FlyingFortress

Don't be silly MM Get a fisherman to move. You're having a Giraffe

Must say I did find it a bit odd to be the lead story on Look East last night. Must be a slow news day.

In the case of collision avoidance aviation lagged well behind shipping. I was very surprised to learn that until the introduction of TCAS there was no system on aircraft to facilitate collision avoidance. Radar was and very much still is primarily a weather avoidance tool for aircraft, whereas for shipping it is a collision avoidance and navigation tool and has been since it's introduction. Automated plotting has been around since I started going to sea in the late 70's. Aircraft can of course fly at different heights and outside of controlled airspace there are protocols to minimise having aircraft at the same height.

Also outside of busy areas around busy airports it is rare to see another aircraft. Mid air collisions are remarkably rare thankfully. It's a big sky.

Blooming horrendous wasn't it.

The oceans are big. Look at AF 477 and the time it took to find that cause. And how incredibly lucky they were to find the FDR

Well I did watch this tonight and it has not changed anything about my initial thoughts on it tragic as they may be. Some clarification. When the aircraft changed from Malaysia ATC to Vietnam ATC they would have been monitoring secondary radar. Secondary radar is computer overlaid with information such as vector, height, speed and more importantly flight identity. When the military radar picked up the flight they would be operating on primary radar which is just blips on a screen. They do not go beep BTW. Why they did not scramble military aircraft to intercept an Intruder I don't know. The track of MH 370 was detected by some brilliant analysis of data by a British firm INMARSAT who tracked the data being exchanged by the RR engines with RR head office and made some incredible mathematical calculations as to where the engines actually we're. Big brother or what? So in the end . If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, chances are.....

Well I did watch this tonight and it did not change my initial thoughts on it.I hasten to add that being out of aviation for a long time now I have no insider knowledge. When I was involved there was always some insider knowledge that sometimes did not make it into the public domain.

I hasten to add that being out of aviation for a long time now I have no insider knowledge. When I was involved there was always some insider knowledge that sometimes did not make it into the public domain.

Would have to refresh myself with the case and I will watch the C5 program. IIRC there is a suspicion that the radios were deliberately disabled. Or certainly not responded to. It is an intriguing case. I will watch and maybe get back to you. I am basing my knowledge on many hundreds of hours as an aircraft pilot plus a commercial qualification. But a deeper knowledge of worldwide communications with ships.

Simply radio range. There are many areas of the world where planes are out of ground contact. Yes you can physically make a phone call but that is not something that is constant communication.

Scraping them off more like.

Due to open May bank holiday 2021

Been shut for over a year now. AFAIK still shut.

Not if you are unconscious Not advocating the compulsory wearing of LJs BTW. Everyone is responsible for their own safety.

What sort of boat are you going to get for£4000

It's really difficult at the moment. I have a friend in the same position as you. Cash ready and wants a boat. Trouble is any decent quality boats are commanding a premium price. All I can say is good luck and if you see anything that takes your fancy. Move quickly.

Could get the V12 and can get the V8 into single figures quite easily. The figures I was quoting were total average straight from the trip computer. Like I said don't go on unrestricted roads so never had a chance to go nutty for extended periods.

Think my V8 is restricted to 155 but as never taken it to Germany have never had the opportunity. The V8 is a downsize . I lost 4 cylinders and 1.1 LTRs of displacement. Economy is now around 28ish to the gallon as opposed to around 20ish for the big un . Although 6 gears now as opposed to 3. Neither car turbo/ super charged. Don't understand these new fangled ltr per 100kms measurements as we don't measure distance in Kms here in the UK even though it's been many years since we bought fuel in gallons Boat 40 hp Lister Which regularly gave 3 weeks cruising North and South and never got below half a tank so around 100ltrs used. Lower when hot weather , higher when cold due to more use of the Diesel heating. 4 mph at 900rpm and 1300 at 6 mph. Never thought it was a slouch doing 8 mph across Breydon maxed out at 1950rpm obviously restricted. Slack water. I just hope my decision to replace it with a Nanni does not come and bite me in the bum as my last boat had a Nanni and was nowhere near as economical.

The actual boat was in the Broads a few years back.

Blimey 2 whole weeks. That's some fuel economy. Bit like my V8 car. Boat does a LOT more.

Don't know about unique as I don't know how many ships called Antares I have been on. Maybe different flags. Nameculture can be quite funny. One company I worked for simply numbered their ships. ie Gulf Fleet 1 all the way to Gulf Fleet 104. I was on 17,53 and 102 A company that owns bulk carriers had a series of ships called Titan followed by a planet. Titan Mars, Titan Saturn etc and yes there was a Titan Uranus 🤣 Some regular visitors on The Thames had some strange names. Mini Me, Tequila, Triple A and so on. When I asked about the strange names the captain told me the owners daughter used to name the ships and it really depended on what particular chemical she was Imbibing as to what name came out. One Swedish captain thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen when a ship passed called Britannia Beaver and this from a captain who worked for a company that had a ship called Mammary I kid you not.

Now sold. Thanks everyone. Suppose I need to get used to French and agricultural. As I have said before. My hobbies are Slow boats and fast cars. Hence French boat engines. And British cars

Whereas a fisherman will have a red face over a white jumper. And my nose is red at the moment because I have been out in the sun. Without my white cap 🤣

Or I could have used another analogy. Just like my car's. Fast sleek and stylish = British Slow and agricultural French will do. The slow and agricultural one is American actually but I think you get my drift.