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Gibbo

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Everything posted by Gibbo

  1. Gibbo
    MMMMM Sunburn on my lily white legs. Might get a tan to match my arms. Gibbo
  2. Gibbo
    mmm. This is a can of worms. :confused: Would using the aircraft to transport myself between job sites (everywhere!) be classifed as 'commerical use'. Business pays for hire of aircraft..... but no freight is carried with only myself as pilot.
  3. Gibbo
    Best sight (and most worrisum!) was a f-18 about 300' above me as I was taking off from an 'unimproved' airstrip 45 nm n/e of Roma about 9am one morning. Yes I felt the warmth and the wake. lol. I did get a lighthearted radio call after the incident asking about how well cooked the toast was. lol Eagles seem to be the most common - Nothing like seeing a wedgy pull it's wings in about 30' above and in front of you.. I was at 5000' at the time over the lake west of emerald. A Pelican deciding to cross in front of me just as I touched down @ Boulia also made things interesting.
  4. Gibbo
    The route I normally take is Tooradin -> Yarrawonga -> Wagga (crossed leg's?) -> Yass -> Goulburn -> Albion Park then a train into the city. Around 4.5 - 5.3 hours with resonable headwind. Nowra normally shuts down 'around' lunchtime on Friday is fairly easy to avoid. Enjoy the approach into Albion park over the range! Gibbo
  5. Gibbo
    Springsure QLD has a great entry.. Very interesting circuit area with some very close by terrian that you need to be aware of. (read : Cliffs, Hills and the idiot who buillt his house on the very end of the runway. -- mmm Hot day, very Little lift there and there goes the TV antenna.)
  6. Gibbo
    Talk to Tooradin Flying School. The Charter side of the business has been running charter flights over the lake for the past few of months. Fuel is an issue at present due to Leigh Creek closing. Expect to PAY when you can get it. A Nice overnight spot is Tilmouth Well if you wish to head over the western McDonald Ranges. Gibbo
  7. Gibbo
    Typical agricultral situation. Farmer sells cattle for $1.72 per kilo after spending $$$$ getting them to a saleble size. Pays $200 per head to get it to the sale yard. Bigger company comes along and fattens them for 100 days and doubles their weight and then on-sells them to a related meatworks. mmm from $1.72 per kilo (live) to $28.99 per kilo (dead - Current price for topside at Coles - Pakenham Vic) at the supermarket. I still have problems buying dog bones at $5 per kilo when in the past they were sent to the blood and bone factory and the butcher got 9c per kilo for them and usually threw a couple in for the regular customers. I understand that some of the weight is lost to production but EVERY single piece of the beast is used in some form or another. Glue anyone? Woolworths / Coles / Aldi all have something to answer for, considering they own the entire processing chain. mmm Woolworths oil refining company. Oh... Old cows are tough as hell as well so that makes dairying even less viable (macca's anyone). XXXXX of a job that should be paid correctly. Gibbo
  8. Gibbo
    Sounds like most pilots I know. lol
  9. Gibbo
    I used an iPhone 3gs on my last trip with an inductive external antenna (love the RF tech in the office!). In 90hrs of flying I was only without 3g coverage for around an hour while crossing the Tanami Desert. I Did manage to run up a nasty bill for last month. Anything above 6000' with an external antenna on 850mhz should give u coverage to around 95% of the country geographically. The rail networks are starting to replace their commercail networks with NextG and in some cases YesG therefore coverage is increasing in 'strange' places. ie towns with population of 1. 250 kilometers from nowhere with 7mb/s download speeds ??? If they could only cover Birdsville now. Optus are currently rolling out their 900mhz dual band system and from what I have seen it is working well. Now next issues - Telstra and optus's billing system.. lol
  10. Gibbo
    mmm. 28 degrees and a nice northerly breeze pushing me south in northern WA and three international airports in one day... Damn Virgin and Qantas interupting my 10 mile calls with their straight in appoaches from 30miles at everyone of them. lol Oh and not a cloud in the sky, not even a bump and lovely blue water along the coast from Broome.
  11. Gibbo
    $5.95 for 'flight planner' on Itunes for the iphone or Ipod touch. There are some other great tools including a GPS moving map tool for $29.95. Great digital EB6 calculator with export. I use it on a daily basis and very simple to use midflight for those unforseen calculations.
