Tell us about your last flight

[eightyknots]

 

We continued north and then headed east to the Gladstone region. The width (and beauty) of the valley can be appreciated here:

[eightyknots]

This was a most enjoyable flight in a very nice aircraft in still air conditions. Thank you Bob!

[Mike Gearon]

On 17/8/2022 at 6:52 PM, Garfly said:

Mike, that'll be another buck!   ;- )

 

Herewith our own Pylon500 at Taree not floating in the A22 he likes to teach in.

 

 

 

 

Well, I’m not completely sure. 

 

Could have lost points (cents) for being off Center line. However, no deduction as that’s not the criteria and it was a nice squeaked in landing. Well done!

 

however…..That’s maybe a 15kn head wind. Looks steady, if it has a gust component that’s obviously going to potentially pull you back into the air during flare if timing works against your flare to gust speed. That headwind to ground speed was maybe a what 25kn ground speed…

 

I guess my point is a student landing the Foxbat or Nynja is going to have an easier time of it in the Nynja. It loses interest in being airborne once near the ground.
 

I’m just now back in Melbourne and plan to fly the Nynja part way to Lismore. We could have a land off competition somewhere 🙂 …except I have to work hard on Rans S21 build to get my 51% component sorted. 

 

 

[Garfly]

Nowadays you can buy a factory built Skyranger/Nynja in Britain (for a cool AUD100K, odd) but, as far as I know, in Oz, they're all homebuilt jobs so couldn't be put on-line in a flying school anyway. They're popular ultralight trainers in UK/Europe, though.

[facthunter]

The design is BCAR approved. That wouldn't cover home build(so called).   Nev

[Garfly]

Flying schools had a way around the regs before the factory built models were approved in 2020.

From the Kemble Flying Club site:

 

20 October 2018

G-GRLS

 

The Skyranger Swift is not for trial flights as this one is a kit built aircraft (although the rules may change for 2021). However, if you do want to learn to fly in this aircraft then for just £1 we can register you as a part-owner and you are good to go!

This is the Chief Flying Instructors favourite aircraft and a great training aircraft (see the Kemble Flying Club Ben Atkinson YouTube channel for some training videos). Its microlight design heritage is more obvious than the Eurostar or C42, and G-GRLS was constructed over an 18 month period as a ‘build a plane project’ by girls at Beneden School in Kent - hence the registration!

FLYING HER

The Swift, or of course ‘girls’, as our aircraft has inevitably become called, will cruise very happily at 97mph but for training we fly mostly at 80mph. The visibility is fantastic for a high wing aircraft and the handling delightful although more rudder is required at different power settings - you soon get used to this. The aircraft does not require constant re-trimming like some others, the flaps work in the correct sense and have a limitation speed of 91mph which is much higher than the C42 or Eurostar. The aircraft is really stable and has a cross wind limit of 15kts which is as good as most light aircraft.

In the case of aircraft overseen by the British Microlight Aircraft Association it is their Inspectors who monitor the build of amateur constructed aircraft and they are responsible for checking everything and signing the aircraft off for flight. It is these same inspectors who are responsible for signing off Type Approved manufactured aircraft for their first flight so it does seem like nonsense and the CAA are currently consulting on this matter.

 

 

 

 

[Mike Gearon]

Had a bird strike today. Softfield take off in Pipistrel from French Island. Not great conditions of course but wanted to get it to Tyabb for avionics repair. Kept it low way longer than I normally would and super lucky not to have a prop strike. I heard the thump and immediately focused on possibility of vibration. 
 

Runway pic is Tyabb. Somebody had an interesting excursion. My farm runway not much better. 
 

Returning in Nynja with a rainbow. Nynja is such a delight to fly. I think the Rans S21 will just be a bigger  faster version of this. Easy versatile aircraft.
 

 

 

 

[Blueadventures]

Delightful flight over the Newry Island area; only saw one whale.

[planedriver]

Life's tough for some, but someones gotta do it, and the weather looks great,

 

 

 

[Blueadventures]

8 hours ago, planedriver said:

Life's tough for some, but someones gotta do it, and the weather looks great,

 

 

 

It is up again today; What a difference a week makes - poor to good.

[Keenaviator]

Had an absolute ripper of a day on the motor bike then  Jabiru and Trike flying on Friday. I used the 'Relive' app which shows your track and photos over Google Earth.

[Blueadventures]

Life's a Beach, heh.

[RFguy]

Today I flew with Thruster88 in his T500 Thruster today, first time I had been in 'such a plane' . around a bit of the central west in 20 kts of wind (but it was smooth, no bumps) .

Wow quite an aircraft, lots of fun, turns on a dime. textbook buffet stall....the blue motor 2 stroke is surprisingly quite and smooth.

a fun plane. the 20 kts made for some impressively steep departure and landing angles into the wind..... Thanks for an enjoyable day, Stuart.

Edited September 18, 2022 by RFguy

[kiwiaviator]

We have just had a wonderful long weekend in NZ with amazing weather. We flew the J230 from Masterton to Christchurch for a family event and there are some photos on the way down. On the way home this morning, I decided to go high and direct controlled VFR to avoid the westerly turbulence off the southern alps. At 7500' we had a very good tailwind (GS averaging 135 k) so our over water time was less than usual. Most people hug the coast until the last minute at low level. Fun factor would have been zero doing that today with 35 knots at 3000'  I felt comfortable and happy knowing I was radar tracked and plenty of time to prepare for an unlikely ditching. I'd be interested to see what do others think about this.

[Old Koreelah]

Beautiful, Kiwi. That image of the road snaking around the coastline of that fractured land got my trying to think up some smart comment comparing the bumps at 7,500’ with the turbulence sometimes felt by your countrymen at ground level.

[kiwiaviator]

6 minutes ago, Old Koreelah said:

Beautiful, Kiwi. That image of the road snaking around the coastline of that fractured land got my trying to think up some smart comment comparing the bumps at 7,500’ with the turbulence sometimes felt by your countrymen at ground level.

Very observant Old Koreelah. Now I realise that the coastline photo shows some land that is only a few years old raised by the Kaikoura quake.

[kiwiaviator]

PS. The 1 hr 46 min flight today saved 10 hours of driving and ferry. Or 4.5 hours driving and commercial flights in and out of Wellington. Only 46 litres of fuel used. Winning...

[Carbon Canary]

Hi Kiwi,

in my humble opinion your choice to go high and to have Controlled VFR (I assuming that is the Oz equivalent of ATC Flight Following) was very wise compared to mixing it with the mush down low !

ATC would know exactly where you were, and as you mention, you would have plenty of time to whale watch while you found a suitable ditching place if things all went to custard.

 

Fond memories of driving down from Marlborough past Kaikoura to Christchurch. (when I lived in New Plymouth) I’m sure it was even more spectacular trip from the air. 

Good luck to you !

CC

[planedriver]

OMG Blue skies!

I have a good memory and can still recall some of those with envy 😃

[eightyknots]

4 hours ago, kiwiaviator said:

We have just had a wonderful long weekend in NZ with amazing weather. We flew the J230 from Masterton to Christchurch for a family event and there are some photos on the way down. On the way home this morning, I decided to go high and direct controlled VFR to avoid the westerly turbulence off the southern alps. At 7500' we had a very good tailwind (GS averaging 135 k) so our over water time was less than usual. Most people hug the coast until the last minute at low level. Fun factor would have been zero doing that today with 35 knots at 3000'  I felt comfortable and happy knowing I was radar tracked and plenty of time to prepare for an unlikely ditching. I'd be interested to see what do others think about this.

Lovely photos❕

[spenaroo]

my last flight was one of those days where you just cant seem to get comfortable.

was agitated driving to the airport - Friday after a long week of work. if it wasn't a booked lesson id have kept driving home.
still with an instructor doing tail wheel so thought I'd get comfortable once in the air - I'm always nervous and feel like an imposter before a flight.

sat with the instructor to do the pre-lesson discussion, turned out I was noted as next step being a check-ride for the endorsement.
mentally knew I wasn't ready - was expecting circuits. but having never done an endorsement before thought it would be good to see what needed work. and what the process actually was.

did the preflight and climbed in for engine start - had another instructor walk over just as id yelled clear prop, but saw him as I was about to hit start. turns out he would be in the air with us doing a TIF and asked if he could come join on the wing for some formation flying.... Ive never done it, but hey this is a flight of firsts.

taxi to the run-up and I'm not comfortable. feeling a knot in my stomach. and couldn't adjust the altimeter from the sweat on my fingers slipping on the metal knob. but got through it and airborne without issue.

get up to height and out of the circuit, radio calls seemed to be okay - I still feel my skills are lacking - of the 80 hours I've flown, I reckon only 15-20 would be out of the circuit, doing calls. remember the sweat on the altimeter - well the digital and analogue were out by about 200ft. and I know I set them the same on the ground. oh well made a note, told the instructor and used the analogue for setting/holding height.

stalls were okay, though recovery from a turning stall is still an unsettling experience. applied power instinctively in the first one

after that the second instructor was in the area, so for a rest he joined on my wing and we flew down the coast with a couple of turns. really cool to see an aircraft come in that close, and gives you an idea of how they actually move in the air.

back to the assessment and steep turns. easier said then done, was over controlling the plane with rudder. probably did a dozen but not getting balance. in the end we figured it out and was bang on once I used smaller inputs and relaxed my leg pressure on the controls.

coming back into the circuit was fine, still getting my head around overhead joins and the dead side. I learned to descend and enter the circuit at crosswind when I got my RPC, as skydivers meant no overhead joins. 

landings... well the only one up to scratch was the full stop to finish. flared too high, flared too low and bounced, did a go-around.
easily would have done 6 attempts. and despite perfect weather just couldn't get that sweet spot. did a couple of turns out of balance too, start focusing on one area and lose track in another.

was a long 1.6 hours, muscles were tense or shaking, shirt was wet with sweat. but its experience.
now to build some more hours and get comfortable so I'm not thinking about what I'm doing - just doing it.
hopefully its taken some stress out knowing what to expect and having a base point to build on.
 

[facthunter]

About 50 mins of stressful flying is enough if you want value for money The formation was a distraction. (In my view) You are very candid and that's good but don't beat yourself up too much. Nev

[Flightrite]

Being nervous is a good thing, kinda keeps you on your toes.

whether you stay at the bottom of the ladder flying a bug smasher getting checked every couple of years or you get to the top in CMD of heavy metal getting g checked often, it’s all the same, a human flying a basic flying machine or a human flying a complex machine with a couple of hundred boguns in the back, flying is a skill, takes practice and constant assessment 👍

Edited November 1, 2022 by Flightrite

[Thruster88]

Flew this morning to check out the farm and flood in Lachlan river at Gooloogong. Has been raining every week this winter so water everywhere and with harvest fast approaching never a dull moment in farming. 😁

 

[onetrack]

Thruster, it looks like tracked harvesters and plenty of bog cables, will be in demand this harvest?