ryan4321

Got the recommended Composite prop Jabiru promote / recommend on their site. It made me reaslise how far out of balance my wooden prop was previously. The dash no longer vibrated like a 60's washing machine. Much better for the engine I'm sure. A must do IMO. Just some additional info to expect... Leading edge fades from black to a cream and there was small bubbles / pits in the leading edge from manufacture. I think the problem with the wood props is moisture. They are much more prone to imbalances.

Legend - thanks so much Steve!

Ahh excellent - could you use both apps still with the screen split like that?

Sorry, just confirming - AHRS Utility will run full screen on it's own?

That's a bummer. Thank you for checking that for me. Saves me a lot of time and $$ :-)

Legend, thank you. It is 'AHRS Utility'

Does anyone have an iPad pro that they can test Ozrunways on to see that it does operate in the split screen mode? Just don't want to fork out for an iPad pro if it won't work in split screen.

Thanks John for that - it could work, but you will have to be super accurate to keep this line taking off again. Orchid is really bumpy too so the risk (for me) would have been a prop strike bumping up and down at slow speeds to get this to potentially work. Might suit a flatter field though maybe :-)

Yes - you are completely right bedwa38. I should have been more tactful with my initial post, it was in the heat of the moment and words used were too harsh. If you however feel strongly about an issue you should not sit on your hands. Hopefully you will agree with this. I have had other pilots confirming this issue in direct communication / private messages (who no longer post on here which I understand now) who have very recently had to take off here with much difficulty... 'feet on the ground' pilots so to speak. The best thing to come from all of this is for the strip owners to realise their duty of care as fee taking strip owners and realise the conundrum pilots have (in a not so perfect world when decisions are not always robotic / emotionless like they are in the training scenario) when landing here in this current state. Pilots do get the 'get-home-itis' so we should be real and ensure the environment is not to blame when there is an easy fix. They will not shut it down, this is melodramatic speculation and as long as they have a commercial store here making sales from incoming pilots paying their landing fees, this will continue (and it should - this is no ones goal to be shutting it down). A standard needs to be set and the caretaker needs to more vigilant in mowing or at least mow a narrow section lower for take off. Simple. If not, access it as unservicable until it is mowed to an acceptable length (long grass due to recent rain (at this time) is no excuse again, the ground was hard so there was no excuse to not have mowed it). Friends also took off 1 day after it was mowed and they used the whole runway, so again, they are simply not mowing low enough. It's too late for 'I told you so' when someone gets hurt so better to save face and note it or the alternative is not great. It can be a challenging strip, but it shouldn't be pushing the limits this much. You can find a million excuses as to why ones decision making / training or technique should be better, but when you experience something so obviously set up for problems it needs to be said. Some will disagree but you can't please all.

Well said from someone who has run their own strips. While I agree you need to access the strip before landing there. The point with Orchid at the moment is this is impossible to do this adequately as they strip owners are saying 'it was mowed 2 weeks ago' implying really it is of short grass condition. The fact is it is very long at the moment and pilots despite calling will be landing there and getting stuck once they land (if they do make the correct decision to not take off)... Is this fair to the pilot who is paying his/her landing fees? No... Like Frank said, they still need to keep it serviceable or don't offer the strip, this is the reason for posting to get something done as it shouldn't get to this point where the pilot lands and thinks... Oh shit, how am I supposed to get out of this... Not fair really. And for anyone who has a pie in the sky idea of doing low passes or brushing the wheels like Maverick to access the grass is kidding themselves. Ego's aside, think of the average pilot.

Thanks Spacesailor, Dragging the field I can only assume is doing a test run down the field with no plan of taking off to access the conditions. Soft Field Info here. Aim is to get off quickly (very near stall) and use ground effect to speed up (but holding back too much will also create aerodynamic drag from AoA of the wing so really you just need to keep the wheel off to stop hitting the ground to reduce drag but get up to speed to get the mains off to start the next phase of speeding up in ground effect). Unfortunately like in my situation if you can't get the speed up to get off the ground quickly enough and there are obstacles at the end of the runway you need to abort (for which I did not do ;). You also need to ensure you don't pull out of ground effect too early until you have the speed or you just drop back to earth / obstacles at the end of the field. Also to note on planes like mine, you have a strong P-Factor when you have a prop creating a lot of torque on take off and combined with pulling up early at slow speeds this pulls the plane to the left so beware on narrow fields you will need to lower the nose to straighten up again if this is pulling you too far to the left and right rudder is not correcting sufficiently enough (lesson learned early on at Kilcoy for me which is not always taught very well in schools). If you are unaware of this, it is counter-intuitive to push the nose back down to reduce this pull to the left (unless you are aware of the physics) so good to practice on a wide strip to induce this effect to then see how to correct in a controlled situation. Some planes it is not very pronounced, on the J400 (Jabiru) it is significant due to prop distance from the center of gravity (ie, long nose).

Thanks Dan, I do agree with you and also Dr Zoos. At least you have some tact with what you are saying and I agree on what you have pointed out. I have only contacted the female shopkeeper there and have not been able to get hold of the caretaker, but if he calls back I will be politely recommending to cut it shorter for the reasons I have mentioned above. Will leave it at that and I still stand with my position in my last post but won't continue on this forum as it is just stirring the pot it seems. Pilots have this information now to do what they will with it and that's all that matters. Camel and Nick and the rest of the keyboard warriors should think twice before posting the rubbish comments which help no one but entertain themselves really. Get a life if you think you are helping anyone on here because you are providing no insight.

Thank you Pearo, I was starting to lose faith. It's good to hear letting the issue be known might invoke some more practice / planning / readiness to reduce the risk for all so we can enjoy what we love rather than place unnecessary risk on ourselves. Will have to consider the CASA Safety article. Thank you.

