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DAVID SEE

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Everything posted by DAVID SEE

  1. IMPORTANT NOTICE CHANGE OF VENUE The Callide Dawson Flying Group Inc "annual fly-in" will be held on 4th and 5th September 2010 at FROGS HOLLOW near THEODORE and not at SMOKEY CREEK as in previous years, please pass this on to anyone you know who is planning to attend. Dave See, (secretary) CDFG Inc email: [email protected] for Frogs Hollow co-ordinates and further info
  2. Calendar Hi Tomo. I think its a great idea, and you can put me down for three Cheers Davo:clap:
  3. Hi Pete.. I did my training at coominya some years ago, and have had time with two other instructors since. Each one has their own method of teaching. but make sure you ask lots of questions, sometimes its the quality of the student that determines the quality of the instructor Cheers Davo:nerd:
  4. Hi Carl. Yes I will pop some pics. in as soon as my *^## computer comes home from the doctor, all the pics. are on it. I'm sneaking onto my wife's computer whenever I can and she's up me about it too. Yes lots of great scenery so hopefully by the end of the week. Cheers Davo.
  5. This may be a little 'long winded' but it's the way it was.... For those of you that read of my previous x-country trip to Grafton last year in the trusty old 'farm car', also known as the Lightwing, well I finally got time to put my next trip on here...the last one I put under Just Landed as I'm not too sure where things like this are supposed to go, I'm putting it here. This time was for a family get together to scatter Mums ashes. This time my brother from Moonie came with me. Our mum passed away last year, and so my wife Liz and I drove down for the funeral, it was decided at that time to wave another get together at Easter time to scatter her ashes (in her words she wanted to be "thrown over the creek bank") now fast forward to Easter......Packed and fueled the lightwing, this time my sister-inlaw made some cushions and two back packs to hang over the back of the seats, great idea as not a lot of room in the lightwing, one for clothes and the other for bottle of oil, Mr. funnel,rotax tool kit, tie down ropes etc. WED. Same as last time, pack and re-pack, still feel I forgot something but not sure wot. Said tat-ta to my lovely wife and blasted off in a big cloud of dust at 8:00 a.m. for Moonie. Good run to Wandoan where cloud was building over the range, it was clear over to the east so carried on, climbed to 5,000 and skimmed aver the top. Off the cloud about three mile before Miles. Looked like more cloud or heavy fog further to the south, thought the sun might burn it off before I got to it, not far past the Miles airstrip there was a road train heading nth. so I asked him if there was fog around Moonie, poor bugger, frightened the crap out of him. He knew there was no other vehicles around, thought he was loosing the plot till I told him I was 5,000 ft. up, that made him feel better. he couldn't remember, didn't think so. Just south of The Gums I ran into it with about 20nm. to run. It wasn't on the ground so went under it as the base was about 1,000 agl. knowing that I could duck back to Tara if need be, it cleared off by Moonie so no dramas after all. Called my brother on uhf from 10nm. out, on the ground after2.6hrs. fueled and readied for early morning take off. THUR. The early morning thing didn't work. couldn't see 30ft. through the fog. 8.30 depart for Tabulam via Stanthorpe. Patchy cloud for first 50nm. climbed over it till we were sth. of the Milmerran area, it was starting to close in so went down and bounced and bumped our way under it till Stanthorpe where it cleared again so we kept going. A bit more cloud east of there withthe top of the range disappearing into it, told my brother we would have a look at the height of it and if too high we would be going back to Stanthorpe, all was o.k. flew over it for the next 20mins. gps said 5nm to go and could see the edge of the cloud coming up. AS we sailed off the cloud I rolled the nose down and Tabulam was right where it was supposed to be! Put in a big side slip till 2.500ft. then followed the Clarence River down to Grafton taking lots of pics. along the way. Arrived at the old home farm, ( now owned by my other brother) buzzed around there a couple of times, didn't raise anyone so flew over to the Sth. Grafton strip, made phone calls, everyone in town and someone will be along soon. There a great mob of blokes at the Sth strip (as every where