Greg Spiers

I've chased buffalo's in Arnhem land in an F-27 and a very low flight in Bass straight In CASA's F27 looking for a downed plane.Just checked in the log book signed of as a sequence pre PPL Low flying and Low forced landings.

 

Then about 5 hours at least in the instructor rating training.plus solo practice all along in getting the commercial.

 

There's a fair bit in the Ag rating that wouldn't be" necessary" for low level, I would think.

 

Another anomaly is that you could not fly ABOVE 500 Feet when I first flew U/L's

 

Nev

You didn't used to drive that Womens Weekly bus did you??

Greg

 

 

Thanks once again boys,Nev, 33c+ is where I do my best work! Just done winter in SA, can't wait! As for the rough air maybe not so much

 

Poteroo, I've had this in mind and if I end up waiting it out somewhere till next year I'm hoping to get a few hours on type to keep current. Finding one to hire could be the trick tho. I'm hoping that I could find one to do a NVFR rating so that my $$ are going to something as well. That's if I have any.

 

Greg, the flying sound awesome! I got into aviation for flying and series like that rather then the $$ or the "big shiny" AC.Can you tell me if there is any point getting up there before next year? Like said previously if I need to wait it out ill probably go bak to Cairns, pour a few beers or swing a hammer for a bit, but, I would like to get flying sooner rather then later. Long story short if there is any chance I may go on a drive over Dec and try my luck. What would you recommend.

 

Mick, gave away the real job last year and yea that has made the CX progress a ill slow but once in settled again I will be straight back into it, just this time with a much smaller wage and way more "must haves". Will definitely take you up on the inspiration before I head off again, I think we are going to try and do some gliding up there before I head so I will get in contact. BTW, how Is yours going,? How many hours have you got up now?

Don't stay away from the flying too long, you'll drop skills and mindset. My nephew did that and never got back into it again, the catch up was daunting as things change pretty quick if ya not watching. Keep flying if you can. I suggest you ring Bob McDonald, put on ya best voice and sus him out as to what he expects. I know he looks for pilots who are very personable and with experience handling people and can deliver the touristy garb. That's as important (in many ways) as flying the buses. I have seen some of his guys roll up without having all the experience with differing aircraft and they get checked out on the job with his Chief Pilot. He will be best to advise. You'll get to the big shiny AC in time. The Wet season is slower than the Dry but the best flying, smooth as a babies whatzit, fantastic scenery. Pilots are not so common either, prob pick up a bit too. Also try Air North in Darwin (if their still going) they do a lot of stuff out to the Tiwi Islands, Bathurst Island etc. There are a good deal of charter operators out of Darwin, might be worth getting on the web and or having a trip up there but, don't set your expectations too high, also try the Aviation Fellowship (can't remember the proper title and ya don't have to preach the Good word or anything, just fly the truck), they fly to all the Aboriginal Outstations in Arnhem Land carting supplies in 206's mostly (stuff gear in until the front wheel comes off the ground then take something out ??!!). They also ferry pax from the outstations to Darwin and other locations, always good to keep the vents open on days like that??!! Greg ps. tons of work in Darwin (well paid too) in the building industry, they can't get people up there. I have a daughter and grand kids there, can't get work done on their house for months on end, no one to do it ya know??

 

 

Hey Greg where are you flying out of? I'm doing my training at YPPF

Hi, I don't fly anything at the moment, did fly out of Murray Bridge to do my BFR and get back into LSA but too far to travel. I am into Gyros at the moment so I can get in and out of my own property at Montacute, hopefully.

Greg.

 

 

Thanks for the replies!RMGWA, that does help, it's good to hear of people actually doing it and making it! Most people seem to want to tell you all the bad stories

 

I have lookedInto both the company's listed perviously and both are on the list to visit as well as many others

 

Greg, from what I make of it none of them pay all that well but roof over my head and a few beers on a weekend and I'm happy, tourist work would be fine, if not preferred. Whats it like living out there? I'm sure some of the scenery and flying would be spectacular.

If you live in Cairns then the climate in Jabas will be ok, lot hotter and dryer but the flying will be over the most scenic in Australia, I kid u not, if you haven't flown over Jim Jim, Twin, Double and Magela Falls in the wet or tree tops the full length of the East Alligator river, wet or dry, then ya haven't flown over anything worth seeing. The Arnhem Land escarpment is awesome (1500' at it high point, straight up all the way) and you fly along that for 40 min to get to JJ and Twin. I spent 15 years flying over all that country from Kununura to Arafura Swamp in Western Arnhem Land (biggest swamp in the Southern hemisphere) mostly in choppers and my li'l Colt 108. Don't get me started!! Bob normally used to have a couple of houses in town (12 k's from the airport) shove five of his pilots in there at 100 bucks a head/week and he only paid a fraction of that, you know the deal?

