rdarby

A lot of people on the forum are talking about having gone above 5000ft on the way to or from Temora. I haven't seen any announcement about it actually being fact yet. Is it? I would have expected something on the front of the RA-Aus website about it. Thanks Ryan

It's been hard with all this rain over Easter, I took time off just so I could fly. But who's flying!?! in this wind and rain. I've booked the plane all day on Monday as it's forecast to be a fine day, and I really hope it is, as Tuesday is back to work! Ryan

The Chinagraph pencils are quite thick, and you can't write well with them. I photocopy the maps so I can write in coloured markers all over them, then throw them away when done.

I pay $155 an hour to rent a SportStar, including fuel. Best place to look is the flying schools, the people who teach you will probably let you continue to rent what you learn in. I have looked at the costs and I don't think you can repay a plane by yourself. You need to factor in fixed costs of hangar, insurance and rego as Bass said, then variable ones for maintenance, fuel, servicing, and engine replacement. And repayments and interest. All up it works out about the same for me if I fly over 100 hours, but that is more than I can afford to rent anyway. The problem with a cheap aircraft is that the engine still costs the same to replace, and the hangar still costs the same etc. Ryan

Last time I heard of an iPad being used in flight it overheated and froze. I photocopy the maps onto A4 and write everything on them and staple them together, and put them down the side of the seat, and use only that and a pencil. Everything else is planned beforehand. I gave up on the knee board, but will use it as a handy place to clip loose bits like ERSA pages for reference onto, but they are in the back for if I really need them. I stopped using the knee board because even though mine is small it gets in the way and is a distraction on landing. So I used to take it off as soon as I joined the circuit, now I don't bother much at all with it. So in summary I don't juggle paperwork, I have eliminated it. No tables or anything but the map with all the info written on it in flight. Everything else is used, but before I take off.

I've just finished my nav's and felt stressed to the point of giving up all the way through until the solo nav, where all that practice I had been absorbing somehow kicked in and it was a breeze, I've never had such an enjoyable flight. Hang in there! I found that less is more - I didn't use the whizz wheel in flight, or the tables I used for initial planning. I mentally worked things out if I had to. I also wrote it all on pages of the map I had photocopied, so I had one set of papers to deal with only. I used a cheap digital watch, with a BIG display, which helped a lot, and wrote the numbers on the map. Get the basics in place, get used to what terrain looks like, how clouds sit on mountains, how small a rail line is from the air etc. then progress to using navigation tools in the air. Simply things and build it up lesson by lesson, don't go all out from the start. I also learned not to look at the map. You have to have faith in your ability to pick a point ahead and fly to it, and not try match map to ground all the time, as it stresses you, or it did me anyway. I found by not looking at the map except where I expected to be near my next feature, it calmed me down which allowed me to think more and not panick and get lost. And think about your definition of lost. I'm near the sea here so I know if I'm in trouble, fly East, avoid some controlled airspace and I will find the sea and then find my way home. I can't get lost if I think of it in that simplistic manner, hence I don't stress about it. Also remember it's not a simple add on like doing the radio endoresement, it's a major achievement and hence will take quite a bit of time and effort and stress, I found it a lot more so than doing the initial training. If you accept the size of what you are doing, you may find it okay. Good luck. Ryan

I got rained out before I even started, so I'm hoping my next booking on Wednesday turns out okay!

Your stall warning plays Dixie. Your cross-country flight plan uses f1ea markets as check points. You think sectional charts should show trailer parks. You have mud flaps on your wheel pants. You think "GPS" stands for Going Perfectly Straight. You've ever used Moonshine as Avgas. Your toothpick keeps poking Your Mike. Just before impact you are heard saying "Hey Y'all, Watch This". You've just taxied all around the airport drinking beer. You use a Purina Bag as a windsock. You refer to flying in formation as "We got ourselves a convey here" If you have a "Powered by Coors" decal on the cow. If you have sports team gimme caps lined up on the glare shield. If you put a fake hump on the cowling to show off your four-barrel Holley with supercharger. If you stick a tennis ball on your transponder antenna. If you put the little Playboy bunny emblems on your wheel pants. If you call wheel pants "fender skirts". You think three bags from Piggly Wiggly is a matched set of luggage. You have ever used sheetrock as part of an aircraft repair. If you have your N number tattooed across your arm. If you have a gun rack mounted on the aft bulkhead. When done tying down you throw your hands in the air and look up at the tower to check your time! You have a spitoon in place of an ash tray. You have fuzzy dice hanging from the compass. You have a fur lined instrument overlay. You have a Confederate flag as a headliner. If you have a beer can crusher on the dash. If you plane is endorsed by your paint company. If you keep Vienna Sausage in your plane for emergency rations. If you have ever used a beer can for aircraft repair. If your canopy cover is a feed sack. If your flight suit consists of bell-bottomed pants. If you ever made love on top of your hangar. You refer to any female ATC controller on the air as "Lil' Darlin". You answer any radio communication with: "That’s a big 10-4". There are parts on your plane with the name John Deere on them. You figure in the weight of a case of Bud on your permanent weight and balance records. Part of your walk-around inspection is taking the wheat out of the Landing gear. You siphon gas out of your tractor for your plane. You use your parachute to cover your plane. You make regular low passes over your girl friend's trailer. You’ve landed on the main street of your town for coffee. When you call the tower, you begin "breaker, breaker, c'mon!" http://www.funnyairlinestories.com/jokes/redneck_pilot.asp

I'm planning on leaving Redcliffe at 6:30am, going to Watts Bridge for a touch and go then a full stop at Kilcoy to have a look around, flying a SportStar.

