Hi

Hi from Cairns in Far North Queensland. I have been away from flying for a couple of years by have just renewed my RAA Pilot certificate with Ron Watson from Innisfail. I am now doing a bit of flying with him in his Jabiru. I am hoping to buy an aircraft in the next few few weeks - maybe a Thruster. In the past I have owned a Piper Cherokee and a Chinook Wt11. It is really great to be back flying. This is a fantastic site - w3ell done to all those involved. I would be happy to hear from any fellow RAA pilots in the Cairns area. Regards Scott

Scott,

Great to see another RAA pilot in the Cairns area,I`m just down the road a bit at Deeral 45k south of Cairns.

I got into flying 23 years ago by building a copy of the Chinook WT2,It served me well.

I hope we get to see each other.

Cheers,

Frank.

Thanks Frank. I really enjoyed my Chinook. First plane that ever gave me the freedom to fly without worrying about the cost. I am afraid I sold it and it came to a VERY tragic end - see

Accident report

All the very best

Scott

This is just a test to see if i can get the photo working!

Welcome to the forums Scott. I began my flying with Ron just over a year ago and recently completed my passenger endorsement. Innisfail is a great location to fly out of and FNQ provides endless opportunities to 'see the sites'. I'm based out of Cairns and look forward to catching up at some point in time.

Regards, Mathew

Thanks Mathew. Do you have an aircraft based at Innisfail? I agree FNQ is a great place to live and fly! I am sure we will meet up at some point.

Scott

Unfortunately no aircraft as yet. I'm waiting for Ron to sell his Jabiru, but I suspect even then it would be a pipedream. A friend of mine in Chinchilla has ordered a Skyranger and I'm keen to see how this comes together, especially after I convinced him to have a look at this aircraft in the first place.

Cheers, Mathew

Hi Scott and welcome.

Like you and Mathew I trained on Ron's UL-D. It's a great little plane, and the location is hard to beat.

I'm trying to get some experience in other aircraft to see what to do next. I went for a fly in a J160 yesterday around the Camden area with MozartMerv - great fun, but a completely different kettle of fish to FNQ!

Say G'day to Ron,

Keith

Hi Keith. I am hoping to fly with ron tomorrow. we are planning to go over to Dunk Island for a coffee. No many places you can do that for the cost of 1 hours flying! How was the J160?

Hope to catch up with you some time.

Scott

Enjoy the coffee mate - and watch out for rotor coming off the hill on approach.

Will have to have another couple of goes at the 160 before shooting my mouth off as an inexperienced flyer ... but those longer wings of the UL-D in humid, hot conditions of the north look like a good idea. Catch you up there sometime for a yarn!

Keith

Did not get to Dunk

Hi Keith

I just got back from flying with Ron. Lots of rain to the south of Innisfail so we did not get down to Dunk. So I did some low level flying for my low level endorsement - great fun. I remembered you to Ron. He says hello.

I know all about the rotor on Dunk. I took my Piper Cherokee 160 over there a few years ago. The wind sock at the resort end of the run way gets caught by the rotor and gives a false indication. I ended up doing a downwind take off on a very hot day (and short run way). Just managed to get her off before the fence. Not nice! I was told when I got back to Cairns that you should use the wind sock at the other end of the run way.

All the best

Scott

Good to hear that you still had fun despite the lack of caffine Scott.

The turning circle you can get on the UL-D in the low level work is pretty good, isn't it? I reckon you could just about fly the perimeter of a quarter acre block!

Cheers,

Keith

I agree Keith - it is really impressive. It really is a very nice aircraft all together.