Jerry_Atrick

I started my working life in the public service. Although an important department, it was relatively small. The rank and file were largely as one expects public servants - not going flat out, mainly worried about reading the gazette for new jobs and whether or not they could go up a grade at review. Most work was clerical and public facing and they did serve the public. Of course, no-one would work late unless it was sanctioned overtime (from memory, Tuesday and Thursday nights).. of flexitime. Well, I say that no one would work late without sanctioned overtime except one team - ours. We were the IT team.. We were very small and apart from management (hailed from the private sector) and maybe 6 or 7 others (including me), all were contractors. Of the 6 or 7 permanents, 3 or 4 were from the main gene pool as user aceptance testers. The manager would bring them in on trial and of course, for emergency releases, they would have to wait for the developers to finish before they could test. The manager was reasonable, if it was late, they would be paid, but up to about 7pm, they could come in later or leave earlier the next day - or just add it to their flexi-time. Needless to say, those on trial that kicked up a stink didn't go on to be permanently in the team and a lot wanted to as it was a path to becoming a developer. The manager was instilling a service attititude into his team.. simple.. And for most, it worked. Also, it was a great place to work - small and nimble team, recognised and rewarded on a meritocratic basis - genuinely smart people to learn from and thrive off. Very rare in public and private sectors. Only downside was I met the woman who was to become my finacee... thankfully we didn't quite make it further. To be honest, she is much smarter than me, so she is probably more thankful! Some secretary for the department decides they need some big project to sell information provided by the public back to them (in a different form). They decide the team we have isn't up to the job (which was rubbish - some of those contractors were worth their weight in saffron). So they decide to hire a new manager (the exsting one saw the writing on the wall and took a very nice job in private enterprise) and he brought his troops from the other department. Overnight, the department transformed into a bloated bureaucratic mess. They introduced all of these procedures in the name of quality, that nothing got done, and what did get done was of no better quality. I stayed around for 2 years - the time they were supposed to take to deliver this thing.. Guess what.. it was running late and had 2 years to go. In other words, according to the plan, had not moved an inch, The state auditor general wrote a damning report on it, the response was paltry but no-one took action. One day, as I was wakling past a colleague's (from the old regime) desk, his phone rang. As he wasn't there and he was heading 3rd line support for the day, I picked it up in case there was an issue (something the new guard would never do). It was the old manager. We had a chat and as it turned out, he was looking for a couple of programmers and asked if I was interested.. 4 Weeks later, I left the department. I later did a gig with a statutory authority, which is a phrase that really means government department that charges for their "services". Now, I lean ever so slightly left of centre, but the place was filled with either leftie socialist lesbians or people totally indifferent to life. That is not fair - there were a good number of people who were conscientious, capable and tried hard to to the right thing. The problem is the system constrains them and allows the aforementioned people the same career development and ability to get into decision making roles and of course, it serves both the executive of the public service and the pollies to keep it that way... Anyway, I learned from that last gig that these people are cushioned from a lot of life's realities and as their jobs are safe, can take a very black and white/;azy attitude to things.. they can be wrong in their application of the law and there is no recourse... No great incentives to get things right and do a good job; no great disincentives if you crew up or don't get your job done. What is that going to breed? Note, I am sure lefty-socialist lesbians are generally nice people.. but the three I had to deal with were off their rockers in terms of what the authority was providing and what they thought even the smallest self-employed should pay for their authority's particular service, especially when it as likely never to be invoked by them.

Looks perfectly valid for a short field landing

$1m for Polly Waffles! Pah... WOuld have been better spent on Chokitos...

Hmmm.. When I re-read what I had written: I tend to agree. Must have had my mate, Wolfie Blass over that eve... Or was it James Hardy?

It was the same in the UK.. The problem is, in reality, there are so few votes in it. But there are two things that help here: A charity, Help for Heroes, has done a stirling job promoting the issue and now there are votes in it. Also, the royals are required to serve in the military and the red-head, although a bit of a scattergun himself, saw active service, demanded no special treatment (i.e. not given a cermonial post) and actively supported various charities that supported returned servicemen as well as being a leading figure in setting up the Invictus games.. the press that brought was huge. We are still miles off where we need to be, but it's a start. The cost of supporting our returned servicepeople is tiny compared to the cost of going to war.. I can never understand why we don't do something about it.

This aint the sort of website you should be publishing photos of yourself urinating

It tales that long for her centres of gravity to stabilise?

