David Isaac

Hi Riley, During the training phase all solos must be authorised by the instructor under his supervision. Any solo work is a part of your supervised training and yes, there are solo sessions the instructor will send you out to practice. You cant just hire an aircraft and going flying until you have the pilot certificate.

Should have added yourself to the sale list. You are a bit of an ol stud. Ho Ho Ho Ha ha ha ... lover yer week HH.

Just dont burn them otherwise same risks as an ordinary battery

'Pause and reflect' would be understood by all.

On ya Yenn. You must be a healthy incident free ol bastard ... LOL. Must be that ACT end air.

By ‘gotcha’, I was not implying a specific cause, simply that whatever happened ‘gothim’. More a statement of the profound obvious really. Please don’t assume that I am implying any pilot error.

Sobering when such gotcha moments can catch out such highly respected and experienced pilots. Terribly terribly sad.

That is a very enlightening read from Transport Canada. Obvious from benign to nasty in a split second. I have flown the Beaver, one of Sydney harbour seaplanes ones actually many years ago but never that close to the stall. Nice aeroplane as long as you don’t want to go fast but need to carry lots of weight.

I have only been on this forum spasmodically for the last two years. In fact I haven’t flown for over two years. This forum is still the best information resource available. Facebook is no where near as traceable and wanders all over the place. Try and find a discussion on a topic six months ago ... hopeless. This forum structure is logical and easy to search. Pity to see it change. I can come back in after six months and pick up from where I was last time; follow any subject and banter with whoever I like. It’s a pity the direction of software development takes us to places we need not go.

DJP, If I read those graphs correctly, the lack of taper has a greater effect on stall than the aspect ratio alone. Is that a correct interpretation

That was the eye witness account I heard on TV last night also.

Either way, pilot error or not, mechanical or not, a bloody terrible accident for all parties and the future of Sydney Harbour Seaplanes. To my knowledge this is their first fatality. There have been other seaplane tragedies in Sydney, e.g the C185 at Berowra with all souls lost but that was NOT Sydney Harbour seaplanes. My heart weeps for the families of all concerned.

It appears 6 souls lost. Tragic.

Yep, just get someone to keep 100m clear hard sand. A few good friends could do that, better than later when they are all sun baking.

Hey Callahan, That little Maxair of yours looks great. Not many of them remaining in Oz, most are modified Australian versions of either ‘Austflight’ or ‘Fisher’ varieties. One of the Fisher models was registered as a GA aircraft and certified for aerobatics. We know they are strong enough for aerobatics, we just are not allowed to in Oz (except for Wayne Fisher’s GA one, which seems to have disappeared following Wayne’s death). We tragically lost Wayne a few years ago now, a big loss to the Drifter community. The Aus versions are heavier than the Maxiar. I personally loved the Maxair version because of its agility. Some company in Oz has all the Drifter manufacturing rights, but has done nothing with it. They are arguably one of the best open cockpit ultralights to grace our shores. Ther are a few here on pontoons (floats) as well. That is a big ‘bang water’ tank on the back of yours how much fuel do you carry.

Simple answer, you fix it, static test run it and wait til 0500hrs the next morning when there is no one on the beach and bugger off. Completely safe and justifiable methodology.

Thanks for that. Shows you how quickly you get out of touch with reality. He should be fine then as long as the CASA a.. hole factor doesn’t kick in.

so what happened about the requirement to have them on the wings and the rudder fin?

Where are the rego numbers and why was he in CTA, or was he?

The biggest mistake I ever made in my class 2 medical was to be honest. I told the DAME I had 3 migraines in previous 12 months. That was the end of my class 2. I had held unrestricted class 2 since age 16, now 64.

Hennesy ol buddy, it is my understanding that aerobatics are not permitted under the new basic Class 2, you need to have an unrestricted class 2 for aeros ... damn it. I don’t understand that logic at all.

And to your point Jaba, having a constitutional right means little comfort if the path to prove that right involves an expensive legal proces of appeal. Who can afford that these days. The only way our friend in 'The Castle' managed that class act was that he found a generous legal benefactor that took his case on 'Pro Bono'. I wasn't so lucky many years ago when I took a very large quasy government corporation to the Federal court on a Trade practices Act matter. Even though I technically won the case, it still cost me 600k in cash not including the consequential costs and the outcome was a no win situation for all of us. Consequently you must take a 'commercial' position on these matters and determine; is it worth it. Fighting legal matters on 'principle' is for wealthy naive people. Usually the two aren't mutually inclusive. Smart money doesn't do that. I think flying below the radar with good neighbourly relations is the key. Once you enter the legal arena, justice is only available to those who can afford it.

Dexter Burkill of Denman also has a Glasshouse Thruster, I believe his might have been the first one produced.

Not only is Ole an amazing guy technically, he is one of the nicest guys you will get to meet in this industry. The aircraft he builds and / or helps to build are quite amazing.

Hey Bull (Scott), We all make mistakes. Nev is one Dude I have immense respect for, have known him a while now and been to his home a couple of times. He is quite a dude, but he doesn't need me to defend him. I happen to agree with you that GA is beginning to look a lower cost option for flying the way it's going. Especially if you stick to basic simple GA models, Austers, Cubs, Citabrias, C150s, Tomahawks, etc. Especially the ones with bugga all ADs. They are simple and don't cost a lot to keep flying.