farri

"Never did understand why they had a phone, maybe for emergency". G`Day Mark! Yeah! The deaf guy up the road can have you rolling with laughter also, just by his hand gestures, facial expressions and the way he explains things! (no disrespect intended). Peter, lives with his parents! he has a trained dog to let him know the phone is ringing! As you brought it up, I will ask him about the phone. Franco.

https://www.casa.gov.au/sites/default/files/radio-procedures-in-non-controlled-airspace.pdf CARRYING A RADIO IN NON-CONTROLLED AIRSPACE AIP GEN 1.5 In Australia, VFR aircraft must carry a radio when you are: » at or above 5,000 feet in Class G airspace » ‘in the vicinity’ of aerodromes that are certified, registered or military » below 3,000 feet AMSL or 1,000 feet AGL (whichever is higher) in reduced VMC (visibility 5 km and clear of cloud and in sight of ground or water). Remember, ‘in the vicinity’ is within 10 nm, and at a height where your operations could be in the way of other traffic. RADIO FREQUENCIE . "in reduced VMC".... So I take it radio is not mandatory for a VFR flight below 5,000 feet, in VMC, in class G airspace, therefore, level of hearing should not be an issue and the carriage of radio is a choice. Franco.

Like this??? Ron hung like that for over an hour before he could be taken down... Coincidently, he and I were talking about it a couple of days ago! he was frightened the AC might catch fire as there was petrol leaking onto him! once he got his legs out of the pod, he couldn`t take his seat belt off...Never stopped him flying...90 years of age coming up. So how did he manage to hit the power line? He was going in to land on someone`s private property (not mine) knew the power line was there but simply forgot about it. Franco,

Yep! Have seen it! Jack Stewart ( surname spelling may be wrong) a member of our local club, the F.N.Q.U.A owned one! I flew it a couple of times! wouldn`t want to these days. Jack flew it successfully! he would estimate the wind speed and direction by taking his hanky out of his pocket, holding it at shoulder height then letting it go, if it landed within a given distance, he`d go flying! another guy who was a member of our club and an experienced Ultralight pilot, had a go at flying Jack`s Scout and crashed it into Lake Tinaroo, on the Atherton Tablelands, he was injured, hospitalised and extremely lucky to survive. This happened in "the good old days" on my property! a very prominent A.U.F. C.F.I. who owned a couple of Scouts and was experienced in flying them, was trying to help a guy who had recently bought one but hadn`t tried flying it yet... C.F.I. took-off, climbed to 1,000 feet AGL, the Scout dropped the right wing and side-slipped all the way to the ground! the only reason he survived was that the AC landed with each wing either side of one of our drains, here on the property, so he was in the seat in the drain and would have drowned had I and a couple of other guys not got to him in time! he was very badly injured... I recall some called the Scout "The Widow Maker" . Franco.

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For those on facebook, I`ve had a facebook account for several years, https://www.facebook.com/franco.arri . Over the weekend I came across this group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/deafpilots/ , requested to join and was accepted. There`s a guy a couple of houses up the road, who is totally deaf, can`t hear a thing, but is a brilliant lip reader and can speak! he holds a car and motor bike drivers licence… This guy is a brilliant lip reader and it`s easy to hold a conversation with him and brief him so I`ve taken him flying in the Drifter several times and will continue taking him up. Way back in the days of the A.U.F and when I was instructing, a guy who was almost totally deaf came to me wanting to learn to fly Ultralights... This guy was in the Dutch air force to become a pilot, was riding a bicycle on the base, came off, hit his head on the concrete and lost most of his hearing so it was the end of any chance of becoming a pilot, I took him on and he was able to solo and obtain an A.U.F. pilot certificate. Franco.

Hi, To you also! Suggestions? what exactly is it you are looking for and hoping to achieve? Franco.

Gees SSCBD! flattery will get you everywhere!!! For those who don`t know!... I started flying Ultralights back in the eighties, in the early days of the A.U.F, now R.A.A., by scratch building a copy of a Chinook WT 2 then teaching myself to fly it, off our property, here at Deeral… I Joined the fledgling, Far North Queensland Ultralight Association and was elected President at the next election... As President, I made the members see that if we were going to be any sort of an Ultralight club, we needed an aircraft and somewhere to fly from! I had the land and I would make it available to club, so we purchased Drifter 25-0182 from Austflight Aviation. Now we had land and an aircraft, but the guy (F.N.Q.U.A. club member) who was going to be our instructor, chickened out, when he realised what he would need to do to be able to instruct legally, so now we had an aircraft and land, but no instructor! I gave it two minutes consideration, then said I would become the instructor for the F.N.Q.U.A....As I recall it, this is where SSCBD came into my life. The A.U.F. sent SSCBD (I had never heard of him) to North Queensland to check out this bunch of radicles! it turned out that SSCBD was an A.U.F. C.F.I. so I did what was needed to be done to become a legal A.U.F instructor... F.N.Q.U.A. was on it`s way!!!! In those days, an A.U.F flight training facility could be established as long as it had A.U.F approval and an A.U.F. C.F.I to take responsibility for it`s operation and periodical surveillance...In North Queensland, SSCBD, took on the legal responsibility of being A.U.F. C.F.I to Bill Stark and Pat McGrath (both at Wood Stock), Carlo Prette, (Innisfail, Mundoo, Aerodrome) and myself at home here at Deeral. SSCBD is a true legend of the Ultralight movement and the A.U.F., without him, the many guy`s who obtained an A.U.F. pilot certificate, may never have experienced the joy of Ultralight flying and I may never have had the privilege of instructing and the pleasure of sharing flight in 25-0182 with the many hundreds of passengers I`ve taken flying over the years! I will be forever grateful. Franco, Ps, Take care! I hope to see you up here some day...

