damoski

Hey Jake, I went through an identical experience last week (insofar as I went up in a JabLSA, having flown Foxbats the last year). I had just come back from a couple of trips away where being able to fly a Jab would have opened up my rental options, so thought I'd give it a go. As it was, it was... interesting. The walkaround opened my eyes a little - especially looking over those tiny tyres, and when I realised that the sophisticated-sounding stall warning horn was a direct vacuum tube rather than electronic (I wonder how many people lock their lips around that leading edge every week), and when I was told about the size and travel of the stick. What was more interesting was when we started rolling with 2 decent-sized adults and some fuel, and I had to triple-take to check that, yes, the throttle was fully open.... Having said all that, possibly from the various comments here and in other places, I was expecting some kind of unmanageable dog I would barely manage to keep flying, and walk away from sweating and shaking. As such, it was instead, rather enjoyable. Maybe some of my prior experience in CTSWs (for more complex handling characteristics and trickier landings) and Skyranger 582 (for being patient in takeoffs) seeped from my subconscious back into my muscle memory, but it flew off the ground easily enough. In the circuit, I was pretty sloppy in turns and altitude, but no dramas, and I think I could tighten that up quickly enough. Differences like leading strongly with the rudder, did actually feel to me 'more like flying' - more complex control inputs, more refinement needed - something else to learn, and more enjoyable in the process. Mind you, this is coming from someone who enjoyed tearing down A-roads in his 1.4l automatic (0-100kph, 22.6s), because it required more planning and energy management than simply driving a decent car, sitting on a car's bumper and gunning past it on the straights. Again, from comparisons, I was expecting it to require constant management in the turns, and be barely recoverable in a stall. Both far from the truth - it seemed perfectly stable and happy to sit in a steep bank, and we were unable to get it to stall - minimum speed we could get, from memory, was 60kts clean, 50kts dirty (is that right?). That did get my mind racing as to what that would do, given approach speeds and contingencies. As for general control - on a fine day, it felt easier to fly, because of the lack of sensitivity - ie. bootfuls of control input to get it to do things. I remember a stick far forward-left to get out of a turn, and a half-bootful of rudder to get it into one. Surprisingly, I didn't really notice any issue with the stick or throttle positions from pretty much after take-off. Finals and landing picture seemed to transfer well from the Foxbat; my instincts on glide slope turned out to be not too far out, even power-on rather than glide approaches, and flaring was, again, easier because of the lack of options. Compared to the Foxbat where you can easily strip-run, or twitch it back into the air if you're not careful, the Jab was going down and staying down - the stick was already back against the stop, and there wasn't much else to think about. Apart from remembering the carb heat. So - my impression from only an hour and 3 touch and goes in the Jab, was that in fine conditions, zero wind, and zero problems, with an excellent instructor in the RHS, it was easy enough. However, conversely, that would translate to a heck of a lot to think about in less than ideal conditions, such as strong turbulence, shorter runways, heavier fuel load, etc. I did feel nervous about my prospects on an engine failure on approach, or EFATO, or rounding out in blustery conditions, which of course, you need to be able to do. I can agree with the arguments for getting students started on a Foxbat rather than a Jab LSA; it's good to know how to handle an aircraft with less power and control authority available, but I would say that the Foxbat's handling allows for a student to get the basics down quicker, and also go on to learn how to control it in more challenging conditions where the Jab would just run out of control authority. As to which Foxbat habits transferred badly to the Jab: I found myself pointing the nose upward a bit more than was decent on the Jab, on climb-out, although only slightly. I kept finding myself going downwind at 70kts rather than 80-85. I found myself approaching Vfe on base and final turns. I often reduced power where my instructor preferred I keep it at full. And I wasn't 100% on the ball with the additional controls in circuit checklists (carb heat, trim check, etc) - but I was almost there. I'll seek a few more sessions before going solo, but I didn't feel that I would be particularly nervous going solo in it - something I thought I would be. D

Maybe in a dive? Actually.. I don't think the SSDR spec has a maximum speed.. :-)

Hopefully I'll be there. Actually, we'll be flying back from Temora on Sunday towards Sydney, wx permitting, and having never ventured west of Canberra before, are there any sights that are worth taking a detour for, or airfields worth visiting (now there's a subjective question :-) ) enroute, on the way back? I see Tumut has a lunch that I was considering dropping in on, if range permits...

