Matt

As Jim and Ken mentioned it was a fantastic day with a great turnout - people & aeroplanes...weather not so good though and we ended up driving there as a result. There were just over 2000 members of the public through the gate and just over 51 aeroplanes in attendance / on display and 3 station-wagon loads of toys were donated. PS> I'm not sure I've made it known on the forum yet but I was recently elected to the committee and position of Secretary for the Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia (AAAA)...and as Jim mentioned, planning for the 2009 VIC Toy Run is already underway. Brett - we're always looking for new members...especially those keen to help define and organise activities such as these....there's no reason a WA Toy Run couldn't happen next year with the right support.

As with a few others I'm not going to offer an opinion one way or the other...other than to agree that a regular health check - regardless of age or flying status - is a positive thing to do...it may cost you a few bucks but I reckon every cent is worth it. How many of you know someone with or who has had cancer or some other significant illness or disease - was it picked up early as part of a regular health check or late once it had already taken hold and symptoms have shown? Prevention and early detection via regular checkups is so much better than the alternative. Ironically (and I've said this before in one of the many other threads on the topic) there are folks more than happy to part with money to maintain their aircraft/car/boat but balk at spending time or money maintaining themselves...the most complex component of a flying machine is after all the human at the controls.

dammit...knew I'd get the spelling wrong Was going to ask about the Cheetah...repairs going well then? You'll have to post some pics.

Thanks guys, I'll actually be uploading a revised version tonight which includes some additional footage taken last weekend after playing with some new camera locations and angels. PS> Slarti - Kaz says hi...look forward to catching up again someday...somewhere.

That'd be Iron Eagle...nice flying sequences, poor plot...just like most the films at the time

Another compilation of aerobatics in the CT4 English LINK

Hi Davey, Traffic alert systems actually work on transponders, not GPS. These systems will alert you to aircraft within a particular range that are transponder equipped and have them turned on. Effectively they work by receiving transponder transmissions to determine range & direction and display this information on a basic display. It does not provide "resolution" information i.e. it won't tell you what to do to avoid another aircraft, it will only identify it to you...which of course relies on other aircraft being transponder equipped.

Some very strange family goings on here

Hi Ian, It may be worth having a chat to these guys: Welcome to ProFuel as they provide this service as well as offer discounts / fuel cards etc....kinda like what's already been discussed elsewhere on the forum. The Australian Warbirds Association has recently engaged Profuel for it's members whereby discounts of up to 20c per litre are on offer. Cheers, Matt.

Avalon East is a temporary GAAP established in a paddock to the east of Avalon for those who want to fly-in to the airshow but not be a part of it. The GAAP zone normally extends to be the eastern half of the Avalon control zone. There is a temporary tower located in the paddock and they operate parallel runway ops (north/south only). Shuttle busses run to/from from Avalon East to the main gate - this is a free service. There's also a fuel truck if needed and you can leave your aircraft there for mutliple days if you want to.

If you have a read of the latest Australian Aviation magazine there's an interesting article on the demise of AVGAS in total due to the reducing number of refineries which are able to produce leaded high octane fuels i.e. AVGAS. The article goes on to talk about modifying / designing aircraft engines for alternate fuels (MOGAS). The following article is about Rolls Royce's development of small low SHP turbines as potential replacements for the larger AVGAS engines in use today...we might have a turbine powered CT4 after all ;)

Great report guys and shame we missed it...although we had a great trip to Goolwa for the Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia Auster Rally...trip report will get done in the next couple of days. Thanks for the CT4 pics, A19-077 is the RAAF Museum's aircraft and the very dark blue CT4/F is Raytheon's full glass cockpit & 300HP machine...drool Would love to have me a PC9! They're expected to be retired around 2010-2012 but unlikely to go to public sale like the CT4/Winjeel etc...bit of a shame but from sources they have some issues with corrosion. Reckon they'd be a hoot! For anyone interested, the PC9's little brother the PC7 are publicly available in the US/Europe pretty regularly...and a definite contender for the shopping list! While 13000 ft/min sounds good, the actual climb rate of a Hornet is initially somewhere around 60,000' ft/min

Hi guys, We (Kaz and I) will be attending in our CT4, expect also to have the following from Kyneton - 1 x CT4 or SF260 Marchetti (depending on which one Murray will take), 1 x Tiger Moth, 1 x Auster, at least 1 x Corby Starlet (maybe more), 1 x C175 Skylark (actually from Penfield), 1 x Debonair...and anyone else we can convince to make the trip. Cheers, Matt.

I think the question is around what is it that ATC need to know about your aircraft type i.e. what is relevant to them and their operations / requirements. They're not going to know or care the difference between a Jabiru/Sportstar/Skylark etc. what they're interested in is performance for the purpose of sequencing and directing traffic.

