Jeff Gordon

I have thought about what happened in the GA test last week and decided that what happened was mainly due to myself, my lack of knowledge mixed with a pinch of over-confidence. I believe now that the ATO was trying to teach me a very important lesson. That is take nothing for granted and don't fill in your knowledge gaps with a she'll be right attitude. Thorough planning is the key, and to take off without a plan, just thinking things will work out is a recipe for disaster. I am a great optimist and have always believed in the power of positive thinking, but that will not be good enough when something unusual comes up, and you don't have a plan to fall back on. Every word he said to me during the 3.5 hours and the 1 hour after that the following day has stuck, and I have being going over and over it in my mind. Shaken my confidence? Yes for sure it has. Made me a better aviator? Yes it certainly has!

Well done John. I started my RA last year and you are on an exciting journey with heaps to learn and will meet some great very committed aviators along the way.

Hi Solomon, saw the TV News and thought that what you have created was fantastic. You are obviously an Aviator and will be a great Pilot one day. I am only new to flying myself and understand how much there is to learn. If you are in Melbourne give me a call and I will take you up for a few circuits.

Thanks Kaz and Pud, nice idea to have a big Pilot shindig on the boat. Will give it some thought and see what I can come up with.

Thanks Guys. See you all in the Air sometime. I will be there at the next fly in. Already interested in Temora in November.

I can't believe it... and you are the first to find out... hot off the press... I have passed my PPL. Talk about death by a thousand cuts...but now I am through I reckon the learning begins. So from a very relieved but very green pilot it's goodnight from me and goodnight from him!

No but we fly upside down in Oz. and you know what Confusius says "Man who flies upside down is bound to have C**k-up!"

Maules are a great plane, hand build by a family company in the States and not mass produced, but must be kept in a hangar because of the rag fuselage, behind the doors. Comparing my Maule with a similarly aged 172 Cessna there is quite a savings in price (around $100K) and with its STOL performance, stronger undercarriage, bigger wheels and larger payload (400 Kgs), it beats me why anyone would choose a Cessna over a Maule. But then as so many of these choices are; it comes down to personal taste. Maule performance is very much like a Tecnam with cruise KIAS of 110, 72k glide speed, 70k coming into land, 65k over the fence and a stall of 35 - 40k with one stage of flaps. Two stages of flaps @ 40 degrees and the flaps are nearly the length of the wing, so huge float in ability. I always felt the Tecnam was hard to get onto the ground, it just wanted to keep flying and I often had to use side slip to get it down. Being heavier, the Maule with reduced revs and 2 stages of flaps will drop out of the sky quite rapidly. Check out some of the Youtube footage. Type in Maule STOL or Maule Bushwacker to see some skilled flying. Thinking today that with the weather looking bad in Melbourne for the next week, I will hold off finishing my PPL and try and get some training time in if possible, before I go out with the CFI again. I have programmed a trip from Melbourne to St George on Friday the 5th August and was hoping to have my PPL before then so the pressure was on me to complete...and now with that not possilbe the pressure is off. I have asked a Maule driver friend to fly over from Tassie and fly with us to St George and back. What's in St George??..Well the BIG FAT & UGLY BASTARDS 60TH BIRTHDAY BASH, thats what!

One of the hardest days of my life and I'm 60 early next month. Seems the GA PPL exam is a trial by many small cuts and I went to bed at 8pm last night completely exhausted. Fronted up today to finish off the landings etc and the winds increased to 16 with gusts to 25. Not the sort of weather to complete the tests so I pulled the pin, (that made the examiner happy) and live to fly another day. I ran g my RA instructor and unloaded the day to him and felt much better afterwards. At least I feel he has some faith in me! Feeling refreshed today and am taking it all more posiively, knowing that I am on a learning curve and will not stop learning as long as I am flying. So can take yesterdays experiences and put them in the knowledge basket and move on. At least he has not failed me yet...Although I think I am running very close! Thanks heaps for your support and comments. Very much appreciated.

Thanks for the warm response fellas, will log in and tell the story of imoporting a Maule from the States on another thread. I had a hellava day today and completely wrung out after 3.5 hours flying doing the final PPL practical test. Feel really gutted with my stupid mistakes and don’t really think I am up to this flying caper at all. Got to go back tomorrow to do practice forced landing again and precautionary search patterns also recovering from unusual attitudes, (that’s when you get a hood put on so you can’t see the instruments and the Flying Instructor puts the plane in a downward spiral spin and then gives you’re the controls and says "Your plane"! YEEEK…just too much adrenalin for an old fart like me to cope with.

Dear Rec Flyers. I have spent the last 12 months firstly getting my RA-AUS license at Lethbridge Victoria with Bruce Vickers, in a Tecnam. Great fun and steep learning curve for a salty old fella like me. But then with the currency the way it is against the US dollar, I trawled the websites and imported a 1999 Maule MXT-7-180A. Yes a GA aircraft, Duh :yes:but the T is for trainer and it has a tricycle undercarrage. YMT was selling at a great price with only 600 hours. I describe the Maule as a Tecnam on steroids. So I have been attempting to get my GA license these last 5 months at Moorabbin. Huge step up for me and a pain in the brain, going from fun flying to lets just say "less than" fun flying. I am nearly there now after another 30 hours (plus two longer trips that somehow did not count) to convert from RA-AUS to PPL. So for anyone who is considering converting, particularly in Victoria, then I may be able to assist with some tips from a silly old bugger who has been through the wringer! Just one day away from my final test flight, having passed all the theory, but still a long way to go before I would call myself experienced. However, I am loving the freedom and the expanded horizons flying gives you. And I have met some great people and made some friends along the way too. Jeff Gordon