KRviator

SOLD! For $237,500 AUD - which, after the 7.5% fee plus GST means someone has just paid $281,000 for an unairworthy Cirrus! Fuggen'ell. Personally, I'd prefer something like this Mooney Ovation that you can pickup for under $200K, and have another $100K to install a full Dynon/Garmin EFIS suite in. Each to their own I guess, but good luck and congratulations to the high bidder. I hope they enjoy their new toy!

$148K, with an hour to run. Someone obviously sees more in it that I do! Or can get cheap Cirrus parts...😆

I'll pay that! But I'm still along ways off my 80's - hence why I thought I'd bid on it. 😆 She's over the ton now and still going up. The KRviatrix isn't too keen on me bidding again on something I didn't get a chance to physically inspect - again, due to RB Auction's failure to call me back to organise a time with the owner. But meh. I'd still prefer a tip-tanked Comanche or Deb over a Cirrus, the only thing they have going for them is the 'chute for SE NVFR or IMC. IMHO, their "all electric" architecture is a limiting feature as it means you can't install a G3X or Dynon EFIS in them without an EO, there's no Cirrus on the AML for either of those STC's.

In the 80's now and getting close to my maximum limit - but I've no doubt it'll skyrocket as it gets closer to hammer time. Auctions like this always do. Incidentally, I had an "interesting" call from some manager at RB Auctions yesterday. Apparently the owner saw a comment I had made on the RB Auctions FB page - they've now removed it in what I consider an underhanded attempt to hide just what needs doing, but it's their page and their measure of integrity I guess - regarding just how much work is going to be involved in getting it airworthy as well as the cost of doing so and wasn't very pleased about them. As I said to the manager-type "I'm not the one who left a quarter-million-dollar airplane rot for 8 years! The logs are what they are, you can't fudge what needs doing, this isn't a Holden Commodore where you can ignore the service recommendations, the logbook statement means the maintenance requirements are set in stone and must be complied with, and to do that in the current environment is likely to be extraordinarily expensive. And given you've not published the latest MR, there could well be more that needs to be done!" Apparently I've also been "Talking to another bidder" about the plane too that they're not happy with (mind you, I haven't - nor do I know anyone else who's even likely to bid on it!) unless someone here on RF is also bidding on it, but meh. My comments aren't meant to try to drive the final price down, though they may well do so, but they are meant to highlight to a reader that you are not simply going to be paying your $$ and flying away without some serious work and that 'work' is likely to be very expensive. If you have a problem with that kind of mindset....

Over $50K with a bit under 3 days to go. I think I'll pass...

True, parachute is good for another few months, but everything else? If she sells for $200, that's still $235K after fees, plus parachute and outstanding maintenance items. You'd be better off buying a more expensive, albeit flying and current Cirrus, at least then you're starting with a known standard. The logbook statement for this one says "IAW Cirrus maintenance manual" so those things that are life-limited (brake lines, alternators, etc) can't be deferred or done 'on condition' as Schedule 5 might allow. Or can they? My memory of the MPC is if you specify a system of maintenance, (ie the Cirrus MM) and that has time limits, then that's what you go by 'till death do us part' - but I ain't a LAME...

As I'm just down the road and need a 4-seater, I called the agent about this one. He said the owner is hoping to get $200K in his sky-rocket (!), which, after factoring in GST and agents fees, means this particular Cirrus will need to achieve a sale price of at least $235,000! The agent actually asked me what I thought and I told him without knowing the maintenance (at that time, they didn't have the logs), and assuming worse case everything, $100-125K. Turns out I wasn't far wrong when I assumed the worst!! If you have a look at the maintenance paperwork that they've published, she hasn't flown since 2014! The last annual was around September that year, IIRC. The parachute ($40K), rocket, linecutters ($3-5K), both alternators, prop ($10-15K), engine hoses, control cables, brake lines, and a swag other gear needs overhaul or replacement too - and we haven't even considered how the engine is, after sitting for 8 years uninhibited - I don't even want to think what an IO-360 overhaul is these days! Pretty much everything is out of time. I would be genuinely surprised if you could get her "officially" airworthy again for less than $100K! Not to mention the delay associated with doing so... Given 2002/3 vintage SR22's have been going for the $250-280 range - and they've all been airworthy with decent, if not "good" component times, I reckon the agent's been led up the garden path and the owner is nuts to even think he'll get close to that. She's - at most - a $125,000 bird and anyone who bids above that is as nutty as the owner, IMHO. And that's assuming a LAME will sign off on a SFP to get her out of there...

