Challenging times

[Steve Ridley]

Here I am saying "Hi"--not sure who to at this stage but here goes

 

I'm a RAA pilot and I own and operate a two place Challenger floatplane from my house on the mid north coast of NSW---Smiths Lake near Forster.

 

Have been involved with ultralights since the 1980's and hang gliding before that.

 

I'm 58 ,married with a couple of grown up kids. A lot of my original flying was done in North Qld where I owned a single seat "Skydart 3" (from Steve Cohen) and several hang gliders.

 

Still love dragging the bird out of the boatshed and going for a fly in this lovely part of the world. I am also a member of the Seaplane Pilots Association of Australia.

 

 

[coljones]

Sounds great. You seem to have a dream life - all those oysters and you get to fly as well!!

 

Col:outback:

 

 

[Steve Ridley]

Sounds great. You seem to have a dream life - all those oysters and you get to fly as well!!Col:outback:

Thanks Col---though its never as good as it sounds--I don't eat oysters.

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Welcome Steve. We have a great and supportive community here. It is a good source of information and great for sharing information that is helpful to others. Even if you don't eat oysters, sounds pretty good :-)

 

 

[Suitman]

Welcome Steve.

 

I hope you enjoy the forums.

 

Peter

 

 

[Steve Ridley]

Welcome Steve. We have a great and supportive community here. It is a good source of information and great for sharing information that is helpful to others. Even if you don't eat oysters, sounds pretty good :-)

Thanks David--I see you have a powered parachute------Do you know Graeme Hutchinson from Windsor NSW---he runs a powered chute school west of Sydney and more recently in Cowra ?

 

 

[Steve Ridley]

Welcome Steve. I hope you enjoy the forums.

 

Peter

Thanks Peter

 

 

[Steve Ridley]

Thanks for the welcome David---yes , I remember Farri flying a Mustang around in the early days in North Qld---he is also posting some pics I sent him.

 

Just checking out your a/a list and wow---thats a hanger full -----saved the best till last !!!!!!!!!!!!Steve

 

 

[farri]

Hey!.... G`Day Steve and !......Great to see you on the forum!!!

 

Guys, Steve and I go way back to the early eighties!

 

In the photo, Steve is standing beside his Sky Dart and the other one is my Chinook...... Notice I chose not to enclose the Chinook!!!

 

The other 3 photos are of Steves Challenger and his area..... Forster.

 

Frank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[farri]

Here`s a couple more! Too good to leave out!

 

Hey Steve!.... Go on!.... Tell em about the car you drive!!!!

 

Frank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Thanks David--I see you have a powered parachute------Do you know Graeme Hutchinson from Windsor NSW---he runs a powered chute school west of Sydney and more recently in Cowra ?

No, I don't know Graeme. My aircraft is actually a weight shift (Airborne XT912), pictured in my avatar.

 

 

[Steve Ridley]

Welcome Steve! Great place these Forums. Smith Lake must be just about ideal for the floatplane. And what a luxury to be able to fly from and to home.

Thanks for the welcome Don---yes its nice and Lake Macquarie isn't too shabby either.

 

 

[Steve Ridley]

No, I don't know Graeme. My aircraft is actually a weight shift (Airborne XT912), pictured in my avatar.

Sorry David --I got a bit mixed up----new to this business. Steve.

 

 

[farri]

Farri and Steve,What year was that Skydart photo?

David, The year I took the Skydart photo was 1986!

 

Frank.

 

 

[Spin]

Now that's the life! Lovely photos that Frank put up there, really something to aspire to - aeroplanes and water are a potent mix in my book.

 

 

[Teckair]

David, The year I took the Skydart photo was 1986!Frank.

Hi Frank, I was in the picture then or soon after but I don't remember Steve or his plane, but Kevin Carmen had a Skydart like that, maybe he bought from Steve?

Regards Richard.

 

 

[farri]

G`Day Richard,Hope you`re doing well!

 

Now that you mention it, I recall it!.... It was in fact, Steves plane!.... Kevin Carmen came here and flew it from my strip,before buying it....Kevin later sold the Dart and brought the the yellow aircraft, Lightwing or Skyfox, don`t remember which!.... He eventually sold that one also and you may recall, the new owner was killed in it,on take off from Mareeba aerodrome.

 

The Skydart in this photo is one I went to Caboolture and test flew for a student of mine,before he purchased it....He eventually sold it to Peter (sitting in it) and it was housed here for a while so I got to do a bit of flying in it.

 

Frank.

 

 

 

[Teckair]

G`Day Richard,Hope you`re doing well!Now that you mention it, I recall it!.... It was in fact, Steves plane!.... Kevin Carmen came here and flew it from my strip,before buying it....Kevin later sold the Dart and brought the the yellow aircraft, Lightwing or Skyfox, don`t remember which!.... He eventually sold that one also and you may recall, the new owner was killed in it,on take off from Mareeba aerodrome.

 

The Skydart in this photo is one I went to Caboolture and test flew for a student of mine,before he purchased it....He eventually sold it to Peter (sitting in it) and it was housed here for a while so I got to do a bit of flying in it.

 

Frank.

OK Frank, Steve must have been just before my time there, Kevin bought the early model Skyfox and the way I remember it he was the one that crashed it on take off at Wandecla air field which is roughly in between Kaban and Atherton. Kevin died later in hospital, and Arthur had a nasty prang in the Drifter at Innisfail within a day or two, I think this all happened in 1992 just before I left the area to travel down this way.

Regards Richard.

 

 

[farri]

OK Frank, Steve must have been just before my time there, Kevin bought the early model Skyfox and the way I remember it he was the one that crashed it on take off at Wandecla air field which is roughly in between Kaban and Atherton. Kevin died later in hospital, and Arthur had a nasty prang in the Drifter at Innisfail within a day or two, I think this all happened in 1992 just before I left the area to travel down this way.Regards Richard.

Richard, that`s correct on both counts,however, in Kevins case,it was reported that he only suffered a broken leg in the accident!...He later died from a heart attack!

 

Kevins Skyfox was later purchased by a guy I knew quite well.... He had a GA instructor background, no Ultralight experience and was wanting to become an AUF instructor.... He intended to use the Skyfox to instruct with.

 

On the morning of the accident, he was taking off,( Solo) in the Skyfox, from Mareeba aerodrome, got airborn and crashed at the far end....Result....Fatal!!!

 

Frank.

 

 

[farri]

Do they know what caused the accident farri? David

Short answer....No.

 

Pure speculation on my part,but when an aircraft crashes at low altitude, on take off, the most likely cause is a stall due to excessive angle of attack.

 

Frank.

 

 

[farri]

Reasonable speculation ... hard to imagine how a qualified GA Instructor could fall for that one ... especially on takeoff. After all a Skyfox is a reasonably conventional slow aircraft.David

At one piont in the early days of Ultralight flying, the figures of fatal accidents that I`m aware of, were........... 39 , of which 32 were GA pilots!

 

Frank.

 

 

[farri]

Maybe the

 

Maybe so, but we both know that the bigest determining factor is the pilot at the controls!

First accident: Wondecla, Elevation 2950 feet......Second accident: Mareeba, Elevation 1560 feet..... Both accidents were on hot humid days!

 

Frank.

[Teckair]

I have the same model Skyfox CA 21 which was fitted with the Aeropower VW engine which does not have a great power to weight ratio, while I like flying the aircraft you do have to be careful on take off as the climb rate is not always good.