Clansman

The biggest problem with any forum is the anonymity people enjoy by creating internet personas. They can blast away with ridiculous comments with virtually no fear because none of us know who they are. Cowardly, hidden hecklers at the back of the auditorium! Professional sites like Linked-In prevent that happening by simply insisting on real names and real photos. I think a lot of sanitisation would be achieved here if we had to use our real names alongside the avatars and nicknames we invent for ourselves, or if our signature contained our name. That's why I've always been happy to sign off with my ID and use a photo of myself as my avatar. Certainly enjoy browsing the site and have occasionally contributed, but goodness knows what some of you do besides sit here all day and night judging from the frequency and sheer volume of your posts! I guess my aviation is richer for it though....... One addition I would like to see is an Amphibious group. Cheers, and well done Ian.

Goolwa Airport around 80km south of Adelaide. www.goolwaairport.com.au Blocks from $238000, areas from 2000 to 3400 sq m approx. sealed strip 01/19 and grass 16/34, 09/27. GA, RAAus, warbirds, jets, aerobatics and parachutes intermingled. Beautiful coastline between Kangaroo Island, Hindmarsh Island and River Murray Mouth, Lakes Alexandrina and Albert, steam trains and paddle steamers at the river wharf, first public railway in Australia etc etc. fastest growing population in SA, mostly retirees. Perfect tourist destination and great place to live. Should be a goer but haven't heard of any sales there yet. Local council has incorporated it into their development plans. Roadworks being built now. I've just built a new place in the marina on Hindmarsh Island with jetty and cruiser. Sadly little or no amphibious stuff like NSW and Qld despite the calm wide open waters here - now there's an opening! Hoping to ramp up my instructing with Goolwa Recreational Flying School having moved from Murray Bridge. I wouldn't want to live on an airpark though, too many opportunities for neighbourly arguments! I've tasted community titles/ strata titles several times and it takes a lot of patience and goodwill to make it work.

This stuff will kill people! The turn back angles accumulated to touch down are 180 (say left turn) to be facing downwind, another 45 further left to aim back towards the r/w, and another 45 right to line up. This is an accumulation of 270 degrees of turn at low altitude when precise control is required at the most stressful situation a pilot could experience! At best the accumulated turn might be 180 + 30 + 30 = 240 if the r/w is wide enough to allow a more oblique approach back. For god's sake don't follow this example. Aircraft glide performance, pilot experience, wind conditions etc all look highly favourable in the video. At such low altitudes you will still have flaps down if so equipped and this exacerbates your drag/stall in turns even more. You won't find me teaching this nonsense.

I have had OzRunways since its inception and love it, first on my iPhone to try it out, now on my iPad2. However.....Everyone needs to understand the CASA approval for an EFB and the need for document backup, and that does NOT include the iPad mini because the screen size is too small. The minimum size is defined as A5 = 210 x 148. The mini iPad outer dimensions are only 200 x 135, which means the screen is even smaller still. The standard iPad2 has a screen 200 x 150 which is close enough. Clearly an iPhone is unacceptable. See CASA website under EFB FAQs - http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_101203 ".....The requirements of CAR 233(1)(h) are clear in that the pilot must have the latest documents from an approved vendor readily accessible. It is the readily accessible requirement that prompts the need for backup and all pilots need to ensure how they meet that requirement in the event of a tablet malfunction. An electronic device such as another tablet is an acceptable backup. Private pilots can use tablet devices as a primary means of in-flight documentation, as long as the documentation is from an authorised source (such as Airservices, OzRunways, Jeppesen or Lido)......" So good old (current) Air Services paper backup is IMHO compulsory for your own safety. I personally think the iPad mini should be acceptable, especially with its improved resolution and brightness, and clearly all your enthusiasm supports this, but there has so far been no reference to CASA approvals for EFBs yet in this thread so thought I'd draw your attention to it. My only problem with my iPad and kneedock is my polaroid prescription sunnies blackout the display completely in portrait mode. Oh for a swivelling kneedock!

"I have also spoken to Steve R and several board members about Wayne receiving an award for his achievements in the pioneering of ultralighting in oz. " David Mason Perhaps a memorial as part of Easter services at Natfly? We lose pilots every year who also deserve remembrance of course, but when someone as well respected for his massive contribution as Wayne dies whilst flying, again helping a fellow aviator, maybe special recognition is worth considering. I never met Wayne but his excellent reputation is reinforced by the intensely emotional posts here. My condolences to his family and friends. Vale Wayne.

