Thx1137

If SR truly believes a board member has acted improperly then I am sure there are processes to be followed. Hindering a duly elected member from performing their function without due process is not something to be tolerated. I will certainly make sure someone gets my proxy.

I thought my instructor was joking when he got out of the plane. After being stunned wore off I thought. "I know what to do, just do it! He wouldn't let me do it if he wasn't sure.". I was about to turn base and had a moment of doubt but just though "I have done this heaps of times, just go around if it starts looking a bit ordinary". I noticed I was pretty tense so I made myself relax (moved my shoulders, made myself extra comfy in the seat) and simply did what we are trained to do.

Not sure how many of you actually read the article... What is a "good" system for the jab, especially if more than one person uses the aircraft? When you have a pax it is easy to get near max weight which he would have probably thought he was near as he says the gauge still read a third of a tank when it run out. I try to always put in enough fuel for my flight even though there may be enough going by the gauges already but can't usually do that if I take a pax. The only option the it seems is, don't fly. Rather limits the utility of the aircraft. Which sucks....

It's your site Ian so whatever you want to do with it is certainly no problem for me! There is no reason someone who is interested in the politics can't setup a especially site for it. It is rather easy to get one started!

Obviously if the pilots are competent it doesn't matter where they are from but I don't like companies that tout being proud Australians that then go an funnel increasing amounts of money and work overseas. I guess it might be considered "good" for the passengers if it keeps prices down but how many times have we seen our companies cut costs then use much of the "savings" to fund bonuses! (I thought they got paid for doing their job but obviously must be mistaken) Many of us are happy to pay extra if we get better service or products but it seems costs only ever go up and services/product quality only ever goes down (generalizing here of course). I think thats why Apple is so popular these days. A little expensive compared to some but the products do the job, are reasonable quality and have some sense of innovation instead of stagnation.

Many people find dismissive and attacking comments offensive spin. A difference of opinion doesnt come into it. Gnarly says that if you think something is wrong at qantas that you are anti-business and hyping up the issues. No facts to refute the articles, just a comment about the person who makes the comments credibility. I am with don...

Right on Ryan. They do not have enforcement powers. A set of traffic lights do not know if you have a car licence... If someone thinks they are allowed in CTA without an appropriate licence and/or aircraft then next time they request clearance they should make sure to mention that they mention you only have and RA licence when requesting clearance. It would be interesting what the results would be. As for the question I have seen sometimes, "how do they know?". Who cares, maybe they read forums. After all, we know... Personally, the excuse for *knowingly* breaking the law that appears sometimes that "others do it" or "they wont know" is selfish idiocy. Unfortunately if we pilots choose to be idiots then it definately wont help the rules change for the better but sure can make them worse (for us).

I say mine out loud still. If i have a new pax i telll them beforehand that doing checks is normal and regular. A couple of times i noticed i skimmed my checks. I did look but but was not sure i saw. Now i put my finger on each item i am checking and actually check it. Also, on occassion i might see that i did the checks quicker than normal so i do em again. There is nothing that is foolproof though.

Wimp? Nah. As long as your not incapacitated by it! It reminds me of a time when flying 1000 feet below class c airspace. I was getting bumped around a lot so I was flying a little slower than usual. I felt this almight jolt and swear I gained 700 feet in less than a couple of seconds! I definately remember saying something like "oh dear!". It was a bit of a shock. :-) I am not worried about falling out of the sky as long as I have height, am not too fast, lunch wants to stay down and where I want to land isn't so unpleasent! The only thing that makes me fearful in the Jab is trying to read the darn fuel gauges in any kind of bumpy weather and the fact that dipping the tanks is useless! Steven.

Bass, stop complaining. hehehe :-) I am not sure why the article jumps from "light aircraft" to "recreational aircraft". The term "recreational aircraft" might mean us but in this context I think it means "non-commercial aircraft". Just sloppy and inconsistant terminology. Personally I hate the idea of being anywhere near the airfield when parachutists are on their way down.

