cscotthendry

Goodonyer! As for building an airplane: Now that you're retired, this is the perfect time to do that. I know I'm biased in these things, but IMO the perfect plane to build is the Skyranger Nynja. They can be built as fast or as slow as you like (in build times that is), cruise at a respectable 100kts and are very predictable flyers with few vices. They're a great airplane for low time pilots (I'm proof of that) and they are a proven, solid robust aircraft that will take a bit of punishment. The build is very simple and you will be up and flying very quickly (Greg built his in 10 weeks). The REAL benefit of building your own plane is 1) You know every inch of it 2) You can maintain it better and trust it 3) When you want to add the latest electronic gizmo or whatnot, you can and will know how to go about it safely 4) Building it will de-mystify airplane and engine maintenance. Caveat: Building and airplane will not save all that much money over buying one second hand. However, you will have the airplane EXACTLY to your wishes, it will be YOUR airplane. I know the above looks a bit like a Nynja ad, but I am not connected with them in any economic way (I still regard Greg Robertson as a friend though). I built one and never regretted my choice. Other kits like RVs etc might be flasher looking, but will take more time to build. In that time you will have to rent other peoples' planes which costs money. Welcome back to flying. Here's wishing you clear skies and tailwinds.

Thanks for the kind words. Yes there is a fair amount of work goes into the videos, but I really love doing them. Also, they capture the flights so that I can re-live them at any time. It's a real bonus for me that other people find them enjoyable too.

Meanwhile, I've been updating the vids from our Northern trip out to Carnarvon gorge and Longreach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries More to come soon... Subscribe and get automatic notifications when the new stuff comes up. Also, we're heading off on a motorhome trip through the US and going to Oshkosh. Should get some good footage from that lot, I hope.

Mate, guess what? He's gonna share that pic with every kid in his school and watch them all turn pea green! Did he take any pics/vids with his phone on the flight? Priceless.

Ryan: It's not a big problem as the strip is plenty long to sort out your arrival. When we were there, there was some grass growing through the runway. Don't know what it's like now. If you land on 12, there is a bit of turbulence from the hill southeast of the runway on short final if the wind is from the southeast. The stronger the wind, the worse the turbulence is. It might even be better to land downwind on 32 in some conditions as there's plenty of length to get on the ground and get slowed down.

PapaFox: Many, many thanks for doing this. I just had a look at it. *speechless*

In a noisy cockpit, I'll take a light over an audio alert any day.

Doug: Yes the primary files exist on this thread, but those files just contain links to the actual KMZ files that used to reside on the author's server. If you rename the files with the .KML extension as the author mentioned, they will load into GE and show up in the side bar. Then if you right click on these new entries, a popup menu appears. At the bottom of this menu is "properties". Click that and you will see a dialog box, and on the general tab, you'll see the actual file links listed there as http:// ... Those are the files that no longer exist. The author did this so he could easily update the real files on his own server and not have to upload them here every time there was an update. Each time you go into GE, those links would load the latest updates for you. HTH

Oops! I see that this thread is from 2011. I guess those files don't exist anymore. Pity!

Obviously a very slow flight. Not exactly "bird strike from behind" slow, but nearly.

Hmmm ... I think myself fairly computer literate (having taught it for 15 years) but I can't get them to work. I downloaded the txt files and renamed them as per instructions. I loaded them into GE and I could see that they are referencing some KMZs on another server, but nothing seems to happen. Am I doing something wrong, or have the KMZs been deleted or is this server not available anymore?

Just tried it out. Brilliant! They download as PDFs, but can be converted online into JPGs for other uses. I have wanted to use these charts in my videos for some time. Yipeee!

Yeah, I read that. I thought they solved that problem in WWII. Another problem to drag the production of this white elephant out more. This has been the money spinner of the century for the Military Industrial Complex.

I have it on good authority that the base of the control tower is the best place to meet up. With wifi available in the camp, I'll let everyone know our US mobile number when we're settled in. Bryon, Roundsounds and Chris, can you PM me with details of how to contact you when we're over there?

