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sfGnome

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Everything posted by sfGnome

  1. sfGnome
    Geez. Pity about those very un-1960's houses in the background. Wouldn't want to get them in the shot...
  2. sfGnome
    Welcome aamer. You've got a few choices of school up your way. Enjoy it! :)
  3. sfGnome
    Are there any issues with weight distribution if you use the tanks individually, or do you have to drain from them both simultaneously?
  4. sfGnome
    Both my daughters are school teachers. One was telling me the other day that when some of her students really struggle with the concept of multiplication, she'll tell them not to think of it like numbers along a ruler, but to think of it like numbers in a square instead. While most of the class - even the bright ones - won't have a clue what she's talking about, these kids have to see things in shapes before they get it. The point of the story is just that there isn't a one size fits all when it comes to learning. You have to have a whole arsenal of techniques, and hope that one of them will work for your current student. Some will be totally confused by introducing AoA early on, while some will find it just makes perfect sense. Good luck working out which is which. I guess that's the real skill of the teacher, isn't it?
  5. sfGnome
    It's amazing how much fun 25 miles can be. Congrats.
  6. sfGnome
    My beloved is very supportive, as long as being supportive doesn't require her to be in the air with me. She's glued to the coverage of the Tour de France at the moment, and I keep reminding her that the countryside only looks that good from the air. She even got as far as asking the other day whether my certificate was valid in France, so maybe she's coming around if the payoff is good enough (pity it isn't ).
  7. sfGnome
    Umm. Dumb question, but assuming you're not aiming to fly it off, how are you going to get it off that platform when the time comes? I think I'm almost as jealous of your work space as I am of your project; almost, but not quite!
  8. sfGnome
    My elder son has been working his way down from ~130kg over the last 12-18 months ( in the high 90's now, but aiming for 85). His particular passion (failing?) was coke - the black fizzy stuff, not the snorting variety - and he remarked to me one day "y'know dad, I'm not carrying around six dozen cans of coke on my waist any more!". He's also gone from running 10k in 65 minutes then to 45 minutes now. Constant exercise didn't only help him shed the weight, but the desire to run faster gave him a *reason* to lose it. OME, I reckon that your quest for a goal that really matters to you is more important than the method you're going to use to achieve it. Now, what was my goal again? Oh yeah. That's right. My very own li'l aircraft...
  9. sfGnome
    Ian, I haven't voted, not because I'm lazy or apathetic but because I'm happy with whichever you choose (and there wasn't a button for that ).
  10. sfGnome
    Wilbur & Orville didn't exactly fly too far on their first flight either, but the main point of something like this is that it is in the limited environment that we learn about efficiency. You can always add a few more cc to an engine, but if it's human powered then you need efficiency, and that can be always applied back to those more typical engines you know and love. p.s. I whip myself into a lather a few days a week, but I never even get myself a few inches off the ground...
  11. sfGnome
    This is where it all started... Got bored on holidays and wandered into a hobby shop. That baby in the middle is currently sitting at the computer next to me, yelling at his mates while killing alien zombies, having just completed his 3rd year Uni exams. Mostly I was into gliders, then electric motor gliders, but sadly, they mostly ended up like this... And here's our flying field, taken with a disposable film camera with a servo placed over the shutter button. That lake swallowed a few models
  12. sfGnome
    Impressive examiner. Throwing in diversions and X-wind landings is one thing, but organising good weather, bad weather and strong winds is pretty impressive! Enjoy your new found freedom, and try not to panic the first time you look down and think "is that town really the town I think it is??
  13. sfGnome
    One of the joys of a large family - we all get on really well when we're separated by a few thousand k's...
  14. sfGnome
    Great story, PF. Thanks for putting it out there. Every time I see something about places in Oz, I think about flying there (watching a show on Cairns tonight sure had me thinking), but the one that I keep going back to is the visit-the-family trip too. In my case, that's a wing waggle over the two 'local' siblings (Newcastle & Berowra) and thence Moruya, Bairnsdale and (gulp) Devonport. One day... One day...
  15. sfGnome
