Great Engineering Quotes

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A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
– Douglas Adams –

“The road to success is always under construction”
Get it right….CIVIL ENGINEERS
A bridge is built for us to pass over; it is a work of utility, and which should endure. It should be in keeping with its object, solid, clean, simple, well executed without vain ornament.
– Paul Sejourne –

Aeroplanes are not designed by science, but by art in spite of some pretence and humbug to the contrary. I do not mean to suggest that engineering can do without science, on the contrary, it stands on scientific foundations, but there is a big gap between scientific research and the engineering product which has to be bridged by the art of the engineer.
– Walter G Vincenti –

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G500H – Colour and Movement

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Using sophisticated computer modeling to recreate a virtual topographic landscape from the system’s terrain alerting database, HSVT gives you a clear depiction of ground and water features, airports, obstacles, traffic and more — all shown in 3-D perspective on the primary flight display. Garmin’s HSVT graphics look so real, it’s almost like having a clear-day “out-the-window” view of your flight situation — even in the darkest nighttime VFR or other low-visibility conditions.

Proven AHRS attitude/heading reference delivers high-precision spatial sensing for the G500H digital instrumentation — replacing old-style gyros and the benefits of greater situational awareness are yours.

Augusta Westland AW139 Night Vision Compatibility

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AW139, currently, from off the top of my head, there are about 10 in the country, 3 with EMQ (Emergency Management Queensland) and a couple based at CHC YSBK  with the Air Ambulance and the rest are either on mines or doing offshore rigs.

These aircraft are pricey, however you do get a pretty premium package if you can see past some of the minor issues they have had in the past. The one thing I do love about these machines is the really modern, up to date cockpit and avionics, although I would feel a bit more at ease knowing there was a mechanical instrument in there somewhere 🙂 Even the poor old standby attitude indicator is an electronic display!

Nonetheless, making these aircraft NVG compatible is pretty easy, they are more or less pretty well compatible outta the factory, excluding a few non compliant items and all the local mods its pretty well ready to.

Staggerwing Vs Chipmunk

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Beechcraft Staggerwing

The Model 17’s unusual negative stagger wing configuration (the upper wing staggered behind the lower) and unique shape maximized pilot visibility while minimizing the tendency to stall. The fabric-covered fuselage  was faired with wood formers and stringers  over a welded, steel tube frame. Construction was complex and took many man-hours to complete. The Staggerwing’s retractable conventional landing gear, uncommon at that time, combined with streamlining, light weight, and powerful radial engines helped it perform significantly better than other biplane designs.

In the mid-1930s, Beech began a major redesign of the aircraft, to create the Model D17 Staggerwing. The D17 featured a lengthened fuselage that improved the aircraft’s landing characteristics by increasing the leverage generated by the elevator. They relocated the Ailerons to the upper wings, eliminating any interference with the air flow over the flaps. Braking was improved with a foot-operated brake synchronized to the rudder pedals. These modifications enhanced the Staggerwing’s performance, which was soon put to the test under wartime conditions.

Dehavilland Chipmunk

The Chipmunk was designed to succeed the de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane trainer that was widely used during the Second World War. Wsiewolod Jakimiuk, a Polish prewar engineer, created the first indigenous design of the aircraft at de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. It is an all-metal, low wing, tandem two-place, single engine aircraft with a conventional tail wheel landing gear and fabric-covered control surfaces. The wing is also fabric-covered aft of the spar. A clear perspex canopy covers the pilot/student (front) and instructor/passenger (rear) positions. CF-DIO-X, the Chipmunk prototype, flew for the first time at Downsview, Toronto on 22 May 1946 with Pat Fillingham, test pilot from the parent de Havilland company, at the controls[1]. The production version of the airplane was powered by a 145 hp (108 kW) in-line de Havilland Gipsy Major 8 engine while the prototype was powered by a 145 hp (108 kW) de Havilland Gipsy Major 1C.

The Model 17’s unusual negative stagger wing configuration (the upper wing staggered behind the lower) and unique shape maximized pilot visibility while minimizing the tendency to stall. The fabric-covered fuselage was faired with wood formers and stringers over a welded, steel tube frame. Construction was complex and took many man-hours to complete. The Staggerwing’s retractable conventional landing gear, uncommon at that time, combined with streamlining, light weight, and powerful radial engines helped it perform significantly better than other biplane designs.

In the mid-1930s, Beech began a major redesign of the aircraft, to create the Model D17 Staggerwing. The D17 featured a lengthened fuselage that improved the aircraft’s landing characteristics by increasing the leverage generated by the elevator. They relocated the Ailerons to the upper wings, eliminating any interference with the air flow over the flaps. Braking was improved with a foot-operated brake synchronized to the rudder pedals. These modifications enhanced the Staggerwing’s performance, which was soon put to the test under wartime conditions.

SLSA (Southern Region)

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VH-SLA, quite a famous aircraft in our books – for more reasons than one too!

dsc_3823Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) BK117, one of the great EMS helicopters used in Australia, similiar to the Bolkow (BO105) which is used fairly extensively in the UK? The BK117 is a real workhorse great for modding for EMS, plenty of space, can easily accommodate two stretchers and avioncs upgrads are quick feasible. NVG is a serious option on these aircraft, there is an increasing number of BK117’s in Aus getting fitted out with NVIS/NVG compatible lighting systems.

Temora Aviation Museum – Sabre 1st Public Flight

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Temora has a rich and noteworthy aviation history having been home to the No. 10 Elementary Flying Training School (10 EFTS) set up by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in May 1941. No 10 EFTS was the largest and longest lived of the flying schools established under the Empire Air Training Scheme during World War Two (WWII).

Throughout WWII more than 10,000 personnel were involved at the school with upwards of 2,400 pilots being trained. At its peak the unit contained a total of 97 de Havilland Tiger Moth aircraft. Four satellite airfields were set up around the Temora district to cope with the demand to train RAAF pilots.

Twin Pioneer – Scottish built taildragger…can it get any worse :)

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dsc_4890-test1.jpg This has to come pretty close to the ugliest plane I have seen at our airport! The light blue paint job certainly did not do it any favours! This big bad boy is a twin engine (LEONIDES 531/8, whatever the hell those are! 9-cylinder supercharged aircooled radial piston engine – 550 odd HP) taildragger, another strike against it! I feel sorry for the pax, talk about a vertigo trip and you have not even lifted the tail! It feels like your climbing everest when trying to get to the cockpit!

Nonetheless we should concentrate on its good points…top speed? 145kts, well thats pretty good considering the size of the wings and the fuse, on that note you could probably land it in a footy field with those flaps and slats 🙂 This one i think was built around 1958, there were also military models, this may explain the tri-tail configuration to help against enemy fire – I think damage tolerance had a different meaning back then 🙂

What else we got? the cabin is very roomy with plenty of emergency egress exits – all in the roof?! reminds me a little of the Shorts skyvan, come to think of it, thats gotta be the ugliest aircraft ever built and still flying. So, Twin Pioneer you off the hook here, the second ugliest plane on the airport (note the skyvan has a real uncarriage setup:) )

dsc_4883_1.jpg An interesting note about this particular aircraft, on the left had side of the fuse (internal) there is a whole stack of hand scrawled notes/calculations, maybe the flight engineer ran out of paper?! Imagine that, mid-transit and heres your flight engineer calculating landing distances based on weight etc on the fuselage skin, that would be a sight.

Head on over to the gallery for a full series of pictures on this ugly duckling – a few of some great british engineering with chains, hydraulics and the like!