ifr duck

Play the game. The only question to ask regarding the ASIC card is, 'am I prepared to cop the consequences of not having one if I get sprung?' Its a no brainer. If you go where one is required you must have one, or be prepared to bend over. Sad and sick but true.

Everybody wants to go to heaven but..... If you are an Ag pilot the key is situational awareness....and a whole lot of other things. If you are a low level aviation professional other than an Ag pilot, then you must not go where a wire COULD be without a fully thought out, specific and operationally adequate wire avoidance management plan. If you are neither of these the key is....Don't go where a wire COULD be. 'Fly to come home'

Hedlow Field. I understood it had been sold and closed to public ops. Now only the owners King Air operates from it. Try Emu Park near Yeppoon. Ph Bruce Rhodes 07 49336428.

I Come In Peace High Plains Drifter. I wondered why you wrote that at first but now I see!! I wasn't in any way referring to your post or anyone else here. I was thinking of things I had heard said by people elsewhere I knew had no idea. So apologies to you or anyone else thinking that. My last post was an attempt to clarify . For example, I am saying it is safer to fly over 8/8ths than scud run, not that it is a good idea or legal etc. etc. Both can get you killed. One will get you killed much quicker. Thats why every thing I said was prefaced by a reference to the safe and legal position. I also need to clarify 'scud running'. This means flying along at a low level weaving and dodging around cloud in conditions not meeting the standard of the Visual Flight Rules. The reason pilots 'scud run' is usually because the cloud base is low, and when coupled with poor visibility results in the type of situation that started this thread. vk3auu There was a time when the army issued low level maps for navigation with even the powerlines marked on them. After losing several aircraft and helicopters they gave it away. You simply cannot react quickly enough at low level in poor conditions to avoid the unexpected. If you are below the highest terrain level the GPS will just paint red. Also, you quickly lose big picture situational awareness. At that point, and I have been their, all you can do is pull up and go fully onto instruments. It is not a good feeling. Regards

Please Explain!! 'From a safety point of view it is much better to fly on top than scud run' This refers to the fact that you are not going to enter cloud suddenly or become non visual. Because of this you are not going to lose control or run into a hill. You have time to consider your situation, turn round, get help etc. and you will not be under the gut wrenching anxiety that paralyzes pilots in the 178 seconds to live scenario. You have a very good chance of learning from your experience, unlike scud running. The statistic overwhelmingly support this conclusion. 'The regs are written in the blood of fearless and inexperienced pilots so thats where you should start.' It goes without saying that we should all know the regs for the type of operation we are contemplating. If not, we have no business getting into the aeroplane and we risk becoming an example to others. High Plains Drifter said, 'Around the majority of Oz, on top of 8/8 is not the best place to be for the average ultralight' 'You should never fly over any cloud, that if in the event of an engine failure, you cannot maintain visual flight. Its that simple. Full stop.' Also, he said, 'The majority of Rec aircraft can be landed in small paddocks or on Rds if things get too bad- but watch for powerlines.' This is a truism, HOWEVER under threat of weather it is almost ALWAYS UNTRUE. In most cases, you will be lucky if you live. Imagine flying along, forced down to a couple of hundred feet, effectively lost in bad weather, and knowing if you don't get it on the ground in what may need to be seconds you will most likely die. This is the scenario that pilots face with scud running. Your only option is to take what ever is in front of you right now. No time for precautionary search, the good paddock or the straight stretch of Rd. You will not even think of power lines. This is the truth. So different from cheap hanger talk.

You're climbimg a stairway to heaven! Bush Pilot. From a safety point of view it is much better to fly on top than scud run. However that doesn't mean you can't get into deep doggy do, doing it! The regs are written in the blood of fearless and inexperienced pilots so thats were you should start. The reason why its impractical (and unsafe) to fly over more than 4/8 of cloud is that you navigate horizontally, not vertically. When viewing the ground at an oblique angle, 4/8ths of cloud makes visual navigation very, very difficult, (especially if you're close to the cloud tops or the cloud is deep), and in certain conditions and terrain, nearly impossible. You can be displaced only a couple of miles from a waypoint and miss it, and then have no chance at all of locating it. That means you can get technically lost very quickly. In these conditions you should be D.R. Navigating, know your drift, and be keeping time to 15 second ETAs. Then whether you see the waypoint or not, you continue flying your exact headings and time intervals, having marked your dead reckoning or time intervals on your map, and trying to navigate visually to those positions. Sounds like fun? It is actually and its amazing how accurate it can be, but it takes practice and preparation. But what if the cloud solids up or closes behind you and you are caught on top? (Back to the previous discussion) The golden rule of flying on top these days as regards safety, is that you must get underneath immediately if 4/8ths looks like being exceeded, and there must be plenty of room under the cloud for you to continue underneath in safe visual flight. The truth these days is that virtually all pilots carry GPS, and it is a much more accurate and reliable navigator than the MK. 1 eyeball. It is also true that it rarely fails or gives erroneous information, and you can always carry a backup. In addition to that you should be flying your headings and times anyway, and in the big picture, everything should match in together. You should never fly over any cloud, that if in the event of an engine failure, you cannot maintain visual flight. Its that simple. Full stop. I started flying when Ponteus was a pilot and still really enjoy 'minimalistic' navigation using a calibrated jock strap, (heard of them?) a one in 60 rule and a set of Mattern Dividers!! If you get into trouble over cloud, turning round and going back is usually the best option. However, as in getting into bad weather, keep your cool, and as they say, aviate, navigate and communicate. The worst thing is to panic and think you have had it. As Bob Hoover once said, fly it as far into the accident as possible!! Take it easy.:big_grin:

