kiwiaviator

Another beautiful weekend in the eastern isles. Headed to one of my favourite strips for an overnight hunting trip in the J230 ute. The dog is getting used to flying finally. D'Urville Island is the largest island in the Marlborough Sounds. Once again Wellington Approach very helpful with radar monitoring across the Strait. Its always reassuring knowing someone is keeping an eye on you in a single engine over water.

I'll be making to effort to attend a Jabiru course from NZ. I would have booked into the first one however have prior commitments. Looking forward to the next dates.

I think you have a pathway for this. As far as I know RAAus doesn’t have a monopoly on Part 149? Happy to be corrected on this.

Great news. We have had this in NZ for a long time. Now its up to all pilots to ensure that they are up to the job and demonstrate that they can be as professional as the next pilot regardless of licence type.

This is a very informative publication with some great ideas for 'mooring' your aircraft to mother earth https://www.aviation.govt.nz/assets/publications/gaps/secure-your-aircraft.pdf I had my Jabiru 230 tied down in Newman just up the road from you one winter. I used the Claw tiedown system. In the summer I stored it in a hanger in Geraldton as there was no way I was having it outside in wet season. You should seriously consider some sort of hanger. The container shelters are cyclone rated and cost effective. I would have permanent tie downs as well in them.

Long shot. Is anyone aware of any ZK registered aircraft currently in Western Australia? TIA

Details please Sounds as intriguing as the bloke who flew his sofa over LAX airspace a few haircuts ago..

I have never been asked to do a cross country for a BFR in NZ or Australia. Seems to me they were trying to extract the maximum amount of flying/beer vouchers out of you. If they want you to show competency in x country then there are many ways to do this on the ground.

Sorry. I should cite my sources 🙂 BTW 90% is an approximation for the initial survivability. Schick VC, Boyd DD, Hippler C, Hinkelbein J. Survival After Ditching in Motorized Aircraft, 1989-2022. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2024 May 1;95(5):254-258. doi: 10.3357/AMHP.6332.2024. PMID: 38715275. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38715275/

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/emergency-services-responding-to-unfolding-aviation-incident-at-tasman-bay-near-nelson/BZ4PVY52UJAZPJGKYPAMNPVQAQ/ Great outcome. Weather was good and emergency response quick which contributed to the pilot surviving. I understand he was in the water for nearly an hour. 90% of ditchings are survivable. Its just what happens after that which determines the fate of those onboard.

Great outcome. Looks like one of Goflys Slings. Thankfully its not often that a student gets a real demo of a forced landing.

Try https://www.airportmetals.com.au/ based at Tullamarine

Thanks Glen. I'll put in the fuses. Sense wire direct to battery. I repaired the 'hot' connection and its a lot better now with max rpm giving 14.5v. I'll be very interested in getting one of your regulators when available.

OK. Carried out this modification. Works well but I'm thinking a little too well... Battery voltage now 14.7v at 1200 rpm. Felt the regulator and wiring temp straight after the first ground run. Not hot however I found evidence of a once hot connection at the VR connector light blue wire. Pictured. This may be historical although I feel I would have picked it up at the last 100hr or sooner. There is a Jabiru bulletin about the 'new' regulator on a J230. Do you think I can find it? I'll do some more ground running as tests as per the mod however any thoughts/experience welcome.

Big news for those using Aircraft Spruce for parts and supplies https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/stpages/australia.php

FAA info forwarded by CAA NZ today https://mailchi.mp/3371403d6bc0/faa-safo-24004-ads-b-transmitter-anomalies-with-uavionix-tailbeacon-or-skybeacon-ads-b-978-mhz-universal-access-transmitters-uat?e=6b92037bbf

RFGuy. I will be interested in the data you collect as I fly a PA28-180 on occasion as well.

Agree. It was an inflight decision to land there, one I should not have made in retrospect. I carry those charts onboard however didn’t refer to them in this instance as I have landed there many times. Of note the density altitude was -500’ with a temp of 10 C so plenty of performance.

My granddaughter is visiting NZ from QLD so we decided to go for a flight in the J230 yesterday. We were going to head to the central plateau to see the snow so I had about 75 litres onboard however the weather dictated a short scenic to the coast (about 20 mins away). It was a beautiful day there so I made a decision to land at a small 500m strip next to the beach. We then enjoyed some time at the beach with the dog before heading back. I picked an abort point and employed a soft field takeoff technique. Unfortunately we failed to get airborne in a safe distance. This was a first for me there and it was due to a soft surface, nil wind and pretty much MTOW. No mobile coverage there so I used my Garmin Inreach to message my partner who made the 50 min trip out by road. She brought the fuel pump and two 20 litre fuel containers so I defueled 40 litres from the aircraft. Granddaughter and dog traveled back via road. By this time the wind had picked up to around 5 knots so I lined up with the tail over the threshold and tried again. This time I was airborne before halfway. A great learning experience with three big takeaways for me. 1. Don't be landing on short grass strips in the winter at MTOW no matter how nice they look. 2. 90 kg makes a huge difference to a J230 takeoff roll in these circumstances. 3. Always carry an alternative communication device that doesn't rely on the mobile network. The Inreach has come in handy a few times now even if its just to give others peace of mind.

Glad everyone OK. Seems like Dan and the passenger were trapped for a while and had to be cut out.

Thanks for sharing Glen. Coming home from the Wanaka airshow recently I was crossing Cook Strait when the weather at destination clagged in. I followed the East Coast of the North Island to a small 500m strip next to the coast and landed there in deteriorating conditions a few minutes into my fuel reserve. This was not the forecast. Always have an out (or two)..

Well done Peter. Looks great.

I am looking at attending this workshop and encourage others to do the same. There is an online option as well. https://www.uprtconference.com/

Blue skies and light winds in central NZ during the weekend made for great flying conditions. I loaded the dog and camping gear into my J230 and we headed across Cook Strait to the largest island in the Marlborough Sounds. There is a 700m all weather strip there on public land. The Gopro footage shows 4 minutes of overflying the strip, joining right base, a curved approach over the lagoon and landing https://youtu.be/cqxe-e4-tjY?si=aPP9t_dKOQlucCI- A FlightRadar screenshot also attached for those interested in the route (approx 1 hr from NZMS my home field)

Sir Tim Wallis, the founder of Warbirds Over Wānaka, died peacefully on Tuesday. https://www.facebook.com/100064626048241/posts/pfbid0eG52X3rDcVWMUmPibaeuUNXnoRiQJFaWsNRaMEAtc6QTEEBwCdikkDBSrqqrgAzMl/?mibextid=cr9u03