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sfGnome

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Everything posted by sfGnome

  1. sfGnome
    Ok, I definitely wouldn’t want someone shooting at me while using it (I guess I should say that I don’t want someone shooting at me any time! 🫣), but wouldn’t it be awesome fun to use.
  2. sfGnome
    Her story is that ol’ Reg A. refused to have female pilots. She took Ansett to court and won, opening the doors for the many female big rig pilots we have today. Yes, there were many female pilots before her, but it was a particularly hard glass ceiling that she broke… Actually, it reminds me of a story my father told me. My grandmother, many, many years ago, drove up to an intersection in Sydney and was waved through by the cop on duty. When she went back later the same day, he stopped her because, he told her, she was the only female driver he had seen all day. Times change. 😛
  3. sfGnome
    A big advantage of SSRs is that the control current is so low. The relay is on all the time, so the current draw of a solenoid is significant if you lose your alternator and want the battery to get you home. Of course, with a 0.6V drop at 100A, that’s 60W you’re dissipating (presumably during starting), so you’d want it to to be bolted to a nice big lump of metal as a heat sink.
  4. sfGnome
    Nev, is the lead issue with 100LL exacerbated or ameliorated by the purely synthetic oil?
  5. sfGnome
    That can be a significant issue. My mum used to tell me stories about her brothers flying gliders before the war, and I think she was chuffed when I started flying. However, by that stage, neither she nor dad were physically capable of climbing up into my low wing Tecnam, so I never got to take them up. Regrets, I’ve had a few… Of course there’s a related disadvantage too. How many times have you knocked your head on the wing when preping the plane (or is that just me 🙄)?
  6. sfGnome
    Can’t imagine anyone getting offended. They’re good questions that have been thought by lots of people before you. The sunburn bit is easy enough; a hat to start with and a sunshade above you if necessary. If you’re too hot, climb. However, how to exit a flipped low-wing? Add that one to the list of imponderables along with what to do if the wing falls off, and other such nightmares (and yes, I know you can carry a hammer and attempt to break the unbreakable window, but for me that remains a case of please, please, please don’t happen 🫣).
  7. sfGnome
    Thanks for all the info. Most appreciated.
  8. sfGnome
    4m long, but don’t know the other dimensions at this stage (will find out shortly). Melbourne to Sydney(ish). For those of you who did the move yourselves, did you have any insurance, or just trust your skill at avoiding accidents?
  9. sfGnome
    Apologies if this has already been discussed, but I couldn’t find a thread if it has. Who have you used for road transport of large crates, and would you use them again? Alternatively, if you transported it yourself (car trailer, flatbed truck, etc), did you insure the transport, or just hope that no one ran into you? If you insured, who did you use? Thanks!
  10. sfGnome
    I said no, because I don’t *know* that I flew into a stall. There was one time in my early days - an ugly, gusty day - when as I was turning to crosswind from the takeoff, I hit what I assumed was a strong gust that put the aircraft on its side (or so it felt). My instructor took control, recovered, and we decided that it wasn’t a good day for learning… Maybe it was just a gust blowing us around. Maybe it was a wind speed change that turned my climbing power-on turn into a climbing power-on stall at 500 ft? Who knows?
  11. sfGnome
    My latest flight (hopefully not my last!) was today, just in a big sardine can (2 hours late while they replaced “a computer part that glitched”. 2 hours sitting on the tarmac in a totally full sardine can was no fun, but heaps better than running into a mountain because their instruments were cactus, so no complaints there). Anyhow, the point of this is where we went - Queenstown NZ. What a phenomenal introduction to South Island scenery that flight path is. You kiwis really know how to do hills! Still miles out from the airport on final, look to the right and there’s a main road full of cars *above* you. (Drove that road later going down to Wanaka. Lots of fun, but would have been more fun in a sports car 😁). This place must look spectacular from the air, though the thought of the rotors coming off those peaks is a little scary.
  12. sfGnome
    Remember the floods last year? What was the main complaint afterwards? “We weren’t given enough warning. Nobody told us it was coming!” Forecasters can’t win. They must get up every morning thinking “whatever I do today, 50% of the population will think I’m an idiot”.
  13. sfGnome
    Nup. Telecommunications equipment. About 30 years ago. Actually, it was the first of two times that companies I worked for were bought out by an American company. They second one they just destroyed by incompetence… 🤨🙄
  14. sfGnome
    Possible. I worked for an Australian company where we designed and brought to production a world-leading product. A North American company bought our company and dumped the product as it was affecting their sales. Mind you, it was very nice for the company’s owners (and they deserved every penny).
  15. sfGnome
    Look on the bright side. You’ll never have to bother with your 100 hourly inspections… 😛
  16. sfGnome
    Welcome! Look forward to hearing about your adventures. 🙂
  17. sfGnome
    Updating the pictures for google maps? The detailed ‘satellite’ photos in those maps are done from aircraft.
  18. sfGnome
    Absolutely! Even more so, GET cool and methodical, even if you have to break out of the circuit for a few minutes to compose yourself. Another memory to bore you with. I did something dumb (no idea what now) during a solo T&G, and I was berating myself all the way down downwind. Suddenly realised that I was so busy worrying about what had been that I wasn’t thinking about what was to come, and it was the ‘what was to come’ that could kill me. Got my head back into gear and all was fine, but it could have gone so wrong… 😑
  19. sfGnome
    I wouldn’t be too worried about finding a reason for the bad day. I remember one day when I was a bit further on in my training than you are now when everything should have been perfect; nice weather, well rested, enthusiastic for the lesson. Before we started that day’s topic (something new and exciting), the boss said to do one circuit and I screwed it up mightily. Hmmm, he sez. Better do another. Likewise crap. And another. And another. Spent most of that lesson just doing the circuits that I’d been doing fine (in much more difficult conditions) for many weeks. There was no obvious reason, and it never happened again (which is not to mean that I never did anything stupid after that, just that I never had that total brain block for an extended period again).
  20. sfGnome
    You and me both. I saw a picture of that plane when I was about 8 and thought “I could build that”, and the thought has never left me. I’ve been staring at the sky ever since.
  21. sfGnome
    Not yet... Have a chat with Peter at AeroKits. The one on that video was built in South Africa and imported.
  22. sfGnome
    Took me a while… 😂😂
  23. sfGnome
    I’ve flown into that strip a few times. One way, surrounded by mountains on three sides. There’s no way you’d choose to fly out of there in bad weather. This wasn’t bad training; it was Darwinism in action. 🤨
  24. sfGnome
    I’ve flown this inland route a number of times. On a nice day, it’s a lovely sightseer. On a rough day, it’s awful. No escape from the turbulence. The extra height in the first section will be good. I’ve only done the coastal route once (with a suitably licensed pilot). It was interesting seeing the sharks swimming near the surfers… 🫣
  25. sfGnome
    Looking at your pictures, it seems that ‘flat’ is definitely in short supply! As an aside, I see that you’ve purchased one of those new, ultra-low efficiency props… 😝
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