Tracktop

Hi RNAC - Royal Newcastle Aero Club Hunter Valley is a nice place to visit anyway. Don't know any details or requirements, or if its too far but probably not a lot of closer options depending on which side of Sydney your on. Try a phone call and ask as their (our, I am a newish member) site is a bit out of date. Ray

That " " would look good on the back of your trailer

Hi Your instructor may be leaving you to do the preflight by yourself to allow you to get your routine established. All the advice I have received and as stated above is get rid of interruptions and distractions while doing you preflight. If your instructor is there then you can get distracted asking questions and disrupt your routine. My guess is he has already shown you what to do and look for?. Mine used to leave me to it and look totally disinterested in what I was doing, but was he always watching out of the corner of his eye or from a distance or from around the corner. When he was really satisfied with my performance only then did he really go away and do other things. Ray

It would appear that mostly we already do that so I cannot see the problem, surely to have any weight in a bargaining / negotiation situation for something else it needs mandating. We all understand the limitations and failings of the radio so whatever its status I don't see that it would cause people reduce their lookout. It is just tool to assist in that function. Remember all cars have blinkers but any driver worth their salt still keeps a good lookout and use caution in case the signals or lack of signals provide the wrong indication of intention. ozzie - I have thought long and hard about this. Where I would like to fly in the future is to see as much of Australia as I can, so area or remoteness doesn't put any particular ac out of my potential ( wishful) range. Your also pretty close to my home field too. As I said before from a selfish point of view I think everyone should have/ use one so they can hear me, and tell me what they are doing. Probably something else to consider is when I look around this sport I see a hell of a lot of grey hair and glasses. As we get older our eyesight becomes less acute ( before I get shot down I am not suggesting inadequate). My guess is that on overall average rec flyers compared to GA would have less ac spotting ability, based on my assumption that many GA are younger and trying to or are in a career situation. So assistance in keeping a good lookout is generally more important to Rec aviation. :stirring pot: Ray

Hi I don't know how your instructor works but some have been known ( and its a good technique ) to put faults there for you to find. It also gives them an idea how well you are preflighting. So always look hard and question if you even slightly suspect a problem. New and different eyes can often pick up what others have missed or assumed is OK. ( from a novice) Being a novice it is even easier to ask those simple or dumb question, why we are still learning so we are not expected to know any of the answers yet. Yer I know we never stop learning or questioning. Ray

Well like many before me, I have watched and listened to this subject for some time so now it is time for my thoughts. First of all I am very new to aviation, I have only had an interest of any kind for 12 months ( and in reality only 6 months) so I come with no history knowledge and no past baggage. While I can see where the NO proponents are coming from, and I agree that keeping it as simple and as unregulated as possible is the correct direction within reason. While I am still to attain my PC I am a member of this site and as such entitled to vote how I feel at the time I vote in the pole as is every member. Yes I voted yes, have you change my mind no From a selfish point of view - when I purchased my plane (new) it seemed obvious to me that for safety sake, it should be equipped with the optional radio and not including it was not what I considered an option. For MY radio to be most effective it would be better if every aircraft had a radio on board. Even better if was switched on and on the right frequency. Yep selfish but my safety is important to me and I believe anything I can do to improve that is a bonus. There have been some pretty weak arguments for the NO vote like put a radio in every car example, even wrong frequency doesn't wash. It will never be perfect but the improvement - especially at such small expense would be benificial. All the other non arguments like why not mandating "IFR, triple redundancy glass cockpit two crew, air bags, emergency slides, EGPWS, TCAS, RVSM, weather radar, cockpit voice recorders, flight data recorders and fixed ELTs" only effects the occupants of that ac NOT ME. I want to be heard when I say something. - selfish me :big_grin: I notice almost if not all the NO proponents agree they have and use a radio. Why if it does not provide a significant benefit to you ? My thoughts are that a radio is like the motor car blinker, yes I was around and driving when they didn't exist. Now every car must have them, they are not always used correctly (like wrong frequency) and sometimes not even used at all (as with radio now) but without them driving on our roads would would be a much more hazardous and difficult task than it already is. You still need to drive ( operate ) defensively in case they are used incorrectly as you would if radios were mandated. Having said that I don't believe it will ever be mandated as it would need to fall in line internationally. Then again maybe the RAA / HGFA should lead the way by mandating it in their rules and show how responsible we really are, it might even give us some leverage to bargain / negotiate for some other freedom / exemption that is really more important to us. Especially seeing as if radios seem to be the norm rather than the exception, and this discussion is really about freedom and rights (exemptions) rather than what is best. Ray

I assume it was the buzzard "flew" past me on the F3 at about 8:30pm Speed looks good - No wing and all:hittinghead: You didn't wave. trailer 4040? I was in a laden truck going up a hill

Could be your unzipper works OK for me but I am using and very old unzipper - powerarchiver2001 (free) Ray

aah off topic but was wondering how the new site was progressing thanks for the update.:thumb_up: Ray

do you trust him to send the right photo?

