Ben Longden

BIG OUCH! :black_eye: Ben

I agree... The Parkes NSW Shire wanted to charge REX $1 extra per passenger in landing fees for the maintenance of the strip and terminal in a fee restructure. REX said No, and decided to stop their flights to and from Parkes. In the end, Council backed down especially after the fed transport Minister decided to ask what was going on. Ben

Imagine if he had let the dog run off with the leg...:big_grin: Ben

Shepparton; The Aero club is open seven days, and has filtered coffee (almost on tap) and welcomes visitors 7days a week. Great restaurants, great coffee shops. Echuca; A five minute taxi ride to the worlds largest working paddlesteamer fleet at the historic wharf. More restaurants than you can poke a stick at, plus great coffee shops and bakeries, including The Beechworth Bakery. Ben

I'm with Mike..... off to the aero club for a coffee after that crash and burn.... :yuk: Ben

Much damage, Neil? That is one sweet plane. I clocked up a fair number of hours in that ship, including a cross country to Wang. Ben

September 25, 2007 - 10:02AM Melb Age An Airbus airliner operated by an Indonesian carrier was forced to land yesterday after losing cabin pressure, a spokesman said. The Batavia Air flight with 134 passengers diverted to the Sumatran city of Padang, several hundred km from its destination, Batavia Air spokesman Anton Situmeang said. No one was hurt and passengers were transferred to another Batavia Air plane that took off 90 minutes later for the regional capital of Medan. "Due to causes we are still trying to uncover, there was a pressurisation problem," he said. "Oxygen masks were dropped automatically and the pilot had to divert the plane." The 10-year-old Airbus A-320 was flown back to Jakarta without passengers for technical examination, the spokesman said. Indonesia is trying to improve its safety image after three plane accidents this year prompted the European Union to blacklist all its airlines. The US Federal Aviation Administration also downgraded the nation's rating to its lowest category.

Pilot Robert Robertson sits in the remains of his plane, waiting for emergency services. Ani Martinez September 23, 2007 IT WAS like a scene out of a movie. A small cargo plane, flying over a busy highway, began losing steam and doing cartwheels in the sky over Florida. Then it struck a warehouse, clipping its right wing, and crashed into a grassy swale on the side of the road  just metres from oncoming traffic. The pilot of the fixed-wing twin-engine Beech 18, Robert Robertson, survived, with only minor injuries. The only person on board, Mr Robertson broke his left leg, left arm and nose and has a gash on his forehead. "It was his lucky day," said witness Stewart McLeod. "The entire front of the plane was gone, and he was left sitting in his seat with his seatbelt on." Mr Robertson, 34, had taken off from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport to deliver a plane full of cargo  shoes, clothing, nonperishable items and tyres  to Nassau, Bahamas. Within minutes he issued a mayday to air traffic control. "The aircraft wasn't gaining altitude," said a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. "Then, it went down." The 43-year-old plane's cockpit was destroyed in the crash. Fire rescue crews were amazed to find Mr Robertson alive, said sheriff's office spokesman Mike Jachles. "There was no cockpit when they arrived on scene," he said. "He was breathing and conscious. He told the medics the engine cut out on take-off." Charles Jules, a witness, said: "I was scared half to death. It was the scariest thing I ever saw. I mean it's a plane coming at you … Everyone thought he was dead. He was slumped over not moving. Then he slowly woke up, touched his head. He was disoriented."

Good point Neil, The insurance company will be the first to refuse a claim if the PIC was being an idiot. Sometimes the thought of injury or death or damage to the ground is irrelevant, but when you hit home with a refused insurance claim... different story. I agree with Mike entirely in this thread. My only regret is there appears to be no video of the the incidents for RAA and CASA to peruse. Ben

WOW, a pretty cool spiral fracture, with a femoral nail..... Weve done a few of those at work, and its pretty cool to watch them being fixed... TAP TAP with the hammer then zap with the x-ray and repeat... You should not have too many problems with Scareport Insecurity, as the nail is made of titanium and so should not set off the magnetic field scanners (designed to pick up iron based material) but take the films with you anyway. Ben

That, I would love to see.... Ben

Was this when the 40Kt front hit on Sunday? I could see this roll cloud from north to south horizon and a whole heap of YUK (new tech term) attached and thought it best to be undercover when that arrived. Sure enough, at about 5pm Echuca time, it hit, and brought an old willow down in the driveway of the farm. Watching from the kitchen, the rain was horozontal..:;)3: A check of the BoM later showed 50kt winds at Shepp... Ben

:;)2: My blood runs cold at that thought. Is there an icon for "holding ones head in ones hands and shaking it, while sighing please God, tell me this is not true "? Ben

I would have done just what you did, Ian. Ben

The circumstances of a 'wake' would not warrant any clowning around as you described. Its not so much a case of if things go wrong, but WHEN, that we will end up farewelling another member or members - this time for all the wrong reasons. If you managed to get any info to ID the 'pilot' involved, I am sure that not only the RAA but CASA might be interested. A similar low level clown act was done at Shepparton a few weeks ago in a Bell Jetranger that seriously did not impress anyone on the ground, in the circuit or anyone taxiing. Its dangerous, and those doing stuff like that do not deserve a pilot licence or certificate. Ben

CASA have announced it as a jailable penalty to zap ANY plane with a laser.... but agreed, the big question is how to enforce it.:;)2: Seems the autolaunch missile seems to be the best option... Ben

I'm sure he has. I guess it will be called "Cost Recovery" and the justification will no doubt be that as "the motorists of NSW will be the beneficiaries of the APEC, then they are the ones who will pay for it through fines". and..... "Well, we need the money to pay the legals to bury the gestapo arrest we made on that jaywalker". Ben

Wish the story would get straight. This is from The Age.. and AirServices are stating the incident was NOT a breach of security. Ben headline; Plane posed 'no threat to APEC security' September 9, 2007 - 3:29PM A light plane intercepted by two F/A-18s after it entered restricted airspace over Sydney had posed no threat to the APEC summit of world leaders, Airservices Australia says. An Airservices Australia spokesman confirmed the Australian Defence Force (ADF) had been contacted, but said the incident was not being recorded as a breach of security. He said the Cessna was flying an approved flight from Bathurst in central NSW when it was contacted by officials on approach to its destination of Bankstown, in Sydney's west. "The pilot, obviously, was not listening up at that particular time and because of the situation in regard to APEC, defence was advised by Airservices," the spokesman said. "Two FA/18s went out to check the aircraft. They did make radio contact and as I understand it the aircraft has landed." A witness earlier told Macquarie Radio that shortly before 3pm (AEST) he saw the plane enter restricted airspace over Penrith, in Sydney's west, before having flares fired at it by the two jets. "This light plane came over in restricted airspace because of APEC and these two fighter jets come out in the middle of nowhere and were flying flares at it," the witness said. "Right over the top of Penrith, it was amazing. I've never seen anything like it." Restricted airspace in a radius of 45 nautical miles around Sydney Airport has been in force for the duration of the APEC summit. The Airservices spokesman said he was not aware of any flares being fired, adding the two fighter jets had since returned to their bases. A Defence spokesman said the department could not comment on the incident at present. © 2007 AAP --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Story reprinted in full to avoid confusion and I highlighted the text in par 1. Ben

Silly question... Google Earth... their images are not updated hourly/daily.... so what would be the use in their images anyway. Ive looked at various pics and found them to be anything up to two years old. Ben

Plane breaches security September 9, 2007 - 4:23PM Melb AGE A light plane intercepted by two F/A-18s after it entered restricted airspace over Sydney had posed no threat to the APEC summit of world leaders, Airservices Australia says. An Airservices Australia spokesman confirmed the Australian Defence Force (ADF) had been contacted, but said the incident was not being recorded as a breach of security. He said the Cessna was flying an approved flight from Bathurst in central NSW when it was contacted by officials on approach to its destination of Bankstown, in Sydney's west. ``The pilot, obviously, was not listening up at that particular time and because of the situation in regard to APEC, defence was advised by Airservices,'' the spokesman said. ``Two FA/18s went out to check the aircraft. They did make radio contact and as I understand it the aircraft has landed.'' A witness earlier told Macquarie Radio that shortly before 3pm (AEST) he saw the plane enter restricted airspace over Penrith, in Sydney's west, before having flares fired at it by the two jets. ``This light plane came over in restricted airspace because of APEC and these two fighter jets come out in the middle of nowhere and were flying flares at it,'' the witness said. ``Right over the top of Penrith, it was amazing. I've never seen anything like it.'' Restricted airspace in a radius of 45 nautical miles around Sydney Airport has been in force for the duration of the APEC summit. The Airservices spokesman said he was not aware of any flares being fired, adding the two fighter jets had since returned to their bases. A Defence spokesman said the department could not comment on the incident at present. AAP

;) Wasnt he in Sydney the other day? Something to do with a Canadian motorcade? Ben

Thats one of the things Tristo would say to me.. situational awareness is vital; knowing where you are in the circuit as well as where other aircraft are very important. One of the best things about flying at Shepparton is the greater than average traffic. Its nothing unusual for six aircraft to be in the circuit at any one time, and situations like that certainlly make you aware of where things are, and where they need to be... Ben

I was just in the backyard lying in the sun - on my day off, recovering from one hell of a cold that has laid me up in bed for nearly a week- and was listening, as you do, to the local Echuca CTAF and area frequency. Anyway, there was a discussion a little while ago of what is the correct radio calls, and I thought the following would be of interest. There was a Jabiru tootling around doing a string of circuits on 17, with a flawless radio technique - calls being done by the book. Then a Seneca comes in and states; "Echuca traffic, Seneca *#% joining midfield downwind for runway 35" No inbound call or anything. Then the Jab drivers voice gets a bit different and he says he is on base for 17. This could be interesting, I thought. Might get the cameras ready.. But they worked it out with the Seneca coming in behind the Jab on 35 I wonder was it a bit of complacency on the Senecas' part, especially as he did a textbook departure call later on. BUT it begs a few questions I guess. On another note, and a good one, there has been lots of comment about foreign nationals not even trying to speak English (Chinglish?) when making radio calls (or even answering them) but top marks to the driver of VH-EPB from General Flying Services of Melbourne doing a solo nav. His radio calls were top class and whats more, I could understand what he was saying.. right from his inbound call to the departure after a string of T&G's. Ben

I agree. Ben