pilotdave69

Flight TEST PASSED Hey , well today was a success, Flight Test, Pax, Air Law all passed, only BAK to do next week. Pilot Cert around corner now! 45 hours up, 10 hours solo.. Happy as one can be! Cheers Dave

Well done, its such a good feeling when they feel right!

Flight Test Well my flight review went sort of alright, a couple of small things needed review, otherwise all good. Wish i had rememered about the Theory exams, BAK and AIR LAW, so in progress of doing reading for the exams in next week or so. I will be doing the AIR LAW tomorrow then BAK maybe next week, when i feel ready. I am having a fly tomorrow if weather permits, fingers crossed.

I am upto 44 hours, 10 hours solo, started in May this year.. I wasnt in any rush to get Pilot Cert, i think more flying is better, rushing will get you into trouble. I do my pilot cert test on monday coming. I am pretty happy with how my flying has gone, the club is brilliant making sure of your requirements and learning . Thanks for C West Flying. Dave

Flight Review for Pilot Cert Well that day is nearly here.. Over last 3 days have done about 4 hours flying, 3 of that solo to get my 10 hours needed for Pax endorsment. Flown alot into training area, practicing all the things ive learnt over the last 5 months. My Pilot Cert test is this coming Monday, also Pax endorsement in same day. Yesterday was the was Flight review prior to the test with instructor, was a great day. We did alot of things intended for test, rate 1 turns, Rate 2 . Prec search and landings, emerg landings, 500 ft circuits at airport.. you name it. Nailed the radio calls for once, without getting order back the front. I feel i am ready for the test , plenty of flying hours close together to consolidate my learning process, think i am lucky i have been able to fly twice a week, sometimes more, pending weather. Ive hit 44 hours, 10 hours solo in only 5 months, not bad going.. Warmer weather its upon us and certainly more bumpy than other days, landing been tricky , especially on final when i end up losing some height out of the blue. I can only imagine what it will be like when its even hotter. Booked in for 1 hour solo Sunday for last final brush up prior to test.. hope rain stays away. Will update more Monday.. Cheers for now Dave

I work in Control room for Country Energy based in Bathurst, my normal start time is 2pm, arrived early at 1pm, finishing up midnight last night. The amount of power outages across the area we cover was enormous. The high winds certainly made their mark and damaged a lot of network, Orange seemed to be the worse affected, but not without affecting many cities across Central West NSW, repairs to be made this morning and most of the day.

Hey all, i am sure many are grounded today with the high winds all over nsw. Bathurst has experienced 63km/h gusts, orange with 73, Coonabarabran on 74km/h. Radio Streams | BathurstScan.com radio scanner very busy , have a listen in. Dave

Scanner yes , Live ATC a great site, known about it for awhile now.. always listened to the atc from many different cities . Not sure about adding my site to it, as i also have other traffic online apart from ATC. I would need to have 2 scanners operating all the time via 2 different feeds,. Maybe one day could look at it. Central West flying were looking at adding CTAF Bathurst ontheir website, easily can be done, not sure if and when it would occur. I have CTAF and others online as you would hear via my live feed. I think this time of night ATC takes over, im listening at the moment and ATC never stops. Even since Sundays bathurst race, my live feed has been popular with minimum 10 or so people online. Good listening no matter where you are. with the approaching weather over next few days, the scanner will get rather busy with SES, Police, Ambo Fire, also Country energy, it covers a very large area in Central west, so log in and see what you hear. If a major event happens, i will lock out the ATC so others can talk and people can hear whats going on . Cheers Dave

Advanced Stalls etc hey all, This learning process sure is a buzz, just when i thought it was safe to get in a plane, we do advanced stalls and turns. What fun.. haha. Yesterday was a near perfect day for flying , cloud aroud 6000 ft, which was alright for us. Those turns in a Jab 160 are pretty good, amazing what it can do when you have a good pilot like Chris. Funny day. Mick, thanks for the invite, Bianca said she met you the other day.. sounds like your busy flying all over the place. Probably wont be able to make it that day, i will finish night shift that morning 6am. Probably wouldnt be able to fly . haha. Dont know if i would have my cert then, little out of the way on Pilot Cert anyway. Bianca also away with a course. We will have another chance to get away soon enough. Exam isnt far away, due to fly again on Friday, then its flight review next week, exam to follow soon after. getting closer. 41 hours up , 7 hours solo. Chat soon Dave

hey all, the races are getting closer now.. Those keen on listening to the Air traffic on the Sunday morning of races, i will dedicate the stream for ATC on that morning. Probably on lock in 135.25, CTAF of 135.25, also 118.5, i believe parking is on 119.1 so might even lock that in. Later on that day, will then change stream back to the normal frequencies. I also have nearly setup a second stream dedicated to the Car races. Should be a good week. Check out website for details. There are reports of 2 x Bombardier Global Express jets parking at airport on Sunday 10th. I hope to get out their prior to it landing. The Bombardier Global Express Dave

