rdarby

Sounds like you really handled it well. Well done.

What's the radar tracking app? Sounds useful!

My proxy is now sent in. Good luck!

Good luck Mark and I hope to see you looking as good as your very bright plane at Caboolture again soon!

Don't chat, fly. There have been cases where ATC or other aircraft are trying to contact pilots but they are on 123.45 and not monitoring the Area frequency. It's easy to get focussed on the chat and loose situational awareness.

I got a Microsoft Surface today, does anyone know if there are any flying apps on it? What do you recommend?

You can get one through RA-Aus. A while ago I saw a link on the website.

Yes please.

The novel "Fifty Shades Of Grey" has seduced women – and baffled blokes. Now, Fifty Sheds Of Grey, offers a treat for the men. The book has author Colin Grey recounting his love encounters at the bottom of the garden. Here are some extracts... Fifty Sheds Of Grey We tried various positions – round the back, on the side, up against a wall... but in the end we came to the conclusion the bottom of the garden was the only place for a good shed. She stood before me, trembling in my shed. "I'm yours for the night," she gasped, "You can do whatever you want with me." So I took her to Bunning's. She knelt before me on the shed floor and tugged gently at first, then harder until finally it came. I moaned with pleasure. Now for the other boot. Ever since she read THAT book, I've had to buy all kinds of ropes, chains and shackles. She still manages to get into the shed, though. "Put on this rubber suit and mask," I instructed, calmly. "Mmmm, kinky!" she purred. "Yes," I said, "You can't be too careful with all that asbestos in the shed roof." "I'm a very naughty girl," she said, biting her lip. "I need to be punished." So I invited my mum to stay for the weekend. "Harder!" she cried, gripping the workbench tightly. "Harder!" "Okay," I said. "What's the gross national product of Nicaragua?" I lay back exhausted, gazing happily out of the shed window. Despite my concerns about my inexperience, my rhubarb had come up a treat. "Are you sure you can take the pain?" she demanded, brandishing stilettos. "I think so," I gulped. "Here we go, then," she said, and showed me the receipt. "Hurt me!" she begged, raising her skirt as she bent over my workbench. "Very well," I replied. "You've got fat ankles and no dress sense." "Are you sure you want this?" I asked. "When I'm done, you won't be able to sit down for weeks." She nodded. "Okay," I said, putting the three-piece suite on eBay. "Punish me!" she cried. "Make me suffer like only a real man can!" "Very well," I replied, leaving the toilet seat up.

I'd start by learning to fly, as that will give you exposure to what is and is no possible. To cruise over 100kts you generally are going to pay over $100,000 for something new. 90kts isn't going to be much cheaper. $20,000 is going to generally get you something like an X-Air which will cruise at about 55kts, and not have 4 hours range. Start with the flying lessons, look around, take your time and keep asking questions!

I bought into a Foxbat syndicate at Caboolture. The red one (now a white LSA version as the red has just been sold).

Regardless of whether it was safe (not!) it's a freakin cool video, and I bet that kid on the ground a great story to tell at school the next day!

I just bought one. It's like when I invest in stocks, they fall the next day. Buy a plane and can't fly it even once! This to me sounds like a good and proper rumour, and I bet you nothing comes of it. But it did serve to make Friday interesting! Someone said they heard it, not that they knew something, so until we get facts I'd say forget it. There is also a rumour, with more substance to it too, that the world will end in December 2012. I'm not worried about that one either!

Whatever you do, try a pair on before you buy. I went for a big brand expensive pair of ANR headphones, and I hate them. But it's too late now. I went based on their reputation and specifications, not putting them on my head. I made a rookie mistake. Fly in's are great places to try them on from vendors or other pilots, who are often more than happy to talk about their gear.

What did the forecast say? NAIPS gives wind speed and direction for several different layers, and the wind can be completely different every few thousand feet. If you were up at 10,000ft you were in a whole new world.

I expected it to go into orbit given the size of it!

When I have done low level circuits I have found any wafting up and down by a hundred or so feet, that may not seem an issue on a 1000ft downwind, really seems magnified at 500ft. To not hold your altitude exactly at 250ft could really get you into strife. I personally am not taking off if the weather is bad, so I avoid the need to hedge hop, as I know that if I am down that low and lost I am going to be concentrating on many things and can descend 200ft easily, and hit a tree.

The visibiity down is good but actually scared me a little! I suddenly realised the ground is there! But nice to land on grass, you don't feel the bumps.

HH you don't need the booklet!

It does. It was subtle too which is annoying! But the message is still clear. You are never too old to learn to fly, and I think that there is a huge number of pilots over 50. You don't need to buy anything to tell you that, just look at pilots in the real world.

Given the link in your signature David, is this post spam? Someone "giving away" a report on how to learn to fly probably knows the answer to your own question.

The guy who taught me was 74. Walk into the typical areo club and you will find the average age is well into 50 I think. Most people need to get other thing done while they are younger, so now can focus on flying. And hopefully you are more mature and sensible! Go for it!

Apparantly they trained for 4 years for this. It's a massive undertaking, more because it tests next generation space suits. Now how is that capsule getting down?

I hope so Dazza! I'm going to give the CTSW a try though.

To me I have to fit into a strict budget, which is $500 a month for flying. That means about 3 hours a month. I don't believe buying is worth it financially, unless you have a monthly budget of quite a bit more than mine. But I am in a situation now where I have to find somewhere else to hire, as the plane is being sold. That means retraining on another plane. Hence some of my questions on the forum lately. I don't want to retrain, and if you hire I can see it happening every few years. There are a LOT of RAA types out there, you can't just settle on a Cessna 172 and fly an identical one for 30 years. I am starting to feel what Herm is talking about a lot at the moment. My calculations were: Fixed costs, these happen each year just to own it, but not fly it: Capital costs. $4,200 based on $350 a month repayment or money not put into your mortgage etc. Hangar. $2340 based on $40 a week. Insurance. $1,500 Registration $180 This is $8,040 a year. That is $670 a month. Not in the air yet. Then the hourly costs: Fuel. $23 Engine replacement $15 Maintenance $10 This is $48 an hour. At 100 hours a year this is $128 an hour. Sounds good so far. But if you work it out as a monthly cost, it's $1,070. You then also have the hassle of having to maintain the thing. Easy for some, but not for others. I just can't find a way of getting these numbers down to $500 a month, unless I lower the capital costs to a point that I don't care. That would mean buying an aircraft that is costing say $10,000 to $15,000. I can mentally cope with losing that from savings, as I think I can rebuild it. Then I have to cope with not cruising to Natfly in 5 hours in a leather seated 100kn sportStar, but rather have something that I can do circuits etc. in but not a lot else. It's still flying but it's hard to give up the luxuary. I am currently studying the GA exams, and booked in at GoFly for conversion lessons to a CTSW, but I still wonder if I will only get peace of mind if I buy something. Anything! I think if I found a hangar close by it would force me to put something in it! In summary, we are all different, spend different and want different. Ryan