Kaz

That'd be our Navy. 3 of these are leased by Navy as motiviation / continuation training platforms following the demise of Seasprite and delays with SeaHawk replacement. These choppers are painted in pretty flash schemes, this looks like the black one with gold markings.

Dunno about standoff, I'd be worried about the prop on the Winjeel eating through that cone!

From the 'other halfs' point of view With the Sportstar it was the great paint scheme, the look of your aircraft can be a deciding factor in the 'other halfs' approval. With the CT4 I stood my ground for 3 whole days Slarti! In the end it was the smell of an old aircraft that got me and I gave in. I'm still impressed I held out 3 days. About the cost - figure out what it will cost for a year based on your estimated hours. I allow for 150 hrs a year so it includes 1 years insurance, 2 x 50 hrly and 1 x 100 hrly maitenance, 12 months hangerage, 150 hours worth of petrol at a worse case senario price ($1.90 for the 2009 year) and also include magazine subscriptions, registrations for RAA, Warbirds license fees, airways charges etc. Then you put aside X amount each week/month into a separate account and all the costs come out of that. This way your supportive 'other half' isn't always seeing cash going out of the account for aircraft realted items. It still costs the same but you don't notice it

Shhh Phil, I was going to take the credit. Little does Ben know I don't go upside down!

Hey BigPete, how did LittlePete enjoy the weekend?? Had a chat to him on Saturday but didn't get a chance to talk to him again. You're not wrong there Pete, what a great Aeroclub. We had an awesome time, even with the weather issues. Cheers, Kaz (the real one!)

Not wrong there Nev ;)

Hi everyone, we just got home from the weekend which started on Thursday for us - we knew the only way we'd make it was to leave on Thursday. BigPete's post pretty much wrapped up the weekend - cold, wet and windy. A Couple of corrections to BigPete's post though... Murray Wallace is his name and is a good friend of ours and mentor of Matt's....not an ex-RAAF instructor though, was an Army helicopter pilot then a long and distinguished airline career. Actually it was Alan Arthur's Kittyhawk which flew to Deni on Saturday for an ANZAC day flypast then stayed there overnight in a hangar there due to (as BigPete mentioned) having an in-to wind runway. Actually a Lockeed 12...and yes she is a beautiful machine. A big thanks to the Echuca Aero Club for helping us (the Antique Aeroplane Association) put on a fantastic weekend for our national fly-in. Oh...it's actually Matt here, just figured out I'm logged in as Kaz....anyhow we'll get around to a full post of our own in the next couple of days. Cheers, Matt (masquerading as Kaz )

Controllers can't just ignore you. I expect there was simply a radio issue and they couldn't clearly understand your request. Great thread though :thumb_up:

For info - Brisbane Centre run Pilots Nights, where GA (and RAA) pilots can come to the centre for a few hours and have Safety and ATC personnel give presentations on a range of topics. You also spend time in the Ops room and simulator to get an understanding of what the contollers do. If you live in the area talk to your flying club, get a group together and contact the Centre.

By "mutually exclusive" I meant that one has no impact on the other with respect to recognition of qualifications. Cheers, Matt....who appears to be logged on as Kaz

Maybe they told her they were licenced to conduct the joy flight and held appropriate insurances. Being that they were not licenced, any insurance they had would not apply, therefore she was misled. It doesn't take much imagination to make something one says into something totally different.

This is more a “go see†than a “fly to†trip report… on Sunday we decided to go watch the A380 land at Melbourne Airport. It was due about 12.40 so we got there a little early, checked ATIS, positioned ourselves nicely at the end of the RWY 16 and listed to the scanner waiting to hear it come in. Change of runway, we’re now landing RWY 27. Damn. The A380 can land on 27 but it’s not preferred so while we’re waiting to see what it’ll do, the scanner battery dies. Maybe I should charge it more than once a year… Big decision, wait at RWY 16, go to RWY 27 on the off chance or go around to RWY 34… a Virgin aircraft takes off over our heads and the decision is made. We get around to the end of RWY 34, there are plane spotting geeks armed with scanners and binoculars and we know we’re in the right place. At least someone came prepared. A couple minutes later we see the beast on final! Bloody Huge! The tail on this thing is enormous! Full Right Rudder About a 15 knot crosswind Full Left Rudder Nice one... Note: Thanks Matt for pointing out my Left and Right rudder comments were back to front i_dunno

That's awesome!

When Matt came into land with Little Pete it was quite windy and I thought he had nailed and said "that wasn't a bad landing" to which Big Pete replied "Which one?"

My favourite part of Matt taking others up is the smile on peoples faces when they get back. Doesn't matter if it's their first flight or their 100th flight the smile doesn't change. :big_grin: