pilotdave69

I am launching again Sunday 3pm, looking forward to be amongst it again! I dare say will be doing more solo circuits, wait and see. Winds have been pretty bad again, Instructor had to cancel 2 today due to anything from 16knots upto 22 knots. Monday rain forecast, Tuesday not so good either.

Another eventful flight today! Sunny day, listened to AWS, no wind 9am. Ripper! By the time i prechecked the Jab and started it up, wind was up to 11knots. WHAT THA! Luckily no crosswind. taxiied out and took off with instructor in plane, few circuits on RWY35, no worries, once again not full flaps, smoother landing. After about 4 circuits, instructor said , let me out. RIghto, its SOLO circuit time. Well, this was going to be fun with a nice head wind and ripper tail wind on downwind. I still am amazed how quick this dam think launches with one person . I was doing crosswind before end of runway. That 500ft really comes up quick. Downwind checks done, make sure Carb heat on early, start base. All is fine , setup final and down we go. Smooth as, very happy with first landing and off we go again. The next 3 were also quite good, with one hairy rollout on ground. All under control. :big_grin: I listened to AWS again, said 13 knots , righto, this will be last before she gets any stronger. Annouced Full stop and approached well and she sort of wanted to float as faster speed.. But she settled well and i pulled up a little after taxiway.. Did a u turn on runway and taxiied back to hangar. Instructor seemed pleased which is good, plus i brought his Jab back in one peice. Yippee. Nexy day of flying will be Friday, fingers crossed. All going well! Dave

I finally was able to fly on Saturday afternoon, amazing how much you miss it when you cant get airbourne. The wind sock was blowing a little too strong for my liking though. 12 knots, 340 deg (RWY35 was being used) . It was manageable, instructor thought it best he stayed in the Jab since on the ground was gusty and with some extra weight, so much more stable. We also decided on using one stage flaps on final instead of full flaps, found myself using 2400 revs instead of 2000. Faster approach and felt quite good powering through the winds, settled nicely on the runway, instead of around 70 knots, more like 75 - 80 knots. GS was about 63 knots i noticed on GPS. All in the learning curve i do admit. I have been lucky that most of my training days have been in good weather, i was happy to mix it up and be more tricky then my other days. If winds are calm on Wednesday or Thursday, will probably do solo circuits , Fingers crossed. Im sitting on 21.2 hours now . Learning to fly would have to be the best thing i have ever done. Those who might find it difficult in some stages of learning, dont give up. Pushing through this will be so worthwhile in the years to come. Cheers to all those new pilots starting up. Dave

Ive been grounded the whole week with horrible weather, flying Sat 230, looking forward to it, havent been up since SOLO. Getting twitchy.. Day should be good tomorrow.

The weather over last 2 days sure has shown its ugly head! 19 knot winds today, when i was supposed to fly.. what a joke, our wind sock across road from work (large tree) told the story quickly. We were not going anywhere today. NO WAY.. The rain falls we have had in Bathurst have also now closed a low level bridge in Bathurst, it crosses the Macquarie River, river should go over bridge tonight. Pics to follow tomorrow, SES were there around 5pm today. Its a major road apart from highway to other suburbs of Bathurst. Who knows how long it might be prior to it opening again. Snow falls in Oberon were approx 10 cm thick in areas, closing road to Jenolan Caves. Surprising no snow fell in Oberon itself. Shall see what tonight shall bring. Freezing and cold here again. Dave

Well it looks like the real wind is coming.. already 44 km/h gusts in Bathurst. i dare say will pick up even more overnight, or next few hours. !!

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Well, 11mm rain in Bathurst and still falling, no flying for me im afraid! Hopefully Friday will be better. I guess your stranded as well Gibbo. ?

That's awesome news Darky. Brilliant work.!! May i ask how many hours you have reached for this Milestone. !

Congratulations Gazelle! WELL DONE! There seems to be a great deal of people going solo these last couple of weeks! Its a great feeling isnt it! I only did mine last Wednesday.. SMILE on your face i can imagine! Well done again. Keep up the good work. Dave

The forecast has some nasty weather settling in for a few days. Already its started around Cobar area, lightning showing up on tracker. Should be some good falls upto 50 mm in some parts of NSW. Looks like will ground many of us for flying for a few days. At least the farmers will enjoy the well needed drenching. We have to talk about something when we are not flying! Tuesday 10 August: Rain will develop around dawn and peak in intensity around lunchtime. Freezing levels will initially lie around 2100m, leading to snow above 1800m. The snow level should lower to 1400m by midnight, but because most of the rain will occur earlier in the day, we have our doubts about the quality of any snow on Tuesday. Wednesday 11 August: On Wednesday the moist, frozen tail of that low will whip around and sting the resorts with some strong westerlies and decent snowfalls. Accumulations between Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon are predicted to be about 10 to 15 centimetres, but some lucky parts could easily get double that. Watch out for some wind gusts over 60km/h in the evening. Thursday 12 August: South-westerlies gusting to 70km/h and snow showers.

