Fly Me Friendly

I got word this morning from Carlo at Flight Experience Melbourne that he’d just arrived at Melbourne airport (YMML) and seen an Antonov parked on the ramp. Talk about perfect timing as I was taking one of my workmates to the airport for his trip home to Sydney (flying Tiger Airways – good luck with that!).

After dropping him off, I shot off around to the viewing area near the AirServices compound on Operations Rd. As expected, this was too far away to be of much use for photos, but gave me an excuse to go check out where it was parked (and take a couple anyway, what the heck).

On my way back I stopped off at one of the ramps where some of the cargo, VIP and QANTAS maintenance operations are so I could get a shot of the Ansett DC-3 (VH-ABR) parked in front of a RAAF BBJ (A36-002) and the A319 that flies to the “blue ice runway” in Antarctica (VH-VHD). Nice :)

I then scooted back around towards the main terminal area, stopping on Link Rd to get a distance shot of the An-124 that, although a bit further away, was better as it had fewer fences & hills in the way. From there I headed back to the freight area and started hunting around for a good view of the ramp. Fortunately I found a spot where I could park the car and get up to a fence, shooting through the links to get a reasonably good view of the beastie.

While I was snapping the shots, a QANTAS 737 was being towed from maintenance to the terminals, letting me get a good size comparison shot. Yes, that thing is *huge*

Not sure why it was parked on the ramp at Tulla, but if I find out I’ll be sure to post it here. Meanwhile, you can see all the shots I took (including larger copies of each shot) over at the YMML Antonov page on my photo gallery.

While returning from Nykolai’s scout camp I dropped into Avalon airport (YMAV) to check out Tanker 10, a converted DC10 that’s now used as a super-heavy water bomber. It’s parked in the keyhole and not easily viewed without a huge zoom lens, something I don’t have.

On the day I was there, a QANTAS 747-400 was also in the keyhole, possibly getting ready to depart after maintenance.

Over at Plane Crazy Down Under, we’re trying to get up closer to Tanker 10. If we do, I’ll be sure to get better images loaded here.

 

 

 

 

While I was there, I also grabbed a few photos of Canberra A84-232, now parked as a gate guardian near the entrance. I also grabbed a photo of QANTAS’ last 747-300, ex VH-EBU. Once painted in the Aboriginal “Nalanji Dreaming” scheme, it is currently stripped of engines and remains as just a fuselage & wings painted a base blue colour with a red tail. It was being used to provide spares and keep the other 747-300’s running. Now that they’re gone, it is probably going to get parted out into scrap.

I got the word from John that the Victorian chapter of the Aviation Historical Society of Australia was having a Christmas BBQ at Moorabbin airport (YMMB) today. So, I went down to hang out, meet new people and spread the word about our podcast.

It was definitely worth while as I definitely got to meet some interesting people, including Keith Meggs (founding member of the AHSA & current president) and Dr Carlo Kopp, a defence analyst who’s work I’ve been reading for a very long time. Dr Kopp is one of the founders of Air Power Australia, an independent defence think tank.

After a few hours chatting with a number of the people there, I headed off to the Australian National Aviation Museum to catch up with what might be new and on display. I’ve been a member for a while although I’d lapsed and not renewed my fees for a few years – ooops. I renewed recently as part of my DC3 excursion to Albury (yes, I need to write that adventure up – sorry – been busy :) and sorted out the back fees so I’m definitely current now :)

Going through their book pile, I found a number that included biographies, novels and historical narratives. After buying a stack of them, I noticed more in a pile waiting to be put out on display. Guess I’ll be going back again after payday to buy some more :)

The other task I have after I get paid is to join the AHSA as it would seem I may be able to help them with getting their print, audio & video archives online. While I’m certainly no historian, I do enjoy reading biographies & historical narratives and am definitely a big fan of capturing & preserving history online for people to access.

