Yakolev Yak-40.

 The Russian jet that just keeps going?

One reason for the longevity of the Yak-40 is that there is no alternative to it in Russia, compared to western types in business jets has big profits financially behind them and a demand for comfort and entertainment, if not rest and relaxation?

But the Yak-40 has held its ground as a small airline, a business jet and in the field of being an air ambulance, which is handy when dealing with long distances to be covered across Siberia, but it also has many other functions with the military and with combined-cargo operations moving smaller things to remote places!

The Yak-40 may be coming to the end of its working career, but until a new replacement is found it will soldier on in the role of being an essential air ambulance for remote places and moving essential staff to where they are needed!

Road Trains. Part-Four.

Africa.

The Continent of Africa today cannot do without the truck, because it has given up much on its one time colonisers railways. Expense to maintain and get parts was one problem for many of the lesser developed nations, while on the other they just did not have the ability to maintain tracks and signals.

So the truck has become the new transport and in many parts there are seasonal convoys, which get bogged down by mud. But the Africans have on great advantage over many other nations, in that no problem cannot be solved. They are extremely resourceful in finding away out of a problem. 

This is because they have to keep those vital links open and keep the goods that are essential moving back and forth. The Iveco truck is one of the most favoured for the variety of roles, there are also many Soviet and Chinese vehicles. Nearly every other vehicle is a Toyota and perhaps the odd civil Landrovers.

Christmas.

In light of a wet Christmas in the U.K

Perhaps everyone across the northern hemisphere has had some ammount of snow, the U.K. has seen very violent storms, winds rain with severe flooding. Instead of sleds, it has been the boats and inflatables to the rescue.

The inflatable, Zodiac and even the standard rowing boat continues to be part of the invaluable tools used for basic search and rescue across the globe, in all types of flood zones. Little and easy to inflate, they can work in tight spots. Speed is also an essential element to small craft used in this role along with depth levels changing suddenly.

I think we sometimes forget so easily about the very little machines that we use around us, that they do thr very simple jobs and roles. We also tend to forget how much, we could not do without them.