Category Back Stories
Happy 110th Birthday!
Happy Birthday Powered Flight! Today, the 17th December 2013 marks the recognition of 110 remarkable years of revolutionary technology, intrepid exploration and inspirational leaders who (in Bert Hinkler’s words) have “flown the ships off the oceans”. It’s 110 years today since Wilbur Wright flew the Wright Flier for 12 seconds, flying just 36 metres (half the […]
Royal Aeronautical Society
Stop Press – Thursday 28 November The evening was a great success with my son Alexander and I meeting over 120 engineering students and 180 RAeS members. Everyone was especially pleased to met and hear Carolyn and Derwyn Jones, passengers on the QF32 flight who also addressed the audience. Their daughter Nia Jones joined […]
Giving Back – Disabled WinterSport Australia
I am pleased to be the first Patron of Disabled WinterSport Australia (DWA). DWA is the National Sporting Organisation that has provided accommodation, equipment and ski training for people with disabilities at Australian ski fields for 35 years. Her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce AC CVO and His Excellency Mr Michael Bryce AM AE held a […]
Byron Bay Writers’ Festival
The beautiful coastal retreat of Byron Bay means two things to me: A week after the QF32 event, when I was exhausted, my friends Simon Ford and John Connolly took me to Byron Bay to help me relax, escape the media and to try to teach me how to surf! Byron Bay has […]
BioMimicry, Red Kites & 101 Club
BioMimicry BioMimicry is the study by biologists, scientists and engineers of the mechanisms and strategies of the living world, with the aim to apply them to human machines. Predators must be tougher and faster than their prey, so creatures on top of the food chain such as raptors and sharks show us where we can adapt […]
QF32 and the Golden Circle
In relation to the actions of the pilots and cabin crew, the final ATSB report provides excellent detail about most of WHAT happened. The critical “HOW they happened” and even more important “WHY they happened” were not included in the report as the outcome was already known and the investigators believed that these analyses would […]
ATSB Final Report on QF32
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released the final report of its investigation into the QF32 flight of 4 November 2010. Taking 966 days to produce, the 305 page QF32 report is the largest investigation the ATSB has ever conducted using resources from over 10 organisations spanning at least seven countries. The QF32 repairs […]
Stories of two great Australian Adventurers
Explorers and adventurers take enormous risks. At the time when these intrepid souls embarked on their quests, most people considered that the cost of the risk outweighed the benefit of the discovery or record. It’s only when the adventurists returned successful that the doomsayers and critics turned to supporters. What would our world be […]
Social Media kills the Golden Hour
Crisis, Social Media and Citizen Journalists There is a saying that if the media is reporting your story, and if there is a hole in the story, then someone else will fill that hole if you don’t. And if someone else fills it, then they’ll own it, forever. Many crisis managers take advantage of […]
Fear of Flying – Part 3 of 3 (The Cure – Annabelle Brayley)
Fear of Flying – Part 3 of 3 (The Cure – Annabelle Brayley) by Annabelle Brayley When I was growing up, I’d had occasions to fly in the old DC8 and Fokker Friendship as well as several smaller planes so it was a complete shock to me, to discover in 1987 that I hated flying in […]
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