I’ll keep you posted on how all this progresses :)

We’ve been getting through some rather crappy weather for the past two months. Lots of wind and rain with the occasional good weather day sneaking in here and there.

I crewed the hot air balloons again last weekend and could see on the account sheet at the fuelling station that we’d only had about 10 flying days in the past month or more. Ouch!

It’s AFL grand final this weekend and about 100,000 people are expected to squeeze into the Melbourne Cricket Grounds for the game, despite the predicted crappy weather on the way. I’m supposed to be crewing both days this weekend but it’s not looking great.

To give you an example, check out this TAF for Melbourne Airport over the next 30 hours:

TAF AMD YMML 240409Z 2406/2512 29015G28KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT035 SCT045
FM240900 35013KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT030 SCT040
FM241200 36020G32KT 9999 SCT040
FM241800 36028G42KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT030 BKN040 OVC080
FM250000 34020G34KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT020 BKN035
FM250600 29015G25KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN SCT025 SCT040
INTER 2406/2412 4000 SHOWERS OF RAIN BKN020
INTER 2500/2510 2000 SHOWERS OF RAIN AND SMALL HAIL PELLETS BKN015
RMK FM240600 MOD TURB BLW 5000FT
FM241200 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT TILL 250800
T 17 14 12 11 Q 1009 1009 1009 1007


This would have to be the longest TAF I’ve ever seen. Plus the weather is continued crappy with increased patches of crappy likely.

Not great for ballooning :(

The latest trailer for A Pilot’s Story is up on their site. All three trailers are there, so you should go over and check them out. The third trailer was first shown as part of the nightly entertainment at Oshkosh 2009 and it’s wonderful.

I’ve been following the development of A Pilot’s Story through a discussions, interviews and plugs on a number of aviation podcasts. Will Hawkins of the Pilot’s Flight Podlog podcast and Rico Sharqawi have teamed up to form Wilco Films, an independent film company that, amongst other projects, is producing A Pilot’s Story.

From all that I’m hearing, A Pilot’s Story will be up there with One Six Right as it goes to the heart of why we fly and the joy of first solo, all accompanied with beautiful high definition imagery.

The guys are seeking funding to help complete the movie and distribute it. There’s a donation button on the web site. Help out if you can ‘cos this is a movie that deserves to be delivered.

At the least, go and watch the trailers. The latest one is great, and not just ‘cos it’s got balloons in it :)

With the recent announcement from Boeing that the first flight of their 787 was to be delayed due to structural issues in the wing box area, many of us knew right away it was a major show-stopper issue. Boeing made the announcement only a few days before people were expecting the first flight, catching many by surprise. With so much riding on this project and so many delays already experienced, Boeing were pushing hard to get the 787 in the air as soon as possible. That Boeing couldn’t start the test flights while addressing this problem in parallel showed us it was a big issue, something that would either lead to a structural failure in flight or would require so many changes that testing would have to start again after the modifications were made.

Subsequent to their announcement of a delay, it was confirmed that the issue involves wing flexing travelling into the fuselage leading to delamination of wing panels. This report and others do not paint a very pretty picture with many predicting that the 787 won’t fly until next year (2010).

All of this puts a major strain on the credibility of the programme, Boeing’s bottom line and their share price. They are eager to reach the first flight milestone and progress quickly towards delivery payments from customers. Anything that is feasible and safe will be done to get the 787 airborne ASAP, thus the longer the delays we’re seeing, the bigger the problem becomes.

The 787 is breaking new ground in many areas, from structures to systems to construction & assembly processes. In many ways this is similar to the de Havilland Comet that ushered in jet travel to an eagerly awaiting world.

While bringing in new technologies such as advanced alloys and new bonding methods, the Comet was also extensively tested prior to its entry into service. The Comet also utilised existing concepts such as large, square windows & hatches in the fuselage. As was tragically discovered, stress concentration occurred around the corners of the windows & hatches, leading to higher pressures in those areas and, eventually, metal fatigue that ruptured the fuselage with catastrophic results. By the time the problems were resolved, the Boeing 707 had eclipsed the Comet and, together with the Douglas DC-8, taken over the jet transport market. Boeing and Douglas both certainly benefited from the painful lessons learned from the Comet.