Don't know why I bothered - totally missing the point. Lets start by admitting my mistakes before you all get uptight and on the offensive towards my experience / attitude / personality / eye colour. The mistake made was to not abort the take off. I had assessed the conditions for which I was not happy with, and I should have aborted. BUT the reality was I didn't and as a result I had to commit because it was too late to brake as I would have fallen off the end of the embankment so at this point I thought based on very quick risk assessment, I would get the speed required (which I just did) to take off and I chose this over braking late and falling end over end off the cliff. I don't need to put my tail between my legs and say well, it just must be me, if I was a 5000 hour pilot I would have taken off much sooner with a better technique. This is missing the point again as if a 600m strip and a plane that is rated to be taking in 300m can not manage this (with all the multiples taken into account due to the temp, grass, weight, etc. etc.) how can it not be capable in 600m...??? Hmmmm, lets see... THE GRASS IS TOO LONG! I should have aborted the take off when I heard the grass loudly whipping the spats and the feeling of drag from it holding the plane back - BUT this again is not the point. We are not talking here about me - this is the performance of the plane being affected by the unreasonably long grass. Why accept this obvious problem out of fear they won't let you use the strip again with my safety concern. You think I'm arrogant and ignorant, well this is arrogant and ignorant to put your desire to use the strip with your plane ahead of unsuspecting planes incoming (who may not make the right decision to not take off like I did). Remember this is not a perfect world and we all make mistakes and I feel this mistake will be made again and again until someone is killed as a result (an no we are not all perfect decision makers like some of you behind your computer screens like to think you are). In reality this is a pressured decision also which (despite the training I know) due to the remoteness of the strip makes the decision biased due to the lack of other options to get out of there. If they make the correct decision not to take off when they see the shitstorm they have landed in, they will be stuck there until they convince the caretaker to bother to mow for them (not realistic). So this is why if they can simply mow the grass properly, this risk will be eliminated. Now what is wrong with eliminating some risk when it is simply a matter of cutting the grass lower (and no, it will not be a sandy bog if you cut it lower, the grass can easily be cut 50% lower and will have no issue (how do I know... I was there bending down looking at it in amazement at how long it was). The reason for this post was to raise awareness that there is great caution needed at this airstrip. Instead I am being ragged on by every man and their dog for it with wise old words of advice on my decision making to take off in the first place. How the hell am I supposed to access grass length doing a fly by? You can't. If you think you can you are kidding yourself. Go fly by Orchid beach low (as I did before landing) and tell me you estimated right once you land and you feel it (it looks like short grass from the air). Calling ahead the caretaker told the pilot I flew in with that it was mowed 2 weeks before so this is safe to assume this will be okay as well. Not until we landed got out of the plane did it look long (again I admit I shouldn't have taken off, but this is not the point, the performance lost by the plane due to the grass is enough for something to be done - THIS IS THE POINT. If you want to put your head in the sand despite the obvious difficulty which many will face (at this current grass length) you are an arrogant and selfish person. I don't really know why I am responding in such detail as really I am reaching out to people who are considering flying there, not the keyboard warriors hell bent on discrediting me. If you are okay with your particular plane in getting out of there. Good on you! Well done! Congratulations! But I don't care about you or your agenda. I care about the people who have no idea and would benefit from a heads up. For potential Orchid Beach pilots who have never been: If you have spats and a single engine plane... Forget it unless you have assurance somehow that the grass is 'short' (hopefully by their standards at the shop there they wouldn't say the current condition would be considered short either, but who really knows). At least you know this story and as a result you might make a better decision to abort if you find yourself in the same runway condition I had to face there.

Nick - 'no offense' but were you in that plane. Did you feel the drag on the wheels? Talk is cheap so save it. All light aircraft not just 'many' should be okay on this strip. The fact of the matter is is a Jabiru, the most common small plane in Oz will struggle, there is an issue. The whole point of letting people know is to prevent an issue in future. Grass grows and you may have no issue last month or in future if you catch the field at the right time, but based on being told it was mowed 2 weeks ago and the ACTUAL experience I had with the grass dragging on the spats like it was, this is a problem. If you think it's okay for you, go for it and take the risk - then the blame can be all with you the pilot (but I'm sure your family won't care who is to blame when they bury you), but saying 'the majority of the blame will have rested with me' if I crashed, does this make it okay? Legally I don't give a @# who is to blame but I won't let an unsafe field for 'some' planes to crash as a result. This is what we try to prevent... You sound like you want to be a responsible pilot Nick but your priorities in attacking me are a bit left of field. Men survive Fraser plane crash It seems Nick you are more concerned with your own agenda to fly there then giving a S#$% about others safety - I normally don't go whinging to CASA over nothing but I spoke to the local store owner and based on her response of "well we'll charge $50 if we have to mow it more often' is absolute BS. Their attitude there is "the caretakers plane can get out of there so everyone else should be okay" is not on. SSCBD - it is a Jabiru J400. Roughly 100 hours experience (60 on this plane). Mainly tar strips. I understand what you are getting at with regard to decisions making. However, if you see an obvious problem do you not try to correct it? The grass as of yesterday is just too long, plain and simple. No incident report, but I have approached the relevant people to ensure this strip is looked into to make sure they have a better standard set relating to an acceptable grass length. Thank you johnm, yes - much learned. Hopefully not just for myself also and the strip is never let to get to this grass height again. The runway is very wide and would be a lot to mow so this is likely the reason but if they just mow the main central region and keep the outside at this length it would eliminate the issue, you just keep on the short section for take off and there is no issue. I would also recommend if you have spats fitted, it is not recommended to land here unless they have halved the grass length from what it is now (but how do you really know). So just be aware as the spats exacerbate the issue. If we had no spats, we may not be having this conversation as well, but I can only speculate.