Waiting for my pal
'Mike Fogarty (C8) first saw colour TV in San Diego in 1967,' notes Mike Honey of Wentworth Falls. 'This would have been broadcast in NTSC (National Television Standards Committee), a system developed in America in the 1940s. Fortunately, when colour was introduced to Australia in the 1970s, the PAL (Phase Alternate Lines) system was chosen instead, producing a much higher quality colour image. When American shows had to be broadcast here, however, a PAL copy sadly did nothing to enhance the poor picture quality. Many of us who worked in the television industry at that time would claim, therefore, that NTSC actually stood for 'Never The Same Colour'.'
'Since the introduction of colour television in Australia, we have, in fact, become more black and white,' reckons Rob McPaul of Thirroul. 'Where are the canary yellow and lime green cars? Likewise, with houses, red brick has given way to shades of grey and painted houses are shades of white. With this loss of colour in our environment, have we benefited from colour television? What do other C8-ers think?'
'Regarding colour in the world and children as thinkers, I recall taking a group of year 9 students from the city to a dairy farm near Bathurst,' writes Lis Alarab of Hornsby. 'The farmer was explaining the different breeds of cattle and pointing them out to the students when one kid very seriously asked: 'So, which cows produce the chocolate milk?''
'I recently passed an old, dark-fronted microwave getting a second chance at life doubling as a mailbox,' says Viv Munter of Tumbi Umbi. 'It got me thinking about other creative mailbox ideas. Perhaps fellow C8-ers can share?'
Roderick van Gelder of Hunters Hill flicks the switch: 'At this point I am happy to pay more for appliances with zero 'smart' features (C8) and just physical knobs, buttons and controls for everything.'
'Your recent items on products from the 1950s and earlier (C8) stirred in my memory stuff called Dr Thar's Ointment,' says Lindsay Cook of Castle Hill. 'It came in a round tin and seemed to be applied by my mother to many childhood injuries. I had no idea what was in it, or whether it really did any good. I understood at the time that it was a 'drawing ointment', whatever that is. However, Dr Google indicates that the current version is an antiseptic and is still available. Wonders never cease.'
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Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
What survivors of commercial plane crashes have in common – and only some of it is luck
'Miracle girl' Bahia Bakari, the sole survivor of doomed Yemenia Flight 626, notably survived its 2009 crash into the Indian Ocean by clinging to a piece of aircraft wreckage, something she was able to do because she happened to have been ejected from the Airbus A310 as it crashed. The four survivors of Japan Airlines Flight 123, which killed 520 people after crashing into Mount Osutaka in August 1985, were all seated in the last seven rows of the aircraft. That happened to be the only part that remained intact after impact. Which part of the plane that remains intact in the event of a crash – and if you're in it – may be luck of the draw, but in the case of Japan Airlines Flight 516, a major factor in the survival of all 379 occupants after it collided with a Coast Guard plane at Haneda Airport was its efficient evacuation process. American journalist Amanda Ripley's extensive disaster reporting helped Time win more than one award – and it also formed a strong basis for her book The Unthinkable: Who survives when disaster strikes – and why. What Ripley had discovered over the years was how much understanding behavioural psychology was crucial to the survival of humans when disaster strikes, and how much it's been overlooked. Fight, flight, freeze or fawn – if your body knows instinctively what to do, Ripley argues, then it may be able to cut through in times of extreme distress. 'The brain loves body memory,' writes Ripley, who highlights the efficacy of 'dress rehearsals' of fires in house and workplace survival rates. 'It is much better to stop, drop, and roll than to talk about stopping, dropping, and rolling.' Loading In an unfamiliar and somewhat temporary environment like a commercial plane, conducting a disaster drill as a passenger is easier said than done. But Ripley highlights how making a habit of counting the rows between your seat and the nearest emergency exit on every plane you board – should you need to rely on senses other than sight – is essential. Crew, after all, are given a 90-second time limit to evacuate all passengers before flames, and smoke, become fatal for those inside the plane, some of whom may be trapped by their own paralysing fear, or others who are clogging the aisle trying to retrieve their belongings in shock. Not one of Japan Airlines Flight 516's occupants exited with hand luggage. Which is the safest seat on a commercial flight? There is no magic seat that protects individual passengers; however, there is some data to show that there are safer and less safe seats in the event of a crash. Incomplete data from the American Federal Aviation Administration between 1985 and 2000 was analysed by Time, which found that sitting in the back of a plane was generally safer, fulfilling the urban myth that first-class passengers face the brunt of a crash's impact. Middle seats have also been found to have the lowest fatality rate, though there are questions of situational advantage, as in some crashes having an aisle seat can mean a quicker evacuation. It should be noted, however, that not all crash data reports seat numbers against passenger fatalities, so a complete analysis is difficult to perform. Is there a way to tell if an airline is at higher risk of a crash? Despite 2025 being one of the deadliest years on record for civil aviation, commercial aircraft accidents are still considered extremely rare today. Of course, some airlines and countries have a worse record than others, and there are several resources flyers can use. Qantas, recently voted the world's second-safest airline for 2025 on behind Air New Zealand, has never had a fatal jet airline accident. Air India didn't make top 25 list when it was released earlier this year, and currently has an air safety star rating of just four stars out of seven, factoring Friday's mass fatalities. Loading At the time of writing, Air India also does not feature among the banned carriers on the European Union Air Safety List (ASL) – an internationally recognised and frequently updated list of air carriers from non-EU nations banned from operating to, in and from the EU due to not meeting necessary international safety standards. The list was last updated on June 3, before the crash took place. Both the reviews and the ASL can be used as reference guides for flyers. The ASL is a particularly good resource for anyone considering using a foreign carrier for the first time, according to RMIT University aerospace engineering and aviation expert Chrystal Zhang. 