Re: [Aus-soaring] jetpack

[Simon Hackett]

Just FYI…

I’ve exchanged some messages with David about his jetpack (for a while now). 

They are in fact working on incorporating a ballistic parachute.

Cheers, 
 Simon

> On 11 Nov 2015, at 10:39 AM, Mike Borgelt  
> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Now to combine the Rossi wing with the Mayman jetpack and get vertical 
> takeoff and landing and wingborne flight.
> 
> I'd want a ballistic parachute too.
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 09:29 AM 11/11/2015, you wrote:
>> ..blinds were closed during night flights in a super connie - so passenger 
>> would not freak out by the fire from the mufflers (if you can call them 
>> mufflers)
>> 
>> here is something else about jetpacks close to wingtips:
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VPvKl6ezyc=FL2HgIG2OraGNOhz2DFLqeHw=1
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 10:07 AM, Mike Borgelt < 
>> mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com > 
>> wrote:
>> I ran into this when checking the AMT website a few days ago www.amtjets.com
>> 
>>  
>> Then did a search and this article seems one of the better ones with some 
>> technical detail and photos.
>> 
>> http://www.gizmag.com/jetpack-aviation-new-york-flight/40286/ 
>> 
>> 
>> Made ABCÂ  news online this morning too.
>> 
>> What I found amazing as that I though his autostab and control system must 
>> be pretty good as it seems to fly so smoothly and steadily but as the 
>> article makes clear there isn't one. Astounding!
>> 
>> Those AMT Nike engines are 80 Kg thrust each and two, as on the jetpack, 
>> will happily launch the heaviest Open Class gliders with good single engine 
>> performance.
>> 
>> As is being shown by Yves Rossi and now David Mayman, the engines seem to be 
>> robust and give little operational trouble. 
>> 
>> Mike
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Borgelt Instruments - design & manufacture of quality soaring 
>> instrumentation since 1978
>> www.borgeltinstruments.com
>>  
>> tel:Â Â  07 4635 5784Â Â Â Â Â overseas: int+61-7-4635 5784
>> mob: 042835 5784Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â :Â  int+61-42835 5784
>> P O Box 4607, Toowoomba East, QLD 4350, Australia 
>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> Borgelt 
>> Instruments - design & manufacture of quality soaring instrumentation since 
>> 1978
> www.borgeltinstruments.com
>  tel:   07 4635 5784 overseas: 
> int+61-7-4635 5784
> mob: 042835 5784 :  int+61-42835 5784
> P O Box 4607, Toowoomba East, QLD 4350, Australia
> 
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[Aus-soaring] Obtaining a CASA Glider Pilot License on the way to an FAA Glider Pilot's License

[Simon Hackett]

Some months ago, I asked some questions here on this list about how to get a 
“Glider Pilot Certificate” on the way to getting a CASA “Glider Pilot License”.

I got a variety of helpful responses directly and indirectly, along with a few 
folks basically wishing me luck !!

Well, I actually did manage to do it in the end - it took months, but the CASA 
GPL turned up in the mail today (as an endorsement on my Part 61 license).

For those of you who either want to do the same thing, or for those who are 
simply masochists, I’ve just spent some happy time today writing down the 
journey so far.

I’ve done that mostly in the hope that others may find it helpful to make their 
own (similar) journey easier, if they should wish to undertake that journey 
themselves in the future. 

Here it is:

http://simonhackett.com/2015/04/17/australian-to-usa-glider-pilot-license/

Cheers, 
 Simon


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Re: [Aus-soaring] IS-28B CQC's last flying day:

[Simon Hackett]

Nonetheless, 1150 Euros would seem, on balance, a pretty small price to pay to 
avoid scrapping a perfectly good aircraft (the latter would seem even more of a 
shambles IMHO) 

 On 22 Dec 2014, at 4:25 pm, Mike Borgelt mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com 
 wrote:
 
 That may be welocome and good news for the owners of these aircraft. 
 However you get to pay a couple of thousand dollars so you can do what you 
 would do anyway at any proper annual inspection?
 I can't imagine what engineering purpose is served by this except to 
 highlight what a useless shambles the whole certification process is for what 
 are items of sporting equipment.
 
 Mike
 
 
 
 
  At 03:10 PM 22/12/2014, you wrote:
 Perhaps this might be of use.
 
 Dennis
 
 Stan's email address ismirce...@rdslink.ro mailto:mirce...@rdslink.ro
 
 Posts: 1,388
 45d12b.gif  IS-28B2 Twin Lark - Service Life Extension Program
 
 On Monday, March 18, 2013 1:16:47 PM UTC-6, Tony wrote:
 On Sunday, March 17, 2013 4:44:02 PM UTC-5, Peter Whitehead wrote:
 
 On Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:44:11 PM UTC+1, Pat McCartan wrote: Our club 
 owns an I.C.A.-BRASOV IS-28B2 Twin Lark which is grounded because it has 
 exceeded its 35 year factorymaintenance program service life. About a year 
 ago the current type certificate holder, S.C. Constructii Aeronautice S.A., 
 announced it intended to submit a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) to 
 EASA - with follow-on submission to the FAA. We are no longer able to reach 
 S.C. Constructii Aeronautice S.A. by phone - and they do not respond to 
 emails. Can anyone shed any light on the status of the SLEP or offer any 
 contact information for S.C. Constructii Aeronautice S.A.? We enjoy this 
 ship and would like to return it to service. Hi, my name is Pete Whitehead. 
 I own an IS29D and also two IS-28B2's ( Twin Larks) in the UK. MY friend has 
 just received his Service Bulletin for his IS-29D, glider serial no. 
 specific, from the Type Cert. Holders S.C. Constructii etc. He had to pay 
 1150 Euro for this bit of paper, but he will be flying again soon. I have 
 been in touch, paid my 1150 Euro , and should receive the S.B for my own 
 IS-29D in the next 7 days. The life extension is indefinite, subject to the 
 inspection programme etc. We have contacts with the Type Cert. Holder. I 
 shall be next pursuing the provision of S.B's for my two IS-28B2's. I am 
 willing to negotiate ( on a voluntary basis) the S.B's for all IS-28B2 
 owners, provided you give me the info. re Type, Serial No., Date of 
 manufacture, and also the number and date on your Service/maintenance manual 
 for the glider. Clearly the Type Cert Holders are going to demand money per 
 glider but we can see what we can do. Our contact is English speaking and 
 now answers emails quickly, so there is some hope in the situation now. Pete 
 Whitehead .
 
 
 
 thats great news that the factory is actually talking. great news that the 
 Lark's will be able to keep flying too.
 
 Image (2).jpg 
 45d15a.jpg 
 On 22/12/2014 1:32 pm, Brisbane Gliding Adventures wrote:
 Yesterday was the last day of flying for Caboolture Gliding Club's IS-28B 
 two seater Charlie Quebec Charlie. 
 A total of 28 members and guests took final flights in her on the day! 
 Quite appropriately, the honour of taking the last flight was awarded by 
 the CGC Committee to Bert Persson (who purchased her as a wreck from Alice 
 Springs and completely refurbished her for a second life with Caboolture 
 Gliding Club) and Lindsay Mitchell (who has been the backbone of the 
 maintenance team during CQC's life at CGC). 
 It is very frustrating and disappointing that, as a result of paperwork not 
 being in place prior to the manufacturer going out of business, there is no 
 avenue available to extending her 35 year airworthiness life when there are 
 so many examples of much older gliders that can have their airworthiness 
 life extended ad infinitum.
  
 Kevin Rodda 
  
 
 45d169.png 
 
 
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] For Sale

[Simon Hackett]

Its ok, Tim, for precisely that reason :)

On 16 Oct 2014, at 5:05 pm, Tim Shirley tshir...@internode.on.net wrote:

 Hi all,
 
 I'm never sure if it is OK to do this or not, but it is at least related to 
 gliding :)
 
 For Sale:
 
 DISCUS A VH-GLE (D1). 3,000 hours (no survey required till 6,000) and Form 2 
 current to Aug 2015.  
 
 This glider has done a 1000k, a 790k last season and is a proven competition 
 winner – she won Standard Class at the Nationals only 6 years ago against 
 LS8’s and Discus 2’s. 
 
 Very good condition.   Epikote paint, winglets, Dittel radio, OzFlarm, basic 
 instruments (others negotiable), good trailer, towout gear.  Always hangared.
 
 Currently located at Benalla.  $46,000 or offer.  Call Tim Shirley 0417 268 
 073 or tshir...@internode.on.net.
 
 
 -- 
 Cheers
 
 Tim Shirley
 
 tra dire é fare c' é mezzo il mare
 
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[Aus-soaring] The definition of unacceptable content on this list

[Simon Hackett]

Gentlepersons,

The body images posted today on the list in an apparent (but in my view, 
misguided) attempt at humour were totally unacceptable, in my personal view.

Yes, the Internet *is* full of this s**t, but no, this list is *not* a place to 
post it. Ever. This list is called 'aus-soaring', not 'misogynist humour'

One of the disadvantages of mailing lists (like this one) is that because they 
are email, things posted cannot be 'un-posted'. It is one instance where more 
'modern' mechanisms like web forums allow for retrospective removal of 
offensive crap - but alas that is not a technical option here. Email can't 
really be un-sent.

What I do have as an option available to me, however, is to change the rules 
(or to be more specific, to define them - as this list has gotten along very 
very well for many years without any)

I much prefer not having to have rules of conduct, on the general basis that 
civilised people should be able to act in in a civilised manner without them. 

A distinct disadvantage of setting up participation rules is that (some) people 
will then decide to figure out ways to stress-test, skirt, ignore, or otherwise 
circumvent them.

However, I can't let today just pass without doing -something-; and as I'm the 
one who paid for this list to exist, there is at least some moral imperative 
(and, I would argue, moral right) for me to decide to modify the environment if 
it has to be modified.

So here goes:

** There will be, forthwith, zero tolerance of people who send material via the 
list that causes offence to reasonable people. Such people will be removed from 
the list permanently without further discussion or debate **

That isn't merely limited to rude images. Calling names *can* also hurt people. 
Don't do that either. Don't offend. Just... don't. 

To be blunt:

 If you want to be a boorish asshole, do it somewhere else. 

The definition of 'offence to reasonable people' is entirely up to the personal 
discretion of those who volunteer their personal time to be list 'owners' 
('owners' here is meant in the technical sense of receiving administrative 
messages and having to perform administrative functions related to the list, to 
make it function).  

Note: No warnings, no second chances, and no arguments about the definition of 
what the list owners decide to be something that 'causes offence to reasonable 
people'. 

If you want to have an argument about a decision taken by a volunteer list 
owner on this basis, on this list, don't do it here. 

Instead, please, start your own list and have that debate there (likely with 
yourself and nobody else, if today's exercise is any guide).

To those offended by the posts today (as I was) - I apologise on behalf of 
those apparently too cowardly to do so themselves, for the offence that those 
people clearly caused to others.

I will note that the definition of being offended is ultimately up to the 
person who *is* offended, not to the instigator of the offence, to decide

The role of the instigator in this circumstance is not to say 'toughen up' (or 
to say nothing), but rather it is for them to learn from what happened, to 
apologise, and then to modify their future behaviour to become more urbane 
about their interactions in shared interaction environments... or else to just 
leave, if they are incapable of, or disinterested in, being that caring about 
the welfare and mental state of others around them.

It is, sadly, not possible to stamp out boorish behaviour in societies. Some 
people are just built that way. I get that. Really, I do. I've been a 
participant in social media for decades - for far longer than the term has 
existed. 

I have been the direct target of some pretty rugged personal attacks over that 
time.  In some circumstances I have had to recuse myself from some discussion 
spaces for the preservation of my own calm as a result.

But I do not want aus-soaring to be a place where anyone has to feel the way 
that I have been made to feel in the past, in that regard, as the subject of 
either personal attacks or as the unwilling recipients of offensive material 
via this list.

Hence the new list participation rule, as noted above.

Thanks for listening - and I hope that this (somehow) helps more than it 
hinders.

Regards,
 Simon Hackett



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Re: [Aus-soaring] Unsubscribe

[Simon Hackett]

Hello Jim (and anyone else with the same request) - please read the bottom four 
lines of this message.

Cheers,
  Simon

On 13 Sep 2014, at 9:31 am, jim crowhurst jimcrowhu...@hotmail.com wrote:

 Unsubscribe me please
 
 Jim Crowhurst
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] unsubscribe

[Simon Hackett]

Hello Mike. Please see below. Its a D-I-Y system :)

On 3 Sep 2014, at 7:58 pm, Mike Durrant durr...@gmail.com wrote:

 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Competition licenses - the emperor has no clothes

[Simon Hackett]

Just want to call out one other thing from the thread that I have just had 
confirmed separately.

The Australian CASA Glider Pilot License doesn't allow a pilot to fly a Glider 
in Australia.

SRSLY?

Its 2014. Why can't we live in a place where the GFA issues (or authorises) 
Glider Pilot Licenses for Australian glider pilots to fly Australian Gliders 
with (including ... in Australia)? 

I'm not bothered about an underlying requirement to be a GFA member in good 
standing (or to be separately authorised by CASA) if that floats the GFA's 
boat. 

Rather, I'm talking about the crazy notion that the outcome of doing everything 
right in the GFA system isn't an outcome where one can be a pilot licensed to 
fly a glider with a license to fly a glider called a Glider Pilot License - and 
where such a thing now exists but it doesn't actually work in the country of 
issue.

I actually *have* a US glider license of precisely that form (a US pilots 
license with 'Glider' as an endorsement on it). I don't see that cramping the 
style of glider pilots in the USA. Quite the opposite, actually. 

I'm not really interested in how we got precisely here.

I'm interested in what possible reason the GFA would have, today, to *not* to 
support the notion of a Glider Pilot License as something routinely issued to 
Australians to let them fly gliders in Australia - and for that to be the thing 
that people get issued with routinely (when, for instance, they achieve Silver 
C standard). 

Is there actually a valid reason for this state of affairs (as opposed to 
'thats just not how we roll, son...') why this isn't the case - or why it 
shouldn't become the case? 

In other words, if I have a CASA issued Glider Pilot License, what, precisely, 
makes it unable to be sufficient to be permitted to fly a glider here (assuming 
one has a valid and current flight review)? 

I apologise for not having (yet) dug up the shiny new 1st September-onward 
regulations that govern the Glider Pilot License (and as already noted, CASA 
haven't yet actually published the application form on their web site either). 
But do those legally engaged regulations actually say that you can't use a 
Glider Pilot License to... fly a glider with?  

Coming at this cold, honestly, this reads like a Monty Python script :)

Regards,
Simon


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Re: [Aus-soaring] Simultaneous Record Claims

[Simon Hackett]

Just to provide a contrasting point of view - perhaps we don't need to 'fix' 
this until we're really in a position to decide that it is broken (and I don't 
think, right now, that we are).  

We could start by considering what these records exist for, and hence what they 
are presumably there to inspire (i.e. to inspire others to do more of the same, 
surely). 

... else why bother recording them at all?

If this sort of practice is consistent with the current rules, and opens up the 
potential to push the sport into a new frontier in record-breaking 
speeds/distances/times, well, I personally reckon 'good on them, and go for 
it'. Its not as if any of them are doing it for the money. 

Congratulations to the two pilots concerned for trying (and succeeding) with 
something new. 

It certainly reminds me that my own cross country achievements fall very far 
behind theirs (having allowed other forms of aviation to gain my attention in 
preference to soaring for the last few years). Hence their efforts tickle at 
the notion, for me, that maybe I should go out there and try a bit harder 
myself. Isn't that sort of inspiration going to be a win (for the sport)?

To be clear - I do appreciate, and agree, that pair-flying is likely to 
generate higher performance results than doing it alone. Some other sports 
consider this a normal part of the process (e.g. team-based competitive 
cycling).

If anything, perhaps this practice may be a rationale for us to keep a 'leader 
board' of the top 'x' flights in a given record category rather than merely 
having a single current 'best' on our (electronic) books - precisely because in 
a pairs-flying exercise, normally the efforts of the '#2 pilot are probably 
not recorded at all at this point - and its not as if that '#2' pilot didn't 
(also) 'do the work' to get all the way around the intended flight path. 

Last thought - with the exception of this remarkable effort in generating the 
exact same time by both pilots, who is to say how many other existing records 
were actually based on team-flying practices, but simply not recorded as such 
(due to a lack of mechanism with which to record it)? 

If we don't have a way to record that practice, how do we know that this 
actually *is* the first time this has been done as a part of a record flight 
claim? 

That really brings me back to where I began with this set of thoughts - if its 
not broken, perhaps it isn't actually something we need to fix. More flying 
better, right? 

Regards, 
 Simon




On 14 Feb 2014, at 12:40 pm, Peter (PCS3) p...@internode.on.net wrote:

 As an non-involved-with-records glider pilot, I would have thought that team 
 flying should have its own set of records. As flying as a team, especially in 
 the blue would give them an unfair advantage over a solo pilot .
 PeterS
 On 12/02/2014 9:47 AM, Pam wrote:
 GFA has received the following record claims for the Australian National 
 Standard Class 750km triangle speed record:
  
 Category: General
 Class: Standard
 Type of record: 750km triangle speed
 Location: West Wyalong
 Performance: 134.01 kph
 Pilot: Matt gage
 Glider: LS8/15m
 Date: 8/2/2014
  
 Category: General
 Sub-class Standard 
 Type of record : Speed over a 750km triangle 
 Course/location : West Wyalong Aerodrome, NSW ( Australia ) - TP1`- Conargo 
 and return 
 Performance : 134.01 km/hr
 Pilot : Allan Barnes
 Glider : LS8/15mRegistration: VH-NSZ
 Date : 08 Feb 2014
  
  
 
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Bernard Eckey wants to share interview with you

[Simon Hackett]

Dear Colin,

I don't think its you, and you can't fix it - Bernard needs to send the link to 
the list in another manner to make it work as expected.

This is one aspect of Dropbox that can be very easy to inadvertently mistake - 
which is the 'right' way to send information to others on a read-only, easily 
downloaded basis (without requiring your correspondents to join Dropbox to do 
it, either).

I've dropped Bernard a line directly with detailed suggestions for how to 
re-try the below so that it can work for you (and others) who might want it.

The full gory details, for anyone 'detail oriented' enough to care about them, 
are here:

http://simonhackett.com/2013/04/05/dropbox-sharing-doesnt-work-and-the-fi/

Regards, 
 Simon

On 28 Dec 2013, at 4:45 pm, Colin Collum crcol...@melbpc.org.au wrote:

 Sorry Bernard,
 That doesn’t help.
 I still can’t find the folder or file.
 The “View Folder” just takes me to a sign in area, and even when I’ve 
 [reluctantly] joined dropbox I still can’t find it.
 My wife tells me I need a name and a password [that you supply] to access 
 things on dropbox.
 My apologies for my IT incompetence.
 Regards,
 Colin
  
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Bernard via 
 Dropbox
 Sent: Friday, 27 December 2013 5:11 PM
 To: aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
 Subject: [Aus-soaring] Bernard Eckey wants to share interview with you
  
 ~WRD000.jpg
 Hi there,
 
 Bernard (ec...@internode.on.net) wants to share some files in a folder called 
 interview with you via Dropbox.
 
 View folder
 
 Enjoy!
 - The Dropbox Team
 © 2013 Dropbox
 image001.jpg
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Simon Hackett appointed to NBN Board

[Simon Hackett]

Thanks - Should be an 'interesting' ride :)

On 12 Nov 2013, at 1:32 pm, robert moore robc...@adam.com.au wrote:

 Simon, Congratulations on your appointment to the NBN Board.
 