    Thanks for the comment, Nev, and more than happy to agree. One minor clarification that doesn't really impact the conversation at all - it was a Tecnam P2002, not a drifter, but the concept is still just as valid.
  16. sfGnome
    Shouldn't have too much of a problem with the 25 mile limit up there! Welcome.
  17. sfGnome
    Discussions in this thread have, amongst other things, centred on the likelihood of stalling if attempting an EFATO turn back. Clearly, if you are to not stall, then you have to keep the nose down in order to maintain the required angle of attack. I had a little play around today (at 3,000 ft rather than 300!), not to see how quickly I could make the turn and/or how little height I could lose, but simply to get a pilot's eye view of a steep, no-power turn with sufficient airspeed to have no chance of stalling. I chose 45 deg bank because the ATSB state* that "the bank angle for best turn rate for height lost ... is 45deg". Theoretically, I could have used a speed of <50 kt**, but remember that I wanted "no chance" of stalling (even at 3000ft), so I kept it up in the high 60s. What did I find? Well, the manoeuvre itself was easy enough to achieve, but I felt like I was pointing straight down. Not a problem at 3,000 ft, but it doesn't take much imagination to think of the overwhelming desire to pull back on the stick when that all-too-solid earth is just in front of your face. A worthwhile exercise indeed. Now I'm even more convinced. Straight ahead it is. *ATSB Safety report - Managing partial power loss after takeoff in single engine aircraft, AR-2010-055 ** P2002 POH, idle power, no flaps, 45 deg bank.
  18. sfGnome
    Welcome Furio, and if you need someone to keep the Evektor company while your leg is healing, just say the word!
  19. sfGnome
    I too work with Americans, and in a field where colour/color is very important. We decided years ago that while we couldn't change the world to fit us, there was no need for us to change (too much) to fit them, so in all our documentation colour is spelled 'color', and everything else is spelled the Aussie (Brit) way. (Having said that, I tend to use 'aircraft' or 'A/C' simply because it is quicker to type than aeroplane. Don't like to use 'airplane' though - it's just not my language).
  20. sfGnome
    Although (thankfully) I've never had the experience of an unexpected EFATO, I know for absolute certain that my brain turns to mush under stress. During training, we talked about EFATOs at length. Just before entering the runway we discussed exactly what was going to happen and how I should react when the engine went out. 45 seconds later when the CFI pulled the throttle I froze, and we would have stalled straight into the trees if he hadn't been ready for me to do exactly that. I know not to turn back; I visualise myself not turning back; but I have no idea exactly what I'm actually going to until the day when it actually happens. That's what scares me...
  21. sfGnome
    Was it purely by chance that the singer sang "we don't really have control" just as the wing dropped...
  22. sfGnome
    I sit here looking out the window at the drizzle, and the gloom reflects pretty much how I'm feeling at the moment. Like most of you, I knew David only through our conversations here, but I can't think of one person more ready to investigate the questions, to understand the regulations, to think through the safety issues and to make sure that he was trained and practiced, ready for whatever came. It's only human nature to look at terrible events and find reasons why it couldn't happen to me - too dark, too low, too cloudy, too poorly maintained; I'd never let that happen, would I? - but something did happen, David, and only you know how you reacted, what you tried, how you fought to manage an impossible situation. So now on this grey day, who among us can still sit here and say it couldn't happen to me. Vale David.
  23. sfGnome

    Here we go!!

    sfGnome replied to pudestcon's topic in Thruster

    You lucky, lucky man. I guess that's what you get for not pushing her outside her comfort zone, and just waiting for her to do it herself. A (semi)willing accomplice. Brilliant!
  24. sfGnome
    Had this problem suddenly occur last week in a Tecnam (eg metal body), just as we joined the circuit. Luckily there was no one else around because we couldn't transmit any more. Tested with both headsets individually (one Zulu, one basic type) in both sockets with no improvement. Wound the mic gain down (quite a lot) and problem resolved. Subsequent radio checks still showed the voice to be quite loud, so it possibly could have gone down even further. Yep, it could be many things, but if you have a gain control then it's a pretty good place to start.
  25. sfGnome
    Mark, I've drunk in every word and every picture from this thread, and it's been great reading the whole way. Long may she fly!
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