Solo Flying Hey all, havent updated for awhile.. Flying going real well, last 2 days basically been up solo , almost 2 hours doing circuits , plus a quick trip out to training area too. Today was first day where instructor didnt come with me for the first 15 or so minutes. Its a buzz really to know i can go from start to finish and be competent enough to fly the plane safely and bring it back. It was busy as well, had rex come in as i was taxiing, a couple of other GA aircraft and choppers doing patrols. All in all, a good couple of days, its the next step . I believe im up to 35 hours, with 5 solo now. Very close to the Pilot Cert, couple of weeks i would say. Fingers crossed. Some of you might know, i have a radio scanner stream live from Bathurst, it streams CTAF in Bx, also the 135.25, plus local cops and other services. goto www.bathurstscan.com and sign up . I will be streaming bathurst car races live too (radio comms), race control, V8 teams and so on. Enjoy Dave

Bathurst 1000 Fly in . Some of you would of seen the new website now online after a few problems.! The Bathurst 1000 isnt that far away, just wondering how many people are possibly flying in for the day/ days.!

Cross winds! Sat 11 Sept ( who would think i would be flying a plane on Sept 11) - the flying is going really good, well and truely into the ADVCD and Abnormal CCTS over last few hours. Sat was my first Solo ccts in crosswinds, approx 11 knots, not real strong, bad enough for a learner though. I was up for approx 4 ccts with instructor, then did 30-40 min on my own. It was a great experience, most of my solo had been done with normal winds, (i didnt mind) . I now have 3 hours solo and 31 hours total flying now. Not far from training area solo and exam for Pilot Cert. The training has been unreal and enjoying it immensely. Thanks again to Chris who has made this possible. Dave

I have now added a FB page , also twitter page for those interested. See the link on main page for FB and twitter.

I would certainly be keen on J160 , 230 if around Orange/ Bathurst area.. ! Keep that in mind people.. like the look of the Tecnam as well. Very tidy plane.

500 ft Circuits - Cross wind circuits 2nd Sept - This day was pretty windy , good practice for crosswind and also instructor threw in 500ft circuits as well, got a little confused at first with radio calls, eventually got hang of it. We changed runways a few times as well for more advanced circuits, started on Rwy 35, then changed to 26., back to 35 for crosswind again. Certainly a test , felt like i was put through a ringer, very good practice though. 06 Sept - another windy day, 16 knots at 220, which kept changing as we advanced through each circuit. We used 26 the whole time to get used to crosswinds more and more, 4 hours of these before i go solo in high winds. We only used first stage of flaps to help a more stable landing and faster speed, a solid approach. Even just the smallest of things, really help a great approach. Today was a good lesson. They are all good lessons, but its really what you take away from each day. Dave

Hey Steve, glad you got it all working. Thats strange as the link on the very front page of Bathurstscan.com doesnt require you to register on my site.. thats why i put it there for people to trial. I cant leave it on CTAF only there are hundreds of listeners not just keen on ATC. I believe Stuart might be setting one up for CTAF, were were talking about it the other day, probably will help him get it going . They have their own server now, so shouldnt be a problem. Enjoy the listening.

Hi Steve, are you on http://www.bathurstscan.com the link should bring up this page Central West Police, Ambulance, Fire, ATC, and Rural Fire Service Live Scanner Audio Feed The stream isnt listed in the Air traffic Bathurst page yet, but i will add the link in their now. I think i might of met you recently At CW flying, you being taught by Stuart. ? I had a fly again today in the J160, crosswinds on 35, then 500ft circuits , that was fun. All very good learning. Dave

I just tested the link and its working fine for me! I am streaming more than the CTAF at Bathurst now, i had it locked on CTAF for awhile, but scanning now.

Just received news that an AG plane has hit wires near Sandigo Creek , on the Sturt highway between Narrendara and Wagga. Dont have any more information on pilot plane. I do hope he /she is ok. This occurred approx 630pm tonight.

Thanks Tomo! Love this flying bug! I will admit, the J230 is very solid and sturdy plane. When the engine starts it sounds real good! An extra couple of cylinders helps. Dont get me wrong, the J160 is a great plane and love flying it, the speed and the larger feel of the 230 is unreal. It did seem to settle down on the runway more smoothly and positive! I think the extra weight of the engine would help with this, also the larger wing span certainly makes it want to fly. Both Jabs are great planes! J230 is a winner for sure.