you go) so we drank some of their coffee and answered lots of questions, we were two days ahead of where we needed to be so wasn't in any hurry. FRIDAY. most of it was spent flying family and friends up and down the river. Then a few beers so that put a stop to the flying... Great stuff. EASTER SAT. Finished up about 50 people turned up for the gathering, that's not bad considering it was just a family thing, but a great day. there was some sad moments but well worth the trip. SUN. Day on the farm, no flying today. Just a good day with the rest of the family. MON. My brother Dick and I departed for the run home to take us via. Casino, Kyogle, Beaudesert and up to Dunwich on nth. Stradbroke Island. Really heavy dew turned lightwing into the sun and wiped down the windscreen and wings etc. gave it 1/2hr. to dry off. Started got tenps up, shut down and said our goodbyes to the rest of the family. In the air at 7.30am. and track down the river towards Maclean. Turn left at the broadwater and head north towards Casino, past Kyogle and getting towards the border-loop with patches of cloud coming up we went round a couple but they were still building so we turned back to Casino. Another great mob of blokes, rang the no. on the clubhouse and they came straight down to open up for us, drank more coffee and ate their biscuits. Skies all clear so took off again tracked over Kyogle, Border-loop, Beaudesert, Canungra, Jacobs Well(Heck Field) over the Jumpin Pin bar and up the beach on North Stradbroke Island to Dunwich. My brother couldn't get over the amount of islands, channels, sand bars and tiled house roofs as well as air traffic around the Gold Coast. Put down at Dunwich airpark after 1.6 hours from Casino. The blokes at Dunwich airpark are all old mates. Hence the reason for the run up there. They took us into town to but fuel and a snack. Back to the airpark, fuelled the plane, eat and talked a lot! So stayed the night. TUE. Depart Dunwich 7.30am, 2hr flight to Boonah, overfly Heck Field, Jimboomba, tracked down the highway a few mile and then across to Boonah. Put down there to catch up with more people another cuppa with Greg Neal and his brother Len who was down from Biloela. Stayed on the ground there for a couple of hours because of cloud on the Gap. It started to break-up so we got on our way. The day was warming and our lift wasn't great so did 4 orbits over Lake Moogerra. Reached 4,500ft on the third one but still abit of cloud in the Gap. One more orbit and could see behind 1 large cloud so wheeled around behind it and through the Pass, told my brother to be ready for the bumps which didn't come for another 5 mile but true to form they 'roughed' us up a bit. Got to the junction in the highway about 6nm north of Warwick... 35 mins gives a ground speed of 55knts ( the orbiting did it). Drew a line to Milmerran which took us just north of the power station and coal mine. Then direct to Moonie. Put down at Moonie 2.1hrs from Boonah. Tied down, fuelled and then had a beer. A great day especially after catching up with old friends. WED. Depart Moonie 8.30am for Theodore and home, straight into 25knot headwind, tried all altitudes for first 30 or so mile, stronger headwind up at 5,000 but smooth, down to 18knots at 500 but rough so opted for the smoother ride and went back up. Had plenty of fuel on so no worries there. Wind eased down a bit by Miles and by Taroom it was 5 kts on the nose still up on 5,000. Ran into broken cloud just before Glebe Weir getting thicker so opted to go under it as I was only 50mins from home and I bounced my way along 'til about 10 mile from home, came out from under the cloud and it all smoothed out, buzzed home and it was sure was good to see Liz (my wife) come out onto the verandah and wave. Finished of with a low circuit then came in, shut down in front of the hangar at 12.10 giving 3.6 hours for the last leg. Total flying time from 'go to whoa' was 19.5 hours with a total fuel burn of 350litres (that's 17.95 litres an hour). My brother is a deisel fitter and he said " I'm not a fan of 2 strokes but that little thing never missed a beat". It was a great trip but it was great to get home. If you're think about doing a x-country... just do it! Get the ERSA and maps and GO! Cheers....Davo
  6. Hi Pete. Great to hear of anyone flying but even better from someone starting out. Congratulations on joining the flying group of people from all around the country. You have Coominya as your strip, is that John and Lindas place? if it is, say hi from me please.:thumb_up: Cheers Davo.