I did call a school down there, and they said they were focused on GA but could do an RAA endorsement.... If I bought my own plane. In fact, that seems to be about the size of it - getting the endorsement doesn't really enable you very much, as it will be float or floating-hull specific, the aircraft are different enough in handling that getting type-trained requires almost as much time as getting an endorsement from scratch, and you'll have a tough time finding one to rent or share. About half the instructors I found (ie 2 of 3 or 4) are also aircraft importers and maintain the rating in order to enable buyers to be ble to fly their new toy. In short, it seems the best way to get experience on a waterborne aircraft is to buy one...

Hi all, Having got into aviation primarily with the dream of touring a country and seeing all the sights from aloft, I've become keenly interested in the notion of doing that in a more WWW-friendly manner (Wife, Wallet and Weather). Namely, buying a Flylight Dragonfly or Airborne T-Light, putting it in the back of a station wagon, driving to somewhere I'd like to see, parking, rigging, taking off, and, well, seeing the sights. The thing is - it's a lovely dream (my other being flying and landing on lakes), but is it a realistic one? I'm thinking of things such as - can you just rock up to most small airstrips and ask to assemble and launch from there? Can you really go out into the country, to a paddock, to a beach, to a dry lake bed, find a suitable spot, ask the owner if you can launch from there, and will they say yes? Is transporting the aircraft really feasible in a station wagon, or might the wing make it impractical to drive long distances, or the airframe and engine take up so much space that there's no room for anything else (tent, clothes, etc) for a long weekend? The other thing that attracts me - is the possibility of getting closer to those sights: that with lower stall speed and correspondingly smaller outlanding sites, you could get much closer to wildlife, etc than in a 3-axis aircraft, where you would always maintain a decent altitude to be able to glide to a safe outlanding. Again, is that something that can happen in practice? In other words - does anyone reading this own one of these baby trikes, do you actually live that dream, and how to do you find it? Thanks! D

I've been looking forward to this one for a while... they passed a milestone around 18 months ago IIRC, which I think was the initial CAD design and extensive testing of the concept in X-Plane, plus securing next-phase funding and establishing market interest by taking deposits for a waiting list. It seems to be almost what you might expect if Apple designed an aircraft - start from the ground up, use the latest popular tools (including publishing virtual prototype X-Plane models for prospective buyers to test). End-result - hopefully - an SSDR with 100-120kt cruise, 350-500nm range, and glass cockpit. And to think I was considering a Flylight Dragonfly! D

Thanks! Have mailed them! I'm thinking of just getting an RAA endorsement, which I'm hoping would be around $1000-1500, so Alaska is a bit out of my reach :-)

Thanks! Sheldon is going to call me back on that.

Yeah, the only one the RAA list are in Port Macquarie (Guru aviation). There must be waterborne-endorsed flyers here; if you read this, how did you get endorsed?

Hmm :-) Given they operate Beavers and Caravans out of VERY controlled airspace, I suspect they might not be too involved in Recreational :-) Just saw they have a daily service to Newcastle - that is rather a cool commute!

Thanks Tomo - yeah - our airfield was in that awkward state recently between being dry enough to land on, or wet enough to float on. Any wetter, and floats would have helped. I've been told Eugene Reid instructs on a waterborne in Tasmania (his site doesn't say what), but am ideally looking for something closer to home!

Hi all, I think I may have posted this before... but I'm looking for somewhere to get my Waterborne endorsement. I guess the key thing is an endorsed examiner, and a plane. Can anyone suggest anywhere - ideally within driving distance from Sydney? The RAA site only lists 2. Thanks! Damian

Thanks Mike, didn't see that!

I'm not going there :-) Although I don't believe OzRunways is available for Android... ;-)

OK, that's a good sign - thanks :-) @Mark: I can do that - and do - but like I say, two (or 3 including the GPS) devices to charge, two devices to run down. I've just got back from a day at the beach while reading the online Tutorials for my nav exam, during which I managed to run down all of my iPad, iPhone, 5AH charger, and 3G dongle. (Just waiting for the iPhone to charge back up enough to have some music during my evening run.) If I get the 3G iPad, I don't have to worry about carrying cables for USB-miniUSB (GPS), USB-iPhone, USB-iPad and 3-way mains-USB adapter to charge the whole lot from dead overnight, if I travel away from home!!

