sfGnome

Thanks David. Two quotes from that paper that I found memorable: and

Your wife lets you get away with no insurance?? I occasionally find mine reading the policy while fingering the kitchen knives... Not true. Really!

Of course, the ideal is to be in a 4 person syndicate where 3 of the 4 don't fly any more... :big_grin: Seriously, it's easy to play with the percentages, but I know I'd find it much easier to stump up $25k and $60/hour than $100k and $160/hour. The tough part is finding people who are going to treat your baby with the same respect as you do. I used to share power tools with my brother-in-law, and it gave the the heebie geebies seeing how he treated them.

Yep. That was one of the things I checked before the first lesson. I was quite surprised to find in my case that there was no limitation on flying at all. I even rang the company to be certain because I found it hard to believe.

Hear hear!

Well, I loved it. I'm never going to fly that way, but it was great to watch. I didn't notice too many other people with their eyes at ground level either. It would have been fantastic to see some of the museum aircraft flying as well, regardless of the fact that we can't fly 'em. p.s. It would have been good to see more rag and tube there too, but out of all the planes that flew in, there weren't many of that type. Is that indicative of a general cross section of users, or is it just that it's too hard to fly that far in the simpler a/c?

Well, I saw FlightyGirl (the plane), even if I didn't see FlightyGirl (the real thing)! :big_grin:

One of my best was being in the pointy end of a 747 landing in Frankfurt (pre 9/11 or course), but I think the best was the first day I came home from the model flying field with all models intact! That was a long time coming... :big_grin:

Back home from Temora. Got to meet a few forumites in the flesh; managed to not meet many more by the looks of it. Thanks for tracking me down Dexter. 'Twas a trifle cool at night! The blokes next to us were scraping ice off their plane before they could leave this morning! Dome tents were popular in our neck of the woods. The weather was a bit rough on Friday. Here's a bit of an indication of what it was like when we arrived, though our entry was a little more sedate... Still, it started to break up nicely in the evening. I know Ultralights has already posted a photo of this plane, but just what are you supposed to put into a heavy-lift aircraft that can only take 540kg all up? Twister and Foxbat during the display. A low pass. The flying bedstead. Day two ends... We left around 10am today when most people had gone, so the parking fields that were packed are looking a bit bare. Still, if you look closely, there's 8 a/c lined up and one just in the air. They were streaming out thick and fast. The two really memorable events of the weekend for me were a) flying into Temora listening to the constant stream of announcements on CTAF and then being one of three planes all turning downwind simultaneously (one from midfield, one from up field and one phaffing around near the turn to base), and b) flying home at 7,500' in pure bliss up above all the crap! Thank you to anyone and everyone involved in getting the extra height ratified. That was magic.

I just booked underwing, so there was at least one spot left (until I took it... )

Geez, looks like Grandpa's old axe - just replace the head and handle and it's as good as new! Looking forward to seeing the pics

Like Dex, I have a ring-around list when I go, but if I'm going to be 'practising my scales' then I don't drag anyone along. When I first got my cert, I had lots of people wanting to come along for a ride so I just told them that I'd be happy to take anyone anywhere in Aus, but they had to pay half costs. Strangely, the requests dried up instantly. Now I just get to take the people I ask, and I haven't asked anyone for a cent yet.

I reckon the Rex jockeys would have enjoyed that call

Ok, we've ascertained that it's only a hypothetical question for the reasons that cfi gave, but that aside, DJH has hit the nail on the head. Get down in one piece without endangering others, worry about the paperwork afterwards. On the subject of ATC at a major airport, if you stray into controlled space, they'll start re-routing the RPT away from you immediately (which is why they hate incursions - it costs the airlines a bomb and it screws up the timetables). They aren't the slightest bit worried about your safety, but the safety of the 300 passengers on the bus you're about to blunder into is of far more interest. The pleasing side effect is that you get to live as well...

It's easy, Darky. Just hit the magneto switches sometime. Hey presto, gliding...

Cool. Any (publishable) reason for the change of scenery?

Good on you, Hildy. Now it's time to change the 'Airstrip' and 'Aircraft' entries over there on the left...

Thanks David. I use the weatherzone pages a lot in planning when to book an a/c, but I'd missed the 24hour graphs up till now (and I've tended to rely only on the BOM forecasts - TAF & Area - for the flying days). One more for the armoury!

That was the interesting thing about Friday morning. YSCN metar claimed 3kts, taf predicted a little more, and the windsock told a very different story. Pity the windsock isn't available on-line Kicking myself now that I didn't grab the opportunity to do some circuits with an instructor...

We're intending to fly in and camp under wing, but if the weather doesn't play ball then we'll be driving. It's pretty hard to camp under the wing of a car... To avoid distracting the fine folk at RAA, does anyone know whether you can still camp at the airport if the transport you arrive in never climbs above zero AGL?

A watched pot never boils Hildy... :nonono: (but geez, the waiting's a bummer, eh?) I drove 1 1/2 hours yesterday to fly, got to the strip only to turn around and go home again (there goes 3 hours I'll never get back). Still, it was the right decision. Strong, gusty wind 90 deg to the strip, and no suggestion that it was going to get any calmer. The joys of having a weather-dependent hobby. Please, please, please have nice weather over Easter...

Interesting (lack of) forward view from the Pietenpol. You'd think they could have found somewhere else to put the radiator. Beautifully made though, isn't it?

Thanks!

Cool Hildy! Was that first solo? And apart from getting to 1000AGL before turning crosswind, did it make a difference to the trim? I've never noticed the presence of a passenger affecting the trim before - climb yes, but not trim.

Whatever your instructor says, Hildy!