'It's definitely one of the very reliable resources for anyone who wants to check the [carrier's] safety performance and capability of the government [to manage] safety performance,' said Zhang. 'It is one of the purposes they developed that list.' The banned or partially banned airlines are determined based on information gathered by aviation safety experts from all the EU member states and the European Commission, including assessment of both the individual airline and its associated governing authorities. 'They would determine whether the carriers have valid, appropriate safety management systems in place to satisfy the EU's requirements … then they would check the capability of the government agency – in [the Yeti Airlines] case the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal – to establish to what extent they're capable of overseeing the overall management system of their aviation sector,' said Zhang. While Australia doesn't have an equivalent ban list in place, the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulates who gets an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) to operate safely in Australia. 'This means any Australian airline will be safe,' said University of Sydney aviation expert Professor Rico Merkert. 'Foreign carriers are not permitted to fly into Australian airspace until they receive a Foreign Aircraft Air Operator's Certificate (CASA). As such, I feel in safe hands.' Which airlines are the safest? Air New Zealand is ranked the safest on with Qantas following in an 'extremely close' second place. According to the group, rankings are based on a number of categories, including the number of serious incidents in the last two years, fleet size and age, fatalities, and pilot skills and training. Loading Airlines are balanced in their ranking to ensure that proportionality is considered. 'An airline operating only 100 aircraft experiencing three incidents raises greater concern than an airline with 800 aircraft experiencing six incidents,' said the group. 'Another critical factor is how incidents are managed. While incidents occur daily across the aviation industry, the expertise of pilots and crew often determines whether an event remains an incident or escalates into a tragedy.' The group also said that incidents are sometimes the fault of the plane manufacturer, rather than the airline, and that is taken into consideration. Air India Flight 171 marks the first hull loss for a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner since the type of aircraft began operating in 2011.
The Age
a day ago
- The Age
What survivors of commercial plane crashes have in common – and only some of it is luck
'Miracle girl' Bahia Bakari, the sole survivor of doomed Yemenia Flight 626, notably survived its 2009 crash into the Indian Ocean by clinging to a piece of aircraft wreckage, something she was able to do because she happened to have been ejected from the Airbus A310 as it crashed. The four survivors of Japan Airlines Flight 123, which killed 520 people after crashing into Mount Osutaka in August 1985, were all seated in the last seven rows of the aircraft. That happened to be the only part that remained intact after impact. Which part of the plane that remains intact in the event of a crash – and if you're in it – may be luck of the draw, but in the case of Japan Airlines Flight 516, a major factor in the survival of all 379 occupants after it collided with a Coast Guard plane at Haneda Airport was its efficient evacuation process. American journalist Amanda Ripley's extensive disaster reporting helped Time win more than one award – and it also formed a strong basis for her book The Unthinkable: Who survives when disaster strikes – and why. What Ripley had discovered over the years was how much understanding behavioural psychology was crucial to the survival of humans when disaster strikes, and how much it's been overlooked. Fight, flight, freeze or fawn – if your body knows instinctively what to do, Ripley argues, then it may be able to cut through in times of extreme distress. 'The brain loves body memory,' writes Ripley, who highlights the efficacy of 'dress rehearsals' of fires in house and workplace survival rates. 'It is much better to stop, drop, and roll than to talk about stopping, dropping, and rolling.' Loading In an unfamiliar and somewhat temporary environment like a commercial plane, conducting a disaster drill as a passenger is easier said than done. But Ripley highlights how making a habit of counting the rows between your seat and the nearest emergency exit on every plane you board – should you need to rely on senses other than sight – is essential. Crew, after all, are given a 90-second time limit to evacuate all passengers before flames, and smoke, become fatal for those inside the plane, some of whom may be trapped by their own paralysing fear, or others who are clogging the aisle trying to retrieve their belongings in shock. Not one of Japan Airlines Flight 516's occupants exited with hand luggage. Which is the safest seat on a commercial flight? There is no magic seat that protects individual passengers; however, there is some data to show that there are safer and less safe seats in the event of a crash. Incomplete data from the American Federal Aviation Administration between 1985 and 2000 was analysed by Time, which found that sitting in the back of a plane was generally safer, fulfilling the urban myth that first-class passengers face the brunt of a crash's impact. Middle seats have also been found to have the lowest fatality rate, though there are questions of situational advantage, as in some crashes having an aisle seat can mean a quicker evacuation. It should be noted, however, that not all crash data reports seat numbers against passenger fatalities, so a complete analysis is difficult to perform. Is there a way to tell if an airline is at higher risk of a crash? Despite 2025 being one of the deadliest years on record for civil aviation, commercial aircraft accidents are still considered extremely rare today. Of course, some