Why I Write.
Why I Write. To try and describe why I write in a “Short Thoughts” post seems counterintuitive. There are so many reasons, and a few hundred words seem at odds with providing adequate reasoning. However, I shall endeavour to make some sense of it all. …
San Francisco. A Second Home?
San Francisco. A Second Home? Only a sliver of moon was reflecting the sun’s rays and soon that glow would also slip away into the night. There was just enough light to see the cloud tops a few thousand feet below as we peered out …
ANZAC Day. Surrounded by Service.
ANZAC Day. Surrounded by Service. Another ANZAC Day has passed. The alarm stirred me at 2:45am as our son was in the Catafalque Party, standing guard for the Dawn Service. Then there was a march through city streets and another cenotaph and another service. As …
Forays into Film.
Forays into Film. As they say, blink and you’ll miss it. That is the best way to describe my film credit in the National Geographic IMAX production, “Living in the Age of Airplanes”. The movie was a massive undertaking by Brian Terwilliger of “One Six …
Risk.
Risk. I recently took a ride in a “Waymo” in San Francisco. What’s a Waymo? Well, a Waymo is like an Uber…..but without a driver. I was keen to see the new technology at work, particularly as it navigated the busy streets of the bay …
More than a Model.
More than a Model. It still holds pride of place in a display cabinet, more than half a century later. It is a tiny model of a Hawker Hurricane – nothing special to look at – but there hasn’t been a cabinet large enough ever …
Happy 100th, Dad.
Happy 100th, Dad. Dad was never a fan of cricket, so the concept of reaching a century would certainly been alien to him. And yet, today would have marked 100 years since he was born into a farming life on Queensland’s Darling Downs. Little did …
First Solo – 44 Years On.
First Solo – 44 Years On. Through planning or good fortune, I have generally flown on the anniversary of that first flight. On the 25th anniversary, I organised to fly a light aircraft in Queensland where I was on holidays. 40 years on, and …
Flight – Technology, Safety and Humanity
(Image: Simon Coates) Flight -Technology, Safety and Humanity. There is no disputing the enhancements in safety that technology has brought to aviation. One only has to consider the advent of Ground Proximity Warning Systems (GPWS) to appreciate the number of lives potentially saved by technology. …
What a Night!
What a Night! It was a clear night, albeit moonless. The air was smooth, even near the equator, as we wound our way southward from Vancouver to Sydney. I have spent many hours aloft by night but this night was something different. Whether it was …
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