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sfGnome

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Everything posted by sfGnome

  1. sfGnome
    Yep, bung the list on here. I’m in need of some clecos, and who knows what else you have might be of interest?
  2. sfGnome
    Just for a moment, that’s the highest elevation AGL that your plane has achieved… 😁
  3. sfGnome
    The biggest issue with the 3G shutdown is that a lot of older phones automatically switch to 3G (and only 3G) for emergency calls. I presume that was because the designers thought that 3G had a better chance of getting through in remote locations, but it’ll mean that they won’t get through at all after the shutdown, and the worst aspect of that is that they won’t know that their phone won’t work for 000 until they try it…
  4. sfGnome
    It was a 24 reg, used by the RA flight school there (Valley Ultralights if my memory serves me correctly - long since shut down and the aircraft sold off). Cost him a fair bit to get it approved. That would have been about 15 years ago, so the processes will likely have changed.
  5. sfGnome
    Being an RA pilot, I was taught to expect engine failure at any time (ie always have somewhere to land in sight). I got a real shock one day talking to a friend who was a CPL and instructor in the GA world about not flying over tiger country and he asked “why not?”. When I explained, he said “Oh, I never thought of that”.
  6. sfGnome
    There was a bloke at the Cessnock club doing them 7 or 8 years ago. Not sure that’s terribly useful information though…
  7. sfGnome
    True, but the alternative doesn’t look too good either… 🫣
  8. sfGnome
    Ok, I definitely wouldn’t want someone shooting at me while using it (I guess I should say that I don’t want someone shooting at me any time! 🫣), but wouldn’t it be awesome fun to use.
  9. sfGnome
    Her story is that ol’ Reg A. refused to have female pilots. She took Ansett to court and won, opening the doors for the many female big rig pilots we have today. Yes, there were many female pilots before her, but it was a particularly hard glass ceiling that she broke… Actually, it reminds me of a story my father told me. My grandmother, many, many years ago, drove up to an intersection in Sydney and was waved through by the cop on duty. When she went back later the same day, he stopped her because, he told her, she was the only female driver he had seen all day. Times change. 😛
  10. sfGnome
    A big advantage of SSRs is that the control current is so low. The relay is on all the time, so the current draw of a solenoid is significant if you lose your alternator and want the battery to get you home. Of course, with a 0.6V drop at 100A, that’s 60W you’re dissipating (presumably during starting), so you’d want it to to be bolted to a nice big lump of metal as a heat sink.
  11. sfGnome
    Nev, is the lead issue with 100LL exacerbated or ameliorated by the purely synthetic oil?
  12. sfGnome
    That can be a significant issue. My mum used to tell me stories about her brothers flying gliders before the war, and I think she was chuffed when I started flying. However, by that stage, neither she nor dad were physically capable of climbing up into my low wing Tecnam, so I never got to take them up. Regrets, I’ve had a few… Of course there’s a related disadvantage too. How many times have you knocked your head on the wing when preping the plane (or is that just me 🙄)?
  13. sfGnome
    Can’t imagine anyone getting offended. They’re good questions that have been thought by lots of people before you. The sunburn bit is easy enough; a hat to start with and a sunshade above you if necessary. If you’re too hot, climb. However, how to exit a flipped low-wing? Add that one to the list of imponderables along with what to do if the wing falls off, and other such nightmares (and yes, I know you can carry a hammer and attempt to break the unbreakable window, but for me that remains a case of please, please, please don’t happen 🫣).
  14. sfGnome
    Thanks for all the info. Most appreciated.
  15. sfGnome
    4m long, but don’t know the other dimensions at this stage (will find out shortly). Melbourne to Sydney(ish). For those of you who did the move yourselves, did you have any insurance, or just trust your skill at avoiding accidents?
  16. sfGnome
    Apologies if this has already been discussed, but I couldn’t find a thread if it has. Who have you used for road transport of large crates, and would you use them again? Alternatively, if you transported it yourself (car trailer, flatbed truck, etc), did you insure the transport, or just hope that no one ran into you? If you insured, who did you use? Thanks!
  17. sfGnome
    I said no, because I don’t *know* that I flew into a stall. There was one time in my early days - an ugly, gusty day - when as I was turning to crosswind from the takeoff, I hit what I assumed was a strong gust that put the aircraft on its side (or so it felt). My instructor took control, recovered, and we decided that it wasn’t a good day for learning… Maybe it was just a gust blowing us around. Maybe it was a wind speed change that turned my climbing power-on turn into a climbing power-on stall at 500 ft? Who knows?
  18. sfGnome
    My latest flight (hopefully not my last!) was today, just in a big sardine can (2 hours late while they replaced “a computer part that glitched”. 2 hours sitting on the tarmac in a totally full sardine can was no fun, but heaps better than running into a mountain because their instruments were cactus, so no complaints there). Anyhow, the point of this is where we went - Queenstown NZ. What a phenomenal introduction to South Island scenery that flight path is. You kiwis really know how to do hills! Still miles out from the airport on final, look to the right and there’s a main road full of cars *above* you. (Drove that road later going down to Wanaka. Lots of fun, but would have been more fun in a sports car 😁). This place must look spectacular from the air, though the thought of the rotors coming off those peaks is a little scary.
  19. sfGnome
    Remember the floods last year? What was the main complaint afterwards? “We weren’t given enough warning. Nobody told us it was coming!” Forecasters can’t win. They must get up every morning thinking “whatever I do today, 50% of the population will think I’m an idiot”.
  20. sfGnome
    Nup. Telecommunications equipment. About 30 years ago. Actually, it was the first of two times that companies I worked for were bought out by an American company. They second one they just destroyed by incompetence… 🤨🙄
  21. sfGnome
    Possible. I worked for an Australian company where we designed and brought to production a world-leading product. A North American company bought our company and dumped the product as it was affecting their sales. Mind you, it was very nice for the company’s owners (and they deserved every penny).
  22. sfGnome
    Look on the bright side. You’ll never have to bother with your 100 hourly inspections… 😛
  23. sfGnome
    Welcome! Look forward to hearing about your adventures. 🙂
  24. sfGnome
    Updating the pictures for google maps? The detailed ‘satellite’ photos in those maps are done from aircraft.
  25. sfGnome
    Absolutely! Even more so, GET cool and methodical, even if you have to break out of the circuit for a few minutes to compose yourself. Another memory to bore you with. I did something dumb (no idea what now) during a solo T&G, and I was berating myself all the way down downwind. Suddenly realised that I was so busy worrying about what had been that I wasn’t thinking about what was to come, and it was the ‘what was to come’ that could kill me. Got my head back into gear and all was fine, but it could have gone so wrong… 😑
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