Howzat!! Guys, I would up front go straight to the responsible person concerned and say ' I saw 'this and this' . You and I know its not on, so if I see it happening again I will send a report to the RAA Ops manager, with a copy of my complaint to you also. Nothing personal, but its unsafe and you should know better.' What this approach does is helps you not to make frivolous complaints, and keeps things out in the open where they need to be. Saves possible embarrassment later and maybe you will be respected for it. I wouldn't make a complaint though unless it really did relate to something pretty important. A lot of issues relate to things other than safety or criminality (opinion, technique, commercial, etc etc) and I would leave those matters to take care of themselves. (even if they do really 'give me the s**ts!!) fight clean!!

Climbing a stairway to heaven?? For Bush Pilot, (and anyone else interested) re assessing wx. First a couple of quick observations for the post. I have had quite a few goes in good conditions (smooth) and for fun, trying to fly the ASI and mag compass in cloud (no T&B). Until I got into some rough stuff I was under the illusion that I might be able to sustain it for a while. When that happened I reckon it was about 2 minutes before 'the fear' and I gave up. Second observation. Once your gyros topple, (if you have them) you are basically just going along for the ride. It is very difficult to regain control after you lose it on the limited panel. It often takes several thousand feet of altitude to recover. You need to have a real good understanding of your slip/skid turn/bank instrument and know what it is telling you while you are suffering and thinking you are going to die. As well as that you have to be able to think about power, control positions, rudder, trim etc. If you are REALLY lucky it won't be night (10 times as hard) and you will have room to recover after you drop out of the cloud, if you still have your wings on. Is there a message here???? Most important thing about instrument flying....Don't lose control. However you can be over-fearful about weather. After all, if you only fly in perfect conditions (and there is nothing wrong with that) you won't learn any thing about the weather from experience, and that will restrict your flying a fair bit, unnecessarily. Also the weather often looks worse than it is and forecasts can be overly pessimistic. The trick is to find a safe way to learn and gain the experience that the text books can never give you. With experience comes confidence, and confidence coming from experience greatly increases aviation safety. This is the process I would follow. 1. Where do I want to go? Is it over rough country with hills and valleys or flat country. Is it in to rising ground? 2. Does it have plenty of spots to put down safely or is it Tiger country? 3.Do I know the route? This means having flown it enough times to have good local knowledge and I can recognize things quickly and easily. 4. Is it early or late in the day? Is there plenty of time before dark, ie hours to spare not minutes. Weather tends to deteriorate later in the day as the temps fall and the Relative humidity increases. Fading light, especially in cloudy weather makes navigation and things harder to see, and can hugely increases the pressure and stress on the pilot. 5. What is my aircraft type? Is it slow or fast? Is it equipped with an AH and DG? If I have some instruments and can use them it increases safety. It is much safer to do a 180 degree turn away from bad weather in a slower aircraft, and you have much more time for decision making. 6. What are the actual WX conditions where I am? ie cloud base, rain, and visibility? (Why go if any of these are 'bad?) Remember, you are flying for fun, not to die or scare the hell out of yourself. 7. Find out what the WX is like where you want to go. 8. Talk to someone with experience and ask them their opinion. Better still ask them to come with you and give you some tips. 9. Tell someone your exact intentions, route, times plans etc. 10. Take some safety gear, ELT, mobile ph, GPS food water etc. OK, you decide to go. Pick a minimum cruise altitude, say as a minimum 800agl, then add 300ft to it giving you 1100ft agl. If you cannot reach that altitude on departure for ANY reason, or the visibility is less than a good 6kms immediately return and land. You may not be able to reach this altitude on departure for a number of reasons. Cloud base too low. Your visibility is too limited ahead due to rain, haze, lowering cloud, mist and even the effect that rain has on the windscreen of reducing visibility. Remember, if you do not have a clear horizon ahead it means that something is obscuring it...beware. The distance to the horizon you can see must not be less than 5kms (LAW) and if you are smart in bad WX you will give yourself more. If you can safely reach your cruise altitude plus 300ft, and as long as this altitude can be maintained and you can see at least 5kms horizontally to the horizon then you are safe. If at any point you start to see wispy cloud at or close to your altitude or the horizon comes closer or starts to become unclear because the visibility is reducing, then reduce power, lower the nose and make an immediate 180degree turn back the way you came. Do not hesitate or think things might improve shortly. Turn back and live. The conditions that trap most pilots are the combination of low cloud AND poor visibility because of rain, mist etc. If visibility is good ie plus 10kms, you can fly all day with the cloud base at 800ft agl and never have a problem. It is the combination of low cloud AND poor visibility which will trap you. Even though I fly in instrument conditions regularly, I am very respectful and careful that I stick to these guidelines when flying my 'bug-smasher'! The good thing is that I am still here!!!