Is anyone using a 3G iPad in the cockpit and finding it good enough for Nav? I bought a Wifi ipad, but am really missing the ability to "just use it", rather than powering up my 3G Wifi modem, think about buying a Bluetooth GPS, make sure all of them are charged, etc. I'm thinking about buying a 3G iPad when next over in the states, but would hate to do so, and then find it just can't get a reliable fix in the cockpit (Foxbat). D

I looked at Air Navigation, and have paid for NAIPS and OzRunways after my trial expired, but I have to say there's still space for a well-designed app that seamlessly supports VFR Pilot Workflow. By that, I mean something that I can open a map on in the morning and mark out my intended route. Display weather forecast, airspace, check NOTAMS. Make my own annotations where I wish. Put in fuel load and it incorporates range and reserves. Program in an alternate. Check ERSAs and link them to waypoints, together with my own notes that can be pulled up - perhaps as tap waypoints on the map. Enroute, it updates my logbook, tracks my course, and highlights deviations from the calculated plan, including impact on range. Weather radar, even public SSR feeds, can be pulled up. I can set pop-up reminders based on range from a waypoint, terms, or fuel state - such as a reminder to change frequency or call ahead. While we're at it, why not proximity alarms linked to SSR feeds, airspace tracking, and other users of the app based on projected course. Maybe even a friend locator. The option to upload your track to a website for friends at your destination to check your position and ETA. The thing is - most of these exist as separate apps, and each new one becomes a "must have". We may soon be the point where juggling between the "must have" apps becomes a distraction in its own right. (It could be argued that all this automation reduces Airmanship, but the genie is out of that bottle, and most of us appreciate the danger of complacency). The trick is doing all this in one app with excellent workflow, usability, and stable :-)

There are lots of good suggestions, but how many can you execute in a panic, in 40 seconds or so? I'm not keen on a >60 degree bank and dive without power to effect a sharp change of direction - it's a nice idea, but only one I would consider trying if I had hundreds of hours under my belt and had absolute confidence that I could perform such maneuovures with zero mistakes, even in times of high stress. I hope to be that good one day! For my part, the steps I would rely on would be: - Wear lifejacket, brief passenger, tighten seatbelts, read ahead for beach/out landing possibilities - Keep updating current position in your mind (eg. "victor1 Bondi beach"), so you can immediately declare it without having to think. Hopefully not a problem on a scenic flight! - on engine failure, do a double take. Feel adrenalin kick in. Start a gentle turn towards landing site or shore if viable, assume best glide - meanwhile, broadcast mayday, call sign, location, pob - maybe repeat the location - Crack open doors if appropriate - ensure pax is in brace position - aim for beach if an option and empty; shallows alongside boats or swimmers if not - use flaps, then heavy flare, to touch tail first at minimum velocity - cover face instinctively, maybe draw back feet? - get out Also - no-one has mentioned attempting a restart? I guess I would feel it's unlikely to help - whatever caused the engine to stop (assuming you've nervously checked Ts&Ps and fuel before flying over the coast) is unlikely to be resolved by turning gar ignition, and there's no time for it. I've only had 2 major scares that I can think of in my life: one was coming off a motorbike at 110kph, and the other was being caught in a crumbling building in a major earthquake. The first taught me that accidents can happen so quickly as to make the best intentioned plans unachievable, and the second was it's all well and good planning to duck under tables or in doorways because the survival stats indicate that's the best course of action, but human nature is to run in fear for the nearest exit and screw the advice. Now.... In flying we do have some amount of time in which to use the training we've had drummed into us, but I would really still want to try to stick to a simple plan that closely aligns to my survival instinct! D

Hmm. Just saw this ad :-) http://www.afors.com/index.php?page=adview&adid=20287&imid=0

Found it (from BMAA)

Hi! Anyone know if it is on a catchup service? Just landed at SYD and heading home; really got to see this! Amazing stuff!

He did shoot in-flight video I think - although from the interviews, it looks like a Sony Cybershot 3mp camera like I had a long time ago; not quite up to viewers HD TVs these days. He hasn't shared any of it yet AFAIK. The trouble is that there's so much consumer journalism with modern phones, cameras and social media, you really have to push yourself out there to be seen.

Fantastic - thanks for sharing!

Hopefully he'll update the blog tonight.

I'm in SYD due to fly away for a couple of days, so will have to settle for the photos, I guess!