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241

General Discussion Area / Re: Trolley Dollies

« on: 05 August 2022, 16:11:25 »

Cocoa shunters never heard that before !

Can't claim credit for it myself. Many years ago I bought a copy of Viz magazine. Included in it was a copy of Roger's Profanisaurus.

https://archive.org/stream/RogersProfanisaurusPreviouslyKnownAsSwearyMarysDictionaryOfFilth/Roger%27s%20Profanisaurus%20previously%20known%20as%20Sweary%20Mary%27s%20Dictionary%20of%20Filth_djvu.txt

242

General Discussion Area / Re: Trolley Dollies

« on: 05 August 2022, 12:17:14 »

So, as in my experience, and male trolley dolly equivalents set off my gaydar, is Dr Gollum trying to tell us something....?

AIUI there are two sorts of male trolley dollies. Serial shaggers and cocoa shunters. AFAIK I've never met DG and I hate to make assumptions.

243

Omega General Help / Re: Front caliper mounting bolt size

« on: 05 August 2022, 09:44:22 »

Update - having searched the forum I've found the answer is M12x40mm.

State of underpants... Still questionable.

Most of these sort of bolts are "metric fine" thread on Vauxhalls. That's not the normal thread, and you'll be lucky if your local bolt shop carries them.

244

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 05 August 2022, 09:40:24 »

Will have to see what, if anything, type training says on the subject of windows...

I know that they can be shut in hot climates between flights to help regulate cabin temps,

Possibly something done on early evening flights to accelerate the night time for eastbound flights

One of my fondest flying memories thus far, was being able to look down from L5 on the 747 as we turned over New Yoik to head down the coast to Miami on a clear December night. Everything was visible from the Statue of Liberty and WTC. Even Central Park was clear to see

There weren't any hard pull down/up blinds at all on this B787 - which was American Airlines. Just these photochromatic windows. There was an up/down switch below them which was supposed to increase and decrease the windows opacity, but they had been turned off by the crew so they could control them all from the front. Yes it was an overnight flight, and yes that was the reason given. But if it's dark outside anyway.

245

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 05 August 2022, 09:33:23 »

Climbing out of Sydney's Kingsford Smith airport bound for Auckland I had a fantastic and unexpected view of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House from my right hand window seat as the plane banked around. 

Sorry no idea what type of plane it was.   

Yes, depending on weather you can 'do' Australia on the flight. Inbound over Alice Springs so you can tick off Ayers Rock/Uluru and on approach to SYD you can see the Harbor bridge and Opera House. Hardly worth getting off the plane and risking the spiders, snakes, sharks and killer Koalas.

246

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 04 August 2022, 20:29:02 »

The BA 777 was configured for a standard landing, which relies on thrust to maintain the airspeed. Even with slightly reduced flaps, it touched down at around 100knots, instead of the normal 135kts, with an impact of 2.9g once the main gear dug in, having been un powered from 700ft. Had it landed 1,000ft further on, then it would have been a relatively normal roll out.

Conversly the Air Transat A330 that 'ran out' of fuel mid cruise, had enough altitude to glide 75miles and touch down at 200knts, significantly faster than normal. Whilst it didn't rip the gear of, it did severely damage it and and the airframe.

Altitude buys time. And time creates options and opportunities.

Also, the 777 is a 'traditional' airframe, as is the Airbus, heavily utilising aluminium composites for the skin

By contrast, the 787 is a spun carbon fibre composite and a very different beast. And having been about as far away as you are from your screen from the framing of several aircraft, the Dreamliner is an F1 car being compared to a truck when stacked up against the older aircraft.
The 777 was a technological game changer in 1994 when it came to operating and control systems, but not the fundamental design. 

I'm actively avoiding B787 flights. Had one from Chicago to LHR. I like a window seat, so I can look out at the airfields below. However, the B787 has photochromatic windows rather than ordinary pull down blinds. The cabin crew can and do force the windows to 'blackout' and the passenger cannot override it. Therefore even if you do get a window seat, you can't actually see out. Useless. B777 and A330/380 for me every time. Not flown A350 yet.

247

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 04 August 2022, 00:13:42 »

I would counter that by stating that the B767 first flight was 1981.  A320 was 1987. B777 was 1994. B777 is a much newer design than B767 using composites. B767 is an old style aluminium plane - (which is one reason why Boeing chose it for KC-46). Not difficult to believe a B767 and B777 will break up in different ways.

