Mazda

There is an Air/ground at Ayers Rock, but it is also catering for fare paying passengers on RPT flights.

My point exactly. A civilian slow jet and a civilian twin turbo prop. Both are the sort of things you'd see operating out of Bankstown, and even from private strips in Class G.

Our military pilots are koalas - a protected species!

OK, so perhaps his calls weren't up to standard and he hadn't followed procedures. I agree that is poor airmanship. But there's another side to this. Why on earth shouldn't he be able to fly his own aircraft on circuits at a private strip? Australian military airspace is a complete joke. There's nothing fast at Nowra anyway, it's a helicopter base, and the seasprites are gounded so they are flying Agustas etc - civilian types. If a helicopter pilot can't spot someone doing circuits at an airstrip, I'd hate to send them to a war. We must be the only country in the world like this - most countries just don't have enough room for vast areas of military airspace just for training purposes. Pilots in the UK fly all the time in Class G airspace with Tornados flying around at low level. I'm not talking about Agusta helicopters, but supersonic capable front line fighters flying around well below 500 ft right up into the high flight levels. There's no clearance requirement for GA aircraft in Class G, no transponder requirement. They have tiny restricted areas, just around the fields and over firing ranges. Their training areas are in normal airspace shared with everyone else. In the US they have MOAs, which require some common sense but not a clearance. I'm sick to death of the military sanitised airspace. If they can't spot slow bug smashers, what hope do we have when they are being attacked for real? Give us our airspace back!

I wouldn't have a problem with a C150 or C152, especially an aerobat. Or a Tomahawk perhaps, but I think rather have an aerobat. Of course the best of all of similar weight GA two seat trainers would have to be the Victa Airtourer! Way ahead of its time with a centre stick, canopy, fixed seats, fun and easy to fly, and aerobatic. The stall speed might be a bit high though.

Just don't rely on it too much. In Class G ATC has no requirement at all to give traffic information VFR to VFR, and if they are busy, they won't. You won't hear Sydney Radar giving traffic to VFR aircraft in the training area because there are too many aircraft. That's the problem - this alerting only really works when there is hardly any traffic. Plus of course there is no transponder requirement in Class G anyway, so remember that the other aircraft may not have even had one, let alone had one correctly selected to ALT. Maybe there was another one out there that ATC couldn't see! Of course use everything available to you. If you have a transponder, use it, but remember that not everyone may have one fitted or turned on. Even if they do, don't expect ATC to give you traffic on other VFR aircraft all the time, because they won't! Keep your eyes open!! Recently someone in a Cessna flew outbound right over a VFR inbound reporting point, at the inbound reporting altitude, while we were inbound at the same level. It was a bit hazy so we had nav lights, strobes and landing light all on, and the aircraft is a highly visible colour too. Bright colour, flashing lights, but the other pilot didn't see us ahead. Waggled wings. Still the other guy didn't see, so we took evasive action, and still the Cessna flew on, completely oblivious to our presence.

My GA CSU instruction was to go fine on final, either with a "mixture, pitch, gear" type check, or a "pitch, undercarriage, flap, carby heat" check depending on who was instructing. However, it can be done on downwind or base. (I suppose if the engine fails there you could always go coarse again). My initial CSU was on a two seat side by side aircraft which had the throttle on the left (left hand), the pitch in the centre, the flaps on the left (left hand), the stick in the centre (right hand), and the trim in the centre so it was an ergonomic nightmare! Think about it! I was taught to go fine on final with this one, but I flew the same aircraft more than a decade later and the owner had changed the checklist to go fine on downwind, which was much easier with this particular aircraft!! Normally I'll do it on final, as part of PUFF checks, but the main thing I suppose is to do it some time before landing so you are ready for a go-around if required.

"Avalon Tower ..."

That is fantastic Mike. The funny thing is I heard a stupid story on the radio today, about how 17 year olds are way to young to drive a car. Some people said they should have hundreds of hours before being allowed to drive alone, some said they should not be able to take passengers. I was itching to phone in and say there are plenty of pilots younger than that. I was going to say there are 16 year olds being driven to the airport to take their parents flying, and they could take friends flying right around the country. I wanted to say most of them were flying solo by 15 hours or so (some much less). Perhaps part of the process of learning to fly is learning to make command decisions, situational awareness, managing the unexpected, and perhaps this teaches young people a sense of responsibility they don't normally get when learning to drive. I didn't phone as I didn't have the phone number, so I'm putting it on here instead!

Thanks for the story Matt, it looks like an interesting strip. How long is the main fairway strip?

Hi Matt, I'd planned to go to Yarrawonga but I have to go to a wedding in Sydney that Saturday. I haven't ruled out Sunday though, I'm just trying to think of a feasible way to do it.

DJP is right. The ball will NOT tell you which way the aircraft is spinning. It depends where the ball is mounted on the aircraft. On some aircraft with two balls (male aircraft? ) the balls will go in different directions.

