Matt

Had my first 'solo' flight in the CT4 today...with no passengers that is...a very strange feeling I can tell ya! We needed to drop the CT4 down to Merimbula for the week as it needs a few minor maintenance issues to address. Kaz drove the car down and I flew down, both trips via Cooma. We left home at the same time, I took an extra long time to pre-flight and was 'wheels up' just over an hour after we left home. Sent a txt message to Kaz just as I was approaching Cooma and Kaz was just leaving, thought I'd see if I could find her (and make sure she was on the right road :)). Tracked her down just out of Cooma and 'buzzed' her a few times before heading down to Merimbula...was on the ground for about 35 minutes before Kaz showed up. FLYING RULES!!! So...to the unexpected treat. Rex (our LAME) invited us to a get together at a local strip called Frogs Hollow...which is really a sheep paddock with a kind owner who lets locals fly from there, it's located between Merimbula and Bega. So on our drive home we stopped in to say g'day and meet some of the locals. One of the locals is a fella by the name of Des Heffernan and is the proud owner of the only Victa Aircruiser ever made. For those who don't know the history, the Victa Aircruiser was a 4 seat version of the Airtouer and ultimately became the basis for the CT4. The Aircruiser was never put into production due to the Victa aviation department going broke at the time and the designs were sold to AESL in NZ. AESL didn't progress with the Aircruiser but focussed on the CT4 design as a number of Air Forces were after an ab-initio trainer at the time...including Australia...and the Aircruiser became the Airtrainer. Apart from the obvious cockpit differences, the airframe and engine is practically identical except the CT4 is a bit 'tougher' to cope with +6/-3g loads...and the exploit of Air Force pilot trainees . Not only is Des a lovely bloke with a very unique aircraft and some great stories...he was nice enough to offer us a flight in the Aircruiser...and who am I to say no to a fight in a unique aircraft such as this! Then to my surprise, he tells me to get in the pilot seat and take controls of his pride and joy. Despite some of the similarities between the the CT4 and the Aircruiser, the cockpit setup is completely different...like a yoke not a joystick, centre throttle/prop/mixture controls not dual throttle quadrants, hand operated non-differential brakes, manual flaps...plus a heap of other stuff...so it's a bit different. Apart from all of that, it was actually very similar to fly to the CT4...not quite as noisy though as the Aircruiser has mufflers as it was designed for civil use and actually has some insulation. So we went for a bit of a doddle around Bega and then back into circuit using the same procedure and numbers as the CT4 for a greaser of a landing...I think even Des was impressed with the effort from this "rookie" :). Anyway, after a great aviation adventure, we then had to sit in the car for 2.5 hours in the never ending line of cars heading back to Canberra & Sydney on the road from Cooma to Canberra...did I mention that FLYING RULES!!!

Great pics Paul, was down that way today on my way to drop the CT4 off at Merimbula. The view of the snow on the mountains is fantastic.

G'day Ian, that is a good trip / loop that you did. PS: the reason for the close call is that you should actually be at 2500' northbound in the VFR lane past Moorabin and around up to Altona as inbound traffic to Moorabin and traffic southbound in the VFR lane will be at 1500'. You should also be on Moorabin tower and advise them you're in the area while in the vacinty. Check out the Visual Flight Guide for Melbourne or the ERSA for full details. Cheers, Matt.

There are at least 20 in Australia now. For exact numbers check with Peter Harlow @ Silverwing Aviation http://www.silverwing.com.au Not aware of any in the Sydney area but Peter could probably let you know if there are. Cheers, Matt (formerly Sportstar3978)

Yep that was us. Know what you mean about the sun glare, always bad on approach to 30 in the afternoon - even with a good windscreen. What were you doing at Canberra, just passing through?

If it's auto there's no mixture control, just a throttle. If it's manual then there's a mixture control and throttle. As for cruising at full throttle, as an example as your altitude increases you'll move from 75% power / 75% throttle setting at sea level to 75% power / 100% throttle setting (wide open throttle) at 7500' (as an example). Power is generally measured using manifold pressure where a given manifold pressure setting will represent a given power setting or percentage for a given altitude. The cruise power for our CT4 is 23 inches of mercury (intake manifold pressure) at 2600 RPM. At sea level, this will represent roughly 75% power at a throttle setting of about 75%. At 7500 feet for example, 23 inches equates to full (wide open). So effectively you are flying at full throttle (but not full power) at 7500 feet. Piston engines with a turbo overcome this issue (reduction of available power as altitude increases) by forcing higher (than ambiant) pressure air into the intake manifold. Hope that helps a little.

