Chrism

I totally get that! I think I was way past 20hrs by the time I got to go solo. I wouldn't say I was bored, but just sort of ran through the motions! It was a bit exciting, but more of a relief. Back to the original question of the thread, I felt like I would never get a circut right, too. Just stick at it and absorb the advice thats been given Chris

Primary School teacher. For the present at least. You'll probably notice I have bad spelling, however. Chris

Hi Ian A few places that interest me an hour or so nth of Sydney are Old Bar (contact Manning Aero Club) on the coast near Taree. The strip is literally 5 min walk from beach, caravan park, town etc etc. For a more countly feel, Gloucester is beautiful (up the VFR lane before Taree) . Try http://www.gloucesteronavon-bb.com.au/index.html . This is on the same road as the the airstrip road comes off (Jacks Rd). Airstrip is SW of B&B, to the right of a 'D' shaped dam if you look at Google maps. Looks like maybe 1.5-2 km away. Haven't yet flown into either of these places- but have relatives in both so will whien I get my XC. Chris

I have only had about 8hrs in J170's but in my limited experience I support TP's latter point- compared to a J160 they can tend to float along way down the strip once you are S&L, before you touch down. A couple of times at bankstown that translated to a few hundred metres of a 1km runway, so I think you need to take that into account in addition to the ground roll. Good question though. Chris

Hi Steve, I used the DH Ground Theory with HF book included for my Pilots Cert about a year ago and from my experience it was very thorough and prepared me well for the exams. It includes a chapter on Radio usage etc. and practice tests for the Radio Endorsement test (if i recall correctly, you need to have that passed before a first area solo?). So, I don't think the 'Radio for pilots' one is necessary. Anyone else? It's exciting getting into it after waiting sooo long isn't it!! Chris

Sweet as Bro! So funny, but so sad. I think I am unlikely to fly Qantas again. CM

Hi Ian, Your pics shows the unit displaying speed in km/h. Are these able to be changed to Knots (and altitude in metres to feet)? Sorry if this is a dumb question Thanks

Hey Ian, Am I right is thinking you have had a lot of fun in putting this sort of stuff together?! I have very little idea about any of the technologies you speak of, but it's still been an enjoyable thread to read! cm

Hi Gribble, The Sydney recreational Flying Club at the Oaks (15 min SW Camden) operate 2 A22 Foxbats and a Lightwing (taildragger). The Foxbats, i am pretty sure would be classed as STOL aircraft. I just joined recently after getting my Pilots Cert. on Jab 160. Even I can easily get airborne with an instructor onboard in under 120 metres of grass. I am no experts, so they may not be as good as a Savy, but after Jabs, I didn't know that kind of take off was possible! They have 4 very experienced instructors and train weekends and every 2 Thursday, and now some Fridays. Check out http://srfc.org.au/web/ Regards, Chris

I'm sure that kind of thing didn't exist when I was a teeenager! At least that's what I tell myself!

I went the other way-Learnt on Jab 160 (I hear LSA 55's are even more tricky to fly) and now mostly fly Foxbats. The foxbat seems far more forgiving. For example, when I first converted, I found that if I made an error on final the Foxbat was very easy to correct and produce a stable approach whereas I felt I was always 'fighting' the Jab. The downside with that is I have to be wary the Foxbat doesn't make my complacent and lazy! Chris

Hi Hildy, Yes there is a school at Camden (Gostner-where I recieved my PC) that is a dual RA/GA establishment-They have both RA and VH- registered J-160s, all with glass cockpits. Being a GA school the RA training is pretty much identical as they would do for GFPT students (as far as I can tell anyway!). I haven't been there for a whiole, but I believe now they have an exemption to send RA students solo in Camden Class D airspace. Chris

Hi Ignition, Have you forwarded to the council your plans? Maybe if they knew what is possible aviation-wise they may take that into consideration when deliberating surrouding developments. Chris

I was at Duxford for the American Air day towards the end of August-that was inspiring enough seeing a flight of 3 Spitfires and a Hurricane doing a finger 4 and then split -s (think that's what they're called) in a line one after another. Even my wife thought they were awesome! Unfortunately I didn't plan it well enough to be in the UK when the BoB airshow was on in September. Next time....

