Relfy

Welcome onedayifly. We all started the same way...that itch to fly! As others have said, go to a flying school and have a trial instructional flight. Then you will know if it is for you or not. I think I made my mind up when my CFI said, "Hi I'm Pete and this a Jabiru bla bla bla..." Keep us posted too!

...first of all I'd like to thank Watto for all his help the other day... I had a look at the STOL video and in particular the pilot locking the big wheels across the water only to release them at the point of making contact with the river bed. Very neat indeed! Has anyone here ditched in the drink or know anyone who has, that may be able to share the experience?

I'll have a go here...lock the wheels to skid on the water surface a bit better so u don't flip over as easily? I think I saw that in Watto's forum on STOL yesterday.

Innaminka has near new motel style rooms and a great restaurant at very reasonable prices given where it is. Fuel is aso available there. I stayed there late last year and the rooms were excellent. If you want a great adventure stop-over, call in to the Noccundra Hotel. You taxi right up to your room and the managers there are great and throw on a great BBQ on possibly the biggest hotplate I've ever seen! Give them a ring also re fuel or fuel is available at thargomindah nearby via credit card swipe bowser. Which ever way you go, you'll have a ball and tell us about your trip! :thumb_up:

I heard that they were testing a constant speed unit on a job in Bundy. Has anyone heard anything about this?

Great work Mischief, keep us posted of your progress! Your story sounds like mine, learnt to fly at 33 and have a 2.5 y/o boy and twin girls. Flying keeps me sane!

Awesome work mate, congrats on your first solo. I still grin when I think of mine! :big_grin:

Good work Brett, keep us posted on your progress! I must say that since the CTA endo has been knocked on the head, I'm going to go the GA PPL line also, along with a few others I know.

Great pics Captain. Wish I could have been there.

I'd be one of those bi-landers...depending on weather and location. If it's rougher and cross windier, over hoooses etc I'll be hi-landing. Smoother over good ground I'll get down and LL my way in.

Good work Brett, can't wait for more of your trip reports!

Good work mate. It's open skies from here on! Watch that weather though...:lol 8: Seriously though, it has been great following your progress mate. I did my first big nav on the weekend. Took my dad up and off we went to Fraser Island. Saw humpback whales, sharks, manta rays, dolphins and just had an awesome time. 3.7 hrs and a trip we'll never forget. Here's some pics from the trip. Nearly as nice as your coastline over there!

Maj, perhaps a SAR list of available pilots and a/c with RAA that local authorities can easily access for SAR activities in that particular area might be an easy way of accessing our fantastic services should the need arise???

This is a great topic because I think it is very relevant to the running of SAR ops. As I've previously stated, I've coordinated SAR responses for missing bushwalkers and I can tell everyone right now that if you're legally able to fly, have a suitable aircraft and on the ground and willing to give your time etc and listen to the coordinator, you will be very involved in the incident. My experience involved two missing bushwalkers in the Carnarvon Gorge, overdue two nights, near freezing weather on the top of the ridge line they were supposed to be traversing and a rescue choper that was on it's way and then diverted to a cardiac case on an island off Rockhampton, with a further 4 hr delay. After jumping up and down a bit, I finally managed to convince my powers that be that we needed local assets straight away due to enclement weather on the way and the situation not looking good for the missing two. Within an hour I had two local choppers (R22 and R44) at the Bandana Airstrip near the Gorge, ready to go. One of the pilots is a pretty good mate of mine and both are only Commercial Licenced. As Destiny said, AUSSAR coordinate a search and I tell you that once they are on board, you don't have any two and fro-ing about who is funding the whole thing. They do, simple. That saves so many managers of other agencies from having to make decisions based on money etc because it all comes from the central pool. Also, as Turbo stated, go and see your local police and tell them what you can do. Oh yeah, we ended up finding the two missing walkers after two days of searching, using 4 choppers, a cessna and a Dornier from Cairns not to mention the numerous SES volunteers (gotta love those carrots!). One was perched on the edge of a cliff and the other was stuck on a ledge with an 80 metre drop off to the Gorge below.

Maj, your idea has a lot of merit and there are a lot of things to be worked out to enable RAA aircraft in on SAR efforts, but it is something that could be done and would be an incredibly effective additional resource. I have thought about the exact topic everytime a SAR issue comes up and I think, "wouldn't it be great just to have some reccies to take part in this." I've coordinated SAR operations and performed aircrew duties as part of those efforts. Brett will tell you that the Dorniers take on an overall EWAC type role and a transponder is a must with involved aircraft operating normally around terrible terrain in close proximity to each other, usually concentrating efforts and attention to the ground. They have the ability to coordinate and maintain an additional eye on separation, in addition to the traffic avoidance equipment on rescue choppers. The main advantage of RAA aircraft over the big helos, is fuel availability and actual time on search. We were flat out with a big crew of SES volunteers keeping the fuel up to the rescue copters burning 280 and 330 litres an hour (Bell 412 & Dauphin). We drained about every FRDS fuel storage point within 300 k's! I was with my mate in an R22 and we were cruising around nicely on a fraction of the fuel and did about 15-16 hours over the two days until we found the bushwalkers on a cliff. The big helos did half of that. I will disagree with you though Maj on the human factors training though. SAR is focussed very specifically on this area and if you didn't like that training, then you would hate the more involved HF areas relating to the exact same topics I covered when I did my HF course. HF is extremely important. If you don't support HF training then you wouldn't be allowed within cooee of a search op.

Nice Maj, when will that episode of Sea Patrol go to air? You left out 6. He spotted Tom Hanks and Wilson laying on the sand. Anyways, great to see someone looking up and thinking about us!

Come on Yenn, we weren't born yesterday. Backpackers swimming on a beach...large shark...yeah riiiiight!! I won't even mention what type of shark...

Thanks Slarti, I've forwarded it on to that email address. :thumb_up: Relfy

Nice pics as usual Bretto. Sure is nice and green over there and plenty of water laying around!

Sorry Angela, I didn't receive any message re the photos and wasn't aware I had to send them on. Which one do you want and I'll send the high res version from my digital SLR, which is of a much better quality?

Awesome work Tomo, I was flying up at Kingaroy on the same day and it got quite gusty and really tested me with a fair x-wind on the main strip. The day started perfectly and then at 10a it got gusty and lumpy. Kingaroy is changing frequencies again away from 126.7 so I won't be able to hear you guys next time I fly. Australia is your oyster now mate!

I've flown a J230 with a sensenich and it is an awesome combination. Easily achieved 120kn at 2800rpm. The only thing to be careful with running them is the back/rear of the blade is fairly thin and a few have cracked as the result of stone strikes on rough strips. I believe they aren't recommended for running off unsealed strips all the time.

Have you thought a different prop to bring the revs up and keep the speed down?

Yeah Maj, brought it back home. Said it flew a bit dirty though...not unusual for a pig. Story here... F-111 almost downed - by a pelican | News.com.au Top stories | News.com.au

A while back a pelican that wasn't fitted with a transponder wandered into the path of an F111. Made a bit of a mess!