There's lots involved with the theory on this topic...I'll have a go at a simple explanation. Power for piston engines varies with altitude, the higher you go the less power is produced for a given throttle setting. The manual with the engine will describe what power is produced at various altitudes with respective % throttle settings. With respect the mixture control, this again varies with engines. The Rotax 912/914 series, Jabiru engines etc. for example have an auto-mixture control or pressure calibrated mixture control. With Electronic Fuel Injected mixture is automatically controlled but older Mechanical Fuel Injection systems (like in our CT4) have a manual mixture control and mixture is set based on a combination of fuel flow settings for a given altitude from the flight manual and EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature). There's a lot more to this and it's worth reading the manual for each aircraft / engine you're flying and understand it thoroughly...for this and all systems operations. Cheers, Matt.

Didn't make it up to The Oaks today either, weather was similar to yesterday with thick fog then low cloud until about 13.30. Got into the air and headed up to Goulburn for some airwork, a bit of playing around with the video camera, some circuits at Goulburn then headed back home. Had to pack up early despite perfect weather this afternoon (CAVOK, nil wind) as my folks are in town and should probably be spending some time with them instead of in the air :). Disperse - I can thoroughly recommend Command Flight Planner, of all those on the market I found it to be the best all round planner and is good for very basic planning through to IFR. Cheers, Matt.

All good plans...bloody weather! We finally got in the air about 15:30 too. Very thick fog this morning in Canberra which then lifted about 13:00 to become low cloud with no getting out over the hills until late this afternoon. So we did a quick spin around Canberra - a little circuit called the City Flight. We fitted the video camera with a wide angle lens to the roll cage and got some great video...once I've edited it down from 45 minutes I'll post it somewhere. Attached is the GPS track for our quick trip. The approach was very interesting...as per the very roundabout way of getting back to runway 35. Our initial approach was from the west to join left base for 35, then due to an inbound 737 we were directed to join right downwind for runway 30, tracked to mid-final runway 30 with a C172 on short-final on 35 and conflict likely, so around we go to join right base for runway 35...finally got on the ground with a GPS track that looks like a bit of a love heart :;)7: (according to Kaz at least )...looks more like a mitten to me :). Also ran into an old friend of Ian's - his old CT SW, currently parked next to our CT at Canberra airport. If the fog and cloud allows tomorrow, we'll try our planned Wollongong then The Oaks trip. Maybe see ya'll tomorrow. Cheers, Matt.

We'll be heading to Wollongong for a light lunch tomorrow (Saturday). Expect to be there between 11.30 and 12 then we'll probably head up to The Oaks to catch up with the guys there. Be good to see you there Mazda if you can make it. Cheers, Matt.

G'day Mike, A few options for Cessnock to Bundy that I've played with, see thumbnails for plan tracks & distances: 1. Coastal. Keep the land on the left and water on the right on the way up. Bit of controlled airspace to get through / under but as others have reported recently, nothing too difficult to deal with. Distance 550nm. 2. Cessnock - Armidale - Toowomba - Bundaberg. Essentially a straight line. Bit of tiger country alont this path, particularly the Cessnock-Toowoomb-Armidale leg. Distance 475nm. 3. Cessnock - Scone - Gunnedah - Toowomba - Bundaberg. Less tiger country and no airspace issues to deal with. You could go via Tamworth instead of Gunnedah but tower will be active on the Friday and Monday. Distance (via Gunnedah) 500nm. Ultimately it depends on whether you want the scenery of the coast or the inland route. Not a great deal of difference in distance - 50nm or 30/40 mins flight time. Probably a few more enroute landing options via the coastal route as there are quite a few airfields dotted along the coast. We'll be going direct Canberra - Tamworth - Toowoomba - Bundaberg. Distance 650nm, 5 hours flight time stopping at Tamworth to top up tanks and a cuppa. Hope this is of some help, let me know if there's any other scenarios you'd like put together. Cheers, Matt.

Must be time for us to visit again, might head over to Wollongong for a quick lunch then up to The Oaks to catch up with whoever is around. Cheers, Matt.

Might have to take you up on that offer, the weather for this weekend is looking perfect. Will arrange something later in the week. Cheers, Matt.

Hi Alan, are you normally at HARS on the weekend? If so, next time we're over there for lunch we'll drop in and say g'day. Cheers, Matt.

