Flygirltam

I grew up reading Richard Bach books... the first "proper" book I read was Jonathan Livingstone Seagull... and I have since given half a dozen copies to the most special people in my life (in fact I am trying to find time to buy another copy for my most excellent flying buddy at the moment)...Interestingly a few years ago I typed Richard Bach's name into Facebook and came across Jonathan Bach who accepted my friend request... no surprises that he is a mad keen pilot who restores antique aeroplanes... like father like son.

I travel every week for work, spend alot of time taking off my shoes, removing my laptop out of my bag and hoping I haven't forgotten to take my tweezers out of my carry on bag. What makes me laugh is when they bomb check the pilots .... seriously if they want to bring the plane down, they just push the stick forward!! LOL

OOPSS sorry guys - not good at the event date thing :)

Thanks to Alan its all sorted :)

I posted an event on here yesterday, which showed up when i submitted it, but now its gone.? Any ideas what I did wrong?

Hi All,

We have our bi annual Dine with the Aviator Dinner coming up in Adelaide, I have secured John Borghetti, CEO of Virgin Australia Group as our guest speaker.

If anyone is interested in attending please email me at [email protected] I can forward all information.

All money raised on the night goes towards our AWPA SA/NT Memorial Incentive Fund (Scholarship) Love to see you there!

This will be the largest event Parafield has seen in many years. We have the full support of the ADF, with the Roulettes landing at YPPF for the very first time!

13 times World Aerobatic Champion, Chris Sperou will perform his inverted ribbon cut for the very first time at Parafield! Local and interstate war birds and antique aircraft will attend with displays from the P51, Yak 9, Trojan and many more!

FREE parking on the day, purchase your tickets online at a discounted price to avoid the cues on the day! www.proticket.com.au

Gates open at 9am - come prepared with your cameras ready!!!!

HOWDY Charlie!

Welcome to the site........ I love QLD.......

Mr Bennett's comments certainly seem "quite strange". The article below certainly sheds some more light and in particular gives an idea of where such comments might reflect on the man making them rather than the man commented on..http://www.murrayvalleystandard.com.au/news/local/news/general/comments-lead-to-dog-fight-over-airmans-death/2441501.aspx

 

And just in case it's not a permalink

 

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Comments lead to dog fight over airman's death

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BY JOANNE FOSDIKE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

02 Feb, 2012 10:14 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRIENDS and mentors of the pilot who died on Sunday have defended his reputation following comments in the national media by former Australian Aerobatic Club president Paul Bennet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They said Mr Bennet had painted the pilot as lacking the experience necessary to fly the biplane which crashed near Pallamana airfield.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long-time friend and chief pilot Captain Chris Pfitzner said the pilot, 33-year-old Rob Morgan, lived on site at Pallamana Airfield and had clocked up 150 hours of aerobatic flying hours in the past two years while being mentored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“This is aerobatic flight hours alone and doesn’t include regular flying hours,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He had between 90 and 100 hours in the last couple of months, flying in the plane he died in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He lived and breathed flying.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Pfitzner said Mr Bennet’s claims that Rob Morgan was too inexperienced to be flying the highly modified biplane that claimed his life were wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The claims by Bennet were inaccurate,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He died doing a manoeuvre he was well trained to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It is vicious and reeks of malice to comment on another pilot’s accident without even witnessing the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I’ve been flying for 25 years and have watched him (Rob) come through the ranks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He was a cool, calculated pilot who understood machines ... he asked the stupid questions other people try to ignore.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Bennet stood by his claims after being contacted by The Standard on Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He had less than 100 hours experience,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“There are people out there trying to protect their own interest.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Bennet denied his comments were malicious despite a disagreement with Mr Morgan which resulted in a court case.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He never paid for work I did on the plane he died in,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It was settled out of court.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The last thing I want to see is anyone getting killed ... I want to promote safety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“For someone to get a low level aerobatic approval when they had only been doing it for 12 months is ridiculous.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Pfitzner said Mr Morgan grew up in an aviation family and began flying about six years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He bought his own aircraft, a 172 Cessna, about four years ago,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He started doing acrobatics just over 12 months ago and had good mentors, a good aircraft and he was careful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The aircraft (Pitts Special) was purpose built for aerobatics and he was training up as an airshow pilot.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Pfitzner said he believed the accident could have been caused by instrument error.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The plane had the power to get out of situation so it had to be an instrument or engine failure,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I had seen him power out in situations and you could see he was a well trained pilot.”

