Matt

Technically nothing more than Ian has mentioned - someone who'll let you fly their aircraft so long as it's within the scope of your certificate. I'd suggest (as would most on this forum I reckon) getting at least 5 hours on type with an experienced pilot of that type or an instructor, read and become familiar with the POH and critical airspeeds. There's a lot of differences in the many aircraft that fit within the same category that you're legally allowed to fly on your certificate - some of these differences can be significant in terms of aircraft performance, handling in high and low speed situations, stall characteristics etc etc. Despite the legalities, it's not as simple as jumping from a Falcon to a Commodore. My 2c and humble opinion. Cheers, Matt.

Hi David, Kaz and I will try to get there, it'd be great to catch up with everyone at The Oaks again before Christmas. The "try" is due to our work Christmas parties being the night before...will depend on how much of a good time we both have ;). Cheers, Matt.

Hi Jason, Having been a victim of mother nature at her best and turning our smooth skinned Sportstar into the "aircraft now known as Dimples" and having to claim as a result, I'd recommend having your pride and joy insured, there's so many variables with aircraft and flying that you'd want to be covered for. In our experience, insurance will cost around 3-4% of the value of the aircraft depending on your experience, the aircraft type etc. Obviously the more an aircraft costs so does the insurance, for the "top of the range" ultralights in terms of price, this will cost around $5-6000. A small price to pay in my opinion if your pride and joy cost $125,000. My 2c. Cheers, Matt.

Labor in for long haul with reforms Not sure if anyone saw this in the news on Friday. LABOR has promised to establish a 20-year national aviation plan to encourage growth, tackle industry fragmentation and promote a more cohesive government approach if it wins power tomorrow. Releasing his party's aviation policy yesterday, Opposition transport spokesman Martin Ferguson accused the Howard Government of being unprepared for the current industry growth cycle, neglecting general aviation and failing to plan for the future. Mr Ferguson said a Rudd Labor government would work to develop a national aviation plan in its first 12 months, setting an industry framework for the next 20 years. "Aviation is a lifeblood industry for Australia - a critical service for our economy, our regions and linking us to the rest of the world," Mr Ferguson said. "Australia has a proud aviation history, but we have no aviation plan for the future." The plan would include a detailed analysis of future passenger and freight growth, including regulatory barriers and capability gaps threatening that growth. It would seek to integrate allsectors of the industry, address the skills shortage and provide a more cohesive government approach. It would also tackle the problems facing general aviation. Mr Ferguson said the general aviation industry action agenda set up by the Howard Government had been deliberating for too long with no result and promised to quickly release findings and urgently implement recommendations. Labor is also promising to scrutinise government agencies again. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority would get a new board, inappropriate airspace reforms would be axed and all remaining regulatory functions would beremoved from Airservices Australia. Airservices would not be allowed to return to location-specific charging and would be required to work with airlines and airports to ensure regional Australia was not disadvantaged. The air navigation provider would also not be privatised. CASA would get a small management board with full delegation to manage the authority and Labor would separate regulatory reform from compliance and enforcement. Labor would ensure that all regulatory functions were removed from Airservices but fire fighting and control towers would not be contracted out. The politicisation of airspace reform and its capture by "the personal agendas of powerful individuals" would not continue under Labor. The Office of Airspace Regulation, in consultation with Airservices, would also remove aspects of the national airspace system not appropriate to Australia. Other platforms included a focus on environmental improvements through improved air traffic control and the development of emission indicators. Airlines, airports and Airservices would also be required to share information and monitor the costs of delays and congestion in the aviation network.

Sorry Blue, didn't see this post. Our CT4A has a Continental IO-360-H, 6 cylinder, 210HP with inverted fuel and oil systems. Off topic completely to this thread but to answer the "aero's" question... No aeros for me yet but I have started the theory well before getting into the practical...sometime in the near future. As with all new flying adventures, there's a fair bit of theory to be learnt before stepping into the aeroplane and turning it upside down. Focus at the moment is stalls in all configurations, attitudes and speeds. Sounds strange when aeros are normally done at higher speeds, but understanding the behaviour of your particular aircraft at or near the stall and recovering is critical - as we all know, a stall doesn't occur at a specific speed but at a critical angle of attack which can be reached and exceeded at just about any speed. Cheers, Matt.

Very nice Ross, colour scheme is fanstastic and the finish looks great, you must be very happy and proud. So when's the first "Goulburn Fly-in" to celebrate for all us locals? Cheers, Matt.

My 2c - centre stick, throttle on the left - I'd suggest that for a tandem arrangement this would be standard and suit the majority (80%) of potential owners. The "standard" referred to above also refers to "side by side" seating arrangement where a single throttle control in the centre is a simpler engineering solution for training aircraft. Cheers, Matt.

