Neil_S

Exactly. And who would be best placed to do that? Let me think..........

...or unregistered drone, or even model aircraft......or possibly some sudden structural failure........we will never find out.

Hi Onetrack, I understand that, but in this instance there is no indication that there was any "simple pilot error". He was flying along in the cruise at 4000 ft a short distance behind his brother in another aircraft and then suddenly he was at a few hundred feet pulling the chute. A few weeks later a GA aircraft ran off a runway and pilot and passenger escaped unhurt - yet the ATSB are investigating that. Also the sad accident where a young instructor took a couple of mates up in his newly-acquired GA plane and flew circles around the mate's house , lost control and crashed is also being investigated by the ATSB - yet I think we can agree this will not reveal anything new about flying circles low and heavy around a point. So I'm afraid the argument about only investigating fatal crashes where something new can be learnt does NOT apply. Cheers, Neil

Hi T88, As it had numbers on the fuselage and not letters there was no ATSB investigation, so no cause has been determined. There is no evidence that the chute failed to deploy properly, it appears to have been deployed too late. Cheers, Neil

Oooooooh - salt - that'll put your blood pressure up! Don't declare that! A guaranteed fail!!

Hi IBob, I guess it comes down to the principle of moments. I remember doing all that stuff at school with levers and weights at different lengths from the fulcrum. I guess the CG for the aircraft is the "fulcrum" here, and a smaller weight a longer distance away has the same effect as a larger weight that is closer. Being a bit of a pedant I frequently put more fuel in the starboard outer tank on my Savvy than the port outer tank as I usually fly solo, and I worked out that even a relatively small extra amount of fuel acts as if I had a (light) passenger in the right hand seat, and therefore the plane is more evenly balanced in the roll axis. Cheers, Neil

Hi Alan, I agree there do not seem to be many changes year on year - personally, as I live in Melbourne and mostly fly within Victoria, I just buy the hard copy book for Victoria and Tasmania every few years. Not sure if that's the most cost effective, but I have done that the last few years. BTW - if you log into their website (www.flightace.com) it lists all the airfields in the books by state, so you can check if a certain field is in there. Cheers, Neil

Hi Jackc, Assuming I have understood your enquiry correctly - it cost me $770 to convert my Savannah to Experimental. I received a new C of A. There have been no recurring fees other than the normal annual RAAus aircraft registration fees. Cheers, Neil

Sting - could be registered GA or RAAus. If GA, ATSB will investigate, if RAAus they won't. Makes SOOOO much sense - not.

...and yet they will investigate a fatal crash if the aircraft is registered GA - but not investigate if exactly the same type of aircraft is registered RAAus. How is that consistent?? Fortunately there are not many RAAus fatal crashes, so the lack of money/resources argument does not wash with me. IMO if there could be, for example, a design fault in the aircraft then there should be an investigation as further lives, GA or RAAus, could be at risk if it is not addressed. Why does it matter if the plane/pilot is RAAus or GA?? Where the reason is an obvious one, eg running out of fuel, flying through cloud into cumulus granitis, flying into power lines doing low level stunts etc I agree nothing will be gained, but that is not specific to GA or RAAus, it is the same poor pilot decision making. Other crashes are not. Cheers, Neil

Hi, I'm not sure that video can be interpreted as saying don't use SE2 in the circuit - he says not to be fixated on it, which I would agree with. However, I raised this very point at the RAAus Parkes seminar earlier this year where this was discussed, and we agreed that as a) we don't have eyes in the back of our heads, and b) we can't see through the aluminium/fabric/plastic of our fuselages, that using just our eyes to "see and avoid" cannot detect what is behind us (or above or below) and so the ADSB-IN on our iPads in the circuit can be very useful. As always, the technology is a useful adjunct to the Mark One eyeball, and should be used accordingly - to fill in the gaps where we can't see in this case. A glance at the iPad is all that is required, then probably followed up with a radio call to confirm position and intentions. Cheers, Neil

I've also done a BFR with Adam. Agree with all SGM's observations. Highly recommended. Cheers, Neil

Muppets! They'd get a better result for medical incidents if they mandated not eating dodgy prawns before flying......