 Rob Moore
 
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Dusty the glider tug

[Simon Hackett]

It actually started showing in Australia in (I think) late September. I've long 
since taken my youngest family member to see it. His reaction was pretty 
consistent with mine - lots of bright colours, but about as shallow as a 
political policy statement.

The premiere of the film worldwide was an outdoor showing at Oshkosh where they 
did exactly what you're suggesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DustyCH.jpg

I do think its a nice colour scheme for a Pawnee, FWIW.

But then again, I'm a sucker for orange paint schemes:

http://simonhackett.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/rtfm-driveway.jpg

:)
Simon

On 9 Nov 2013, at 9:46 am, Mal Bruce m...@mals.net wrote:

 Hi,
  
 Just a thought Disney's Planes is releasing soon.
  
 The attraction and reaction to dusty the Pawnee will be huge.
  
 Temora’s tug would be a great one with all the air shows they have.
  
 How much is a paint job like this maybe GFA marketing can look into this.
  
 http://disney.com.au/planes/video/
  
 Mal
  
  
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Medicals

[Simon Hackett]

[ Simon pops up and makes a rare comment ]

Mike, I'm sure you mean well, but attacking the person rather than the issue 
isn't good form - on any mailing list. Debates of this sort work much better 
without ad hominem attacks. 

They can often lead to impugning people who seriously are not deserving of it. 
I know Michael T and he absolutely isn't deserving of that attack in any sense 
(then again, neither is anyone else).

Attack the issue, by all means - with both claws, mate. But not the people. 
Please. 

Thanks,
  Simon

[ Simon now returns to quietly lurking - having not done nearly enough gliding 
of late, due to his brain being consumed of late with working on an IFR rating ]

On 14/10/2013, at 8:19 AM, Mike Borgelt mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com wrote:

 Nice conjecture, but unfortunately for you the BGA DIDN'T have a formal 
 medical
 requirement at the time so there was no filtering by formal medical. Same 
 for the US glider and balloon pilots and both are based on a large number of 
 events so the stats, even if somewhat uncertain, are likely pretty good.
 In any case it is quite obvious that medical causes are a VERY low percentage 
 of aviation accident causes (~ 1% or lower) and the accident rate isn't 
 significantly improved by having formal medicals and simply cannot be not 
 matter how stringent you make them.
 Everyone self certifies before going flying anyway as most don't have a 
 medical immediately before going flying on any given day.
 
 I'm not sure you actually read my post. Either that or your reading 
 comprehension is extremely poor. That and  your demonstrated lack of ability 
 to think logically even when not under the pressure of actually flying an 
 aircraft are a worry. I wouldn't fly with you nor let anyone I cared about do 
 so.
 
 Mike
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 At 12:26 AM 14/10/2013, you wrote:
 Methinks there is some false logic in that argument.
 
 A counter argument is that the aviation medical system has kept people out 
 of the skies that shouldn't be flying due to medical reasons .
 (that is, the medicals are filtering out those who are unfit to fly and 
 hence that the cause of incidents due to medical causes is low, 5 out of 800 
 = 0.625%).
 
 Saying that 1% is different to 0.5% is meaningless without confidence 
 intervals, and suffers from the problem of rare events being compared.
 
 If there were no medicals, the numbers of accidents do the medical causes 
 would be higher.
 
 Regards
 
 Michael
 
 
 -Original Message-
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net on behalf of Mike Borgelt
 Sent: Fri 10/11/2013 4:10 PM
 To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
 Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Medicals
  
 
 
 No, the lack of value of aviation medicals has 
 been demonstrated by long pragmatic and statistical experience.
 I don't have the URL to hand but one study in the 
 US was that medical conditions for powered 
 aircraft pilots were around 1% of accident 
 causes. Fortunately they had a large body of 
 experience with glider and balloon pilots who 
 self certify and the medical rate of accident 
 causes was 0.5% or so amongst them.
 
 The BGA did a study many years ago of 800 glider 
 accidents in the UK. IIRC about 5 may have had a 
 medical component which would seem to be in 
 accordance with the US experience. Of those, 
 again IIRC, one was a medical condition that 
 wouldn't be picked up in a PPL medical, two had 
 PPLs and one was a serving military officer who 
 had more frequent medicals of a higher stringency than a PPL medical.
 
 Even CASA recognised this in writing in a 
 discussion paper in 2002 about the proposed 
 Recreational Pilot's Licence. They proposed the 
 same medical standard as a State driver's Licence 
 (very little, looking at what drives). They 
 specifically said some in the aviation industry 
 might be uncomfortable with this but that the 
 stats were clear that formal medicals did nothing 
 for safety. This was a welcome attitude in the 
 regulator - actual evidence based rule making. Of 
 course the cretins in the GFA sent a couple of 
 people (Meertens and Hall) along to the Minister 
 to kill this proposal for gliding, along with the 
 collusion of Paul Middleton of the RAAus. One of 
 the more notable acts of bastardry in Australian 
 aviation which has a long history of such.
 
 Mike
 
 
 
 At 05:41 PM 11/10/2013, you wrote:
 Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
 Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
  boundary=_=_NextPart_001_01CEC655.49080C07
 
 Hi All,
 
 To self declare is hardly onerous.
 
 If you have any of the conditions that make you 
 ineligible to self declare, then get an Australian Medical Certificate.
 
 I now await the bun-fight regarding the value of 
 aviation medicals and whether they have really 
 made the skies safer, using the argument that 
 medicals are costly and someone knows somebody 
 that had a medically incapacitating event just 
 after they had passed 

Re: [Aus-soaring] NSW Rules

[Simon Hackett]

... and it wouldn't be gliding, if there weren't people complaining about 
handicaps :)

On 15/09/2013, at 10:10 PM, Tim Shirley tshir...@internode.on.net wrote:

 These handicaps and reference weights are set by the GFA Handicap Committee 
 which consists of a number of very experienced pilots, and operates through 
 the National Competition Committee headed by Tom Claffey.
  
 I suspect it would be more productive to address and queries or concerns 
 about handicaps or reference weights to Tom, whose committee can explain the 
 rationale behind them and/or correct any anomalies.
  
 Cheers
  
 Tim
 Tra dire e fare c’è mezzo il mare
  
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Daryl Mackay
 Sent: Sunday, 15 September 2013 22:26
 To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
 Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] NSW Rules
  
 In which case all two seater handicaps would need to reflect this single 
 pilot or two pilot leaning?
 
 On 15/09/2013 8:20 PM, Matthew Scutter yellowplant...@gmail.com wrote:
 Maybe the reference weight is set for only one pilot? Whichever way you set 
 it, it's going to involve a big handicap to the other configuration.
 -matthew
  
 
 On Sun, Sep 15, 2013 at 8:21 PM, Terry Home terrycub...@bigpond.com wrote:
 That reference weight seems quite low. With Brian and I in the DG ( less than 
 200kg pilot weight), we sit at 690-700kg. This means two pilots of 70kg 
 required to stay within the reference weight. 
  
 Terry
 
 Sent from my iPhone
 
 On 15/09/2013, at 12:23 PM, Matthew Scutter yellowplant...@gmail.com wrote:
 
 Derek,
 AUW is distinct from reference weight. Club/Sports is flown dry, and as such 
 the reference weight is lower (and not a hard limit, your handicap will 
 change slightly if you are over/underweight.)
 -matthew
  
 
 On Sun, Sep 15, 2013 at 12:01 PM, Derek Ruddock drudd...@iinet.net.au wrote:
 Hi Mandy
 The reference weight for the DG1000 is still incorrect: the manual a.u.w. is 
 750 kg, not 630
 Cheers
 Derek
  
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Pete and 
 Mandy Temple
 Sent: Saturday, 14 September 2013 4:00 PM
 
 To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
 Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] NSW Rules
  
 Hi Derek
  
 The document you refer to was a work in progress and was only on the site for 
 a short while, I thought I had set the permissions so only I could see it.
 I will be more careful in future.
 It is now deleted.
 The pdf version is the current version and I believe it is correct.
  
 MT
  
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Derek Ruddock
 Sent: Saturday, 14 September 2013 2:17 PM
 To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
 Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] NSW Rules
  
 Thanks for that Mandy
 The list of Handicaps Sport0008_Club_Sports_Handicaps (not the pdf version)  
 has some issues:
 -  The first page is illegible
 
 -  There are some formatting issues on the remaining pages
 
 -  The reference weight of the DG1000 is incorrectly shown as 630kg. 
 It is correctly shown in the  Sport0008_Club_Sports_Handicaps.pdf as 750kg
 
  
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Mandy Temple
 Sent: Friday, 13 September 2013 6:43 PM
 To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
 Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] NSW Rules
  
 They are now available (Sports – Sports Documents – Competitions)
 https://drive.google.com/a/glidingaustralia.org/folderview?id=0BzvOakkAvohCbDl4ZTgzQnI5SnMusp=sharingtid=0BzvOakkAvohCZGozSnRsQlNGeHM
 document Sport 0018
 MT
  
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Derek Ruddock
 Sent: Thursday, 12 September 2013 2:42 PM
 To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
 Subject: [Aus-soaring] NSW Rules
  
 Who is responsible for the NSW rules?
 They need updating to incorporate the 2 seater class
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] GPS tracking GSM

[Simon Hackett]

 
 Note that by putting in the narrow band filter, you lose the re-programming 
 for different frequencies in different countries feature.
 

And you gain the 'works properly' feature. Life is full of tradeoffs :)

 
 Several dozen gliders in Holland have fitted Mode S transponders with ADSB 
 OUT . Combine this with ADSB in and you'll have a super Flarm with range to 
 the horizon. You are also visible to ATC and other traffic with ADSB IN. ADSB 
 IN is easy and cheap.

Indeed, I can certainly see the merits in simply joining the ADS-B IN+OUT 
brigade - the electronics keeps getting cheaper, and then you *know* that PC-12 
spearing into your airspace can 'see' you... and you can 'see' them...



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Re: [Aus-soaring] GPS tracking GSM

[Simon Hackett]

Frankly, if the FLARM is impacted by signals outside of its normal operating 
frequency that suggests a problem with the FLARM that needs fixing on the FLARM 
side. The unit should be rejecting signals outside of the flarm radio operating 
frequency.

And, lo and behold, see the information under the heading 'PowerFLARM Portable 
Recall' on this page:

http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/flarm.htm


On 02/07/2013, at 10:42 AM, Stuart  Kerri FERGUSON s...@bigpond.net.au wrote:

 Given that there is a warning about mobile phones interfering with Flarm
 signals does a GSM based tracking device have a place in a glider?
 
 Stuart FERGUSON 
 Phone - 0419 797508
 
 
 On 02/07/2013, at 10:49, Mal Bruce m...@mals.net wrote:
 
 Good Morning website is up auzzie server coming soon.
  
 If anyone is looking for GSM GPS tracking for crew, vehicles or glider
  
 http://www.meitrack.asia 
  
 We also do M2M accounts only available to ABN holders 
 http://www.meitrack.asia/m2m
  
 www.ms02.meitrack.asia | www.obd.meitrack.asia | www.free.meitrack.asia
 
 Regard's Mal Bruce
 
 M +61 411 196 255
 V +61 2 9037 9090
 
 IP CONFIG Telstra Dealer 123 ICT 2142
 Cert III in Transport  Distribution
 Cert IV in Information Technology Website Management  Production
 Diploma in Subway Systems
 Certificate Skid Steer Loader  Excavator
 Certificate I in Construction (Whitecard)
 Authorised Bus Driver
 HR Drivers Licence
 GFPT (Pilots Licence)
 
 Skype: malbrucey
 
 m...@mals.net
 
 www.mals.net
 www.ipconfig.com.au
 www.vdvr.com.au
 
 Bug Disco PTY LTD
 ABN: 86 153 652 718
 IP CONFIG
 ABN: 28 830 390 772
 
 PO BOX 6117
 The Oaks
 NSW 2570
 Australia
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Flying cars

[Simon Hackett]

The thing that gets in the way of 'flying cars' (other than VTOLs I guess - 
maybe thats why they're thinking of them now?) is the issue of airport, airside 
access.

Sure, you land your roadable plane on the airfield - now, how were you going to 
get it past the Airfield security fencing and onto the road (and vice versa 
later on)?



On 07/05/2013, at 6:44 PM, Mike Borgelt mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com wrote:

 
 Perusing Flight Global this morning: 
 http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/terrafugia-contemplates-flying-vtol-car-385521/
  . A bunch of technologies are coming together to make these vehicles 
 feasible.
 
 CASA's worst nightmare. No doubt they'll think of a way to screw this up.
 
 Sure beats their roadable car which must be in the running for both ugliest 
 airplane and ugliest car awards.
 
 Mike
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Borgelt Instruments - design  manufacture of quality soaring instrumentation 
 since 1978
 www.borgeltinstruments.com
 tel:   07 4635 5784 overseas: int+61-7-4635 5784
 mob: 042835 5784 :  int+61-42835 5784
 P O Box 4607, Toowoomba East, QLD 4350, Australia
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Flight recorders/planning software

[Simon Hackett]

Look up the way Google operates in this regard sometime. Makes Apple look like 
saints.

Looks like we're all subsidising the sinners, eh? Stop using Google if it 
bothers you, I guess...

On 12/03/2013, at 8:26 AM, Harry hw.medlic...@optusnet.com.au wrote:

 Hi All,
  
 The profit garnered by Apple in Australia might be half acceptable if they 
 paid taxes on their Australian profits instead of diverting income through 
 low tax jurisdictions,
  
 Harry Medlicott
  
 From: Paul Bart
 Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 10:53 PM
 To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
 Subject: [Aus-soaring] Flight recorders/planning software
  
 John, I did not realized that reselling content that somebody else produced 
 required great deal of RD. Nor did I realized that 25 % profit on revenue is 
 necessary to keep Apple Inc afloat. I do realize however, that esentially no 
 money paid by Australians for products on iTunes find it's way into a local 
 economy. 
  
 BTW, why do we have to return to gliding only after you had your say?
  
  
 cheers
  
 Paul
 
 On Monday, 11 March 2013, Mike Borgelt wrote:
 At 02:29 PM 11/03/2013, you wrote:
 
 On 11/03/2013, at 12:25 , Mike Borgelt  mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com 
 wrote:
 
 
 Why screw around wasting your time with Apple OS?
 
 'Cos it's enabled be to bill well over $16,000 per year more for the last 5 
 years than if I still used windows. Cheap is not always the most cost 
 effective.
 I presume that the be in the above sentence should read me . Do you mean 
 you are more productive or that the customers pay more for that fact that you 
 do stuff on a mac?
 We're talking about running gliding software, not other uses for macs or 
 there relatives. What is the market penetration of macs? 10 % or so? If you 
 are going to write gliding software which is a relatively small market anyway 
 you really don't want to do and support a mac version as well. Oz Runways 
 chose the ipad platform for their GA planning and flight software and I can 
 see why. There was a good number of ipads in use and by choosing to run their 
 software on that they could support only one platform that was tightly 
 specified. Smart move and minimises their support issues.
 Most gliding software predates the ipad and was originally written for 
 Windows machines. Given the low cost of netbooks why not simply spend A$200 
 or so and buy one just for gliding stuff and going away from home? If you are 
 going to run gliding software on some Windows emulator why the hell bother 
 with the mac in the first place?
 
 I did say I thought Apple products were nicely built and they certainly look 
 nice but my ASUS all-in-one PC running Win 7 looks nice too and far cheaper. 
 I want a communications/general purpose PC not a fashion  or interior
 decoration accessory.
 
 Nice to see the bait taken so easily. Stirring Apple fanbois is like shooting 
 fish in a barrel. If you guys were really convinced you wouldn't be so 
 sensitive. Reminds me of the global warmenists or the co2mmunists. If the 
 evidence was so compelling they too wouldn't be so defensive.
 
 LOL.
 
 Mike
 
 
 -- 
 Cheers
 
 Paul
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Electric replacement for quad bikes around airfields

[Simon Hackett]

Towing on grass adds its own challenges to such a question - and certainly an 
electric vehicle may be heavier than an ICE based one. That said, under many 
circumstances more weight on a towing vehicle is better - else it might just 
sit there and spin its wheels.

For towing on hard surfaces, there are already a variety of electric-powered 
towing devices on the market.

This is one that we use to move my PC-12 at Adelaide airport, they're brilliant 
- because you can walk along the wingtip while operating it and ensure 
clearance. It can also lift and rotate the nosewheel arbitrarily (in terms of 
direction) using a built in turntable:

http://www.tracetowbots.com

Not quite what you wanted for your application, but an indication that electric 
aircraft moving devices are starting to come into their own of late. 

Regards, 
 Simon

On 05/03/2013, at 2:49 PM, Ian Mc Phee mrsoar...@gmail.com wrote:

 All  Simon
 
 I hear Simon H is an electric powered vehicle expert (Solar Challenge Darwin 
 to Adelaide) and wondering if you can offer thoughts on suitable electric 
 vehicle which could be used around airfield and towing gliders. I am sure 
 within a few years it will be the standard vehicle for airport use.  
 
 Recently at Bathurst I noticed an electric skate board for personal transport 
 to the launch point - now just need a larger glider towing version!!!
 
 Off topic I have heard overseas insurance companies may consider you are not 
 covered for damage to a glider when towing behind a vehicle.  May be a good 
 reason for driving very slowly when towing glider as just maybe you may not 
 be covered (esp if using other than factory gear).  18 months ago I heard 
 about a Libelle Written Off!! being towed behind vehicle and many many 
 gliders with about $5000 damage from towing behind a vehicle  .   
 
 Ian McPhee
 
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Aus-soaring Digest, Vol 112, Issue 10

[Simon Hackett]

Point taken - I was thinking, I guess, in terms of my own motor glider... which 
has an 'always buried in the fuselage' design.


Simon

On 14/01/2013, at 12:43 PM, wayne carter carter1wa...@gmail.com wrote:

  1. Re: FireWire fire detection wire. (DMcD)
 
 yeah but I re-iterate (against Mike's suggestion) Halon -or any other gas 
 based retardant- will NOT put out an engine fire if the engine is extended, 
 much less so if it is running. 
 It will work fine if the bay doors are shut and / or there is a limited area 
 -as Mike said, within an jet engine housing works OK- but not out in the 
 breeze.
 +1 BCF only option, sorry
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] FireWire fire detection wire.

[Simon Hackett]

Noting that I've never seen it in real life, I must say that this appeals to me 
greatly on paper:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/active.php

This is one step past a 'detection wire' - its a 'fire extinguishing hose': 

From the web page:

 Active Extinguishing Line is totally independent fire extinguishing system 
 from any power source. Its main secret lies in the heat detector in a form of 
 a line made out of special laser predrilled polymer, which will react 
 instantly to any source of heat or fire. This line (heat detector) is 
 connected to reservoir containing fire-extinguishing agent: hexafluoropropane 
 FE-36 or award winning Pyrocool FEF solution. Inside of the protected device 
 (equipment) a loop made out of the heat detector breaks, creating a mini 
 sprinkler, directly over source of fire or heat, extinguishing it instantly. 
 In the moment of activation the system closed circuit switch collapses 
 sending a signal informing of fire.



Aircraft Spruce have sold it for years, and I doubt they'd keep selling it if 
it wasn't capable of doing what it promises. 

Regards,
  Simon

On 10/01/2013, at 10:49 PM, James Dutschke james.m.dutsc...@gmail.com wrote:

 http://www.protectowire.com/products/protectowirelhd.htm
 
 It's essentially 2 insulated wires that run around an engine bay and touch 
 when the plastic between them melts. Shorting and indicating the fire. 
 