Was called late yesterday by my CFI with the awful news. I watched Roger taxi out at Murray Bridge on Saturday for a practice run for Sunday's show. As he went passed our hangar he waved to me from the cockpit with the side door in that classic down position you see on WW2 era film. I watched him take-off and the wheels retract in that graceful movement all spitfires have, and the last I saw of him was a fast pass along Rwy 20 at about 50' and the plane sounded perfect. Concidentally Roger was my boss in the old SA water works department till he left in the early 1980s to go consulting. He was a very well respected civil engineer in his day, and he was meticulous with his spitfire build. He even designed and built a hydraulic lift up hangar door so he could operate it with a remote from the cockpit. My condolences to his family, and to those of you were witnesses. Our flying fraternity is poorer for his loss. Vale Roger.

Ross's Funeral Details now published, see Keith's email below - Ross's wife, Linda, has has called me to ask me to pass on the details of his funeral service. The services will be held at The Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia which is at Lady Gowrie Drive, North Haven (about 20 minutes from the city). The services starts at 11:00am on Tuesday 27th. The yacht club has a locked gate so to gain access you will need to press the button at the gate and ask for access to the funeral. The casket will be open for viewing from 10:00am. Linda has made a special request which, if any of you could manage it, would be a great tribute to Ross. She has asked if it was possible for a few seaplanes to moor at the yacht club so that visitors to the service, not from the seaplane community, can see what was at the centre of Ross's great passion for seaplane flying. If you are not based too far from Adelaide and think you could moor your plane there, let me know and make contact with Mario, the club's event manager, on 08 8248 4222. Keith Clark President - Seaplane Pilots Association of Australia p: +61 2 9654 9125 m: 0419 237 831 e: [email protected]

Ross Vining's Funeral next Tuesday in Adelaide - See Keith Clark's email below - The Funeral for our great friend Ross Vining will be held in Adelaide at 11:00am on Tuesday 27th Nov. I do not yet have details of the location of the service but keep an eye on the funeral notices. Ross's wife Linda and son Ben have organised a get together after the service and it will be at a nearby yacht club where Ross had been training for next years Sydney Hobart race. We look forward to seeing those who can make it. I'll keep you updated. Keith Clark President - Seaplane Pilots Association of Australia p: +61 2 9654 9125 m: 0419 237 831 e: [email protected] Skype User ID

