sfGnome
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Everything posted by sfGnome
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Would a bit of google advertising help, or are there not enough of us to make it worthwhile?
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My (pharmacist) wife loved it. I wouldn't advise going in to her shop with a cough any time soon...
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I don't think I've ever seen a 1 yo who would keep anything on their head, so I wouldn't get too worried about the beanie. Babies' hearing is much more sensitive than adults - including high frequencies that we wouldn't even be aware exist - and some kids are much more sensitive to noise than others. If bub was happy with the ear plugs in, then I'd guess that you've found the cause of the previous problems.
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That's pretty much what my passengers look like prior to take-off too...
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Noice! I'm trying to work out from the second photo whether the rego is VH-FOO or VH-POO.
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No, I think what the bloke was saying was that if the tourist development went ahead, *then* CASA would not allow it to be used as an airport - ie it was an argument against the development.
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Yep. Wife & I both have 'R' licence. She had a ZX6 but broke her wrist in a snowboarding accident and never regained the strength required for the brake, so that was the end for her. I just got sick of lumping a super-sports machine around in city traffic, so it sat in the garage for longer and longer, so I sold it to a mate who wrote it off. Kinda wish I had it back again now...
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Thanks for the comments. Yep, Avocet, I should have said that it was a Tecnam. I'll be having a closer look at the nosewheel structure I think. I've got about 70 landings in this craft, and I've only noticed it recently, so I guess something has changed. One of us has tapped it a bit hard, perhaps? :(
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I've noticed over the last little while that on both the take-off and landing roll, there's a period of time where the rudder and the nose wheel seem to be fighting for dominance and creating a bit of a shimmy dance. My first thoughts were that the two were out of alignment with each other, but then it occurred to me that under power on the take-off roll, I have to have a fair whack of right boot which is obviously not required on the power-off landing, so there's clearly no single alignment between the two that will suit both situations. Is this a normal thing that I've just been too unobservant to notice before, or is there normally some compromise alignment that works well enough to not be noticeable? Or, more simply, should the rudder and nose wheel just line up visually? (I should note that the aircraft's line maintenance manual merely says how adjustments can be made without specifying what the adjustment should be).
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If cost is the total determinant, then hire. Choice et al have done studies that show that it's cheaper to hire a taxi all the time than own a car. Question is, do you want to have to wait for a taxi every time you want to go somewhere? That's why so many (but not all) people own cars. Having said that, I expect that being in the 'wrong' syndicate would be like being in the 'wrong' marriage. You have to be really careful to make sure that you're all on the same wavelength before you lock in. I've been lucky and have really good partners. We don't always agree on everything, but everyone listens and we have always found a consensus (and, as MM says, there's nothing like thinking to yourself "Hmmm... nice day" and just toddling off to the strip and finding your A/C exactly how you left it, ready and raring to go).
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Flight Test coming soon - advice?
sfGnome replied to ayavner's topic in Student Pilot & Further Learning
Think of it this way: Your instructor thinks that you are ready to do the test. He's been watching you for months so he already knows how much you know (or don't). He wouldn't be bothering to test you if he didn't think that you're likely to pass OK. Most importantly, he's not going to be thinking up any tricky scenarios just to make you fail. He could achieve that just by saying "you failed". So, just treat it as yet another lesson, and don't panic if you don't remember something instantly. Enjoy it! -
I was flying with my adult son this morning and he asked about which control did what, and eventually the conversation drifted to the need to keep your head out of the cockpit - the point being that you can't feel the beginning of a drift into a spiral dive. I got him to close his eyes and tell me when when we deviated . He didn't pick it at all, and I got him to open up again when we were nose down and 30 deg bank - came as a bit of a shock! So, the question is, is the problem with flight sims that they have no feel, or that they trim so nicely and fly so stably?
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Helicopter Crash Wollongong
sfGnome replied to i_like_planes_too's topic in Aircraft Incidents and Accidents
The pilot's family have taken some small comfort from the fact that CASA has now acted. Too late for them, but hopefully soon enough for someone else's spouse & children. -
Thanks. I wondered if that's what it was. That means they'll be flying safely out to sea, and not in the vicinity of 24-7155...
