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poteroo

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  1. poteroo
    I feel a sense of dismay, and frustration, when these weather related accidents happen. It seems that no matter how carefully we nurture pilots, there is only a certain 'amount' of understanding that can be absorbed at the time. After that, pilots are exposed to the elements, and many come to grief. Those of us lucky enough to have had service training, or began our careers in very strictly managed GA operations, have been progressively exposed to weather, and have been able to learn where that limit to our skills lies. I still believe that all pilots need recurrent training - ie, that a BFR is not enough to maintain pilot skills. The bottom line is - that you are more likely to have an accident the less training that you receive. RAAus needs to think 'harder' about how we can improve the industry standards. Goodnight.
  2. poteroo
    1961 to 1970 in blocks. Flew with South Pacific Aero Club, Stol Air Services, Airfast/Helicopter Utilities, and Patair. By 1970 I held 'PNG allover' commercial approval - (exemption against ANO 28.1). Fun and games when we were bulletproof! I wouldn't go back there now in anything smaller than a King Air! happy days,
  3. poteroo
    It's in the new RAAus Training Syllabus - available on RAAus website. CAO 29.10 also has some basics. Most GA schools have it in their Ops Manual too. Depending on your experience and skills - plan for 5 hrs plus. The plus applies to those who are uncertain what the pedals are for. happy days,
  4. poteroo
    Have raised this point within OPS, but it will need to be pushed. There is no such requirement in GA, and I have done many LL's for PPL's who just want to improve their skills. Often done as their 'BFR'. Because there's always been some flexibility in the content of the GA LL - I've usually 'tailored' the course a little so as to teach new, and improve certain skills - rather than create a pilot ready to go mustering. happy days,
  5. poteroo
    Low level instruction is definitely available from at least 3 FTFs in WA. In other states you'd need to read up their capabilities. It might be useful if Ops HO was able to create a listing of FTFs, (on the RAAus site), which had capabilities in specialist fields such as Low Level. happy days,
  6. poteroo
    Indonesian Papua and PNG are not particularly 'secure' countries. There is an active resistance to Indonesian rule on one side, and significant armed crime on the PNG side. Not the sort of locations that you ask your new bride to follow you to, and hope to raise a family. Those days are long gone. You can't really blame the young pilots for looking at their jungle flying as a step up toward jets. Qantas used to send all their cadets up to PNG for a 1-2 year stint with a local charter operator - usually TALAIR. It was a career enhancing sojurn for most of them. happy days,
  7. poteroo
    Most of the mountain footage was filmed in very good weather. That's not typical. You either fly valley to valley, or over-the-top and then down through a middle-of-valley 'hole' in the cloud. That Porter you saw on the side of a hill probably didn't get there in the same wx that the story was shot in. The pilot checking system is similar to the former PNG one, (ANO 28.1), wherein you start as observer, then LH seat with checkie, and after 5 trips to each difficult location and route - you are set for PIC. They are just so lucky to have turbines and GPS........sigh!
  8. poteroo
    Just another embarrassing error-of-judgement by the PM. Yes, the return of British honours is totally without credit, and the OA has been handed out to so many, and to so many questionables, that it's almost on a par with a BA. When is the man going to shirtfront the real problems of Australia? He has almost certainly ensured a change of government at the next election. happy days,
  9. poteroo
    Place your trust in compliance with all VANS SB's + good technique learned from good training - then you won't be needing the hammer! happy days,
  10. poteroo
    All on the Western side of New Guinea - Indonesian regos 'PK-xxx'. The outstanding improvement in GA in both sides of New Guinea has been the wider use of turbine powered aircraft. The Pilatus PC6, the PAC 750, the Kodiak, and the venerable Twin Otter are just so much more reliable, powerful and smooth when you compare to the Cessnas. However - the weather hasn't improved, the valleys have not become any wider, and pilots judgement hasn't become any better. It's a sad fact that when there's an accident in the modern era - it involves a higher number of passengers. But it's a great location to learn your craft because there's a very real incentive to do so. happy days,
  11. poteroo
    I agree Nev, but we're unlikely to revert to t/w in the future, so have to work with the n/w versions. Fundamentally, we need to use aerodynamic braking instead of tramping on the anchors and placing load on the nosewheel. Brakes should be the control of last resort. Elevator command will be aided by having better load distribution, even in LSA. Really comes back to instructors setting the standards during basic training, and insisting on this technique during reviews and future recurrent training. happy days,
  12. poteroo
  13. poteroo
    Never use a watch anymore since one decided to die on me en route. These days I just use the aircraft GPS to provide a very accurate time - and it even calculates my waypoint ETA! Wow! Back when I was very young, bought a Breitling pilot watch duty free - it was the size of an alarm clock, cost 6 months salary, and I never did work out what all the functions were. For the last 10 years I've survived on a very simple Casio digital which I bought in India for A$20. It runs perfectly.