  7. oops wrong place... first off.... congratulations to both you and flightygirl on your flying progress, it just keeps getting better. second...my last post "what do you call a good landing" is in the wrong place, I ment to put it in the 'general discussion' area:loopy: I hope your not confused as to why I'd put it here, I'm not up to speed on these puter things, so don't know if I can move it over or not. Cheers Davo.i_dunno
  8. what do you call a good landing the old saying is 'any landing you walk away from is a good landing, if you can use the plane again then its an excellent landing', came home from a fly the other day, my wife Liz was with me, all was good, flew the normal circuit (its a home strip but I still fly full circuit) and landed from the north as I would'nt have so far to taxi home. Did a good three pointer (even my wife said it was a good landing) just before the sock, at the same time the sock started to lift at a 90' angle from the right my thought was 'oh, a little bit of turbulence, I'm glad I beat that in' by this stage I was about 10 to 15mts. ground roll, stick right back sitting up straight looking over nose for live stock...ie. roos.etc. no more thoughts of the wind sock until the right wing lifted followed by the tail going up and over to the left, talk about quick opposite lock, full left rudder and right stick with a blast of power, run along on one wheel for maybe 3or4 seconds which seemed more like 2mins. and she settled down as smoothly as it went up ........a really good reminder that neither the flight or the landing is over until you are parked and engine off. Cheers Davo.:raise_eyebrow:
  9. I'll be there on thursday orvo, will be at the C.D.F.G. site (Callide dawson flying group) will have both the trusty old Lightwing and the Fisher there. Will be great to talk to a lot of you in person as this computer thing is a fair challenge for me. I put something on here and send it, then find out that I sent the damn thing to myself.:bad computer:
  10. Canungra airstrip Hi Sabre. Just read your note on the Canungra airstrip and the hangers there, mate, I flew over there a couple of months ago and saw the extra hangers, good to see their still there. It would be 6 or 7yrs. since I was there, they have a terrific B.B.Q. setup and the hangers that were there then were all in use, so I imagine they would be full now. There was a big dead tree right in the middle of the approach path on the southern end, it was easier to do a classic 'spitfire approach' by coming in around it than rather than over it. I see you have the co. ords. there is a dam on the western side of the strip. Cheers DAVO..:thumb_up:
  11. Hi ANDY, there is a few of us out here that still fly the slow entry level type. I own and fly a FISHER 303 which I bought as my first plane, I refer to it as the 'trail bike' I was going to build a Savanna and wanted something to fly while doing that. It has a 447 to drive the fan out front instead of the 277 that it was originally designed with, a cruise of 50kts climb in exes of 1000ft/min. stall at 25kts, its a low wing tail dragger, fully enclosed and as light as can be on the controls. I bought a Lightwing which I do most of my flying in now. The owner of the property where we live flies a Trike and the Fisher pokes along comfortably beside him. I'll have both it and the Lightwing at MONTO in June, hope to see you there Cheers DAVO:big_grin:
  12. Hi Horsefeathers, welcome to the group. Say hi to Alex Mercer for me please, he flies out of Gympie too, tell him I'm still in the same place and the strip is always mowed LOL. Mate make sure you make it to MONTO for the June weekend even if you have to drive there, it will be cold but worth it. Cheers DAVO..:thumb_up:
  13. Lightwing cruise speed Hi TOMO. The old girl cruises comfortably at 65kts if not over 80lts on board, if under 50lts you can get it on the step in a slight nose down attitude and she will sit on 72/75 @ 5,300rpm. coming home from a mates place a few months ago, late in the arvo. held it up on 5,600/5,700 and IAS of 81kt GPS ground speed of 79kt they are a very draggy plane but exceptionally strong and suitable for rough bush strips. This old girl is airframe No.2 and my rego. is 035 so she has been around for a long time, a blue head oil injected 582 which performes well if you treat it as such I fly the same place the slippery composites fly but I put more hrs. in the log book Cheers DAVO.
  14. Hi MATT Congratulations mate, that's the flight you'll remember for the rest of your life. Good on you and welcome to the world of recreational flying:score 010: Cheers DAVO>
  15. I have a set of headphones that the insulation is coming off the lead. I should say came off the lead. Could someone advise me where would be the best place to send them for re-wiring please Thank you Davo.