We are all deeply affected by fatal accidents, especially when you know those involved like Ross. I've included the email here sent out by the President of the Seaplane Pilots Association of Australia to all members. If any of you are interested enough to see how Ross was committed to safety you only need to read his newsletter contributions on the SPAA website which is free to all of us to access. I'm a paid up member because I love the idea of amphibious flight. Ross was one of those absolutely passionate characters in aviation, a real enthusiast, infectious when you met him. I was privileged to see a presentation by him at the SACSA (Sports Aircraft Club SA) earlier this year on his amphibious flying adventures. One involved a flight into Sir Johns Falls in the Gordon River, Tasmania, a breathtaking flying experience for amphibians only. His video and audio was extraordinary. Another involved his goal of circumnavigating Australia, and he meant it seriously, by flying coastal outside the landmass and touching down at least once on the ocean within every square on the coast defined by one degree of latitude and longitude. He had covered from SA westwards to Darwin I think at the time. His last flight was an extension of his goal after viewing the eclipse. I also met him on the ground at Murray Bridge one day when he brought a friend in for some PPL lessons, so was able to look his SeaRey over up close. It was the first time I'd seen an amphibian on dry land before Natfly in April this year. Ross was an experienced GA pilot flying his experimental SeaRey VH-RRZ wherever he could, giving anyone interested a taste of "amphibious freedom" whenever the opportunity presented itself. As a consequence there are a number of pilots I know who now harbour ambitions of waterborne endorsements, and ultimately amphibian ownership. You only need to read RAAus mags to see the growth in interest. It's certainly difficult for me to see Ross getting into this situation without extenuating circumstances like a structural failure or serious health problem. Only an investigation will give us some clues. For the sake of his family I hope there will be answers to their inevitable questions. I only wish people, however well meant their sentiments, would desist saying that someone died doing what they loved. It's such an empty and meaningless statement in my opinion. If it does provide some solace to some folk, so be it, but please don't tell my wife I died doing something I loved, she'll hate you forever. VALE ROSS, and our thoughts and prayers go out to your family. " By now I am sure many of you have heard, through colleagues or the media, that Ross Vining has been involved in a fatal aircraft accident. Ross has been one of the mainstays of the SPAA and was loved by everyone for his incredible energy, enthusiasm and knowledge. Even if you haven’t met Ross you will have seen the evidence of his drive in the excellent On-the-Step news letter that Ross put together and distributed to us every two months. When he wasn’t pursuing his great passion for seaplane flying, he was heading up forensics for South Australia with equal passion. Ross is considered one of the leading forensic scientists in Australia (and you can find videos of him on the Internet talking about aspects of his work and expertise). Professionally he was Prof Ross Vining, director of Forensic Science for South Australia. For the past 18 months Ross had planned to fly to North Queensland to witness the solar eclipse, preferably from the air. He, and a group of other seaplane pilots, managed to be there for the event and from Ross’s emails it was clear that from 7,000ft he experienced a truly awesome spectacle that left him shouting with delight. Following this once in a lifetime spectacle, Ross was heading home in the way he most loved, following the coast around Cape York and down the Western side. On a small and very remote peninsular near Cottrell River 140km North of Weipa he experienced some problem, the details of which are yet to be uncovered, and crashed. It appears he died on impact. Ross was a very thorough planner and thanks to his regular communication of his flight plan and his carrying a Spot GPS tracker, he was found in less than 24 hours (thanks to the excellent efforts of AMSA) in a region in which it could have taken months to locate. We are all deeply saddened by the news and will greatly miss a dear colleague while taking some solace in the knowledge that Ross was doing something he loved when he died. Our deepest sympathy to Ross’s wife, Linda and son Ben We will miss you Ross, your legacy will live on with us. Keith Clark President - Seaplane Pilots Association of Australia p: +61 2 9654 9125 m: 0419 237 831 e: [email protected] Skype User ID

Welcome Diddy. Lovely story on the name. Gazelle's a great aircraft for learning. I've spent many happy hours instructing in a Gazelle, but it was sold on earlier this year so I'm back to Jabiru 160, 170 and 230 at our school. Stick with it Diddy, you sound like you're progressing well.

Welcome to aviation Aaabbey. What are you learning on and where, tell us something about you and your journey. Interesting user name! Que?

First one looks like a waste of a good prop, and the second one reminiscent of the Aeroprakt Foxbat.

This development is really distressing. Don't know the objectors but it would be interesting to know how long they've lived there, and I'd bet the airfield pre-dates them. As a senior instructor at Murray Bridge I take my nav students to Aldinga because it forces them to think about avoiding C airspace LL 2500 over the ridge. Great coffee and cake from Gaylene too! This is the other reason I fly interstate friends into Aldinga - great welcome, good service, nice aero club ambience, beautiful aircraft to watch in the circuit from the verandah, clean washrooms, all on a sight seeing tour of the Fleurieu Peninsula on our way to Cape Jervis, Victor Harbor, Pt Elliot, Goolwa, Murray Mouth, Lakes and return to Murray Bridge. It brings them back as tourists later because they've seen such an abundance of landscapes including Kangaroo Island across Backstairs Passage. It is truly world beating stuff. This kind of petty mindedness would close down attractions like Steamranger, or the river boats at Goolwa wharf because of noise, whistles blowing, fire danger, crowds, accidents waiting to happen at level crossings - you get my point..... Aldinga Airfield is a credit to the local community, employing people, attracting visitors who spend, training pilots, creating real colour and vibrancy with joyflights in the biplanes. Many of my non-flying friends drop in there for a coffee on their way south for the day because it is so unique compared with the usual cafe by the roadside. I think it's also an RFDS transfer airfield for ambulances to Flinders Hospital due to its sealed strip. Unsure of this though. I might write to council separately now that I've got fired up! I've heard on the grapevine that one objector is a former commercial captain or similar. If true, the objection is even more appalling. Sign the petition and write to council and your local member.

Accuracy is really only part of the answer. Attitudes, risk management, common sense.... So many things add up to being a good pilot. Having been away for several weeks, today I took our J170 and J230 up for an hour and a half or so of circuits, glide approaches, half flaps, full flaps landings, touch and go without lowering the nose wheel etc. Other tasks like refuelling properly, daily inspections, maintenance releases, weather.... Until you're away for a time you don't appreciate all the intracacies of flying until you return to it and then it sinks in.... This is serious stuff we do, maybe for fun, but I know of no other "hobby" that involves as much. The most fun I had today was the sheer joy of flying S&L for half an hour wending my way from Murray Bridge to Mannum along the river at 2000' (accurately) and sight seeing, then setting up for a precise descent rate at 10 miles out to join mid-field XW at circuit height. Ideally no variations in engine, trim or attitude to nail it. These are personal exercises I suggest our students try for themselves. Gaining accuracy is a great learning process, and very important, certainly will save your life one day, so keep practising.

Great question this. Try this for accuracy! Worth setting the scene first......midnight June 5th, 1944 I've just returned from the Normandy landing beaches and was particularly impressed by the story of the taking of Pegasus Bridge by the British gliderborne 6th Airborne Division. There are 2 little bridges here across 2 parallel channels of the Orne River which were paramount to the allies success on D-Day. Without these bridges the whole movement of material and troops from all the beaches would have been seriously compromised, and the landings would have been threatened by German movements from the east. The Horsa gliders were 7 tonne wood/fabric carrying 28 troops (without parachutes) and 2 pilots. They were towed behind Halifax bombers, one glider per bomber. 6 gliders, 181 troops. They dropped the towlines 8 miles out from the Normandy coast so that the bombers could turn back to England to avoid engine noise over France. The pilots knew their target from aerial photos and maps, but it was midnight remember. The gliders did a long downwind to the east and inland of target, a steep right base and final turn to aim for the field between the bridges. The first glider stopped 47 metres from the main bridge, gliders 2 and 3 stopped within a wingspan of the first glider! The 2 bridges were taken within 10 minutes. One of the German sentries had to be woken from his off-duty bed! Glider 6 was towed 7 miles off course by its Halifax bomber and landed at another estuary which looked very similar, but the platoon still managed to walk cross country without casualties behind enemy lines to link up at Pegasus, finding another 50 parachute troopers scattered all over. Gliders 4 and 5 landed in the field near the first 2 but between the river channels. The flying accuracy was described by Leigh Mallory and Eisenhower as the best flying feat of the entire war. Makes my glide approaches in full daylight look positively sick! Anyway practice makes perfect!

Hi Jenkin, as per Sue's instructions, but not from an iPad as I found out earlier this year. The browse buttons don't work from an iPad, so a PC will. Not sure about Macs. Welcome anyway, and all the best with your flying. Where are you based?

Great points David - I've now got something new to add to my stall discussions with students!

Absolutely David, My 2-3 knot pot hole analogy is just that, the rough bumps that make flying unpleasant but not dangerous unless you exceed max maneouvring speed in turbulence. Those 500-800 fpm moments you mention make it hard to hold accurate altitudes, are awkward in the circuit and dangerous on late final. Good point about AoA, never thought about it like that before. I reckon if you're doing 60 KTAS and encounter vertical shear of 100 fpm or 1 knot, then your AoA would alter 1 degree based on the old 1 in 60 rule. So if you copped 1000 fpm (10 knots) the AoA would increase by 10 degrees. If you fly at around 3 degrees AoA straight and level normally then your AoA would therefore reach 13 degrees which approaches the 16 degree stall angle. Need to think about it - anyone else?

Experienced my roughest ride in 10 years returning from Natfly last month between Swan Hill and Murray Bridge, just had to go with the flow, slow it down a little. It's bloody annoying when forecasts look steady and stable and you have 2-3 hours flying to go. One piece of knowledge many pilots don't appear to understand is how small a vertical wind shear can negate your climb rate. Our VSIs read in 100' increments and most of our types can climb at 500' - 1000' per minute, some maybe 1200 fpm. Have you ever converted these to knots? One knot is 1nm per hour or 6080' per hour, keep it simple and call it 6000' per hour, which is 100' per minute. This means if your best climb rate is 1000 fpm which is only 10 knots, a downdraft of 10 knots will completely eliminate your actual climb relative to the ground, and bingo! You run straight into whatever you're trying to clear, despite maximum throttle and best climb attitude. We're inclined to think that forecasts of 10-15 knots are perfect flying days with little risks, but a little mechanical rotor over an obstacle can turn that 10 knots into an equivalent wind shear enough to push you into the obstacle by negating your climb ability. Most people equate such risks only with CB thunderstorm type winds where 30-50 knots are common, but don't be fooled into complacence and therefore danger. Next time you read your VSI think of the 100 fpm increments as 1 knot and it might save you some grief. And on those rough days cross country, those pot holes you keep hitting are probably not more than very small changes in vertical wind component of 2-3 knots at most. Stay safe and have fun.