 Sent from my iPhone
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Sky 1 Installation Update

[Simon Hackett]

Hah! This is where I get to use one of my favourite jokes!

Sky(tm) has a bug in it. The sky appears blue, but its actually supposed to be 
white. The reason for that is that there is a bug in the universes 'ray 
tracing' algorithm, so it renders in the wrong colour. 

Regards, 
 Simon

On 24/10/2012, at 4:06 PM, Erich Wittstock wrote:

 Really nice to hear that. Another user!
 I've been running sky for several years now. I really love it now. But my 
 first thoughts were:
 That will never catch on. There are too many options available. There is no 
 consistency - it's different every time you start it up.
 After a year and a bit I realised that Sky(TM) is true Open Source and 
 eventually figured out what its all about.
 Should we - maybe - start a Sky(TM) user group? This might deflect people 
 from being stuck to Panel(Inc) or even Smartphone(PTY)
 ;-)
 
 
 On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 12:38 PM, Texler, Michael 
 michael.tex...@health.wa.gov.au wrote:
 I have have just installed something fantastic.
 
 It is called Sky(TM).
 
 It is applied to the entire outer surface of the canopy.
 Although it is solar powered it doesn't need batteries, or a link to a
 GPS unit or any extra holes drilled into your instrument panel.
 
 It's visibility in bright sunlight is really good and most studies have
 agreed that its presence augments the gliding experience.
 It is available in a range of colours and patterns.
 
 Please see this link:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky
 
 
 
 BTW: This is humour (sort of...)
 
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[Aus-soaring] The merits of soaring experience

[Simon Hackett]

Hi all,

A bit of a digression from soaring experiences directly, to a bit of a soaring 
related side story.

I've just returned from an across-the-world ferry flight with a new aircraft 
from Switzerland.

In writing the wrap-up note for a series of blog posts I wrote during that 
trip, I found myself writing what amounts to a bit of a testimonial to the 
merits of significant soaring experience for those who then wind up pursuing 
powered aviation in larger/more complicated aircraft later in life - as I have 
done:

http://simonhackett.com/2012/09/04/reflections-on-a-journey/

I have moved up the stack in terms of powered aviation complexity quite fast in 
the last few years (from my motor glider to a Cirrus SR22 Turbo and then a few 
months ago, up to a PC-12NG type rating).

I'm no longer a teenager, and the learning curve to jump up to the PC-12 was 
*steep* for me (including concurrently being thrown into the deep end on PC-12 
mechanical systems, pressurisation systems, IFR radio procedures, Instrument 
departures and arrivals, operating out of an international airport, using the 
airliner grade FMS, VOR, NDB and GPS RNAV systems, etc)

I'm convinced that what made it possible without turning into a puddle of 
overstressed jelly in the process was the depth of experience in the 
fundamentals of flying that are ingrained into my brain over nearly three 
decades of flying sailplanes. 

That investment of time back when I was a student at Uni, in learning to glide, 
when the notion of spending all weekend on a dusty airfield was easy (in the 
era before heavy family and work commitments)... 

...that is an investment that has paid off in spades for me now, because I'm 
happy that I can fly safely in a very high end aircraft, with all the 
fundamentals of how a plane works (under all the complex stuff) being so deeply 
wired into my head from all that soaring experience.

All that said, I also look forward to flying my glider some more again soon. 
I'm mulling over turning up at the Waikerie 'Orange Week' in November in my 
Stemme and to try to remind myself how to thermal it decently... :)


Regards, 
 Simon

p.s. My PC-12 instructor, Pete Tippett, used to fly and instruct in gliders too 
...  before moving on to flying Mirages in the RAAF and then gaining extensive 
experience flying PC-12s with the RFDS. 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Does this work?

[Simon Hackett]

So do it once, outside of facebook, and then post the link inside facebook as 
well.

(unless I'm missing something...?)

On 12/06/2012, at 9:39 AM, Raj Bholanat wrote:

 Like he said
  Which is a bugger cos there are a few facebook things like that I want to
 send to non facebook friends. Have to do it twice now :-(
 
 
 -Original Message-
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Derek
 Ruddock
 Sent: Tuesday, 12 June 2012 8:47 AM
 To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
 Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Does this work?
 
 Use one of the other picture hosting services (flickr, picasa, photobucket
 etc) and send them that link
 
 -Original Message-
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of stephenk
 Sent: Monday, 11 June 2012 6:00 PM
 To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
 Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Does this work?
 
 Thanks for those that tried and didn't work.
 I wasn't sure if public in facebook meant everyone who knew the link 
 or just everyone in facebook. Seems like the latter.
 Which is a bugger cos there are a few facebook things like that I want to
 send to non facebook friends. Have to do it twice now :-(
 
 Regards
 SWK
 
 On 11/06/2012 10:19 AM, John Orton wrote:
 Not for me.
 
 I think Facebook public means to Facebook members only, however I am 
 not a Facebook member/user.
 
 Regards,
 John Orton
 
 
 
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Radio near collision.

[Simon Hackett]

In the unlikely event you've not all seen it already, here's one way the 
outcome could have turned out:

http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/007288.html

I will say that while I appreciate its an issue that more than a few glider 
pilots seem passionately opposed to for their own reasons, the notion of 
regularly operating transponders in gliders is one that I personally believe 
would be of active assistance here (I certainly do so).

I think that doing so could directly improve safety in this regard [noting that 
the link above indicates the glider concerned had one, but it wasn't powered up 
- like all electronics, its far less effective when its switched off]

I'm not directly arguing for mandating transponders in gliders (and not 
specifically seeking to re-start that particular debate).

Rather, I'm just indicating there are significant merits in choosing to operate 
a transponder in a glider, because having ATC and TCAS equipped powered 
aircraft able to see *you* is definitely a source of additional alerted 
avoidance of mid air collisions - whether or not you have something in your 
glider that works in the other direction.

I've found that air traffic control is frequently helpful to VFR and IFR 
aircraft, in that they will call you up proactively and advise of the presence 
of transponder-equipped unidentified traffic in your vicinity on a pretty 
routine basis. They're as interested in avoiding mid air contacts as the rest 
of us are.

In addition, aircraft like the powered plane I'm fortunate enough to fly also 
paints any aircraft with a working transponder on my moving map... with 
position, relative altitude, and aural and visual alerting of nearby traffic. 
This is becoming very much more common over time, and increasingly affordable 
as a retrofit as well (cf. Zaon units, and the always-nearly-available Power 
FLARM units).

As for all of the other ways we might become aware of another aircraft in our 
vicinity (Mark I eyeball, use of VHF radio, FLARM, hang glider pilot screaming 
obscenities after a powered aircraft or glider passes too close, etc)... having 
one more way to avoid a collision has to be a good thing, IMHO.

Anyway - we all do the best we can. And if we keep looking out for (and looking 
after) each other, hopefully we can continue to minimise the chances of such 
collisions overall.

Last thought I have here is that I reckon it'd be great if CASA (via the GFA?) 
was asked about the notion of allocating a generic transponder code for 
transponder-equipped gliders to use instead of 1200. That would help ATC to be 
sure that what they are seeing is a glider, and hence would help them to inform 
other traffic more usefully about the likely tracking characteristics of a 
glider they may wish to alert other traffic about.

Regards,
 Simon

On 20/04/2012, at 1:37 PM, Tim Shirley wrote:

Hi all,

It's not quite right to suggest that it is only glider pilots who need training.

A recent radio exchange at Benalla went something like this:

Cessna XXX 10 miles SE Benalla maintaining 4500 ft overflying for Mangalore
Cessna XXX glider YYY, be aware there are approximately 6 gliders operating in 
the vicinity of the airfield up to 6000ft
YYY this is XXX, please give locations of all gliders
XXX, gliders may be operating at any location within 10 miles of the airfield 
and altitude up to cloudbase.  Please keep a good lookout.
YYY, there should be a NOTAM out for that
XXX, this is YYY, the ERSA entry for Benalla states that glider operations may 
be carried out during daylight hours on any day

As I have commented before on this forum, the operational characteristics of 
gliders makes information provided by radio far less useful in a predictive 
sense than the same information given by a powered aircraft because gliders 
don't fly precise tracks or maintain constant altitudes.

This is no one's fault, and it won't be fixed simply by more frequent, more 
detailed or more correct transmissions.

I have a simple rule for the radio.  I listen as much as possible and I talk as 
little as I can get away with while still complying with all reasonable rules.

Cheers

Tim

tra dire e fare c'è mezzo il mare

On 20/04/2012 10:17, Mark Newton wrote:

On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 09:31:21AM +1000, Christopher  Mc Donnell wrote:

  http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2012/04/20/teenage-pilots-quick-response-avoids-collision/

The actual ATSB report referenced by the article is here:
http://www.atsb.gov.au/media/3548648/ab-2012-019.pdf#page=47

I'm sure there's a lot of room for interpretation here (i.e., concerning
whether a CAR166C broadcast is strictly required if the glider pilot
doesn't believe it is necessary to do so to avoid a collision, or
the risk of a collision with another aircraft.)  The differing guidance
between the competition rules, GFA rules and CASA rules about which
frequency should be used and when broadcasts should be made is also
up for discussion.

But one thing worth 

Re: [Aus-soaring] Radio near collision.

[Simon Hackett]

Scott,

There are multiple benefits beyond 'big planes and towers' seeing you.

As I said:


I've found that air traffic control is frequently helpful to VFR and IFR 
aircraft, in that they will call you up proactively and advise of the presence 
of transponder-equipped unidentified traffic in your vicinity on a pretty 
routine basis. They're as interested in avoiding mid air contacts as the rest 
of us are.

... i.e. ATC will often actively notify other VFR traffic they can see, of the 
presence of conflicting traffic they can see. They will happily notify any 
little plane about threats they should act to avoid, they are not just there to 
help the big planes and/or passenger planes. They're frequently alerting VFR 
traffic about other VFR traffic on a proactive basis, too. This includes 
traffic flying outside of controlled airspace, and nowhere near where 
'passenger planes' are present.

The devices you can choose to fit in your own glider that can respond to 
transponder transmissions and provide alerts back to you directly include 
readily available units like the Zaon and Power FLARM units:

http://www.lxavionics.co.uk/traffic-monitor.htm

http://www.zaon.aero/

Returning to the point of running a transponder even if you can't actively 
receive data from other transponders around you, the whole system is designed 
(amongst other things) to help ATC to assist in helping pilots avoid killing 
each other.

If ATC can only reach the Cessna driver and get him to avoid slamming into you, 
and you have no idea that this just happened, trust me, its still a benefit to 
all concerned ;)

Regards,
 Simon

On 20/04/2012, at 9:16 PM, Scott Penrose wrote:


On 20/04/2012, at 9:37 PM, Simon Hackett wrote:

I will say that while I appreciate its an issue that more than a few glider 
pilots seem passionately opposed to for their own reasons, the notion of 
regularly operating transponders in gliders is one that I personally believe 
would be of active assistance here (I certainly do so).


I think it is a great idea for us to do transponders. The power requirements 
are not what they used to be.
One question though, how does it help these situations? Can't only big planes 
and towers see the transponders. I believe there are now some small devices, 
but mostly planes only transmit - ie. the whole system is to protect passenger 
planes from everyone else.

Scott

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Re: [Aus-soaring] aus-soar...@list.iinet.com.au ?

[Simon Hackett]

Not that its exactly soaring news, I guess, but this is a better article in 
terms of research quality and explanation:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mergers-acquisitions/internode-takeover-lifts-iinet-as-third-leading-internet-provider/story-fn91vdzj-1226228853956

Internode isn't going away, and I'm not either. So no need to plan on any 
changes in domain names.

Always Happy Landings,
  Simon

On 22/12/2011, at 9:07 PM, Mal Bruce wrote:

Internode now joins TransACT in iiNet stable.

http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/another-small-isp-bites-the-dust-20111222-1p6yx.html


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Re: [Aus-soaring] AERO trade fair

[Simon Hackett]

Aus Soaring is a mailing list whose existence I privately fund out of the 
goodness of my heart. Its not a charity and its not a business for me. Lets 
call it a hobby.

It doesn't have any formal rules, and I've managed to date to avoid creating 
any formal rules, because the presence of rules always creates a tension around 
the precise definition of the boundaries of those rules, which can in turn have 
less than ideal outcomes.

In practice, the list regularly hosts both private and commercial information 
about aircraft for sale, and I don't personally see a problem with civilised 
levels of both being on this list. Indeed I think it adds significant value.

After all - if private and commercial sales of sailplanes occur, that (surely) 
supports people flying these things more - and I hope we all see -that- as a 
good thing.

The 'industry' in this country in sailplanes is so small that I think any 
encouragement of it becoming larger is a good thing!!

On the other hand, I think there are arguably sufficient alternative venues for 
your washing machines (try eBay).

Regards, 
 Simon


On 04/04/2011, at 9:56 PM, bjo...@pipecomp.com.au
 bjo...@pipecomp.com.au wrote:

 I thought advertising was not allowed on Aus Soaring ??
 
 If i'm wrong ..
 I can cut you a good deal on the new range of Washing machines 50kg, 75KG
 and 120Kg at good prices.
 I'll even throw in a cup of coffee
 
 
 
 -Original Message-
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Future
 Aviation
 Sent: Tuesday, 5 April 2011 3:26 AM
 To: aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
 Subject: [Aus-soaring] AERO trade fair
 
 Dear all!
 
 This is to let all of you know that the AERO exhibition is held at 
 Friedrichshafen, Germany from 13.4 to 16.4.2011.
 
 You are all invited for a cup of coffee at the SCHLEICHER Stand in 
 Hall 1,Booth 305. Amongst other single seat gliders the new ASH 30 Mi 
 Open Class 2-seater will be on display!
 
 We are looking forward to welcoming a large number of pilots from 
 down under. 
 
 Kind regards to all
 
 FUTURE AVIATION PTY LTD
 Bernard Eckey
 10 Antigua Grove
 West Lakes 5021
 South Australia
 Ph. 08-84492871
 Mobile 0412 981 204
 ec...@internode.on.net
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] AIP

[Simon Hackett]

As another option, I use the app I've supplied a link for below, and I consider 
it highly useful as a mechanism for electronic access to AIP's, ERSA, DAPs, and 
(real soon now) the entire Australian map set (VTC, VNC, ERC's etc).

Compared to the paper versions (and the cost for a paper version update service 
from Airservices), its all at a highly reasonable price (iPhone and iPad):

http://www.ozrunways.com/site/

Free 30 day trial, so if you have one of those platforms, give it a shot.

Simon
(Happy customer, no other affiliation)


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Re: [Aus-soaring] Flight Safety

[Simon Hackett]

On 15/03/2011, at 6:36 PM, Mike Borgelt wrote:
 I sure hope it was a dedicated cargo aircraft, not a regular passenger flight.

Indeed. Qantas freighter aircraft.

 Multiple times? Intriguing. About 1.2 tonnes of hydrocarbon fuel each way, 
 enough to drive the car 50,000 kms or so. Somewhere this safe and actively 
 controlled installation depends on some power MOSFETS. Power electronics  
 which can fail. Ask the people whose laptops caught fire.
 

I'm not an expert in this realm, Mike. Nor claiming to be.  I'm just an 
occasional customer of the airlines (directly and indirectly).

To address the implicit statement that I'm a hypocrite for being involved in 
the airfreighting of an EV, I'll also note that the next tens of thousands of 
EVs are more likely to turn up via sea freight than air freight, but the first 
few into the country were brought in to meet commercial deadlines for various 
reasons designed to show them to the general public at key public events as a 
part of starting a new market in a new technology.

I consider that to be a reasonable thing to do if you believe that EVs (road 
and even aircraft) are a rational part of our future. That is a belief I happen 
to hold (and I put my money where my belief is). 

Note: I don't require you to agree with me in order to feel comfortable with my 
own choices in this regard. 

Again I'm not an expert, but I will note that Tesla Motors, whose vehicles 
these are, are the ones who have obtained formal permission from the airlines 
to airfreight these vehicles as an appropriately flagged cargo item, and I have 
to presume that they, and the airlines, *do* know enough about this to make a 
reasonable safety assessment in the circumstances.

This includes, I'm sure, consideration of the fact that the active electronics 
managing the batteries in this installation are mounted internally in the same 
heavy duty and sealed metal enclosure, which forms a physical safety barrier in 
addition to the applicable electronic safety features unique to that specific 
battery installation.

I believe that Tesla are currently unique in holding this airfreight permission 
for an EV, so I will indicate that their expertise in this regard may even 
exceed your own, Mike. It certainly exceeds mine. 

 Do people airfreight cars with petrol in the tank? Anyone know?

From memory, I think the tanks are supposed to be empty but are in practice 
expected to contain a small quantity of fuel left in the tanks (the 
'unuseable' bit left at the bottom of the tank, I guess). 

I will now exit from this specific debate to avoid you feeling the need to 
engage in further attacks on my choice of road transport and the manner in 
which it arrived here. I feel sorry I chimed in at all at this point (which 
was, I suppose, your aim. You've achieved it. Thanks).

Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Flight Safety

[Simon Hackett]

On 16/03/2011, at 11:23 AM, Mike Borgelt wrote:

 At 08:42 AM 16/03/2011, you wrote:
 
 I'm not an expert in this realm, Mike. Nor claiming to be.  I'm just an 
 occasional customer of the airlines (directly and indirectly).
 
 To address the implicit statement that I'm a hypocrite for being involved in 
 the airfreighting of an EV, I'll also note that the next tens of thousands 
 of EVs are more likely to turn up via sea freight than air freight, but the 
 first few into the country were brought in to meet commercial deadlines for 
 various reasons designed to show them to the general public at key public 
 events as a part of starting a new market in a new technology.
 
 
 Who said anything about hypocrisy? I was intrigued by the multiple times. I 
 know you have 2 Tesla roadsters. I guess that's multiple unless you've had 
 one back to the factory for some reason.

One brought to Australia at my expense (USA spec, LHD), spent a year here 
promoting EV's at my personal expense, then sent it back to California because 
I couldn't get it road registered here (LHD is a problem in Australia unless 
your car is RHD or a dual control road sweeper)

The second one is the first road legal RHD example in the country. Brought out 
that way by Tesla at their expense as part of setting up operations here (they 
are now operational and taking orders for cars in their own right in Australia, 
ex Sydney).

 Trouble is when you do the numbers it always turns out you pay at least 3 
 times as much per kilometer as for petrol or diesel.

I've never seen anyone present numbers to make that argument. Your numbers must 
be different to mine. 

 BTW from where do you plan on getting the electricity for recharging? At 
 present in Australia EVs are coal powered cars.

Sorry Mike but you're dead wrong there.

Click here:

http://twitpic.com/35f2kq

My EV is powered by solar generated energy. 

Hence your statement At present in Australia EV's are coal powered cars is 
manifestly false, by specific demonstration (mine isn't powered by coal).

The array on my roof averages about 45 kilowatt hours generated per day 
(peaking at 65 kWh on a decently sunny day). 

About 50% of that is pushed back into the grid each day, the rest consumed by 
the house and related infrastructure. Including recharging a 30kWh battery 
array for backup and/or fully off-grid operation on my site at my option:

https://www.sunnyportal.com/Templates/PublicPageOverview.aspx?plant=77a17c6e-e5c7-4279-902b-e13b3c32a93csplang=en-US

The average I need to run the car on a work day is around 5 kilowatt hours, 
which I can either pull from the grid overnight (off peak, using otherwise 
wasted energy in the coal-fired power stations idling overnight), or from the 
battery string on site if I have to prove a point to a nay-sayer. I have the 
choice, which is nice (and increases my flexibility), and the inefficiency in 
charging one set of batteries during the day and then moving it into the car at 
night doesn't matter a lot when I am generating far more power than I 
personally need to use for this purpose. 

