paulh

Nice video Commander, got a bit worried when on climb out suddenly there were cars in front, thought you'd gone in but kept filming!!

Planning on going to Joburg next year, have to keep this in mind, those altitude and high temp issues are tough, the STOL type of aircraft perhaps make things a little less risky

GraemeM, is there a regulatory difference between powered parachutes ie Aerochute type and powered paragliders? I've been looking at the web sites for paragliders, paramotors and paramotors with a trike or quad buggy and got the impression that they were "registered" with HGFA and the pilots HGFA licenced. HGFA looks better than RA-Aus at the moment.

Did the president resign as per his ultimatum?

The Skyraider is a nice looking little aircraft and the price seems very good, from the video and their web site photos the construction looks similar to an aeropup ie evolved from a kitfox type but without the flaperons. The old single seat Supapup doesn't seem to be popular and the Aeropup seems to be struggling for sales, not sure what the reason is, maybe Oz manufacturing costs are just too high, and GFC effects just won't go away.

Modern dirt bikes are soooo much better that the basic bikes of the 70's with about 5" of suspension travel, if I stuff up which is more often than doing it right, and land on the font wheel or fall off they don't seem to care, just shrug it off ( muttering to itself oh boy this guy is bad) and keep going ........ and about twice as fast as the old Suzuki's Only ever owned various Jap bikes, but enjoyed riding mates Bultaco, Maico, KTM etc Not keen on road riding, too many cars and drivers with the iPod earphones in with stuff all Situational Awareness

Yep I was wrong and you are right, got my B's mixed up, I should have re read the newsletter before posting

Yep, not good with that much civil unrest in the lead up to the soccer World Cup, I hope that Brazil does well and the tax payers get some return on their huge investment. Don't see many of the South African aircraft here in Oz, maybe I'll just have to get over to Africa one day and see them in their natural environment.

The people from the Baramba Flying Club have the info, Newsletter advises that they tried to get their club going at Wondai, as an established airstrip with a building, basically got shut out by the Council, adjacent property owners locked out the flyers. Club now established at Angelfield at Murgon with assistance from land owner and Council. The principal being i believe we don't want closing airstrips to become endemic.

Amazing awesome aircraft, we should have fun stuff like this too!

Petition signed last night

Perhaps not completely drifted of safety issues, I was at a very popular well run fly in where a nearby pilot drank to excess in my view ie stumbling about, loud and obnoxious etc., he flew home next day in his four seater, wife on board. Highly likely still had a highish BAC but more than 8 hrs from last drink, never heard any crash reported so must have gotten home ok. He may have technically been legal.

Don't encourage them, might win the world cup again!!!!!! (Rugby that is, not the pending soccer thing)

The ABC airing this story now could be very bad timing for RAAus if it ends up stirring up more bad press for sport aviation, may result in a stronger push from CASA to get faster action to fix the problems or else .....

I wondering if this is really an advantage to us? My perception of the general public's feeling about ultralight flying is that we are a group of noise making risk takers who expose them to some risk when we fall out of the sky into their backyard. Politics seems to involve a lot about perceptions of the voter etc so it could be very easy for a pollie to say that the xyz party has saved the general public from having to worry about little aeroplanes crashing. ( not meant by any means to initiate any discussion about federal politics) Just a thought

Another tragedy, dreadful news. this is why I think CASA will be pushing RAAus harder to get much better in relation to safety matters, and quickly. Of course with generic reporting of the aircraft as an "ultralight" the aircraft may not necessarily be RAAus registered. In the bigger scheme of things however, doesn't really matter who it was registered with, another fellow aviator gone.

Hi, on your aircraft is the whole electrical system wired this way to avoid using the airframe as the negative? Must assist in reducing the corrosion risk due to potential differences.

Small world sometimes, my family comes from Murgon, last family lived there a fair while ago before moving away. Have to go have a look at Angelfield sometime.

Hopefully the second round of the State of Origin footy will teach those nasty bushwacking dang southerners a thing or two!! oops, just realised cane toads can't fly.................maybe those cockroaches do have some advantages over us northerners

Hi Fordy, how does the Eurofox STOL performace compare with the Foxbat? Are they significantly differnent in low speed handling qualities, stall speeds etc. or is it more a matter of degrees The Eurofox tri gear sure looks nice, pity they only come as factory built. What do people think is the closest to the Eurofox in a kit aircraft - the Kitfox s7?

Car manufactures mostly seem to use names rather than letters or numbers for their various models, seems to be easier to remember after seeing their latest offering on the tv, a name can also evoke an image. A name that is too Aussie may not gel with overseas buyers, and need to avoid being kitsch and calling it the goanna or something else slow moving and not real smart.

Ok my turn, In movies they still refer to and show "blue prints" of technical drawings or plans of buildings etc., even in a so called high tech show and the actor is viewing plans on an iPad the drawings are still shown as blue prints. The process was superseded some time after WW2, even ammonia prints and dye line prints were dinasaurs in the 1980's, still remember cleaning out the dyeline machine every Friday afternoon. Maybe an image from a microfilm of a blue print if the bad guys are hiding some old warehouse Must be getting to be a grumpy old man when useless cr..p irritates!!

Ok, I'll start the conversation, but from the perspective of a low hour RAA pilot Option 1 high performance would rule out me, need to do a lot of hours training to be able to use some of the performance with safety - appeal to the more purist glider pilots. Self launch is good, go when you want on your own. Option 2 this has appeal, something to keep in a trailer, low operational cost, a bit like an expand Sapphire with detachable wings , not the full performance glider but still self launch. Option 3 nice idea, obviously far higher cost to build and operate, hangarage an issue with those long wings. May have limited market, as despite the advantages of touring and soaring ability, they seem to be a low percentage of aircraft type at airfields around here. Not many Xenos in Aus. Option 4 my undercarriage may not survive a hard landing! Seriously I think para gliders have this market and they fold up to put in the boot

Cool who was Celeste?

Dragonfly is a cool name, does bring to mind the Moyes Dragonfly tho, don't know if that matters, anyway more power to you having a good go!