Akromaster

T/d endo in a tiger moth would be cool...where in Vic can you do that? Skyfox is certainly an option that's relatively close. Was booked in to do endo in one at Tocumwal while on holidays there but woke up on the day with massively sore throat and had to cancel! What about the Corby Starlet? Love the look of it also and not much bad press about it - just not much room for instructor. ;)

I'm relatively low hours with only "training-wheels" at the front. I'm looking to convert my pilot cert over to RPL primarily to open up options for 4 seaters, but as a side-effect it opens up a world of other planes including tail draggers. Apart from the RVs, I'd like to eventually fly something more in the budget like say the Thorpe T18. I'm not a camper guy (never have been) so STOL performance is not really one of my main criteria. For me it's more about getting to and enjoying the destination - the plane is basically just the vehicle to get there. Not to say that it can be any plane...it's gotta be aesthetically pleasing as well of course (I know "beauty is.." well you know). I look at planes like the Thorpe T18, Sonerai, KR2 and there seems to be a fair bit of discussion on their vices. Still there are plenty of them around and people have hundreds of hours in them. Sounds to me like it comes down to one's experience really. So with that, I wonder what folks thought about building tail draggers hours (in what tail dragger) to eventually comfortably fly more challenging tail draggers such as these?

Yes..I've been eye'ing that Lightning. Always liked the look of the Lightning, but was turned off it initially because I was snubbed at Natfly one year. Was waiting for ages to speak to the guy, but he was in no hurry to chat (didn't seem like he was interested in selling). And of course the Jab engine issues with CASA - not that I have any issues with it, but I'm waiting until at least the instrument expires in June, as I'm sure other potential buyers are as well.

If only money and time were no issue, I could be badass too...then the missus kicks me and I have to wake up. One of my early heros was the Rocketeer...game first in the 80s, then the movie (or was it the other way around). When I saw Yves Rossi's first videos a couple years agos I thought, "wow, Rocketeer man!". Back then he didn't have enough thrust to climb, let alone maneuver like they are now. Fantastically awesome to see two in formation... RAAus reg was tongue in cheek comment, since I doubt this would be available to anyone anytime soon.

Now this is flying! I wonder if you could register one in RA Aus .

CASA Ramp checks guide: http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_assets/main/lib100209/ramp-checks-ga.pdf Seems straight forward enough, unless say you want to check if your EFB use is compliant - I tried to follow it and my head was hurting after a few minutes.

Does it not depend on whether you're earning an income? For instance, if your passenger only pays the cost of fuel...

I've never built a real plane, but from my avatar, you can see I've built RC models. If you've never done that, maybe you should do it first and you'll learn quickly if you will build a real one :). In building my models, I take too many shortcuts or cover things that should be rebuilt and that's just the easy build stuff. I'm afraid that if I build a real plane I may be tempted to do the same. Try your hand at a laser cut balsa kit...they're a lot of work but won't take you 5 years (more sometimes) that a real plane will take.

Re: wedderburn Definitely an option, although according to google maps, Oaks to Hornsby is 1h24m whereas Wedderburn is 1h44. Warnervale was under an hour, so Somersby will be even better. Might try the Oaks first and maybe Somersby at some later point. Thank you all for contributing! Ak

Most airstrips I've landed on so far have been double that so 589m is tiny. Anyway I did a short field landing and stopped well short but didn't need to really - there was a strong headwind that day. Re: Camden Yea I noticed that it was class G outside twr hours too which was why I was going to ask but distance from Oaks is negligible so probably won't even need to consider it unless The Oaks is not available.

Ouch..steep fees. Kinda rules out that option. Somersby seems like an option if it's available and I've taken the Tecnam p92 into 09/27 at Kyneton before (589m) - that's probably the shortest runway I've landed so far.

I was going to ask about Camden next, but never thought about the Oaks. Google suggests the drive to Hornsby is about 1hr 20m, which is viable.

Have you or do you regularly fly into Bankstown with RAA pilot certificate? If so what are the considerations? Asic, class G outside tower hours, landing and parking fees...what else? Or don't bother? Coming out of ADST I know it's no longer an option for a while (is tower operational in the weekends?). I have family North of Sydney and the alternative would be somewhere like Warnervale but flying from Vic, means there's a lot of tiger country or control zones to navigate. Ak

Some of my photos from the Avalon weekend.

@ Andy...that's a good point. The small wheels on the URB-E is probably not going to work well on a highway. For the cost, weight and size I think the AirWheel is still well ahead, although the learning curve is a little higher. I did see that the Australian distributor of AirWheel shut up shop because they couldn't get exemptions for public use. Seems the same thing happened to the Segway.

Here's another contender althought again it's still in development but expected to ship 2015: http://urb-e.com/products/

Haha...battery thing was very tongue in cheek!

@apm...I can totally see that. Compartment as some do behind the engine could house it with a plug you just plug the wheel into .

You'd be surprised how light some of these electric bikes are actually. 10-20kg but kinda pricey as Andy indicated. Check out the YikeBike...still in development though (over $2k) but profile when folded up looks good.

We've gone from 1 wheel to 4 And FH I'm not one to pedal 15kms either that's why I been looking at electric bikes (or the airwheel in this case).

18kg is probably a bit too heavy. 10kg would be the limit IMO and small enough so if you had a pax, perhaps have two of them. How much do the HASA bikes weigh? Re: funny looks These mono wheels get a few funny looks too. Imagine one going down the highway into town :).

Just wondering how people get around once you've flown somewhere? Taxi seems the obvious choice if you don't have a pre-arrangement. Costs me $20 each way from Echuca airfield into town in a taxi. That's $40 bucks on top of aircraft hire. Anyway, I've seen these electric mono wheels whizzing around in the Melb CBD last couple of weeks and went looking. On Amazon (can I say that?) they're $500-$900USD and weigh around the 10kg mark and the size of a small suitcase. They apparently get up to 20kph with a 20km range. Foldable bikes as another option? That's what I started looking into actually, but they don't fold up small enough. For the cynics, yes $500 is about 12 taxi rides into Echuca :). Ak...

Awesome..thanks for posting. Ak

I've been looking at a few alternates as well. Most of the alternates will do 30fps and at least 1080p video. For most purposes this is ok, but basic features I've been looking for that many don't have is >30fps so you can do smooth slow mo's and 3.5mm audio jack input - the audio input is needed for recording the intercom. I assume you want to do some inflight videos so checkout hobby RC cams for the wing mounts as we'll. Most are flat so u can mount them more or less flush. Surprisingly the iPhone does a pretty good job of recording. You can even get an adapter for recording intercom/ATC. Ak

Kind of looks like a mini-Millennium as well I think. Be nice, but probably just a once off build the guy did himself from Corby plans.