Hola y bienvenido a los foros. Ese es un muy buen halcón que tienes allí. La mayoría de las personas aquí hablan inglés, así que perdón por mi gramática (a través del traductor de Google). Salud, Jerry

I think the RAF museum you are referring to is the Imperial War Museum - Duxford. A great day out.. RNAS Yeovilton is near me.. The museum is fantastic and I have flown in into its Airshow twice.. Great day.. We are pretty lucky in the UK with flying collections and museums.

OK - another from the logobook - but, again, someone else's - you guys must think I don't fly... It's January, 2010. I haven't flown for 13 years (thought it was 15). I am in the same company now for 3 years and have discovered a flying social club on the group chat. So I invite myself to it and join the conversation. In the autumn months, they decide to plan a flyout to Le Touquet - which is the British pilot's mecca and rite of passage. The idea quickly gets traction and soon the pilots are asking for volunteer pax. Of course, I put my electronic hand up.. The date is set for August and it can't come around quick enough. The pilots were still trying to get passengers, so I ask the lady who sat next to me if she wanted to join us. She was pretty keen and invited her friend.. both Aussies. They were assigned to another pilot.... The first planning meeting organised where pilots and pax attended. I already knew my pilot, the girls eagerly awaiting their chiseled jaw, tall dark and hadsome ferrier..well the look on their face was priceless when he walked in.. as was his.. He was the exact opposite of what they were hoping, they were the exact match of what he was hoping ;-) Anyway, dates settled, routes from the different airfields agreed, departure times more or less agreed, watches synchronised and all of that.. and it was waiting it out. This was out route: The southerly sector was the route out and the northerly the route back. Steve, our intrepid pilot for the day, pre-flighted the plane and the other pax, my step-father in law, followed him around to see what happened. Steve ensured a GAR form was filed and we had our passports and they were still in date. We donned our lifejackets and in we hopped (me in the back!), all bucked up, safety briefing given and we were off. The day was claggy and Steve had to use his IMC rating (only legal in the UK): I was keeping a close eye on the instruments from the back seat for good measure, but he was perfectly fine: We routed south via the Miday VOR, hung a left north of Goodwood (which I recommend if you come to the UK tome it for the Goodwood Revival if you like antique cars and planes) and coasted out just past Rye. Apart from joining Moorrabbin's 18R/35L from Carrum. I have never really flown over water in a light aircraft before. It was a surreal feeling actually. As we coasted out, we could see plenty of ships and a few ferries crossing the channel. As I only had a Blackberry and it was cloudy, the shots I took were rather average so best not post them. However, when we got the FIR boundary that separates UK and French airspace, in typical fashion, the clouds more or less gave way to decent sunshine. Steve let Richard (step father in law) take the controls of the aircraft for his first time. Richard is an ex meteorolgist who did aviation for a bit and an aviation enthusiast, but never tried flying before. Well, his initial trepidation gave way and he really enjoyed it: Steve switched to the Le Touquet ATIS ahead of crossing the border.. They transmit it in both English and French; when we dialled tthe ATIS up, it had just started the French version and it was then that Steve said this was the reason for dialling it up well in advance. He thanked London Information for their service and dialled in Le Touquet approach. This was my first taste of French RT.. .and it is a little unsettling as they speak to French pilots in French and everyone else in English. The result - it is hard to build up a situational awareness of where everything is. I normally applaud that gallic stubborness but in this case, it seemed dangerous. But, after a while, you get used to it and keep your eyes peeled. Compared to the the verbosity of UK RT, the French just require who you are, where you are, what height you're at, and what you want to do.. As I recall Aussie ATC. 'Twas a joy. Anyway, I start to get excited again - we are doing a proper international flight and we are coming up to another country's coast: The airfield actually sits not too far from the beach... On the northern-ish perimeter, there is a fquant little marina - apologies for the blurriness.. need a steadier hand... We are instructed to to a join left hand downwind. The weather is almost perfect for flying - a gentle breeze and all looks fine. But, as this back-seat driver noted the approach looked a little high (but didn't say anything because Le Touquet has an 1850m runway and I figure he wants to land well into it to minimise taxy time) (again apols for the quality of the photo): The flare was a little high and we returned to terra firma with quite a bump. But the PA28's undercarriage is built to take it.. A little embarressed, Steve taxis to the parking and we disembark in glorious sunshine. Behind us, Tony and the 2 girls arrive in a rather nicely refurbished TB10. Both girls have the broadest smiles on their faces and really enjoyed the flight. We enter the terminal building, organise for refuelling and agree to pay for the fuel and landing fees on our return. No one checks our passports; we walk straight out into leafy suburban streets and ion about 10 minutes or so, we are at the rendevous restaurant. One other plane load beat us, but the others were a little late departing as they had to wait for the cloud to lift. We had an excellent lunch; one of the benefits of not being a pilot on the day was that I could also have a glass of wine.. and nice it was, too. As things were later than planned, a few went for a walk to town, but Steve had something on that evening so wanted to get back sooner rather than later. That was fine by me, as by this time, I had decided that I had to get back into flying and knew I would be visiting it again, soon. Back to the airfield, fuel and landing fees paid, we strapped in, run ups done, sat behind a TB20 on the taxciway and it decided to it's run ups right in front of us - ze bar-steward! Anyway, we are off, and sure enough, we can see the clouds across the FIR boundary. However, it is a great feeling and sight coasting in: We north along the eastern edge of the Gatwick zone, and then west along the northern edge. We had a pretty good view of Gatwick and then landed back at Fairoaks, safe and sound (though Steve did practice a side slip in): (note, the shiny building to the right is the McLarens Formula 1 facility) (The side slip - not turning final) Once we got down, we taxied, parked and put the covers on. Although customs are permanently at Fairoaks, no-one wanted to see our passports. We bid farewell and on the Monday, I let Steve know that when a share comes up for sale, let me know. I had to wait around 6 months to start flying due to other commitments, but I effectively retraced this route almost as soon as I got my JAA (now EASA) PPL. The flotilla consisted of 2 PA28 Warrior II, 1 PA28 Dakota, 2 C172s, 1 TB10 and 1 Quick-R Trike. Great day had by all. (Here's a photo of the Quick-R): And here are a couple of the steed for the day: I did get my PPL. After my test, it took about 4 weeks for the licence to arrive, and you are not considered licenced until you have it in your posession. About 4 weeks after I received the necessary paper, I retraced the whole thing. Was sunnier and absolute great fun.

