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There are plenty of backup options besides Time Machine, so if you want to do that, of course you can. Carbon Copy Cloner would be a good option. Clone to a bootable USB stick and you could reverse the process if you need to restore. I prefer to restore to where I left off, though, not from where I started! :)

That's what time machine is for; make sure you always have a time machine backup and restore from that. Re-installing blank systems after a disk crash is so ... Windows... :p Seriously, anyone with a Mac and not using time machine is being stupid - even if it's only plugging a bus-powered external USB disk into your laptop once a week or so. (But a wireless Time Capsule is well worth it so it's fire and forget)

There is a cure for that, it's called Mac OS X.

I think the Apple Maps App in iOS 6 does it, but that has other issues. The TomTom App is a pricey, but good option.

Contemplating, yes. You'll be one of the first to see it if and when we do get around to it! Not as simple as it sounds, doing it reliably over unreliable 3G connections...

I think Apple bit off a bit more than it can chew. Google maps was rolled out country by country over several years. Apple tried to do it world-wide on a single date? :confused: Hopefully a Google Maps app will come out for iPhone soon and Apple will also get their problems solved!

A close second best to SpiderTracks is Spot - at a fraction of the cost. $200 buys you a unit and for $165/year you get service with updates at 10 minute intervals. (This goes up to every few seconds the moment you hit the distress button) http://www.findmespot.net.au/

Here's my vision: Have one event, with an "SAAA Pavilion" and "RA-Aus Pavillion" in big tent, with booths in there for exhibitors (mixed, they all service both camps) and put RA-Aus ourdoor displays around the RA pavilion, GA around SAAA. Central plaza / food in the middle. Both in one place, but retaining and showcasing their indivduality. Bigger crowd means more exhibitors with bigger displays. (which draws in bigger crowds) Everybody wins! I'd say Temora is the better site for it. (unless we can find something similar closer to a major population centre)

I think the decision to no longer print it came quite suddenly. So this first one is was made the traditional way, except not printed but exported as PDF. They have already indicated that they are looking at better ways to do it. My preference would be to go to a magazine/news style website like crikey.com. Dumping the whole thing on people every 2 months seems stupid if you are not printing it. Just release it as it's ready.

Not to mention that torque is way more important than HP when used in an aircraft. By the HP measure, all those experimental electric aircraft should not be able to get off the ground when in fact, they usually out perform their piston equivalents.

Rated power should only be in ISA conditions at sea level. Did those investigations that that into account? If you live 2000 feet up, do the test on a QNH 1000 day in 30 degree heat, you won't get 95 HP...

The same friend IS thinking of buying one, possibly even a turboprop version. And yes, I'd get to fly it, most likely solo one day, but I wouldn't do it without a LOT of dual. Good thing the friend is an instructor and there are plenty of places we'd like to fly the thing together anyway. Apparently, they are great fun to throw around the sky at altitude. Especially with some speed on, they are quite forgiving. Get closer to the ground and you should fly it like you would a PC-12, King Air, or that kind of aircraft. No room for tight circuits and steep approaches. It will bite.

Unfortunately, not an atypical situation for a Lancair. High wing loading and very unforgiving in a stall, especially if you are already at a high bank angle. Like my very experienced friend says: if you pull an RV7 around, just release some back pressure if it starts to buffet, it won't do anything nasty. By the time you hit that buffet in a Lancair, you are dead. It doesn't matter how experienced you are; unless you have practiced this manoeuvre in the actual aircraft you are flying, don't do it. In the SportStar, a descending turn stall is a non-event. Other that an obviously increased rate of descent, it will not enter a spin or even drop a wing.

Of course at 200 AGL you are not going to turn back unless you are in a high performance competition glider... But I an not a big fan of the "never ever turn back (below 1000) and never more than a 15 degree bank" doctrine either. To turn back or not depends on many factors. Way too many for any student to deal with so it is a good thing to teach at that stage, but more experienced pilots that know the particular type they are flying well, can. I can turn my SportStar around on a dime with a loss of 250-300 feet. So faced with an EFATO upwind of Gawler's runway 05 and my altimeter at or above 500 AGL, I know where I am going! (check Google earth to understand why) My biggest issue will be losing enough height after the turn to not overshoot the runway. Everybody should practise this in their aircraft, at altitude of course! And the tightest, minimum loss turn will be a steep turn with flaps out. Remember at 2G your stall speed increases by a factor of 1.4, so keep above it. No good killing yourself in trees or on wires just because decades ago when you barely knew how to control and aircraft and instructor told you not to turn back...

2 year until captaincy sounds about right. Do that for a few years, then go to Qantas to be second officer for the better part of a decade before finally being allowed to fly again! :p