Hopefully a B777 will behave much more like an A320 than a B767 in a crash. The only way to find out for sure if it's possible to land a B777 on water without it breaking up is to try it. No-one is going to do that - even remote controlled. 

Yes the miracle on the Hudson was on flat water. The area where MAS370 is believed to have gone down also had relatively benign weather that day. However, since we don't know exactly where that was it's impossible to know the sea state with any accuracy.

Landing speed of a B777 is 135kts/155MPH. Landing speed for an A320 is 140-150kts.  Providing there is a pilot in control, and he configures the plane for a wheels up landing, there is no reason to think speed would be very much different.

Altitude is irrelavent as long as there is a pilot in control. The plane may well glide like a brick, but the hydraulics still work with both engines switched off, so the pilot can control the descent and choose where to land (crash!). Deadstick landings have been completed many times - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

Most of the damage on the BA B777 was caused by the wheels ripping through the wings and fusealge. If the wheels weren't down that would not have happened (not suggesting they shouldn't have lowered the gear). The fuselage was basically intact - barring the damage from the wheels. If that had happened on water, almost all the airframe would sink to the bottom. Only the lighter than water parts that did break off would be found.

AIUI the Air France aircraft was 'flying' in a roughly 45 degrees nose up attitude, all the way from FL370 down to (almost) FL000. A fighter jet has enough engine power to maintain altitude in this attitude. An airliner doesn't. The flight control computer stopped the aircraft stalling, but the pilot was trying to pull the nose 'up' almost all the way to impact.

Anyway - need to go to bed - gotta get up early tomorrow to go see 12 F-22A's :-)

248

General Discussion Area / Re: Vettel’s successor?

« on: 03 August 2022, 13:00:28 »

So rumour now is Alonso to Aston, Ricciardo to Alpine, and Piastri to Mclaren.

Piastri and Norris sounds like a good team to me if they can work together. Ricciardo and Ocon at Alpine - meh. If Ocon outdrives Ricciardo in the first few races next season he'll be toast. I still don't understand why Alonso has gone to Aston though. 

Ricciardo may be on the way out but there are several others I'd ditch before him. Latifi is forever crashing and causing safety cars. Stroll just isn't good enough and wouldn't be there if it weren't for daddy. Not convinced about Schumacher either with KMag regularly beating him. I'll give Zhou another year to convince me, but it's worrying that Bottas is outclassing him.

249

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 03 August 2022, 11:32:48 »

OK then, where is it?

In one piece, at the bottom of the Indian ocean somewhere.

250

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 02 August 2022, 22:44:03 »

I believe Air France actually tail dived into the oggin, but that's nit-pickey and yes agree on all the basic conclusions.

Except dismantling at Diego Garcia (or Guam or any similar place). Zero chance that happened IMV. Every govt and commercial satellite operator was looking for evidence of what happened within hours of it being reported missing, and places like those were (and are) well covered. None of those places have hangars large enough to hide a B777.

Look at GE for Diego Garcia. Those 4 hangars on the south end ramp are B-2 'peanut' hangars like the one at RAF Fairford. A B-2 is less than 70 feet long with a 172 feet span. A B777 is nearly 210 feet long with a similar wing span. No way is a B777 fitting into any of those hangars.

Ignoring for a moment who owns the satellites

Close to a dozen countries own sovereign spy satellites, and there are dozens of privately operated ones too. The nutters good people over at Dreamland Resort regularly book spy satellites to take pictures of Area51 hoping to catch something/anything out in the open. Of course the USAF know the satellites are coming, so they hide anything really secret, but civil B737's are still regularly seen there.

However, there is nowhere to hide something the size of a B777 at Diego Garcia, and no chance that Russia, China, and probably India aren't keeping a 24/7 eye on what is going on there. If you really believe the UK, USA, Russia, China and India and others are in on some conspiracy to hide what really happened to a Malaysian aircraft, then I'm afraid there is no helping you.

