Tell us about your last flight

[DGL Fox]

Yes Tony you DO know Redcliffe... no crosswinds to lots of crosswind in a matter of minutes...I have done human factors and done pre solo...I think one more to go....yes back at school for sure mate but more interesting...

 

David

 

 

[Nightmare]

I've been up solo about 4 times now, clocking up 2.2 hours of Pilot In Command in my logbook, but who's counting? Flying solo is everything they say it is plus more, prepare yourself for one of the most awesome moments of your life! Go-Pro it if you can. My next flight I'm going to Go-Pro it. My lovely wife came with me to the airfield and took some video of me doing some touch and goes on the lesson before I flew solo (

 

)There are 5 tests we have to pass, Pre-Solo, Radio, Air Legislation, Human Factors, and the big one the Basic Aeronautical Knowledge (BAK). We also need at least 25 hours, 5 of those as PIC. Just the Human Factors test to go for me, and the theory side will be out of the way.

 

I'm hoping for some more crosswind conditions to demonstrate to John (my instructor) that I understand and can do them. That, and some emergency procedures training, one or two more departures and rejoins, and I recon I'm good for that certificate..... I can see the light is at the end of the tunnel

 

Hey David, do you need any special endorsements to fly your Sportstar?

 

 

[DGL Fox]

No mate...but it is like starting afresh after the Tecnam but I will get there..I hope it is nice in the morning and no crosswinds...

 

David

 

 

[Nightmare]

...but it is like starting afresh after the Tecnam but I will get there..David

Welcome to my world when I changed flying schools and started flying the Lightwings, it felt like I was going backward a few steps.... but it makes you a better pilot. How was your flight this morning? Tony

[DGL Fox]

I went to flight training at Fly Now Redcliffe this morning and my son Adam come with me, I had a brainwave and asked him to take a video with my old phone of doing some landing so that I may review them later...this is what he took...I will give him my video camera next time and a tripod so don't blame him on the poor quality...thanks anyway Adam.. :)

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=562336023918710

 

 

[Nightmare]

I went to flight training at Fly Now Redcliffe this morning and my son Adam come with me, I had a brainwave and asked him to take a video with my old phone of doing some landing so that I may review them later...this is what he took...I will give him my video camera next time and a tripod so don't blame him on the poor quality...thanks anyway Adam.. :)https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=562336023918710

For some reason your video didn't show up. I've found that Youtube works well for uploading videos to this site

[DGL Fox]

Ah ok, I uploaded to Facebook...how about that link?

 

https://www.facebook.com/david.lefrancke/posts/562337090585270?comment_id=562371783915134&notif_t=feed_comment

 

David

 

 

[SDQDI]

Ah ok, I uploaded to Facebook...how about that link?https://www.facebook.com/david.lefrancke/posts/562337090585270?comment_id=562371783915134&notif_t=feed_comment

David

That link isn't working either, maybe privacy settings?

 

 

[SDQDI]

We had another good day of flying at YQDI today, I had an early start and after a preflight and a warmup I did a five minute circuit of the farm to check my irrigation. It needed adjusting so it was a nice farm track landing and a quick hop out and I was back in the air after another five minutes. I did a short local flight then headed for the airport. There were already a few people there even though breakfast wasn't to start until eight o'clock and after a short chat I thought wasting the best flying time of the day talking was silly so grabbed my cousins dad and went for a half hour local flight.

 

After that I got stuck helping cook the barbie which was pretty good even if I say so myself. Our grocery getterer (Old Koreela) had outdone himself, we had sausages, eggs, bacon, mushrooms, onion, breadrolls and coleslaw as well as an assortment of dressings:thumb up:.

 

During that I got to meet another forumite 'bubbleboy' who is building a pietenpol (ok ok I can't pronounce it so not sure how the spelling is!). It was good meeting him and interesting to hear of his progress first hand. I had to check the irrigation again so took bubbleboy for a short lap over to the farm and back.

 

After that it was time to clean up, I didn't do too much of that, and say goodbye. Our events organiser had his son up from uni so I took him for a fly back to home where he was picked up by dad in a chopper:rotary:.

 

Then it was work time But late this afternoon I wasn't too busy so pulled the plane out and took both kids for a nice leisurely lap. (Individually of course!) then with a bit more spare daylight I took off by myself and did a bit of stall practice and then a couple of steep turns and finished off with a couple of gentle minimum radius turns. Once I was done I pulled the power back to idle to practice my spot landing accuracy dead stick. (No not engine off dead stick just idle deadstick!)