Thanks Mark Doesn't seem that intensive as they suggested and certainly in the acceptable level Ray

Hi looks like an nice solution and a good find the web site says it is data intensive and suggests an unlimited plan Have you got this or a solution or is it not really a problem or is it a bit soon to know yet? - What do you recommend - not really up to date with phone plans Ray

:thumb_up: What else can I say - Great philosophy

Hi FD works fine in my excel but doesn't find the airfield database in my openoffice.org calc program. Ray

:super: good to see

Often the subject changes several times mid thread which I guess makes putting it in one category or another difficult a times. Also shouldn't need to make extra work load. Maybe just work on a better search?? might be easier. Ray

Just tried it and it works OK Had to change the extension to .zip to get my unzipper to work on it though Doesn't find the airport data base on Open Office ( free) but ok in xl

Hi Bob By all means order a new valve, but it is most likely you just need 1 or 2 new small O rings. I needed a new valve because the small steel retaining C ring at the top was missing. Just be careful when dis-assembling that you don't loose any parts. Thinking about it now I know what it looks like and how it operates I think when you pull the plunger down in an effort to make it seal you (me) shear the outer edge of the O ring off. The plunger then drops a little lower with the remaining part of the O ring sealing inside the hole rather than on top as pictured. In this situation the steel C ring probably stops the plunger coming out by seating where the O ring should seat. To make matters worse the loose sheared off bits of O ring probably cause more problems with poor sealing compounding the problem. After writing this I think I might measure the distance the plunger travels ( or hangs out) as a means of condition monitoring the valve as I would expect the valve to protrude further out ( have more travel ) if the top O ring is faulty. If you purchase a new one you could still recondition the old one as a spare. By the way the string seems to be keeping the soft shell away from the valve nicely, and its really nice to have a valve that seals easily again. Ray

I agree instructors should not wait to long to correct. Yes sometimes I may think "yes I was doing (or about to do) that" Trikes are dual control by nature and my instructor usually just pushes harder or earlier than me to correct my mistakes or late operations.) BUT as it's my plane, if it takes longer to learn then so be it. In the long run it is cheaper to pay for a few extra lessons than stress MY plane even if no apparent damage is caused ie less than smooth landing. My thoughts as a student Ray

Hi Bob My advice - Don't keep doing what you are doing. Mine also was the same and I have been pulling and twisting for some time now after checking the fuel, to stop the dripping. Today while getting ready to fly I refueled and did a fuel drain check then I decided to tie the back of the fabric shroud back to the tiedown loop and rear strut in an effort to keep it clear of the drain valve. While doing this the drain valve was still dripping from the test so I did my usual twist and pull and the plunger came completely out. Of cause Murphy was helping me and I dropped the part in surprise, so there I was little (really old Fella) boy with his finger in the dyke stopping the flow and unable to reach the loose part on the ground. Did the dash and grab and pushed the plunger back in the hole and it mostly stopped the flow without too much loss of fuel. Really pleased it happened then and not in flight as it most certainly would have dumped the fuel without notice and resulted in an engine out - I would much prefer to just practice them with a running engine. Drained the fuel ( an easy job with the faulty valve) and then removed the valve. The top O ring had suffered under my attempts to stop drips in the past and the spring retainer was gone. SO ENDED MY MORNING FLYING LESSON bugger! Lucky Airborne is not to far away so headed off an got a new one, then back and reinstalled in time for a rescheduled afternoon lesson. Airborne's suggestion for stopping a drip is to continually operated the drain valve as it is usually caused by piece of foreign material from the fuel lodging in one of the small holes or under the O ring. Repetitive operation usually dislodges or shears the foriegn body and flushes it free So in summary from my experience I would suggest it's a cheap and easy fix but requires draining the tank.- Just replace the 2 small O rings that are probably now damaged, But do it before you loose the retaining spring an need to buy a new valve either similar or different. Took some pics of the valve if that helps. Checked the thread size but couldn't ID in the limited time I had available ( though I did check it against a few different threads I had at hand) Hope this is of some help Ray

Hi Congratulations Ray

A stab in the dark- Maybe YLEC - Leigh Creek SA Airport

Had one lesson with Len ( gift voucher ) but undergoing training closer to home. Interesting strip, nice friendly atmosphere, enjoyed my one visit and flight training there. Hi McG will get back to see you soon. Ray

Great trip and Pics Ray