 

Greg

 

 

G'day all,So in as little as 2 months ill be finished my CPL/MECIR and will be about with all the other wannabies trying to get that first job. I will have around the 250hr mark with no Cessna time and no useful twin endorsement and have decided to go the charter/ joy flight route. I have been looking into it a fair bit recently and wanted to get and advice that could be about. I'm from Cairns so i would love to get work there if I could but not sure if I'm wasting my time??

 

Apart from that I would be happy to go remote (NT/WA) and would like any advice from the guys that have done it. Also is there anywhere/way that I could be ale to get work before the end of the next wet if I'm going to be finishing in nov?

 

And is there anything that I can do to prepare myself better for employment? As I'm sure it's going to be quite different from a flying school.

 

Cheers Ben

Hi, I lived and worked in Kakadu for 15 years and a good friend to Bob McDonald of Kakadu Air. He often took on novice pilots with low hours but has all Cessnas (207, 210) also had a Nomad, Partinavias and a couple of other species but not sure what he has now, haven't been there for 10 years. Give him a ring at Kakadu Air Services in Jabiru. It's all tourist work, don't think he pays much and by all accounts a tough boss but, aren't they all?

Good Luck with it, keep at it, you'll get there.

 

Greg

 

 

I was lucky enough to attend a talk by WGCDR Wallis in the UK years ago - fascinating, entertaining and awe-inspiring in equal measure.There is a biography "The Lives of Ken Wallis - Engineer & Aviator Extraordinaire" which is well worth reading if you manage to track down a copy.

 

I hope I'm still flying in my 90's

 

John

What a larger than life character he was and you're right, an inspiration to all aviators. I think I owe the forum an apology (probably more than one if I think about it) I mentioned Ken Wallis a li'l while ago and mentioned his involvement in 'Live and Let Die', It was 'You only live Twice', silly me, should be more accurate with my knowledge of Bondy things and everything else.

 

 

Anybody have any new word to share, on the progress and flying examples of the D motor ????Are there many flying in Australia ??

Look up [email protected] The distributor is Adam Nagorski D-Motor Australia P/L. I know one engine is flying in Australia (his I think) and another either here or on the way, Adam will gladly tell you I am sure.

Greg

 

 

The good news is, we picked up your 'plane. The bad news is that we broke it in half!http://www.kptv.com/story/23283451/helicopter-removes-airplane-from-bottom-of-lake

Reminds me when I was talking to the owner of Mundoo Island in Lake Alexandrina (1970's, can't remember his name), he had a station up north and had taken supplies out to a crew who were some way from the homestead fencing or something. He flew out there in his Cessna (can't remember what species) misjudged the landing and put the thing in a dam. He borrowed one of the vehicles there and drove back home, sent a crew out with a truck to pick it gently out of the dam and transport it home. It arrived in pieces. They had tied a rope around the nose wheel and ripped that off, tried the prop boss and tore the engine out of it, not much left to grab hold of so tried the wing root and gratefully had at least one wing out of the bog and so it went on until extracted. He had a sense of humour about the whole incident as we were laughing uproariously, not sure I would have felt the same if it was mine.

 

Greg

 

 

BBC News..."RAF fighter pilot and glider were a quarter of a second away from disaster before back-flip manoeuvre.

 

A fighter pilot dodged a fatal collision with a glider by back-flipping his jet just 250ft above the ground.

 

The Tornado – on a low-level training mission – was tearing through a valley at 500mph when the tiny aircraft appeared.

 

With just a quarter of a second to perform the heart-stopping inverted loop manoeuvre, or “bunt”, the Top Gun pilot managed to take his jet just 100ft below the glider.

 

The collision risk was “very high”, he told the UK Airprox Board’s near-miss probe.

 

The Tornado pilot was practising mid-air refuelling and weapons training close to Aviemore, in the Cairngorms, in a sortie out of RAF Lossiemouth.

 

The privately owned slow-moving white DG-808C motor glider, with a 22-yard wing span, was flying mid-afternoon in a circular route from Portmoak, Kinross, in April.