When we get the Tesla Model S, then we'll get rid of the other petrol burner 
and the whole household will be driving on solar generated power. 

Of course, it took energy to make the solar panels, and at this point you're 
probably going to tell me that the embedded energy to make those panels makes 
the whole thing worthless to even start, and we might as well give up and just 
keep destroying the planet by burning shit endlessly instead. 

The same logic would have us burning our sailplanes and giving up on that as 
well. 

 Adrian has done the numbers and thinks the end to end efficiency is lower 
 than for IC powered cars.
 

Adrian who? 

And... thats lovely. I'm sure we could have a debate involving duelling 
calculations on web sites all day.  I have read plenty of calculation sets that 
assert that EV's are more efficient -  and that with even very conservative 
assumptions, they are 'not worse' - and clearly they are at the start of their 
evolution in this regard, compared to IC's being at the far end of theirs. 

Here is just one such web site, for what its worth, and its relevant to me 
because its about the car I own:

http://www.teslamotors.com/goelectric/efficiency

Want the same thing in more detail? Sure, here it is:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/greendorm/participate/cee124/TeslaReading.pdf

In the real world, I drove one of these cars from Darwin to Adelaide and 
demonstrated that the direct fuel requirement into a diesel generator used for 
the exercise was below 4 litres per 100 km, in practice, including all the 
obvious losses in generating power from a small diesel installation for local 
delivery to the car, vs the more efficient approaches available in higher scale 
generation.

And when you tell me the diesel generator had to be transported, I get to say 
'sure, just like the diesel in the underground tanks at the petrol stations 

Re: [Aus-soaring] Flight Safety

[Simon Hackett]

p.s. when I said this:

 
 Most generalisations are in accurate, including this one

I actually meant the same thing with one less space, of course, i.e. this:

 
 Most generalisations are inaccurate, including this one




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Re: [Aus-soaring] ADSB in gliders and sport aviation

[Simon Hackett]

Hello Mal (et al),

That device already exists. Its called a PowerFLARM:

http://www.butterfly.aero/powerflarm/fly/

and/or

http://www.lxavionics.co.uk/traffic-monitor.htm

This looks like its just about to go into full production.

Note that its quoted as being able to run for 8 hours on six AA batteries (or 
from a glider battery, obviously, as an alternative).

i.e. presumably the current draw isn't unreasonable.

That doesn't magically solve the economic question, but it does suggest that 
the actual technology you require here (along with a Mode-S transponder, I 
guess) is certainly available (or nearly so).

I must say that I find the notion of a combination Flarm and ADS-B to be highly 
appealing as a safety tool. Its eye-opening (literally) to see the thing the 
ADS-B in my Cirrus picks up before I see them out of the window.

Regards,
Simon

On 26/11/2010, at 6:00 PM, Mal Bruce wrote:


Could flarm and ADSB run on a single unit I recall having discussion with Nigel 
about this how about your expert opinion?

Personally I 100% support technology being used for collision avoidance the 
cost of the units and current battery technology is minimal and the shared cost 
per aircraft far out weighs the cost of one life.

I am sure that negotiated properly some costs could be shared by GFA and the 
federal government CASA after all they want “safe sky’s for all”!

Mal


CASA Discussion Paper Response - Urgent Action Required



To: GFA Members, Gliding Clubs and Regional Gliding Associations


Urgent Action Required

See the response by ASAC to 
CASAhttp://GFA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTU5MTQmcD0xJnU9NTAxNzk0NzQ5JmxpPTEzNTEzMTk/index.html
 relating to Discussion Paper 
1006AShttp://GFA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTU5MTQmcD0xJnU9NTAxNzk0NzQ5JmxpPTEzNTEzMjA/index.html
In a nutshell, it proposes to mandate universal fitting of ADSB and Mode S 
to all aircraft for use in all classifications of airspace.  This is completely 
unacceptable to sport aviation generally and gliding particularly.

The GFA will be submitting a response which will express similar views to those 
of ASAC.

It is important that as many responses as possible are submitted expressing 
concerns about the proposal and at the very least expressing strong support for 
the ASAC submission.

Submissions can be made easily by individuals and club representatives via CASA 
website Response to Regulatory Change 
Proposalhttp://GFA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yOTU5MTQmcD0xJnU9NTAxNzk0NzQ5JmxpPTEzNTEzMjE/index.html.
Detailed individual responses would be preferred but a response which just 
expresses dissatisfaction with CASA's consultation and then notes for each item 
that changes would make it acceptable, with a final comment supporting the ASAC 
paper will at least get the message across.

It would greatly assist our position if each organisation can ensure a response 
on their behalf before 30 November and encourage all individual members to do 
the same.  Apologies for the short notice.

Phil McCann
President

ATT1..txt

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Re: [Aus-soaring] Lake Keepit Gliding

[Simon Hackett]

Great video! And a nice landing.

Its been ages (way too long) since I've been soaring at Lake Keepit.

Its a lovely part of the world.  Lake, grass, kangaroos - its got it all :)

Regards,
  Simon

On 15/11/2010, at 8:10 AM, John Parncutt wrote:

Hi All,


Just spent a very enjoyable week with the friendly folks at Lake Keepit Soaring 
club, for those who haven’t  yet visited this site I can definitely recommend a 
visit and it was well worth the 2400Km round trip from Melbourne.

I took my collection of camera mounts and video camera’s along and shot a fair 
bit of footage at this very scenic site.

Here’s my first edit with the clubs Grob 103a doing some aero’s over the lake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sjCpFYKS6Q

I’ll put some more up when I get some time to do the editing

Cheers,



John
ATT1..txt

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Re: [Aus-soaring] Arcus E flies

[Simon Hackett]

 
 Finally, at least one manufacturer is starting to do it.
 
 E Another manufacturer. They'd be about sixth in the queue!
 
 D.


Can you please provide details of the other five comparable sailplane types you 
have in mind?

To be specific:

- Two seater
- Electric self launch from sea level to at least 5000 feet
- Something that soars well (e.g. lets say Best L/D on the better side of 35:1)
- In actual series production either now or within six months
- Something I can place an order on, today, from a dealer who will manage the 
importation, certification, entry on to the register, etc (i.e. Australian 
support exists for the aircraft type)

(and to be fair to you, I didn't add the condition Must not be butt ugly)

Thanks, 
 Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Arcus E flies

[Simon Hackett]

Hey guys...

I pay for the running costs of this list, so I get to (very occasionally) make 
a post or two about something.

Its one of those times. Here goes:

How about, when people post pictures of pretty wonderful looking new technology 
entering our sport (not entering the ultralight sport, *our* sport - soaring in 
sailplanes)... such as the first two-seater deployment of the Lange developed 
electric self launch system... that we try to find something *positive* to say?

Here goes - this is what *I* think about it:

Hey, thats pretty bloody cool - finally its possible to self-launch in a 50:1 
aircraft, to take two people soaring, without chewing fossil fuels to do it, 
with dramatically lower running costs and maintenance overheads compared to 
complicated and stinky petrol engines, and to do it in a way that, frankly, 
looks just beautiful.

That electric launch system is a doddle to use (fully automatic sequencing for 
the startup and shutdown cycles), its quiet, it looks quite stunning in 
operation (take a look at the videos on the Lange web site sometime)...

... and instead, we tear it down with self-satisfied dribble like the post 
below.

This relentless tendency to cut people down when they mention something new is, 
to coin a phrase - getting pretty old.

Its incredibly hard, and at some level, incredibly brave, to bother to create 
and certify new aircraft at all, in the litigious and increasingly risk-averse 
modern world.

Why don't we celebrate - and honour - those who have the guts to keep doing it, 
risking their capital and their reputation in the process?

I, for one, have been stuck for years in the dilemma of owning a wonderful high 
performance self launching two seater (Stemme S10-VT),  that has a crushing 
maintenance overhead on the (in my personal view, somewhat flawed) Rotax power 
plant being the thing that keeps it on the ground far more than it could be.

I've been hanging out for the market to start releasing electric self-launch 
two-seater gliders that look, and fly, like a proper glider, for sooo long. 
Finally, at least one manufacturer is starting to do it.

Thats bloody fantastic!

And (in response to another post in this thread): don't get me started on 
bagging aircraft because they cost $300,000. The road to lower cost, but 
innovative, new aircraft (that don't suck) necessarily starts with more 
expensive ones (that don't suck). 

Thats how it works!

Its why some people (like me) have spent that sort of money on a car (because 
its the first production electric car that doesn't suck: 
http://www.teslamotors.com).

And I recharge it using power that I (more than) offset back into the grid via 
a 10 kW array of solar panels on my roof at home.

For some of you, that makes me a rich wanker, I'm sure.  I appreciate that 
you'll be saying that behind my back.  I don't personally agree with that view 
(from my point of view, I earned it, and at very considerable personal cost, so 
I have a right to spend it any sodding way that I feel like it).

But the real point is that its people like me that give the manufacturers of 
those vehicles (whether road going or flying) the capacity to bring out the 
lower cost ones later, by supporting their earlier, more expensive, efforts now.

Again, thats how it works.

And sure, everyone has a story about a concept thingy they can provide an 
example of from insert previous year that works much better, at a cost of 
only $2.50 plus a rubber band and some blu-tac. 

And, y'know what? They're always something that, mysteriously, never quite made 
it commercially. I wonder why that is? 

Anyway... Thanks for listening.

I'll say this once more, to close:

Wow, thats a beautiful looking aircraft, isn't it. I would sure love to try 
flying that in Australia one day - and to be a part of zero carbon footprint, 
and yet high performance, soaring, at last, with one of those in a hangar 
charged from solar panels on the hangar roof.

Meantime: I'll now leave you to the back-biting in peace and quiet, and return 
to my day job, of earning enough money to afford to keep this list running for 
you all. 

(you're welcome).
 
 Simon


On 22/09/2010, at 8:15 AM, DMcD wrote:

 This rounds off the complete offering of sailplanes (pure sailplane, 
 Sustainer, SL petrol engine and SL Electric), which will undoubtedly shape 
 the direction of offerings for all manufacturers in the years to come.
 
 Ha! Do you mean that it rounds out the offerings from the main German
 manufacturers who have finally caught up with the innovative leads of
 ultralight glider manufacturers from 5 years ago or more………
 
 Credit where credit is due. A look at WIDOLA from the mid 2000's will
 show these types all on offer in ultralight form for a fraction of the
 price of a German glider.
 
 D


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[Aus-soaring] Commercial glider maintenance challenges in Australia [was: Re: DG Flugzeugbau strategy]

[Simon Hackett]

I am posting on this topic with some hesitation, in that its sort-of a follow 
up to the slanging match about DG, sort-of not.

... but I felt, for the sake of balance, that I pointed out an example that 
shows how *all* glider manufacturers are capable of disappointing their owners 
bitterly at times

.. Sometimes even very high profile owners.

Many of you will have heard of 'Dr Jack' of 'blipmaps' fame. Well, read this:

http://drjack.info/BLIP/NAM/SW/index.html

Specifically:

Oct 17:  Schleicher woes and site termination:  BLIPMAP users have likely 
noticed that there has been little updating or improving of the website or 
forecasts for over a year.  Some of you are also aware that 16 months ago I had 
an (unexplained) in-flight fire in the engine bay of my Schleicher ASH-26e.  
The two events are related.  Schleicher has now had my engine for over one 
year, without any repair - Schliecher says they cannot get parts from the 
engine manufacturer.  I am mentioning this here as a public service 
announcement for those considering purchasing an ASH-26e, or any plane with 
that engine, but also because this affects BLIPMAPs.  I have not flown since 
that time and find I have lost my love of soaring - for me, soaring now only 
means problems and hassles, so I have turned to more enjoyable recreational 
activities.  This website has been a labor of love but that love has died and 
I have no motivation for contributing any further time to the soaring community 
- for me this website is just another soaring-related problem.  I will 
address this issue in future posts, but the bottom line is probable termination 
of this website a year from now.

The perils of service industries, eh?

There is always one customer with a story from hell (and I know THAT peril 
well, as I own a company whose existence is also predicted on delivering great 
customer service - and we generally do, but I'm brutally aware that we don't 
always do so - nobody is perfect, and nobody *can* be perfect).

Anyway - regarding the above... Like all such stories, I'm sure there is a back 
story here none of us appreciate that explains it - and with most such 
disputes, there are three views: Your view, my view, and The truth, and 
frequently all three can differ.

In terms of getting things fixed, certainly my own weapon of choice, the Stemme 
S10-VT, is also no exception, its a real challenge in maintenance overhead terms

Stemme's direct technical support of my aircraft is absolutely excellent - 
they're great people, but that doesn't make them perfect, and the machine 
itself is *definitely* not perfect. Its so complex that its major challenge in 
practice *is* that complexity (in terms of maintenance).

That is to the point where frankly I dislike the Rotax engine in it quite 
deeply now, due to its maintenance overheads.

 (Just one example: changing all rubber hoses each 5 years is an absolute 
b**ch, and 5 years comes around far too soon;  I did a change of hoses in 
VH-TCP six months ago and the consequences of a busy life mean that its still 
sitting in a hangar at this point, with as yet unresolved hose end leaks that 
weren't there before we replaced all the perfectly good hoses. So its been a 
hangar queen right through the soaring season, waiting for me to have enough 
quiet time in my life to fix it myself. Cough).

And thats left me spending a summer making my family miserable by mumbling 
about how nice the Cu look in the sky. You know the feeling. You all know that 
feeling at some point :)

There is nobody in this state I can pay to maintain it commercially, and who 
actually has the combination of both available time, technical capacity and 
qualification to do so.

Hence I rely on the assistance of overworked volunteers to help me with this 
high maintenance aircraft. Those volunteers are wonderful people - as most 
people in gliding are. But I hate - I really hate - pressing them over and over 
to fix my aircraft when its a favour, not something I am actually allowed to 
pay them for.

This has got to such a stage that it has been a major factor in my having 
bought a high performance light plane lately - because I can actually pay 
someone in my home state to take care of the engine and systems so I don't have 
to do it myself, and so I don't need to keep extracting favours from GFA 
qualified friends to do it (with the necessary multi-month waits because it 
needs to happen on their schedule, not mine).

Its rather magnificent to be able to pay (great) maintenance people at 
Parafield and then just turn up and fly.

What do *I* really want? A decent glider with a high reliability electric 
launch motor that has almost zero propulsion system maintenance overhead.

Yes, well I'm aware of the Antares - and frankly quite interested in it for 
this very reason!

It looks wonderful on paper ('cept the stories I hear about it having 
performance challenges in hot weather with the batteries - oops, in this 
country, 

Re: [Aus-soaring] Naips for iPhone.

[Simon Hackett]

Which specific App in the store is that one you're describing?

HI James,

I've got one for my iPhone now and I'm using it now, but you're describing 
features that suggest I've picked the 'wrong' (i.e. less capable) one out of 
multiple alternatives on the store for this :)

And to address Peter Stephenson's original question, which was this:

 Just been to an Airservices safety briefing where NAIPS was demonstrated and 
 there was a message: this site is not for PDA/3G access 
 PeterS


The correct answer is actually that you mis-read or mis-remembered the text on 
the web page. Here's what it really says:

Viewing these web pages with a mobile device (such as PDA/3G Phone) is not 
recommended.

(source: http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/brief/default.asp)

not recommended is a lot different to you must not use. And as others have 
suggested, they're just trying to say the web site doesn't display well on some 
mobile browsers - they aren't trying to stop people using the API into NAIPS 
that AirServices seem very happy for people to use, with permission, to write 
apps to do this stuff efficiently (to their credit).

(I also think that the note on the web site probably pre-dates the existence of 
iPhones - and is referring to what happens to the site on things with browsers 
that aren't as good as the one on the iPhone - which renders the site fine).

Simon

On 03/02/2010, at 4:37 PM, James Dutschke wrote:

 Not wanting to sound like an ad but this app is unreal. It will  
 develop route forecasts with wind directions strengths and a temp  
 trace for a given route or area. It will Submit/modify/cancel flight  
 plans, it will work out your alternates for a given route, give  
 forecasts for them and allow you to screen out unsuitabe(small)  
 fields. Does Area forecasts TAFs etc etc.
 
 Basically any service that's on web based naips plus a shitte load  
 more. Had I of had it during pilots course it wouldve saved hours not  
 to mention the trees worth of flight plans, forecasts and notams I've  
 printed.
 
 Just a bit of a fan.
 
 Sent from my iPhone
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Naips for iPhone.

[Simon Hackett]

Ah, good, yes, thats the one I've got. Clearly I've not yet explored everything 
it can do :)

Thanks!

On 03/02/2010, at 8:28 PM, Stuart  Kerri Ferguson wrote:

 I use the application simply known as NAIPS written by Rowan Wilson - but I
 have just done a search for it and can't find it!
 
 It may be down for an update - to date it has been a very well supported
 application with updates and improvements every couple or weeks.  
 
 SDF
 
 
 -Original Message-
 From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net
 [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Simon
 Hackett
 Sent: Wednesday, 3 February 2010 8:47 PM
 To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
 Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Naips for iPhone.
 
 Which specific App in the store is that one you're describing?
 
 HI James,
 
 I've got one for my iPhone now and I'm using it now, but you're describing
 features that suggest I've picked the 'wrong' (i.e. less capable) one out of
 multiple alternatives on the store for this :)
 
 And to address Peter Stephenson's original question, which was this:
 
 Just been to an Airservices safety briefing where NAIPS was demonstrated
 and there was a message: this site is not for PDA/3G access 
 PeterS
 
 
 The correct answer is actually that you mis-read or mis-remembered the text
 on the web page. Here's what it really says:
 
 Viewing these web pages with a mobile device (such as PDA/3G Phone) is not
 recommended.
 
 (source: http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/brief/default.asp)
 
 not recommended is a lot different to you must not use. And as others
 have suggested, they're just trying to say the web site doesn't display well
 on some mobile browsers - they aren't trying to stop people using the API
 into NAIPS that AirServices seem very happy for people to use, with
 permission, to write apps to do this stuff efficiently (to their credit).
 
 (I also think that the note on the web site probably pre-dates the existence
 of iPhones - and is referring to what happens to the site on things with
 browsers that aren't as good as the one on the iPhone - which renders the
 site fine).
 
 Simon
 
 On 03/02/2010, at 4:37 PM, James Dutschke wrote:
 
 Not wanting to sound like an ad but this app is unreal. It will  
 develop route forecasts with wind directions strengths and a temp  
 trace for a given route or area. It will Submit/modify/cancel flight  
 plans, it will work out your alternates for a given route, give  
 forecasts for them and allow you to screen out unsuitabe(small)  
 fields. Does Area forecasts TAFs etc etc.
 
 Basically any service that's on web based naips plus a shitte load  
 more. Had I of had it during pilots course it wouldve saved hours not  
 to mention the trees worth of flight plans, forecasts and notams I've  
 printed.
 
 Just a bit of a fan.
 
 Sent from my iPhone
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 http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
 
 
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Duplicate messages

[Simon Hackett]

'cept it isn't Yahoo Groups running the mailing list. Nothing to do  
with Yahoo in the slightest. Aus-soaring is a list provided by  
Internode as a service to the soaring community.


And yes, its a bug, not a feature, that developed on the Internode  
side in our mailing list server. It should have been fixed by now -  
apologies for the duplications.


Regards,
 Simon Hackett


On 06/11/2009, at 1:20 PM, Hitman (Melb) wrote:

i think you'll find it is an undocumented feature of yahoo groups  
from time to time. :)

- Original Message -
From: Derek Ruddock
To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Duplicate messages

Happened to me yesterday

Cheers

Derek
-Original Message-
From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
] On Behalf Of Terry Neumann

Sent: Friday, 6 November 2009 9:49 AM
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
Subject: [Aus-soaring] Duplicate messages


Over the past week or so I find that I have received two copies of  
some postings to this group from the same sender, each saying the  
same thing.   It's not happening with all messages, just those from  
a few contributors - three of them as I see it.


Are people posting twice, or is there a feature in the system that  
is doing this?   Or are my aged eyes so good/bad that they are  
responsible?


Puzzled regards,

TN






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Re: [Aus-soaring] 406Mhz beacons

[Simon Hackett]

Who is 'the group' of which you speak?

On 20/07/2009, at 11:07 AM, Scott Penrose wrote:

The answer is that in Australia the group that controls the  
Satellites takes extra money.
Even the SPOTs which are world wide identical, are supposed to be  
bought in Australia if registered in Australia - so that they group  
can take their extra money.


Scott

On 20/07/2009, at 9:39 AM, Mike Borgelt wrote:


At 06:40 PM 17/07/2009, you wrote:

Mike,
   Yes, to register beacon here in Australia it has to be an  
Australian
encoded beacon, and the owner also has to provide an Australian  
address. The

same rules apply all over the world.

You can take your Australian coded/registered beacon overseas,  
that is the

way the network is designed to work.

You could purchase a beacon overseas and have it recoded but the  
cost and
effort would hardly be worth it unless the unit has some special  
fitting

they all perform much the same.

SDF



Right now you can buy a PLB with GPS in the US for US$299(around A 
$400 with shipping) plus GST.


The same beacon in the Australian version costs A$675 plus GST from  
one of two importers. I got the quote from one of the importers.  
The other one didn't have anyone who could answer my question in  
the office both times I phoned.


Do you know of any GOOD reason why the beacons for an INTERNATIONAL  
emergency system aren't all the same?


I've read the AMSA website. Can't find one. Australian beacons have  
to conform to an Australian standard. Why didn't we simply adopt  
the US standard? This would be better for any Australian  
manufacturer also.


Why do the beacons have a country code? As they are individually  
registered and coded the country code is surely something that pops  
up on the screen when the individual code appears.


Mike


Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments  
since 1978

phone Int'l + 61 746 355784
fax   Int'l + 61 746 358796
cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784

email:   mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com
website: www.borgeltinstruments.com
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Stemme produce a UAV based on the S6 motor glider

[Simon Hackett]

I don't know, but there are certainly similarities - including the use  
of a Rotax 914 Turbo as the engine in the platform.


But I'm no expert on them. Are you?

Regards,
 Simon

On 16/06/2009, at 1:04 PM, Mike Borgelt wrote:


At 10:14 AM 16/06/2009, you wrote:

For your interest, see attached pdf's.

Here's a machine-translation of the German text in the first
attachment; The S15 is a remote sensing variant of the Stemme S6  
motor
glider that was certified and entered series production some time  
ago.


I think its pretty nifty to see a motor glider turned into a UAV!

Regards,
 Simon


So they're re-inventing the Predator A?

Mike
Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments  
since 1978

phone Int'l + 61 746 355784
fax   Int'l + 61 746 358796
cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784

email:   mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com
website: www.borgeltinstruments.com
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Gliding Soaring IPTV Multicasting

[Simon Hackett]

If you can create and curate the channel content, Internode can  
multicast it.


Is that what you meant?


On 17/05/2009, at 4:46 AM, Mal Bruce wrote:

Has anyone had any global thoughts on a IPTV gliding-soaring TV  
channel.


Mal
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Last Chance for Raffle tickets to win Airbusor 737 Sim flight!

[Simon Hackett]

I've flown over the Barron Hilton Ranch a few times (in a Stemme, with  
a mate who flies one from the San Francisco Bay Area).


Really impressive area to go soaring in. Flying over the Sierras @  
18,000 ft in wave from California to get to Nevada  was especially  
enjoyable.


I'm actually back in California over this coming week - and hope to go  
out in another Stemme in the Santa Barbara area (heading out from  
there to Edwards is a great trip - those are some biig runways...)


(oops, sorry, couldn't help it - I wrote about flying experiences  
instead of jet sims or plane crashes or GFA bashing - apologies, we  
can get back on topic now)


Happy trails,

Simon

On 14/05/2009, at 7:34 PM, Ron Sanders wrote:


And that is finished!

From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
] On Behalf Of Pam Kurstjens

Sent: Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:31 AM
To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Last Chance for Raffle tickets to win  
Airbusor 737 Sim flight!


Sorry, but the only Gliding prize I know of where you get your  
airfare paid is the Baron Hilton Cup!


From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
] On Behalf Of Reg Moore

Sent: Wednesday, 13 May 2009 7:36 AM
To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Last Chance for Raffle tickets to win  
Airbus or 737 Sim flight!


Dose the prize include the airfare from interstate to Brisbane?

Reg Moore not Rob

From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net 
] On Behalf Of Aussie Gliding Team

Sent: Tuesday, 12 May 2009 7:06 PM
To: aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
Subject: [Aus-soaring] Last Chance for Raffle tickets to win Airbus  
or 737 Sim flight!


Hi all,

the Darling Downs Soaring Club raffle to raise funds for the Club  
Class Worlds team to attend the pre-Worlds and Worlds comps in  
Slovakiaends this Saturday. We've sold around 700 tickets so far,  
and the raffle is drawn this Saturday 16th May.


So if you're still interested, please email me asap to reserve your  
tickets. Tickets are $10 each and the prizes are as follows:


1st Prize: 1 hour fully instructed session in an Airbus A320  
simulator at Alteon's Brisbane training facility. You can bring up  
to 2 companions.


2nd Prize: The equivalent in a Boeing 737 simulator.

There are also runner-up prizes of TIF flights at DDSC - great gifts  
for that person you want to get into gliding!


Payment can be made by Paypal to aussieglidingt...@gmail.com, or you  
can send funds directly to my account - but please follow up with an  
email so I can tell whose money is whose.


The bank details are as follows:
Bank Account number
120285481
BSB
184-446
Account name
ALLAN JOHN BARNES

The account is with Macquarie Bank.

Thanks a lot for your support - it really is appreciated.
Mike Codling  Allan Barnes.
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Aus-soaring Digest, Vol 67, Issue 26

[Simon Hackett]

Can you please click on the very last link on the email below (http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring 
) and then hit the button labelled edit options under the text  
saying To ... get a password reminder...


Regards,
 Simon


On 19/04/2009, at 11:04 PM, Peter Summersby wrote:


can you please send me my password.

On 19/04/2009, at 11:12 PM, aus-soaring- 
requ...@lists.internode.on.net wrote:



Send Aus-soaring mailing list submissions to
aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
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or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than Re: Contents of Aus-soaring digest...


Today's Topics:

  1. GLIDING INTERNATIONAL  - MAY ISSUE (John Roake)
  2. Re: cover photos (Ron Sanders)


--

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:58:26 +1200
From: John Roake j...@johnroake.com
Subject: [Aus-soaring] GLIDING INTERNATIONAL  - MAY ISSUE
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
Message-ID: c61108b2.22094%j...@johnroake.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

The issue is with the printer and will be mailed next week.  It is  
our

biggest issue ever.  (72 pages).  We are being flooded with  story
submissions for the magazine which is very encouraging.

This issue covers

1.  Jochen Ewald's report of the April sailplane exhibition at
Friedrichshafen, Germany with a multitude photos.

2. A report on the IGC meeting in March in Lausanne, Switzerland.

3.  The U.S. Army have spent millions on their new rifle scope  
sights. We
have a report that states  that the army's  new second stage  
technology
could provide effective distinctive outlines of thermals for  
soaring pilots.


3.  Airbus, NASA  and Boeing are spending millions on research in  
regard to

aerofoils of the future.  Little is previously known of the research
institute they own in Germany.  (Complete with graphics).

4. A distinctive photograph and report on the longest, most  
expensive aero

retrieve ever.

5. Paul Remde provides a report on the use and results you can  
expect from
the latest soaring instruments. An educational piece of great  
interest.


6.  FAA's report on the  Steve Fossett accident.

7.  The former C.O. of the U.S. Edwards air force base test pilot  
school
addresses a Gliding club on the benefits of gliding training for  
all pilots
in emergencies.  He stated in his address that everyone that went  
through

his school when he was C.O. had to take a coarse in gliding.

8.  The new 15 metre sailplane with a 52:1 performance.

9. Results of the IGC survey on all On Line Contest flights.  It  
clearly
shows which country is the most successful in the world in  
producing long

distance flights, and which country has flown the most OLC flights..

10.  Details and graphics on the March meeting in Amsterdam  (Air  
Traffic
Control Exhibition and Conference), outlining  the NEWSKY  
consortium's live

demonstration of how aircraft, satellites and ground stations can
communicate with each other through an innovative new data network.  
They
claim this will be the form of all aircraft communications within  
the next

10 years.

11.  And a new 180 hp tug released to the market in  April.

All this and more in the new issue.  New subscriptions can be  
effected

through our web site

www.glidinginternational.com

Regards to all

JOHN ROAKE

P.S. Organisers of next season's contests should now apply to us  
for grants

of  subscription vouchers as prizes for day winners.

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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:08:14 +0200
From: Ron Sanders resand...@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] cover photos
To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
Message-ID: 05a73f37073041aeb31ceed6bfcd4...@ibmba011c999c3
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hullo Ann,  hi Keith!

Just hullo nothing new here in Germany except it is coming on  
summer and the

weather is now good  about bloody time!

Ann herewith is photo of my Nimbus taken by Tanya's son, Roman. I  
thought
maybe it might make a cover photo.  Then again may be the  
orientation is

wrong anyway up to you.

What is new there??

Regards   Ron

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Re: [Aus-soaring] DG1000 dc pack

[Simon Hackett]

And for reference, the battery pack in my Tesla Roadster (widely  
believed to be the car that scared Chevy into announcing the Volt)  
stores about 55 kwH and can be charged in as little as 3.5 hours. That  
battery pack weighs about 450kg and consists of 6800 lithium ion cells  
with a fluid cooling system running through them. Which is how it  
manages a 0-100km/h performance of less than 4 seconds without melting  
the batteries...


And unlike the Volt, it actually exists and its being sold now (in the  
USA only so far - I had to ask *really* nicely to buy one for  
export :) )


http://www.agmates.com/blog/2008/11/16/tesla-motors-electric-cars-prove-there-is-no-such-thing-as-peak-oil/

(but this is all getting a bit off topic for soaring)

Simon

On 02/04/2009, at 1:06 PM, Mike Borgelt wrote:

Just found this: http://www.pressportal.com.au/news/120/ARTICLE/4144/2009-01-14.html 
 on the Chevy Volt.


Note the battery pack: The development of the Volt's 16 kWh T-shaped  
lithium-ion battery, which is roughly 6 feet long (1.8 meters) and  
weighs nearly 400 pounds (181 kg), is key to the Volt's success. The  
production-intent design was revealed in September 2008.


At 3KW hour pack would presumably weigh 3/16 of 181Kg or  34 Kg.  
Close enough for Government work, which GM  might be shortly. BTW It  
is rumoured that the US governement guarantee for GM cars will be  
run by the Federal United Bureau of Auto Repair.


Mike
Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments
phone Int'l + 61 746 355784
fax   Int'l + 61 746 358796
cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784
 Int'l + 61 429 355784
email:   mborg...@borgeltinstruments.com
website: www.borgeltinstruments.com

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Re: [Aus-soaring] DG1000 dc pack

[Simon Hackett]

On 02/04/2009, at 2:17 PM, Mike Borgelt wrote:



Elon has far more important work than messing about with toy cars.  
When you have your own space program who needs electric cars as a  
distraction? Go Falcon 9/Dragon!




He has more than enough mental energy to pursue both. My conversations  
with him have made it clear the Tesla enterprise is extremely  
important to him (and I share that enthusiasm).



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Re: [Aus-soaring] Stemme Rotax 914

[Simon Hackett]

I actually have a direct email address and its not hard to guess.

You have this precisely backwards.

*ROTAX* have a 12 year / 1200 hour TBO on 914 engines (10 years / 1000  
hours on older ones until some minor works are performed). Stemme do  
not.


*STEMME* use that engine (with some modifications that turn it into a  
Rotax 914F2/S1 - mostly moving the Turbocharger position).


It turns out that the time based TBO limit is a non issue in Australia  
(and indeed globally) in the Stemme installation for two reasons:


a) The CASA general engine AD that allows all piston aircraft in  
Australia to be operated beyond their TBO on an 'on condition' basis  
(providing they are not used for commercial purposes) applies to this  
aircraft (and I have specifically reconfirmed that with the GFA many  
moons ago). So providing the engine is operating without eating oil  
and with good compressions, you can keep running it until it isn't, and


b) Just before xmas last year, Stemme were able to modify the  
certification of the aircraft (as they modify the engine, they are  
actually the certification provider for that installation, not Rotax,  
though they otherwise do follow Rotax bulletins). The change in  
certification was to alter just one word regarding the TBO, which is  
to define the Rotax limits as 'Recommended' instead of mandatory.


So, (b) generates the same outcome as (a), but globally.

And none of this is a 'rumour' in any sense. You can read the CASA  
engine amendment on the CASA site, and you can read the engine and  
maint manual set for the Stemme here (including the Rotax engine  
manual that is used by Stemme).


http://www.stemme.com.au/manuals

Why did you ask?

Regards,
  Simon

p.s. do feel free to reply just to me directly.

On 27/01/2009, at 2:51 PM, Mark Fisher wrote:

I am hoping Simon Hackett reads this. I have heard rumours that  
Stemme have had the 12 year time life on Rotax 914’s lifted or  
extended by Rotax .

Can anyone shine any light on this subject?
Cheers
Mark



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Re: [Aus-soaring] Stemme Rotax 914

[Simon Hackett]

On 27/01/2009, at 3:01 PM, Mike Borgelt wrote:

According to the US maintenance guy i spoke with on Sunday he  
mentioned inpassing that he has worked on a lot of Stemme S10's. I  
think maintenance money pit was his term.




Well, it doesn't seem that way to me, Mike.

But: I don't have the benefit of your indirect, anonymous source of   
anecdotal knowledge on a subject of which you have no direct experience;


Instead, I  own and operate two of them directly, and have done for  
years - so clearly, your information is far more accurate than mine  
could possibly be and I should immediate start tearing up wads of cash  
to bring my expenditure up to your expectations.


(shakes head)

Simon

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Re: [Aus-soaring] Attachments on the list

[Simon Hackett]

That isn't quite correct.

The list software swallows up html formatted text attachments in  
particular, and... does something with them.


But other attachment types should work fine (up to the configured  
maximum size of a message for the list).


In most cases, an attachment (if its large) is probably better placed  
on a web server and referenced with a link in any case - for the sake  
of people who don't have access to broadband.


Regards,
Simon

On 28/12/2008, at 9:37 AM, David Lawley wrote:


Hi all,

Could everyone please note that the list DOES NOT ACCEPT OR FORWARD  
ATTACHMENTS They are automatically removed from the messages by the  
system.


Regards

Dave L


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Re: [Aus-soaring] Chumby

[Simon Hackett]

On 12/11/2008, at 7:08 PM, Mike Borgelt wrote:


http://chumby.on.net/

I'm sure my life will be incomplete without a Chumby but I can't  
figure out why.




Buy one and find out :)


Does it run on batteries?


This version doesn't do so officially. Its likely a future hardware  
revision (possibly next year) will do so. This version was meant to,  
but... its a long story.


But its real intention is to live on your office, kitchen or bedroom  
table, not in your cockpit.


As we (Internode) are the people who have brought them to the  
Australian market (see link above - end of commercial)... I'll note  
that yes, we're starting to develop software for them.


In my personal daydream list is Chumby access to BoM derived weather  
and soaring forecasts :)


We have the relationships that make those outcomes possible. Its  
mostly a question of internal development priorities at this point.


Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Independent operator requirements

[Simon Hackett]

On 07/09/2008, at 4:12 PM, JR wrote:


Geoff, and others,
I am not against sending people solo, or any other form of freedom  
in the air, but where would you set the bench mark?, any body else  
can answer this question aswell,I have an independant authority,  
amongst other things, so this doesnt really affect me, so would be  
genuinely interested as to what people think would be a fair thing  
to fly unsupervised.

regards


While feeling reticent to weigh in on this conversation, I do have a  
logical answer to the above, which is 'whatever CASA applies for a PPL'.


Why? Because in my understanding, the GFA acts as a delegate (for  
gliding) of CASA. Ok, so why (in effect) modify the CASA rule in this  
regard by overriding it?


We could simply choose not to modify the baseline CASA has already set  
up for a PPL - and hence leave the onus (in effect) with them, in  
terms of how 'fair' it is. I think others have already indicated the  
minima that apply with a PPL in terms of what amounts to 'independent  
operations'.


At some deep level - if its ok to have a PPL and operate  
independently, what is so much harder about flying a glider (in terms  
of safety)?


I think the Puchatek I was flying last Sunday is a lot simpler to fly  
and (in effect) a lot safer than a Cessna 152. Far less inertia, far  
less complexity of systems. Less to go wrong, frankly, and if it does,  
its all happening quite a bit slower. Why treat it as if its such a  
dangerous thing to fly by comparison?


I guess, in the end, I'm a fan of the KISS principle.

I shall now duck my head and get back on with some gainful employment.

Simon
(who can legally fly his quite complex Stemme S10-VT into Parafield  
but can't (yet) legally fly a Cessna back out of it - despite the  
Stemme being far more complex, and who would be perfectly happy for  
there to be a PPL(G) as an option - not a mandate - in addition to the  
GFA ratings system, especially for motor gliders)


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Re: [Aus-soaring] ANNOUNCEMENT: SA BoM Thermal Height Predictions

[Simon Hackett]

Bernie,

Some initial comments:

#1: Internode is very capable of fielding enough server grunt and  
operating servers internally - its something we do for a living at a  
scale far above that required for the RASP work. So if a proposition  
is put to be in a cogent way, I'm happy to look at it (to do national  
coverage in a meaningful way), probably on a sponsorship basis.


#2: The work with the BoM was commenced a long time ago. Specifically,  
far earlier than the presence (to my knowledge) of anyone using RASP  
in Australia. Some years. Its a long story.


So if there's a better way, I'm open to it (and to being a part of the  
solution).


I've not contacted the GFA directly about the prospect of it being a  
part of the solution, and as I'm not someone with a lot of time on my  
hands - why don't you do that, on the basis that I've probably done  
enough for the short term, in this regard - having the BoM run some  
projections and bring together some related data for the benefit of SA  
soaring pilots was a project Mark and I had on the boil with the BoM  
(again, for some years past any conversation in this country about  
RASP) and we've finally got that out the door.


It won't be the first time that a long-running project is eclipsed by  
a newer one - and if thats how it turns out, then we just won't renew  
the contract next year.


I'd like to hope the GFA would see their own involvement in such a  
national exercise as an obvious and positive service to its paying  
members, and (again) something Internode could also lend support  
(server iron and/or $$$) into as well - but thats up to the GFA in  
terms of whether they see the benefit in offering:


- More predictable weather conditions for soaring pilots
- (implicitly) more soaring records by Australian soaring pilots
- (implicitly) more interesting, reliable, and (hell) fun soaring  
competitions
- Better use of time (in terms of 'picking the day') for all of us in  
a society which increasingly places other demands on our time.