Careful about using just the CASR low-flying rules though. CAO95.55, 95.10 and others have specific prohibitions about flying over populous areas. Even though the CASR imply a 1000' hard-deck, that does apply to RAAus but also requires you to be able to be able to glide clear of the populous area. That may mean you are required to fly above that 1,000AGL limit in order to comply with the CAO. Takeoff's and landings excluded, obviously...

Agreed, KG. Anything that 1 - wasn't powered when it went under, and 2 - is a 'basic' electrical item (fridges, fans, heaters, etc) will usually come good once you've hosed it off and out with clean water and blow-dried it. The worst that can happen is you waste 30 minutes trying to rescue the item, but that could turn into an hour saved by not having to go into Harvey Noman -- to buy a new one, even if you get the insurance cheque ..

That's (Sadly) believable. But in an unbelievable twist, I ordered a 'Candoo programmer' last week (it's like a car's OBD reader but for jetskis & boats) in its' 3kg briefcase-sized Pelican case from Tampa, Florida. Shipping to NSW was just $35USD and took precisely one week! I had it in the hangar only an hour or two short of 7 days since I ordered it online. I thought for sure there'd be extras or their website was wrong, but nope. Just $35 shipping and it arrived on Tuesday morning. Then again, try ordering an A4 padded envelope of knickknacks from Spruce or Vans and you'll be in for an unpleasant surprise! To ship, for example, 125 AN365 nuts (50 -832, 50 10-32 and 25 624) from California using Fedex International Economy(the same shipping method my Candoo used) will be $236 USD! For 125 small nuts in a padded envelope! Even reducing it to just one nut it is still $236USD. WTF?!?

You know - that's not as stupid an idea as it sounds...Each 44 is 400lbs of buoyancy. Keep 4 or 6 of 'em stacked in the corner of the hangar and 2/3 of those strapped together per wing, a yoga mat or bit of sponge rubber between the drum and the skin and you could well limit damage to just the wheel bearings. That's a cheap, and bloody good idea, @F10

Good memory! I even replied there and had forgotten about it! 😛

Pretty sure it's legal so long as they are 'approved' ie, have the relevant UN markings on them. From the new CASR: 92.B deals with Conditions of carriage of DG, DG manuals, etc 92.C deals with DG training, 92.175 Goods carried by private operators Subparts 92.B and 92.C do not apply to the carriage of dangerous goods by an aircraft operated by an operator engaged in private (non‑commercial) operations if: (a) the aircraft is operating in Australian territory and: (i) is unpressurised; and (ii) has an approved passenger seat configuration of less than 10 seats; and (b) the goods: (i) are in a proper condition for carriage by air; and (ii) are identified by class in accordance with the Technical Instructions; and (iii) are permitted by the Technical Instructions to be carried on a passenger or cargo aircraft; and (iv) are stowed and secured on the aircraft to prevent movement and damage, and segregated in accordance with the requirements of the Technical Instructions if they are likely to react dangerously with one another; and (c) the pilot‑in‑command of the aircraft ensures that every person on board the aircraft knows, before boarding the aircraft, that the dangerous goods are on board.