 

Steering clear of the Highland Wildlife Park, the £9.4million Tornado fighter- bomber pilot only saw the glider – which was difficult to pick out against the sky – when it was just 500 yards away.

 

The report said: “He bunted and passed 100ft below it. The pilot noted that he had seen the glider at the very last moment.”

 

The safety of both aircraft was compromised, the UKAB report concluded. And the highly trained pilot avoided a mid-air crash which would have killed them."

 

I take it from this incident report the RAF pilot pushed his stick forward into a negative G dive and pulled up at around the 150 feet mark... Does that sounds about right?

Interesting, I would have thought the military aircraft on-board radar would have picked up the glider before the pilot, unless, for some reason, that wasn' t the case. I was informed by a Hornet and a F111 pilot that there are so many fail-safes in detection of forward and approaching obsticles that they rarely get warning after they visually see something. Those aircraft, I was advised, will instigate its own avoidance action if the pilot doesn't input. I installed a 110 foot tower in the Flinders Ranges (radio repeater) and advised CAA of same (as is the requirement for such things in the landscape) as there was Airforce training in the area frequently. Talking to one of the pilots of an F111, at the time, I was told that the aircraft would ascend at 7,000'/min, on its own, if the pilot hadn't picked up on something up front that the radar did. I was involved in an incident in the NT when I was flying some friends around the falls in Kakadu in a PA28. I was returning to Jabiru airfield at about 700' AGL and had given an inbound call at 15 mls to the East to indicate that. I heard a Military Heavy C130 call to Jabiru traffic that they were 10 miles to the east, low level, tracking south (I'm glad they did). That was where I was. I called them and asked their exact position giving mine at the same time. The Pilots reply was, "look out your port window" I expected to see them to my south and high. Not so, they were to my south allright, but below me. They were right on the trees which were 50 feet high. They had seen me long before they got to me or I had seen them. Ya just don't expect to see a big machine like that down on the trees at 150 knots. It's common in the NT with Tindal, Darwin being military bases. I learnt a lesson!!

 

Cheers

 

greg

 

 

I recently asked on a Helicopter Forum as to what Licence is required in Australia to fly a AW95 (Which is a very basic scratch Built Helicopter) Just a general question out of curiosityAll I ended up with was a lecture on the dangers of flying without training was labelled a PEST and told to go away and stop posting stupid posts

When I replied to defend myself my posts where deleted????

 

I was asking about licenses not building????

 

Some weeks later I Joined a glider online forum and asked about plans

 

(Google glider plans and all you get is model plans (Radio control type))

 

Got a simular type of response (Admittedly only for 2 members) who posted the notion of scratch building a glider was STUPID !!!!!

Hi Nev, you probably have your answer by now but I have delved into this a good deal. In Australia you have to have at least your PPLH to fly any helicopter whether it be an ultralight type or commercially produced. I did all my CPLH and even now (I haven't flown choppers for 15 years), if I want to fly privately I have to go back to ground school and complete my BAK H and do the flying in a commercial helicopter under instruction and under a CFI H. Probably amount to about $30,000. You will save a bit of flying if you already have your cross country (I did mine in Ultralights), Human Factors and other bits and pieces but it wont amount to much. Only then can you buy and fly a 'ultralight' helicopter like an Angel CH7 or any number of the other available kit built or factory built whizzy thingies. I did my training with Chopperline in Coloundra and it wasn't cheap even then (early 90's)

Tony Carmody of Coloundra (I think he is still there) is the agent for CH7 Helicopters and a very good operator. He may still run his own Helicopter Training College in Coloundra, used to run the R22 Safety Course, (early 90's when I went and was CASA mandatory for commercial R22 and PPL pilots) and is very approachable. This is all different ofcourse in the US but, I would advise anyone attempting to build or fly a conventional rotary wing aircraft (not including gyros, they are more fixed wing in application and training) to undertake a fair bit of professional training. They're tricky little things and I haven't flown a single seater but I can imagine they would be even trickier than the light R22. It seems absurd but as you know, CASA have an agenda and they don't and wont change things if it looks like a compromise to safety in any way shape or form or, make it too easy, it seems!!!

 

Greg

 

 

Hi, Very sad this stuff but it is inevitable when operating in dangerous situations. The unexpected will always happen when humans are involved. The investigation will hopefully turn up something and prevent further occurrences for the same reasons.