Speaking of the Bundaberg Airshow, who else out there is going? We're heading up on the Friday and back home on the Monday and will be camping in the campground being setup for the airshow. Our planned route is Canberra-Tamworth-Toowoomba-Bundaberg. Hopefully catch up with some of you there. Cheers, Matt.

Thanks Shelley and Ross - credit should really go to Kaz as she was the photographer, I was merely flying the plane :) Figured with all the photos we submitted we should've been in with a chance Cheers, Matt.

1. Bankstown 2. Holsworthy? - never flown over it but i've been there on the ground and looks familiar. 3. Mittagong

Crazy but true, Airservices can't offer you or continue a radar service if you're no longer on radar. This not only applies to flight following but any radar service - happens pretty regularly around the south east coast if you're below about 4000', radar services are terminated an re-initiated as aircraft go in and out of radar coverage around this area.

Yep, REX fly in there from Melbourne and Sydney. Cheers, Kaz

A correction here, if you are out of radar coverage your flight following service (as with any radar services) will be terminated by ATC. If you come back into coverage the service may be re-instated. Cheers, Matt.

G'day Geoff, You don't need to have anything filed to use Flightwatch, just call them up with your request. In my experience they're generally pretty quiet and I've always had pleasant dealings with the guys & gals operating this service. Cheers, Matt.

Have a look at http://www.airtourer.asn.au/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Victa_Airtourer The 115 also known as the T2 is the 115HP version of the Airtourer. The Airtourer and CT4 while coming from the same heritage are actually quite different aircraft, the CT4 based on the 4 seat Aircruiser of which only 1 was ever built. Airtourer is from memory somewhere around 750KG MTOW, CT4A 1111KG. Airtourer T2 has 115HP engine, CT4 has a 210HP engine. The list goes on... Cheers, Matt.

There's a few airfields to choose from in the 'central victoria' region - Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Benalla, Wangaratta, Yarrawonga...probably more if I looked at map. From memory none of these are security controlled and all are recreational friendly. I'd vote for Ballarat I reckon, plenty of tourist stuff to do in the local area, airfield is reasonably close to town, I think there's even accomodation huts onsite (I remember reading that somewhere)...and the weather should be pretty good in early November. It'd be interesting to see a bit of a poll conducted (a graph is easier to read than all these posts :))to see who would fly in, where they're from and where they'd travel to. If the majority of attendees are going to come from Victoria, it makes sense to have it somewhere central for the majority. This area (central / north Victoria) would suite those from Southern NSW, Victoria and the eastern (populated :)) side of SA...maybe even those from Tassie. I understand the 'cup day weekend' concept that Victorians might travel further, but if the majority of likely attendees are going to be Victorian, seems fair to me to have it closest for the majority...pretty sure the majority of the Camden Haven participants were relatively local. Cheers, Matt.

