Boofhead

Well a hero I ain't, but I've found these guys to be pretty helpful with general metal requests: Products Good luck.

I have done over 300 skydives and the height never scared me in the slightest, and the same for flying, in fact the higher the better as far as I'm concerned. However, I am scared of heights in that I HATE being on top of buildings near the edge, or cliffs, whatever. I can't stand watching other people walking right up to the edge, it gives me the willies. It's human instinct to back away. I think the big difference is in flying/aviation activities you are in a void, where as on top of a building you have a reference from your position all the way to the ground.

Ozzie I was trying to remember if it was 8 or sixteen. I'm pretty sure we were doing 8-way competition jumps, but maybe you are right and there were two teams in the plane as they rarely did anything other than full loads to be as economical as possible (And financially viable). I only jumped out Nomads 3 or 4 times, they were much better than Cessnas from a jump-ship perspective. I always worried about that tail issue they had. It was either the late eighties or early nineties,I'd have to check my log book which is packed away somehere. I'm sorry you were there to witness that aweful and tragic flyby incident. Luckily for me I wasn't. I only heard of a couple of skydiving fatalities out there, and two seperate pilots fatalities which unusual and obviously not a very good record from a flying perspective.

In my skydiving days we used to have a club-house and drop-zone at Collector, near Goulbourne, NSW. Normally we used a Cessna 182 as a jump-ship but on this particular day a chap had arrived with his GAF Nomad (Turboprop twin). Normally we took off downhill to the north-west as there was a large hill to the east, however on this particular day the wind necessitated otherwise. With all the seats removed a load of about 9 of us parachutists packed up against the back of the pilot and co-pilot seats sitting on the floor facing backwards. The last two jumpers towards the tail kneeling up and forwards to keep the COG as far forwards as possible. My mate who was a video cameraman for the jump was kneeling up in front of me in that position, and we taxied off down the strip and commenced our takeoff run. We lifted off and I was looking directly at my mates face who was himself looking out of the front windscreen. Within a few seconds his jaw dropped and he went flat-white like a ghost. I have never seen anyone so terrified in my life. I couldn't hear him but was able to lipread him as he mouthed "We're not going to make it!". I sat up so I could almost see out of the small window, but I couldn't get myself into a position where I was level with it, I could only look up at a shallow angle to the horizon but I did see the chilling sight of treetops going past. I braced myself as best I could but there was not too much to be done really. After a tense couple of moments we did manage to make it though and my mate nearly collapsed with relief. All he could say for the next 15 minutes as we climbed up to 14,000ft was "F^{( that was close. F^{( that was close" repeatedly. We actually had a really good skydive and completed two or three freefall formations which was good for us. After the jump walking back to the hanger I caught up to my cameraman friend and he estimated we were around 10 ft off of the hilltop at the closest point and it was sheer luck that the trees were sparse through the trajectory we were flying. Pity he didn't have the camera rolling !

Pete, All the fields you mention are in NSW. This feasibility study is something the ACT Government is conducting, they have no interest contributing to NSW facilities. I'm a Canberra pilot and I fly at Polo flat, it's a great little private airfield with some good people involved, but I'd still like to see a GA Airfield for Canberra. Canberra Airport used to be a fantastic place with at least three organisations offering flying trianing and a large community of pilots with a lot of privately owned aircraft. The costs have gone through the roof and all of them have now been driven out except the Canberra Aero club who are now based over at Fairbairn. The Act Government spends millions of dollars on pointless things such as roadside art, and now $30m + on an Arboretum (A tree garden) . I'd be very happy to see them spend some money on something that supports the Australian aviation community. They made election promises to fund a motorsport complex and then renigged on that using a feasibility/ environmental impact study as an excuse, let's see if they use the same strategy here.

I'm learning to fly at Polo flats, and was there today. It's a private airfield run by a nice fella by the name of Michael Apps. Details here: Snowy Aviation Academy Cheers Boof

This is the type of thing they are doing: [YOUTUBE]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsAuSm9OXRo&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsAuSm9OXRo&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

Well thanks Maj. I'd erased the memory of the balmy temperature of Canberra winters from my mind over the summer so thanks for reminding me (I'd have been reminded in a couple of months from now though anyway). It's all coming back to me now; -16 climbing high above Tumut in a Nomad with no cargo door. BRRRRRRRRRRRR. I will be warm forever by comparison. Do Jabirus have heaters ? Now where's my blanket...

Thank you. Well that's easily solved Tomo, as most of the jump-ships I have been in are not perfectly good machines, they are generally beaten up worn out old antiques, and jumping from them is a much safer option than landing in them.

Helloo aviators. Boofhead from the ACT here. I'm pleased to make your collective virtual acquaintances. Enough about you though, lets talk about me ! I'm 40 years old and am just starting my flying career and have decided that recreational aviation is the go ! My Dad has always been an avid aviation enthusiast and learnt to fly in tiger moths and chipmunks. I think his first flight though was an aerobatic joyride in an RAAF Vampire back when he was in the Air training core as a kid (for which he paid 1 large sick-bag's worth). As Dad's passion was aircraft I was dragged along (very willingly) to airshows all over the world as a boy. Also I remember spending a fair bit of time in the passenger seats of warriors and Cessnas at Canberra airport, back when you didn't have to be an airline or a shopping centre to be there. My youth was very well mis-spent riding motorcycles and jumping out of planes. I completed well over 300 free fall skydives (It's quite hard not to complete a skydive... one way or another), with a good bunch of people out at Collector when we used to have a club there back in the late 80's and early 90's. I've spent many hours sitting on the floor of Cessna 182s with 4 other jumpers & heavy parachutes waiting for what seemed like an eternity to get to jump height. I've jumped from Nomads, Twin Otters and DC3's as well, which I used to love as we would take a running jump out of the huge cargo door and would try to "Hang" in that massive prop-wash like a ski-jumper. I gave up jumping about 10-15 years ago, as I found I got sick of the egos and the ergos' (No really, you get a very sore back after a while) not to mention the expense. I had always wanted to take up flying but a family and demanding career in IT have meant it was lower in the priority list. I've also recently given up on the motorbikes after a badly broken collarbone riding dirt bikes. I did the rounds in public hospitals with mis-diagnosis and subsequent re-braking and plate and screw installation. I now proudly wear titanium shoulder-bling and I won't doing that again if I have anything to do with it. So, much to my Dads delight I've decided to get sensible and finally start flying which I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember. Last weekend I went to Polo flats and had my TIF which all went very well, as my instructor assures me I am a legend, and an Ace and should be flying for Qantas. After Easter I'll be starting to work towards my license with regular flying, so up until that point the skies will be relatively safe. Cheers Boof