 

All in all it is the most flying I've done for a few weeks so I really enjoyed it:thumb up:

 

 

[Fishla]

Did 1 hour solo today. My first since getting my cert. A crosswind landing after my little jaunt around made for some excitement.

 

 

[Flyer]

a snapshot from a thermal climb on my way to Oaklands on saturday.

 

 

 

[Nightmare]

A little more solo flying logged yesterday

 

 

 

[Camel]

No mate...but it is like starting afresh after the Tecnam but I will get there..I hope it is nice in the morning and no crosswinds...David

Hi David, your Sportstar being an early one will have small front wheel I presume and they are tricky to land, the manual allows the use of either size wheel on front, I changed mine to larger front wheel due to suggestion fron Peter " SilverWing" , it made a huge difference and was a lot better to control on landing when the front wheel touch down. Previously it had a tendency to wander. I found I could do anything with it after the change and crosswinds were no problem.

 

 

[DGL Fox]

Hi David, your Sportstar being an early one will have small front wheel I presume and they are tricky to land, the manual allows the use of either size wheel on front, I changed mine to larger front wheel due to suggestion fron Peter " SilverWing" , it made a huge difference and was a lot better to control on landing when the front wheel touch down. Previously it had a tendency to wander. I found I could do anything with it after the change and crosswinds were no problem.

Hi Camel,

Yes I am finding it is very touchy when you let the front wheel down, what size front wheel have you got on yours Camel? What model Sportstar is yours, mine is a late 06 but first registered in 07 ...can you still have the wheel spats??

 

David

 

 

[Camel]

Hi Camel,Yes I am finding it is very touchy when you let the front wheel down, what size front wheel have you got on yours Camel? What model Sportstar is yours, mine is a late 06 but first registered in 07 ...can you still have the wheel spats??

David

My Sportar was sold last year, I put 600 x 6 Good Year tyres ( I think ) from memory, you can use spats no problem , but not all tyres will fit in the front fork, the tyres that were originally on the mains would not fit in the forks, you should try one of your mains on the front and if it fits get another for front, the good year tyres are a real lot heavier that the original type of tyre, I put new Goodyear tyres all round and thought they were a real improvement. I would ask Peter "SilverWing" as he was the Sportstar dealer, he also owned my Sportstar for some time previously.

 

The difference with the bigger front wheel was a major improvement.

 

 

[Camel]

Hi Camel,Yes I am finding it is very touchy when you let the front wheel down, what size front wheel have you got on yours Camel? What model Sportstar is yours, mine is a late 06 but first registered in 07 ...can you still have the wheel spats??

03 arrived Australia early 04, My Sportstar was the first Sportstar in Australia and the first production one in the world, it was a Demo for some time. It was for sale again recently and located at Caloundra. Has large wheel on front in photo. This aircraft was used for training and no students had problems, the only issue is the closeness of the pedals separating left and right side, there was a modification which was a divider panel.

 

 

[DGL Fox]

My Sportar was sold last year, I put 600 x 6 Good Year tyres ( I think ) from memory, you can use spats no problem , but not all tyres will fit in the front fork, the tyres that were originally on the mains would not fit in the forks, you should try one of your mains on the front and if it fits get another for front, the good year tyres are a real lot heavier that the original type of tyre, I put new Goodyear tyres all round and thought they were a real improvement. I would ask Peter "SilverWing" as he was the Sportstar dealer, he also owned my Sportstar for some time previously.The difference with the bigger front wheel was a major improvement.

Camel,

This is my son Adam going up in 4910 for a "see if you like flight" last weekend, he did....had a smile from ear to ear when he come back...thanks to my instructor Wayne from Fly Now Redcliffe for looking after him.

 

David

 

 

 

[Nightmare]

Hi Camel,Yes I am finding it is very touchy when you let the front wheel down, what size front wheel have you got on yours Camel? What model Sportstar is yours, mine is a late 06 but first registered in 07 ...can you still have the wheel spats??

David

Hey David, student to student, I'd recon that until you sort that front wheel issue, maybe employ some soft field takeoff techniques, it is in your blue book, to get that nose wheel off the ground as soon as possible, but I'm sure you'd be doing that already. I'm sure Mahl would be getting you to do this or a similar process.