Returning to the present, Boeing discovered the 787’s structural problem during fatigue testing of a designated airframe. Despite countless computer simulations the issue was apparently never predicted and, like the Comet, took them by surprise.

Fortunately in this case the problem was discovered on the ground and without loss of life. Also fortunate for Boeing is that the Airbus A350 is still lagging the 787’s schedule, although the distance between them is rapidly decreasing. If the 787 doesn’t fly until 2010 and Airbus can hit the A350’s scheduled first flight in 2011, things could get very bad for Boeing.

While I doubt many 787 customers will be seriously considering converting their orders over to the A350 at this point, if the A350 continues on track and meets its target figures, further delays of the 787 will make the Airbus product start to look more interesting to 787 customers. If that happens, Boeing will be in big trouble indeed!

For those of you who may like Japanese manga/anime and flying, I definitely recommend checking out Area 88, an anime equivalent to Top Gun. I had been reading comics for some time and stumbled over the Area 88 manga in the 1980’s. Amazed by the attention to detail in the drawings, I was hooked. When I found the Original Video Animation (OAV) and 12 episode series on DVD, I had to pick them up as well.

An excellent summary of the plot and various differences beween the manga, OAV and the series can be found at the Area 88 article on Wikipedia . As mentioned, the attention to detail is excellent, the story is entertaining and the music in the 12 episode series really helps bring it together. There is enough difference between plot lines & scenes in the manga (comic), the OVA and the series to make it worth collecting all three.

If I let my “picky aviation geek” side come out (the same “picky aviation geek” that gets me in trouble when I watch Die Hard 2 with friends :), I can find any number of issues that I can point out within Area 88:

• There are a number of different aircraft types at the base so maintenance & spares must be a nightmare
• The series introduces a “poor kid” pilot who flies a Harrier but he flies it like any other aircraft and doesn’t make effective use of it’s ability to VIFF. This is slightly balanced in the OAV because the Harriers are on the enemy side and the mercenaries have to adjust their tactics to deal with their viffing.
• The base’s airstrip has “A 88″ at each end where usually there would be the runway number (eg: 03, 31, 27, etc). Sure, it’s the base’s code (Area 88) and it could be there, but really, no.

There are a number of other issues that lead to a slight cringe factor at times, but on the whole there are none that make me give up in disgust. Fortunately the story, music and well drawn aircraft keep me hooked and make it easier to ignore the niggling bits.

It’s definitely worth reading/watching just for the pure enjoyment factor. Not perfect, but good enough to own and watch/read every now and then.

A while ago a friend of mine sent me an SMS saying they’d finally found the cause of my problems:

“Aeroneurophycosis: in which the sufferer developes a sexual atraction to aircraft”

Yup – that sure summed it up. I used the word a few times with friends (who all agreed entirely that it certainly seemed an accurate diagnosis) and even let Steve Tupper over at Airspeed Online know it could be used as a “high brow” version of the phrase “Aviation Wood” he occasionally refers to.

Shame it’s not a real psychiatric term.

It was on Wikipedia for a while but then was deleted and now just shows up in their list of deleted articles with freaky titles.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t use it :)

Searches are starting to find it appearing in Twitter feeds (not all of them mine or ones I have any say in :) and on blogs here and there. So, if you find the word amusing and believe it could describe the strange attraction you (or someone you know) may have for aircraft, why not start using it. Let’s see if we can’t give the word some support out here on the ‘net.

After all, it really does sound like a great, succicnt description of what so many fans of aviation are like around aircraft.

Once again crewing balloons in the Yarra Valley produced some amazing “Kodak Moments” today. Given the weather this morning, I was pretty sure we wouldn’t get to fly.

