Author Archives: Richard de Crespigny

Back Story – QF32 page 355 – Peter Ford

21 February, 2013 · by · in Back Stories, News · Leave a comment

Peter Ford is a life long friend. I’ve known Peter since his days as a reporter for an Australian news channel, through to his time as one of the first CNN anchors when Ted Turner cruised the corridors. Peter’s specialty was then everything that it is now – high tech including the Iraq War Mark […]

Mach 55 Meteorite

16 February, 2013 · by · in News · 4 Comments

Note:  … this blog is being updated as more information comes to hand …. I have just returned home from a trip and am amazed to see the many remarkable car dashboard-cams of the meteorite that impacted near Chelyabinsk, Russia: Click here if you have not seen these videos  (the third is shocking) this video is […]

QF32 shortlisted for the 2013 Indie Awards

1 February, 2013 · by · in News, Reviews, Richard de Crespigny · Leave a comment

It’s official! QF32 has been voted into the short list for the Indie Awards for 2013. The Indie Awards have a proud tradition of identifying the best of Australian writing.   Most of  the previous winners,  have gone on to win other extraordinary literary awards.  QF32 will also by  vying for the coveted “Indie ‘Book of […]

Book Review – “Good to Great” by Jim Collins

13 January, 2013 · by · in Leadership, Motivation, Psychological, Reviews · Leave a comment

I rarely publish book reviews for this is not my specialty and others do a better job of it than I do.   But today I find myself sitting in Frankfurt Airport having missed my connection to Toulouse by 5 minutes and now waiting for another 10 hours until my next flight.   I’ve been […]

Physics for the Coffee Table

10 January, 2013 · by · in Physics For The Coffee Table, Richard de Crespigny · Leave a comment

About Physics for the Coffee Table Richard wrote a book in the late 1980s called “Physics For the Coffee Table”  (PFTCT). The book (or series of books) consisted of many seemingly basic questions about day to day events that had counter-intuitive answers. The book was inspired by a remarkable physicist by the name of Professor Julius Sumner […]

QF32 ranked in the top 10 Best Selling books in Australia

5 January, 2013 · by · in Big Jets Book, Reviews · 2 Comments

Today the Sydney Morning Herald released the lists of the best selling (paper) books in Australia for the 2012 calendar year. QF 32 has been available for just 5 months and was rated:  (Sydney Morning Herald 5-6 Jan 2012 p6) 6th Best Selling Non-Fiction book in Australia for 2012, and 7th Australian Best Seller book for […]

Clouds

20 December, 2012 · by · in Back Stories, QF32 Story, Technical · 12 Comments

Only those who fly fully appreciate the wonders that exist out the front of  the cockpit.  Our passion is fueled by the experiences of seeing and feeling many things, including the extraordinary cloud types that comprise our living atmosphere. My memories of clouds include the theory in the RAAF’s class rooms, tempered and case hardened by experiences in […]

Back Story – QF32 page 290 – Coral

18 December, 2012 · by · in Back Stories, My Family, Personal, QF32 Story, Richard de Crespigny · 4 Comments

Coral’s QF32 Many readers have picked up a glaring omission from my QF32 story.   It’s the story that should have been told by my wonderful wife Coral. Dad describes Coral as “formidable”, and I can understand that. To me she is the most beautiful girl on the planet. She is not just the “wind beneath my […]

QF32 Back Story – Rolls Royce Trent 900 – Request for Questions

14 December, 2012 · by · in A380, Big Jets Book, QF32 Story, Rolls-Royce, Technical · 19 Comments

I have been researching Rolls-Royce engines for decades.     I have studied the engine’s “workshop manuals”.   I visited the Rolls-Royce production and engineering facilities in Derby, UK just two weeks before my QF32 event. Yesterday I toured the Sin$700 m Rolls-Royce Seletar Campus in Singapore.   This is the first production facility for […]

QF32 Back Story – Cold Weather Operations and Christmas

11 December, 2012 · by · in A380, Back Stories, QF32 Story, Technical · 5 Comments

Everyone has different thoughts over Christmas. I am currently sitting in cold London contemplating winter. The shortest day, or Winter solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere on about 21 December.   This is the day of the maximum Earth’s cooling rate, though the actual Earth’s temperature lags the “lapse rate” by about one month – […]

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