  14. poteroo
    Will be interested to hear of the pilots' technique when everything settles down and the shock passes. The 9A has huge flaps, a very low full flap stall speed around 42-44 kts - which necessitates considerable holdoff even from a 55-60kt approach. On many softer grass strips I've found that adding a touch of power at mainwheels on is useful in being able to hold the nosewheel off for quite some time. Avoiding brake use on grass seems to be a good precaution in the 9A. Anyway, pleased to hear they exited ok. The possibility of being trapped inside and upside down isn't one that anyone looks forward to! happy days,
  15. poteroo
    Take it that it was an RV9A? Was it on a good smooth surface strip, or a rough one? Does the aircraft have a history of 'off airport/paddock' operations? Curious because so far in Australia we seem to have less nosewheel incidents than the Yanks. happy days,
  16. poteroo
    Your EFIS will be electric powered, and so it can 'fail'. However, most have a 9v battery backup which gives about 2 hrs use if the main power source fails. Your EFIS has connections to the aircrafts' pitot-static system and so any blockage of static ports or the pitot tube will affect the EFIS in exactly the same way as it will your old analog gages. So, having an analog ASI as a 'backup' to your EFIS is illogical except for the electrical failure cause. If you really want a wholly independent setup - you need to instal another pitot and static line so the analog is completely separate to the EFIS. It really begs the question as to why bother? You should have learned to fly your aircraft on the 'power x attitude' principle. So, by having kept the general power and attitude 'settings' in your mind - you can very easily fly a safe approach using zero reference to IAS or any other flight instrument. If not - get an instructor and learn how to do it. Probably a lot cheaper than duplicating instruments - and fundamentally, a whole lot better for saving your bum in event of systems failures.. happy days,
  17. poteroo
    The theory is - that if you are really close, the 'formation' is equally affected by air movements. My experience is that it works ok for an element of 2, or a flight of 4 in diamond - but if any wider, then it tends to break up the formation. Remember, we're talking about aircraft with MTOW's here of < 1000 kg. The RAAF PC9's have much higher weights and wing loadings - and are less affected by turbulence. This helps them to achieve very steady formations - but a lot of very disciplined training goes into it too. happy days,
  18. poteroo
    The 'properly' bit is rather important! happy days,
  19. poteroo
    On an Air NZ B767 in June,2010, en route Auckland-Perth direct, they took a more northerly route via over Sydney then to the north of Adelaide. Headwind was 168 kts from Sydney to near Kalgoorlie. Made a long trip even longer. happy days,
  20. poteroo
    Formation joinups are possibly the most difficult for the beginner. There's a need to do it 'quickly' but not unsafely. As DutchRoll said - you must keep the target aircraft well above the horizon as this gives a clear view, and also allows you to bleed off some excess speed by pulling up into the correct level, usually as 'step down'. Never allow just 'anyone' to join up with you - maybe their skills have dropped off a la Captain Ansett in the vid. happy days,
  21. poteroo
    A very sensible approach. People invariably tell you their weight is far less than actual, and all fib about the weight of their 'cabin baggage'. If airlines don't start reining in the cabin bag explosion, we'll see injuries the next time there's a rejected takeoff or some serious turbulence. Recently flew USAir in an Airbus 320 where there was so much cabin baggage that it was stowed in the exit row leg space. If only the FAA had been a fly-on-the-wall there! happy days,
  22. poteroo
    Just Google 'fasting diet' or '5:2 diet' or even 'Michael Mosely diet'. There are a couple small books out as well. In practical terms - you lose the visceral fat accumulations, and soon start taking up the belt by a couple holes. I've gone from just fitting into size 34 jeans to easily into size 32. Sounds like about 6 months should pull you back from mid 80 kgs to high 70's. Between the bride and myself - we now have 22 kg more disposable load in the air. happy days,
  23. poteroo
    Ben, pax lie outrageously about their weights. beware!
  24. poteroo
    You could be right there. 77kg is pretty close to 12 stone, (168 lbs), which was always a sort of benchmark. If it's now 86 kg - then it just shows we are all growing. If we want to 'fit' into the 600 kg LSA - then it's going to need some crew weight reduction. I've reduced my weight from 83 to 73 kgs over 18 months by just using the 5:2 'fasting' eating program. Cheap, and a little bit 'painful' - none the less - very effective. cheers,
  25. poteroo
    Somehow missed filling in detail on the c185 pic above. It's VH-VNW, an A185F with an IO-520 300HP Continental driving a 3 blade Hartzell CSU. Standard takeoff configuration of 20 deg flap at Yallingup, WA, 2013. At risk of offending, insulting,slandering,libelling or otherwise......... a real mans' plane! happy days, below are pics of two of my early day mounts in PNG.
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