airlines and countries have a worse record than others, and there are several resources flyers can use. Qantas, recently voted the world's second-safest airline for 2025 on behind Air New Zealand, has never had a fatal jet airline accident. Air India didn't make top 25 list when it was released earlier this year, and currently has an air safety star rating of just four stars out of seven, factoring Friday's mass fatalities. Loading At the time of writing, Air India also does not feature among the banned carriers on the European Union Air Safety List (ASL) – an internationally recognised and frequently updated list of air carriers from non-EU nations banned from operating to, in and from the EU due to not meeting necessary international safety standards. The list was last updated on June 3, before the crash took place. Both the reviews and the ASL can be used as reference guides for flyers. The ASL is a particularly good resource for anyone considering using a foreign carrier for the first time, according to RMIT University aerospace engineering and aviation expert Chrystal Zhang. 'It's definitely one of the very reliable resources for anyone who wants to check the [carrier's] safety performance and capability of the government [to manage] safety performance,' said Zhang. 'It is one of the purposes they developed that list.' The banned or partially banned airlines are determined based on information gathered by aviation safety experts from all the EU member states and the European Commission, including assessment of both the individual airline and its associated governing authorities. 'They would determine whether the carriers have valid, appropriate safety management systems in place to satisfy the EU's requirements … then they would check the capability of the government agency – in [the Yeti Airlines] case the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal – to establish to what extent they're capable of overseeing the overall management system of their aviation sector,' said Zhang. While Australia doesn't have an equivalent ban list in place, the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulates who gets an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) to operate safely in Australia. 'This means any Australian airline will be safe,' said University of Sydney aviation expert Professor Rico Merkert. 'Foreign carriers are not permitted to fly into Australian airspace until they receive a Foreign Aircraft Air Operator's Certificate (CASA). As such, I feel in safe hands.' Which airlines are the safest? Air New Zealand is ranked the safest on with Qantas following in an 'extremely close' second place. According to the group, rankings are based on a number of categories, including the number of serious incidents in the last two years, fleet size and age, fatalities, and pilot skills and training. Loading Airlines are balanced in their ranking to ensure that proportionality is considered. 'An airline operating only 100 aircraft experiencing three incidents raises greater concern than an airline with 800 aircraft experiencing six incidents,' said the group. 'Another critical factor is how incidents are managed. While incidents occur daily across the aviation industry, the expertise of pilots and crew often determines whether an event remains an incident or escalates into a tragedy.' The group also said that incidents are sometimes the fault of the plane manufacturer, rather than the airline, and that is taken into consideration. Air India Flight 171 marks the first hull loss for a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner since the type of aircraft began operating in 2011.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Sky News AU
Air India Flight 171 survivor tells family he is 'fine' after aircraft crashes moments after takeoff in Indian city of Ahmedabad
The British man who survived a fiery plane crash in India that claimed the lives of 241 other passengers has told family he is "fine" and suffered only minor injuries. Air India Flight 171 had departed from an Ahmedabad airport in the country's west bound for London's Gatwick Airport on Thursday but slammed into a hostel for doctors. Verified footage showed the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner slowly descending about 10 seconds after lifting from the runway before it hit buildings and exploded into flames. Air India on Friday morning confirmed 241 of the 242 passengers and crew were killed. The sole survivor has been named as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, a British-Indian national who was assigned seat 11A, according to officials and media on the ground. The Hindustan Times said the survivor is receiving treatment in hospital. "Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly," Mr Ramesh told the outlet from hospital. 'When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. "There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.' Unverified footage showed him walking away from the site of the crash helped by locals. The BBC also spoke to his relative Ajay Valgi in the city of Leicester, about two-hours north-west of London, who said he called to say he was "fine". Mr Ramesh had been travelling with his brother. He is among those killed. Former FAA safety inspector David Soucie told CNN he was surprised to hear there was any survivors, particularly if he was seated in 11A. "(The seat) is right where the spar of the wing would go under and it would be a solid place for the aircraft to hit the ground, but as far as survivability above it," he said. Air India confirmed there were 230 passengers and 12 crew on board, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian, and seven Portuguese nationals. The death toll has reportedly climbed to at least 290 people dead. Dozens of other people on the ground including residents and those inside the BJ Medical College and Hospital are among those killed, a health official said. About 50 to 60 medical students inside at the time have been taken to hospital. A senior police official said 269 bodies had arrived at the main hospital so far. According to aviation tracker Flightradar24, Air India Flight 171 departed just after 1.30pm (local time) and reached an altitude of 625 feet before it crashed. The National Transport Safety Board said a team of US investigators will be flown over to India to support local authorities to find the exact cause of the incident. British Air Accidents Investigation Branch has also offered its assistance. This is a developing story. More to come.