I've now looked it up in Google Earth and I think the long/lat is wrong in ERSA. Those co-ordinates give me a farm dam on the north of the town, and I know the airfield is south by the lake. Hmmm. I'm going to find it the exciting way!

Sorry I snapped at you Dazza, had a rough day and I think I misread your tone, I know you were trying to help and I appreciate it.

Dazza, I can assure you I have used Google, I am not completely lazy. I couldn't find anything though, which is why I asked here.

Got my nav endorsement this weekend, so want to go further afield, and check out Kilcoy, on Monday, as it's close and a possible home for me if I buy an aircraft. There isn't any real info in ERSA though. Does anyone know the elevation, runway directions and length please? Any anyone with recent experience there got any tips for me? I am sure there was a section on this site with details of airfields but I can't find it. Thanks Ryan

I would rely more on my feet (rudders) to lift wings at that low speed but he seems to have landed well. Best landings I do is when I do less. Just keep it straight and it knows how to land, and don't wave the stick about. In the flair he seemed to pump it but not sure what was happening as the nose didn't oscilate.

Same as Pete and fit into a Sportstar easily, and I would think a Tecnam would be no problem. Many of the modern planes are being advertised as wider than a 150 or 172! Ryan

Thanks very much, that is a great list! The reason I was after non-grass runways was because the few grass ones I have been on (not many) havebeen quite rough, and I was looking for something smoother, so it's less of a worry of damaging the airplane until I get used to using a hire plane and build some experience.

I'm trying to come up with a list of the sealed runways in SE QLD or surrounds. Does anyone know any I don't know of? So far I'm finding them on a map and looking in ERSA: Redcliffe Caloundra Caboolture (a bit anyway) Stanthorpe Lismore Gympie Wondai Dalby Ballina Evans Head Are there any others within a few hundred miles of Brisbane? Ryan

Why do you put it on when changing tanks in the cruise? I was taught to do as you all mention above but that one is new to me, but then again I'm only starting to really understand the fuel system now too.

Go to the field you will go to most. By this I mean if it's a hassle and you are at a point where the training is hard, you might not want to go, so remove a barrier. But you should check out all the schools and see which one you like. Just call them up and say you want to chat to them, see the equipment, understand how they teach. You then go to the one you feel most comfortable with. You may find that you can't choose where you get a hangar as many areas are full up. So where you eventually house the aircraft should not dictate where you learn to fly, but it does help if it's closer as you build local knowledge. But the aircraft they train in may influence what you want to buy, and if you buy the same type it can be easier than cross training, so consider carefully what they train you in. Getting a hangar can be hard, in Brisbane anyway, unless you drive an hour out of the city at least. But I would start the training, as once you are in the system you will learn a lot and see which fields and aircraft are nice. Right now you are asking yourself to make a big decision before you have had a chance to get the input data. Get airborne, the rest will come with time! Good luck Ryan

I went there today as a nav trip. It's great. You can do 500' along the beach most of the way there. The airfield is in good condition, really soft grass, no sand. I was worried I would get bogged but the sand is around it but the field itself is like a lawn. As you approach you see "things" on the threshold, they are lights, not kangaroos. It has two windsocks and a heli pad. This is a proper airfield, not just a cleared strip. The shop there is nice, good coffee and toilets. At 670m I was worried it would be short, I am used to 800m+. But it wasn't, it felt great to come in to. Well worth it. When you turn the engine off you hear the waves from the beach. I'll go back when I finally finish my nav training. Ryan

Try here: http://sliderule.ozmanor.com/man/man-download.html

Thanks very much! I'm doing a nav lesson to Orchid Beach (Fraser Coast), which does not seem to have a frequency of it's own, on Sunday and am trying to get all the info up front and not have to ask the instructor any questions this time, especially those ones I know he has answered before! Hopefully do the solo nav soon.

I understand there is a standard frequency to use at an airfield that is not in use in ERSA, but I can't find a reference to it anywhere, especially in ERSA! Is there such a thing? Thanks for the help. Ryan

The Dyson-Holland books have sample exams in them.

You get big wheels and smaller ones that fit into top pockets, see which one works for you best. I find the big one easy to use but no good in the cockpit.