 

 

RIP Rob

Pitts S-2S practicing for an aerobatic contest.

Very Sad, I just heard that this happened. :(

Well i'm a bit disappointed but guess I should be happy. We secured the Roulettes for the event,however I was lead to believe we would have more support from the RAAF with aircraft for the event.

I went to the trouble of submitting alot of paperwork 18 months ago and was told that the defense minister had signed it off in Canberra as an event of 'public significance' and that the RAAF will support your activity. Clearly they have no assets available.

The main purpose of the airshow is to raise awareness of aviation in Parafield, an area that has co existed with a RAAF base for many years. I think there are too many people sitting in offices in Canberra that have no idea how much aviation enthusiasts and people of the wider community would love to interact with their airforce assets and see where our tax money goes! Its called Public relations.............

Beyond all of that.... we are going to have an amazing event. Such a shame they could not support us more. not even the RAAF balloon!

Rant Over.............

Best of luck Shags, I have a mate currently in Melb doing the training, he is also a pilot with over 300 hrs. He said its full on and very challenging, but is really doing well at it. I think his aviation background is a big +++++

HI TBAR

Welcome to the site!

It is unfortunate that I make this post.Aircraft Pilots member SamL was fatally injured whilst flying his Gyrocoptor at Mangalor Victoria yesterday.

 

RIP Sam and keep flying high with those angels.

 

Sam's profile: http://www.recreationalflying.com/members/saml.6450/

My deepest sympathy's go out to his family & friends.

"We shall find peace. We shall hear angels,

we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds."

-Chekov

Hello everyone!! Now THAT was a great day for flying. 1.1 hours on my own, gradually tidying up my circuits. You really do learn a lot when you have to work it all out for yourself! (And there's the bonus of not having 80 Kilos of ballast on board with you.) Jeez, I hope my instructor isn't reading this!

CLEAR PROP!!!!!!!!!!!

Much too windy to fly at YGAW this morning. Let's see how we go next week. (Jeez, there are a lot of smilies to choose from!)

Windy at YPPF TOO! had to chase one of the C172's down the taxi way on it's own on Saturday!

Welcome Jonny

I was told the decision to stop the prop with the Nanchang was also based on a few other things, one being a low wing and having full fuel in tanks etc for safety. The pilot in command is an air force training captain with thousands of hours in the 'Changs' , he was extremely cool calm and collected on the radio to the tower, even after ATC told him he was cleared to land, all emergency crew were stationed, he replied "Wilco, Looking forward too it"! then without drama put the aircraft down on the Rwy, stopping exactly where he said he would stop at the second taxi way.

He clearly knew what he was doing as far as shut down procedures go with the aircraft and his skill in landing that aircraft with a gusting 22kt xwind was more than impressive. Whether it was right or wrong, I dont know, as I don't fly the 'Changs' and don't have a POH emergency info on them, think I will just stick to the Yak, at least the gear never retracts fully LOL.

I was told that they switch the mags off to get the prop it a correct position then shut down the prop, fuel etc same as in emergency procedures for full engine failure. everything except the master. Once the decision to land is made and committed, then I see no harm in doing it to save the aircraft from more damage, whether I owned it or not.

I am also guess if the prop isn't spinning and slamming into the ground, that is one less thing to replace, or worse worry about it disengaging that massive prop from that big radial engine and killing someone.

Just my two bobs worth

Gday Rob,

Welcome to the site! Congrats on the licence

Please tell me he remembered to switch the engine off before landing to save it from further damage

There's no e in awful.

Do they have cameras running when they take passengers for a blast? That would make for some exciting video if they did.

They have a video onboard, not sure if it was running, the PAX certainly got his moneys worth today LOL

Hi Tam..............OH NO!!! .............Not one of the young pilots and nanchang that I met at Barossa Air Show !!

No not one of the young guys, not sure if you met 'Wilco', but he was the one flying it, did a damn good job getting it on the ground as we had 22kt Xwind gusting to 30kt.

Was holding my breath the whole time he slid along the rwy. the noise was aweful

Earlier today I watched a nanchang rego VH-NNJ do a wheels up landing on Rwy 03/L due to gear failure. Pilot & Pax ok. Aircraft now being removed by crane.