Thanks guys, I sincerely appreciate your positive remarks. It was hard! but I decided to have a flying free weekend, so this afternoon I took my Grand-Daughter Alison, her husband Sam Theurillat and their three children (my Great-Grand-Children) Brooklyn, Isla and Deacon, for a run down the Mulgrave river to Russell Heads. Alison was four years old when she started flying with me in the Drifter and she has flown with me numerous times since... Big Sam has flown with me several times... Brooklyn was four years old when I introduced her to Drifter and she has flown 6 times with me... Isla is yet to get excited about flying... Deacon is only three years old but already he wants to fly with me. Franco.

The only reason I need to go flying is that I want too and so I do! I also enjoy taking photos when I fly and sharing them with others on face book and on here, so here are some I took on this afternoons flight. Franco.

All things must come to an end and Ron Biondi has finally put his beloved Drifter, 'The Red Barron' up for sale! Ron will be 90 years old very shortly! the Drifter is registered and Ron is still legal to fly but he`s finding it just too hard to get in and out of and on top of that, I keep telling him " it`s better to retire from flying than to become a statistic". Ron was the first guy in the Cairns area to buy a Drifter from Austflight Aviation! it originally came out with twin seats and controls, but at the time it couldn`t be registered as such so to be legal it had to be registered under ANO 95-10, which meant the rear seat and controls had to come out. I got to fly that Drifter before Ron ( flown it several times over the years) as Ron hadn`t learned to fly yet, like me, he`d done a few hours in a Cessna and decided it wasn`t the way he wanted to fly! Franco, Ps, If interested, let me know and I`ll put you in touch with Ron or his daughter, Andrea Gregory.... For those on facebook, you`ll find details on Andrea Gregory`s post, dated, 8 November... https://www.facebook.com/groups/1419567688295037/

G`Day Mark, I didn`t think anyone on here would miss me! I`m as good as I`m ever going to be from here on, I`m still flying the Drifter, being me and sharing it with others!!! Hope all`s well with you and yours, also! hope to be able to take you Drifter flying with me some day. One of our regular family get-togethers, here at home, a couple of weekends ago and of course! there`s always someone who wants to fly and I`m happy to take them...Brookly, our 6-year-old Great-Grand-Daughter (her sixth flight with me)! Christy, our youngest Grand-Daughter and Keah, our first Grand-Daughter-In-Law. Little story about Keah…. Keah is the wife of Matthew Cheetham our eldest Grand-Son! When I first met Keah she was terrified of flying, so much so that she would be physically sick when she had to get into an aircraft so she found it almost impossible to even take a holiday somewhere she`d have to fly to! after seeing me taking others up in the Drifter and spending some time with me so I could explain a few principals of flight, she decided it was time to have a go in the Drifter with me... Fast forward... Keah now has to fly regularly as part of her employment, doesn`t get sick anymore and is keen to go Drifter flying with me....A truly remarkable woman, in so many ways. In between my last post on here and this one, I`ve taken up a guy from Canada and two guys from Tasmania....The Drifter lives on!!! Franco.

G`Day Garry, you brought back some great memories, thank you!... I was working a thermal with the Whistling Kites the other day, never seen so many above me, by the time I realised what a great photo it would make and went for my camera they started to disperse...Frank. (Franco) Insert other media.url

https://www.9news.com.au/national/plane-crash-darwin-news-fatal-plane-crash-victim-john-gotts-identified/2e5314bf-bed7-46c2-a760-b07247420740

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Keep trying to find the limit and eventually you will!!! Franco.

"13,000 RA-Aus members" Easy to create membership when it`s compulsory if you want to fly!!! Interesting to know the average age of the membership! I`ve just taken a look on the RA-Aus web site and couldn`t find anything on it...I`ll be 72 on the first of January. Is it any wonder that new aircraft sales aren`t keeping up to those dropping out when the purchase price of most new LSA wold be over $100K! Enjoy your flying Guys, if you can still keep it up. Franco.

From the Drifter, yesterday afternoon... Farmer burning off what`s left on the paddock after harvesting. Franco.

This afternoon I had the pleasure of taking Teagan Stemp for her first Ultralight flight! Teagan`s Mum, Lynne, has flown with me several times and Teagan`s Dad, Andrew, has also! today, Teagan wanted to see what Drifter flying is all about. For me, there`s no better reward in recreational flying than for a mother to bring her only Daughter to fly with me.....Lynne is a good friend of ours and a Deeral local....Samantha is Lynne`s Daughter-in-law. Franco.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-20/small-plane-missing-northern-nsw-foster-murwullimbah/11534154

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/missing-nsw-plane-found-crashed-in-forest-west-of-coffs-harbour/news-story/26b1065ad59955b164023a27f9cb2a99 Franco.

I`ve had an interesting morning today! I had a meeting with some members of "Land Care", here on our property, to find a way to repair some serious erosion on the bank of the Mulgrave River, adjoining our property, at the end of the site inspection , I was asked if I would take Lisa (the group coordinator) to see it from the air, I said "absolutely", to which I was asked, "when"? my answer, " right now"! Back on the ground, I asked my usual question, " First impression of the flight, what did you think and what do you think now"? with a great sense of pride she replied, "I loved it! It`s the bravest thing I`ve done in a long time!" my reply, " Give yourself a great big pat on the back"! Franco. Ps, I met Lisa for the first time, this morning.

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Franco.

Nope! but I do remember Lee Wakeland doing what I considered a perfect loop, in Pat McGrath`s Thruster, at 500` over my property, back in the eighties! I was flying my home built and Lee was just off my right wing! Franco.