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farri

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Everything posted by farri

  1. farri

    What`s Happening???

    farri replied to farri's topic in Drifter

    Hi everyone, I hope you all had a pleasant and happy, Christmas day, my wife Frances and I certainly did, we spent Christmas day with some of our family and a few friends On the flying side, my Drifter is still in demand! I took my next door neighbour, Helen, for her first flight in an Ultralight and her sister, Lou, for her second, also my 6-year-old Granddaughter, for her fourth .... This afternoon I took Sthom for his fourth flight, his first was at ten years of age...Around this time of year, Sthom and his Mum come to Deeral to spend some time with his Mum`s parents and his Grandparents, on the sailing catamaran, Stargate, moored here in the Mulgrave river and the first thing Sthom want`s to do, is go flying with me.... Frank.
  2. farri
    I don`t want to have to hack it...Why didn`t you turn back sooner, better still, why did you go into it? Frank.
  3. farri
    After having a couple of tandem of flights in Trikes, I also made the conscious decision, for the same reason. There are a couple of reasons I don`t want to fly trikes, the most important one for me is they don`t have a verticle fin and rudder and therefore, they don`t have the same directional control, as three axis, in a crosswind. My main strip is 510 mts end to end by 30 mts wide... I keep the runway mowed at 5 mts wide ( to keep my footwork up to speed ) with grass around 1 mt high on both sides...I fly with 90 degrees of crosswind often and I wouldn`t like to be doing it with a Trike. Frank,
  4. farri
    Don`t recall the date but I do recall the incident or accident if you prefer...Two guys came out from England, to circumnavigate Australia with their Trikes`. When they got to the Daintree section, the weather got bad enough that they decided to land on a beach and sit it out, unfortunately, due to the strong crosswind coming from the ocean, both trikes were damaged on landing and couldn`t be flown so they had to get back to Cairns by barge, to repair them. Frank, Ps, At that time, Chris Bolton, from Cairns, used to do some flying with his Trike, from our property here at Deeral...When he found out that the two guys` from England were coming, he said to me and I quote, " Circumnavigating Australia is something that should be done by an Australian"...Within a couple of days, he was packed and took off from the property, here...Eventually, he landed back here, on our property, claiming to be the first to circumnavigate Australia...I have no way of knowing if that is correct.
  5. farri
    As far as I`m concerned, legal doesn`t necessarily mean safe! There are plenty of legal Ultralights that have crashed and plenty illegal ones that haven't, the most important thing is that you`re still around after 30 years of flying them. I`ll be 70 on new years day, not really an outlaw either, just don`t like or have much time for rules that don`t benefit what I do. Frank,
  6. farri
    If we measure richness by our freedom to fly, I`m a filthy rich man! These days I only fly off my own property! basically! I have my own sky to fly in and no problems with any authorities`! Well! I`m not $ filthy rich but I`ve been paying for the privilege of flying an Ultralight aircraft, for over 30 years! Other than to continue sending me notices that my RA-Aus membership and aircraft rego is due and that the fee has again increased and is likely to continue increasing, the only authority that does anything for me, is me! But then! I guess I`m helping to keep some people in a job The $ value probably doesn`t really matter to the $ rich. Frank.
  7. farri
    I think we all would! but some of those who tried to find out, arn`t with us anymore! There`s an old saying that goes something like this! " It`s better to be down here wishing you were up there, than being up there wishing you were down here!" I`ve done a lot of "being up there wishing I was down here" but I havn`t yet found what my Drifter is really capable of, what I have found though, is, what I`m capable of, with my Drifter and what weather I`m prepared to fly in! Keep in mind that regardless of what weather the Drifter and pilot are capable of, in this country we are restricted to VMC. Frank.
  8. farri
  9. farri
    Merry Christmas to you Andy and all your Canadian Bro`s! A great and safe new year for you all. I`ve taken several Canadian backpackers, flying in my Drifter...Regards, Frank.
  10. farri

    What`s Happening???

    farri replied to farri's topic in Drifter

    Thanks, Mark, Didn`t know that! It`s going to be interesting to see if they get the person who shot the one here in the Mulgrave River. A Merry Christmas and all the best for the coming year to you and all your family and friends. Frank.
  11. farri
    Gregory, I retired from instructing several years ago! I fly from my own property, here at Deeral, 45 k south of Cairns so we`re a bit far apart but if you are ever in the Cairns area, I`ll be happy to take you flying. Frank.
  12. farri
    That statement says nothing factual or useful, take no notice of it! The Drifter is a Tail Drager and needs to be treated as such...To fly your Drifter legally, you will need a TW endorsement. Frank, Ps, In case you`re wondering! I hold both TW (tail wheel) and NW (nose wheel) endorsements` and instructed for 12 years, in my Drifter.
  13. farri
    The story of BA flight 009 and the words every passenger dreads ... | Daily Mail Online
  14. farri

