metalman

I should put smilies up when I'm piss taking,,,,,

Hey the guy I did a Tigermoth check ride with had a leather helmet and goggles,,,,,mmmm ,he seem okay ,,,,,, I also noticed the guys in front of the 737 I was on had epaulettes ,,,,,,,mmmmmm ,bloody wankas seem to be everywhere,,,,,still if the pilots turned up wearing acca dacca t shirts I'd be a bit put off,,,,,but that's just me I guess

Plenty still flying, I've never dealt with coastal and agree on Gympie, I've got a mate looking for bits at the moment and having trouble, Like your job description to by the way! Matty

pilots compete in a few different manouvres for the glory of being the best ,,,on the day! and have a feed, a couple of beers at the end of the day ,,,and talk crap with other pilots about aeroplanes!!!

Here's a YouTube link, I've got a few videos of my plane and some other aircraft stuff, I'll keep in touch if I head out to pen field, otherwise if your coming over to the Yarra valley let me know, there's also the antiquers flyin at bar won heads coming up in a couple of weeks, I'm 99.9% sure I'm going , cheers Matty

Hey Matt, mine is an VH experimental based on a Skyfox/Kitfox type, identical handling and I use the Skyfox speeds , I have 100 hp and carry 80litres for a four hour endurance,,,,I've just finished a trip to Longreach and back and have to say I love the little bugger! I have extra wing tanks and if yours is certified so no mods , but,,,,,I have heard of guys making a bigger collector tank to get more endurance , hope to catch up at some time, if you see the plane in my avatar be sure to say hello, Matty

I'm very careful in turbulence, you can get a big push and if you put the nose down without chopping power the VNE comes up pretty quick, they're a great plane but need to be treated right, like them all I guess Matty

No Not sure, but I'd look into it Matty

I'd heard you mention that before, apart from the problem in the first instance the airframe held together till they got it on the ground. I find it interesting that the Kitfox makes the claim of never having an inflight break up, and is considered a very strong design, why has the skyfox had this issue, being overstressed is one thing,,,,maybe the reputation has grown out of proportion to the problem, I know after 8-90 hours in one I can't see why they've got the reputation they have, I love mine and reckon it's no harder to land than a Eurofox, and a third of the price , Matty

yeh, the oil in the tubes is a normal part of the maintenance on them ,the extra tube was in response to that accident and a other where rust had weakened the carry through tube, although the one you mentioned was being aerobatted illegally , I think he tried coastal but I'll have to find out for sure, T Kerr didn't have any , Matty

Hi all, a mate of mine has a Skyfox and needs a carry through strut with the relevant paperwork ,the company that makes them is no more and he can't get rego without it, anyone with a written off one or a contact that's making them, Matty

I had a similar vibration in my 912ULS from 4800 down to 3000, circuit revs so very annoying, when I had the sprag clutch done Wal at Rotax did the carbs on the bench and hey presto ,vibration gone, very critical for the little buggers to have the carbs right , Matty

Mmmm, good instructor =good pilot Good teacher=good student Average instructor =average pilot Average teacher=average student Bad instructor=bad pilot Bad teacher= bad student No teacher= lack of knowledge and skills,,,,,,,non fatal No instructor= lack of knowledge and skills ,,,,,,usually fatal It was discovered very early in aviation that for a survival rate better than a housefly it would be prudent to have certain people with various abilities to teach others how to not get killed in a flying machine, this has evolved over the decades to the point where flying could be considered a fairly safe past time, on par with skydiving, motor cycling, rock fishing and plenty of other pursuits with a degree of thrill, but it has also been discovered that not all posses the relevant skills to pass on the required knowledge to make great pilots , so we have a scale of sorts from barely able to survive a flight to freakin legend, we all fall in there at some point ( hopefully progressing up the scale) . I have had some very good pointers from some who I would place within cooee of the freakin legend status,,I've also learned some lessons from the barely survivable types, it does seem pretty common the the former are or have been flying instructors, the lesson from the latter generally involve a quick kiss for mother earth when back on it! For me if I'm learning a skill that can give me great pleasure or put me in a box for eternity, I'd like to know the persons been recognised as being competent to teach Matty

Yep, your right ,,,it does sound like a silly question

was looking at it a few weeks back considering landing there, wasn't sure so I went to Old Bar instead,,,,nice strip ,no large obstacles too be seen,,,,,,, matty

well, I can see mine getting asked to leave via the nearest exit if it tries that kinda behavior, I have had an Iphone "pop" after it sat for 6 months and was then charged up ,I've been told the batteries are hydroscopic and will absorb moisture over time, when they're charged up they can have issues! Matty (I think that is the right term ,but I'm sure someone will correct me if it's not :-)

Yeh, I'm not keen on them, some noises are good to hear , I like to hear the engine and the wind noise,keeps me in touch with what I'm doing

and I to wonder about that too,,,,makes it a worry when someone gives an ALT in a position report and it could be wrong by a few hundred feet. In the Yarra Valley with two big airfields, a few private strips, helo ops at vineyards and meat bombers inbetween, tootleing around with a dodgy ALT because you didn't read the rules could kill people. I've stood on the ground and watched pilots waffle through the YCEM circuit and wondered if they're suicidal or just got the wrong altitude, I've seen a few near collisions from this and there has been a midair in the past in the circuit here! This is our biggest problem in RAA, we think the rules don't apply to us and then when big brother comes along and says well actually apart from a few exemptions the rules DO apply we all cry foul! I heard an older pilot once say the Reg's are written" in the blood of pilots past", sounds serious doesn't it. Matty

I wear gloves, in winter cause I have to and on hot days to keep sweaty hands dry sometimes, in open cockpits I have some leather TIG welding gloves that are long enough to cover the cuffs of my jacket. In my own plane I have some cheap cotton gloves( got them from bunnings for about $5) with the fingers cut off so I can use switches, buttons and iPads easily, I bought a thick sheepskin flying jacket for open cockpit flying but I find in Vic I'm wearing it in my own jigger for a lot of the year, it can be really make the difference between enjoyable and feeling slightly uncomfortably cold , Matty

Our comps are done at 500agl minimum(except for the spot landing part, your allowed to go lower for that bit),,,anything below that is instant disqualification! doesn't make it easy but it is safe! Matty

good thing it's not a taildragger cause then we'd have 185 replies arguing whether it's better to have toe out or toe in,,,,

Yarra Valley Flight Training is holding it's monthly flying comp this sunday, all welcome to compete or spectate, a BBQ lunch will be provided.

Hi all, the AAAA is running their toyrun again this year at barwon heads airfield, I've been to the last few .it's a great turnout ,well worth the effort

Working out what's wrong is half the job , aircraft spruce sell wedge shaped shims to adjust the alignment Matty

i wonder if it would be the same as Pompei, fill a void in the rock only to find it's a bloke ,kinda creepy really,