cscotthendry

True enough. We have a doctrine of separation of judiciary and state, and a doctrine of separation of church and state. We need separation of business and state. And BTW, in Trumpistan, the separation of church and state was sorely tested. If I were POTUS Biden, there are a lot of churches that would lose their tax exempt status for politicking from the pulpit.

Jay; I am an American living in Australia, but I travel quite a lot in the US and did a little research on flying there. This is what I discovered after just a little research. There are places that teach Recreational pilots, but not very many. I think the reason for that is the amount of controlled airspace in the US, certainly compared with Oz. In Oz, (currently) class G airspace extends to 8,500’ and then class E starts. That means that aircraft that don't have a transponder can fly up to 8500 in a larger portion of Australian airspace. In the US on the other hand, class E starts at 1,200 AGL in most places so that means you have to have a transponder. That pushes the price of an aircraft up. Not prohibitive, but still affects the rec aircraft market. Also, around 85-90% of Oz airspace is class G currently, but CASA is trying to Americanize our regs, (eg class E at 1200’ agl) which is being resisted. Secondly, a good percentage of American airports have towers and so are controlled. That means sport pilots aren't allowed there (under Australian rules and I'm assuming US rules are similar) so again this limits the sport flying market. But something the US has that we don't have here in Oz is the (I forget what category it is) that allows you to fly without a license. The aircraft would fall into the very light microlight category and I think they may be limited altitudes wise, but still that may be something to look into. But even if you can fly them without a license, you should still seek proper flight training before attempting to fly. These aircraft are exclusively single seaters, so you better know what you're doing before you go up in one, or your first flight might be your last. Good luck with your flying and please keep us updated on how you get on. I for one will be very interested as I would love to do some flying in the US while we're travelling there and would like to know what other options might be open for me.

A LOT of this "My Freedom" BS is coming straight out of the Murdoch media. The Republicans and the Right wing echo chamber have created a self-reinforcing feedback loop of self-destructive behavior and rhetoric. It is no more clear than the linkage between numerous Fox opinion pieces touting snake oil "remedies" for COVID like Ivermectin, which has caused a rush to the feed stores by the Trump/Fox cult. That has sparked a rash of hospitalizations from poisoning. Ivermectin is a neurotoxin designed for worming horses. The difference in dosage for worming horses and for human use is substantial, but the difference in dosage between safe for human use and potentially fatal poisoning is miniscule.

Yes, I've encountered people like that, on the water and in the air and on the road. And they might be dead right one day. Like the guy who jumps out infront of an oncoming truck and is certain he has the right of way, but still gets squashed by the truck.

All this discussion and the fact that other airplanes are hard to spot even at relatively short distances, brings to mind the discussions past about radios in planes. I remember some comments from people with very simple aircraft that they”didn't need a radio” because they could “see and avoid” and that this was superior to having a radio anyway. But then, even having a radio is not the be-all end-all either. I remember a situation at Gympie where I joined the circuit on crosswind with a radio call announcing such. I turned and tracked downwind and at the point where my finger was descending on the PTT to announce my turn to baseon 14 I heard “Gympie traffic Jabiru ???? Is turning base 14” WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!!! Where did HE come from? I heard no radio calls from him prior to that, neither did my pax, a very experienced pilot. I held my breath waiting for the hit and extended downwind and saw the Jabiru shoot out directly underneath me. Since then and after a number of other circumstances with crap Jabiru radios, I have no faith in whatever radios Jabiru put in their planes at all.

There is also this: On a long trip with a group, I ended up in a situation where another aircraft was above me in close proximity. I could hear him transmit to me telling me that we were close together, but he couldn't hear me. My guess is that his antenna was on the top of his metal plane and the plane was blanking my transmissions. I'm not sure why I could hear him. Maybe it was the signal strength. That is, the attenuation from his metal airframe had more impact on his received signal than on his transmitted signal. It was a scary situation because I knew he was close and I kept asking him what height he was at (about six times in the space of about 30 seconds) and he kept calling me to see if I'd heard him say we were close together.

Don't wait. As soon as you're eligible, get the shot. Apparently peak resistance occurs about 40 days after the second one. I saw an interview with a woman who lost her husband (in the US) they weren't ant-vaxx but were waiting to see which one had the least side affects. While they were waiting, hubby got the bug and died from it. Now she has a Go Fund Me to try to pay the medical bills. BTW, I've started calling Delta The Republican Mutation after the numerous morons in the US who are ant-vaxx, ant-mask, anti- social distancing, anti-lockdown ... basically anti-everything to keep them safe. Don't like me calling them "morons"? What else do you call someone who gets their medical advice from politicians and Rupert Murdoch?

The vaccine was never promoted as preventing us from getting the disease. It was always a mechanism to prepare our bodies' immune system to deal with it and reduce the effects. Each year, I get a flu shot and fairly regularly, I still get the flu. As more and more people get resistance to COVID by either vaccine or by having the disease, this virus will become like most of the other viruses that we are exposed to and get infections from. The COVID-19 virus is from the same family of viruses that cause the common cold. It mutates like the cold virus and we will still have to deal with it going forward. It is here to stay. But hopefully soon, its significance an lethality will become like the common cold and flu viruses, and then life can go on as before. What rankles me is that the people who refuse to get vaccinated are walking petri dishes for new and possibly more infectious and lethal strains of the virus and that is keeping the danger level high and as a result, the governments are keeping things locked down to try to stop the spread and reduce the contagion. I also object to paying (through my taxes) for intensive care for these people when they get seriously ill from a disease they could have done something about.

