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Fantastic photos!

Hey! Who are you calling Heavily Weighted?? DJH, I almost went down to The Oaks this morning - I could have been there to see the great event. Just keep grinning :big_grin:

Good on you Rach. On my first one, I just wanted to go sightseeing and I had to keep reminding myself that I was supposed to be training. Anyway, will I get in trouble if I suggest that this is the first of many last final frontiers?? :hittinghead:

I wanna know what the MTOW is...

Nev. I didn't mean the question in any negative way. Quite the opposite. I've recently seen an opportunity to do a tailwheel conversion and I've been wondering to myself whether there's any value in it - I mean, are there significant advantages (and disadvantages?) compared to flying a nosewheel a/c, or is it just a different skill and nothing more. Hence, when I saw your comment about tailwheel in the context of stability in rough air (and given that my wife gets very scared if the a/c moves any direction other than forwards), I thought I'd ask whether that was one of the advantages of that style of a/c. If a taildragger will make her more comfortable in the air, then I'll be shelling out the shekels for the training faster than you can blink. :)

Can I ask a dumb question? Was the reference to tailwheel serious, or just because you like flying them and just threw it in? If you were serious, what difference do they make? (I'd actually like to know all the reasons why some people prefer tailwheel, but that'd be a hijack of the thread so perhaps I'd better start a new one :) )

Ah, well that might account for why they were so courteous...

I was watching this video of an RV-12 demonstration flight from vansweb and I noticed a couple of things that seemed strange to me. The first was in a power-on stall (about 7:10 minutes in). The pilot says "There's full power... We'll just hold this attitude and let the speed bleed off... It takes almost full right rudder at this speed...". Why does it take full right rudder to maintain straight flight when it's climbing steeply? I understand the effects of precession and changing thrust, etc, but full rudder? (and yes, you can see in the video that it really is full). I've only ever flown a J-160 which only needs small pressure changes for that type of thing. Is such large pedal input normal for other a/c? The second thing was the stall characteristic. Every stall demonstrated dropped straight off to the right. I'm used to the 160 sort-of mushing down but staying level unless you did something silly. Given that this was essentially an advertising video, it seems odd that they were so unconcerned. Again, is that normal? Is it a low wing thing? The learning continues...

Wow!!!!!!!!! (Erudite, ain't he?? )

Have a look at the rudder work while he's running on one wheel & one wing - he's sure not taking it easy in there.

If my models were anything to go by, it's important that he took the photos before the first flight... Wouldn't it be good if he could make a 1:1 scale model, Can you imagine flying around in that!? How cool would that be?

A couple of times when I was practising glide approaches, I'd call "...glide approach 20 from 2000..." and my instructor would pipe up "... and Cessna ABC, we have you in sight". It struck me at the time as a very useful bit of information, even if it isn't in the AIP list of standard calls. :)

Yep. Read it this morning while stuck in a Dr's waiting room. Made the time fly much faster than normal. I like Monty's regular column idea, so you'd better get your skates on and fly somewhere so you can tell us all about it!

Maca, while I've never been there, I hear a lot of microlights flying out of Somersby on the radio (um.., well, they're not flying on the radio - I hear them on the radio. You know what I mean... ). All that aside, they might be worth a visit, or someone here may be able to tell you more about the folk there.

I heard an interesting story on Radio National's Science show this week about the Dunning-Kreuger effect. Basically, these blokes have shown that people who are bad at something tend to believe the opposite, whereas people who are good at something are generally dissatisfied with their capability. They had a group sit a bunch of logic tests, and then asked them to say where they thought they'd rank. The best thought they'd be down the scale, while the worst thought they were right up the top. The really scary part was that when they were shown the right answers, the worst revised their estimated ranking even higher. In other words, even when they saw the right answers, they still didn't have a clue that they didn't have a clue! What's the relevance to the thread? The heroes who think they're fantastic (and aren't) aren't likely to believe you because they don't know that they don't know. Sad, but I have a horrible feeling that it's probably true. The other corollary is, of course, that if you think that your flying could do with some polishing, then you're probably flying better than the ones who think they're fine... :)

The 160 that BlackRod and I fly has just had a panel revamp - out with the Glass and in with the steam driven gauges. That's allowed the top of the dash to be lowered by quite a distance, meaning that shorty here can fly without cushions. Much more comfortable, and I didn't miss the glass at all. To pretend that I'm still on topic, I'd always assumed that all Jabs had 2 flap switches, one either side. I was staggered when I saw a cockpit picture a few weeks back with the one switch in the middle. Forget about ergonomics - what about safety? thumb_down

I always thought that I spoke clearly on the radio. Then one day I had cause to chat to Brisbane centre, and the first thing he did was ask me to repeat my callsign... I try to speak a bit slower now. I do recall that for the first couple of months most radio calls were indecipherable. Then, as I learned to listen for keywords, it started to make sense. Even now, though, I occasionally hear "3000 ft" and I suddenly think, hang on, I'm at 3000ft. Who the hell was that and where on earth are they?? Partial situational awareness is a scary thing!

Right. Try again! (and it it isn't there in full size, you can always look at the thumbnail )

Wow! Just goes to show that you shouldn't plough your land! Seriously, just like Bacchus said, your report has me thinking about how I'd handle the same situation and whether I'm prepared for it *every* time I take off. Sobering stuff. Thank you.

Hmmm... It was there last night, really it was! I think I know what I did wrong, so I'll sort it out and have another attempt tonight...

Here's lookin' at you, lookin' at me, lookin' at you... I think that I was the only person there who wasn't paying attention to the activity being filmed, but anything airborne is sooo much more interesting than what was behind me

Is it just me, or are Darky's Avatars getting scarier and scarier... p.s. Good on you Mick. We told you you'd be ok! :thumb_up:

Very cool :thumb_up:

Your basic pilot certificate only permits you to fly within 25nm of the point of departure, and only by yourself (or with an instructor). To take someone else you need the passenger endorsement, and to travel further than the 25nm radius you need your cross country endorsement. For what I think you want to do, you'll need both. The RA-Aus "Learn to Fly Guide" has lots of good info - well worth a read. p.s. I'm talking about a Recreational Pilot's Certificate here, not a Private Pilot's Licence. It's generally more expensive to obtain but allows you to do more. However, the 'more' than you can do (aerobatics, night flying, etc) may not be on your wish list. :)

Yeah, but that's because we think to much! (and which is also how we managed to get as old as we are )