Dichotomous Temperature
As I lie on my bed tonight at 0002 and look at the temperature reading 23 degrees, I can't help but feel a twinge of longing for the bundle of clothing that I would otherwise be wearing, were I home in Canada. The Internet tells me that it is currently -24 degrees at Red Deer airport and all the news that I follow is saying that Environment Canada is predicting the coldest winter in 13 years.Those who know me well would know that I'm honest in my longing for frigidity, and I would gladly trade the last couple of week's worth of 30 degree scorchers for the comfort of my insulated coveralls. Alas, the glass of 2005 Ridells Creek shiraz in the late afternoon heat today did help to cool off my heat-frazzled nerves, as it hit 33 degrees in Melbourne at 1524 today. Thank goodness there isn't much humidity, and thank doubly-goodness that my new place has air conditioning. I think it is interesting that Australia would be one of the few places where the hardy could build a house without a heater, but where the hardy would rather choose a cooling device. We have evaporative cooling in the house, which is an interesting take on cooling... There's no refrigeration, just a unit that evaporates water to steal heat from the air. You have to keep windows open to allow the highly humidified air out, else you face a wet and sticky house. But, it is more energy efficient than a compressor driven air conditioning system that we are all used to and that so few of us need in Canada.
The flies are a bit nuts, comparatively, this year. There have been a few wind storms so far this summer, which bring not only the heat from the Outback, but also the flies. There's nothing quite like them in Canada, but to have a small idea, replace all the mosquitoes buzzing about in early evening during a wet summer with buzzing black flies and that would be pretty close. There are mozzies, but much smaller in the typically drier parts of Australia, like Victoria. But flies, flies, flies... whewpf. The Australian salute is like a swiping swat meant to tackle a fly. Beware the bloody flies mate. However, they are better than mozzies... they go to bed at sundown, they don't bite, and they don't carry malaria. All hail the Australian fly.
Speaking of flying, I tried to go yesterday, but the winds were from the north and furious. Gusting over 25 knots and hitting 38 knots aloft. That's not weather for an ultralight to grace the air, and it didn't cease all day. There's a nifty new Texan on the line at FlySports... it's an updated model with counterbalances on its already light pitch controls, a sliding manual trim system, the beautiful bubble canopy, and a Dynon EFIS D100 instrument package.
The EFIS (electronic flight information system) is a non-certified system (in GA airplanes) for flight information. The D100 is multifunction capable, giving everything in one 7 inch panel: attitude, altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, directional gyro, set headings, waypoints, drift, winds aloft, etc. It's marvellous. The only clue that you aren't working with a normal, albeit extraordinary, EFIS panel is the lack of gyro whine when you turn it on.
There are no gyros in it. It's all solid state sensors: 3 solid-state magnetometers on mutually perpendicular axes, 3 solid-state (huh?) accelerometers on mutually perpendicular axes, pitot static and dynamic air sources. It didn't occur to me until I'd finished the flight that the odd thing about it was the lack of instrument noise before I started up.
The instrument reads direction just like a directional gyro, but once you calibrate it on the ground to the compass and input the variation, the instrument maintains that setting, doesn't precess like gyro instruments do, and only needs to be re-set on a scheduled instrument maintenance schedule. After power failure, the instrument can do a full reset and give attitude information within 2 seconds of turning on. It maintains a backup battery that will last 1.5 to 2 hours following full power loss even so. Wow! This type of solid-state technology is surely the future of GA and commercial avionics.
It demands precision though... there's no slop like pressure-driven analog instruments have. What a trip.
Good night! Glad I finally found something at least a bit interesting to write to you about. Thanks for tuning in.
Oh, if you have never watched Stargate SG-1, do. Now.
posted by Kyle @ 06:01
3 Comments:
yes it has been a bit frigid here lately but at least the wind is not with us right now. It was nasty when it was blowing!Just to get you drooling again... The squadron is purchasing a flight simulator. Check out mydreamflyer.com Amazing piece of equipment!
Cheers
Ed
That dream flyer ed is talking about looks like fun, but it's made for really small people. Check out the specs direct from the website
Pitch: +/- 15 degrees
Roll: +/- 15 degrees
Load: 250 lbs
Width: 3"
Length: 5"
Height: 3" (at seat base)
Weight: 120 lbs
Total Footprint: 3’ x 5’
Sounds like your having fun pal I wish there was a texan here for us too fly alas we'll have to settle for the cherokee or the 150 when you get home. Oh yeah one more thing check out our new homebuilt project when were rich. www.legendaircraft.net
Kyle Kyle Kyle...you know Melbourne. It hasn't even warmed up yet. The Oz weather gurus predict Jan & Feb will be cookers with temps in the mid 40's for days on end. That's sunny Oz! Don't worry pay back time will be in winter here when it hits a "freezing" 12 - 15 degrees. I will be rugged up and you will be wearing shorts and tshirt around the house. Hmmm...let the ducted heating battle lines be drawn. LOL. Your Oz Flatmate. PS: Not sure if I would survive a Canadian winter. I am suffering when the temp bottoms out at 10 deg.
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