  16. Hi All I haven't been here for some time and have since completed two cross-countrys The reason it came about was my aging Mother was failing rapidly and I wanted to see her before she went, 92+ yrs., still living on the farm near Grafton on the Clarence Riv. First trip I flew down in July '09. Packed up the Lightwing & re-packed a couple of times - satisfied I had every thing, (including my penrite oil) said my goodbyes to my lovely wife and lifted off at 7:00A.M. from our home strip just north of Theodore and flew south to the township of Moonie 2.9hrs. Put down on a private strip 3nm. sth. of Moonie, one of my brothers lives there and met me with 60lts. of fuel, got 50 in - that leg=18l/hr. (My Lightwing has the standard 50ltr. tank but has also had wing tanks fitted,110lts. if you was to fill it, @ 18lts/hr. will give you six hours,my bladder wont last that long) Rest of day in Moonie after having a beer. In the air again at 7:00A.M. for a planned 3.5hrs. flight Sth/Est to take me over Texas, Bonshaw, (both on the Qld/NSW border) Emmaville,(old tin mining town) Dundee, a small community north of Glenn Innes then turned more easterly for Grafton and over real tiger country, thats when low clouds started to form, rang ahead and was assured of clear skies at Grafton, so was able to fly on and around the odd columns reaching to (my guess is) about 8,000ft. slid off the cloud about 12nm. before Grafton and settled down to a more relaxed feeling for the last 10min. of the flight, into a string southerly about 2,000ft. that never let up till I was on the ground, 3.6hrs Had four days on the ground there. It was hard to say Goodbye for both Mum and myself, knowing it was for the last time. Had to be home for work so left with three days to spare to come home via the coast to Gympie then inland to home. Started getting blown about only 1/2hr. into trip so put in at Casino and spent the day there(only 1:00hr. from the farm) Next morning, wind from Sth/Est and cloud building so flew Nth. over border-loop and because of cloud finished up almost at Beaudesert with rain squalls on the coast, clear of cloud so a left turn and overfly Boonah at 4,500ft. and go through the 'gap' the next 10mins. was the roughest I have ever flown in, thought I'd have bruises on me from the seat belt. The closer to Warwick the better the cunditions. so then drew a line on the map to Millmerran avoiding the powerstation then to Moonie , 1,1/2hrs. on the ground for fuel etc. then blasted off for home a planned 3:00hr. trip, but had variable tail winds and landed back home 2.5hrs. later. Thats just skipping over it, but it did set the scene for the next trip which was Easter just gone. That trip was a total of 16.8hrs. which included a few joy flights for family etc. the little two-stroke never missed a beat. Hope to see you at MONTO FLY-IN on the long weekend in June Cheers.. DAVO
  17. Hi people, thanks for the welcome. In answer to your q's yes it is good having a strip at the back door. The property is 2,000 acres, primarily cattle breeding with some grain I'm a grader operator in the Moura mine, 10min. drive from home, we moved here four and a half yrs ago and I bought my first plane (the fisher) a couple of months after we got here. Frogs hollow is the property name and the owners were kind enough to allow me to establish the air strip and even provided me with a (very, very) old grader to use. My passion for flying stirred an interest in the owner of the property to learn to fly himself and he now has a trike and has put an airstrip on his other property and we fly every chance we get. In may 09. I bought the lightwing and have clocked up 65hrs. in it so far. Isla Gorge is 55k by road south of us.
  18. I hope you read slow because I write slow and type even slower, the old two finger trick My wife Liz and I live on a cattle property just north of Theodore QLD.We rent one of the houses on the property, and the owner of the block flies a Trike. I own and fly both a Lightwing reg. 25-035 and fisher 303 reg. 10-133 the airstrip is right at the house. When Liz is in the office with me soon I'll get her to stick a couple of pics of the place on here, the biggest mistake I made in Aviation was not learning to fly earlier in life. I did my T.I.F. in april 2003 at 53yrs. of age, but am now enjoying rec. flying more than anything I've done before...Never think your too old or too young to learn. cheers Davo.:thumb_up:
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