Thanks Bruce, but I will do my best to pass on your invitation (to bounce)...

Firstly, sincere condolences to family and friends and, to echo Alan's sentiments, hoping for a speedy recovery to the injured. Whenever something like this happens, I take the time to reflect that it can happen to any of us and remind myself to try harder not to let bad habits form and not take any shortcuts. From the comfort of an armchair it is easy to cast judgement - why did the pilot fly into cloud? Why did the pilot not take the road, why did the pilot try aileron against the spin, etc etc. But I never do... because I wasn't in the cockpit and have no idea of the circumstances that led to the problem or decision. A personal observation is that as we age, and let's face it, recreational and GA private flying is made of of a disproportionately high number of older people, our capacity to handle stress diminishes. And that's when things start going awry. Losing an engine, inadvertently flying into cloud when you haven't practiced it ever or since you did you GA practical let alone rated for the stuff can all rapidly bring on immense stress. One tends to narrow their focus and quickly lose their hearing (or processing of sounds) in this case. I am NOT saying this is what happened in this case.. this is a general statement. As an example, I moved to the UK when I was 30. Apart form the odd joy flight with an instructor - maybe once every coupld of years if that, I did no flying for 15 years. I decided I was going to get back into it. I thought I would effectivley be starting again so decided to do the whole European PPL rather than convert my Aussie one. The CAA assesed my log book and said do the theory and with the hours I had, when the CFI was happy, do the practical tests and if I passed, I would get the licence (i.e. no min hours to do). I thought I would take 15 hours or so... It took seven hours; four of those were teh dual and solo cross country qualifier flights. I found things came back faily quickly - PFLs, stalls, EFATOs, etc. Fast forward about 8 years and thanks to various factors, I have not flown for a year. A share comes up in a TB20; I buy it. I need to do a sengle engine revalidation and because it was more than 2 years since the last, it had to be a proper assessment of skills by an examiner. I was all over the place - I could not get the PFL nearly even right.. I was out of practice and having aged, things were taking longer to come back.. much longer. However, if I was more practiced where muscle memory had a chance to develop, it may mean that I can cope better with the increased stress. Outside BFRs, how often do we practice our emergency procedures and checklists to ensure we are absolutely current? How many of us are flying knowing if the donk dies, there's already a suitable field picked out to lessen the load and focus on getting the thing down safely, etc etc. [EDIT} The above is a general statement in response to human factors - and not speculation of what happened in this accident[/EDIT] @turboplanner - I can't say I agree with your analogy with the speedway, except for organised events. Even though we may congregate in similar numbers and concentrate our location, our original locations and destinations are somewhat random compaed to that of a speedway. In the UK, clubs and schools will supervise their PPL "hirers/members" - but what does that mean? It means they have to have a check flight inorder to be able to rent, and then they ensure they have flown at least once in the last typicall 30 or 90 days otherwise a check flight is required.. And of course, they track medical and licencing expirations. This does not equate to supervision in your sense. But, say I was to fly from Mooraabin to Tocumwal and bounce down the Tocumwal runway, but manage not to destroy anything.. Are you suggesting someone at Tocumwal (where there is no manned tower - well at least when I last flew there) should ground me? On our work flight to Le Touquet, the pilot of the plane I was in hit the runway pretty hard at Le Touqet - I was bracing myself.. One of the other pilots, on being issued a direction to join left down wind, joined right down wind. My pilot landed back at home smooth as silk; the other pilot usuallyonly flew in the US due to cost - so flew 2 weeks every year. Lots of pilots from UK congregated there that day - how would we handle their situation?

