You can be walking in the woods and then a Lynx will pop up from behind the trees - a great helicopter. I had family working on the project at Westlands in the very early seventies. They saw one crash when the folding tail connection failed (both crew survived) I had another family connection based at Westlands a number of years and attended some air shows at RNAS Yeovilton. The Lynx has retired .... but the new super Lynx (now Wildcat) lives on. I suspect you do not want one of them hunting you down in the woods ;0)
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"" Pilot's watches "" in the 1983 music video for "Wings Of A Dove" by Madness
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Here's a shot taken at KBUR after this week's flight lesson. It was a warm day ... 30degC (86degF) so we flew over the busy metropolis with the doors off: very exciting!

The speck in the sky (under the rotor blade) is an L.A. County Sheriff's Dept helicopter that was practising an all-the-way-to-the-ground autorotation.

 

Adding rotor category to my certificate is on the list. Right now I work too much to have time. By the time I have the time, I'll probably be out of money lol

Hard to find a place to train in helicopters in the great lakes area. The two or three places I know of are prohibitively expensive for dual. Like $575-650/hr in an R44. To me that's just unacceptable.

I'd be willing to spend $250 or so for dual in an R22 or even a 300C. Hell, I'd really like to learn a Bell 47 so I got really good at flying without a governor. But those are almost impossible to find training in.

 

I think everyone was shocked how in the modern age a passenger aircraft could vanish (MH370). Pilot suicide and mass murder sadly seems the most likely cause from all known data. It looks like they might be onto a better track with - WSPR tracking technology to find MH370.

So simple / I had not heard of this concept. Given the new cold war footing we are entering I wonder if this also has implications for military operations?

With regards to MH370 hopefully the new information will move things forward for the families / the do fund a further search.

Simple guide to revolutionary MH370 tracking technology - Airline Ratings

British aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey has published a simple explanation to the most commonly asked questions about his revolutionary WSPR tracking technology of MH370.

On November 30 last year Mr. Godfrey identified a far more precise crash position for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean.

According to Richard Godfrey MH370 impacted the ocean 1,933km due west of Perth at 33.177°S 95.300°E and lies at a depth of 4,000m in a very mountainous area with deep ravines and a volcano.

The location is in the zone where the University of WA Head of Oceanography Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi claims MH370 is located.

Here is Mr. Godfrey’s simple guide.

1. Does WSPR work with regard to detecting and tracking aircraft?

WSPR can be used to detect and track aircraft and detect spacecraft or rocket launches or even volcano eruptions. It is possible to use WSPR at any time, where there are good radio transmission conditions. This is what is often called good space weather.

An example is the tracking of a Qantas flight QF64 from South Africa to Australia:

Another example is the detection of a SpaceX launch:

Another example is the detection of a volcano:

2. Are WSPR transmissions limited by noise levels to short distances?

There are currently around 3 million WSPR transmission signals sent, received, and recorded in the WSPRnet database each day. Around 500,000 transmissions each day are over a distance of 3,000 km or more. WSPR signals are frequently recorded propagating over distances up to 20,000 km. This is limited by the WSPRnet data recording technology to halfway around the globe, but in actual fact is longer than 20,000 km in some cases.

You can download the data here

Transmission power ranges from 0 dBm (0.001 Watts) to 60 dBm (1,000 Watts) and is typically 30 dBm (1 Watt). To give you a comparison, CISCO found in a 2018 study that IOS devices like the iPhone usually transmit between 9 dBm (0.008 Watts) and 14 dBm (0.025 Watts). The SNR of the WSPR signals received after having propagated over 3,000 km ranges from +29 dB to – 44 dB and are typically -19 dB. At transmission power levels of 10 Watt (corresponding to 10 kW of radar transmission power) as well as at times when the Solar Flux Index (SFI) is greater than 120 you can easily see aircraft detections and track aircraft over thousands of kilometers.

Fortunately, the 11-year-long solar cycle 24 was close to its peak in early March 2014 during the flight of MH370 with a high Sun Spot Number (SSN) and SFI of 145.

There is also excellent land and sea clutter suppression if the target speed is higher than 25 knots due to almost Continuous Wave (CW) operation.

3. Is it possible to use secondary WSPR data from the WSPRnet historic database?

Primary WSPR signals will contain more information than secondary WSPR data recorded in the WSPRnet historic database. Many primary WSPR signals do not make it into the secondary historic database.

The WSPR receiver takes 110.484 seconds to receive the 162 symbols in the WSPR protocol. In the remaining 9.516 seconds of the 120 second cycle time, the signals are processed. During the 2 minute interval, you will usually see the SNR is constantly varying unless it is an unusually stable signal. Not only the signal level but other parameters such as the signal frequency change, due to multi-path signals or angular scattering by the target aircraft.

