Gentreau

At the Blois air show last weekend, I had a flight in the X-Air Hanuman powered by the D-Motor and found it very smooth, lots of spare power and very responsive. So far everything I've seen regarding D-Motor says quality and professionalism.

What a character, he was featured in a programme called Survivors when he was a spritely 92 years old !!

There's info on his website too. http://www.d-motor.com.au/photos.html

Update from the D-Motor website. The first two engines are being shipped to Oz. http://www.d-motor.eu/nl/update-18-june-2013-95.htm

In France you can learn on an Kompress C77 at 240 euros per hour, compared to over 400/hr for an R22. You can land on any piece of land where you have the owners permission. The medical requirement is a letter of non contra-indication from your GP Shall I go on ....?

Good point, got a coastal skipper boat licence too :)

Me too, I reckon the two go hand in hand.

No. Going to court for not following the legally binding procedure. (Dura lex, sed lex) .

A friend of mine who is a very experienced fixed wing pilot (also my original instructor) just got his PPL-H in 39 hours, the minimum possible. Why would a recreational rotary licence take so much longer than that ? . (confused of Surrey)

Not much feedback yet, they were legalised last year and the first batch of pilots only really started flying this year. Time will tell.

Interesting, we already have them in France :) Only a few models available at the moment, but more in the pipeline. A couple of examples below: http://www.kompress.fr/ http://www.heli-tech.fr/helicoptere-ulm-lh212.php http://www.innovator.mosquito.net.nz/mbbs2/index.asp

You don't necessarily have to go for a full blown aviation (read expensive) helmet. What about looking at one made for race and rallying ? For example: http://www.jjcraceandrally.com/rally/open-face-helmets I'm sure there's an equivalent supplier in Oz. .

Breaking for spares ?

My thoughts too. When you look at the area in my link above, he probably had a 50% chance of landing on a house or car, very fortunate to hit something relatively soft. I am also left wondering how low he was if he felt unable to make the open ground approx 1km to the SW or Gloucester airport which was apparently his destination. Historical METAR data shows that the wind was variable but generally northeasterly around 7-8 KTS which would have been somewhat stronger and more easterly with altitude, which would have helped the glide to either area...... Please note I do not imply any specific criticism of the pilot in this incident, simply asking questions to promote reflection, in myself and hopefully others.

It's also interesting to look at the location on Google Maps (Langdale Road, Cheltenham, United Kingdom). It begs the question why he was unable to perform a forced landing on the nearby school playing fields ... .