 

I was involved in an incident in about 1981 when a National Parks employee in SA was dropped from a Jet Ranger in the Flinders. I had to attend cos I was the only guy on station (Wilpena) who had medical experience. He was dropped off a hook into bolder country on the side of range from about 20 feet off the ground, on the way up from clearing a helipad for a radio repeater, could have been a 1000 ft. Broke both his legs and I think an arm (can't remember, long time ago) he luckily survived. Couldn't land near him so observations had to happen from the air, very difficult. We winched a guy down, yep, on the broken hook (no choices out there at the time), with a radio, who reported his condition. Worst for the injured man was we had to lift him out on the same broken hook that dropped him, he wasn't told that at the time. We then had to fly him to flat ground a few hundred metres away, unaccompanied, in a stretcher (Stokes Litter) slung under the chopper, get him in the machine and fly him to Hawker Hospital 60 miles away. The hook had some how got twisted and (still unknown how it happened) managed to twist the locking tab inside out thus allowing the harness to slide off. The hook was still in one piece but no locking mechanism, it would have to have been twisted in the cable and hanging nearly inverted for this to happen, not sufficient checking is my guess. Wasn't one of my better days.

 

Greg

 

 

Harley Davidson has just finished making a Liquid cool V twin motor for its touring range.

Speaking of washing machines!!! At least you'd get the drying cabinet with humidifier as well!!

Greg

 

 

Thanks for the reply, Greg. Those Suzuki engines are very popular in the US and have a great reliability reputation, but the 90 pound weight you quotes sounds wildly optimistic.

Thanks, I thought that when I heard it but, hell, gotta take it at face value. I may well have heard it wrong and if I did I apologise for misleading you. I hope Eric is able to help you if I did.

Greg

 

 

Sounds very interesting Greg. Do you have more info about which Suzuki this comes from?I spent years investigating various car and bike engines, and once a redrive was added, none came in lighter than a Jabiru.

The 3-cylinder Suzuki G10 used in the Swift was the nearest to what I wanted, but too heavy.

I am pretty sure he said it was out of the 4cyl swift, I know it is being used a fair bit in the US as I have seen reference to it on Utube a fair bit. The guy I was talking to is Eric, NSW 0488016405. Whilst I believe he doesn't use the engine, yet, he was aware of fellow constructor (gyros) who were. Give him a ring he might be able to give better info.

 

Something else worth looking at is the diesel they are using in the US in LSA aircraft. It is out of the Smart Car, toothed belt reduction, 7lt per hour they have it flying. Look it up on Utube, punch in 'diesel aircraft' and have a look for it. It is at a show and the distributor is being interviewed and gives a fairly good run down. It is entitled 'FlyEco Smart Diesel Turbo Charged Engine For Ultralight and Light Sport' with about 4 sponsor adds before the guts of it. Hope that helps. This engine thing, whilst heaps more options than 20 years ago, is a mine field.

 

Cheers, fly safe.

 

Greg

 

 

Why don't we just call you Russ for short and leave out that big number thingy?Graeme.

I thought everyone in Ingham was into rafting, too soggy for flying, I lived in Innesfail for a while, every time I went through Ingham (which was often) it was bucketting down. Perhaps it's that big umbrella over you that helps??

Greg

 

 

By all accounts, engines is engines, it just depends on what ya wanna use it for eh? Just FYI, I was talking to a gyro man last night, very informative chap) who mentioned that a shift to different engines (whilst common in our aviation sector, LSA etc) is always on the cards as different option appear like, new developments, local and overseas regs, changes in technology etc. etc. I noted one day, whilst surfing the web during working hours, tut tut, that a Sukuki engine was mounted on the back of a Dominator 2 place gyro (USA manufacturer) with a warp drive prop. I was told last night (and this is not that new for some of you I guess) that this engine comes in at a tidy 90 lbs, produces near enough to 150 neddies, with all the bells and whistles attached including the reductiond drive. Much lower weight than the common Pooh-bear-roo engines common to the genre now. It also costs about $14,500, new, a far cry from the compareable Rotax. I also, in my wanderings around the cyberspace, saw the same engine up the front of an LSA on display at some field day/fly-in in the US. Worth a look I think. I will be looking at it as I progress toward my constructive obsession!