Hi Craig, There's a few commercial and airline folks here so would expect them to offer some more educated thoughts than mine but here goes. Most airliners are operating within a 30 minute turnaround window (or thereabouts) so there are a lot of folks attending to the aircraft to prepare it for the next sector. The thing to note is that all of these folks attending to various things are all trained and (for certain tasks) certified professionals. Operation of a large / complex aircraft requires the input of many, while the Captain or F/O conduct a walk around looking for obvious issues, they also require the assistance / input of many ground crew to facilitate the preparation of the aircraft. You can't rely on a single person in such a large & complex environment...that's why there are systems and people in place to assist the flight crew. Cheers, Matt.

Hi Ben, Your strip looks magnificent! Any chance of getting the coordinates and do you welcome "drop ins"? Cheers, Matt.

Yep, Cobden is on this weekend and conflicts with the Horsham Fly-in which we're going to.

Anyone wish to hazard a guess at the intended market / potential customers? A single place, high wing ultralight would have limited appeal I would have thought?

Don't be too hard on yourself...another good skill to learn - touch typing ;)

To get a real display of the secondary effect of rudder (roll) you'll need to put in full rudder and hold it there for a good couple of seconds or more while ensuring elevator & aileron are centralised - ask your instructor to demonstrate this on your next flight. One of the purposes for learning the primary and secondary effects of controls is exactly as you have stated - an alternative should a primary control fail. Yep, you can happily steer around (although at a slower rate) using rudder and no aileron - but, as you've stated, it's not very comfortable and provides for severely restricted roll control. Cheers, Matt.

As per Merv's question - what information are you looking for exactly? It looks like you might be after a breakdown of all costs associated with operating an aircraft - are you after details relating to private ownership (i.e. yourself) or those of an aircraft for hire through an aero club or similar? If it's the former, there are many costs associated with operating an aircraft. Broadly speaking these would include: * Capital Cost - depreciation / loan * Insurance * Maintenance - Parts & Labour - 50 Hourly, 100 Hourly / Annual, others as required * Consumables - Fuel, Oil, Tyres * Hangarage & Landing Fees Once you have identified all these costs, you can then begin to define your timeframes and then breakdown by hours planned to be flown to arrive at an hourly rate of sorts. i.e. if you plan to own the aircraft for 5 years and fly an average of 100 hours per year, estimate your costs and simply divide by number of years/hours to get your hourly cost. Assume you will own the aircraft (pay it off) for 5 years and fly 100 hours per year in an aircraft that burns 15L/hour: Capital = $75,000 or $17,500 per year (roughly including interest) Insurance = $2250 (3% of hull value) per year Maintenance = $1000 (better to over estimate this one!) Fuel = $2625 (1500L @ $1.75) Hangarage & Landing Fees = $2000 ($40 per week) Annual Cost = $24500 (roughly) Hourly Cost = $245 All of the above are of course dependant on the specific aircraft, but that's the kind of approach you would take to determine what I think you're looking for. NOTE - this can be a scary exercise but it is critical to enter into ownership with your eyes wide open to ensure no surprises.

Hi Craig - if that's the result you're getting then you're not doing it right ;) Full size aircraft will yaw then roll with rudder only input - being the primary (yaw) and secondary (roll) effects of this control. Most likely you're not using sufficient rudder input - how much rudder should you use to see this? - all of it. Don't be afraid to use all the available control range, that's what it's there for. As your experience and confidence progress, take yourself and have an aerobatic session or two, you will be amazed at just how little control input most folks use in their daily commute, aerobatics requires full deflection of all controls - this takes a little while to get used to. Cheers, Matt.

Hi everyone, Kaz and I are heading to the Horsham Fly-In this weekend and wondering who else is going and on what day? We're probably going on Sunday.

Onwards and upwards...pardon the pun You can only fly around straight and level being limited by 60 degree steep turns for so long!

Hi Craig, 1 passenger only as per RA-Aus regs...given aircraft limitation on 2 seats only...and one should probably contain a pilot. PAX endorsement is normally a one hour lesson (give or take), essentially the focus is on ensuring your passenger is familiar with the operation of doors, seat belts etc., made aware of controls and not to interfere with them etc. Regarding the cross country endorsement, once completed you're free to roam the country as you please...well, outside controlled airspace at least...until you get that endorsement. On the conversion / progression to PPL, there's a few other threads where this has been covered but it essentially involves an aircraft endorsement (for single engine aeroplane up to 5700KG - normally something like a C172, Warrior). All hours you have accumulated in RA aircraft count towards the "minimum hours" requirements for PPL. Other things you'll do for PPL are nav flights as RA-Aus Cross Country endorsement is not recognised (well wasn't when I did my conversion) as well as controlled airspace plus PPL theory exams. On instructing - the two are mutually exlusive. A GA instructor requires CPL+Instructor Rating, an RA-Aus instructor requires an RA-Aus Instructor Rating. Hopefully that about covers most of it. If not, as mentioned there are a few threads where most of this has been discussed before. Cheers, Matt