I'm with Ultralights, very impressive...but insane!!! Won't ask how you came across the video on that site HPD ;)

While appreciating what Jabiru are doing for the light sport market with their aircraft, you cannot honestly compare a $55K Jabiru with a $120K Cessna. That would be like comparing a Taxi pack Falcon and a 5 series BMW, not in the same league and aimed at different markets at either end of the spectrum. Despite not being a fan of the Jabiru (just not my thing, not a fan of Falcons either :)), they are getting more people into recreational flying which is a good thing. Cheers, Matt.

First impression - wow! If a factory built one of those been on offer about 3 years ago we would've bought one, exactly what I would put on paper for my ultimate sport / recreational aircraft...effectively a scale version of some of the advanced military trainers in use today i.e. Tucano, PC9. The tailplane looks very BAE Hawk, especially in the rear 3/4 view: http://www.millennium-aircraft.com/photogallery.php?id=2&img=images/multimedia/photo/2/DSC_9800T.jpg Only thing I would change is the prop, really needs a 3 or 4 blade prop...nothing to do with performance, just looks better :) Ian - any idea how long before factory build is an option and what the cost would be?

Not sure the last time the compass was swung, I don't have the maintenance doco available at the moment (with LAME in Merimbula). In general there's little if any variance in the GPS heading compared to the remote compass heading. I'd hazard to say that my track variations (as they were reasonably minor, 1nm in 30nm on average) were due to forecast winds being different to the actual wind and my not making any allowance or track changes for the actual wind conditions...just a guess.

You leave the computer alone for a few hours and look what happens :) Must admit to being a bit nervous before the trip, it had been a while since I'd done all the planning manually and flying with reference to only map, compass and stopwatch...about 5 years if truth be known. It turned out to be great fun and a good challenge. The biggest thing I noted was the difference in "in cockpit" time compared to using the GPS as the primary means of navigation, nothing significant, but there is a noticable amount of time spent cross checking map, flight plan, landmarks, time etc. compared to following the GPS track and verifying at regular intervals. It was a great experience and something I'll be doing more regularly, for fun, the challenge and to keep me on my toes and ensure that I've not forgotten those fundamental skills. I recommend doing a similar exercise if it's been a while since you've used and relied only on the basic navigation aids of time, map and compass. Cheers, Matt.

Some useful info on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System didn't read it to see if there were any manufacturer details...plenty of other stuff though by the looks of it. Cheers, Matt.

Aviation Safety Reports on ATSB website can be found here: http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/index.aspx?mode=avi I'm not sure of what the ATSB's investigation or reporting scope or requirements are for "near misses". I believe ASA have the responsibility to record, investigate and report on "near misses" or "breakdown of separation" (I think that's the correct term) incidents within controlled airspace, for IFR flights (in or outside controlled airspace) and possibly other instances - I don't believe these investigations are published as the ATSB reports are. I'd suggest the focus is on regional airports where RPT and recreational (GA or RA-Aus) activities are frequent, not in upper airspace (obviously). Not sure if anyone's been reading the growth positions for Virgin and QANTAS but it's all about regional hubs/airports i.e. Wagga, Tamworth, Dubbo, Port Macquarie etc. etc, hence the large number of Q400 Dash 8s and Embraer jets being purchased by those two airlines. While these airports probably cope with the current mix of RPT and recreational traffic, an increase in the number and type of aircraft operating in these regional hubs will require all relevant operators and administrators to consider and address the risk and safety implications of this increase in traffic.

Saving Images from Google Earth You can save the current 'screen' image in Google Earth by selecting File - Save - Save Image or pressing CTRL + ALT + S. See attached image of Heck Field. It looks like Sypkens cropped a "print screen" image of his entire desktop and using Google Maps, not the full GE interface...just my assumption. Cheers, Matt.

Hi Corrine! I was hoping you would venture onto the site for a visit :) Now tell us the truth, does Ian EVER sleep? Cheers, Kaz (sorry Matt, too lazy to log on as myself...)

We got to the airfield around 13:15. Whereabouts are you flying out of?

Hi T87, all of the HARS fleet was on the ground when we arrived at Wollongong although it looked as though some of them had been out and about earlier. Would have been a great sight to see them all together in the air.

Lucky Must admit to being lucky in this area, in over 500 hours of flying I've never had a passenger (new or frequent) get airsick...I'd like to claim this is due to my piloting skills ;) but it's probably down to luck more than anything.

Hi Flyer40, yep spot on 12:45 local according to the timestamp on the photos of Ulladulla. Nice day to be down that way yesterday. Cheers, Matt.