Palymra - that wasn't a runway - that was a bicycle track!! Seriously, I thought you were way left of the runway on final...

The law is slightly different here... I can't recall the adminsitator/insolvency practitioner's claim, but defiitely Her Maj's Revenue and Customs has first dibs before any other debtor. After that, definitely, secured debt only has first claim on secured assets (unless there is subordinated secured debt on the same asset/s or shared senior debt on the same assets - in which case they get in line with seniority). In an unsecured debt situation, there is no concept that any unsecured creditor has more rights than any other, except under certain circumstances. These can be: - Breach of covenant or terms of the debt. So, for example, if someone has lent money to an entity with a covenent (e.g. they will not exceed a certain debt/equity ration, share price will not go below a point, can't assign certain assets, etc) and the company does, then the debtor has right above - Where the unsecured debt has been tiered between senior, subordinated, mezzanine, etc. Note, there can be a breach of terms where a senior note/debt holder may require notification and approval of further senior debt (and sometimes junior/subordinated).. but it isn't really worth the paper it is written on as the law of equity kicks in, so banks rarely offer it.. unless they package the loans and sell them off into the secondary loan markets. Although, for PLC (listed companies - from memory, Ltd in Aus), they will do it because of the financial reporting and prudential regulations. Glad to hear your mate had the stamina to see it through.. Unless there is a state of federal statute (would imagine the latter), if the bank was unsecured, I would be tempted to take them to court as well.. regardless of whether or not money was lent after knowing of insolvency - there is no difference between a bank lending [unsecured] money and a supplier or other investor.

For me - it depends. Before leaving Aus the first time, I would book an Aerobat aftewr work (summer) and take it for some light aeros in the Moorabbin training area.. I found that hour was so focused on flying, it was a great stress reliever. I also liked the competitions that RVAC used to do.. more for the social side than the competitive - but they would sharpen the skills a little. Sometimes, I feel the need to circuit bash or practice things like stalls, PFLs, etc. I like flying with other people and much like @red750, like to take people up for heir first flight in a GA aircraft.. When taking people up for the first time, it would be proprotional to the distances Red750 mentioned, but remember the UK is much smaller, so the distances are usually shorter. But I mainly like longer 1 day trips and touring. I like the scenery, meeting different people, sampling different culture. I prefer over-nighters - camping at the airfield or a B&B/hotel (they don't really do motels here). One of my fondest memories was one where I was not even flying - PA28 from Fairaks (South West of London, just outside the M25) to Le Touquet; a flotilla of about 5 or 6 planes all from work descended on the place. Lovely lunch, walk around the town and back (Over the channel - taken with a then old Blackberry) The steed that took us.. I was later to buy a share in it. Wish I never sold it. Lunch in Le Touquet - The 2 ladies on the left are both Aussies - I used to work with the blonde and the brunette is her friend. I have to say, If both her and I were not spoken for, I would have gone for the blonde - lovely lady!)

