kgwilson

I have been flying since the 1970s and have flown in to many private strips. I would never fly over any ones house at such low level to land unless I had spoken to the home owner and requested permission, not just assume I had the right. You have a valid right to be concerned but a discussion about the issue with your neighbour is the best first step in my opinion.

If you are going to do these things that contrary to all of the rules, regulations and laws of the land you sure as hell don't tell anyone especially on a public forum site.

Getting back to the original subject, it would appear he was a reasonably good student based on the conversion CFIs remarks but his gung ho bullet proof attitude did not make an appearance then. It certainly did from his Paragliding Instructors comments. See the transcript below. He was described as a "disaster waiting to happen" and that those in Tasmania who had instructed him and observed his flying and attitude offered the final statement "Sadly Jill, those of us down here with an awareness of these factors are unsurprised by what has transpired." Thanks for the call yesterday. This email concerns the fatal aircraft accident involving Mathew Farrell, and the concerns I raised in our phone call. Mat joined our community in Tasmania in late 2019. I first spent time with him whilst driving to Bright in March 2020, to attend a cross country clinic I had organised for THPA (Tas. Hang gliding and Paragliding Association) members. Mat told me his background coming from adventure sports, more specifically rock- climbing. He described his appetite for risk and his belief that he was able to manage the involved risks to a high degree and aviation was no different. This raised my eyebrows, and I mentioned that gravity does not take prisoners, which he dismissed. He replied that he was aware of the risks but he felt he knew enough to handle them. The impression that I was left with was that this was someone who had yet to honestly face the consequences of their actions and were denying their vulnerability (or mortality). Over the course of the next few days, I was able to observe Mat’s flying. Whilst competent in all phases of flight in terms of controlling his aircraft, I was concerned about his decision-making processes. He appeared to only think one step ahead, and not look further ahead to possible consequences. This manifested itself particularly in his approach to landings. … Over the next year, Mat progressed through the pilot qualifications, but not without incident. I have attached three reports raised within SAFA’s Accident and Incident Reporting System (AIRS) concerning Mat, and email correspondence from our AIRS Manager (in effect, accident investigator), Luke Denniss, regarding one of these. Luke complained to me personally about Mat’s approach to reporting events (why should I?), and the events themselves (I knew what I was doing). Luke expressed his concern that Mat was ‘… a disaster waiting to happen’ or words to that effect. He was not alone in that view, I’m sorry to say. Whilst in Tasmania, Mat approached local Flight Instructor Ramon Brasnja to be issued a PG5 pilot certificate, SAFA’s highest flight qualification. Ramon refused to sign him off as he believed that his attitude was not consistent with that of a PG5 pilot. I have attached the correspondence from Mat to Ramon in response to this. Overall, for me, Mat was particularly arrogant when it came to being honest about his decisions, denying there was a problem and refusing to recognise that he had made errors in judgement. His belief in his invincibility was a great worry. Sadly Jill, those of us down here with an awareness of these factors are unsurprised by what has transpired. …177 (the Iain Clarke email)

No matter what, given the demeanour of the pilot in this case a major issue was almost certain in a reasonably short time. The crash and fatality happened and it was the fault of the pilot. The learnings that come out of this have been made glaringly obvious by the Coroner. How anyone in RA-Aus thought that flying hours in a foot launched, non rigid, unpowered, flexible paraglider could possibly be counted as flight experience towards a RA-Aus pilot certificate displays either arrogance or a totally inadequate understanding of what prior knowledge and experience is. Then to defend the actions and cover everything up from the Operations Manager to top management and Board of Directors shows these factors in an even worse light along with a complete misunderstanding of the thorough nature of a Coronial inquest. The fact that Neil Schaefer was the only one who railed against this and that he was shut up is even more disturbing. Those involved should be prosecuted and relieved of their roles in a very public way. I hope this happens.

