Ben Longden

Shepparton..... No politics at all. No bickering, no infighting. Jeez, its so nice and refreshing!!!! :thumb_up: Friday; barbie and drinks at Beer O'Clock Saturday; 1230 lunch $6 Sunday; 0830 brekky $4 Flying at any other time... A top school that welcomes members and has the club rooms open every day, Three Tecnams, a 172 and an Archer.. Ben

Now THAT is a complete Ffffflaming big mistake. -Not the getting caught bit, but the thinking of doing it and then actually doing it.. What a complete wally. Ben

Hi Nomis, Its easy for us GA/RAA armchair critics to theorise ad nauseum about this incident, but is there any word from inside the industry about what went on? Ben

Mike, I tried to PM you, but the box is full.... I just wanted to say how sorry i was for you to hear about the tragic loss of the young bloke. Ben

I saw the clip as well, and was dumbstruck when I saw he did not go around a helluvalot earlier than he did. More good luck than good management. A few of the pilots at work chatted about it, and the common feeling was the conditions were too bad, and a go around should have happened earlier, but looking at this vid, his crosswind technique was a bit out of practice, as mentioned in earlier posts... he didnt count on the wind lifting the wing when he kicked her straight... BUT, thats me, sitting in an armchair.. Ben

Sure beats a lot of other things as well!! Ben

Now thats an offer you can't refuse!! :thumb_up: Go for it. Ben

Mooney and Glasair have it right.... I have to get the passenger or instructor to double check the oil temp in the Tecnam because the parralax error makes it impossible to read quickly, accurately and safely from the pilot seat. Ben

Nice work, Darren, Nice work.:thumb_up: Ben

I didn't. I thought it was good... non PC and made one think about safety. Ben

I voted NOT into motor bikes... as a rider. As a spectator (read; motocross, Crusty Demons etc) then yes. As a kid I was into cycling a lot, and had lots of stacks. The worst was going A over T in a criterion and getting gravel rash down the left side.. chest, arm, thigh, leg that needed treatment by a burns specialist after three hours in Cas having the gravel picked out. That, and the gooseneck nearly cutting the femoral artery when I went over the handlebars..:black_eye: The next worse was taking a corner too fast, as in WAY too fast, and losing it only to end up in a patch of stinging nettles. I was on my big sisters BIG bike as well... Might have been $% years ago, but I remember that one vividly... Hobby wise, I used to do search and rescue diving with the local rescue squad in black water as a 'hobby'. the training dives were surreal, at 15m in the Murray (YES...) with a raging current, holding onto the guide rope crawling across the gravel bottom in pitch black for an hour. (I had to press my watch to the facemask to see the glow of the dial). Great abdo excercise, I can tell you. Next crazy hobby was sport and news photography... now its news vision for TV, Glue sniffing, I mean model aircraft. Chemical abuse, I mean working in the darkroom.. developing and printing piccies. But as a regular, clear water diving comes a close second to flying. Being able to hover in the water column is an awesome experience during a dive. Folks tell me I am nuts, but then I just ask them how come that they have only JUST worked that out? Ben

S'okay.... BigPete and I live in Echuca...... Decca was coming for the weekend anyway! Ben

Wallan and Shepparton...:thumb_up: Wallan has Nathan and Sue, Shepparton has Mat, Tristo, Harry and Oskar. Both schools with Tecnams, although Shepp has three....:) Ben

Even though the official fly-in was cancelled, BigPete, Decca and I attended and had our own mini fly-in anyway. Top marks to the Echuca Aero Club for their efforts.:thumb_up: The highlight of the weekend was watching the Maestro, Murray Lanyon thrilling the crowds and his passengers with awesome aerobatic displays in his 1947 Boeing Stearman. Another highlight was the Autogyro display (One of Paul Bruty's creations) as well as the static displays of the club aircraft (inbetween flights) Ben

Hi Karen, When you feel you want to escape the confines of Moorabin.. plonk Shepparton and Echuca on the list for a quick weekend getaway. Shepp has saturday lunches ($6) from 12.30 and would welcome you and the family to visit. Cheers, Ben

Just keep em' coming. One day the PC people will catch on that being PC is just BS.... (er..thats Bloody Silly) :smiley4: Ben

Reduce speed to below manouvering speed (turbulence penetration speed), tighten the seatbelt to prevent daylight under the trousers, gentle hand on the stick and keep the other mitt on the throttle, then ride it out. Ben

Gotta put me glasses on.... The piccie is of a Globemaster, while the vid is of a C130 Herc firing off flares.. or am I seeing things? The piccie could have been of the Globemaster after doing a similar thing... or the photoship, or it was Wayne Cary smoking again...:confused: Ben

I would have a good yarn with your instructor first. Ben

I was looking forward to seeing a model plane on a conveyor belt, to see if the bloody thing would fly (or not..) Ben

I'll be there for part of the time. Ben

Is that wake vortex from the camera ship or the MD17 at the right of picture? Ben

This involves my partner...... and a Tecnam. Just as the mains touched the tarmac, I got hit by a sudden hard gust from the right, and started to head for the weeds, even with right stick and nosewheel about to touch. I should have gone around, but I did'nt. Now I cop it regularly about my landings..... Ben

Never mind Sue being a fantastic instructor, she is a passionate and very accomplished pilot (although she will never say that). These are two of the three ingredients that make an outstanding instructor and mentor. 10/10 for Wallan! Ben

Sort of makes you wonder why all CTAF's arent a CTAF®... Aviate, navigate and COMMUNICATE. Ben