251

General Discussion Area / Re: north sea gas

« on: 02 August 2022, 22:29:52 »

The UK produces less than 1% of the world's gas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural_gas_production

Gas is sold on international markets. Supply and demand are the only things that affect the price. The problem at the moment is that Russia produces 15 times as much as the UK, and that gas cannot be sourced easily elsewhere. So cutting Russia off causes a supply shortage, and that forces prices up. Even if the UK could double it's gas production overnight, it would have no measurable effect on world gas prices. And hence no measurable effect on UK gas prices.

The idea that the gas that comes out of the North Sea is "UK Gas" reserved exclusively for the UK use is false. It's owned by Shell/BP/Amaco/Exxon/Whoever, and they sell it to the UK at the world market rate. The only way to ensure UK Gas for UK use at a price acceptable to UK consumers would be to nationalise the north sea companies. No one is seriously suggesting that.

252

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 02 August 2022, 21:20:10 »

Oh - and - The "Miracle on the Hudson" did show it is possible to land a modern airliner (ok it was an A320 not a Boeing) on water and keep the aircraft basically in one piece. That airframe is now in a museum in Charlotte North Carolina.

If the plane basically "lands" in one piece on water, in the middle of the Indian ocean, then it'll sink in one piece and finding more than a few fragments that break off during the landing
will be verging on impossible. Sure some bits will break off during the landing, but then again, some bits have been found in Madagascar and the East coast of Africa.

253

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 02 August 2022, 20:59:55 »

I believe Air France actually tail dived into the oggin, but that's nit-pickey and yes agree on all the basic conclusions.

Except dismantling at Diego Garcia (or Guam or any similar place). Zero chance that happened IMV. Every govt and commercial satellite operator was looking for evidence of what happened within hours of it being reported missing, and places like those were (and are) well covered. None of those places have hangars large enough to hide a B777.

Look at GE for Diego Garcia. Those 4 hangars on the south end ramp are B-2 'peanut' hangars like the one at RAF Fairford. A B-2 is less than 70 feet long with a 172 feet span. A B777 is nearly 210 feet long with a similar wing span. No way is a B777 fitting into any of those hangars.

254

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 02 August 2022, 18:33:20 »

Does anyone know what has come of investigations into the cargo manifest of missing airliner MH370 which apparently included 200 units of lithium ion batteries, as a 'consolidated consignment' weighing a total of 2453kg, which MAY have contributed to whatever overcame the passengers and crew?

In yet another recent documentry, this factor in the mix of possible answers was repeated by an avaition 'expert'.

Whilst no-one with any sense can say it's impossible, it is vanishingly unlikely.

The basic facts are No mayday call, no attempt to descend if lack of oxygen was becoming an issue, several changes of flight direction (but no change in flight level) so it flew along the boundaries of various countries airspace thus defeating normal civil radar control principles of who was in ATC control. Flight data (from satellites) lasting 8 hours.

What possible method is there for a plane to continue flying for 8 hours if the only 'fault' with it is that something in the hold is on fire? The plane will either disintegrate in the air leaving wreckage everywhere, or it'll depressurise (but stay together) due to a melted hole in the skin. If it depressurises at FL350, then everyone will be dead in a few minutes unless the plane descends to below FL150 quickly. It didn't.

Even if both flight deck crew somehow become incapacitated, there is a way for cabin crew to gain access to the (locked) cockpit. A cockpit crew, if conscious, can prevent cabin crew gaining access. If the passengers were aware of what was going on, one of them would have used a mobile phone to try and raise the alarm - just like on 9/11.

IMV one pilot and all the passengers & cabin crew were dead (from hypoxia) shortly after the non-existent hand over to Vietnam. One of the cockpit crew had been locked out by the other one. The remaining cockpit crew then flew the plane off into oblivion.

The only remaining questions are which pilot, and why.

255

General Discussion Area / Re: What happens to Lithium Fires on planes...

« on: 02 August 2022, 14:17:37 »

I carry on a camera bag, containing 3 cameras each with their own 1800mAh battery, and typically 6 spare batteries. They're nominally 7.2V. That's about 16Ah , or 120Kw of lithium waiting to go up in smoke. They're all in the same bag, so if one goes up it'll take the others with it shortly thereafter.

IATA says this : https://www.iata.org/contentassets/6fea26dd84d24b26a7a1fd5788561d6e/passenger-lithium-battery.pdf

Looks like IATA allows you to carry up to 20 separate batteries in hand luggage.