On my way out to the shed at o-dark-hundred I was driving through patches of thick fog around Lilydale airport. At the shed near Balgownie Estate, the winds were blowing around me as I waited for Davin to arrive so we could start preparing the balloon & vehicles for the day. After meeting the passengers, we tried a few different launch sites but all were too high winds to stand a balloon up.

At 7:30am we were on a field that’s usually sheltered from northerlies as one of QANTAS’ A380s did its usual morning arrival into Melbourne Airport (YMMB). We were about to cancel the flight when the winds dropped and we realised there was a chance to go. We quickly set up, inflated and got the flight underway. While the passengers enjoyed a near perfect day for a flight, Davin & I played chase on the ground, trying to get ahead and be ready to help out when they landed.

While chasing balloons as ground crew, occasionally you get the chance to grab a great photo (like the one here). Usually, you see what could be a great photo but are too busy clearing the launch field or giving chase (or there’s no where to pull over and stop).

Today was one of those days where it sometimes just all comes together and you get a chance to take a good photo. Gotta love it.

Each day I crew in the Valley or in the city, I try to get a few good photos if time & effort permit. Today’s photos were few but, generally, good. Any good photos I manage to take while crewing wind up in my Best Of collection.

After crewing I dropped by Lilydale Airport to see if Dominique was flying at SkyDive Melbourne but not today. I then went over to the aeroclub to see if someone knew the pilot of “Grumpy” (a beautiful old Stinson L5B). Sure enough, they did – in fact, I got to meet Jeremy who was probably flying when I was out there the other day and got a great photo of “Grumpy” on short final.

Another great day in the valley. Blue skies, warm sun and lots of aviation related activities. Not bad for winter, eh? :)

The other morning I was crewing hot air balloons out in the Yarra Valley. It was very foggy so the drive out was “interesting” and we spent a couple of hours waiting for it to lift. While it was very thick horizontally, it was only about 150′ high so Ronnie (the pilot) thought it would burn off after sunrise.

We gave the passengers their breakfast while we waited (usually they eat after the flight) and it paid off as by 8am the fog was breaking up and sinking further into the valley. By 8:30 it was sufficiently dispersed to make for a great flight so we piled the passengers into the vehicles and went to the launch site. Today was very close – actually just across the road from the winery restaurant in a clear patch near some vines. Throw in a bunch of kangaroos coming over to investigate and the passengers were ecstatic.

 

As usual we were too busy getting the balloon inflated & launched then packing up and starting the chase for me to get any pictures, which was a shame as there were some spots I would have loved to have been able to pull over and take a few. We stopped in Yarra Glen to get a drink and I managed to get a couple of shots there.

The rest of the flight went well and we retrieved them from a dairy farm’s field. Fortunately no cows had been in the field for a while so there wasn’t much need to “mind where you step” :)

 

On the way home after cleaning, refueling and packing up, I noticed a small aircraft with an interesting colour scheme doing circuits at Lilydale airport (YLIL). Given the road I use goes right past the threshold of RWY36, I decided to stop and get some photos. So, do you think it was worth it? :)

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Jump aircraft about to land"][/caption]I’d seen “Grumpy” once before at the Lilydale Airport Airshow late last year so it was great to get a flying photo (especially one like this :).

While I was waiting for another circuit and photo opportunity, a Piper Warrior taxied out, did a run up and then entered the runway & took off. Not long after I watched a pair of parachutes land (looked like two tandem jumps) and, of course, a few minutes later their jump plane landed. By then “Grumpy” had finished flying and things were quiet, so I got in the car and headed home.

So, is Lilydale airport always this good around 1pm on a beautiful Friday afternoon or did I just pick the right 10 minutes to take a few photos? The sun wasn’t in a perfect spot for some of the photos, but it certainly seemed to be the right place, right time and right incentive to stop and watch a great aircraft – gotta love it!

I’ve uploaded the photos I took while crewing and the photos from Lilydale in my photo gallery.