We should absolutely make this a political issue and make a noise about it leading to the upcoming NSW election. I found this as part of the Parliamentary debate into the Warnervale Restrictions Bill: "The Warnervale Airport (Restrictions) Bill is nothing more than a stunt designed to save the preselection of the honourable member for Wyong....... Stunts will not save the honourable member for Wyong when the mayor of Wyong takes him on at the next Labor preselection." and later on, "... The bill is a sham; it is not in the right jurisdiction." (More can be found at http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA19960620007) You know who said that? Some newish MP (in 1996) by the name of Barry O'Farrell! Since he's likely the next premier, it's perfect timing to remind Mr O'Farrell of his speech in Parliament! He's surely to be happy to receive ammo to bash the Labor party on the Central Coast, plus the issue of airports surely could be pushed as part of "infrastructure" this State has so neglected in the past 15 years. CM

Burbles, Being 'accessible' must also mean that we have facilities that can be 'accessed'! As I'm sure you're aware, four us 4 Million+ who live in the the nation's largest population concentration, the Sydney 'basin' have only 1 or 2 airfields to access, and then they are at the absolute extremities. Ideally those airfields, to be accessible, would have schools or clubs with aircraft readily available for public use (not necessarily the case). Also the same for available G-classed airspace. Does Richmond CTA really need to be that large? Perhaps some changes with CTA endorsements will help. I agree with others who have posted saying the RA Board need to be investing time into assuring these facilities are available.

Zero! Great that he lived! Interestingly, the Honk Kong TV animation upgraded him to what looks like a AM6 Zero!

Podcast Dear BAs, Thanks for that interview-absolutely fascinating especially for one who is not to tech savy and very new to the game. I take it then Bill's advice is to bombard the MINISTER and POLITICIANS as well as CASA. I have just done the latter-may I encourage us all to do the same. Chris

Steph, I saw an article in an av mag a little while ago (AOPA mag??) where Dick Smith offered the use of his farm strip (which is definately no average farm strip!). It's just south of Gundaroo, which i think is 30-40km or so nth of Canberra. In the article he said something like "just call the manager up and let him know when you're coming". It's in ERSA if I'm not mistaken. One of the quirky local rules is to give way to the little train that runs around the airfield. I'd be interested to hear of anyone else who has taken up this very generous offer. Chris

Hello all, I was wondering if you have tips on good books/manuals re-X country and radio endorsements, ones that are fully updated to reflect changes that happened this year. I already have my Radio, but got it before all the changes in June and pretty much havent flown since then. (What am I thinking ?!) Thanks, CM

Hours to HP.. For me it was about 40hrs in the J160, for much the same reason as others have said, windy weather, many different instructors, over 9 months etc. And I failed my first flight test, but that was probably a good thing! I has 10+ hrs solo though, so in the end I was able to get my HP, Radio, and Pax all on one day. As Tomo said, some say RA don't get as good training as GA, but since my school was a combined one, it was identical to how they would have trained a GFPT (also on J160's). I was assessed on stuff that's not in the Ra syllabus: GA maintenence release docs, weight and balance loading charts etc. Chris

I live in the northern part of Sydney, and I've joined!! As previously posted, it is important that the aviation community shows support for this kind of initiative. I've only been involved in aviation for abvout a year, and in that time of reading mags, checking blogs, and generally absorbing much info as i can, there seems a dark, pessimistic "gloom" about the direction of aviation in general, and in particular the future of airfield facilities available to small and private operators. That can only change if we and GA get active and do something about it. It's only $50 to join. So lets get involved. It may be my/your area next! Chris

Cheers everyone Thanks everybody for all your replies. Thanks especially Rescue for the great info on the possibilities for Camden and Bankstown-I hope some of the schools there go down that path. Chris

Well, within 18 months both public options for RA flying and training in Sydney have, or very soon will have closed (Hoxton closed and ripped up, Camden becoming Class D for virtually all daylight hours). Assuming I have understood all the regs correctly, what options are there? Does anyone know how the schools at CN and BK, who use CN for solos, are going to do?. Thanks, Chris

I'm a little late onto this thread, but I was told that the soloist is required to give the instructor a cake, preferably baked yourself!! I kept mine fairly simple but apparently you can go all out and put model aeroplanes on top etc. chrism