Outbackflyer

Stick man, Yes Im hearing you, but sometimes you just have to back yourself, once you have made the decission you will find plenty of determination and drive. Not sure if its still the case but you may be able to complete up to 70 hours on fixed wing then the last 35 on rotary to complete your CPL-H, that gives you some options re going through with the CPL fixed wing if you find there are openings ahead of you, and the training rate on fixed wing is less than doing the full 105 hours on chopper. Your Rec flying hours may be counted in that , worth looking into. Schools will tell you that doing the whole 105 rotary will increase your chances of finding a paying job, but its not always so. One very good school is PHS (Ron Newman and son) in victoria, another is chopperline in QLD which turns out more students mainly aimed at the mustering jobs, if I were to start again it would be with the Newmans, who (may) offer you work at the Ayers Rock Resort flying their R44 and B206 straight out of school, they only employ their own students. It will cost around $50K to do the whole 105 hours on rotary, but by the time you are half way (private licence@50 Hrs) you will know whether you are going to get a start if you talk to prospective employers and are pro active with your self promotion, your instructor will aim you at who to speak to as its not to early to start talking yourself up while at the flying school. Whatever you decide the first step (and it should be done first) is a full Com medical. Cheers John.

Hi Howard, Some distance and altitude records have come from Bond Springs, the late multi millionaire Steve Fossett was a regular visitor with his German built glider. Its a tough place to fly in summer, sometimes Im all finished with a 3 hour cross country leg by 8am due thermals and hot wind, ya have to be prepaired to sit in camp till 5pm for the last 3 hours of good air. But winter flying here is the best. Regards John.

Hi Stick man, Good on you for following your dream through to this point, I went on the same path in the early 90s but through lack of finance, guts and scholarley aptitude I failed the exam (twice), so I turned away from CPLH,(which was my mistake) with just private un restricted and took up mustering with my Gyro. But it lead me to getting a gig (still in the industry) working with big choppers in the Maldives, then flying Microlights in Africa for 2000 Hours, and am still flying microlights here. I would sugest to look at getting the endorsements on types that are used in the tourist and mining/survey industry (206 Jetranger/ B47 /R44) as soon as you can, as the mustering industry leans toward employing young skilled cowboys(literaly) and teaching them flying, rather than starting with a good pilot then teaching them cattle. Im guessing that at 50 you prob would not be so interested in sleeping in swag in hangar and washing choppers, waiting for the honnor of ferrying R22s (unpaid) for your first 100 hours then mustering in machines that are over hours and under powered till you have the required 500 hours and can thus be insured. The mustering game is tough. At our age, and with low hours we are more employable as "people pilots" cos we look more experianced and trustworthy,can communicate well,and will show up early and well presented each day. You have prob heard and seen peoples negative reaction ( unfounded) when they jump into a Cessna for a scenic and later exclaim "the pilot looked 19", so there are some advantages to being a more mature pilot. Anyway Im sure you know what it takes to succeed in other fields, so apply your positive attitude, dont be discoraged, employ the best training, and you will eventualy get there. Wishing you the very best. Regards John

Hi, I have been OS and dropped off this site, now back in OZ and have re winged and rebuilt my little Airborne Outback 582 microlight, flying out of Bond Springs which is 20 Ks North from Alice Springs. Hope to do a 500 nm circumnavigation of the Centre this coming winter over 10 days, will post images when it happens. If interested here is a clip from Bond Springs . Regards John.

Hi March, I have just posted my Airborne 582 Outback with Streak 2b wing for sale on this site. It has only 85 Hours and is in excelent condition , includes a purpose built trailer and lots of extras. Check out the add if you are interested. Regards John 0419529767

Airborne Outback 2006 HGFA Reg # T2-6195 with Streak 2 wing complete with steel custom built trailer with lockable storage bins. Trailer fitted with off road tyres and rims for outback use. Engine 582 Blue top oil inj. 4 blade Brolga prop , excellent condition. Intake and exhaust silencers. TT Engine and airframe only 87.5 hours !!!...genuine. Tundra tires with tube sealant fitted , VHF handheld radio included. Full set of covers for base and wing. Aircraft in excellent condition, always hangered and wing always rigged. Private local flying, no training. (Included are a set of training bars). 2x Icaro helmets, stone guard (punkinhead),and under storage bag, apex bag, 2 X pannier bags for jerry's etc.Some spares included. [ATTACH=full]16792[/ATTACH] No damage, no hard landings no training, Full inspection and maintenance history. The lot, base, wing, trailer and covers, VHF hand held and Garmin 96 Colour GPS fitted for $23,500 inc GST. Aircraft located Alice Springs NT contact .John 0419529767 or 0889550747.