Bottom line - I'd sure hope the GFA would love to be involved, but if  
they aren't, feel free to get back to Mark and I and throw us a direct  
pitch. These things don't have to be done on a shoestring - the point  
is to make sure the energy (and $$) is directed in the most productive  
place that it can be. If the BoM work isn't the right place in the  
end, I'm not prejudiced about that. But I did what I did because at  
the time nothing of the sort existed for Australia, I was tired of  
being well aware of what RASP (and more recently its integration with  
Google via XCSkies.com) was doing for US pilots, so I did what I could  
think to do at the time (and again, that time was begun a few years  
ago).


Simon
(who spent 6.5 hours soaring from Santa Barbara north into the Mojve  
Desert at up to 15,000 ft - it wasn't *that* warm a day - with a  
friend in a Stemme S10-VT last week, using forecast data sourced from  
XCSkies.com which turned out to be pretty accurate - and using the  
NAM model - north american only - in the main, to do so; But despite  
the fact that I actually *am* a geek, my life is too full to want to  
become a weather modelling geek too - I just need to see a cogent  
national proposal for how to crack this nut comprehensively in  
Australia and I'm quite happy to find server resources and/or money to  
assist with making it happen - because I love soaring, and I'd love to  
keep being a part of seeing more of it happen in Australia - its that  
simple)



On 27/05/2008, at 9:20 PM, Bernie Baer wrote:

Simon is to be commended for his generosity, and all concerned for  
there tenacity, but


On the other hand, this one has some advantages that RASP doesn't  
have.

Because it's operating out of a high-fidelity global climate model,
there's nothing in particular that's tying it to South Australia.

Mark, RASP can produce forecasts for anywhere on earth.  All it  
takes is a willing volunteer

with some Unix knowledge and a suitable server.
See http://www.drjack.info/twiki/bin/view/RASPop/ProgramOverview   
and http://www.drjack.info/twiki/bin/view/RASPop/ProgramIntroduction

for an overview.

RASP produces output (Blipmaps)  for over twenty parameters:
See http://www.drjack.info/RASP/INFO/parameters.html for the  
parameter list and descriptions.


RASP can produce blipmaps at one hourly intervals, up to 3 days out.
David Georges RASP implementation for South Australia does exactly  
this:

http://www.users.on.net/~dsg/HG/UniViewer.html

RASP can produce Skew-T charts for any location within the forecast  
area, once configured to do so by
the RASP administrator. Davids site provides 5 sounding locations,  
which are admittedly hang glider centric as

he is a hang glider pilot.

If the quality of this service is as good as it is expected to
be, I'd like to think the GFA will pick it up and take it national.

I'd hope that the GFA would look long and hard at the 

Re: [Aus-soaring] Wheel up or down?

[Simon Hackett]

I appreciate its a tad off-topic, but... these Cub aircraft with big  
wheels seem to defy most of my notions of where its rational to land  
(and how!)...:


http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=6o3RK-RpJmY

Sort-of on optic again: My Stemme manual is very clear about landing  
wheels up into water - and into unknown-ground field landings as well  
- but the undercarriage - and its height - are somewhat unusual for a  
sailplane.


For interests' sake, here is the entire 'water ditching' section of  
the Stemme manual:



3.9.3.3 Emergency landing on water (ditching)
An emergency landing on water is accompanied with risks and should  
only be undertaken as a last option.
If a ditching is unavoidable, it is recommended to land in the  
sailplane configuration and, due to the special
design of the landing gear, with the landing gear retracted. Cabin  
ventilation and emergency-window must

be closed first.
Approach and landing:
• approach GLIDER CONFIGURATION
• landing gear UP
• ventilation, emerg.-window CLOSE
• final and touch-down MINIMUM SPEED
If the a/c dives after touch-down and does not rise to the surface  
soon and the front cockpit stays below the
water surface, it is recommended to open emergency-window and  
ventilation to accelerate pressure balance
because it could be impossible to open the canopy due to a high  
water pressure. If necessary, opening of the
canopy can be improved by pulling the emergency canopy handle after  
opening the canopy locks and the

R5ger-hook (see section 3.2 Canopy Jettison):
• lateral canopy locks OPEN
• R6ger-hook UNLOCK
• canopy emergency handle PULL (red handle on the instrument panel)
• ventilation, emerg.-window OPEN
NOTE: Experience shows, that gliders tend to submerge at touch-down  
instead of sliding on the water
surface. When the cockpit is pressed below the water surface, mostly  
only for a short moment, it is

almost impossible to open the canopy.




This is clearly a last-resort thing to do. If I don't ever have to do  
it in practice, that'll be soon enough, thanks.


Simon

On 29/04/2008, at 7:45 AM, DMcD wrote:




On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 9:42 PM, Ulrich Stauss [EMAIL PROTECTED]  
wrote:
Another reason for having the wheel down in case of a water landing  
is that you'd generally try to land close to shore where the water  
might be (very) shallow with rocks and other nasties lurking under  
the surface. The undercarriage provides more buffer than the bits  
material of your choice under your backside.



That would appear to be a practical reason why it is done.

My contact has this to say:

Tests were carried out on a lake in Germany by Walter Schneider and  
Wolf Lemke of LS fame. They ditched an LS1 prior to the World  
Championships in Finland because they were worried about the lack of  
land out options and the proliferation of lakes.


They assumed that landing wheel up would be the preferred option,  
but discovered that the glider 'bounced' off the surface and dropped  
a wing as the fuselage entered the water because of it's shape. They  
tried it again with the wheel down, deliberately put the tail down  
first and discovered that the wheel acted as a gentle brake and  
controlled the whole process much better. I've seen the photographs,  
so they may be available on some German web site somewhere.


During the Worlds in Borlenge Sweden, when I was crewing for Andy, a  
couple of gliders were put into lakes and all came out okay. I'm  
pretty certain they landed wheel down trying to put them up the  
beach. The major issue with such landings is that the glider sinks  
VERY quickly (regardless of wheel position) and the electrics can  
cause problems as you'd expect. It's certainly not recommended!



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Re: [Aus-soaring] Oxygen Systems

[Simon Hackett]

As in an oxygen system for its pilot? (or were you trying to  
resuscitate the airframe after a hard flight? :) )


I've found the Mountain High EDS system to be wonderful for me in  
multiple aircraft.


The system has the merit of using a pressure-reducing regulator direct  
on the bottle, meaning the entire rest of the system uses just simple,  
low pressure flexible plastic tubing instead of high pressure copper  
tubing.


The system is light, extremely portable due to the above, and has an  
amazingly long run time due to being a pulse demand system.


http://www.mhoxygen.com/

They sell direct to Australia and ship rapidly via FedEx - thats how I  
bought mine.


I also (from memory) recall Joe Luciani being a dealer for them in  
Australia, but I can't find evidence of a dealer listing on their web  
site so I'm not sure about that - perhaps others can confirm and/or  
provide contact points for him.


Regards,
  Simon


On 22/01/2008, at 9:06 PM, Ashford wrote:

Looking for some oxygen for our Mosquito.  Can someone help me with  
a contact?


regards
John Ashford
07 3822 4264
0409679867


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.8/1236 - Release Date:  
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Emilis writes from Bordertown

[Simon Hackett]

Well, I love it :)

Simon

On 13/01/2008, at 5:11 PM, Emilis Prelgauskas wrote:


early draft
[being submitted for publication to the Hang/Gliding Federation of  
Australia national magazine 'Soaring Australia'.]



THE HORSE DRAWN ZEPPELIN (1)
(manifesting in the real world the goals of the GFA Muller Award) 
(2)


reported by Emilis Prelgauskas
(Emilis, you are a sick, sick man)


This is the report on a spontaneous marketing campaign begun early  
in 2008 for the benefit of the sport of gliding across Australia.

The main drivers of this programme are Ian Patching and 'JR' Marshall.

In the gliding fraternity, these luminaries are better known through  
some of their other roles.
Ian Patching is the RTO/A in a Victorian region, JR is Treasurer for  
the SA Gliding Association.
As a minor sideline too small to be worth mention, Ian programmes  
the Avalon Airshow contribution by gliding every time this is held,  
with a mere 200,000 people visiting that event, thereby coming into  
contact with displays set up - for the GFA, - the varied sector  
activities within gliding, and - for some clubs from the region who  
choose to participate.


In their other lives Ian flies Boomerang GTR with gusto, and JR  
guides the Yellow Witch (Olympia GFW to the uninitiated) across the  
sky.



The 2008 campaign involves the other usual promotion-core suspects :-

- It uses as its focus the national rally for vintage and homebuilt  
sailplanes from across Australia, based at Bordertown in South  
Australia.
The local club has developed a reputation for great social  
atmosphere backed by its sizeable ground facilities, great meals;  
and most important for the public participating - the club as the  
last town venue without poker machines.


- The local club backed this in with posters, road side signs, using  
the state gliding display trailer;
and making themselves willingly and affably accessible - a key  
ingredient to the outcomes below.


One of these outcomes is that the town adjacent to the aerodrome  
sees gliding as a positive contributor to economic activity as well  
as a fun input to happenings in the locality.
It manifests in an informal way the hopes by Kevin Sedgman (co- 
founder and Patron of Vintage Gliders Australia) for a centre of  
excellence for gliding there. Those efforts are as a by-product  
bringing public stake holder interest and money to that aerodrome.


The campaign also included at the beginning of the rally, an  
extended session by Rachel Westcott on Radio National on the rally  
and therefore gliding more broadly in its fun mode, with the outcome  
being call ins from around the country, recognition for gliding, the  
town, and connections with other regional centres which also have  
gliding bases.



The centre piece of the promotion however was the radio interview  
hosted by Ian  JR later in the week.

Its core message was to tie the sport of gliding to fun.
It was preceded by an on-air session with Keith Willis on his most  
recent Australian record setting flights.
And the vagaries of not making it home on occasion, such as getting  
to know the local constabulary activated by SAR processes.


The Ian  JR show immediately following on created a major change in  
pace.
'Its all lies' was their opening follow on contribution to Keith's  
session just completed.
They brought with them elements of activities from the airfield,  
including the 'secret word', which while banned and fined on-field  
was to be used on air as many times as possible. To the expected  
hilarity between the pair every time a sentence was framing up to  
use the 'word', setting off both of the hosts and the numerous radio  
listeners across the airfield
This caused one of the announcers to note 'that's clearly not water  
they've got in their cups'.


(The 'secret word' for the rally was the brandname of the Czech  
metal 2 seat sailplane in use with many clubs across Australia). The  
station announcers, picking up on that promotional campaign theme,  
made their own spontaneous contribution during the conversation by  
themselves weaving in a new mythical town name - 'Blanikburn' - into  
the chat.


When asked about how far afield participating gliders came from, the  
hosts straight faced replied - 'Oh real far, northern NSW, Victoria,  
South Australia - even from Millicent' (JR's nearby home town).



In the sport of gliding mainstream which sincerely believes in a  
stuffed shirt style of seriousness; this campaign to remind the  
public that gliding is fun might seem alien.
It is interesting to note that public acceptance in contrast is  
excellent.


For the first time in 30 years I see cars pulled up on the airfield  
boundary roadway to watch ops; people willingly entering airside to  
be guided along the colourful tiedown fleet. Amongst the colour  
there is differentiation in shape and detail between glider 

[Aus-soaring] An eagles' eye view of soaring

[Simon Hackett]

I've often enjoyed soaring in the same thermal as an eagle. They're  
such wonderful birds to watch - and share the skies with.

I have just come across a great little site, with videos taken from a  
video camera being *carried* by an eagle.

Go to this web site and click the 'continue' link in the middle of the  
flash screen and then Mini cam in action to see them.

http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/spyonthewild/birdtech/birdtech.html

Enjoy... I did :)

Regards,
   Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Weather in Adelaide Today

[Simon Hackett]

Well, on Saturday and Sunday I plan to be in a Stemme, well above  
blowfly altitude. Here's hoping :)


Simon

(my other glider is also a Stemme - at least until I can sell the  
old one :) )


On 07/11/2007, at 10:40 PM, Peter Brookman wrote:

I aggree, JR, some of us can only look up as I did today while  
jetting sheep to stemme a blowfly wave ( as a result of some much  
welcome rain recently, but there's always a down side) , as I will  
be tomorrow to finish another 2 mobs and watching a similar sky do  
doubt. Hoping that 28oC on Saturday will provide some good  
conditions when I can get to the airfield.

Brooky

,- Original Message -
From: JR
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 10:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Weather in Adelaide Today

lucky lucky bastards
JR
- Original Message -
From: Gary
To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 9:55 PM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Weather in Adelaide Today

There was some good soaring done out of Bendigo, over the last  
three days under Cu. Flights up to over 600k (dry) done today in  
5-8Kts to 7500’, but there was plenty of over-development that had  
to be dodged, later in the day!


Gary


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:aus- 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of rquinn

Sent: Wednesday, 7 November 2007 9:59 PM
To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Weather in Adelaide Today


The weather was the same all the way from Wodonga to Adelaide.


Unfortunately the glider was in its box behind the car with no  
means of launch in sight L



Redmond


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:aus- 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Nick Gilbert

Sent: Wednesday, 7 November 2007 4:55 PM
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
Subject: [Aus-soaring] Weather in Adelaide Today


Anyone lucky enough to be flying cross country today? Weather in  
Adelaide looks spectacular from here.


Nick


No virus found in this incoming message.
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Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.23/1114 - Release Date:  
6/11/2007 8:05 PM




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Re: [Aus-soaring] slow news day?

[Simon Hackett]

This news article today is much more fun - I love it.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22054739-1702,00.html

Simon

On 11/07/2007, at 7:22 PM, D S Baker wrote:

Perhaps the editor doesn't know anyone that flies, or was just very  
low on interesting things.


On 11/07/07, Nick Gilbert  [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Somehow this made the front of news.com.au today :

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22056483-2,00.html
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--
There's no better bandwidth then a Terabyte portable HDD and an F/A  
18 :)


Dro0 i dont wanna be alarmist here
Dro0 but i'm prety sure that the guy trying to configure the core  
router in chicago

Dro0 is googling subnetting
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Costs/issues on importing a foreign registered glider

[Simon Hackett]

 aircraft over time).


The one you really do need, as already noted, is the certificate of  
*non* registration (i.e. of deregistration) from its current  
registration country. The GFA can reserve a registration for you here  
when you know you are definitely getting an aircraft.


You can view the list of available registrations here (updated  
daily), and GFA can then pull one over and reserve it for you if you  
ask nicely:


http://www.casa.gov.au/casadata/register/data/Availablemarks.pdf

- I strongly commend the GFA to you in this regard if you are unsure  
about whether you have, or can have generated, all the documentation  
they need - in my experience the GFA in general and John Viney in  
particular have been tremendously helpful and (where needed) flexible  
with what is required to get an aircraft in and flying. Remember they  
are as interested as you are in seeing more gliders in Australian  
skies - if the forms aren't clear, or if you aren't sure, ask them,  
they'll help.


- Remember one more joy in your life is taxation - GST applies to  
imported items including gliders (fortunately no other taxes and  
duties apply any longer). With imports, this has some wrinkles you  
may not have thought of that contribute to that cost. In particular  
GST applies to the hull value (which is obvious) but it also applies  
to anything done overseas that generates a benefit here, including:


- The cost of all repairs/servicing
- The cost of shipping

- Insure the shipment. And be there when  the container is opened,  
with a camera. And with lots of tools to help to with the unloading/ 
unpacking process. And extra helpers to lift/move stuff and to help  
you if you get tired.


- Make sure you have insurance here ready to kick in once its opened.

- Do speak to people who have done it before, and/or do consider  
getting assistance from others who have done it before, it can make  
what seems like a hard process into a far simpler one - it really  
isn't that bad, you just need to be organised about it.


Overall, this process really is an exercise in what an in-law  
correctly describes as the 5 P rule: Prior Preparation Prevents  
Piss Poor Performance


:)

Regards,
  Simon Hackett

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Re: [Aus-soaring] Horse-drawn Zeppelin dealer in Australia?

[Simon Hackett]

I would, strongly, suggest the merits of an email client that  
supports conversation threading - then the whole thread collapses  
into one little harmless line on your screen and doesn't bother you  
again...


On 02/03/2007, at 4:18 PM, JR wrote:


What ever happened to all the fun in the world !!!
JR
- Original Message -
From: David Long [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Horse-drawn Zeppelin dealer in Australia?






Enjoy maximized rewards from American Express


And unwanted advertising.

Dave L

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[Aus-soaring] Looking for people who knew Harold Bottrill

[Simon Hackett]

Dear soaring pilots and friends,

A little while ago, I received an email from a man called Tony  
Havens, who lives in the UK and who is seeking any information anyone  
might have (recollections or otherwise) of his grandfather.


He only met his grandfather once in his life - and came across a  
photograph of him sitting in the back of a glider in some personal  
effects some time ago.


From that start, he has come across this web page:

http://www.aus-soaring.on.net/absaght.htm

... which briefly records the involvement of Harold Bottrill in being  
a key founder of gliding in South Australia.


Naturally, Tony would love to get in touch with anyone who knew  
Harold, or who has more information about his past - gliding or  
otherwise.


I am passing this on for Tony - and I am not otherwise a part of the  
process of his discovery - I am merely asking anyone with information  
they can share with Tony to do so, directly to him.


Tony can be reached via email to :   [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Again  - please send any replies direct to Tony, not to me or to the  
list, as he isn't *on* the list.


Regards, and thanks,
   Simon Hackett

--

Simon Hackett
MD, Internode
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Assistant: Vicki Jones
+61 8 8228 2516 / [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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Re: [Aus-soaring] Horsham Week / VIC State Comps

[Simon Hackett]

Its a piece of paper whose purpose appears to be that its absence can  
sometimes prevent you from competing in a gliding competition.


I have never discerned any other useful purpose for this piece of paper.

It feels to me like the human appendix - no residual purpose remains  
for it to be here, but evolution hasn't gotten around to removing it  
from the world as yet.


Simon

On 29/01/2007, at 5:49 PM, JR wrote:


This is the licence you need to compete with,
regards JR
- Original Message -
From: plchampness [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Horsham Week / VIC State Comps



Thanks Rolf,

What is the competition Licence?

Yours Peter Champness


 rolf a. buelter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Dear All
Horsham Week in combination with the Victorian State Competition  
is on
from Saturday February 3rd to Saturday February 10th. I would like  
to remind
all pilots planning on coming to have the required documents, e.g.  
comp

license, third party insurance, etc. available at registration.

Best Regards
Rolf A. Buelter
Comps Director
_
Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail.

http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a- 
b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d


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Simon Hackett
MD, Internode
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Assistant: Vicki Jones
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[Aus-soaring] First flight of the Stemme S6

[Simon Hackett]

Its the season for first flights, it seems :)

Here is another one.

The Stemme S6 - the first of a series of new designs from Stemme -  
has flown for the first time, in the last few weeks.


Photos of the aircraft and a short movie showing its first flight can  
be seen here:


http://www.stemme.de/daten/e/news/popup_erstflug/maidenflightS6_eng.html

Links to other pages including preliminary specs and some drawings  
etc are here:


http://www.stemme.de/daten/e/index.html

Regards,
 Simon Hackett



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[Aus-soaring] publicity for the Gliding Grand Prix in Gawler - todays' Age and SMH (5 Dec 2006)

[Simon Hackett]

There is some coverage of the Gliding Grand Prix in Gawler this  
coming January, that appears in the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald  
today.


As part of the associated interview process (along with Terry  
Cubley), I tried to indicate the challenges, and the positives, of  
framing this event to the journalist concerned. I thought it came out  
ok. See what you think.