Super feeling isn't it Gareth, never leaves you, nor should it. Something so few experience, we're truly a privileged few. Well done!

Nev and Turboplanner have it - keep the nosewheel up, running on the mains, gradually increasing backstick till CoG pulls the nose down. Really just a continuation of your roundout and flair, but grounded. Too many pilots relax the back pressure on the stick as soon as the mains touch. This lets the a/c rotate forwards around the mains banging the nosewheel on when they may still have some rudder left or right, thus having steerable nose wheel left or right as well. Guaranteed to skid you all over the r/w. Thank your lucky stars it's not a tail dragger or you'll be facing the next a/c on final facing the wrong way! Over zealous brake application on the Jab at high ground speed can make it worse because they won't necessarily grab evenly, and your steering on the pedals trying to chase the movement can start up a sway like a hula girl's hips! Better to let the natural steadiness of the CoG in a nosewheel a/c forward of the mains settle her down. It's a bit like chasing a swaying caravan behind your car by braking and oversteering, better to stay off the brakes and let her slow down gradually. The nosewheel is only designed to keep the prop off the ground, not to take heavy duty rotational thumps because you're grateful you're back on terra firma. Good touch and go practice is to run only on your mains, holding your nosewheel off all the way, even playing with your AoA raising and lowering the nose but without touching down with the nosewheel, nor ballooning back into the air till you throttle up for the takeoff. Gives you great sense of control and experimentation with the flight/ ground performance envelope. Your CFI will wonder why the tread on the nosewheel is so good! In any case your landing speed should be verging on the stall with the stick a good way back, giving nice slow touch down speed and less likelihood of the skating left and right sensation caused by the nose coming down too early. Poor aileron control into any crosswind will also exacerbate that skidding as the windward wing and therefore windward main wheel tends to be lifted off. Another lesson altogether!

Full checks every time pre-flight. Very, very occasionally mag checks whilst taxiing when traffic very busy, but not for first flight, only later through the day. Have probably only done this 3 or 4 times in 11 years of flying. Always pre shut down mag checks. I always get students in their early lessons to move the ailerons and elevator from outside and watch the stick move "correctly" in the cockpit then make them do the same "correct" check sitting inside before we start engines. I find it helps them pay attention to both "free" and "correct" on the checklist rather than just doing the full and free motion round the world looking at the stick instead of at the control surfaces when sitting at the runup pad. Whenever I see someone takeoff from an intersection point instead of full r/w I draw everyone's attention to it I can to create a discussion at the hangar. Runway behind you is safety lost! The aerobatic guys with big powerplants may get away with it, but.....?

Hi John, Firstly let me declare my bona fides as one of the Instructors at Murray Bridge at the other RAAus school. We do have a 160, 170 and 230 so you could easily try your frame out in each cockpit. You would have seen them parked by Bravo as you taxi out unless you've been there on a day or time when they were still in the hangar. I'd agree with another post here that the 170 would seem the better choice, but these things can be very personal. If you're closer to Gawler of course then that might be a better option. I did all my training with James, Neil, Doc and Bill at RPA on 5678, 0949 and got my taildragger endorsement on a Lightwing they used to operate. So I know the guys are good pilots and instructors. I followed Mike to MBLAFS because of the wider choice of a/c which has included a Texan and Gazelle as well as the 160, 170 & 230 till recently. In the end your choices need to include personal comfort, personality fit, a/c mission, cost, travel etc so don't give up. We're all here to help, so feel free to approach anyone for a look, a poke, a sit, a chat etc.

Sorry John, don't know David, but will ask around for you. Have fun ANZAC Day, I've got a day with the g'kids in Angaston.

All the best John. We may meet at one of the bbqs. I'm a senior instructor with Mike Chapman's team at Hangar 2.