J170 Owner

Hells Bells - How and where did the mice get into a Jabiru wing?

It seemed to me that he was going too fast at touch down but hell, what would I know...

Get Scully and Mulder onto it, they'll get us the truth!!!!

Are the CASA publications available for downloading (or uploading?) to the Kindle? Would be nice to have ERSA, the VFG and whatever in the one neat package. As for the magazine, I like my hard copy thankyou.

Is the steering wheel on the other side?

Short answer; no.

I own a J170 and in my opinion, 400m would be too short for me. You certainly can land in that distance but the J170 can float, can get lifted up easily during hold off and hard braking is 'scary' as it shakes the daylights out of the plane. I have had to go around on 600m strips because of the float and then a gust putting me 2m higher than I want. Do you have ALL the 400m available on landing? I just looked at some of my GPS tracks, my shortest ground roll on landing was 320M

My neighbor used to say "Always have a hole dug, you never know when you'll need one in a hurry". Could come in handy if you get my drift.....

Be careful about setting traps and warnings. I had a car horn at head height just inside my shed door. A thief would cop that in the ear from less than a few inches away however I was advised (by the cops) that I could be sued for damages if I used it and possibly charged with an offence for installing it in the first place. Such are our stupid laws. Now, if I were King Kev....

If somebody could explain this to me, I would be grateful because (I am no expert) with all the study I have done in meteorology and atmospheric physics I have not heard that.

One would have to be a total pratt if he/she got into a situation where they are likely to be struck by lightening while flying a light sport aircraft. My opinion, like it or not.....

Far out brussell sprout!

Hangar, not hanger....

Ripper, nipper, paint stripper! First solo navex is a major milestone, good on you.

When I did my BAK the school would have it faxed to them from somewhere (Canberra I guess). That was in the eighties or nineties and for my private pilot licence. The school certainly didn't set it.

Just for the record, aerodromes have an elevation, not altitude.

It's part of the flight plan Peter. Disregarding air pressure changes, if you plan a flight to (say) Chinchilla, you look at ERSA and see that Chincilla has an ELEVATION of about 1000 feet. So you plan to arrive in the circuit at 2000 feet indicated on your altimeter. However, especially on a longer flight, the pressure may drop (say) 10 millibars. That's 300 feet, and a drop in pressure means you will be flying that 300 feet LOWER in order to get the desired 2000 feet reading. You will actually be 700 feet AGL at the destination. Remember, from HIGH to LOW, lookout below!!!!

I only drain the fuel before my first flight (DI) for the day or after refuelling the plane.

My working life has been in electronics and computing, last 15 years in c++ programming. I did however have a short but interesting job as a minder for some 'ladies of the night'. My best friend back then was Mr. Waterpipe.

The windsock was flapping out horizontal and at 90 degrees to the runway during this landing. At 500 feet AGL I had about 45 degrees of drift which reduced to about 30 degrees crossing the fence. The video is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F61BnPoix6c As soon as I straightened up the plane drifted to the right. Lots of rudder work involved!

Thanks for that. I wonder who the stupid planker is that thinks up these idiotic user interfaces. Stupid, stupid, stupid people....

When I log on I can normally access the weather. Now I cannot find the weather button anywhere. Can somebody please re-educate me? (I know the instant this is posted the answer will become obvious, however let's go with it anyway...)

I'm convinced that controllers seem to think it 'cool' to speak very fast and not be clearly understood - the very opposite of what is required. I was flying into Rapid City, South Dakota in 1990 and had to tell the tower to slow down and speak clearly on two occassions.

I have had no complaints with my J170, bought new 18 months ago. Only done 60 hours so it's still like new. I had imagined doing 200 hours a year! Anyway, it starts easy and runs just fine. The engine is simple and easy to work on and the plane IS PRETTY (Pete). The inside is not as nice looking as other planes but the Jab is definately value for money. I particularly like the fact I can fly for 8 or 9 hours before refuelling - not that I would be in the air that long, my hips would seize up and my bladder explode. Plus it can lift its own weight, so two 80 kilo blokes and full fuel is easy. What I don't like is the 'feel' of the control stick. Planes with cables or rods seem to be very smooth and precise whereas the Jab with its 'throttle cable' controls always seems 'sloppy' to me. Having said that, one gets used to it pretty quick. The plane with its big wing can float down the runway so getting into shorter strips (say < 500 metres) requires a little more precision. I used to fly Warriors and Tobagos but have grown to like the Jabs high wing. Better view of the ground when navigating and in the event you put down in a paddock, less chance of tearing your wing open on a star picket etc. (or taking off a kangaroos head). I have had comments from pilots that fly planes with Rotax engines that the Jabiru engine is unreliable, but I think they are remembering the early development days of the mid nineties. Cheers and beers

Hi. Personally, I think flight planning software is a waste of time. Pilots should be capable of doing a flight plan using the whizzwheel and definately be able to recalculate headings/tracks and wind while in the air using the whizzwheel. (How many can?). As for GPS, I use a Garmin Nuvi in offroad mode (as a backup). It works just fine, plots a line between waypoints in purple and your track shows up as a blue line. Easy to see where you are and what to do to maintain track. Great when you get home and overlay your track on Google Earth. I am however old and frumpy so you may throw your sandles at me, if they are followed with booz.