Been back up again on Monday 30th Aug, early fog disappeared for a clear day of flying! Jab160 fueled up and ready to roar. No wind at all, so 35 was again the pick of the runways. Instructor with me for the first 30 min or so, we landed and taxiied back so we didnt hold up other aircraft in the circuit, i was back out on my own once again. It was very good experience to mix with the many aircraft in circuit , probably the busiest day so far. I made a few more circuits solo and it was a great day. Later that day instructor asked me if i was free for a flight over some dams after all the rain. We headed off in the Jab230 , i flew while he took pics of the amazing landscape and dams overflowing at several areas near Bathurst. At first we tracked south towards training area and Ben Chifley dam, many photos taken by Chris with myself enjoying flying the jab in some good tight turns and basically learning handling of this larger faster aircraft! We then headed over towards Oberon Dam, we approached from the Western part of the dam over Black springs road, this dam still has along way to go prior to overflowing. My many years as a kid In oberon, ive seen this dam overflowing many times, shame it wasnt the case this time. We then headed towards Lake Lyell near Lithgow, another amazing area which i havent ever seen from the air. Some of these photos will make it into the local papers, Western Advocate, Oberon Review in the following days. After a few more orbits around Lake Lyall to allow Chris to get some good pics with sun showing up on the dam, it was amazing.. It was time to head back towards Bathurst, not without some photos of Tarana, Oconnell area . Certainly great experience for myself as i will be jumping into the Jab 230 soon for all my Navs. Its a powerful beast, with an easy cruise of 110 knots. Arriving back towards Bathurst we did our inbound call myself setting it up for landing, rather different to the J160 due to larger wings, really wants to fly. Backed the throttle off to almost idle and down we head, instructor stayed on controls as i brought the J230 in, talk about glide alright. It settled down nicely on runway for my first landing in the 230. So different, but a great day. The learning continues, the hour count is approx 26 now. Hopefully weather holds off for Thursday flight. Cheers All Dave

HI mate, yes its all fine, there are literally thousands of streams all over the world, there are obviously some areas you cannot stream, phones etc. Not that you can hear them anyway. Ive never had any trouble in all the years I have been doing this. Cheers Dave

Hey all, Those interested in listening to live radio from Bathurst area, can now do so from my website. http://www.bathurstscan.com Link is on the main page. What you will hear is Police, Ambo, Fire, SES, Rural Fire. Many Aircraft channels also listed. 127.35 CTAF Bathurst 135.25 Melb FIS - for local traffic of Bathurst , eg REX approaching and leaving Bathurst 133.05 Brisbane Centre - High Level Traffic 122.75 Melb Centre - High Level Traffic This will also host the Bathurst car races from 5th october to the 11th October. Should hear all the V8 cars, Race Control , emerg services , Fire etc. Listen in and let me know what you think. Dave

More traffic and wind! Ive been back up twice since last post. Sunday 22/08 (SOLO) , clear day, strong headwind which was fine on landing, also had to deal with Rex approaching from Sydney, asked nicely if i could extend downwind to allow him in, chopper also came in and landed , couple of other training aircraft on runway which caused a go around for me while on final, all good practice as far as im concerned. Rex pilot quite happy as he left runway , acknowledging me for allowing him to slot in. Who am i going to argue with , larger and faster plane, not only that, he might help me out one day. Wednesday 25/8 - Rather windy day, approx 15 knots at 280. It was bloody freezing, i dont normally feel the cold , but i did yesterday while pre checking Jab. I was happy to climb in and wait for instructor. So happy it didnt need fuel, or my hands would of been frozen. Watching wind sock and listeding to AWS, knew this was going to be a interesting ride. Too windy for SOLO . We took off on 35 and headed to training area, practiced some approaches to a local club members private strip, that was also quite good. Bit high on first approach, second time around was fine. Still very windy as we came in over his small dam at start of runway. We headed back to Circuit as now the rwy 26 was open for my abnormal circuits, saved me landing in quite strong cross wind. A couple of emergency landings thrown in for good measure. Quite happy with those , has been a couple of weeks since my last practice with throttle at idle, always a good idea as you dont know when a engine might fail. I have to say, the learning experience with Central West Flying has been brilliant! Thanks Chris. A great flying school and instructor. If weather allows us, might be heading off to Oberon in the J230 for pics of snow.. ! Dave