Jeff Gordon

Grant did you get the Polaris FIB? am interested in the concept and the cost

Long time navigator on the water and have been completely lost on more that one occasion. On one spectacular occasion we found ourselves off King Islands rugged West Coast going south...stormy night and thought we were going NE along the coast from Cape Otway...but really going SW. Pretty lucky that I am here today to talk about it. So it was with great trepedation that I took my Nav exercises. One big hint that someone gave me that has helped is that one finger width on a WAC map is approx 10nm and when lost, the time from your last know point is the first thing to remember, then compute for 90 knots (my approx air speed) is about 1.5 distance. So 10 minutes flying will equal 15nm. Then using your finger width (or your trusty WAC ruler) and knowing your rough direction will put you on the map somewhere about where you are. then start looking for obvious landmarks that you can relate to the map.

Howdy Greg and welcome aboard the forum flying post!

Yes Congratulations Solomon, you have begun a great journey and I am sure you will be very good at it. Lots of challenges ahead though in your flying career. It would be good to continue with Bruce and making an arrangement with him will be good to rack up some more hours. Lethbridge is a warm and friendly place and I am sure you will make some good mates there.

Great Work Motz. Loved the videos and Solomon seems like a very capable student. I am sure he will go far in the Aviation Industry. I said to Solomon when he flew with me at Moorabbin that I would arrange a few lessons with Bruce Vickers at Lethbridge. Would that fit into his training. schedule? If it is OK then Bruce is awaiting his call.

Hi Solomon, Hope you are well. And looking forward to hearing how you went during the School Holidays. Did you complete the flying lessons? Don't forget that Bruce Vickers is waiting for your call re some training at Lethbridge.

Sorry guys, got the wrong date

No I am confused. Then this is not the plane that flipped with three occupants onboard. all saved?

Comments re Old Bar are at the end of this article from the Australian online. A man has died in one of two light plane crashes in New South Wales this morning. The man was performing aerobatics at the Temora Aviation Museum when the single engine plane crashed about 10:30am (AEDT). The museum was set up by David Lowy, the son of billionaire Westfield boss Frank Lowy. Emergency crews arrived at the scene shortly after the crash to find the plane - known as an Extra 300 - on fire. The Ambulance Service's Riverina District Manager, Eamon Purcell, says it is not clear if anyone else has been injured in the crash. "As far as we can see it was a single plane that has had some incident happen to it," he said. "It's crashed in the vicinity of the museum and we have fire brigade, police and ambulance on the scene at the moment trying to work out what's going on." About half an hour earlier at Taree, on the state's mid-north coast, a light plane slipped on the runway of the Old Bar airstrip and landed on its roof. Two people were on board and managed to free themselves from the wreckage. They are being treated by paramedics.

Was it on takeoff or landing?

Well done Oksinay. I trained on a Tecnam, Great bird and simple to fly. Enjoy your journey into the unknown, which will become the well known!

Hi Brendon, Welcome:welcome:to RA-AUS and I hope you enjoy the journey. Heaps to learn mentally and physically, but easier for you I guess than us ! no doubt.I was trained by Bruce at Lethbridge and can only speak very highly of him. The first time in the Tecnam charging down runway 36 and floating effortlessly into the air was pure bliss and I was hooked. Bruce let me do it all right from that first moment, or made me feel like I was doing it all, which is probably more correct. Good luck on your journey, I hope to catch up with you at some time at a future fly-in.

Thanks, this is very interesting FV. The Preliminary Report on this very sad incident is certainly a very salutory lesson to all pilots in so many ways. I am not NVFR rated, but I guess when you get the rating there would be strong lessons about the type of weather and terrain you should be flying over. I am not following this thread for any morbid reasons but to implant in myself and other pilots the sort of safety boundaries that we need to place around us. This looks like a series of decisions by an experienced pilot, that compounded and produced the outcome of flying into terrain. The GPS trail from EN to Bendigo suggests dodging weather during the first part of the flight and right wing low on impact could indicate lack of orientation from a non instrument rated pilot in difficult flying conditions.

That's the first news of a landing in Bendigo that I have read. The Pilot was possibly being cautious in this regard due to his initial weather report. But something must have changed his mind (in Bendigo) to make him want to press on with the flight. It would be very interesting to find out what happened in Bendigo as the stop there opens another whole lot of questions. Did they stop and exit the plane, did they speak to anyone or download more weather information, did they take on fuel or similar?

Thanks for the information Sue re this and the Accident North of Melbourne. I have Bookmarked the link to the ATSB website. In answer to your post David. the eyewitness report said: So I think the plane may have been too low to complete the turn and stalled in the turn and consequently ditched. Only time will tell.

I'm impressed with Channel 9. A well put together story and quite caring of the survivor. I think the footage underwater is of the lightwing, but the footage going into the water is possibly done with a R.C. or from archives...but is very realistic.

Has anyone heard any preliminary report on this incident? I noticed that the ABC made an announcement re the Chopper Crash at Lake Eyre on todays midday news.

Saw a VH reg Foxbat today at Moorabbin. White, roomy with heaps of clear perspex and vision. Very nice looking plane that took off before the keys on 35L.

Nice story about David Archer. I saw something on the ABC news tonight about a Catalina Flying boat coming back to Australia. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-12-02/wwii-flying-boat-arrives-in-darwin/226726 The WW11 pilot now 91 climbed back into the cockpit and relived his years doing 32 hour sortis. The Qantas Pilot who flew it out to Oz, said that would have been a real struggle and they earned their reputations as rather than fly, you have to wrestle the thing through the air.

Thank goodness my name has two fs in it!

Thanks eigtyknots I had a look and a very iteresting site indeed.

Welcome Wodin, don't be flyin in the MB training area tomorrow morning, I'll be practicing stalls and recovery from unusual attitudes, I may fall on you!

Welcome jmodista to the Rec Flyers Forum-discussion-pages. Great to hear that you have scaled up after all these years! No doubt you will have a real depth of knowledge about design and aeronautical engineering. NB: From a many years sailor and now an aviator I must say that word aeronautical has a certain ring to it.

I would try to stall my Maule (27knots) just above the water tail in first. still be a hell of a shock and maybe it would still flip, but seatbelts and the engine upfront should take some of the load. Another good reason to own a STOL plane.