Al B

Hi David, Where did I say otherwise?

I'd strongly suggest renaming the "Trip Reports and Flyins" forum - by the time people read about a trip report, it's already happened! How about "Planned Trips, Flyins and Reports"? John I know about the Caboolture aero club forum. The problem with using it is 1) it's a bit of a ghost town (a little publicity would help here) and 2) it'd be nice not to restrict it to Caboolture. I know several people who fly at both Redcliffe and Caboolture. Spin I am in no way suggesting limiting what happens on this site! If recflying can implement something on a larger scale, I think that'd be the best long term solution. I really do believe a straight forum format isn't ideal. I'll hack together something ugly and present it here later, and you will see what I mean. Ian that is an incredibly generous offer. I'd be careful promoting it, you may find yourself with more work then you can handle :)

Personally, I see so many bumper stickers that the normal/boring ones are forgotten after 20 seconds. If something makes me snicker it'll stick. PC be damned

Thankyou Ian. I need to spend some time planning things then I'll give you a call. Please keep in mind that I was thinking something dead simple and easy to use. Something where if I see another pilot at my home airfield, I can just say "oh, take a look at localflyingclub.com, it's the flying club for this airfield" and any idiot can navigate to it in under 30 seconds. Ease of use and simplicity being the primary goal - if users want more features there would be a link to this site. When the user types that domain in, they see some basic information on facilities and things to see in the area. That would be simple static content. From there, there would be a link to forums (ideally a subform hosted here), but the 'main event' would be a dead simple part where people could create a flying profle with their location, experience, and access to aircraft - and also a 'spare seats' / 'trips planned' virtual billboard. Really I'm thinking of something quick ugly but functional. I was planning to hack together some kind of dynamic page over the next few evenings. I'm certainly not seeing it as competition for this site in any way- it wouldn't have 5% of the features, and would only be targetted at seat-filling and social flying at a few local airfields. I'd be surprised to get more then a dozen users. Please note that I posted this thread before I read the "Student Forum" one - I realise that now is probably not the best time to ask if there was interest in another site, even a dead simple one - so Ian, if you want, please feel free to nuke the thread and I won't mention it here again. cheers, Al

My silly "click" moment was when I realised the throttle did just that: it slowed the engine down, and without it you'd get full power. For some reason, probably from the term 'accelerator' with cars, I'd pictured it the other way around. RE noise: It might be a bit hard for the writers of aircraft flight manuals to say: "For an economy cruise, set the engine to 4500RPM, then play with the throttle until the engine makes a kind of dull roaring noise, but not TOO dull, or not with too much roar"

A simple explanation: On an aircraft with a fixed pitch prop, there generally is no manifold pressure gauge - so it can't be that important. When you're flying you can look at the engine RPM to get an idea of how hard the engine is working. If you have a constant speed prop however, the prop will try and keep the engine at the same speed no matter the power setting. So with half throttle or full throttle, you may see 5000RPM in a Rotax 912. So you can't use the tacho to see how hard the engine is working. You CAN however look at the pressure of the intake manifold. At full throttle, you should see slightly less than 1 atmosphere. With half throttle you see less pressure. As you climb and the pressure drops, your intake manifold pressure will drop, showing the engine isn't working as well (assuming you have no turbocharger). Aircraft manuals tell you what combination of RPM and manifold pressure to use for various stages of flight. Does that help? Al

Well, that'd save me quite a bit of work. If there's interest, and Ian was happy to do it, that'd be helpful. I wouldn't mind hacking together a quick website anyway, with the type of rental aircraft in the area and who owns them. For some reason, Welcome to CHEESEBURGER.COM always gets more attention then www.foods.org/fast/cheeseburger/ even if they have the same content (edit: the forum software helpfully replaced www dot cheeseburger dot com with the intro text from that website - oops) Terry do you have a spare seat? What time would you be back at Caboolture? I'm tempted and am a skinny bloke. Cheers, Al

Hi All, Please ignore this message if you aren't a member of club '118.8': If you're like me, you often find yourself flying with a spare seat - or see a fly-in you'd like to go to, but doing it alone is too expensive. I'm toying with the idea of setting up a simple website (Ian, it will not compete with this one :)) where local recreational flyers (GA or RAA) can offer spare seats or organize trips together. It'd be fun to take a flock of gazelles/tecnams/jabirus/cessnas/whatevers for a quick jaunt to say straddie, gympie or whatever. It'd also be a good way for us to get a chance to meet new people face-to-face and try flying some different types. This website would be purely a social thing for SEQ with no charges, politics or any of that nonsense - maybe a virtual noticeboard where you could say "Hi, I'm XXX, I normally fly a J120 out of YCAB, if anyone wants to go for a buzz ring me on ZZZ". Is there any interest in such a site? Cheers, Al

I've never had a problem with a glider at caboolture - however I've flown them before, so know what a circuit is like from their point of view. The glider tug, on the other hand...

So, what's involved in visiting Brisbane Centre? I wouldn't mind taking a peek.

Personally, I'd rather keep CASA busy trying to force us to use radios, then have CASA busy trying to force us to have medicals, compulsory use of LAMEs, GA instruments etc. Once we lose a freedom it's almost impossible to get it back. I hope the RAA doesn't squander any based on promises (which could fall through at any moment).

Glider pilots at Caboolture are specifically taught NOT to taxi off the runway. I suggest you email the CFI if you think that policy should be changed.

