Ralf Matters

Either Aero Shell Sport 4 or Shell Advance vsx 4?????

I've searched the first 15 pages of these threads and I don't think it has been covered....

I got my last half box from Yarrawongga! Ringing Shell was useless. Motorcycle shops don't have the Advance any more....

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Hi Ralf,I fly out of Penfield, so often fly into that area from the west. You could certainly do what you suggest, keeping aware of Kyneton Airport (119.0), or you could follow the Calder a little further south to Rosslynne Reservoir, then turn east and approach Riddell's from there, keeping a good listen out, and look out, for Penfield traffic (121.6 - same as Riddell's).

 

As you say, you must keep a close eye on your altitude, stepping down appropriately. Be aware of the 2000ft step just to the east of Riddell's too.

 

If it is a windy day then also just keep in mind the potential effects of Mt Macedon - it can get a bit bumpy, so keep at least 100ft under the ATC steps to avoid any unintentional foray into Controlled Airspace! If you have dual radio then keep a listen on the Area frequency (135.7) too, as the controllers may warn you if you are getting too close for their comfort. They are pretty good in that respect.

 

HTH,

 

Cheers, Neil

Thanks 440032 I will keep planning and wait for good weather.

Hi Ralf,I fly out of Penfield, so often fly into that area from the west. You could certainly do what you suggest, keeping aware of Kyneton Airport (119.0), or you could follow the Calder a little further south to Rosslynne Reservoir, then turn east and approach Riddell's from there, keeping a good listen out, and look out, for Penfield traffic (121.6 - same as Riddell's).

 

As you say, you must keep a close eye on your altitude, stepping down appropriately. Be aware of the 2000ft step just to the east of Riddell's too.

 

If it is a windy day then also just keep in mind the potential effects of Mt Macedon - it can get a bit bumpy, so keep at least 100ft under the ATC steps to avoid any unintentional foray into Controlled Airspace! If you have dual radio then keep a listen on the Area frequency (135.7) too, as the controllers may warn you if you are getting too close for their comfort. They are pretty good in that respect.

 

HTH,

 

Cheers, Neil

Does anyone have any advice as to the best approach into Riddells Creek from the west?

I was wondering if it would be better to fly over Castlemaine paralleling the Calder Freeway stay north of Mt Macedon until the Melbourne/ Lancefield Rd and stay west of it and fly south into Riddells Creek? I have to stay out of controlled airspace so it gets pretty tight under 2500'

Advice from local flyers greatly appreciated....

Thanks for all your suggestions, it turned out the areial was ok all SWR values below 2 and it was the radio that has a problem, so I've returned it to xcom for repair. I'm going to plug my handheld into my areial and see if I can go for a fly this weekend anyway!

Where are you Robbo? Could I fly there?

Thanks for your suggestions, I'll follow them up.

Thanks for your reply, what does AES stand for?

Does anyone know of an Avionics Technician near Adelaide I can get my aerial installation tested? I am only Ra Aus registered so I can't fly into Parafield.

I just brought a second hand 196 with no data card, anyone got one for sale preferably with Australian maps on it?

Thank you to all the organisers and volunteers at Loxton Aero Club. The facilities were great, the food was fantastic and the speakers side splitting!

It was an aviation adventure for me both legs, there and back. I got rained in 10Nm out from Murray Bridge on the way back and had to back track to divert to Bowhill. A beautiful little strip with and exciting approach on finals from the north east over the Murray. I had to ask a local where I was and then walked a short 1.6Kms to a general store to buy some lunch. I waited a couple of hours for the weather to change and when I took off, with help from Gary and Elain Noris who flew over head to advise me the weather had changed, it looked like a different day! It certainly made a difference when faced with adverse conditions to be able to switch over to the chat channel and discuss the situation with an experienced aviator, thanks Gary.

It became clear to me how just a couple of crook decisions could have turned an inconvenience into a disaster. If I had chosen to fly higher to avoid the bumps and pushed on closer to my destination in hope of a hole in the clouds over hills. it could have been lethal. If I had of left the decision later at my low altitude I would have been rained in on my diversion track.

So this was a good learning experience for me just how subtlety things can go wrong and how quickly errors can stack up against you.

Although the education was good at the flyin I have a visceral memory of what to look for in the cloud scape to avoid being trapped with rapidly diminishing options. This experience also reinforced my instructors words about humility in the face of forces far greater than our planes and our wills.

1

I had a module failure recently, just prior to shutting down, B module was not firing, ie shorting A killed the engine. Floods could not believe it would the CDI module, but when I swapped them, it was clear it was the module. I didn't notice a problem in flight and it was fine on the preflight check.

I wondered if a loose sparkplug cap could 'overload' a module? Could erratic sparking at the cap stress a module causing it to fail?