Tell us about your last flight

[Blueadventures]

Had a nice flight out to the  coast on Saturday.

 

 

[Flightrite]

Boring WX up there today😉 my planes  languish in the hanger on a nice say whilst I have to ‘work’😂

[Thruster88]

Got the thruster out today and flew with wife to a hangar dinner in the bush. The flight home at sunset was beautiful, not a ripple and perfect t shirt temperature.  

[Blueadventures]

36 minutes ago, Thruster88 said:

Got the thruster out today and flew with wife to a hangar dinner in the bush. The flight home at sunset was beautiful, not a ripple and perfect t shirt temperature.  

Nice looking strip and the hills look nice and clear skies.

[Thruster88]

Flew my new Thruster single for the first time today. Had been waiting till after harvest in case an out landing was required. It runs and flies great, such a simple machine.  

[RFguy]

geez that grass is green.

[skippydiesel]

On 18/01/2022 at 8:06 PM, RFguy said:

geez that grass is green.

Got to be the West Coast of Ireland🤣

[Lucky01]

Sexy Faeta in YGDH.  We enjoyed the cool air at 5500 ft today 😉

[Marty_d]

Wouldn't want that canopy coming unlatched in flight.

[spenaroo]

my last flight was the RPC test,

was nervous, bit of wind and had some traffic in the circuit. but I passed, not my best performance - in fact the worse ive flown in a while. but it was a relief to hear those words and have it signed off

Edited January 29, 2022 by spenaroo

[kgwilson]

The weather on the mid north coast has been pretty poor for flying this Summer. There were weeks of rain in December and the aerodrome was saturated. It is beginning to dry out & we hired a 12 ton roller for a day to get rid of some ruts etc last week.

 

I fuelled up & got the aircraft ready on Thursday. Friday dawned sunny on the coast. By the time I got to the hangar it was cloudy with sunny patches, base about 2000 feet. I thought I'd go even if it was just local & once in the air found the weather pretty much the same in every direction. Showers could be seen in many places but visibility was not bad. Anyway I thought I'd head up to the Clarence River gorge & check out the waterfalls. The river flows through a range a few NM to the East of the Great Dividing range & when I got there, there was a pretty decent shower going on so I went around the range on the Fineflower Eastern side where there were also showers but less intense.

 

I decided to head up river to Baryulgl to see if anyone was at the Myer family airstrip. I flew through several showers and dodged a couple of big ones but the plane got a good wash anyway. No-one was at Myers so I then decided I may as well keep going up to Tabulam where the Bruxner Highway crosses the Clarence River & heads through a fairly low part of the Great Dividing range to Tenterfield. I kept dodging showers and the base was down to 1500 feet in parts so I was under 1000 feet AGL a fair bit of the time. I then headed North towards the QLD border and did a circuit around the Blueberry Farms about 5 NM North of Tabulam.

 

Then I thought I'd either head across the range to Tenterfield or head towards Casino in the opposite direction. Flipped my imaginary coin and decided on Tenterfield. By the time I got to Drake I could see the cloudbase was down to 500 feet or so towards Tenterfield so I chucked a U turn  & it was no better towards Casino when I got back to Tabulam so it was down river towards the gorge range which did not become visible till passing Baryulgil & there was a wall of rain in front of me. I could make out the range on the Northern side of the gorge which drops from around 3000 feet down to about 500 feet to the East towards Fineflower. The plane got another good wash & I flew over the spine of the range at around 2000 feet and about 300 feet above the spine and out into the Clarence Valley where the cloudbase had risen to over 3000 feet with lots of sunny patches & I could see Susan Island in the Clarence from 30 NM out. Susan Island is part of downwind for 08 at South Grafton.

 

There was plenty of convection so without climbing I was soon at 3,300 feet. I began my descent 20 NM out & landed on the grass into a gentle Easterly on 08. Total tacho time 1.3 hours. Put the plane to bed & went to the clubhouse for lunch when a mate turned up & wanted to go flying. We got his 60 year old Mooney out of his hangar & went for a toodle out to the coast at Yamba, down to Corindi & return to South Grafton mostly at 140-150 knots. There were still showers about. Total tacho time 0.8 hours.

 

So ended my most interesting flying day of 2022 so far.

[RossK]

My last flight was an early morning affair from YLIL (Lilydale).

Left home at 6:00am and was airborne by 7:00am.

The Yarra Valley was at its spectacular best in the morning light, the air was dense and smooth.

To top it off there was 6 hot air balloons finishing their morning trips and landed mid way between Coldstream and YLIL.

It was all so glorious I just took it in and forgot to take any photos to share with you all.

Completed the flight with 3 touch and goes, just for good measure 

[skippydiesel]

On 24/01/2022 at 9:15 PM, Lucky01 said:

Sexy Faeta in YGDH.  We enjoyed the cool air at 5500 ft today 😉

Nice aircraft (if a slightly spotty history).

 

Where are the main wheel spats? - your loosing a few knots there.

 

Same story with the" tractor" prop, optimised for glider tug. Two blade ground adjust, will optimise your performance.

 

You should have  an easy 120 knot cruise at, about 16l/h @ 5200 rpm

[ClintonB]

Advice needed for a short notice trip I may have to take.

are there any members who live in the Yass area , or my intended track, who could give me a bit of knowledge on area weather and what’s expected by Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week. ( also any properties near there with strips suitable for a bush 182 with big wheels). My trip is for compassionate reasons, only overnight, maybe 2 at most if weather no good to go. I would be travelling from Tamworth probably tracking over Mudgee, Cowra and onto Yass if I can get permission to land at Jindalee, otherwise need to find nearest centre with transport.

I will be checking everything available, but as we all know, when are forecast’s completely right. Local knowledge is always valuable. 
thanks in advance.