    Restoration update

    farri replied to Gregory's topic in Drifter

    If using springs, to get maximum steerage from the wheel, the cables to the springs need to have enough tension on the springs so that when the rudder is being used the springs have enough tension on wheel assembly to make it turn. To see if it`s all working correctly you really need to have the wheel off the ground and the easiest way to do this is to use a jack under the fuselage tube. Put something between the jack and the tube so you don`t damage the tube then once the wheel is off ground, keep the rudder straight in line with the verticle fin and apply equal pressure to both rudder pedals, the rudder cables will be tight and the cables to the springs should also be tight, with the springs pulling firmly on the wheel assembly now move the rudder left and right with the pedals and the rudder and wheel should be turning together. Frank.
  15. farri

    Restoration update

    farri replied to Gregory's topic in Drifter

    I`ve had the Austflight pneumatic tail wheel since the modification, from them, first came out, many years ago... I have it connected to the rudder cables but I have the cables to the wheel further up the cables to the rudder than in Kiwi`s photo... I also took the springs out, for a couple of reasons, many years ago, however, i`m not suggesting others do as I`ve done. Keep in mind, even with the springs, the cables to the wheel need to be the correct length, if too short, the wheel will turn before the rudder, if too long the rudder will turn and the wheel may not turn at all, or, while on the ground, the wheel may turn in the opposite direction and it doesn't take much for a novice pilot to lose control. On take off, once the wheel comes up off the ground, if the cables to the wheel are too short, you will still feel pressure on the rudder pedals but you may not be getting the rudder input you think you are, which could cause, runway loss of control. Frank.
  16. farri

    What`s Happening???

    farri replied to farri's topic in Drifter

    This afternoon I did some solo flying to High Island, then later, I took Emma for her first flight in an Ultralight. Fran and I have known Emma, from when she was about 10 years of age, we hadn`t seen her for a number of years though! Today Emma and her husband, Robert, attended a birthday party for our 1-year-old, Great Grandson, here on our property and knowing Emma, I asked if she would like to go for a fly, she couldn`t get in the Drifter fast enough...Wasn`t enough time left for Robert, he`ll go up another day. I never get tired of flying over this sort of scenery and I never get tired of taking up lovely ladies, like Emma...Just for the record! From High Island, I can easily glide back to my strip. Frank.
  17. farri
    Chris27, Hello from Deeral, Queensland, . Do you fly? Frank.
  18. farri
    Back in the late nineties, I did some flying out of private property up at Kaban Nth Queensland, elevation, 3,100 feet.The guy was a club member of ours..I used to be able to chalk up the figures but now, I`d have to refresh it all...These day, all my flying is done from my own property, which is 2 meters AMSL.
  19. farri
    ...You`re ahead of me, I just had to find out what a Pastafarian is.....Flying Spaghetti Monster - Wikipedia....
  20. farri
    So here`s the situation! How many guys out there flying Drifters or dare I say, any other R.A.A. registered aircraft, know how to calculate Density Altitude/Pressure Altitude, even if you can do the calculations, if you can`t apply it to the particular aircraft, at the time, all you have is a lot of figures. Frank.
  21. farri
    My question was meant to see if you understood Density Altitude. Density Altitude/Pressure Altitude,is what is occurring at the time and needs to be considered for each flight, regardless of time of the year or time of day....As far as I`m aware, there no Performance Charts for the Drifter so it`s better to err on the side of caution. Cheers.
  22. farri
    Google Earth shows 187 m which is 613 feet so 600 feet is good enough but why would you say "Winter only airfield?"
  23. farri
    BP, What is the elevation of the runway?
  24. farri

    What`s Happening???

    farri replied to farri's topic in Drifter

    Just came across this....EHP officers investigate dead crocodile in Mulgrave River. EHP officers investigate dead crocodile in Mulgrave River (Department of Environment and Heritage Protection) I had a chat with a couple of officers who came to take the Croc away and I was told, it is an offence to interfere with a Croc... Even though it`s dead, you must remain at least 6 mts away from it...Technically, my neighbour who tied it to his boat so that some poor bugger in a tinnie wouldn`t hit it and me for being within 6 mts, taking photos, could be charged...It`s not likely to happen, but there you go! We`ll see how it tuns out. Frank.
  25. farri
    G`Day BP, as you want to see some comments, here goes.....From what I see on the videos`, it`s similar country to some of the Atherton Tablelands, that I did a lot of flying over, when I was flying out of Pioneer Valley airstrip...That airstrip would be a bit over twice as long as yours. Coming in to land shouldn`t be too much trouble for an experienced pilot provided sufficient altitude is maintained so that a glide to the strip can be carried out in the event of engine failure or wind shear, causing a loss of altitude. Please correct me if I`m wrong, but from both videos, it appears to me and I repeat, appears, had the engine failed you wouldn`t have made the strip and there were a lot of trees ahead of you. Frank, Ps, I`d like to see a video of taking off from there, before commenting about getting out of there.
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