Woke this morning to the fanstastic weather that had been forecast. The challenge: where to go? After a few options were discussed and debated over breakfast and the winner was a trip across the coast to Ulladulla then coastal through Nowra up to Wollongong for lunch. From there we'd head home to Canberra via Camden if we had the time. Having refuelled from our last trip (back from Melbourne on Monday) we taxi out to runway 35 behind a QANTAS 737 and Dash 8. Taking off we climb into clear skies and head to the coast where the cumulus is starting to build. Clear of cloud we descend into Ulladulla and start our trip up the coast and over the beaches at 1500'. Plenty of folks out on the beaches today with many in the water enjoying the warm weather and cool water. It's remarkably quiet in the air with not another aircraft seen or heard until we near Kiama where a lonely Cherokee is heading south. My inbound call to the Wollongong CTAF seemed to wake everyone up and the quiet turned to talk as aircraft all around and on the ground made their presence known. Approaching overhead Wollongong airfield I notice quite a number of aircraft parked around terminal and restaurant building...then notice they're all the same and look very familiar. Joining downwind for runway 08 we're overhead a Cessna Caravan taking off runway 34 to take some very mad people up very high to jump out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft...I'm sure that makes sense to someone :confused:. Touching down with a little less flare (either really, flare or flair) than needed I'm kinda glad there's a slight rise in the airfield and my less than perfect landing wouldn't have been obvious to the audience in the restaurant...which included the pilots of the 7 PC9s parked outside - yep, the Roulettes were there. Not only were the Roulettes there for lunch, there was also a big party going on and the place was packed! We manage to find a table for two outside in the shade where we find the Roulette pilots sitting around having a feed. We also find some other Canberra flyers who have also decided to enjoy lunch on the coast, including a fellow CT4 owner (not flying it today, also has an Aerostar) who actually purchased our CT4 and 2 others (on behalf of a syndicate of guys) at the auction in 1993 - it is a small world! So what were the Roulettes doing there? Well other than having lunch, they were waiting to perform a display at the parachute championships at Picton. For a bunch of guys about to go out and do an aerobatic display they sure did have a decent feed! :;)2: G-suits must do more than just fight G forces, must help keep your stomach in one place :). Having waited about an hour for a toasted sandwich, we down our lunch and a bottle of water and then it's time to head home...about the same time as the Roulettes prepare to leave for their display. So out we walk to the tarmac with the Roulettes each of them peeling off the group to their PC9...and we say farewell and head to the CT4...which got some curious glances from them. I can never figure if looks from current Air Force pilots when seeing civilians with ex-Air Force aircraft are those of curiosity, pity or jealousy...having spoken to a few at Edinburgh at the airshow it appears pity is the common reaction ...most have memories of some of their most stressful flying being in a CT4 at the beginning of their career in the Air Force. We preflight the CT4 (which is sitting in the middle of the 6 Roulette PC9s) in unison with the Roulette pilots, strap in and taxy out in front of them...feeling a little anxious and in awe of their job and aircraft....wonder when the PC9s will go to auction...and wonder if Kaz will be happy sitting in the back ;). The clouds have built up around the hills near Wollongong and we take off and track south to be able to climb clear of cloud and be able to get over it to get home. The trip home is uneventful, we hear the Roulettes take off behind us and the 7th "spare" PC9 head back to East Sale as he's not needed today. Turning toward Canberra from the Shellys NDB east of Goulburn we get the current ATIS which confirms the cloud we can see as well as some showers under some very developed cells to the west...thankfully not near the airport. The ATIS also advises of moderate turbulence below 10'000 feet and just as we finish writing down the ATIS in smooth air and joking about the "turbulence" we start to hit the bumps...spoke too soon! Cleared to Canberra we're tracked south a bit to be clear of some traffic departing Dick Smith's airfield at Gundaroo...must of been a bit of a fly-in there today. From Bungendore we track to join base for runway 30, cleared visual approach then landing I make a much better landing effort than Wollongong and taxy to the grass parking...to find a familiar looking CTSW parking in our spot...rude bastard! :) Ian's original CTSW 24-4466 is an irregular visitor to Canberra, we've seen it here a couple of times in the past 6 months. Unfortunately we didn't get to drop into Camden as hoped, the extended time at Wollongong waiting for a feed and commitments to make it home to Canberra by late afternoon meant we had to defer our visit to Camden to another weekend...seems we've visited every one of the "local" airfields except Camden....we'll get there one day...promise Mazda :) Attached are some of Kaz's pics from today...I can't claim any of these. Cheers, Matt.

Can they fit a Rotax 912 instead ...TIC of course, couldn't help myself.

Are you accepting proposals for dates for the Echuca Flyin Part 2? * Australia Day weekend in January * Labour Day weekend in March Long weekends work well for those travelling a little further...although it won't be via Adelaide this time :)

Inverted spinning in a Hunter, Poms are mad aren't they!!!! :) Will do if we go on Sunday, might have a bit of a day out and pay a visit to Wollongong as well...gotta love daylight savings.

Hey Mazda, trip was fantastic and we will make it to Camden one day...maybe this weekend if the weather is kind, we might head up for the NSW Aerobatic Club Open Day this Sunday.