impressive array of quality manuals, almost as long as the building itself. On our induction, we had to sit through a day of quality training given in hushed monotone. Their were manuals for everything - even how to use the kitchen facilities - I kid you not. No-one read them; people did the work they way they were trained and there were no probs. We completed the documentation required when we needed to.. Even teh CEO said it was a waste, but clients required it, so we did it. Nowadays there is a "Professional certification" for virtually any occupation. I have seen people employ many still wet behind the ears but have sat a 3 day course at c. £3k and achieved a professional certification and get a job over someone also qualified but without this "professional" certification such as Prince2, with oodles of proven experience - and it coss te company much more. I did one of those certifications - without it I wouldn't get a job.. But no-on I know who has one ever uses it any more than they did before they did the certification, which is not much.

I was at Elstree airport (North London) quite few years ago and they had a AFISO (sort of glorified radio operator) that was a real bar steward.. As I approached the hold, I called that I was ready for take-off. The can only issue a hold instruction and technically it is on behalf of the owner denying you permission to enter the runway... i.e. you can be done for tresspass. They can't issue ATC instructions such as line up, etc. They can, though, permit you to enter the runway conditionally, such as "after the PA28 on final has landed, take off at your discretion.." Anyway, this pillock gave be a right old verbal belting about how it is departure and not take-off, and how I vioated CAP413 (FRTO Requirements).. I had hd enough of this pillock, so I resonded, "in accordance with CAP413, if one can't recall the correct phraseology, then one should use plain english to say what they need to." He muttered I could take off at my discretion.

It has been reported that BA are preparing to lay off 12,000 people and they are also saying they are unlikely to recommence operations at Gatwick, London's second biggest airport, after the lockdown is over. I can't remember which European airline it was, maybe Lufthansa said they were not expecting pre-COVID levels of flying to return until late 2023. I work next door to a global product manager for a large chemicals company; He used to travel extensively throughout the world; We were chatting yesterday and he was saying his company, which is about to do some trials in Aus, have adapted well to viceo conferencing and are unlikely to return to air travel in anywhere near the volume they used to. If other businesses are following suit, and considering the economic model here is that business and first virtually subsidise economy, there will be a lot of carriers struggling; they will have to put up the fares for economy, which will result in an even further delay in a rebound of demand..