Usually too expensive for me but usually ok otherwise. As for "beware of stories". Same goes for any airline but here is two from me. My most "interesting" flight was with Qantas in a 737 when the wings were oscillating up and down while we were cruising just above the runway at YSSY. I thought we were going to have to go around because we were running out of runway. I had mentioned to my partner that the only way he will get it down without a go around is if he times the swing of the wings. A few seconds later BANG! He timed it well enough but my jaw hurt for a little while afterwards. That is when I gained an appreciation for the strength of an undercarriage! When I oganised a flight for my mother from YSSY to YADL I organised a wheelchair when I booked the ticket. Everyone got off the plane and where still waiting. the polit and copilot leave the aircraft and start leaving the terminal and I am wondering where my mother is. A flight attendant asked me if I was waiting for someone. She said there was no one left on the plane! Weel, I call my mother and she says she is waiting for someone to help her get her bag down from the overhead locker. I mean far out. After that they say "don't organise a wheelchair with the booking because they often forget to tell us", tell the flight attendant when boarding the plane. That didn't impress me either. Personally, when booking my tickets I don't care how wonderful an airline was. I care about how good it is now. From Virgin I have had service that is above and beyond so they are my first choice these days, I haven't with Qantas. As I say, usually they are just ok. (and to those whos experience is the exact opposite, it doesn't mean either of us a "wrong") I remember a US airlines reply to a question about the Qantas safety record that they fly more miles per day than qantas does per year.

yeah, as cficare and co say. However, I will use a distant feature to fly towards while my eyes are outside so it has a place I think but it doesn't remove the need to regularly check that the aircraft is flying the correct heading. Track crawling is pretty easy when you are very familiar with the area but when your somewhere different or your familar area looks very different (lighting, mist, dust, different approach direction, etc) it can quickly lead to trouble. A good question to ask your instructor as they can probably illustrate the issues easer :-)

I am a low hours pilot, not an instructor but having had a similar issue so I will just describe what the issue with me was... I think there were a few reasons but for me the main one was that I thought the quality of my flying was really poor so I didn't trust myself. This lead to me questioning everything I did which made things worse. I remember saying to my instructor something like "its not that hard is it?" to myself and that was me trying to work out why I kept stuffing up. EG: Inbound I would forget to say my current height. I would be kicking myself over and over because it sounds like such a simple thing. If I am worring about that so much then how can I be focused on my flying which then leads to more errors... Oh another was I had periods where I was tired, mainly because of work. Not much that can be done about that except as a human factors lesson! So, for me at the time the main things to try to achieve were: 1. To relax. EG: being positive, allow time for enjoying the flight, sometimes a prompt to prepare before I needed to do something (like mentioning "we need an inbound call in a couple of minutes") 2. Make sure that they know they are doing well, given their experience. Only when they are of course :-) 3. For minor errors make sure they know of the issue but that it is minor. I think it is also useful to sometimes let them know what they should do if they make the mistake. EG: I had something like "Good inbound call however you didn't mention your height" I spent some time wondering if I should repeat the whole call with the height, just state the height in a second call or not do anything because if someone wanted to know they could ask... I think I only needed this a couple of times before I got a bit more confident, it also helped teach me what a minor issue was and some corrective actions so if I did it again I didn't quietly stress about it so much. Sometimes the reason they aren't relaxed (and able to focus) is because of non-aviation related factors so there might not be much you can do about it except to let them know that the reason they are having problems is because they are not relaxed. When back on the ground it can be a good real-world lesson for the student on human factors :-) I seem to remember on one occasion where I was really not able to perform my instructor just said I seemed really tight so how about we just cruise a bit and enjoy the scenery. That lesson because S&L with some turning around a point and other bits disguised as sight-seeing :-) After a flight it can be good to discuss good and not-so-good aspects of the flight. Especially negative easpects, the stress of the flying makes it easier to think and talk :-) Steven.

Welcome Brian, For me, the first couple of lessons seemed a bit surreal. I sort of couldn't believe I was doing it. Initial nerves were the first ever take-off and landing because I had never been in such a small plane before. Those particular nerves disappeared after the first flight though. :-) Have fun! What will will you be flying? Steven.

I might pickup one of the ZTE devices because they are so cheap (in comparison) to play with. Android 3 would have have some big improvements for me to make an Android device my main tablet. I bought a mac mini that I use as a server so I have my own cloud :-) I cant see myself be putting my music and docs on someone elses servers. I just don't trust em. I would probably get sued because I couldnt find a reciept for a song I bought years ago.