South Grafton I think is, they're only 1000m from the river, but I had a look at the NSW Gov't SIXMaps page just now and it looks to be protected by a levee bank along the river - but if water gets through or around that, all bets are off I'd imagine! The latest BOM plot for the Clarance River at Grafton shows it to have just peaked at around 7.8m - which is 3.4m above the major flood level. It's now trending downwards slowly, but that may well rise further if they get more rain in the catchment.

Here's the scene from Murwillimbah this morning... The first one here is definitely a Comanche, an earlier -250 now she's emerged from her swim. There's numbers on the side of her new-found friend so I still can't pick what it is, but it looks a bit like a KR2 or Morgan Sierra. The float-thingy is back on her feet, but the one in the mid-ground looks to be in a bad way... EDIT: Turns out these images in my above post will always be the current images from the weather-cam, so in days to come, they may well show bright sunny sky with nothing but green grass to be seen, hence why they are now the same as the photos in this post....The ones attached to this post were saved to my local drive and uploaded from there, so they will stay the same.

AAhh, gotcha. 🙂 We have one on our hangar but I never bothered to ask Brent how to go about accessing the archived images. AIUI they're stored on the server for 7 days.

how do you find the archives PF?

Looks to be going down slightly... At least ol' mates float-thingy is fairly watertight! I think that farther one is a Comanche but not sure what the nearer one is. Sad to see another one of those get written off. Though they are corrosion proofed from the factory, and it is fresh(ish) water....🤞

Were these ones flyable? Sounds like the floatplane wasn't quite there yet, and was the runway serviceable or waterlogged to the point you wouldn't have been able to get airborne?

I wonder if the homebuilt crowd is looking at the ever-reducing list and thinking "Bloody hell, I'm 18 months away from Phase 1, but I'll need a number, better grab one, any one, now!" . Seems to be going down around 12-15 a week, so could be less than a months worth of numbers left! IF CAsA do go to 4 letters, I'm reserving VH-FARQ. 🤪

75 on Friday... Makes me think about what Puzzle Palace will do when that number drops to single figures, which could well be by mid-year!

Spot on. I went up with an instructor a few months ago and one of the simulations was "You've just entered cloud, what do you do?", whereupon I promptly held then released the CWS button on the stick and simply said "That!" - though she seemed surprised as though she expected me to throw it straight into a 180* turn to get out. I explained we're above LSALT, the autopilot can fly the plane better, safer, and more smoothly than I can, and it doesn't suffer from spatial disorientation. In this example, the absolute safest thing to do is engage the autopilot, take a few seconds to think about what you need to do, change modes from ROLL HOLD + VS to ALT HOLD + HDG and then dial in your 180* turn rather than trying to do it yourself with bugger-all IF time and hoping it'll work out.

IF they say they are a FIFO Miner, or on the rigs or something like that, it is 100%, complete and utter bullshit - run away. Or play along, if you want to have fin... I work FIFO (when Chairman McClown allows me into McGowanland, that is) and off-site communications are A. Big. Thing. for the miners, because they have realised people (usually) want to talk to their families, or watch RedTube, etc and if they can't get that, they will go somewhere else. And recruiting a replacement costs a few quid... In a lot of cases, the internet speeds I can achieve in the Pilbara - particularly outside the evening peaks - rival what you can get at home. I'll often tell someone that I might be out of range when they call, but you can always get back to them when you knock off. The (very) few exceptions tend to be the likes of exploration personnel but even then, it's only a few days at a time, if that.

Yep, Google tells me it morphed into this one...More photos available if you google VH-XWS or "Smith FSRW" From the aeropedia website: Image courtesy of Aeropedia.

The biggest limitation IMHO for RWY on Android - for those who have a Dynon setup - is the inability to Wifi the flightplan from OzRunways to the EFIS if you make any changes on-the-fly. That's the only reason I still use an iPad - and probably the reason I'll have to upgrade to a "new" iPad in the not too distant future... 😞 I do most of my flight planning on SkyVector while having a cuppa, then just copy that plan into OzRunways and while warming up, send it to SkyView.