Hrm, as a former glider pilot of Caboolture, perhaps I can suggest a few reasons why the gliders seem so chaotic: 1) A LOT of training goes on at the caboolture club - there are many student pilots under pressure. I'd suggest that learning to land in a glider is far more stressful than learning in power. Screw up a power approah and you go around. Screw up a glider landing and the instructor takes over, then you probably have to wait an hour for another flight. 2) Glider circuits are much faster then power circuits. Often there simply is no point making a 'turning base' radio call, as the aircraft will soon be on final. Combine 1 and 2 and the 'Aviate' part of 'Aviate, Navigate, Communicate' becomes much more important Please realise that your average glider pilot doesn't decide at runway is being used. The instructors do that - the students and other pilots just do what they say. If the gliders use the wrong runway because it's too much work to move the pie cart then it's only the fault of a few people, not the whole operation. Honestly the best thing to do is write a polite email to the club, or walk over and make a suggestion to the instructors. The caboolture club doesn't want a bad reputation.

Hi Tomo, I'd be interested. Please feel free to shoot me a PM closer to the date if you want and we could sort something out.

You can't use Google Earth and the measurement tool? Al

Yes, but where's the fun in that? :)

G'day all, Bit of a long shot, but I'd love to go to the straddie breakfast tomorrow - but can't get an aircraft. Is anyone leaving from Caboolture or Redcliffe that has a spare seat? Cheers, Al

What on earth are you talking about?

Thanks Aus. Have you tried flying with it? I can't see any mention of an 'off-road' mode in the eBay add. I love the seller Q/A at the bottom of the page

Hi Turbo, I've read the first and last few pages of that thread, but I'm not convinced it's what I'm after. I've just bought a rather expensive eBook reader, and had to spend a week of evenings messing around with various versions of firmware to make it work reliably. I'd rather not repeat the experience - I'm trying to avoid having to hack something too much. I was hoping for a simple car GPS that happened to have an 'offroad' mode that was useful for flying. cheers, Al

G'day all, Recently my old car GPS met with an accident. The thing was rubbish anyway, so no loss. However I do need a new one. The GPS will be in my car 99% of the time, however it needs to have an 'offroad' mode that is useful for situational awareness while flying. I can live without aviation maps showing airspace etc, but I'd still love a mode showing towns as spots, waypoints, and ideally an arrow showing the direction to the next waypoint. Basically I'd like a way to easily cross-check my position with a VNC/WAC. Can anyone recommend me a new GPS? Thanks in advance, Al

To be honest I think the whole system in Australia is a bit messed up. We have a situation where someone with a PPL can fly a GA registered Jabiru, but not an RAA one - and vice versa. The plane doesn't handle any differently if it has numbers or letters on the side, so why do we restrict who flys it? One viewpoint is that a GA registered Tecnam is safer (better maintained, possibly more instruments etc) then an RAA one. It certainly isn't harder to fly. Yet the current system stops people with an RAA license flying the better maintained, safer aircraft. What's the logic in that? Why not let suitably trained people fly whatever they want, just as long as it's in the weight and stall speed limits? It's crazy how we can have the same aircraft registered as pure GA, GFA, or RAA - or trikes either HGFA or RAA. In each case you must be a member of the governing body to fly that aircraft. In my case, I'd like to glide AND fly ultralights, but I'd pay 2 lots of fees for 2 bodies to do largely the same thing. I kind of like the UK's 'NPPL' - see NPPL - it's a government license that lets you fly simple aircraft up to 2000kg, with no medical and a maximum of 3 passengers. I think the training requirements are like ours, once you factor in the minimum cross-country hours. The USA has a 'Sport Pilot' license - see Pilot certification in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - this is very close to ours, except that you can ALSO fly light aircraft that existed before the LSA regulations came into being - such a cubs, ercoups etc. You can also add controlled airspace endorsements. Canada has a 'Recreational Pilot Permit' - see Flight Training School, Recreational Pilot Permit Licence, RPP, Prince George, BC, Canada- that takes 25 hours minimum. You can fly 4 seaters, but only 1 passenger. The current Australian system has resulted in lots of little aviation fiefdoms which restrict pilots but don't always improve safety.

Let's suppose they had a placard that said "ALL SPINS PROHIBITED - CERTAIN SPIN CONFIGURATIONS MAY BE UNRECOVERABLE" or something to that effect. Joe Bloggs takes his J120 out one day and spins it, can't recover, and hits the ground. His widow hires a lawyer and they sue Jabiru for making an unsafe plane that won't recover from spins. "Your honor, Mr Bloggs died when his aircraft didn't recover from a spin. He was an experienced pilot and had recovered from dozens of spins previously - the only difference was this time he was in a flawed aircraft. Jabiru knew this design was dangerous. The Jabiru company sold Mr Bloggs this aircraft even knowing that certain types of spins would be fatal. I believe if it weren't for the poor design of the J120 Mr Bloggs would still be with us today" --- It kind of reminds me of the "Dangerous Dog" signs on fences. Is it better to warn people there is a dangerous dog? Or is it a bad idea to have the sign, because you are admitting you know the dog is dangerous?

What's the point of prohibiting ANY unintentional maneuver? If you unintentionally enter a spin, it doesn't matter what the placard says - you didn't set out to disobey the placard. They may as well say 'unintentional engine failures prohibited'. Forgive me if I'm reading this incorrectly, but I get the impression you are trying to find a loophole that will let you spin a jab. If not please ignore the rest of this message. Occasionally in accident reports, you'll read about a pilot who did something foolhardy and killed himself. After the investigation, it'll turn out that other people knew the pilot had a history of pushing the limits but didn't say anything about it. Please don't be that pilot. If not for your sake, then for your family and friends.

Taken on the way to the Bundaberg airshow, a few years back: