Clear prop newbie

[Guest AnGrobler]

Hi everyone

 

Wow, what a fantastic website and forum!

 

I'm new to flying, had my 4th microlight lesson yesterday and I'm absolutely in love with it.

 

I look forward to hearing from other enthusiasts - I read some of your stories and it seems this website is full of them!

 

Cheers

 

An

 

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

Map

 

By the way, does anyone know where I can find a map with all the airstrips around Australia that microlights are allowed to use? And if you know about a global map, that's even better...

 

 

[skeptic36]

Hi and :welcome:An,

 

Which school are you with at Porepunka ?

 

I recently trained over there with Steve Ruffles and I'm now flying out of Great Lakes at Lakes Entrance, having a ball. :big_grin:

 

Do you have your own trike yet ?

 

Regards Bill

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

Hi Bill and thanks for the welcome.

 

Steve is my instructor! He's great isn't he :)

 

I can't afford a trike yet unfortunately. I'll be keeping my eye on this classifieds section to see if something comes up. Fortunately Steve is ok with his students training in his trikes all the way up to completing the license. Naturally, flying with his XT912 Tourer has me dreaming of owning my own... except I'd love to have the Tundra. Or one with floats.

 

Do you own a trike?

 

Cheers

 

An

 

 

[skeptic36]

Hi An,

 

Yes I have a Pegasus Quantum, that's it pictured at Porepunka in my Avatar.

 

The float idea appeals to me also especially with all the suitable landing sites around the Gippsland Lakes, but it would have to be an old trike because I sure wouldn't want a 60 k+ aircraft to be splashing down in the salt water

 

Are you a local over there or do you travel for your training ?

 

My wife and I went for a 3 hr round trip down to Sale today, met Alf Jessup (another of Steves former students) on the way. He had a couple with him who recently arrived from Darwin. They have a nice silver xt912, he works at the RAAF base so gets free hangarage and a fire truck standing by everytime he takes off and lands

 

Regards Bill

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

Hi Bill

 

Ahhh i thought I recognised your avatar.

 

I love your trike - it's also a 4-stroke isn't it?

 

I know so little about microlights at this stage but loving to learn more.

 

Speak soon,

 

An

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

Oh and sorry, I didn't answer your question of being a local... My husband and I live in Albury, so I take the 1 hour and 15 minute drive once a week. Would love to go more but it wouldn't be practical. My husband is in the army, so maybe I can get him to organise a firetruck on standby for me when I start soloing as well

 

 

[skeptic36]

I love your trike - it's also a 4-stroke isn't it?

Hi An

Nope it's just a little ol' grey top 582 (2 stroke Rotax) but I love it too. :heart:

 

It didn't cost me a lot and I went that way because I wanted to make sure it (the fun of flying) wasn't a short lived thing before I spend big dollars on a 4 stroke.

 

You see a few low hour trikes for sale so it must wear off for some people.

 

Regards Bill

 

 

[farri]

By the way, does anyone know where I can find a map with all the airstrips around Australia that microlights are allowed to use? And if you know about a global map, that's even better...

Hi and AN,

 

I don`t know of any map but I`ll give you the position of my property and strip,it`s 45k south of Cairns,Queensland and you`re welcome if you ever get up here.

 

Lat. 17.13.060

 

Lon. 145.56.087

 

Cheers,

 

Frank.

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

I wanted to make sure it (the fun of flying) wasn't a short lived thing before I spend big dollars on a 4 stroke.You see a few low hour trikes for sale so it must wear off for some people.

Hi Bill

 

Yes I noticed there are some low hour trikes for sale - maybe it's a good thing I can't afford one yet just in case ;) but then again, I can't see my love of flying wearing off anytime soon!

 

Are you planning to upgrade sometime?

 

Cheers

 

An

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

Hi and AN,I don`t know of any map but I`ll give you the position of my property and strip,it`s 45k south of Cairns,Queensland and you`re welcome if you ever get up here.

 

Lat. 17.13.060

 

Lon. 145.56.087

 

Cheers,

 

Frank.

Hi Frank

 

Thank you for your generous invite! I just may take you up on your offer sometime :)

 

I've done my first mini cross country trip last week during my third lesson (from Porepunkah to Myrtleford) and it was so much fun, so I can't wait for the next longer distance one.

 

Have you seen the "Coast to Coast" and "South to South" films with Mike Blyth and Olivier Aubert traveling long distance in their trikes? Ahhh I can only dream... but maybe one day...

 

Cheers

 

An

 

 

[farri]

Hi an,

 

Haven`t seen the films, but were they the guys who came over from England wanting to go right around Australia by the coast?.I can`t remember exactly when but about 15/20 years ago two British guys came over wanting to circumnavigate in trikes.

 

I knew a guy called "Chris Bolton", from Cairns,who was a top gun trike pilot and on hearing that a couple of guys had come over to circumnavigate the country,said to me one day, " This is something that should be done by an Australian" and so he quickly packed up his trike and off he went,ahead of the British guys.

 

He finished his flight on my strip and told me that he had beaten the others around but I`m not aware of any official confirmation of this,maybe there`s someone out there that knows more about his adventure.

 

Cheers,

 

Frank.

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

Hi Frank

 

I don't think these are the same guys... Mike is South African and Olivier is French. You can take a look at their travels at www.trike-expeditions.com.

 

But Chris Bolton sounds like quite a guy :) So was he the first person to travel around Australia in a trike and finished on your airstrip?! I hope you got some PR leverage off it ;)

 

Cheers

 

An

 

 

[Guest kiwilad]

Hi An

 

Im about at the same stage as you ,over here in NZ.was up doing a few stalls in my instructors pegasus this evening.Brought a Solowings Windlass from here recently,but its taking so long to get to me.

 

 

[winsor68]

A gaggle of about 8 trikes went through Mackay a few months ago...I believe 2 of the pilots were from England, the rest had joined them for an around Australia flight. They had come from somewhere in WA and had been all the way around the top of Australia and were heading south.

 

They were hoping to do some TIF flights with all donations going to the RFDS but the weather was a bit choppy...

 

Was quite a sight seeing them take off at 7 am the next morning one after the other.

 

 

[Guest travis]

hi clear prop

 

hi , i also done my licence with steve , and yea i think he is a great instructor.sounds like you are enjoying it . i did my licence last year at the start off the snow season and have got 80 hours up now , havent done a lot off flying in the last few monthes due to being to busy and when i do get a bit off spare time its to windy to fly . .

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

Hi Windsor

 

That sounds great - I'd have loved to see them all together! My brother and I are dreaming of doing a trike trip around Australia, but we're both still working on getting our licenses at this stage. My husband is starting to show an interest in doing his license as well, so perhaps some day we'll do a proper family trip and meet you and other pilots from this site somewhere along the road

 

Cheers

 

An

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

hi , i also done my licence with steve , and yea i think he is a great instructor.sounds like you are enjoying it . i did my licence last year at the start off the snow season and have got 80 hours up now , havent done a lot off flying in the last few monthes due to being to busy and when i do get a bit off spare time its to windy to fly . .

Hi Travis

 

Wow 80 hours already! Did you commute to lessons or do you live near Bright?

 

Sounds like Steve has trained quite a few of us on this site :)

 

I can't wait for my next lesson. It's strange but each time we land, I feel like I'd like to go straight back up again to fly some more.

 

It's a serious bug once it's bitten, isn't it?

 

Cheers

 

An

 

 

[Guest travis]

my lessons

 

yea i whent down there and stayed for i think 13 days , and also had my own trike so once i got solo i could go and do my own thing while steve done his . i also just wanted to keep flying when we landed but the solo drags out a bit as i wanted to get passenger indorcement up to , not so much drags out as in boring but you just want to go some were else and explore new plces or in my case want go go and fly at home . i had 70 hours up pritty quick but havent flown much since october due to moving house and to busy but should start clocking some up again now .

 

 

[Guest AnGrobler]

Wooohoooo!!! Just thought I'd quickly pop in and share with everyone... I just did my very first solo!! Ahhh it was excellent, I'm still on a very (un?!)natural high :D

 

I hope you've all been well, love what you guys have done to the site!

 

 

[skeptic36]

 

Regards Bill

 

 

[Tracktop]

Hi

 

Congratulations

 

Ray

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

I knew a guy called "Chris Bolton", from Cairns,who was a top gun trike pilot and on hearing that a couple of guys had come over to circumnavigate the country,said to me one day, " This is something that should be done by an Australian" and so he quickly packed up his trike and off he went,ahead of the British guys.He finished his flight on my strip and told me that he had beaten the others around but I`m not aware of any official confirmation of this,maybe there`s someone out there that knows more about his adventure.

I'm not sure that there is any official record of the flights but I thought the first circumnavigation attempt by trike was Neil Hardiman who started from Newcastle in 1988. The story, as I heard it, was that he met Chris Bolton when he reached Cairns & Chris joined the trip from there. Both of them had a variety of mishaps & breakdowns and finally parted ways somewhere in Northern WA. I believe Neil finished early in 1989 - not sure about Chris but suspect the title of "first" is a bit contentious. I think Neils story got written up in Australian Geographic but it all happened way before I was here.

 

Subsequent trike circumnavigations were Chris Cullen, Tom Grieve and Keith Ingham in 1997 and myself & Jim Pearce in 2002. Finally most of the Aussi contingent of the You've Got Wings flight last year from Perth to Brisbane (which Winsor68 mentioned) also flew back to Perth.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

PS Congrats for the solo

 

 

[farri]

Hi John,

 

Thanks for that info,I`ve always wondered whether Chris did go all the way around.

 

I`ve posted this photo before but here it is again,there was a groupe of guys who started off in Melbourne,if I remember correctly,others joined in along the way, they were heading to the top of Cape Yourk and made a stopover here on my strip,I can`t remember the date it occured,as it was quite a few years ago.

 

There was to have been a lot more however some gave up before reaching here.

 

Cheers,

 

Frank.

 

PS. Good on you for that first solo,An.:thumb_up:

 

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

Looks like that was a busy day Frank !

 

Wish I had known about your strip when my friend & I did our circumnavigation - since we didn't we had to make do with Cairns Intl.

 

BTW in answer to An's earlier question about which airfields microlights can use - these are the same as any other recreational aircraft Ie pretty much any which aren't military or controlled airspace (& even these may be possible with PPR and appropriate licence etc)

 

Cheers

 

John