 

Greg

 

 

Greg, I have some drawings for a two seater that a lot of the Gyros around Brisbane are based on. I will be back in Bundaberg late Sep and will dig them out. They are in storage.Cheers

Thanks, gettin a bit warm in Kununurra eh? Would be by now. I spent a fair bit of time there, off and on in the 90's, running courses for Aerial Incendiary Dispatchers for CALM and the Rural Fire mob. It gets bl#$dy hot there, density altitude over the moon!! I remember getting out of my motel and finding the temp at 42deg C and relative humidity of about 80% at 7 in the morning, rang the wife and said I was on a weight loss program without doing anything, suggested she join me, wasn't my best phone conversation.

I appreciate your help and look forward to looking at them, wont have anything else to do in late Sept, hip replacement on the 24th should be a proper gem!!

 

Cheers

 

Greg

 

 

I have a friend who has a 2-seater gyro with a Subaru engine pushing it. I'll go see him later today and post something tonight.OME

Much obliged, look forward to it.

Greg

 

 

Hi all, is there anyone out there that might have or know where to get half decent Gyro plans? Something bigger than the bensen or ultralight type, something I can hang a decent size 4cyl/4 stroke on, single or dual??

 

All part of my research in getting to the final objective, flying again.

 

Ta

 

Greg

 

 

There is much excitement regarding a potential new aero engine on this forum. And rightly so, considering the outrageous price of Rotax engines.Their ubiquitous 80 h.p plus engine series is priced at this exorbitant level because there really just isn't much competition.

 

But one of the most popular homebuilt designs in the States was for many years the Evans Volksplane VP - 1 & -2. If you look at the plans for these aircraft they use an almost unmodified VW donk. Replacing the distributor with a magneto; a bit of re-jigging on the inlet manifold; some stubby exhausts, and minimal machining of the flywheel to convert to a prop hub, and that's about it - go flying!

 

So why must I now spend vast amounts of hard-earned modifying a standard Beetle engine, having already overhauled it fully? Last price I saw was over $7k for the add-ons, putting the engine cost up there with a Scrotex 582 2-stroke.

 

"Dual ignition" I hear. Why? Yes, maybe in the old days of dirty oils & dynamo driven ignition systems. But since the advent of electronic breakerless CDI systems, hands up anyone who's had an ignition failure on their car that would have been prevented with a dual system. And what constitutes dual redundancy anyway? Two magnetos driven off the same shaft?

 

So what else is so essential that I need to spend so much on a well proven (if inefficient) simple, robust air cooled engine with collectively more hours in the field by several orders of magnitude than any Scrotex 912 diamond encrusted dollar guzzler.

 

Keep It Simple Stupid: why do we need all these mods to a straightforward engine today when so many flew so successfully for so many years before the age of committee rule?

 

Right, I'd better go and lie down now. It's nearly time for my medication.

 

Bruce

I've never had any experience with the V-Dub engines except to see one flying in an early Skyfox in Coloundra once. But, I love ya work, my sentiments as well.

Greg

 

 

I had a price for the 92.5 HP 4 cyl given to me from the Aust distributor the other day at a tad over $20,000 which, I was told, is a revised price as it was $22,000. I might be wrong but I am sure that came ready to fit and run.

 

Greg

 

 

I got a price in Aust from Bert Flood Imports of $24,145 for a 912 iS (fuel injected) the other day.

 

Greg

 

 

I worked with a Lady who's Father had an ultralight (can't remember what type) and lived and flew around King Island in Bass Strait, (Google Earth it). He was a very 'bulky' character and the aircraft was overloaded every time he got in it so, he always flew naked to save weight even when doing the lolly drop for the CWA (Cranky Womens Association) Welcome Hans, good to have you with us even if you do live the dream, don't expect any sympathy from us Ausies even if the engine does quit!!! By all accounts there are plenty of paddocks to land in, it wont be the landing that gets ya it'l be them darned cats!!

 

Greg

 

 

Hi, I'm new to this site, looks like some interesting discussions going on here. Look forward to being a member.

Welcome, this site, it seems, is far more active than previous sites I have been on, good healthy discussions and lots of learning, enjoy.

Greg

 

 

Hi Guys im the owner of an aerochute PPC I live in Darwin and im inlove with the thrill of seeing my country from a birds eye view

Welcome BC, always good to add to the family. Do you fly out of MKT? I did all my flying in the Top End, GA f/w, U/l and CPLH except my CPLH ground school which had to be done in Coloundra. The Top End is without a doubt one of the best places to go flying as long as you don't mind a good share of density altitude.

Keep flying, stay safe.

 

Greg