Great shot.. Nice stted you have.. May get me thinking of building my own (nah.. I don't want to end up a statistic due to a mid-air breakup or something)... Now a lot of envy kicking in! Have family not too far from you (relatively speaking) - Bowen and I think a cousin has moved toTownsville.. Nice country up there..

Wow.. Over 'ere, HMRC have, I think, first dibs.. The only competitor is the administrator who may take their fee before HMRC gets theirs (although I guess there would be horsetrading), then secured debotrs, unsecured debtors, shareholders...

Great shots... A "bit" of envy creeping in! If you have any shots of your steed, feel free to post them...

Wasn't it Warren Buffet who wrote something like "every time I think I may investn in an airline, I call a 1-800 number I set up to talk me out of it.". As I see it, there are two really big issues in Australia with respect to newcomer airlines that are little more than a domestic operation with some regional international flights. First, QANTAS seems to have a lot of the infrastructure tied up. Terminal space, regional airline connections, etc. This makes it hard for me to book, say a flight from Brisbane to Mildura on any other airline. I know that other airlines have agreements, but the connectivity in terms of timetaleing, etc just makes it that much more difficult. I know as I tried it.. Secondly, is the market big enough to support more than one home-based operator without some form of intervention? In the good ol' two-airline regulated days - where, in the'80s, a standard price fare from Melb to Brisbane was in other order of $650 then, it meant there was enough to go around to ensure profitability. With regulation coming and going, we saw the first attempt at Southern Cross not get off the ground, and a second attempt eventually crashing. Ansett goes broke (I can't remember if this was before or after Southern Cross), then came Tiger, Virgun Blue/Australia, Jet Star (QANTAS, I know, but run as separate entitiy), and all have not fared so well. Only QANTAS survives to make a profit, which cannot be brand loyalty alone - or can it? With a small population, large land mass, high unit costs (I recall sitting at Adelaide airport waiting for a connecting flight and in the 2 or 3 hours there was only 1 landing and 1 take off aircraft - that's a lot of expensive facility sitting idle), etc, it is not a valid comparison to Asian, European, Middle Eastern nor US/Canada. Maybe Africa - although SAA has just gone bust, too. After de-regulation, we have enjoyed lower fares, but is the market rebalancing to what it can bear and, with what looks like one airline, will the fares moving up reflect the true cost/return on equity of air travel in Australia? Re the debt pile, well, it will ultimately be the debtors that suffer. The aircraft leasing companies will not be able to move too many planes at the moment, so they will have stock. But, they probably won't be hurt too much as they tend to wrap the aircraft leases into asset backed securities and flog them to investors - often funds, but sometimes direct to retail investors depending on the jurisdiction. So, your super may ultimatley suffer. I haven't looked at their books (are they available), but I am guessing there is very little tangible assets they hold - maybe slots at the major airports and some fuel/spares will be tradeable.. It is common that even the office funiture is leased during startup/early phase of running a business to keep cash flow positive and also reduce tax liability. Any bond holders or on-balance sheet bank loans will be swallowed by those institutions; senior debt holders will get the first dibs at whatever pickings are available, and then subordinated debt gets whatever may be left. Of course, trade debtors will also have a crack. Let's not forget, the ATO probably have fiorst dibs (after the administrator?) on everything. The shareholders will be wiped clean - but often in these structures, they provide the cash in the form of mortgaged or senior debt throgh some wrapper, so they get what they can out of it before anyone else.

Yeah - just look at our pollies (collectively across the western world, at least)...

That brought a tear to my eye! Poor rabbits, though..

Not all of us!. I am hoping to retire to either Tocumwal or Merimbula, possibly Apollo Bay. Also looking at Deniliquin and a lot of the Riverina area. I dodn't care too much for Coffs Harbour (was over 20 years ago though); Byron Bay is too expensive; I had an uncle in Nimbin, which is surrounded by a nice area. I still have a bit of time to decide...

@Mike Gearon - I am not sure I entirely agree that your environs you grew up in set what you need. I know people who come from farming and don't even loke countryside holidays, preferring the concrete jungles on the Costa de Sol. Both my partner and I a re city born and bred and while I enjoy going to the city for work, I am darned gald to get out of it. We had 13 acres and loved it (well, the partner ended up no liking the realisation the country, despite its tranqulity, it a cesspit of death and violence if you happen to be an animal of prey). We really like the open spaces (can't call south west England wide) and my partner has no intention of going back. Maybe its also an age thing..

Once a yokel, never a grockle!