Got up bright and early on Saturday to a glorious morning in Canberra - crisp blue sky, no clouds and -4 degrees. The forecast for the route across to Wollongong then up the coast to Camden Haven looked pretty good. Flight planning done, bags packed, rugged up and off we head to the airport...to be greeted by a CT4 that didn't appear to have much in the way of orange paint...that'd be due a thick layer of ice covering everything! After an hour of scraping ice, pouring warm water (we did think ahead a little) and rotating the frozen aircraft in the sun, it was finally free of ice and off we went...only about 30 minutes behind schedule. (no pictures of ice-laden aircraft...Kaz's hands were too frozen to operate the camera :)) Headed across to Wollongong at 5500' in the most perfect conditions, clear blue sky, no wind and not a bump to be found. From 5500' we slowly descend with the CTA steps down to 500' for Victor One. Sydney weather was good and not much in the way of smog at that time of day on a Saturday so the view was fantastic. Continuing up the coast we climb back up to a more respectable 1500' for the rest of the trip. We haven't been any further north up the coast than Manly before so it was a new experience travelling up this part of the coast. As we neared Newcastle we were astounded by the number of bulk carriers laying of the coast, obviously a bit of a bit of a backlog due to the recent weather up that way...I think Kaz counted over 70 ships as we approached the most famous bulk carrier in the country... Despite having been here for a while now, the attention it draws is amazing, there were helicopters, trikes and a few other lighty's in the area as we went passed as well as a line of cars that stretched back into the Newcastle CBD. Heading further up the coast we pass Williamtown RAAF Base and the impressive sand dunes in the area then head inland and a direct track for Camden Haven. Just on 2 hours after we left Canberra we approach Camden Haven and overfly to head up to Port Macquarie to top up the tanks - ours and the CT4s :). As we leave Port to head back down to Camden Haven we're overtaken by Rod Hall in one of his Strikemasters (lucky bugger has a couple of them!) as he also heads down to put on a bit of a display for those on the ground. From all reports by those on the ground it was a very impressive display...looked pretty good from 1500' too as we orbited waiting for the display to finish. Onwards to Camden Haven and this jem of an airfield crammed in between some impressive looking hills and surrounded by trees...not a strip for the faint hearted! After landing on what feels like a bowling green with 3 inches of foam under it (no excuses for a bad landing here!) we taxy into the little cove by the river and park...our 'warbird' looking a little out of place amongst the other 'recreational' aircraft. As we were hoping, Gregg and Sue had brought our old baby down for the day and we had an opportunity to bond again and introduce Dimples to the new member of our family...they seemed to get along ok :) Spent the afternoon meeting some of you and talking plenty of aviation. Went for a quick flight locally with Gregg...who's now in the market for a CT4 Rolling down the green... There were quite a few different aircraft on show...not the usual Jabiru festival you see at fly-ins these days. Here's what Ross (Slartibartfast) was drooling over and has on his shopping list... Here's the aviation equivalent of a Monster Truck...these tyres were definitely overkill for this strip! After an afternoon of talking, talking and more talking...we all headed up to Port Macquarie to gather at the Hastings District Flying Club for an information session by CASA, some great food, a few good yarns and wise words from Rod Hall...oh, and more talking...accompanied by a few ales of course :) Up early again this morning and out to Port Macquarie airport to fuel up for the days flying and head back down to Camden Haven...in company with some of the family... Arriving at Camden Haven for Day 2 of talking ourselves to sore throats, a couple of us were convinced that this was a Warbird fly-in and we were going to have more CT4's on show than Jabirus :) Not only does Rod Hall own a couple of Strikemasters, he also owns a CT4 which he uses for adventure flights for those that can't afford a money-burning flight in the Strikemaster. I thought going from a fuel burn of 16L/hour to 40L/hour was a bit of a leap...can't imagine footing the bill for 1200L/hour of Jet-A1! After some more talking, coffee and shopping in Ian's tent (I can't resist a bargain...that's me, not Kaz ) we say farewell to Gregg, Sue, Rob (small furry ballast that sits on the parcel shelf) and Dimples before we make our way home The planned trip home was a reverse of our trip up, down the coast to Wollongong then direct to Canberra...that was all going pretty well until we were heading southward along Victor-1 looking at a wall of very dark grey sky and rain just south of Jibbon Point. After listening to Sydney and Bankstown ATIS again without a lot of hope of it clearing up we turned 180 degrees and headed back up the coast as the weather north of Sydney was pretty good. We went backup up as far as Gosford then tracked across to Bathurst...climbing up to 8500' to get over some cloud and a fair bit of tiger country. Got to Bathurst and clear skies again where we stopped to top up tanks again...yep, both ours and the CT4s :) Departed Bathurst and head south for Canberra with the weather only getting better as we get closer to home. ATIS for Canberra advises CAVOK with a variable wind at 3kt...can't ask for better conditions. Flight times for the weekend: Canberra to Camden Haven - 2.1 hours. Camden Haven to Canberra (via Sydney then Bathurst) - 4.0 hours. I don't have any GPS tracks yet...spent the evening getting the photos sorted and typing this post...will edit the post later to add these in. Kaz and I would like to say a VERY BIG THANKS to Ian and all those involved in making this weekend happen. It was a great opportunity to meet some of you for the first time and catch up with those we've already met through this forum. As I said to Ian this morning, this forum not only provides some great entertainment, information and shopping, it also provides the opportunity to meet like-minded people who we would probably have never met if not for this forum. Thanks again Ian, we'll continue to support and promote the forum and look forward to the next fly-in...wherever and whenever it might be. Cheers, Matt & Kaz. PS: The Canberra Clan needs to figure out a way of meeting in Canberra, I think there were 6 or more of us from Canberra and Cooma area who flew all the way to Camden Haven to catch up!

If anyone around the fly-in area is up bright and early on Saturday morning and has access to the forums would appreciate a post on a local pilot's perspective on the weather around Camden Haven. Might also give Ian or someone a call if a post can't be made. Forecast looks reasonable for our planned route which is Canberra across to Wollongong then up the coast. As long as we can get across to Wollongong we should be right under any cloud along the coast...we could use a wash too :) Cheers, Matt.