That is, rotate at around 30-40kt, keep the nose up until you start to climb, but level off in the ground effect a few feet off the ground (about 10ft) and build up speed. When you reach Vx, raise the nose and continue the climb. This way you have less wear and tear on your tyres and less stress on your undercarriage. I do this technique all the time now as I am operating from a grass strip.

 

On landing, it would really inspire you to keep that nose up as long as possible, make sure that the stick is right back against the stops when the nose wheel makes contact. Even with the strongest nose wheel, by their very nature, they are the weakest part of the undercarriage.

 

 

[DGL Fox]

Hey David, student to student, I'd recon that until you sort that front wheel issue, maybe employ some soft field takeoff techniques, it is in your blue book, to get that nose wheel off the ground as soon as possible, but I'm sure you'd be doing that already. I'm sure Mahl would be getting you to do this or a similar process.That is, rotate at around 30-40kt, keep the nose up until you start to climb, but level off in the ground effect a few feet off the ground (about 10ft) and build up speed. When you reach Vx, raise the nose and continue the climb. This way you have less wear and tear on your tyres and less stress on your undercarriage. I do this technique all the time now as I am operating from a grass strip.

 

On landing, it would really inspire you to keep that nose up as long as possible, make sure that the stick is right back against the stops when the nose wheel makes contact. Even with the strongest nose wheel, by their very nature, they are the weakest part of the undercarriage.

Night,

Yes for sure thanks, the bitumen runway at Redcliffe is a harder to handle than the grass like when we go over the Caboolture, but I getting there ..

 

David

 

 

[SDQDI]

I've had two evenings in a row flying now. Both days I used the checking the irrigation excuse, yesterday it was a little bumpy with some leftover ripples from some afternoon storms but it was still nice flying. I did a few downwind takeoffs just to keep them fresh in mind and did some more two spot landing practice. (One spot being where I land and the other spot where I was aiming to land:whistling:)

 

And this evening was similar except for no bumps and beautifully calm, so got to do a bit of landing practice on a few different farm roads. I will have to charge the go pro up and get some video, I never think of it until I am about to hop in the plane.

 

The second pic I snapped to show some numbers. I love cruising steady and burning 13 litres makes it a bit more affordable than pushing harder and with the door off it is really pleasant at 50-55 knots. And yes I did have fuel remaining, I just haven't played with it enough to work out how to do part fills:-).

 

And for the super sharp observers, yes YQDI is at 1050 feet amsl (give or take a few feet) but on this flight I was lazy and set my altimeter to 1000 so it is easier to maintain at least the 500 to remain legal:thumb up:.

 

And for the really picky people, taking the picture required a little concentration and that is why the ball is "slightly" off centre:nerd:

 

 

 

 

[gareth lacey]

Byron Bay Lighthouse on way back to Boonah after Evans Head fly in

[octave]

[GALLERY=media, 3684]Rsz_122 by octave posted Jan 14, 2016 at 8:27 PM[/GALLERY][GALLERY=media, 3681]4 by octave posted Jan 14, 2016 at 8:27 PM[/GALLERY][GALLERY=media, 3682]5 by octave posted Jan 14, 2016 at 8:27 PM[/GALLERY][GALLERY=media, 3683]8 by octave posted Jan 14, 2016 at 8:27 PM[/GALLERY]

 

 

[Pearo]

I should have posted up my circumnavigation of Fraser Island. Done in a 172, took a while! Redcliffe-Sunny Coast-Double Island Point--> Around Fraser Island --> Marybourough (full stop) - Gympie - Redcliffe. I think it was about 3.7 hours on the clock.

 

I have a heap of pics from my phone, but have not uploaded them to a web friendly format yet. Here is one I have uploaded, Indian Head, about half way up Fraser Island.

 

 

 

[Flyer]

chopped up some video of the flight I did on my birthday (3/1). I'm in the front seat and Bernie in the back. Shared the flying with Bernie coaching me on thermalling technique.

 

He has about 700 hours in gliders and I've got about 55 hours. The day was weak with only about 3 knots of lift max and relatively low cloud base at around 4500'.

 

We had planned a cross country in the single seaters but decided local in the twin was a better option.

 

 

 

[Blueadventures]

 

Did my final xc test flight today. All signed off now. Nice conditions. Got a shadow image in a rainbow circle on the way and a bug splat to the windscreen at 2,500 feet. Looking forward to some flights now to other airfields away from Mackay area.

 

Cheers

 

Mike