Cycling UK Forum

Typing this on a Nexus 7. It's a very nice tablet which runs Android. Downloads programmes from BBC iPlayer before you leave home to watch where you have no WiFi. If you have WiFi then watch Netflixs or other services. I haven't used it touring on a bike but I really like it. Much cheaper than an iPad mini with more memory.

I tried and failed one evening about 5 years ago. I had read that if you were going to the "Pub" then they would let you in. Sadly I was told it had closed a few years ealier and was not allowed access.

I regularly fly alongside enroute to London City Airport and the explosive facilities are easily visible. The island is a danger area extending upto 35,000', though I have never seen anything go off!

Hi,

I instructed to the old CAA PPL syllabus in th elate 90's and spins were not taught to PPL's then. The main drive was to recognise when you were getting close to the stall and recover then. If you don't stall, you cannot spin.

As part of the course to qualify as an instructor you had to learn how to recover from spins.

As far as airline pilots recovering from stalls, it's been taught on every conversion course I hae done (4). The emphasis has until Air France, been on minimum height loss. More recently it has been on getting airspeed back and accepting some height loss.

The Air France scenario was an unusual one. In normal circumstances what the pilot did might have been ok because of all the software protections in that aircraft. However, those protections were lost when the airspeed became unreliable due to icing conditions.

Use Facebook, great for keeping touch with old school friends and workmates.

Use twitter, but more of a lurker than poster. Work in aviation so like your example of following Gatwick - I follow the two main airports I fly into and also Eurocontrol control the skies over europe. I also follow some celebrities who I am interested in.

All you get from the logger in use is hing blue light to show it is on and a flashing red to show it is logging.

This is a Strava download

http://app.strava.com/activities/44745488

This is a ride with GPS download of same route.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1182471?pr ... uFA39aPk3m

You can also use it to geotag photographs.

I use an I-gotU geotagger.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/car-and-sat-nav ... eo-taggers

I had the £39.99 one first but upgraded to the GT-600 at £59.99.

All they do is log where you have been. There is no navigation capability but the GT-600 will run for ages before filling up / running out of charge.

You download the data onto your computer and can then manipulate it as you see it.

I use it for DIY AUDAX and am very satisfied with it - can't affors / justify a Garmin yet.

Well I have looked the barometric altimeters on the plane and compared them with the GPS altitude we can access.

On the ground at London City Airport, I got the following readings over 2 fifteen minute periods on separate days.

GPS 21 22 24 22 24 25
BARO 26 22 39 40 39

The official atitude of the airport is 19 feet above mean sea level. While differences in altitudes are small, if I looked at changes of GPS altitude I would have climbed 3 feet in 15 minutes with the plane absolutley stationary.

In flight, at low level, the barometric altimeter showed 6000, the GPS varied between 5847 and 5850. This was within 15 miles of the airport and for the difference to be related to a change in the barometric pressure, the change would have been 5 millibars. A pressure change of 5 millibars in 15 miles would be Hurricane conditions.

At higher levels we set a standard pressure setting on our altimeters of 1013.2 millibar. This saves us having to reset them every 50 miles (every 8 minutes or so) and we are high enough that terrain clearance is not an issue.

At 36,000 on our altimeter, the GPS went from 35328 to 35390 in the space of 3 minutes, or 20 miles. The difference barometric and GPS altitudes is not that important, but for the GPS to alter 70' in 3 minutes would seem to me that GPS altitudes aren't very good / accurate / reliable.

Altimeters used in aeroplanes are very sensitive equipment. As pilots we do rely on them in all phases of flights. Radio altimeters are available below 2500 feet above the ground, but except in very foggy conditions, all terrain clearance is msde using our barometric altimeters.

At airfields, the "sea level" is constantly measured and relayed to pilots. A change of 1 millibar / hectopascal will require us to reset our altimeters. Earlier this week, in blustery conditions, at London City, the pressure on engine start was 1000mbar, then 1001mbar on taxi out and then 1000 mbar when we took off.

There are two main altimeters on an airliner and at sea level the allowed difference is 75 feet (never seen in practice), and at 40,000', the allowed difference is 200 feet. It is not unusual to see a 100' difference at this altitude.

GPS altitude is available on our aircraft, but it is not readily available, and is definately used operationally. GPS was not in my opinion designed to measure altitude. When next flying, I will check GPS atitude vs barometric altitude at various stages and report back.

I've been doing since 2005 and have managed to get about 75 so far.

When I started I lived in the midlands and it got me out and about there. I now live in scotland and it has got me to see a lot more of the country, with still many more to see.

It is going to get a bit trickier as the places to visit will be too far to visit on a day trip, but here are still about 20 within easy reach.

I take pictures of where I go, which came in handy when I used the wrong statue on the promenade in Rothesay!

You don't need to visit all the places in a county to send the card off.

I grew up on the other side of Wentwood from Usk. I haven't cycled in the area for over twenty years. The traffic may have changed, but the hills won't.

Looking on Getamap, route 42 goes Usk to Pen Y Cae Mawr - about 5 miles say. The first 3 follow the flood plain and are flat and then about 2 miles of steady increasing drag till the last 1/2 to 1 mile which is very steep.

The route then goes around the northern edge of Wentwood to Earlswood - rolling I would say.

Earlswood to Shirenewton to Mounton is predominantly downhill - I usually did it in the opposite direction and that way was definately mainly uphill.

Mounton to Chepstow has a stiff climb.

I think if was to do it I would go on the B4235 Usk to Llangwm - not very hilly and then a long steady drag upto Gaerllwyd and then turn off to get onto the route 42.

Route 42 will be very quite country lanes but the climb upto Pen Y Caer Mawr / Wentwood is really hard - I think it should have double chevrons on the map.

Hope this helps - takes me back to all the cycling I did in my youth.

Titanium does suffer from poor machinability.

From what I remember, it is not so much that it is very "tough", but that it a poor conductor of heat.

When using machine tools - lathes, milling machines etc a lot of heat builds up which is removed with cutting fluid.

With Ti the heat removal is poor and you can get the tool "welding" to the workpiece - this will lead to a poor surface finish.

Regarding the Forth Road Bridge, I think it is dry air they are blowing in, to stop further corrosion. There is a big project going on to assess the condition of the cables where they anchored in huge concrete blocks.

If you cross the river Usk at Newport on the Transporter Bridge then you stay with your bike as the "transporter" moves you across the river.

Some pictures of happy times in the Zurich area. I often get to spend a morning free before flying off to work. Lovely scenery, climate and good cycle networks.

I cycled over the Erskine bridge twice on Monday 13 June.

First time was about 1030 , going from south to north and I had to use the western cycle track as the other side was closed.

Coming back at about 1530, going north to south I had to use the eastern cycle track as the west side was closed.

I don't fly a Saab 340, but used to fly a Jetsream 41 aircraft which is very similar. In 18 months of operation, only once did we have a scenario where the hold was completely full.

It was just after Christmas and all seats were sold, everybody with lots of luggage and presents. We carried a car seat in the flight deck - no space in the hold.

Over the next nine years, I have never run out of space in aircraft holds - they are quite big, so standby for your bike would probably be not too much of a risk.