The Outback has landed.

[Guest Jacc]

G'day All

 

My name is John and I fly an Edge 582 Outback trike with a Streak 2B wing.

 

I hangar at Benalla, Victoria and live in Werribee, so it's about a 2.5 hour drive to get to Benalla. Usually stay a couple of days at least to make the trip worthwhile.

 

I used to fly out of Lethbridge (near Geelong) but it was always so windy I was not getting enough flying in, hence the change.

 

Used to fly a little machine called an Aerochute (powered parachute). This was a fun machine, a very, very portable 2 seater with a 503 motor and tricycle undercarriage. Trouble was you could not go too far, and it was very slow and thirsty. So I switched to a trike, and built a caravan that I can fit the trike into. I base the trike at Benalla but now I have the van I can go to Benalla, load the trike, go where I please to fly, and take my accommodation with me.

 

Did my training at Porepunkah (near Bright) and love flying that area, especially in winter.

 

Anyway it's great to find this site and talk to other flying enthusiast's about our passion.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[bushpilot]

Hi John - Welcome to the Forum. You will get a lot of useful info and contacts here..

 

Lucky you, having an Outback. I'm with the more basic Redback, that I fly from my farm - so no travelling to get to an airstrip at least!

 

Do you fly into interesting place with the Outback? They are designed to land pretty well anywhere..

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

 

 

[slartibartfast]

Cheers John.

 

You'd know my uncle Kel then (Old Man Emu - not the one on this forum though). He moved his trike from Mangalore to Benalla recently. He has flown that beastie to Uluru and back. Now there's a trip, or at least a series of hops :big_grin:

 

Welcome to the family.

 

Ross

 

 

[Guest Jacc]

Hi John - Welcome to the Forum. You will get a lot of useful info and contacts here..Lucky you, having an Outback. I'm with the more basic Redback, that I fly from my farm - so no travelling to get to an airstrip at least!

 

Do you fly into interesting place with the Outback? They are designed to land pretty well anywhere..

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

Hello Chris

I don't know who is the lucky one. I'd swap my Outback for your Redback any day if you threw in your airstrip.

 

Now that's something I would love. A strip at the back door!

 

I fly from sheep paddock's and airstrips in probably equal number. A lot of my flying is with the Australian Aerochute Association (of which I am still a member). I started my flying with them some years back and as I have many friends within the club I see no reason not to continue flying with them. These days though it is mainly the social side that is the attraction. They only fly at about 20 or maybe 25 knots so I mainly go off and do my own thing. After flying for the day we relax around a campfire and have a couple of drinks and a chat. It's great. We have those who fly and a lot who just come along because they enjoy the atmosphere.

 

My Outback is fitted with the Tundra wheels which are great for beach and paddock landings. They can make a bad landing look worse though, as you tend to bounce a little with them.

 

The only exciting thing to happen so far was when one of the stainless brackets holding my oil injection bottle snapped. Fortunately the other half held. If both had broken nothing would have gone through the prop but the bottle would have been hanging upside down and no oil would have been going in. Probably could have resulted in a seized engine.

 

I am now retired and have built a caravan that the trike goes inside. This makes me totally self contained. I can go to an airport (and most of them allow you to stay there with a van) and spend a few days flying the area. So one day Chris you may get a knock on your door!!

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[Guest Jacc]

Cheers John.You'd know my uncle Kel then (Old Man Emu - not the one on this forum though). He moved his trike from Mangalore to Benalla recently. He has flown that beastie to Uluru and back. Now there's a trip, or at least a series of hops :big_grin:

Welcome to the family.

 

Ross

Hello Ross

Yes I do know Kel. Not well as I have only met him a few times as a member of the Southern Microlight club. Very nice fella, and very helpful.

 

He was telling me that it's like going home now that he is back at Benalla as he used to hangar there before he moved to Mangalore.

 

That certainly would have been a trip. Did he trailer and fly, or fly in a series of jumps, living out of the trike?

 

Thanks for the welcome Ross.

 

Cheers

 

John