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It's probably a bit late to be asking this, but looking at the notams tonight for a flight tomorrow, I find that "MIL HAWK JET ACFT" will be "OPR BLW 5000FT AGL ON FLW RTE". Ok, I can decode that, but it is the route that has me stumped. WILLIAMTOWN / WILLIAMTOWN 179008 / WILLIAMTOWN 192032 / SYDNEY 012039 SYDNEY 012037 / SYDNEY 102015 / SYDNEY 188044 / WOLLONGONG 200010 / WOLLONGONG 211016 / WOLLONGONG 217017 / WOLLONGONG 127006 / SYDNEY 012021 / SYDNEY 003032 / SYDNEY 012037 / WILLIAMTOWN 195037 / WILLIAMTOWN Fair enough, they're flying from Williamtown to Wollongong via Sydney, and I presume that the numbers describe the actual path they are following. Question is, how do I interpret those numbers (so that I don't get a jet up my backside tomorrow morning... )
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At the risk of thread drift, I just have to share this... My PLB is (and has been for the last 3 months) in being serviced under warranty. Kannad won't replace it (2nd time it's died in the 2 years I've owned it - useless junk) and they insist on it being serviced by the approved centre instead. Problem is, they need a new battery for it, and - get this - the battery cannot be sent to Oz from France by air because it is classified as dangerous goods! This is the same battery that powers the PLB that I'm required by law to carry when I fly! Talking about it with a LAME I know, he told me that they have the same problem with some aircraft radios - they can't send them by air, but they can install them in aircraft. 'Tis a wonderful world we live in.
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Thanks for the pics. Looking through them all for signs of my partners who were flying in, but I just found out that the little beast refused to start for them on Friday so they never made it. Back to the mechanics... :(
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MM, this might be telling you something you already know, so apologies ahead of time if I am (however, I know of people who did get stuck on this). Make sure that the lock symbol in the top corner isn't locked. It protects the display from accidental swipes, but it also gives the impression that the iPad has locked up. Depending on how you have ozrunways set up, it takes either one or two touches on the lock symbol to unlock the screen. Personally, I keep it locked most of the time, only unlocking it when I need to zoom in on something. I think from memory that it only locks when you go into flight mode, so you never see it when you're planning or learning the system.
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Maj, could you please expand on that? How does a higher Amp.Hour battery (I presume you were talking of higher, not lower) affect the regulator? Is it because it has a higher cranking current capability, which implies a lower internal resistance, and hence a higher peak charging current? In that case though, the regulator would just limit the charging current so I can't see that that would cause a problem. I'm not being critical - I seriously don't understand, and I'd really like to. :) Thanks
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Does anyone know this guy?
sfGnome replied to motzartmerv's topic in Student Pilot & Further Learning
The more I read things like these comments (and that letter), the luckier I realise I was. When I was looking for a school - knowing absolutely nothing about the process - I purposely chose a one-person school where the owner/CFI/instructor/dishwasher was well experienced from ATPL down. Ok, with hindsight there were the occasional shortcomings, but because it was always the same plane and the same instructor, I got consistency. It wasn't until after I got my license that I started to discover the variations between CFIs while doing checkflights at other locations. At least by then I had some modicum of confidence and could accept the different styles and different content, but if I'd had to cope with that in the early days when your brain feels like it's gunna explode; nup, I'm not sure I would have made it. -
Clouds broke up a little this morning. Aha, thinks I! I might just duck up to the strip and get a few circuits in... Brief look at the weather station put paid to that idea. Winds 20ktG25kt directly across the strip. Too much for this little black duck.
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Thanks Steve. Much appreciated.
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I redirect one of the air vents across the unit, and I haven't (touch wood) had a failure since doing that, despite the full sun of a low wing.
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Steve, do you have any photos? I'd love to see what you've done, but it's a bit far to drop in at the moment. :)
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I'm both a bit deaf and have a fat head (sigh) so my zulus have been a godsend. I can hear so much more clearly than with ordinary headsets, and they're as comfortable as, even after hours of use.