Clinton

[Flightrite]

Was a windy day😉👍😂

[rgmwa]

37 minutes ago, Flightrite said:

Was a windy day😉👍😂

Took the Thruster out for a run then?

[Mike Gearon]

Heck Field Gold Coast to French Island.

 

I knew  about Victorian  Kilmore gap. The QLD Gold Coast gap to the left of the boobs heading west is a new one to me. 
 

Flew home with 2 fuel stops and 750nm over around 8-9 hours in total. Averaged around 115kn GS with various head winds  TAS from 132kn down to 120kn TAS at 6500ft 

Learned during the trip home what a beautiful aircraft the Pipistrel Virus SW 121 is. Level flight barely needing a touch on the rudder or left alone altogether with ball between the lines. Garmin Autopilot really easy to use. Really nice. 

Easy first landing Moree. 2nd landing Temora not so easy with a small bounce and nose high. I’d left the flaps at the descent zero setting! (They go to negative 5 for 100kn and up. 
 

I flew over the Wangaratta area family farm then timed trip home. Turned out to be 50 minutes runway French Island to Moyhu farm runway. Much better than the 4-5 hours car/ferry/ car trip! Going over the range rather than Kilmore gap really comfortable with 15:1 glide safety factor and of course the red handle BRS last resort.

Final landing on my own runway I again missed adding flaps. I’d set to zero on descent then moved concentration to air brake. 15:1 glide needs the air brake! Won’t happen again. Checklist and flow will sort as well as not being stuffed at the end of a long journey! Anyway, exciting landing on my home strip because it’s 1000ft of uphill then a crest then 1000ft downhill with a tree line 300ft before the start. (I’m moving runway to both extend a bit and remove the 20 tree line from being a factor.

 

Flaring with zero flaps had the whole sight picture gone. I knew there was a fence to my right and a left cross wind. Otherwise there was just a dashboard and nose with the coast ahead and no useable sight picture anywhere near the aircraft due to the descending portion of the runway ahead of me. During the downhill portion and keeping more to left of the fence And windsock I couldn’t see it again became very comfortable and I stopped considering releasing air brake and go around. Slowed more and then Behringer brakes on those larger tyres (compared to my Nynja) had a very relaxed pull up with 500ft ahead. 
 

 

 

 

 

[RFguy]

Sunday, for my every two weekly currency flight in the club Brumby which consists of a few circuits and a simulated EP overhead,  (while I have my Jabiru in pieces) , went out in the 15 kts gusty SEerly  for some curry with the wind. Got a bit more than I bargined for !  Description follows....

 

wind was about 30-35  kts at 500 feet AGL according to the EFIS doing the drift calcs.

In the first landing attempt, my approach wasnt stabilized the last 300m, and it was a mixmaster near the ground, was descending at 500fpm.  heaps of drift.  I got almost one  wheel down but plane wasnt pointing straight , the gusts were upsetting my trying to put it down on one leg,  gusts had upset my use of power leading to a very awkward landing scenario. airspeed was a little slow leading to less control.  so I went around,  a very late go around ! I didnt hesitate at all to do that. full power, flaps up, off we go. 

 

I can see how an accident might happen if a pilot was determined to land !

So, the training works.

2nd attempt -I had a really good idea of what I was going to have to deal with. That was the difference. 

I flew it in with a bit of power on over the fence with a fairly low descent rate the last 50 feet  , mains down at about 55-60 kts.  flying it in like that a little more gradually allowed me time to make the control changes required.  a little more airspeed.  Lots of attention to throttle control .

so, there is good reason to have a couple of goes at something that is challenging as a rehearsal. 

Pretty sure there is turbulance  at the threshold of 15 caused by the new close to runway (thank you cowra council) RFS building with wind at 110- 120 deg.

Flying it in a bit shallower slowing the landing down and with more speed  mitigated that to some  degree. IE flare a bit further down the runway a bit away from the turb at the threshold.

The luxuries NOT afforded to a short strip with difficult approaches on a windy day.
 

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by RFguy

[facthunter]

Cramp yourself when you are out of practice is a bad mix. Be ready to go around always anytime you aren't happy with the position  you are in... Nev

[Flightrite]

On decent into cesspool Sydney from Brisbvegas this arvo!

You’d  need a boat to live there!

 

[F10]

Some pics of a recent flight down Port Albert way, Gippsland coast. Other news is 🤗👍🏻 Was offered a place in a hangar at West Sale airfield (I live in Sale, Vic). Not quite as homely as Yarram, but a nicer hangar, we now don’t have to fold wings…🎉🎊. The best part however, is a trip out to the the plane is now just 15 minutes door to door! 🍻Happy days!

[NT5224]

After a month grounded first by monsoonal skies and then awaiting a replacement tractor tyre so I could slash Robin Falls International (RFX). I finally got airborne. 

 

Hoped for an early departure but after a thorough preflight and then a last minute decision to take on extra fuel, I then find my battery dead. So I have to fetch the wife and dog to help me jump start.

 

Didn't get off the ground until 0930 but flight conditions were beautiful. Flew into Batchelor for circuits and bumps and shared a coffee with a senior aviator mate

 

RFX is looking good and my wife filmed departure

 

Alan 

Edited February 21, 2022 by NT5224

[Flightrite]

Looks like the wife knows her place there😉😉

[NT5224]

24 minutes ago, Flightrite said:

Looks like the wife knows her place there😉😉

Absolutely she does. Since she got her licence  Im lucky I get I  get any left seat  time at all...🤣

 

Alan 

Edited February 21, 2022 by NT5224

[Old Koreelah]

When I clicked on that video I just happened to be listening to some loud music on my excellent new headphones. The engine roar was more enjoyable!