I've just looked at this thread and there's a lot on here! On shutting down engines, when I did my aerobatic training one of the mandatory exercises was to shut down the engine and stop the prop in flight, before restarting. It actually took a bit of effort to make the prop stop too. I was taught to convert speed to height for more time, or convert speed to distance if the field is further away than you'd like. I agree everyone who flies should do at least spin training, and preferably emergency maneouvre training. It will give you confidence, understanding, and could save your life. There are some aircraft requiring a specific spin recovery technique so it is wise to find out if your aircraft is different. Otherwise, I agree with the standard recovery mentioned, with power off, neutral ailerons and elevator, opposite rudder etc. Think about it. A spin is in a stalled state. If the wing is not exceeding the critical angle (either upright or inverted) it cannot be stalled. If you are just taught "stick forward" you could indeed be holding it in an inverted spin instead of recovering. One thing that hasn't been mentioned (unless I've missed it). What is opposite rudder? OK, opposite to the rotation ... but how will you know? If you are not spin trained everything will happen pretty fast. What happens if this happens because you get stuck in weather? You are in cloud and end up somehow in a spin. (And would you know if it was a spin or a spiral dive?) Say you are spinning, no visual reference or you just don't know which way you are going. Push on the rudder pedal closest to you, or if you can't tell it will be the one hardest to push. That is your opposite rudder. But please don't just take it from here, do a proper course of training if you can! Seeing it for real is quite different from reading about it.

Cloud Dancer! Yes, that's the one!

Never forget that it is your hard earned money, and your safety. That applies to every aspect of your flying. If the aircraft does not have sufficient oil, ask to be shown how to put it in (yes, as DJP says, that will become your responsibility) and never be afraid to speak up if you are not happy with any aspect of the aircraft's airworthiness. That holds true for everything else too by the way, such as if ATC ever ask you to do something and you will have trouble complying, don't blindly follow "orders", you are the one flying the aeroplane so say you can't comply. They'll come up with an alternative. They sure will fly without turn and slip but when you are learning to fly you'll need to learn how to use it, and yes, it is needed for aerial work (e.g. flying training). Old aeroplanes are not a problem as long as the necessary equipment is functioning correctly. As for your instructor, it is your money. If you are not happy ask the CFI for someone else, or ask to fly with the CFI. Or another school if you prefer. Plenty of people have more than one instructor before going solo. The syllabus is the same so they'll know what you have been doing. It might even give you a different perspective.

It looks great Matt. Are you going to Wangaratta for the 50th anniversary 6 - 8 March?

DJP, now those were the days ... and what was that terrible movie that always seemed to come out? Something like Sky Dancer?

The name of the pilot has been released by the media. What a terrible loss to aviation. Aerobatic pilot killed - General - News - smh.com.au Condolences to family, friends, and anyone whose life has been enriched by knowing Tom. RIP Mr Magic.

Farewell to a true inspiration. She meant a lot to me and I'll never forget her.

Yes, like most things related to safety improvement, it is a matter of cost. Transponders are expensive, and expensive to fit. If you only had a certain amount of money to spend, would you use that to fit a transponder? Or perhaps to do aircraft maintenance? Or fit a radio? Or undertake further training? Which of those would give the greatest safety benefit? I'm sure most people would fit transponders if they could afford to, but it isn't always possible. As Merv has said, another problem is not everyone has TCAS anyway, so the owner could spent thousands of dollars and still end up in conflict with another aircraft - even a regional airline aircraft (they don't all have TCAS). Plus of course pilot error. You can fit transponders to everything and madate transponder carriage as much as you like, but of course people will forget to turn them on, or they'll have them on standby or Mode A. There's no doubt transponders and TCAS give a great safety improvement but unfortunately it won't give absolute safety.

The loading systems in the exams DO have a constant MTOW etc. They are based on a fictitious aircraft type using systems that are similar to those found in real aircraft. So for your real aircraft, do use the proper charts for that aircraft, and once you have mastered the theoretical loading systems you should be able to do it for the real aircraft. However for the purpose of the exams, they are standard "types" with standard MTOWs for each loading system. Yes, there will be questions on A, B and C in the PPL exam, no doubt about that. Yes, all the charts/graphs, and necessary arms/moments are provided, you just need to know how to use each system. (And if you decide to go on to CPL theory one day, just wait until you have to learn loading system Echo!)

It has been windy at Moruya, I was there not long ago! I'd suggest asking your instructor, maybe give him a call this week and ask for some help. You WILL need to know all of that huge BAK manual do to your BAK theory test, but that usually comes a bit further down the track, well after your first solo. The pre-solo test is not as hard as the BAK, I can barely remember mine but I think it had procedural questions, radio questions and so on. Best of luck with going solo on your 15th birthday.

It's not just CASA. Kawasaki trade marked "Jet Ski" so anything other brand must be called a "Personal Water Craft", not a "Jet Ski"!

I'm with motzartmerv on the 6 minute markers, they do work well, and they are easy to calculate as they are one tenth of your groundspeed. 100 knots GS = 10 mile markers and so on.

Well, that's good, you won't ever do that again! One tip is when planning to look for general features that will show that you are on track before you get too far from the airport. Look for something within say 5 or 10 miles that will show you are on track. Should you be left or right of that lake or town? Should you be flying along a ridge or a valley? Should that mountain be ahead of you or to your right? Even really obvious ones. Should you be heading towards the sea or the mountains? Establishing that you are on track early on will help to avoid easily made errors that we all make. Look for a feature in the distance to help to keep you on track. Point to that mountain or to that town, or that ploughed paddock, tree, whatever. The wind is often not as forecast anyway, so you'll get to know soon enough what it is doing to you, how much drift you have etc. Some people steer track as heading initially and see what the wind is doing, then adjust accordingly. Whatever you do, at times you'll have to adjust your heading, do a 1 in 60 etc to get back on track.