Stevie B

The speculation and idiotic opinions annoy me, so insensitive and ignorant. Families looking for answers trawl through these forums, enjoy your discussions boofhead...

Dust devils can be very dangerous, I know of a pilot who was flying a Cessna and totalled his aircraft due to a dust devil. I feel sorry for the unfortunate pilot, his passenger and their families.

I don't know the pilot or the circumstances and I am always sensitive to the families involved. My post was triggered from reading other posts on this thread that seemed to be indicating that a recent change of wing without training as the cause of the accident. I'm not blaming anybody or anything, just saying that upgrading a wing may not be the cause, maybe everyone should wait for the full investigation.

I wouldn't call the arrow a high performance wing, it was a fix for the SST and trims at 60 knots. Your high performance wings are 80 knots plus. I once heard Russel say that the arrow had the potential for 90 knots but the 80 horse engine just isn't enough so they have it hanging at just 60 knots. Another bloke I respect is Larry Mednick and he thinks the Arrow is the best wing airborne have ever done, a good all rounder. I've flown 5 different wings from a wizard 3 to a Quik R, each time I graduated I thought it was easier to fly. Scariest Wing for me was the slowest, the wizard was all over the shop in anything but the calmest of conditions, each time I graduated it got easier, the faster wings are less volatile, have better penetration in rough conditions and generally easier and more pleasurable to fly. I'm glad that I started out and got my grounding in the wiz as I reckon if if you can fly that you can fly anything.

Hi PhilI'm of the opinion that a greater turbulence would come off a prop than a wing, and as a trikes prop is at the rear this turbulence could be greater or different than a 3 axis where the prop wash is perhaps lessened by some degree as it has to flow over the aircrafts fuselage. I'm happy to be told I've got it wrong and even more happy to be educated a bit on this subject.

Um pardon me but wouldn't there be greater wake turbulence coming from the prop on a trike as on as trike the prop is at the back! your 3 axis has the prop at the front and the passage of air over the aircraft must reduce the props vortices, but on a trike?????? maybe a trike could produce greater wake turbulence???? Anyway off topic, we already know that wake turbulence was not a factor in this incident..

Hey March I'm selling my Edge X and it seems to fit all your criteria check it out on my ebay listing http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/300588375607?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

my e-mail is [email protected] I will be away until tuesday so wont be able to reply to anything until then cheers

Two of our members in the Southern Microlight Club have imported Pegasus Trikes, one was a GT450 and the other a Quik R, the QuikR was brought in this year and registered with the RAA, both of these trikes are based in Victoria, one in Porepunkah (GT450) and the other at Tyab in Melbourne (QuikR). I'm sure that the 2 owners would be happy to talk/show you about their machines. I am about to place my order for a Quik R, it seems to me that they are the best value trike at the moment and Airborne do not have a trike that matches it. Contact me privately if you want more info.

This thread seems to have gotten lost under the new configuration

Thanks for your support Andrew, I guess the majority weren't to know that I was already fully aware of all that stuff, dont need to recover it and was dissapointed that my desired topic was being taken off track before it had even started. You can be assured that I want to play by all the rules and keep everything transparent. I certainly have no intention of bleeding funds off to pay for my own flying enjoyment. Over the years I've been a sceptic of how donations given to various charities is actually used and I hate the idea of feeding beurocracies with very little actually going where it's really intended. One of the aspects that I really like about Gawler is that there is no beurocracy, every dollar raised will go directly to benefit the cancer stricken.

This a message that was sent to me privately, so uplifting. Negative words "you cant do it" "dont do it" "why are you doing it" just dont cut it. There is far too much negativity in this world as it is. Keep at it mate!

Thanks Sue for all your suggestions which I will take on board, I had a look at the everyday hero website, its a shame that they take 6.5% of donations as their fee, this is similar to another site called yourcause.com. I will set something else up with the help of the Gawler Foundation where funds can go directly into an account where no fees are taken.

Thanks Sue, as I've said before I dont want anyone else to fund my flying I genuinely wish to support my chosen charity. My world got turned upside down last year when my beautiful wife was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer, her prognosis is not good and at 47 years of age we were devastated. She attended a residential programme at the Gawler Foundation in Victoria's Yarra Valley in October last year. The Gawler Foundation run programmes on all the lifestyle issues that you can address to run alongside any medical treatment. (integrative medicine) The programme gave her hope and put the smile back on her face. Her prognosis now is not an issue we just enjoy every day and live the best life that we can. We are so grateful to the Gawler Foundation and the work that they do. The Gawler Foundation are a not for profit charity who recieve no government funding and do fantastic work. There is no cure for cancer but here is an organisation that are delivering meaningful and real benefits to cancer victims right now. I want to support them. I have lost both my parents and my brother (march this year) to cancer. Every now and then I get to leave all my troubles on the ground and take off in my microlight for a while, one day while flying I was thinking to myself wouldnt it be good if we could find a way to combine flying with fund raising, I'm sure it can be done. I am already involved with Gawler, they are publishing my story shortly on their website and I have a major corporate supporter who will match funds raised up to $10,000. Gawler will help publicise any event and the Southern Microlight Club are also willing to support the cause. I have CFI's who have also indicated support and the HGFA will donate temporary memberships for TIFFs. So this has started with a desire and I now need to come up with a plan. I thought that it would be a good idea to brainstorm this forum for ideas. http://www.gawler.org/ Steve

Owen what was your idea? How did you raise the money? How much did you raise? What fund raising ideas have you for anyone who wants to follow you?

I fully intend to fund the flight myself and don't need an ethics lecture, I have asked this group for ideas on how we could use this fabulous pastime to generate an inflow of funds for a charity that would be greater than the simple gift I could do from my own resources. If you have any ideas or suggestions on this topic I would appreciate

I should have been more clear about what I was asking for as I have already been down that path and learnt that only an Instructor or CFI can take a joy flight or TIF. I have Instructors on board with this and dont want to recover that discussion. What I'm asking for is ideas of ways to get the funds rolling in?

why?

I'm looking for ideas of how to combine my love of flying with raising money and promoting a worthwhile charity, I can think of no other more satisfying thing to do than to turn this great and fabulous passtime into an activity that benefits a very worthwhile cause. I already have a charity in mind, what I am asking for is ideas of how to get the money flowing? Looking forward to receiving your suggestions...

The group he was flying with were all in regular contact on a chat chanel, however there was nothing from him, furthers the speculation...

Speculation is that the pilot either had a heart attack or stroke whilst in the air as radio went silent.