At the rate we're going, Scomo's target of 80% vaccinated before we get back to “normal” looks unachievable. The anti-vaxxers are multiplying by the day and I don't understand their motives or reasoning. I do however, suspect that a very successful disruption campaign is being waged by someone via social media. In the US the choice to vaccinate or not has become highly partisan. I can see some direct actors pushing it there, but I suspect some others doing it behind the scenes as well. Here in Oz, it doesn't have the party political flavour to it, and it could just be the effect of “If the US sniffles, we catch a cold”. But the effect is the same. The anti-vaxxers are preventing all of us from returning to any normalcy and I'm bloody angry at them for that!

If it was windy (20kt+) and you were in proximity to hills, you may have experienced wake turbulence from the hills. It extends quite a ways above the height of the hills and quite a distance down wind too. As the winds get stronger, so does this type of turbulence. Be very wary of the lee side of mountains and hills in windy weather and expect turbulence there. Below the height of the hills, you can expect Rotor effects as well. Rotor can smash you into the ground and can exceed your aircraft's climb rate which can prevent you from climbing out of it. I don't mean to frighten you, just to make you aware of where the turbulence is coming from so that you expect it if you fly in those areas in those conditions.

You mentioned paint thinners, is that white spirit? I use that on glue residue. It still takes a bit of manual effort but it works reasonably well. I worked for Bunnings for a while and they used to use metho and turps mix to remove stickers from the shelves. That also required rubbing. I don't know what that glue is made of but it's sticky stuff!

When in doubt, RTFM.

I don't understand how people or organisations with a public voice can get away with advocating that people not get vaccinated. It's not just irresponsible, it borders on criminal. It also ensures this whole mess will be prolonged and exacerbated as the unvaccinated incubate new and more virulent mutations. However, those who refuse to get vaccinated will help thin the gene pool of some of the stupidity that is circulating these days. I think that when allocating health resources for COVID victims, priority should be given to those who've chosen to be vaccinated. The others? Well, they chose to take their chances…

Yes, I mean what else is a multibillionaire to do with all his money? Pay his employees a living wage? HERESY!

Anxiety will exacerbate motion sickness in a car, boat or airplane. The ONLY way to overcome that anxiety is with familiarity, knowledge and confidence and all that comes from sticking with it. When I started flying in trikes, I got a few frights which built up a lot of anxiety for me to the point I didn't like flying. Then I developed a phobia about losing control of the trike because of the control forces required for manuvering. So I switched to three axis flying. It still took a while to overcome my anxiety in turbulence and I still get a tiny bit of it if I haven't flown for a while (like months). BUT, it's mostly gone now. It WILL take time to overcome the anxiety, so be patient. It gets easier every time and the more you fly. Trust me, the reward of being able to get up in the air and the magnificent views make it all worthwhile in the end.

I finally found my flight planning sheet Three legs to a column, six columns to an A4 Sheet (double sided) Most of the fields are self explanatory. I use the bottom section for enroute frequencies.

Before you decidenot to use the epoxy to seal the ribs because of the cost, consider this; Once you put the covering on and paint the wings, it's going to be a very long time before you can ever access those ribs again. Isn't it worth the peace of mind to apply the very best sealant to the things that are keeping you from plummeting to the ground unexpectedly?

I made one with Excel with the static headings protected field so I can't edit those. I can only edit the fields that contain variables like frequencies and runway lengths. Each table is one third of an A4 page so I can get three legs to one sideof a page, or six legs to a double sided page. Each leg has three sections for waypoints/fuel stops. I'll post a pic if anyone is interested…

I spent quite a lot of time with Ken and his wife Susan at Oshkosh in 2017 just before the plane was released. He was at the show to promote it. They camped behind us so we talked about the Ranger and Ken's role in it a fair bit. He's a very knowledgeable, but completely humble guy.

Duncan: From memory I was using a glue called T80 or something like that. It was epoxy. I didn't finish the build and sold the kit. Back then I didn't believe in using gloves and respirators and I've often wondered if I had completed the kit whether I would have become allergic to the glue. The first pic is the kit I was building and the second is how I was going to paint it.

That's just gorgeous. I love seeing wooden airplane components. I think it's the most elegant use of wood possible. AND, it looks like you're doing a brilliant job cutting the parts out.

I had a look at the facebook page (not a facebooker so I might not have seen it all) and looked on the airshow home page. I didn't see anything about postponement or cancellation.

Yeah, Some mothers do have 'em. I hope that the businesses that were shut down on the sunshine coast by the Victorian couple who drove up here against the rules, sue them for lost income.

Hi Duncan; I'm probably telling you something you already know, but are you keeping test pieces of your glue ups? A long while ago, I was building a glued wooden framed kit and every time I did a glue up, I glued two scraps together with that batch of glue. Back then, I was building under SAAA rules as I don't think RA AUS (AUF) was in existence yet. The SAAA inspectors wanted to see the test pieces and see how they broke, ie the wood should fail before the glue.

We'll be there. Haven't checked the weather yet. I find that the forecasts get a bit iffy more than two days in advance.