Congrats Well done mate! Another solo in a JAB 160.. I only did mine last Wednesday. Dont they climb well with only one. I was amazed at the 110 knots speed on downwind.. Crikey.. lol. Bet you have a smile on your face! I know i still do. How was your landing ? I concentrated so much , probably my best landing to date. Good stuff. Dave

I was very pleased there wasnt anyone around , only instructor, very quiet airport. Just in case i did something real wrong. All the hard work and training put into place made the result excellent. I couldnt ask for a better SOLO.

I now see it! I do keep reliving the experience over and over. What a feeling! Just want to get up there again on my own.. Bring on touch n gos ! I was so happy the solo landing was good. I even heard instructor over radio saying " good Landing Dave " , i replied with " i know, thanks" haha. Very happy!

After the Solo on Wednesday, im back down from my high! Back to normality and flying on Tuesday morning, today would be fantastic now the fog has lifted, unreal day . No wind and sun is out.. Hmmm, might have to make a phone call. Who else is up and about today!

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Hey pradeep, Congrats on your Solo effort today! Don't beat yourself up as the others have said. ! Just think you flew a plane on your own, its a massive milestone in anyone's books. I only did my solo yesterday as well, its such a sensory overload to make sure you get it right.. Dont know how many times i bumped and grinded, sure to do more. One thing i keep in my head that my instructor has said over and over.. We don't teach how to land, we teach how to fly level with the runway. So now.. i always level off over runway, throttle closed and slow flare. The plane slowly touches down. I know it does click . It took awhile. Its so strange how you can do 3 or 4 near perfect landing, yet the next one will be crap. I never realised how tricky it really was. A real juggling act. Well done once again..

I think the weather is turning bad, wouldnt be suprised to see snow tonight around Oberon area. Its cold and heaps of cloud overhead, can see the cold air coming up from the southwest.. Bring it on i say.. Love snow.. Glad i have tomorrow off work.

Photos A few photos taken yesterday by my instructor Chris, then my friend a graphic designer made this for me.

Pilot in Command Dave, sure does have a nice ring to it! Still reliving the experience, as everyone says, dont forget that for awhile or wipe the grin of your face. Hopefully will fly again tomorrow or next week sometime!

Thanks everyone, GRIN still very big.. my wife is getting sick of my constant rattling i think!! haha. A few drinks helping.. Solo Nav, that will be good.

HEY ALL, well its finally happened! Perfect weather, no one around! First did about 8 circuits with instructor, wind calming down so was looking unreal. Last Stop, backtracked on 35 and then instructor got out.. this was the point of no return. What a buzz! To think i can actually fly a plane on my own! I had better pinch myself again. I had to laugh, prior to taking off, looked over to my right (NO INSTRUCTOR) , took a big deep breath and powered on! This is it! I might of been talking to myself even somewhat! YES i was! Hope mike button wasn't pushed in! All parts of circuits i believe was good, landing also uneventful.. Phew! Thanks again to Central West Flying and Chris.. great teacher.. Dave:clap:

After a week of shocking weather, finally went up today.. Only one in the area, apart from a nice chopper (Medusa callsign) doing NDB approaches, soon disappeared. Had the airport to ourselves. We again did a heap of emerg approaches (didnt see one coming as i turned my head, instructor pulled the throttle) haha, then flapless touch n gos also. ... Wind was 10 - 12 knots on the nose on final, felt like we were crawling even at 70 knots. Thought would of been alot more turbulent, thinking we might get some more cross wind circuits in. Pretty happy with my landings now, passengers will be pleased. :) Radio Exam on Friday with another lesson. 19.1 hours now! Cheers .

Hey Jose, nope no flying today, 19 knot winds at 280, somehow would of been tricky getting off ground with that crosswind.. Chris wanted to fly to Oberon to get some photos of snow as well. Would of been great. I hope to be flying tomorrow after work, might be tricky for you in morning too. Wait and see. Dave

26/7 lesson Well, eventful day ! I good day for flying, slight cross wind on RWY35 when we started, not too bad though. Instructor threw alot at me today, mostly emergency procedures at many parts of the circuit, mainly take off engine failures. Landed on most runways today, hardly any traffic which was unreal to train in. We could basically pick what we wanted. Good experience i do admit. Preparing me for solo i bet! I feel i accomplished what he wanted me too. Solo could be coming up soon, pending weather and how i am on the day.. I would rather not know it was coming, just launch it at me and i dont have to think. After the lesson, instructor took me up in the new JAB 230 for a fly. Hopped into left seat and off we went. These things really move.. Amazing performance difference to the Jab 160. They feel pretty solid aircraft to fly, those massive wings making it easy to glide if you so need too. A very nice aircraft with that new smell about it inside. When do i fly again, hopefully Wednesday afternoon if the rain does muck things up. Dave out for another day!