The navigator and I are heading to Oshkosh this year. This has been Bucket List item #1 for a looong time. Will we see any forumites there? We will be camping in Camp Scholler in an RV (no, not a Vans RV!) We will be there for as much of the event as the navigator can tolerate (which will be most, if not all of the week I hope) and would like to put some faces to some of the forum handles. If you're going and would like to catch up over a jar of something wet, PM me and let's try and set something up.

Thanks for that Tony. Your mention of paperwork has given me the idea to take my pilot log with me when I go.

Does anyone know whether our RA-Aus pilot certificate is recognized in the US? If not, what is required to be able to rent an LSA or ultralight there?

If you have a cigarette lighter socket in your plane, you could try replacing it with one of these. Twin USB Panel or Surface Mount Outlet 5V 3.1A | Jaycar Electronics I put one in my plane and I have had no interference with the radio from it. Even if you don't have a lighter socket, this unit comes with a mounting adapter to mount it under the panel. I would also suggest that you run the power and ground wires for it, right back to your distribution bus, rather than to a nearby instrument or whatever.

The amount of rudder required varies with the design of the airplane. In my Nynja, I needed to use the rudder a fair bit to coordinate the turns as it had straight hinged ailerons which gave a bit of adverse yaw. In the Legend, I don't need rudder to coordinate the turns as much because it has friese ailerons which mostly counter the adverse yaw. In fact, when I first got the Legend, I overused the rudder at first and in turbulence, I would get a swimming type action because of rudder overuse. Having said all that, on long flights in smooth air, I fly with only the rudder. Once the airplane is trimmed properly, I just use the pedals to keep on track. But back on topic, the thing that has made me a better pilot is cross country flying, and I don't mean 100NM jaunts to nearby airfields. 5-6hour flights to the outback give you time to understand your airplane, time to get confidence in your machine and yourself as a pilot. It requires you to flesh out your understanding of the weather, and study its effects over longer distances and larger areas. You start to think more about survival in remote areas and ways to minimise the time you'll be on the ground if you have to put down in a paddock or a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. My most memorable flying and which I learned the most from, was flying out to Ayers Rock, particularly flying over 245nm of the Simpson Desert.

It's designated D for similar reasons that training areas are given that designation. You need to keep your eyes peeled for other traffic. In that area, a transponder would be a good thing to have on board. If there are any fast jets flying low, they would have more chance to see where you are. I regularly fly through those D areas and have yet to encounter any fighters doing low level stuff there, but .... Also, I have heard instances where military jets are flying low level in uncontrolled airspace and ATC make repeated warnings on the area frequencies. I have also encountered military helicopters flying in G airspace and they make frequent calls on area and CTAFs when appropriate. If you're planning to fly through the Amberley D areas and don't have a radio, my advice would be to not go there. If you don't have a transponder, again, I'd say, keep an extra good lookout for traffic.

Not quite that simple. As someone else said, the CTR is always class C. The restricted/danger areas aren't that more complicated than the airspace around any other C class airport, except that the bottoms of the rings are mostly danger areas that you can freely fly through. The rings themselves are either active or inactive and as I mentioned before, ATC is your friend there. Don't be intimidated by calling ATC. They are happy to help and they would MUCH rather talk to you, than to try and find out who just busted a restricted/controlled area. The format I use (may not be techically correct but it works) is Me: "Brisbane center, Legend 8714 request status of Amberley airspace" ATC: "Station calling center, Amberley airspace is de-active, becoming active at two, two, zero, zero" Which means the restricted areas are inactive, but will come active at 8:00am local time. Or they might list which restricted areas will be / are active. You need to pay close attention and keep your situational awarness. I usually allow a couple of miles horizontal buffer and at least 100 ft vertical clearance.

That guy will never live that down. *puts towel over head and runs around yard* "Ferris wheel? I don't see any ferris wheel." Agree with David, very fortunate no one was seriously injured or killed.

Most of the red ringed areas between Heck field and Toowoomba are danger areas which you can legally fly through without seeking clearance. You won't be able to just fly a straight line to TWB. Whatever you do, contact Bris Center on 121.2 and request the status of Amberley airspace before you transit any Restricted spaces. The restricted spaces aren't always active and sometimes you can fly through them. Don't try to fly through the CTR though without clearance from Amberley. Study the chart and familiarise yourself with the R area numbers and their lowest levels. Stay below those levels when they're active and you'll be OK.

Here's some pics from the weekend