During the 2 minute time interval, we have different SNRs and different frequencies and the database just shows an average. Any SNR anomaly is based on the average SNR over the 2-minute cycle. Any drift anomaly is based on the average frequency drift over the 2-minute cycle. The frequency drift has almost nothing in common with the frequency changes in the sub-signals within the main signal. The average drift rate is just an indication that something is going on within the time interval. Signals with a drift greater than ± 4 Hz/minute will not make it into the historic database.

Conclusion
Detecting and tracking aircraft is possible using WSPR technology. In particular detection and tracking of flight MH370 in March 2014 is possible because of the WSPRnet historic database. The HF ionospheric propagation conditions were at a peak in March 2014 and provide the best possible space weather for optimum usage of WSPR technology.

We will publish subsequent papers, posts, or comments with further analysis as appropriate. A patent application has also been submitted.

The alignment of WSPR historic data, with Boeing performance data, Inmarsat satellite data, and the Oceanographic drift analysis of the MH370 floating debris all point to a crash location at 33.177°S 95.300°E.

 

Topical.

Sad for the people with shares in the leasing companies.

 

The fall out from this action will be mind blowing and has just wiped billions of dollars from the balance sheets of all lessors. Insurance companies will go bankrupt over this as it falls onto them to stump up the cost of the loss.

All OEMs have refused support to Russian based aircraft and airlines regardless of who owns them. The Russian CAA has stepped in and said they will now be the authority to replace the OEM which is hilarious, so for example, I have a repair to perform on my A320 outside of the SRM guidelines (Structural repair manual), normally I send a request to Airbus to issue me an approved drawing so I can repair the aircraft. The same applies for modification of every system on the aircraft Now the local authority with zero experience will issue these drawings.

Every aircraft in Russia after the 28th March will never see service again with an operator outside Russia and I can see EASA and FAA banning specific serial numbers entering international airspace due to non compliance.

We were just on the road to recovery after taking it up the ass from Corona and now this......

 

The other side of the coin is that they will be used as bargaining chips to do a tit for tat relaxation of sanctions.

Problem is, many of them are registered in Bermuda (a "convenient" port of registration).
This only complicates the issue between players either trying to retrieve their assets or seek compensation.

As to the Russian CAA assuming oversight.....

 

Most are registered in Bermuda or Ireland to circumvent import taxes in Russia which is about 40% of list price. The lessors like this too as changing registration from these flags to another is so much easier.

I can see a mass de registration of at least the Irish registered tin because EASA no longer supports the operators so therefore the aircraft and not EASA compliant.

 

A shot taken after my most recent training flight out of KBUR. We changed over to a different R-22 that had just come back from a mandatory 2,200 hr major overhaul. It was like flying a brand new aircraft, even the seats had been re-upholstered.

 

It ought to be for $170k overhaul!

Robinsons are ridiculous

 

Student trainer

There's a reason for that .

 

I am at the wrong end of this industry. We pay $170k for 180 pax seats (second hand) for an A320. We pay $500k for a landing gear overhaul, $1 million for a 12 year check and about $4-6 million for an engine overhaul. I have eight scheduled engine overhauls coming up this year. How anyone makes money flying these days unless its cargo is beyond me.

 

There's the magic words hehe...

 

$15 per kilo right now and people are begging to pay it. I have a big fan 747 engine to move from Asia to Europe and received a quote of $250k !! Normally I bitch if they ask $45k… hilarious part is our group operate 14 747F’s and we can’t find a spot to squeeze it into until May… maybe

 

I haven't been home more than a day in two weeks on the road doing AOG work. These operators are scrambling to find techs to keep their fleet green...and that means my bank account stays green.

I wish I could help you move that engine, but I don't know any freight dogs not based in the US.

 

We have a B1, B2 and mechanic on every flight plus a belly full of MEL spares to prevent AOGs as we are squeezing 450 hours per month production out of 30+ year old 747s.

The shortage of good tech guys who can really trouble shoot and solve snags is all the airlines fault. They train us to be the best in the business and then want to pay us less than a guy fitting windows into your house, its no wonder great people have left the industry for better pay and conditions. A buddy of mine was let go by a Danish ACMI operation, he was one of those guys who would run his hand over it with his eyes closed and solve the snag. He is now working in a big Pharma company in Copenhagen on double the money with no intentions of ever coming back.

The solution I am considering for my PW4056 is to split it into major modules and belly freight it over and rebuild it on this side. I will save about $100k this way and six weeks.

My other issue is I bought two RR Trent 772s for the A330 in the USA, bloody things are 9500kg each and need a special permit to be transported by road as I discovered last week when I tried to move them from Arizona to Texas for storage. They will stay there until rates correct themselves.

Its good to see the freight dogs do well for a change and not be fighting over scraps like pre Covid. I always found cargo operators to pay more to the tech guys and treat them better than the self loading freight airlines like Ryanair.

 

@Twocats @64Wing
I wish I could find it again, but I saw a funny meme on Facebook the other day on just this topic:
"Cargo plane full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong = pilot job security"

 

Is this a real bulk delivery?
Or did half the fleet fly out to welcome the new addition?