Hi , I got interested / thrown into, filming from microlight while working in Zambia at Victoria Falls, we got a lot of foreign film crew using our planes as a cheep, slow and accessible platform to get the footage of the falls, Zambezi and the wildlife in the nearby National park. Some used conventional High Definition movie cameras on the shoulder of the operator in the back seat, sometimes standing and shooting forward and over my head, sometimes sitting side saddle and hanging out to the full extent of the slackened seat belt, one Japanese camera man wanted to attach a harness and stand on the strut out the side to shoot leaning out over the left wheel. I saw several crews use a very nice camera called a VIO POV Version 1.1 or 1.2, It has a high quality lens mounted on the end of a high Tec 1.5 meter cable linking to the main control/capture assembly which has the LED screen, hard drive and other controls in a robust water resistant hand held unit, so the lens can be fixed out onto the control bar or strut etc, Im sure you will find it on a search. We shot stills with a Canon G10 digital, triggered with the standard Canon wired remote with the obvious extended wiring out to the camera on the LHS wingtip., The shots would be downloaded from the card and burnt to CD by the time the client got their flight suit off and the credit card out. Anyway I am looking to mount something similar on my little outback here in the Outback so when I get something decent I will post it. Cheers, John.

Hi, sorry for the long delay in replying, I have just returned from collecting a microlight in Qld, The yellow colour is common on the 912 running 100LL fuel, I think it is a reaction / residue that favours the porcelain part of the plug , I don’t think it indicates any abnormality. Try running the minimum (cold weather) gap, as per the service manual. There are several things you can check re the poor starting, a full dismantle and servicing of the carbs is a good start,( float levels?) then synchronising the carbs, doing this ensures that you are starting from the right place. Make sure the bowl vents are not obstructed, you can check this by putting your mouth to the open end of the small tube that is secured alongside the bowl retaining clip and blowing on it for 5 seconds, you will notice fuel being discharged from the vent port at the bottom of the carb intake, (no fuel? then its blocked) During servicing the “choke carburettor” should be cleaned and new O rings fitted there is often grime / moisture in there, take care to re fit the choke assembly correctly. Its usually the carbs, hope this helps.

Hi Bill, I am driving over to Nth Qld tomorrow to inspect an Airborne Outback with a Streak 2b wing. In Zambia I got used to flying the DTA and Aero Cobra with no pod, so I like the open aspect and simplicity of the Outback, I'v not flown a streak before, only a cruise, so thats the only un known factor. I need something light and robust for out landings and other folleys in the desert. Will hopefully have it back in Alice by the weekend. Regards John.

Are you reaching the recomended oil and water temps each flight? low opperating temps can cause a lower combustion temp/ dark plug colour too. That oil needs to reach 100c once per day to cook off all the moisture these engines produce in the oil system. FYI. Cheers John.

Hi Ronny, I recommend you contact the manufacturers to check their opinion of replacing a single blade, some manufacturers forbid it, as they are finely balanced and checked for identical pitch, most have batch numbers engraved on the hub end, you may detect vibration with an un matched blade, this can cause a catastrophic failure of engine then prop followed by wing, (not good). How did the blade get messed up,? if it was due to any sort of a prop strike while the engine was running then strongly recommend you send engine off for crank shaft testing . Cheers John

Reading these posts about changing the hang point to achieve a changed (usually higher) cruse speed, I thought it pertinent to point out that these changes simply alter the “trim” or “hands free” position of the control bar / being the angle of attack of the wing. So it won’t give your wing any more (or less) speed, but it will increase/ decrease the speed at the “trim” position. If you are used to flying the initial approach at trim, and you have moved the trike forward on the keel tube then be prepared to enjoy a higher speed and more inertia near the ground or take over and move the bar forward slightly to return to the touchdown speeds you had before the position change. Apologies for the explanation to the initiated, but I have had some exposure to some pilots who have not got there head around this one. Cheers John Breaking news, I have found a trike in Queensland and will soon be back in the air here in Alice Springs.

Hi John, yes, Kev is still the Chief Pilot, but Nico has moved on. We had sadly very few flying visitors there the last years due to Political... well you would know the story. Great place and lots of good times there. I posted some pics which will bring back memories for you in the Photo section. Cheers John

Hi all, I have just returned to Oz from Zambia where I have been working flying microlights at Victoria Falls for 3 years, (06/07/&09). Now back in Alice Springs, no aircraft (yet) but hope to find a trike in March to resume flying here as winter approaches, so I will lurk around the classifieds section here. Have been flying since 1990, Gyrocopter first then some time in Robinson Helicopter and Jet Ranger, then progressed UP to an Airborne Xdege in 1995 which I used here for mustering and photography/camping trips. I really like the look of this site and look forward to the recourses here from you. Regards, John