  12. Gibbo
    Rub it in.. It was going to be the highlight of my latest Navex.... Hmmm. Camden -> Narromine -> Tooradin -> Bundaberg -> Isa -> Broome -> Geraldton -> Boulder / kalgoolie -> Latrobe Valley ->Tooradin -> Camden count for the distance record. It would end up back at Tooradin or Lilydale for storage though. lol. Hmm 95hrs flying to get the bugger. Point of origin for the trip would be Camden which makes the 100nm rule. ROFL. Ruling please gov! Gibbo
  13. Gibbo
    I fly a hell of a lot for work.. All the airlines work out to be costing about the same. Virgin as a rule has great customer service but everything costs.. (best looking mass marketed hosties as well) Qantas flights are expensive and 'nearly' everything is provided. Good customer service.. (Qantas link hosties are really, really good - they just grow up and become qantas employees as they get older. lol) Qantas will get you there. I have had them hold a flight from Cairns to Melbourne for me for almost 30mins because my connecting flight was delayed by weather at Horn Island. The golf cart ride across the tarmac at breakneck speed was entertaining. My bags did catch up the next day but I was going home to a wardrobe full of clothes after being away for a couple of weeks so who really cares! Tiger is just plain crap.. After all the extra costs are added it works out more expensive for me to fly with them when I get charged for the excess baggage for my tools and equipment that I need for the job. Rude, arrogant employees and the pilots aren't much better to deal with in the circuits. Qantas is my prefered carrier when I cant justify the cost of flying myself. Everything is predictable before I leave Melbourne.
  14. Gibbo
    I would like to nominate the UNICOM at Broome for fantastically helpful service. Nice relaxed attitude that is very friendly to Raa pilots. A quick phone call for a chat before I headed into a very busy airport at peak time made all the differance. A couple of beers will be left for him when I leave on Tuesday. Guys please treat him with respect as he deserves it. A General VERY well done and he would make a great roll model for other GA services in this country. Gibbo
  15. Gibbo
    Just wait until they find something that can be mined underneith or next door to you. The queensland government has basically screwed some of the best agriculture country for the sake of coal. Trainlines, roads and the pollution that goes with it. Nobodys safe and a few of my customers are no longer farmers thanks to Anna and her quest for the $$$. :kboom:
  16. Gibbo
    Sorry guys but the management of this country needs to have a good look at itself. What ever happened to the concept of goverment for all the people not just devolopers. As soon as private enterprise is dragged into something the costs go thru the roof and everyone else is locked out from accessing it. Screw them. It's time we looked after ourselves because the government won't.
  17. Gibbo
    Navigation was easy... It's that hidden Raa endorsement in part 103 for IFR. lol When there is only one road to follow it's never hard. Had a choice to make about 10 miles from Broome. South or a bit futher east. :black_eye:
  18. Gibbo
    I'll be happy to swap a couple of days bad weather for the GPS that packed it in this morning 200nm east of Broome.. GRRR Avmaps and avmap mounts. lol
  19. Gibbo
    All I know is that some beat me to the punch... I was hoping that is was still going be in WA next week so I could claim the distance record. Buggers, It would have looked good with my name and 6500nm on it. :broken_heart: Gibbo
  20. Gibbo
    "Dont they dimm the interior lights in the cabin on approach, i read somewhere they do it in case of an accident the pax eyes are adjusted for dark incase they need to get out??..:confused: " It's in the same set of rules as the window blinds being up.. Helps the firies see fire inside the aircraft from outside.....
  21. Gibbo
    based on that comment I think I will just stay away from there... My sunnies are elcheapo's. It is fun meeting a C5 Galaxy in the middle of nowhere though... G
  22. Gibbo
    Just outside of Geraldton is a set of blue rings marked A->G with no other notation. It's the only markings of this type on any of the maps Australia wide. I'm heading in that direction in the next month and my proposed flight path will take me almost directly over the top. Anybody able to clear the air for me before I make a mess of myself on the receiving end of a guided missile? Gibbo
  23. Gibbo
    Optus now resell the Thyanya (my spelling is crap) Sat mobile based system and it has it's own GPS tracking service provided as part of it. You simply set the phone to SMS the GPS locations to a phone number on a regular basis. I used it crossing the Simpson and would recommend it to anyone. It's nice to see a flight path with last known speed, heading etc displayed. System can be accessed by anyone with the password. Giles
  24. Gibbo
    I've had the same problem with several Jabs on very cold mornings in Central Aus. Trick I found was to 'just' crack the choke slightly as you turn the motor over on the starter motor. Don't touch the trottle for at least a minute and everything should be ok. Part of the problem, I'm told is the alloy block will actually shrink in the cold weather thus the heating option works. Gibbo
  25. Gibbo
    I've done some serious laps around the country in a 160 and a 170 and love them. The airframe is tough and can handle 'marginal' surfaces and is fairly easy to fly. They do have cooling problems above the 34 degree mark but the rotax is has the same problems. Parts are easy to get your hands on with a visit to super cheap if you need a filter and plugs. I've had one partial engine failure in the circuit but the engine had done almost it's full 1000hrs. Landed without any issues but it basically dropped a piston which gave me a few more grey hairs. My perfect aircraft would be a 230 with a wide cockpit like the 160 or 170. Gear plus a rather large pilot. :)
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