Jabiru down near William Creek

[Cooda]

Mile for mile and hour for hour, we kill ourselves seven times more often than folks in cars.

Although, after the gummint brought in the 130km/hr speed limit on the Stuart Highway, both my life insurer and workers comp insurer said they considered it safer for me to fly (Jabiru 230) to Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs than to continue to do the trips by road.Perhaps we need to compare only longer distance/higher speed road useage/accident figures with aircraft useage/accident figures. We rarely use our aircraft to taxi to the shops.

 

 

[Gibbo]

Although, after the gummint brought in the 130km/hr speed limit on the Stuart Highway, both my life insurer and workers comp insurer said they considered it safer for me to fly (Jabiru 230) to Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs than to continue to do the trips by road.

My employer also had the same issue.. He ended up paying for most of my cert and around 300hrs of flying over 3 1/2 years. There were a couple of very large hires (89 hrs of dry hire anyone! spread over 6 weeks) that kept a couple of schools happy. The policy was almost $800 cheaper if I flew myself instead of driving and upgraded my first aid to a L2 first aid with remote area. :)

 

Simpson (melb - central highlands qld - Alice - Tennant Crk - Isa - Bourke) 5 times. Melb - Bundaberg - Isa via Windorah - Tennant - Simpson x 3. Circumnaviagation of Strine x 1 ex Tas. Melb - Horn Island x 2.

 

I've seen many close calls.. Larimar is the hot spot of the highway under the 130k rules. People used to have a good break at Katherine when they were driving from Tennant creek but now most of them hit the 'death' zone about 100k south (five hours drive). Saw five major roll overs around there last season.

 

Jabiru plus remote area = be prepared for a extended camp out. Two moderate engine 'issues' over 400 hours with both in a very isolated area says it all.

 

 

[kaz3g]

I had a rough running engine half-way between Tennant and the Alice a couple of years ago.

 

Made me very nervous watching all those roadtrains and cars with caravans hurtling down my emergency runway... looked decidedly dangerous so I perservered and continued to BAS where it turned out to be nothing more than a cracked insulator on a top plug.

 

kaz