New flying post.

In other news, I need a hug.

Found a great website about 3 squadron, RAAF. Full of great personal accounts of squadron members - a cracking read.

A QANTAS flight had to pull out of its landing at Sydney Airport tonight because another aircraft was on its runway.

Oohh!!

"A Perth man on Qantas flight 774 from Adelaide said the plane was in its final approach at Sydney Airport when it accelerated and climbed steeply.
"We were coming in to land," the passenger, who did not wish to be named, told AAP.
"The wheels were down in final approach and the plane then accelerated and rapidly climbed.
"We then went around the airport again."

Nevermind the fact that he repeats himself, a Perth man in seat 23A is not a credible witness. I mean I know he's got the technical lingo, like 'final approach' and 'wheels,' but having bought a Qantas ticket over the internet does not an aviation expert make.

"The pilot then came on the intercom and said ... `We've just been told by air traffic control there was another aircraft on the runway in which we were supposed to land.'"
The plane landed at 9.10pm (AEST), 10 minutes after its scheduled arrival time."

Oh no!!! Not 10 minutes late!!! Sorry, there must be a story here somewhere. I'm buggered if I know what it is, yet.

"The passenger said the plane was "getting pretty close" to the runway when it was ordered to go around."

Getting pretty close? I'm glad to see this guy is in possession of all the facts, here. If Dirk Dingbat from Fremantle, who can only see the drinks trolley, says they were pretty close, well, who am I to dispute it? Imagine how scared he would have been if he could actually see out the front.

"It's a bit of a problem if there's a plane on the tarmac when you're coming in," he said.

There's only one thing I can say to this - duurrrrr!!!! Of course there's a bloody problem. Can anyone guess the solution? Go around. What did the Captain do? Go around. No problem.

Do I need to sing the 'go around' song again? Look, a go around is not a big deal. It's not newsworthy. I can't count the number of go-arounds I've done, initiated by me, by my instructor and by the tower. There's all sorts of reasons for a go around, mostly due to the aircraft in front being a bit slow to exit the tarmac.

Whoop-de-doo, tarantula town. Another example of quality journalism by Australia's favourite bin liner.

I challenge you, to a duel, Sir!

The Rules of Duelling.

We meet on the heath at 5 sharp.

Meet a man who is dead inside. Vijay Kumar. If you've ever looked at your boss and wondered exactly what it was that made the cold-hearted bastard tick, here it is. Vijay, take a bow. I always thought recruiters were going to share the same pit of purgatory as tele-marketers, used-car salesmen and litigation lawyers, now I know for sure.

This link was provided by Pendles World Wide Weird. I think he's really hitting his stride as a blogger - hilarious. Kudos!

People say I'm not an animal lover. It's not true. I never met an animal I didn't like. Especially served with roast potatoes.

Water lifeline meets resistance.

I should preface this rant by telling you I was brought up in the Shoalhaven.

Sydney is in the grip of a water crisis due to the drought, so Bob Carr has come up with the master plan to sort it all out - steal someone elses water.

It's not like the drought snuck up on us, this has been an ongoing issue for a number of years. It is short-sightedness and lack of political will to spend the bucks and come up with a plan that has led us here, and it will be vision and determination that will get us out. Unfortunately Bob Carr has none of these latter qualities.

The centrepiece of the government's plan to alleviate Sydney's acute water shortage is to build two new pipelines to pump water from the Tallawa Dam in the Shoalhaven to the Avon Dam and Warragamba Dam. This will provide an extra 18% of capacity per annum to Sydney's existing reserves.

Great, this is exactly what Sydney needs - more water to squander. The implication, of course, is that while Sydney has 18% more capacity, the people of the Shoalhaven have potentially 100% less capacity once Sydney sticks the big bendy straw into Tallawa and sucks the bastard dry. Tallawa Dam is, at present, 31% full, while Warragamba is 39% full. The Shoalhaven has been under more severe water restrictions than Sydney has for a lot longer, and now we're going to take what little else they have for our own needs?

Not only that, but it ignores the larger issue of the environmental impact of sucking up the annual flood of the Shoalhaven River. When I was a kid, Tallawa wasn't built. Every year the Shoalhaven would flood and every few years there would be a monster flood that would break the banks, inundate the flood plan and put the Boatshed under water. All part of nature's cycle, etc. After Tallawa was built the annual flood could be controlled and the monster, state of emergency floods became a thing of the past. I think the last big one was 1991.

Here's the thing - after the dam was built, the fish started disappearing. The river was dying because without the flood it would silt up, nutrients from upstream didn't arrive and the salt content rose dramatically. The paper mill, feed mill, etc, didn't help by adding their pollutants which had nowhere to go now but hang around in the river. The local authorities eventually worked out what was happening and released fresh water from the dam periodically to help keep the balance. Now the river is reasonably healthy again.

This will all be a thing of the past once the pipeline takes away the rivers lifeblood again.

My point is this - increasing available capacity won't solve a damn thing, pardon the pun. what happens in 10-20 years when that extra capacity is exhausted? Sydney has to start using the water is has more efficiently and effectively. Sydneysiders need to learn that water is a precious commodity, not something that runs endlessly from the nearest tap and costs $1 per thousand litres. I'm real sorry, but maybe it should cost two or three times that much. People need to accept that we live in a country that can't afford massive, lush, green lawns. My next door neighbour needs to wake up and realise that the concrete footpath doesn't need to be watered every day.

Not only that, but Sydney Water needs to start replacing some of its leaky old iron pipes that have been around since before the harbour bridge was built. We live on the coast, so salt water is plentiful, we have abundant sunshine and plenty of onshore winds, so alternative energy sources to run desalinisation plants are viable.

Of course, the plan won't go ahead if "the Shoalhaven's rainfall ...(decreases)... due to climate change, and the pipeline will not be built until 2009." To that statement I say - Bollocks. The Shoalhaven's rainfall has been falling for a number of years and I don't think it will make one drop of difference to the government's plan. By the time it's too late, it will be someone elses problem and in someone elses back garden.

Alan Jones. The Muhammad Ali of 2UE. I love hearing these media talking heads behaving like prima donnas and making dicks of themselves.

Alan Jones. The John McEnroe of 2UE.

Is your computer plugged in? That is very common mistake.

This guy is my hero.

Geddit!! Hero!!!!

I exercised my democratic right yesterday and voted. Lot's of people say that one vote can't make a difference - and when you live in as safe a Labor seat as Grayndler, they're right. I could have voted for Mickey Mouse ten times over and not made a difference.

The thing that irritated me about the Labor party this election was that their how-to-vote card suggested I give a preference to the Socialist Alliance and the Liberal party above the Democrats and the Greens. What kind of drugs are they on that makes them think I actually want to see the Communist Party member elected?

Yes, you say, but the Cold War is over. The Commun...err Socialist Alliance are lovable, cuddly freedom fighters who only care about your best interests. And just because the Second World War is over do you think I'd be voting for the Nazi Party?

Nyet, Kamerad.

Modern politics is all about image.

Politicians recreate themselves depending on who they are talking to.

To see Mark Man Boobs Latham with a new yeah-yeah hairstyle.

Or John Lying Rodent Howard click here.