Hi Kiwi, This sounds like the old days when trying to get a better signal on a black and white TV by asking somebody to hold the aerial in a different spot. You'd get a really good picture - but if the person then put the aerial down at that spot the picture turned to crap again "Hey mum - just keep standing there holding the aerial!" LOL Cheers, Neil

Hi Skippy, Yes - the quarter levels. Cheers, Neil

Hi guys, I just bought some narrow PTFE tube and attached a section with copper wiring to my dipstick. Works a treat - so easy to see the fuel level now, and it stays static in the tube until I take my finger off the end. Cheers, Neil

Hi Roscoe, Your Skyecho has 3 lights on it, the one on the right is the one indicating GPS fix. If you had GPS fix issues this should have shown something other than green, eg amber if poor (2D), or red if no satellites fixed. Cheers, Neil

Hi Skippy, If you are unsure if your transponder has been connected to a certified GPS (and it sounds like it hasn't) then you can check. With the transponder in STBY mode cycle the FN function button and see if it shows ADSB Monitor mode with GPS coordinates as per the Trig TT22 manual :- "8.8 ADS-B Monitor. The ADS-B Monitor is only available on installations that include an ADS-B position source. The ADS-B Monitor provides a display of the position information that is being transmitted in ADS-B position reports. This can provide confirmation that the correct information is being transmitted, particularly where the GPS source is remote from the transponder. In the event that valid position information is NOT available from the GPS, the latitude and longitude display will be replaced by dashes; if no valid latitude and longitude is shown then ADS-B position information is NOT being transmitted." So if no Lat/Long is displayed then no GPS is connected. As noted previously I run my Skyecho with ADSB IN and OUT along with my Trig TT21 as the Trig is not connected to a GPS. The reason ATC was able to contact you before is because the transponder displays the default squawk code 1200 on their screen with your altitude and ICAO unique identifier. I have had this happen to me (before I had the Skyecho) when ATC warned me about other aircraft in my vicinity at the same altitude. They asked me to "Squawk Ident", so I pressed the IDENT button on the transponder - this causes my paint on their screen to flash, thus confirming they have correctly identified me! When you set up the Skyecho you input the 6 digit hexadecimal ICAO code that is used already in your transponder as it uniquely identifies your plane. You can check this value also on the Trig (if not already written down in your documentation). If you are not confident doing this then I am sure your local avionics guy who calibrates your transponder biennially would check it for you. HTH Cheers, Neil

Hi Skippy, I'm still not sure if you have your Trig actually set up and connected to a certified GPS so ADSB OUT is enabled. By default it isn't. IF it IS set up with ADSB OUT then you would have to disable the ADSB OUT in the Skyecho and just use the ADSB IN with your EFB. This is a big waste of money - you can buy just an ADSB IN device from UAvionix called a PingUSB for about $475 (half that with rebate). This will display ADSB IN on your EFB. IF you don't have ADSB OUT set up on your transponder then the transponder can still be (and should be, as others have pointed out) turned on as it fulfills a different function from the Skyecho (as outlined previously) by communicating your info to ATC when interrogated. The Skyecho will broadcast your position etc to other aircraft equipped with ADSB IN directly. Its signal is not that strong, but it is fine for recreational aircraft, in my opinion, as its range is up to about 40NM according to UAvionix. I think that's if you have it positioned in an ideal location - my experience with my Skyecho in my Savannah is about 25NM, but that's still OK for me as I usually have an aircraft displayed on my AVPlan a long time before I spot it visually. (e.g. If my calculations are correct - if 2 aircraft were each travelling at 120kts directly towards each other if they were 20nm apart they would have 5 minutes before colliding, so that's a reasonable time to take evasive action). HTH Cheers, Neil

Hi Skippy, I have a similar situation - Trig mode S transponder, but they are only ADSB out CAPABLE, which means you would have to hook it up to a certified GPS source before it would be a valid ADSB OUT source. You would also have to get some sort of ADSB IN capability. I looked at doing this but it would have cost thousands as I do not have a certified GPS. Much easier and simpler is to just use the Skyecho as both ADSB OUT and IN (with AVPlan or OzRunways to display the ADSB IN). Note that your S mode transponder has a different capability as it is interrogated by ATC in order to display on their screens. ADSB is a broadcast, and is not interrogated. The Skyecho is currently SIL 1 (integrity level 1) and although I believe ATC could display the info they currently don't as it's not a good enough integrity level. What you need to avoid is having a transponder broadcast ADSB OUT AND have the Skyecho broadcast ADSB OUT as well. So I didn't set up my transponder to use the ADSB OUT capability and just used the full ADSB OUT and IN of the Skyecho with AVPLAN on my Ipad mini. HTH Cheers, Neil

Hi John, Doesn't go to 19 reg from 24 reg - you need to change it to E reg, ie E24-nnnn to put it into Experimental category. Then you can fly with engine "On Condition". Cheers, Neil

My grandma was the same!

Hi BC, My Savannah also needs a few bars of down trim for level flight despite my CG being right in the middle of the MAC range. I've been flying it for about 8 years like that..... Cheers, Neil

Just what evidence do you have of such a libellous accusation??? Out of respect for his wife, brother, and the rest of his family and friends I suggest you limit your comments to facts.

It was $8300 - but still didn't hit the (unknown) reserve.