mnewbery

Betoota Advocate is blaming all the people who went to Bondi Beach on Friday for the total lockdown. If you squint, that accusation makes sense. Arrogant entitled rich people with nothing to do heading down to congregate because they couldn't go to the beach normally. On a normal day work commitments got in the way. Mix in all the coffee machine drivers and beer pullers that also found themselves idle and you have a recipie for main stream media gold. Unfortunately, the rest of us are under the same martial law

As far as not getting access to rented aircraft or security controlled facilities, no problems. Not yet

I flew from Canberra to Wagga and back on Monday. Flight training at Wagga was going ahead and there were only five Rex planes about. The Wagga airport cafe was closed. I'm glad I took lunch. Canberra and enroute radio were very very quiet save for a few light aircraft and the odd flying ambulance. Now that Tiger have stopped flying, any day is a good day for doing circuits. The only sticking point on Monday was that the Canberra SSR was broken so we were using procedural separation in the terminal area. There weren't enough aircraft around to make a difference so I wasn't delayed

Someone in my street uses one of these to do the shopping, two bags per trip. His has lights front and rear

My last flight was Canberra to cowra and back on Monday. This is great news to read

Wings over Illawarra postponed

That metropolitan access fee everyone is moaning about also maintains the firefighting reticulation and hydrant points. Some times the social cost is entirely justified

Redcliffe YRED

I have mentioned it before many times but here goes For best results concentrate on either building or training. Not both. Once the plane is built it will be very unlikely that you will be allowed to learn to fly in it. One exception would be having an agreement with the instructor before hand. Another issue is learning to fly then taking two years off to build. Skills degrade and a diligent pilot would be doing a few (or many) hours of refresher training before flying their own plane. More info at http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/checking-off-in-19-reg.53254/page-2#post-414093

http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/wp-content/uploads/flight_following_fact_sheet.pdf Search for "SURVEILLANCE SERVICE NOT AVAILABLE"

Passed my AFR on Monday. It was like the gods were done kicking me and decided to move on to someone else. The weather wasn't awesome bu that lent more weight to my sense of achievement. I hope to be in Clifton for the annual fly-in this weekend - whatever the weather coz' I'm drivin'. I caught up with an ex-luminary today who noted he was going to be flying his warbird in formation over Tyabb at about the same time. I can't be in two places at once! Next stop, a few dual navex's in an archer which is a new type for me. Given the extensive time I have flying high wing its a bit like being brought up in a Ford family to discover I actually driver better in a Holden. Oh the shame

I write on the back of my navigation plan with the frequencies for each leg and the alternates for quick reference. A bunch of stuff is in there like runway orientation length and altitude. Takes ages but at least I read the ERSA entries and NOTAMs. I add an extra line for FIA changes

You were flying a drifter in turbulence?

I want to be really clear. I only have good things to say about my instructors

I get that and my "solo hours" is something greater than zero. I also have a RAA pax endorsement. I suppose one difference is that the instructor is in the unenviable situation where a student can do a PPL in the morning then legally send themselves and three or more of their closest non-pilot friends to a blazing demise in the afternoon. More risk often results in more formality. I'm also looking at my AFR theory exam today. Its ... ummm ... comprehensive?

I'm still at the stage where I find myself saying "wow! I'm sitting in a chair ...in the sky!" Its about that time I go through my CLEAROFF checks. Its supposed to be every waypoint or 30 minutes. Since I got reprimanded for not noticing when the radio went quiet and not figuring out I went over a frequency boundary, its more like every 10 minutes. This gives me two chances to stuff it up. Instructors drive me mad. Every time I get good at something ... and I mean every time ... they chuck in some meaningless distraction. This is quite deliberate because the desired outcome if to be able to conduct a safe flight in spite of the threats and errors. For example I now call out fuel state, selected tank, if it is the fullest and the total flight time on the ADF clock. If the clock has a multiple of 30 minutes on it I hit the electric pump and change to the fullest tank. If I miss a check it will be for ten minutes or one circuit. I have started using midfield joins to initiate downwind checks. Its a damn pain and it drives instructors mad. It feels like a cold war ... nope, missed your downwind checks because we went around and did an unfamiliar join, sorry no solo flying for you see you next week bring more money. I'm not criticizing the instructors. This is a valuable lesson because if I crack this the PPL practical exam will be a doddle. Then I can replace "malicious instructor" with "idiot noob non-pilot passenger" and still be safe. I'm now at the stage where I will do whatever I can to thwart my instructor and I am getting creative. Payback. It is what it is.

https://shop.casa.gov.au/products/flight-planning-kit

The good news is that the hardware development and price point have kept up with the new software requirement. Any gaming computer bought in the last 2 years will run this no problem. Bonus, we now have generic and quite acceptable VR headsets.

#Winner #golfclap

You can do a BFR any time you want. A new qualification will also suffice. Such as a tail wheel endorsement, complex or for RAA 2 stroke, low performance or any other feature

"Being a bit contagious" ? The medical term is "R Nought" ( R0 ) Basically for every patient zero in a group, assume that the R0 value is the average number infected over the "infectious" period. Some examples: Measles = 12 to 18 SARS = ~3 Corona Virus 2019 ~ 2.5 (still calculating) Flu pandemic of 1918 = 1.4 to 2.8 Hep C or Ebola = ~2

If you drink the hand sanitizer rather than rubbing it into your hands it won't stop you getting sick but you will care less

In terms of fixed wing application it might be better to look at litres per nautical mile travelled rather than litres per hour. A small turbine running at very high altitude might be able to outrun a naturally aspirated piston aircraft based on the fact that it has spare performance to compress thin air at 100% N1 without overheating or over torquing the gearbox. A Piper Cheyenne for example makes more sense than a Chieftan but only for some missions. Of course you need to climb it up there first and might need supplemental oxygen in the cabin to stay there