Regards,
  Simon
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[Aus-soaring] Aircraft regos cancelled under Part 47 non-compliance

[Simon Hackett]

While looking for something else, I just came across this link:

http://www.casa.gov.au/casadata/register/part47/cancel.asp

Its all the aircraft that were never ultimately transitioned to 'Part  
47' registration.


There are a fair few gliders in there - a sign perhaps of the sheer  
proportion of aircraft that, over time, fall out of use, and would  
have fallen out of registration if registration was something that  
ever normally 'expired'.


I imagine that may, in effect, be an interesting list of old, perhaps  
damaged or disused, gliders to be considered if anyone was trying to  
find an old example of one to put back into the air.


Its a fascinating list, anyway.

Simon

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[Aus-soaring] A great soaring day in a great new glider (not at all boring)

[Simon Hackett]

Dear friends,

Just a simple good-news story.

I had a great day on Saturday just passed (25th Nov) and I have put  
some photographs together to document it.


We (Catherine Conway and I) test flew my shiny near-new Stemme S10- 
VT, and then flew it to Waikerie for the day (from Parafield).


By sheer good fortune, that day turned out to be a monster - a 15,000  
ft thermal day (until a sea breeze turned up late in the afternoon  
and switched it off, at least :) ).


Its been an excellent way to start flying an excellent aircraft.

And here are the photos:

http://web.mac.com/simon_hackett/iWeb/Site/VH-SIO-FirstDay.html

Enjoy!

Regards,
  Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] A great soaring day in a great new glider (not at all boring)

[Simon Hackett]

The relevant answer is 'Waikerie', Rob.

I didn't want to make it too difficult to get it back again - that  
being the fun of it :)


We left it there before a powered flight back to Parafield at the end  
of the day.


Regards,
Simon

On 27/11/2006, at 8:22 AM, Robert Moore wrote:

Great photo's Simon and pleased to have another nice new ship  
flying in South Australian skies.


The question is where do we go to collect the come and get it  
Trophy, Waikerie or the more challenging task for we mere un  
engined glider pilots Parafield :-)


Now there is a challange.

At 12:33 AM 27/11/2006, you wrote:

Dear friends,

Just a simple good-news story.

I had a great day on Saturday just passed (25th Nov) and I have put
some photographs together to document it.

We (Catherine Conway and I) test flew my shiny near-new Stemme  
S10- VT, and then flew it to Waikerie for the day (from Parafield).


By sheer good fortune, that day turned out to be a monster - a 15,000
ft thermal day (until a sea breeze turned up late in the afternoon
and switched it off, at least :) ).

Its been an excellent way to start flying an excellent aircraft.

And here are the photos:

http://web.mac.com/simon_hackett/iWeb/Site/VH-SIO-FirstDay.html

Enjoy!

Regards,
  Simon
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Regards

Rob Moore
08 82588026 home
0412 055 888 mobile

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Simon Hackett
MD, Internode
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Assistant: Vicki Jones
+61 8 8228 2516 / [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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Re: [Aus-soaring] A great soaring day in a great new glider (not at all boring)

[Simon Hackett]

On 27/11/2006, at 6:26 AM, John Giddy wrote:
I heard that all Stemmes were grounded following the recent mid-air  
fire

Was that info incorrect ?


Its understandable that you hold that point of view, however that  
information is both inaccurate and dated.


The S10-VT model in particular (numerically the minor subset of S10's  
flying in Australia at this time) were grounded initially by the STO/ 
Air (John Viney) as an initial precautionary measure following the  
accident you are referring to.


The S10 and S10-V types were not grounded at the time; In particular  
this means that the interim grounding applied to precisely three  
Australian registered aircraft (including VH-SIO once it arrived in  
Australia).


I have been personally assisting John and others with detailed  
information relevant to that accident investigation since that time.


Following the arrival of VH-SIO into the country about a month ago,  
and with the cooperation of John, this  aircraft been extensively  
inspected (including by both myself and by him personally) and has  
been cleared to fly.


(Note that I hold in-factory delivered maintenance certifications on  
airframe and engine from Stemme in Berlin and an engine maintenance  
qualification obtained from the Rotax North American training centre  
in Canada, and a corresponding GFA airworthiness rating derived from  
that training history).


This inspection process has been developed as an interim approach  
pending formal accident investigation results, for which we are all  
still waiting.


There is a balance required in such situations (especially given the  
unique nature of that particular accident - whose details will be  
released in good time).


I am comfortable, as is John, that appropriate and safe processes are  
being followed with respect to handling the situation.  And I am very  
comfortable committing aviation in this aircraft in the meantime.


Regards,
  Simon Hackett


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[Aus-soaring] European sourced FLARM units - compatible with Australian ones?

[Simon Hackett]

Hi Nigel,

I have just imported a near new Stemme S10-VT in which I have a (deep  
breath, this is a mouthful):


LX 7007 IGC Pro FLARM

i.e. an LX7007 gliding computer with IGC logger and an integrated  
FLARM unit.


I've fired it up, its happily booting, GPS running, and indicating  
that its transmitting happily.


The question is - are all FLARMs globally on the same frequency -  
i.e. will this unit actually work properly with the ones you sell in  
Australia?


Sure hope so, but I obviously would love to know for sure; As I've  
never seen a distinction in any description of these units, I hope  
they work - and in safety terms, for the sake of people bringing non- 
Australian gliders into Australian airspace (and vice versa) I  
*really* hope so :)


Thanks!
  Simon Hackett
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Re: [Aus-soaring] European sourced FLARM units - compatible withAustralian ones?

[Simon Hackett]

Thats great news.

Thanks all.

I actually did ask the people who upgraded my instrument in Germany  
and they weren't sure - so I took the risk anyway.


(And the obvious question: As to why I hadn't read the manual  
already? Because I said I imported an aircraft, but of course they  
didn't actually remember to supply any of the instrument manuals and  
I hadn't tracked them down on the Internet as yet)


I'll be out tinkering with the aircraft this morning so I'll change  
the setting, and look forward to testing it with an Australian FLARM  
unit in the skies sometime soon.


Amazing the stuff you find on that internet thingy, isn't it.

Regards,
 Simon


On 11/11/2006, at 7:39 AM, Luke Dodd wrote:

I have one of these excellent units, just go into the flarm menu  
and you can

choose whatever flarm frequency you want its listed according to
country!!!

luke


- Original Message -
From: Simon Hackett [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 11:19 PM
Subject: [Aus-soaring] European sourced FLARM units - compatible
withAustralian ones?



Hi Nigel,

I have just imported a near new Stemme S10-VT in which I have a (deep
breath, this is a mouthful):

LX 7007 IGC Pro FLARM

i.e. an LX7007 gliding computer with IGC logger and an integrated
FLARM unit.

I've fired it up, its happily booting, GPS running, and indicating
that its transmitting happily.

The question is - are all FLARMs globally on the same frequency -
i.e. will this unit actually work properly with the ones you sell in
Australia?

Sure hope so, but I obviously would love to know for sure; As I've
never seen a distinction in any description of these units, I hope
they work - and in safety terms, for the sake of people bringing non-
Australian gliders into Australian airspace (and vice versa) I
*really* hope so :)

Thanks!
   Simon Hackett
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Zeiss lenses for sunglasses

[Simon Hackett]

Richard Neale wrote:


I found an optometrist in my area able to order and supply (no mean feat as
the big chains deny all knowledge of whatever isn't 'in the system').


 


Yeah, funny experience, isn't it.

Same happened to me (in my case I was looking for skylet lenses - that 
being the non-polarised version) - I walked into three 'major chain' 
optimetrists and was made to feel like I was a side salad they hadn't 
ordered.


Then I walked into a small optometrist almost next door to the last of 
those big chain stores and they were nothing short of excellent to deal 
with.


They looked it all up, sourced what I needed, had them made to order and 
delivered them a few weeks after I originally walked into their store 
(like you, a special order, but in my case they had made those lenses up 
in the past - for sports shooters, as it happens).


I opted for the middle of the three available levels of darkness in 
skylet and they've been nothing short of excellent. I don't personally 
feel like I'm lacking anything due to not having them polarised, either 
- but 'whatever works for you'.


With those glasses on, I can finally spot gliders at a distance nearly 
as quickly as Catherine Conway can, when we're flying dual (and that is 
no mean feat - trust me :) ).


Regards,
 Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Boomerang (was Kingfisher)

[Simon Hackett]

JR wrote:


GDay Ken,
cant open your attachments. any chance of sending them again.
Regards JR
 



I can open the attachments perfectly well (on my Mac).

I have checked the message source and they are properly mime compliant 
attachments, properly sent.


My guess - and only a guess - is that some less well behaved operating 
systems may fail to appreciate that a '.tiff' file is the same as a 
'.tif' file.


I suggest you try renaming the files to end in '.tif' instead of '.tiff' 
and see if your operating system is then sufficiently enlightened to 
open them.


Or - open a tiff file viewer program and then explicitly try opening one 
of those saved attachment files.


Regards,
Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Queensland Easter Competition and FLARM

[Simon Hackett]

Wow, I hit a hot button, didn't I.

To make this utterly clear (in case it wasn't before):

The ONLY thing I'm arguing against right now - and at least until we 
have at least a few more years of experience under our collective belts 
- is MANDATING the presence of Flarm in the cockpit as opposed to 
RECOMMENDING it, at this point in the evolution of our use of this tool 
in the the undertaking of competition flight in our chosen sport.


That is all.

Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Queensland Easter Competition and FLARM

[Simon Hackett]

Robert Hart wrote:

  
We would like every glider and tug to be FLARM equipped, but
gliders without FLARM will be permitted to fly in the Easter comp.
  
For all Qld comps after this Easter (state, Easter, whatever and
probably nationals run in Qld) the rules are being amended to place
FLARM in the same category as radio - i.e. mandatory glider equipment.
If a glider does not have a full set of operational, mandatory
equipment, they will not be permitted to launch.


For what its worth, I'm of the view that *recommendation* to use FLARM
in comps is good and fine, and non-contentious.

However, I feel that an ultimate shift to making a FLARM *mandatory*
for competition flying is a very significant decision that should not
be taken lightly (or potentially, at all), for reasons including:

- Added cost to a sport which is already non-income-producing and
suffering from cost and 'other things in life' pressures in terms of
bringing in new blood - especially but not only (a) juniors (b) people
with older aircraft and potentially limited budgets as well (at any age
of pilot!).

- The potential to generate reliance on a technology which, I am sure,
is excellent, but which (in its current form) is *not* a certified
technology for locating other aircraft, unlike radios (which are
licensed and produced to defined standards) and the other flight
instruments (similarly). 

While none of us feel like the extra money paid for 'certified'
instruments is pleasant, it does come with some level of assurance that
the certified instruments are the survivors of a test regime which is
adequate, and a regime of checking and verifying future changes in
firmware which will then be fully tested to ensure they continue to
maintain the appropriate level of demonstrated accuracy and reliability.

And if the response to all of this is (I would argue, correctly) that
its irrelevant because FLARM is only a secondary/backup to the correct
primary approach, see-and-avoid ... then sincerely, this is the key
argument in my mind *against* mandating it. Don't mandate something
safety related that you (on the other hand) won't yet bet your life on.


Think about it like cameras vs GPS. Sure, noone turns up at a comp with
a camera any more, but for a decade or so, we were in a genuinely mixed
environment, as all of us got the hang of GPSs, as they became cheaper,
and (most importantly) as we all formed a trust relationship with the
data they provided, and learned when to trust them and when not to.

I'm not sure if I've explained myself clearly enough here, and whether
you will buy my argument, but sincerely I feel that imposing both the
cost and the potentially gray area of implict endorsement of FLARM as
being a safety-critical device are the right answers at this time for
any form of 'mandate' in respect of its use.

Please appreciate that I'm the last person to want to hold back the
takeup of technology. The reverse of that is in fact my day job as a
broadband services provider. 

And personally, I'm also amply able to afford to buy a FLARM - hell,
I'm trading in my Stemme for a new one partly because the new one has a
two-screen light-jet standard glass cockpit system in it, and sports a
total of four GPS receivers (in various objects) and enough technology
to run a small business already :)

But... it genuinely makes me feel concerned for the people who aren't
as lucky as I am in that regard, and whose Boomerang or Cirrus or Astir
may be all they can afford, all they want to fly, and they may already
be feeling the pinch in finding the money for the tow tickets, let
alone to buy a FLARM as well. 

Give it a few more years before seriously contemplating making
something so new 'mandatory'. Regardless of how good it looks now. I
think thats the bottom line.

In a few years, we'll all have more experience with it, it'll be
cheaper, and our general trust relationship with the technology will be
stronger.

Recommend? Fine. Strongly recommend, even? Fine.

But 'mandate' is a much, much larger step. Step carefully. Please.

Regards, 
Simon




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Re: [Aus-soaring] For Sale: Stemme S10-VT

[Simon Hackett]

David Lawley wrote:


Almost like remmington ad init?


He liked the planes so much, he became the agent(-:
 


And absolutely correct :)

They're still in a class of their own.

Cheers,
Simon
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[Aus-soaring] For Sale: Stemme S10-VT

[Simon Hackett]

Hi all,

If you or someone you know is interested in a much loved and highly 
optioned second hand Stemme S10-VT, please take a look at the following 
page:


http://www.stemme.com.au/forsale

I've got a new S10-VT on the way to Australia shortly (with dual screen 
EFIS style glass cockpit, believe it or not - where is the world coming 
to?).


As a result, the current demonstrator is on the market.

Full details on the web site noted above.

Regards,

 Simon Hackett


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Re: [Aus-soaring] ideas please!

[Simon Hackett]

Stuart  Kerri FERGUSON wrote:


David,

Why not a “BPAY” facility for all GFA accounts?

Having said that we have to remember there are still members out there 
without


e-mail/internet facilities – if we go 100% high tech we isolate these 
members.


Having said *that*, you can access Bpay using nothing more 'high tech' 
than a telephone via most (all?) banks.


Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Google Earth

[Simon Hackett]

Derek Ruddock wrote:

Go to the Australian independent broadband site 
http://www.whirlpool.net.au/


You can input your number and select from all available services at 
you home


You can filter the resulting list by price, etc etc

When I tried mine (admittedly metro Sydney), I was amazed to get a 
lost of over 200 ISP’s that could service my number


Bigger fleas have smaller fleas upon their backs to bite ‘em



This is the point at which I respectfully point out that which Mark 
Newton didn't - that you really should use Internode :)


After all, we provide you with this fine mailing list out of the 
goodness of our hearts, we're way cheaper than Telstra broadband and 
we're very friendly to glider pilots :)


Regards,
Simon Hackett
(newly annointed 'Supreme Being' - refer to John Roarke's silly 
autoresponder)

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Re: [Aus-soaring] John's messages

[Simon Hackett]

Christopher Mc Donnell wrote:


I will be seeing the Supreme Being (AKA Simon) today.
Will mention.



I blocked transmission of aus-soaring messages to John's email address, 
as Chris has already noted.


I'm a busy person and I hadn't been reading the list for some days - sorry.

That said, I'm also going to make a point of ensuring that the other 
glider pilots on this list who are on staff at Internode appreciate that 
they're more than welcome to do that as well - I am in no sense yearning 
to retain the job of sole list moderator. The excellent mailing list 
software we run allows for an arbitary number of those to be able to do 
such things.


(Mark, Catherine: This means you - contact me off list and I'll set you 
up as list moderators :) )


Regards,
Simon
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[Aus-soaring] Macintosh software for Volksloggers

[Simon Hackett]

Hi friends,
Sorry to interrupt all this banter with something practical, but I felt 
that others in my situation might find this as cool as I do.

My situation is:
a) Glider pilot (http://www.stemme.com.au)
b) Volklogger owner (http://www.volkslogger.de/e/english/index.html)
c) Macintosh (Mac OS X) user with none of those horrible Windows PC's in 
my life (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasabistudios/6708991/)

If you, too, have been pining for Macintosh OS-X software to drive your 
Volkslogger, pine no more:

http://www.human-software.nl/geops/
This software has only just been released.
The author just sent me some email as a response to a usenet news 
posting on the topic that I made into rec.aviation.soaring in 2001 - how 
is THAT for service :)

Even better - the software is free. Viva the Internet, and glider pilots 
with time on their hands.

Regards,
Simon
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Re: Fwd: Re: [Aus-soaring] Securing Gliders - Was The list is... alive!

[Simon Hackett]

Rob  Colleen Moore wrote:
Simon GFA are trying to get an exemption for motor gliders but it is 
not a fast process. 

Now why didn't I already know that?
Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Securing Gliders - Was The list is... alive!

[Simon Hackett]

Mike Borgelt wrote:
Simon,
How does it work?
 

There is a (quite nifty) barrel lock (whose keys look remarkably like a 
small gun - co-incidence or intent?  you be the judge).

Unlock that, and the left hand side slides sideways to open the jaws of 
the thing.

You then pass it around your wheel, and close it again so the tips close 
*into* the center of the wheel (and snag on the flanges that protrude 
radially from the hub of the wheel on most 'aviation wheels'), and then 
lock it.

Sort-of like a cross between a wheel clamp as used by the London traffic 
cops and a big metal nose-picking instrument :)

Would it fit on a wheel fitted with spats?
 

Probably.
I don't suppose Achmed and Mohammed bothered to bring a hacksaw to the party?
 

I always thought that since they probably have already earned and hold a 
valid pilots' license, they would just walk into the front office of a 
struggling aviation hire company at Parafield and just hire a suitable 
aircraft. Hell, they wouldn't even need to pay the bill (since nobody 
could collect it from them afterwards). That single notion makes the 
concept of locking a private aircraft seem silly to me (for the specific 
anti-terrorism purpose at least).

Oh well, it's only the *appearance* of security that is required.
 

Quite.
The CASA information says that its sufficient to keep your aircraft in a 
locked hangar. Which I do (when at home base). But the reality is that 
the padlock on the hangar wouldn't survive a decent set of bolt cutters, 
and neither would the walls of the structure be proof against something 
as simple as backing a ute into them at speed.

Its just like the x-raying of laptops at the airport. And the way you 
can't bring a toothpick with you in hand luggage, but you can (and I 
routinely do) take a fine assortment of quite sharp and tough business 
pens. And more electronics and cables than the average b-o-m-b maker 
would need in a year. But you can't ban those, or no business traveller 
would be using Qantas at all. Oh no. Can't do that. Stuff security, 
this is income we're talking about after all.

The silliest thing about the whole anti-terrorism aviation thing in my 
view is the reality that the next form of attack will just be something 
different entirely.

Meantime - I thought of a control lock. I don't have a push-pull 
throttle, I have a 'quadrant' one. The same company I bought the wheel 
lock from does have both quadrant and throttle locks and would (and 
could) custom-make me one for my aircraft. But I simply found the most 
direct CASA compliant answer for my situation and applied it, so I have 
the capacity to take it with me for the (rare) occasions I'm landing 
somewhere and actually leaving the aircraft parked outside overnight.

The whole concept of someone stealing a Stemme S10-VT to use for 
terrorist purposes just makes me laugh. They'd be hard pressed to figure 
out how to manage to take off in it at all. But I appreciate the 
situation the regulators find themselves in too. They have to be seen to 
do something, and to be seen to be consistent about it. Even when that's 
just plain silly.

Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] BORING in California

[Simon Hackett]

Mike Borgelt wrote:
I know a bloke with a Discus 2. Say A$130,000. That's [...]
I tried the same calculations with my Stemme S10-VT once. I already had 
such a spreadsheet set up which had been used for my old SF-25C Motorfalke.

