PAC-750!

 A New Zealand Wonder?

The development of this aircraft has opened the aviation market up to this southern nation and now the type originally for New Zealand and Papua New-Guinea is operating also in Australia and Israel.

With a crew of two and nine passengers it has multiple roles, but in the parachute version it can cram seventeen people in and for other operations, it has a STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) capability making it very versatile?

There are at least two versions developed over the past twenty years the latter being up rated and able to handle in a better way than before, but both types are equally good aircraft and have both military and civilian usage and may the type continue perhaps with a two engine capability?

The motorized Sled.

 Huskies only for short Trips?

Today most of the northern peoples of the polar regions, Russia, Canada, the U.S. and Denmark, apart from Norway, Finland and Japan rely more on the speed now of the motorized sled than that of dogs, and they may still be used in a traditional way for short trips!

For some time the military of the above nations have also used various vehicles for operations in snow conditions and this now includes Australia and China and a few other countries with research also being undertaken in a fast moving vehicle that is now the subject of the green revolution and conversion to both electric power and bio fuels?

What does the future hold is perhaps more of a return to the husky and reindeer to cut down on pollution for civilian operations, but not so for the military and scientists, meanwhile space exploration will need to develop a platform for robotic sleds visiting the Ice moons of the gas giants in the near future?

Happy Christmas to All!

Father Christmas?

It has been discovered that Santa Claus travels by hypersonic sled and that the Russians now have the tech since Father Christmas felt that the U.S. President was not up to the job, thinking he was a good guy when he should know better?

He is on the way, each year starting in the Pacific region and the smog in Australia will not stop him, then on to Asia, far-east, middle-east, Africa, Europe, S-America and then the North before heading home for another year!

So wither you still believe in him or not, 'Here is a happy Christmas to one and all!

Container Shipping is Changing?

Framed Supported.

The problem with container shipping is that boxes can be lost in rough weather conditions and so a new framed structure system has been adapted to compensate for this. All vessels will have to be updated to this new design and many more vessels will now be on the market for sale?

The new ships will restrict size and capacity for the first time, this will be a sort of standardisation? These vessels will be the largest built and will remain in service until technology demands what is to come next?

Another reason is the demise of smaller container ships is China's plan to build railways networks across Asia, Russia in to the Europe and the U.K. via the channel tunnel.

Also into the Middle-East, Arabia and on into the African continent. It is not clear if they also want to build a tunnel from Eastern-Russia into Alaska and on down through N-America into S-America?

Rail would now dominate land routes and call for less need of shipping, being restricted to Australia, New Zealand, Pacific islands, and the Caribbean?

The Motorbike. Two.

Today?

The role of the motorbike is far from over today, as it was yesterday? It is now one of the fastest machines on the surface, with top quality racing at all levels and its just that we do not see enough of the sport on TV?

Motorbikes have been adapted for Paramedic work in Israel and the U.S.A., these are the first responders to various situations? Nearly every police and paramilitary force in the world uses the motorbike for traffic and escorting  duties because of their flexibility.

Italy, Japan, Brazil, India, Australia and Russia still make some serious top quality machines for civil and military use. Some nations have copied British and U.S. designs and successfully adapted them

Today's machines are either top end or mass produced and in many nations in the developing world, such as India they are used for every imaginable use? China has moved on to advanced technology in the first mass produced electric battery powered machines, in fact there is no end now to the use and viability of this machine and its other various components, such as the scooter, scrambler and motorcycle.

Even the military are still using motorbikes in the communications role, despite the Internet and many other advanced forms of communications, we may not but others are.

Land Rover. Part-One.

Landies.

The British Land Rover is one of the most prolific vehicles ever built, it has been exported world wide from its first conception as the Mark-1. The American Willey's Jeep was a great 4X4 in its own right, originating in 1927. 

But the British special forces needed an adaption to meet their own needs, there are in fact about a dozen takes on both the Jeep and the first Land Rovers that have seen widespread undercover service across the world.

Today the production of the long standing Defender has ended, but this is not the end of the Landie. Farmers, rangers, police, emergency services and many others will continue to use this vehicle for its tremendous capability. 

Exported to Australia and re-built as the 120, with a much longer chassis. Israel as the Dav'id APC and 87 other countries for various military roles.

Solar Powered Flight.

Not the first to Try.

This solar powered aircraft that is attempting a world flight record is far from the first, in fact there have been longer distance flights made between A and B/Z in the past. These aircraft failed to attract the publicity that this one has got, for various reasons that are not worth going into.

Some commercial airlines have added solar power cells to the roofs of aircraft to charge batteries with some success, but nothing more has happened since. Now that Australia has fashioned the first commercial possibility of a car for mass production I suppose an aircraft is the next target.

Japan was for a time the leader in solar powered said technology on general shipping and perhaps this stop over has really some connection with that factor?

Two Breakthroughs.

First possible commercial Solar powered Car.

Australia who is the leader in the field of Solar (Sun) powered vehicles have developed a vehicle which can now be mass produced and sold to the general public. Every invention has to start somewhere and this one has come out of forty years of continued development and research.

The Solar powered car will not be at a loss even here in the U.K., because it like an electric car can take a charge.

The second Breakthrough is the development of a Bionic suit that helps those who are not able to walk, walk. 

Some of the research from this has come from Space suit design, while the rest from connecting the human nervous system to a chip.

Construction Vehicles. Part-Two.

Specialised Machinery.

Millions is spent daily in the construction industry to improve the types of machines needed to do various jobs. Cranes and heavy earth movers are essential to get a building or bridge underway and up, but there are also underground drilling machines with equal power and inventiveness.

In between work people will a selection of conventional and fairly trusted machines from diggers to dump trucks. Germany and Japan along with the U.S and U.K are some of the leading producers of these machines, while Australia, Russo, Brazil and China have their own home grown equivalents.

The export of construction machinery is big business, because no matter where you are in the world you will need them at some point in the mining industry, recovery after natural disasters, wars and conflicts.

Sail Ships. Part-One.

Knowing the basics.

Living by the sea one see's loads of yachts and boats, including the odd sail ship. Over the years I have missed quite a few of them either in Swansea Bay, and the Bristol Channel and many other parts of the UK and Ireland.

There are a few films on classic yachts and some of them may be original trawlers, since the trawler started life in this part of the world anyway. Sail ship deign is strange enough still improving, but it was in the early 19th Century, that the Clipper came to its fore. Ships like the 'Cutty Sark, which has now been restored and is at Greenwich in London by the River Thames.

She was built in Dumbarton Scotland in 1869, weighing 921 tons and was 212 feet long. Her hey day was in carrying tea from China to the Port of London in 100 days and at a speed of about average 16 knots. 

The basic sail layout of these ships had developed from one main sail and a few smaller one to the three-four mast tall riggers. Ships like the Cutty Sark ended their days in the wool industry from Australia and the introduction of steam power and the opening of the Suez canal in Egypt.