Markdun

Actually, I have the PERFECT wife. She has been happy to ‘tolerate’ and partially fund 3 aircraft builds; 2 aircraft restorations; the building of one 12m sailing catamaran, and she hates shopping with a vengeance (although when she does do any shopping her starting point with a salesperson is to start and end with the most expensive option). Since my retirement 15 years ago she continues to bring in more funds (which she mostly spends on dogs and anti-animal cruelty organisations). Her dismay with me keeping the Corby is that it is the sort of aeroplane that tempts one to do what one shouldn’t, particularly as one gets old. Besides, she still stores her Ducati racing motorbikes under one of my aircraft which she hasn’t raced since being pregnant with our first born who is now in her 40s. Which is understandable because she’s got Buckley’s chance of fitting into her size 8 one piece racing leathers. I do admit that I’m having difficulty convincing her of the merits of building a 2 person submarine and/or an airship.

Yes, it is. Ive just been tired of scammers and people making ridiculous offers so I haven’t made much of an effort to sell it (much to my wife’s dismay). I’m still flying it regularly…. It’s a fantastic aircraft. The only negative is that it has the older wing spar with the lower MTOW which is restrictive for pilots who are not less than 90kg. Cheers, Mark

What was the wind at ground level like? Just relevant to whether the Cessna was intending to land in the opposite direction or not. I note that at Camden the circuit by the Cessna was landing towards the SW, so why reverse at the Oaks? I’d like to know whether there was any descent to circuit height as well. My guess is that after an intensive test flight the two pilots in the Cessna were mentally exhausted and the turn over the Oakes towards home at Shellharbour had them both relaxing. This is like most mountaineering accidents occurring on the way down after sumitting, ie after you have achieved your goal: as Tigger said ‘going up is easy, it’s the coming down that is difficult’. The other thing about see and avoid is that objects on collision course do not ‘move’ in relation to the background and our primitive eye-brain system is best at picking up movement, so we don’t see (eye & brain) the very thing that will smash into us, yet we do see that tiny wedge tail eagle circling. See and avoid DOESNT work, because you only see what you don’t need to avoid.

Mmm. Power bricks I’ve looked on eBay specifies the various input voltages (12vdc or 240vac), & power out voltages 4.5vdc & various others depending on the brick. But what is the relevant voltage of the internal storage battery?

Same as why ppl selling aircraft claim speed in TAS or mph. But really, mAh or Ah is still irrelevant because what you need to know is energy stored, ie Joules or kWh. They may as well give you the charge capacity in Coulombs. I suppose it’s still better than places like McDonalds that sell stuff with specifications like small, medium and large. The other bigger question is whether you believe the claim.

I do like fresh mussels, roasted on hot coals of a fire on the beach, with red wine and good company. A pity its not allowed anymore. Evidently a campfire on a beach will turn fine white silica sand black according to rangers, but bushfires and defence ordnance doesnt.

I believe at some point nearly all bodies corporate go from an organisation which supports and promotes members’ interests to an organisation where members are merely a factor of production supporting the interests of the organisation and its managers. For Ra-aus my guess is this occurred around the time of the name change from AUF and was ‘cemented’ with the change from an ‘association’ to ‘a corporation’. The current ‘arse’ about approach is clearly demonstrated every time someone from RA-Aus crows about we are all about ‘supporting the industry’ or ‘network’ blah blah. Same writ large is the arse about logic imploring citizens to support the ‘economy’, when it’s actually the economy which should be serving or slave to society. Skip, logical argument or actual evidence is irrelevant; it’s about power. Always is.

And the runway is so bad (bitumen breaking up) that the larger aircraft won’t be able to use it soon to the detriment of the main paying tenant (Corporate Air). So pretty significant expenditure is sort of needed now just to keep current tenants. I’ve heard the current owner is also very much offside with the Council following a property he owned (and wanted to develop) with an historical heritage listing building on it mysteriously burnt down. The word I’ve received from Goulburn users (last week) is it hasn’t sold and they’re not surprised given how much he wants and its marketing. It’sa pity because there is a nice group of aviators there and Teraya is s great instructor. The Goulburn council needs to go speak with Cowra and Temora councils I reckon.

Ahhh! I can beat that. I flew a Kookaburra sailplane on winch launch (fencing wire… break every second launch) in late 1970s there with ANU gliding club & one of my lecturers was the instructor. They also had a ‘high performance’ ‘Blanik’. Previously the club was at Currendooly and after that Werriwa (a couple of nm sth of Currendooly). I don’t understand parachuting. I’ve got one stored in a cupboard somewhere….I took that with me in my Carbon Dragon sailplane as a back up to backup.

Check ADSB data. I’m pretty sure seversl weeks ago enroute from Cowra to Goulburn an aircraft I was checking on landed, or at least did a circuit at one of the two airfield at Crookwell.

Don & I tried Collector (50km from Canberra). There used to be gliding strip (winch) & then parachuting to the west of the town, but we looked at the 1/4 horse race track just to the east of the hwy. Its crown land for the town’s recreation, managed by a trust. The horse track is s beautiful airstrip (a bit short) but fantastic approaches. Its used perhaps 1 or two weekends per year. All looked good….trust ppl keen to get more users as the NSW govt was threatening to sell the land if they didn’t do more with it etc. We both flew in one weekend, had a great day. Word back from the trust ppl…no go. Ppl in Collector opposed. End. I’m not so sure you are correct on Currendooly Ian. Yes to the solar panels, but it’s possible to to do both in that paddock. But there is another problem with Currendooly. The other alternative is the sand mining areas to the south west of Currendooly. I’m not aware of anyone speaking to the sand miners, but the guys with their Madmax dune buggy racers seem to do ok there. There’s also Polo flat & Cooma sth.

It’sa death spiral for public schools. As local public schools close & funding tight, public schools, at least here in Canberra truly become communist era ‘peoples factory school No.53’ with huge numbers of kids crowded into smaller & smaller spaces. And we wonder about why there is an issue with social behaviour….. politicians need to study rat behaviour. So of-course parents vote with their feet (we did), diminishing the numbers in public schools and reducing the public & political support to increase funding to public schools…and so on. And who would want to be a teacher there anymore. I taught secondary science and maths for 15 years before moving to govt & telecommunications. When I retired, I thought I’d go back to do some science and maths relief teaching, but evidently my 4 year Forestay degree with HDs in maths, physics & some engineering subjects & post grad quals in teaching, plus experience wasnt good enough anymore, plus a heap more red tape bullishlt. I think the only solution is the Finnish one: ban private schools… then and only then will there be support for proper funding. Like others have said, I’d much rather we invest in the country’s future by investing in our ppl…mostly education. It’s called human capital formation. And not invest in useless submarines or the stock market (like the incredibly stupid ‘future fund’) What’s this got to do with Goulburn aerodrome I’ve no idea.

It’s the ducking belling decker

Maybe a little topic drift. I forgot to mention a ‘covenant’ on a land title has effect like a contract in law. Only parties to a contract have legal rights to enforce it. In the case of a covenant to an aerodrome that would be the neighbouring land owners, the council, & maybe ppl with aircraft in hangers at Goulburn. At our property (with airstrip) all properties have a covenant that prohibits the keeping of cats, & requires dogs to be locked up at night etc. But only a neighbour can take someone to court to enforce it…. Never gunna happen. Pretty useless, like greenhouse gas emission targets, corporations taking ppls’ privacy seriously and committed to…blH blah, & about as effective as ‘payers and thoughts’.