So I plugged in the hull value of my S10-VT.
At that point the spreadsheet columns turned into those '''s which 
mean you need to widen the columns because the numbers are too big to fit :)

I just quietly put the spreadsheet away and realised that those 
calculations were just not going to stop me from indulging in my own 
aviation decisions, because I'd already made the decision to own the 
thing, whatever the numbers said (and in gliding, clearly, I'm not alone 
in that attitude - or a lot of us wouldn't be bothering).

On the general notion of figuring out a notional hiring rate for gliders 
at typical 'glider' utilisations (circa 100 hrs/year for a private one), 
I have found that the simple metric of taking the hull value and 
dividing by 1000 to get the effective hourly rate works quite well. 
Taking your Discus example (because my Stemme example would just 
frighten the horses), that means $130,000 hull value - $130 per hour - 
which is consistent with your calculations.

Obviously those numbers improve with higher utilisations, but the more 
expensive the glider, the more likely its going to peak around 100-150 
per year because its probably a private aircraft, not a club one.

(I have flown about 140 hours in my Stemme in the last 12 months).
Cheers,
Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Re: Jet Gliders

[Simon Hackett]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is very keen to have you keep updating 
us on how this goes!

(Hmmm, wonder how many of those I'd need to launch my Stemme :) )
Simon
Mike Borgelt wrote:
My engines are due in April.
Mike
Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments
phone Int'l + 61 746 355784
fax   Int'l + 61 746 358796
cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784
 Int'l + 61 429 355784
email:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
website: www.borgeltinstruments.com
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[Aus-soaring] The list is... alive!

[Simon Hackett]

Dear friends,
My apologies to those of you (and its most of you, but not all of you) 
whose list subscriptions mysteriously stopped working around a week ago.

Its a long story, that has to do with spam and spam blocking systems, 
and a disagreement they developed with the mailing list system we run at 
Internode, all of which happened in a manner that caused 'silent failure'.

Long story short - I believe I've fixed it now, and your receipt of this 
message will prove the point :)

In future, if something strange happens with list operations, please, 
feel free to contact Internode technical support directly 
(http://cgi.internode.on.net/cgi-bin/support), because contacting me can 
take a long while to get a response for things like this (in my busy 
life, I hadn't noticed the problem until now).

Meanwhile - sorry about that, and we're baaack!.
Cheers,
Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Promoting Gliding

[Simon Hackett]

One great way to promote gliding is to do amazing things that are 
newsworthy (of the *non* accident sort!)...

I'm still getting my head around this endeavour, flying a Stemme from 
England to Omarama:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=8500978
It'll be a hell of a book when he writes it, and meantime I'm sure we 
wish him all the best for his soaring in New Zealand.

Simon
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Spam.... anyone else??

[Simon Hackett]

Your much appreciated ISP has quite a large customer base these days.
It only takes one of them to get a worm/virus/whatever.
There is a global, and effective, convention (well, several) by which 
people can notify the appropriate ISP that someone appears to have a 
worm/virus and needs to get a 'talking to'.

If you know who the ISP is, bounce a copy of the spam to 
'[EMAIL PROTECTED]' and someone appropriate will deliver that 'talking 
to' (and technical support to help remove the worm, as appropriate.

If you aren't sure of the source of the spam in other cases, the trick 
is to ask your own ISP for help in advising the ISP concerned, and/or 
use a tool like 'SpamCop' to do an automatic 
determination-and-notification for you.  
(http://www.spamcop.net/anonsignup.shtml)

Internode offers free-of-charge virus and spam filtering to its customer 
base, but there are plenty of other ways that an insufficiently 
'protected' windows user can pick up a 'bug' - including files handed to 
them by others, and clicking into sufficiently...cough... 'interesting' 
web sites with code in them to exploit one of the hundreds of serious 
bugs in Windows Internet Explorer.

Until we live in the fine world where people use Firefox or Safari 
instead of IE and everyone else has moved to a Macintosh, this sort of 
pain will persist at a low level in the Internet... and the above is the 
manner in which you can take useful individual action to help to reduce 
the effects of same.

Regards,
Simon
Terry Neumann wrote:
Greetings fellow soaring people,
I may be alone in this,  but I seem to keep on receiving daily little 
treasures of unwanted spam and thinly disguised virus attacks.   
Usually it is limited to three or four per day, but it is as annoying 
as it is frustrating.Sometimes the sender is a hotmail address, 
at other times it suggest a more legitimate sender whose address is 
being used.   It has been been a pretty regular event since the 
great spam attack on this list earlier this year.

Why then raise this matter on this list?
The common factor in all of them is a reference to our much 
appreciated ISP who so generously makes this list possible. 

Here is a snippet from my Mailwasher log in respect of one of the more 
recent gifts:

[Mailman Site List] Re: document - 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Here is the content of yet another message received tonight:
You got a new message.
 Attachment: No Virus found
 F-Secure AntiVirus - www.f-secure.com

===
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If  I am the only recipient, then  it's surely my problem and mine alone.
If others on the list are also being favoured with similar 
presentations, then I wonder if there is something which might be able 
to be done on a higher level.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the matter,
Terry

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Re: [Aus-soaring] Paper Overload

[Simon Hackett]

Graeme Cant wrote:
Absolutely, Robert.  It's a wonder nobody thought of this before!  Ask 
for 118.02, 119.62, 119.82, 120.17 and 122.02.  While they're on the 
phone ask what it would cost.

Graeme,
Those frequencies you've listed above are the set that I already knew to 
be allocated to the GFA some time back. Strictly, you're 0.005 Mhz off 
the mark with them according to data I can find with a few quick Google 
searches...

For the benefit of others, try searching for '118.025 gliding' with 
Google.com.au 
(http://www.google.com.au/search?q=118.025+glidingie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8)

Here is just one example of the results:
GFA Radio Frequencies
118.025
119.825
122.025
122.700
119.625
120.175
122.500
122.900
(From page 10 of this file : 
http://www.bathurstsoaring.org.au/files/Thermal-Summ2002-2003-p.pdf )

---
I would imagine that these frequencies aren't costing more money to 
hold, so surely the GFA hasn't subsequently just handed them back or 
have they?

I've tried searching things like the ACA's register of licenses for 
radio frequencies and it just creates more confusion for me.

For example, searching the ACA's database for '122.5' returns four 
licensees listed against that frequency - two gliding clubs and two 
priviate individuals (!) - and no sign of an entry in the name of the GFA.

(Go to http://www.aca.gov.au/pls/radcom/register_search.main_page and 
plug in '122.5 Mhz' as the starting and ending frequency and hit 'search')

Graham, methinks you know the back-story here. I'd sincerely love to 
know what is up on this front. Can you tell us what it is?

Yours in confusion,
 Simon Hackett
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Re: [Aus-soaring] Schleicher announces new model

[Simon Hackett]

Guys,
I am all for people who can sell shiny new gliders mentioning it in this 
list.

Its only 'spam' if you don't want to hear about it - and I honestly 
think that people on aus-soaring *do* want to hear about shiny new 
gliders that become available in the marketplace (and for that matter, 
people with shiny - or even non-shiny - older gliders looking for a 
second home are similarly welcome here in my view).

If it becomes an issue in terms of annoyance factor for a minority 
(bearing in mind that I'm biased on this topic for three reasons - see 
postscript), the trick in the first instance might be to flag the 
subject line in some clear manner ('advert' or 'commerical' or similar) 
and people who don't want to read 'em can just not do so.

My point of view is that the more nice gliders we have flying in this 
country, and the more we see gliders in the air, not in the back of a 
hangar protecting the floor from the effects of bird droppings, the more 
we might be able to arrest the progressive decline of the entire sport 
(hey, I can dream).

Cheers,
Simon
The postscript:
a) I pay for the operation of the list, and the list doesn't have a 
specific non-commercial charter as far as I'm concerned. There is a 
tendency in the post-spam world to assume that any mention of something 
commercial in any email is bad. This isn't necessarily true, and as 
above, I don't actually think its bad in the context of aus-soaring if 
what you are selling is a *glider*.

If it starts to become an issue, I can see some merit in operating some 
form of 'classified ad' + distributor 'how to find me' page, which I'd 
be perfectly happy to pay for the hosting charges on to field at our 
place, which would then let people collapse any such email here to 
one-liner messages quoting a URL - which is even less likely to offend 
anybody at all.

b) These days, as most (all?) of you know, I am such an agent in my own 
right ('you know you want one...') - and since that arguable conflict of 
interest exists, I'm hereby re-declaring it (and declaring a conflict, 
in my view, is the way to resolve such challenges - not to pretend it 
doesn't exist :) )

c) I'm one of those people (aren't most of us?) who do actually read the 
classified ads at the back of the magazine to see what is 'out there', 
who is moving stuff around, and what things are worth these days in the 
opinion of the 'marketplace'. I'm similarly interested in shiny new 
models of glider that might turn up, for all sorts of reasons - again, 
aren't these things exactly what *is* likely to interest most folk on 
this list (probably more likely to interest more people on this list 
than many other postings to it at times :) )

Here endeth the postscript.
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Re: [Aus-soaring] FW: Airspace Issues

[Simon Hackett]

On 13/10/04 11:18 AM, David Conway [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 CASA instrument 316/98 requires the carriage of a transponder in Class E
 airspace if the aircraft has an engine driven electrical system capable of
 continuously powering it.
 

The following is sort-of humorous. Sort of.

If I have a transponder and an engine-driven electrical system capable of
powering it, but happen to have the engine off - does that mean I can turn
the transponder off too? Or do I have to go soaring in class E with the
engine idling? 

This isn't theoretical. My motor glider has a transponder, but I'm not yet
sure what its power consumption profile is like. And I've got an engine that
won't start unless the battery can turn the engine over and unfold the
blades for several seconds prior to start, so its really bad karma to run
the battery flat.  

Hmmm. I just thought of another interpretation - sure, I'm *carrying* it,
but where does it say I have to turn it on? :)

Saying 'its implicit' seems really bad to me, in a set of regulations  that
seem to already require legal training to understand 'em.

I appreciate (and I do presume) the pragmatic answer - leave the thing off
if the engine is off.

But in respect of the whole airspace thing and gliders (in respect of the
whole airspace thing entirely, really), the phrase 'dogs breakfast' keeps
returning, inexorably, to the top of my mind.

Simon
 

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[Aus-soaring] Comparing two somewhat distinct choices of glider, courtesy of a pilot fortunate enough to fly in both

[Simon Hackett]

http://www.flyaboveall.com/willswing_grumman.htm

Well worth a read :)

Simon

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Re: [Aus-soaring] Regulation and Policing

[Simon Hackett]

On 25/8/04 5:20 PM, Christopher H Thorpe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Mark, your opening paragraphs add little to the debate.  All I stated was
 the limit for oxygen use was not set arbitrarily.  The fact is hypoxic
 effects kick in at much lower levels and tolerances vary with individuals.
 As you stated, the regulators picked a risk level they were happy with
 because tests have shown that up to 10,000' the effect of reduced partial
 pressure is generally negligible.  Above 10,000' skill levels and judgment
 start to deteriorate, getting more pronounced with altitude.  You could
 argue altitudes and exposure times all you like but in the end you cannot
 change the laws of nature.
 

Sorry, I think I'm missing something here - if US pilots can operate to
higher altitudes safely, why are the laws of nature different for them?

Simon

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[Aus-soaring] Old handheld with a broken LCD display

[Simon Hackett]

Hi folks,

I have a Bendix-King KX-99 handheld VHF radio that is in perfect working
order, except that its LCD display is completely stuffed - needs replacing.

Its an oldish radio.

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts as to whether its the sort of thing
one can manage to get repaired in Australia - or whether I own a (formerly)
valuable radio that I now have to operate by memory alone :)

(Its been lying around at my place for ages - this is in no sense urgent, I
just hate to see an otherwise perfectly fine radio hit the dump).

Cheers,
Simon

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Re: [Aus-soaring] two trailers in one container

[Simon Hackett]

On 5/8/04 12:41 PM, Mike Borgelt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 
 Is that even possible?

Its viable with some single seater/trailer combinations in principle. Its
quite viable without trailers in  the equation.

And if you have a big two seater, its definitely 'limit one per
container'... See the attached photo of my 2-seater being packed in Germany,
last year. 

That trailer has about 4 inches clearance to the roof, and about 1 foot
clearance to the rear door... Just as if its designed to 'just' fit... (and
I expect that is indeed the case)

Simon

attachment: vh-tcp-berlin.jpg
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Re: [Aus-soaring] GFA Marketing Committee

[Simon Hackett]

On 3/8/04 8:38 AM, Mark Newton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Give the same video to someone who has never flown before and they'll
 have a different emotional reaction:  Geez, I bet if I tried that
 I'd throw up.  I wonder if it's as dangerous as it looks?  Then ask
 them whether a view of the instrument panel is interesting an exciting
 just because the altimeter is reading something in the flight-levels
 and they'll start to wonder if you're on drugs or something.
 

I strongly aqree; 

The time a shot can run for, while retaining appeal for folk outside of the
subject matter concerned (which is the target we're talking about) is
extremely short (in any realm).

A glider pilot might enjoy 5 minutes of staring at wave clouds from above
(and I certainly do!), but a non-glider pilot is going to be wandering off
for a snack after anything longer than 20-30 seconds in a single shot in a
film. Of anything.

A little exercise for you if you don't already appreciate this - watch
anything on TV (except Big Brother Up Late) and try to get a sense of how
long each shot in what you are watching actually lasts before it flips to
another shot. Even if it then flips back again soon thereafter. You may be
surprised at just how rare anything more than 30 seconds is.

Anything longer than about a minute is up in 'epic' territory, and there is
a reason why the odd 3-5 minute continuous 'take' in a movie is considered
either 'brave' or has to be justified for some deep artistic reason.

Per-shot attention span is incredibly short in the popcorn era...

...Unless you already love the subject matter... This is why 5 minutes of
wave soaring is heaven on a stick for a glider pilot to watch, and 4.5
minutes of 'why am I here' for anyone else.

This is also key to why some films you watch lead you to fidget in your
seat, and other film hold you on the seats' edge.

The same applies, for instance, to videos of ones' children - I produced a
video of the first two years of my daughters' life, edited down from 15 or
so hours of footage over two years to something which is currently ten
minutes long. 

To show it to anyone outside of my immediate family without putting them to
sleep, and with the best will in the world, I'll need to find another 7
minutes to remove, and remove them - and somehow make the results still flow
and tell a story. Successful film editors do something very, very hard.

That is why, at a deep level, you would produce the best forms of gliding
'promotional' footage by engaging professional film makers. Just as you
would want to do in any pursuit for which you want to get the best result.
Engage subject matter experts.

And it remains the case that even if you do that - spend the money you need
to spend - you still need to have done that *after* you work out what you're
going to do with the resulting wonderful film, and why.

And *that* is the realm for another subject matter expert - a marketing
subject matter expert. And even they can't do their job without knowing what
you hold as your definition of 'successful marketing'. It could be all sorts
of things. Beware of assuming everyone else has the same notion of 'success'
here as you do. The reasons why we fly gliders vary.

Simon 

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Re: [Aus-soaring] Rejoining this list

[Simon Hackett]

On 18/7/04 3:58 PM, Leigh Bunting [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 After the recent SPAM attack, a number of list members jumped ship.
 
 One that I know of, hasn't been able to rejoin. A computer wood duck he
 is not. Anyone know of anyone with a similar problem.
 
 Of course, if they can't rejoin, I imagine that not even Simon could
 tell, unless someone might have heard through other channels.

The relevant interface is here:

http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring

(that being the URL listed at the bottom of all aus-soaring postings,
including this one).

If there is a problem with the process, no, I'm not aware of it, and with
all due respect 'something is wrong' doesn't give me, or any of my team,
much of a way to diagnose it.

Can you do us both a favour and ask your friend to drop a line directly to
me explaining what they did, and what did, or didn't, happen - and I can
pass that on to the team who manage the mail server environment to look
into.

Alternatively your friend, or anyone else with technical issues with
Internode systems, is always welcome to file a direct support request via
the URL noted below (and please feel free to just do that directly, then I
don't have to play pass-the-parcel :) )

http://support.internode.on.net (and click on 'log an online support
request')

Regards,
  Simon Hackett

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Re: [Aus-soaring] Unsubscribing How to do it?

[Simon Hackett]

Title: Re: [Aus-soaring] Unsubscribing How to do it?



The mailing list now uses different (Far better) software than majordomo. The majordomo related instructions will not work.

The instructions to follow are the ones in the link at the bottom of every message posting these days. Here is that URL  take a look :)

http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring

Regards,
Simon

On 21/6/04 8:00 PM, steve trone2 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Unsubscribe

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jarek
Sent: Sunday, 20 June 2004 10:06 PM
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
Subject: [Aus-soaring] Unsubscribing How to do it?

Hi,
 
To unsubscribe, try sending an email to:
 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

with the following line in the message body: 
 
unsubscribe aus-soaring your-email-address
 
Posting unsubscribe message to the list will NOT work. 
 
I am including below the relevant part of documentation.
 
Does anybody know who is the list owner / administrator? I believe the problem of spam could be fixed (unless the spammers hijacked the list i.e. by guessing and re-setting administration password) by setting list's properties properly.

Regards
Jarek
 

 
III. UNSUBSCRIBING FROM MAILING LISTS

Your original intro message contains the exact command which should be
used to remove your address from the list. However, in most cases, you
may simply send the command unsubscribe followed by the list name:

unsubscribe demo-list

(This command may fail if your provider has changed the way your
address is shown in your mail.)

To remove an address other than the one from which you're sending
the request, give that address in the command:

unsubscribe demo-list [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

In either of these cases, you can tell [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]  to remove
the address in question from all lists on this server by using *
in place of the list name:

unsubscribe *
unsubscribe * [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
:
 

 
- Original Message - 

From: Ian McPhee mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 

Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2004 9:07 PM

Subject: [Aus-soaring] unsubscribe



unsubscribe
 


 

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[Aus-soaring] Spam to the aus-soaring list should now be stopped.

[Simon Hackett]

Sorry about that.

I didn't know it was happening - there was an accidental change made to a
configuration parameter on the list which allowed non-members to post to the
list, and that let the spam in.

For those who don't appreciate it, around 60-80% of all email on the
Internet is now spam, and its being actively deluged at all public addresses
on the web including all publically acknowledged mailing lists, all the
time.

Our mail server spend well more than half of their time and workload
rejecting this stuff in the name of a better life for y'all.

This is also why all mailing lists in the modern world need to be configured
to only accept email from registered members. And this one has been, until
this mistake (which I made, just to apportion blame correctly).

Again, my apologies. I didn't notice the impact of this myself because my
own spam filtering systems are so good that those were, in turn, filtering
out the spam postings to the list so I wasn't seeing the fact that they had
started to happen.

For those sending 'unsubscribe' messages directly to the list - be aware
that this doesn't work, and only adds to the unwanted message traffic.
Details on how to actually unsubscribe are contained at the bottom of every
single message on the list. Including this one.

Then again, now the spam has gone, you don't have to, I hope...

Regards,
  Simon

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[Aus-soaring] Spam to the aus-soaring list should now be stopped.

[Simon Hackett]

P.s. When I said this:

 
 For those sending 'unsubscribe' messages directly to the list - be aware
 that this doesn't work, and only adds to the unwanted message traffic.
 Details on how to actually unsubscribe are contained at the bottom of every
 single message on the list. Including this one.

I actually should have said this:

'Details on how to actually unsubscribe are contained on the web page listed
at the bottom of every message to the list, i.e. here:

http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring

Simon

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