[Kharon]

Napoleon Bonaparte in Paris 

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Lost – perhaps in translation.

This, from Wiki rang a bell. As the ‘third’ is one of my all time favourites, I followed up. Oh, the parallels – “I was the first to tell him the news that Buonaparte had declared himself Emperor, whereupon he broke into a rage and exclaimed, "So he is no more than a common mortal! Now, too, he will tread under foot all the rights of Man, indulge only his ambition; now he will think himself superior to all men, become a tyrant!" Beethoven went to the table, seized the top of the title-page, tore it in half and threw it on the floor. The page had to be recopied, and it was only now that the symphony received the title Sinfonia eroica.”

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“To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.” ― Ludwig van Beethoven

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The end of January approaches, Amen. Often called ‘the month of the dead’ in the land of the long weekend, for nothing of any value has occurred since the last week of December; the weather is hot, steamy and generally horrible, which is fine - if you don’t have to work or try to get ‘stuff’ done. The end of January also heralds the approach of Estimates, in February, which means a new supply of midnight oil for the houseboat. For ‘us’ January is the month of research, February is the month of consolidation and condensation. There are, literally, hundreds of pages of data in raggedy piles, covered in scrawl, post-it notes (coffee, pizza and beer aside), miles of e-mail responses; heaps of opinion and analysis to sort; a shed load of ‘legal’ to decipher; and, no less than three decades of ‘submissions’ to various aviation related inquiry to consider. Yes, it is a lot (a significant plenty) - but there it sits. Why you may reasonably ask.

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Beware the man in the red tie   



Beware the man with the big ears

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Rather than ramble on, for the serious student I shall provide just one, solitary link. Fair warning, there are some 37 pages to digest – however; the first dozen or so may be skipped past as they are the written Questions on Notice (QoN) and are repeated as part of the intriguing answers. The questions, standing alone, are incisive; IMO the answers are incredibly revealing.

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At the end of an hour, spent with the demi god Beethoven’s #3 playing in the background, you will probably only have one question to ask – WTD has changed? The answer is short and non too sweet – Sod all is what. Carmody may be a slightly more polished McCormick, the intent better covered, smooth as silk. The only difference is he manages to tell the Senators, the Rev Forsyth and Dick Smith (bless) to bugger off; but, Oh so politely.

Anyway – P2 is coming to the end of his stint digging in the garden and hauling old bones into the kitchen; we still need some answers from ICAO and a FOI response from the FAA; but that aside, we should be able to distil the contents of the cauldron in to a short, succinct briefing – although who the hell we’ll send it to has me beaten. No matter, the wise owls will have a plan – and mine is not to reason why eh? Thirsty, dusty, dirty work though, this diggin’. Aye well.

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Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.― William Shakespeare, Macbeth

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I am impressed with the patience and forbearance of the ATR manufacturer; and, Virgin do seem to be wrecking a lot of their product. The ATSB up to their collective necks in smoothing it all over, CASA in denial of any and all interference in the way turbo prop aircraft should be operated.

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Tail bending tales at VA -

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But what a lovely job for an aging airman – training the very young to operate such a terrific, tough aircraft; even as a line captain – the rewards of seeing a young pup grow into a ‘proper’ pilot would be a fitting end. Bit like the ‘Eroica’ from about 42minutes into the recording – (which is where I am now) – I shall pause, close my eyes and just listen, until the end. What an exit line; what a mind – Wow, you can almost imagine the ‘brass’ getting the string section ‘airborne’ and flying them about the room: now I do, decidedly digress. Mea culpa.

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We’ve not much to offer in the way of light entertainment this Sunday – unless you find the HVH PR gambits, through the auspices of Thomas as amusing as we all do. The crew had a field day last BRB, some of the ‘take offs’ were hilarious; one chap who may not be named – wearing a lampshade -  had the crowd rolling about the floor. You can fool the politician all the time, that’s a fact, you can bamboozle the press most of the time, that’s a given. Busy folk trying to get on in the world may or may not; as pleases ‘em take note for about two minutes – but after that – it’s only the ‘industry’ which pays close attention. Very close attention indeed. In hindsight – I should have recorded the ‘Windswept’ BRB session – Monty Python eat your heart out – Hood would not ever dare show his face, silly little courage wrist strap or his ‘Hi-Viz’ vest in a public place again. I wonder?  Does he know, exactly, what his industry peers think of him? The real experts, those with a life invested in air accident investigation.

A fool, a fool, I met a fool i' th' forest,
A motley fool. A miserable world!
As I do live by food, I met a fool,
Who laid him down and basked him in the sun
And railed on Lady Fortune in good terms,
In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.
“Good morrow, fool,” quoth I. “No, sir,” quoth he,
“Call me not ‘fool’ till heaven hath sent me fortune.” - Shakespeare 'As you like it'.

Even so; there are some good catches this week – AMROBA and the inestimable Ken Cannane for one. Even the good Rev Forsyth speaks out; and, Dick Smith (bless) borrows the good Rev’s drum for the encore.

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“Australia has quite a lot of unique regulations, unnecessarily so,” Mr Forsyth

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Mr Smith characterised Mr Carmody’s letter as “to say, in effect, get lost”.

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Can so many small threads all form an inescapable net around the ‘beast’ from the Sleepy Hollow swamp? We must hope so children; indeed, we must hope very hard and help when and wherever we can.

Enough! – I have two tea chests full of off cuts saved from ‘exotic’, old, valuable timber used in other jobs. The ancient Grandfather clock needs some repair of rare timber parts – if I can find some small pieces – I will have to match grain and colour very carefully otherwise it will look as though as I have just glued a patch in and made it fit. That may well be acceptable, in some circles; but not in mine – I must own and abide with my own errors. Joinery is usually done in 3/4 time - perhaps some Burl Ives - Aye; peace reigns.

“Away, to me dogs" -



but be swift; for we have a mans work to do this day – Hallelujah.

Selah.