China is the worlds factory. My MG EV was made there. The quality is better than my last Japanese car. The manual and all service documentation is in perfect English and it has a 10 year warranty. Most Japanese branded electronics are made in China. Almost all mobile phones in the world are made there including Apple & Samsung. BYD make the best busses in the world. CATL is by far the largest battery manufacturer in the world and leads the world in technology and innovation. The list is endless Zonsen may be new here but is well known in other markets. In Australia we have a huge bias against Chinese made anything fueled by our politicians who are always going on about about the threat of some Chinese takeover, influence in the Pacific or their aircraft flying too close to ours when we are flying surveillance missions on the edge of THEIR airspace. The prejudices run deep. Early stuff was a bit suspect but it was cheap. The old adage of "You get what you pay for" is as true today as it ever was. Quality has never been cheap. So that is reflected in the price so the 4k saving of the Zonsen engine may not be much but hey a lot of Chinese made stuff now is better than Western equivalents so watch this space.

I presume you mean installing the pistons back to front. They wouldn't work too well upside down. Gen 1 pistons did not have valve relief cups.

The training under the hood consists of a continuous scan of the instruments to determine how to correct any change in speed, attitude etc. The instructor will deliberately throw the aircraft in different directions and attitudes trying to confuse you and then say "Your aircraft". You then have to get it flying S&L as quickly as possible without stalling. I remember once he said "That was good when I handed over we were going straight up". I had no idea other than I knew I had to get back to S&L. It should be part of the RA syllabus even if angles and unusual attitudes are not as severe. That training served me well about 30 years ago.

Most Cessnas i've flown have enough instruments to keep you S&L. The 5 hours under the hood for PPL is the best training you can get to prepare for an inadvertent VMC to IMC situation. The compass will keep you pointed in one direction, The VSI will allow you to stay at the same altitude, The turn co-ordinator/ balance ball will allow you to keep S&L in balanced flight. These are the minimums. An AH is better for everything except direction. The problem is without this training which includes recovery from unusual attitudes plus retention of the skills, encountering it for the first time can cause panic and all the knowledge goes out the window & you have the classic 178 seconds to live.

A friend did his RPC to RPL conversion at Caboolture & they wouldn't issue it till he got the ASIC. AFAIK Caboolture is not security controlled.

It is a pathetic solution looking for a problem & has spawned a whole industry of issuers & you cannot be issued with any GA licence without it. There is no other country on the planet that has such a system

No I don't think you need anything more than I had. I had no IFR training just 5 hours under the hood with recovery from some very weird AOA scenarios with all steam gauges. Just keep scanning DI (compass), VSI, AH, ASI & engine handling stuff as normal. It is different for every individual but if I'd failed this part I would not have got my PPL. Worked for me & I had 3 passengers at the time. The problem is there is nothing like this in the RA syllabus. No spin (or incipient spin) training either.

If it was Spatial Disorientation it is well known that pilots disbelieve what their instruments are telling them because their mind is saying "No I am S&L". I once got sucked up into the base of a CU in my hang glider & got spat out the side. I thought I was S&L but was almost 90 deg to the horizon when in the clear. I also flew deliberately in to IMC in My Archer 2 about 30 years ago as I was in a valley surrounded by hills with tops in the cloud and no safe landing area. I set my original heading & climbed, eyes glued to the panel and saying to myself continually "believe the Instruments". I came out the top at over 9500 feet. I continually had to fight the urge to turn. The 5 hours under the hood was some of the best spent time while training for my PPL.

Top up to the full mark & your oil catch bottle will get most of it. Best to top up to about 3/4 of the way up the knurled section of the dipstick (for the 3300 6 cyl). My Gen 3 3300 drops about 3mm on the dipstick between changes every 25 hours with no top ups required.

The evidence shows the oil is getting in but not out. I can't see what Avgas/Mogas has to do with it. Most Jabs I know (Gen 1 to 4) run exclusively on Mogas (Automotive petrol 98 RON). Plugs will always appear black but I've never known them to foul. Avgas on the other hand can lead to lead deposits on the piston crown, head & plugs. There would appear to be a problem with the oil return & if this is via the pushrod tubes & the pressure builds up it will find its way into the combustion chamber, new guides or not & will be worse at idle RPM. Find the oil return blockage and job done.

That is expensive. The hangar owners association lease our aerodrome from Crown Lands & the lease per hangar for the current financial year is $1,680.00, or $140.00 a month. That includes rates, PL insurance, maintenance, admin etc with all work done by us volunteers other than contractors for runway sealing, earthworks etc.