rgmwa

I find his intense, monotonous delivery spoils what are otherwise interesting documentaries.

Balmy 18 deg, nice sunny morning in the Perth Hills. Working from home listening to the birds outside.

Good trip writeup. Nice plane too.

An LSA like the RV-12 is quite a lot lighter than a PA28 or C172 and you will feel the difference in turbulence. I haven't flown a PA28 but have a fair bit of time in C152's and C172's. It all comes down to what you're comfortable with in terms of `feel'. I prefer the nimble RV handling which may be what you mean by squirrelly. A C172 feels sluggish by comparison.

Maybe there was a problem with the plane or maybe he had a medical issue but I think more likely he just didn’t or couldn’t see the B17 until it was too late. The main question is what went wrong in the planning that put him there in the first place.

That sounded to me more like a shocked young kid looking for some reassurance that everything was OK. There were probably enough adults momentarily asking themselves same thing.

Commer Knocker?

The pilots must have found the asymmetric view out of the cockpit very strange until they got used to it.

Yes, I was thinking of perspex, so polycarbonate could be a problem. It certainly doesn't like hydrocarbons.

Silvo works. Be careful as overdoing it will result in visual distortion and may make the problem worse.

To add to OME's post re the 1909 model A: Wilbur and Orville devised slightly different flight controls in the Model A airplanes they flew separately in France and the United States for their 1908 and 1909 public demonstrations. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum refers to "The Wilbur Method" and "The Orville Method". In Wilbur's method, the roll and yaw controls were combined on the same lever at the pilot's right hand. A forward-backward movement controlled the rudder, while a sideways or left-and-right motion controlled wing-warping. In the Orville Method, moving the stick controlled wing-warping, while a knob atop the stick controlled the rudder. In both methods the left-hand lever operated the forward elevator to control pitch. Wilbur trained French and Italian pilots using his method, and Orville trained German pilots while in Germany in 1909 for the Wright GmbH as well as American pilots at the Wright Company flight school using his method. In the recent post that linked to the documentary on Thomas Sopwith, he described flying the plane using what was obviously the Orville method. The trick was to remember that forward on the right stick pushed the right wingtip down and pulling back raised it.

He's comes around in an almost vertical bank to attack the fire and then appears to tighten the turn even further to avoid the terrain just before the inevitable stall. Tragic miscalculation and loss of life.

Any volunteers willing to get close enough to apply the deodorant?

Tyre pressure gauge to go with the hand pumps?

You might want a couple of screwdrivers?

I trained on aircraft with electric flaps, but my plane has manual flaps and they are very quick and positive to deploy. Interestingly, the current RV-12 kits have changed to quick-acting electric flaps, but I prefer the manual version. Simple, quick and reliable.

I heard that the flying telescope, SOFIA, has recently been taken out of service due to the high cost of running it. It was due to continue for another few years but they retired it early.

Sounds like good advice. The newspapers would call the A32 an Ultralight (although to be fair, most newspaper reporters call all small aircraft Cessnas because that’s all they’ve ever heard of). I’d call it a light aircraft.

Ultralights. Aircraft that are typically smaller and lighter than Cessnas, Pipers etc. and generally weigh less than 600 kg fully loaded. The definition of UL is a bit rubbery these days as more than a few perform better than your typical Cessna. At the other end of the performance envelope U/L’s would include things like powered hang gliders. They are normally registered by RAAus as opposed to CASA for GA aircraft with VH-xxx registration.

Make sure it's designed to have one end blanked off if you fully sheet the end. If the airflow is blocked a strong gust of wind in a storm could easily lift it.

Upgrading is usually very expensive, particularly if you need to have it done professionally, which will be necessary as the work (maintenance and upgrades) you can do yourself as the owner of a commercial aircraft (Cessna, Piper, etc) is extremely limited. One option might be to buy a two seater and consider building your own 4 seater over 4-5 years like a Vans RV-10 (expect to pay $250-$300K however). Alternatively, buy a two seater and just hire a larger aircraft if/when you need it - which will probably be far less often that you may be thinking now. Very few private pilots own a six seater. You may also be able to buy into a syndicate that owns a larger aircraft. There are plenty options, but none of them will be cheap. Probably the least expensive option would be to own a two-seat experimental aircraft like a Jabiru or Vans and hire a larger plane when you need it.

If you have a plane you will need to keep it somewhere so doing some research on the hangar options available in your area makes sense. Visiting the local airfields and talking to hangar owners would be a good way to find out about costs and availabily. Someone will probably also know about any local private strips that may offer possibilities.

Usually, yes and not necessarily. If you really need a 4-6 seat aircraft it won’t have easily removable wings anyway. Best thing would be to visit local airfields and talk to hangar owners. You are at the start of a long journey if you have only just started lessons and your plans and ideas will change over time.

My last flight review was on 27 Feb 2022. All went well so I didn’t think any more about it. Then just tonight I received an email from CASA formally confirming that my flight review had been successful - more than 7 months later! They must be short-staffed at headquarters.

Very sad. The owner of the helicopter and presumably the pilot on this flight was well known in the Jandakot flying community.