A dangerous lie. 178 seconds to live, is a dangerous lie because it does not tell any thing like the full story, and it creates in the mind of the reader (pilot) an apprehension of inevitability that is by no means true, and that in fact is probably more responsible for a bad outcome than the lack of skills themselves. It has also contributed to the undesirable effect of shrouding instrument flying in a mythical world of 'difficulty and danger' that it is not, and preventing reasonable exposure and instruction in the training curriculum which would go a long way to debunking the 178 second myth, and saving lives. It has been used as part of a a misguided strategy to keep untrained pilots from entering instrument flight conditions when either they or their aircraft is unequipped for those conditions. Let me first qualify what I am saying. I am speaking of a pilot flying an aircraft that has a working Directional gyroscope, Artificial horizon and Airspeed indicator. Secondly, it has not been the pilots intention to enter instrument conditions but has been caught by circumstances not foreseen for whatever reason with the only way of escape being a 180 turn or a climb or descent out of the cloud. So to be clear, if you get into cloud with no instruments the story does apply to you and you will die failing a miracle. However to the facts of the 178 second story. It was derived from a study done in 1954 by the University of Illinois entitled 'The 180 Degree Turn Experiment' At that time private pilots had no instrument training at all and the 20 pilot subjects had no instrument training and minimal hours. On the test flight the AH, DG and the RofC indicators were covered up with only a T&B and ASI available. The test was performed in a Bonanza which the students had never flown before and was a fast sophisticated aeroplane for the time. After 2-3 hours of instrument training the pilots repeated the test and not one lost control. There are a number of aspects to the experiment that would not be used today. However the purpose of the experiment was to examine the effect of a minimal amount of instrument training on the survivability of the otherwise untrained basic private pilot. The outcome was deemed an unqualified success and basic instrument training became part of the PPL syllabus. So lets all absolutely stick to the rules regarding flight in instrument conditions but also make sure that if flying suitably equipped GA aircraft, we have someone qualified give us some of that 'under the hood' practice. Then if we get 'caught' through carelessness or stupidity we can as an emergency, exercise those basic instrument skills that will save the lives of all those on board. If we do this it is most likely that there will be a good outcome! Safe Flying.:thumb_up:

"THE VIRTUAL FLYING CLUB" APRIL 2008 SPECIALS 12 - 13 APRIL 2008 WOODFORD FLYIN & CAMPOVER DRIFTIN AIRFIELD as tim says "hey ya guys, time is drawing near just a little reminder, need to know numbers for tuck shop at Driftn-In camp over" "so muster up ya mates and make it a date, looks like were going to have a fine one,,,,,, naturally!!!!" give marg a call on 0754 972727 or 0427 549 727 "cheers and safe flying tim and marg" RSVP [email protected]

Drifter future Hi, Have you seen http://www.drifteraircraft.com ? I think that even though this company has been held up for reasons other than financial, it will be the future for the Drifter type. Have a look at the FAQs. :thumb_up:

Crop Dusters I have to make a little comment here. Ever sat in a crop duster? If you have you will have noticed that there is absolutely NO visibility out the front / over the nose whilst on the ground. Next time you take off, imagine NO FORWARD VISIBILITY. These guys rely on a good look from the taxi way prior to turning on the runway. Also because of the precise type of flying they do they tend to get used to very tight margins. (ie 1mt clearance under the power line is fine) So if they miss you by a couple of plane widths they may think nothing of it! Down wind take offs or landings are the norm up to 5+knts depending on the load/strip.They also often forget to turn their radio volume back up for traffic having turned it down to avoid being distracted as they count off the three powerlines they are flying under at dot fee not to mention the chemical crud and bugs on the windscreen, the pressure to finish the job before the wind comes up / it starts raining / the wind changes to the wrong direction / it gets too hot etc etc etc. None of these things are an excuse for bad airmanship which is what has been mentioned here, BUT please try and help these guys by keeping a good lookout for them and understanding the pressures and problems they work with all day, every day, its a crazy profession:hittinghead:.