boingk

Thanks Alan, that'd be great! Meanwhile, today I took her up with the CFI, after some taxi testing, and flew around for an hour or so. She behaves very nicely and was a joy to fly; the CFI was very taken with her and commented that he'd very much like to buy one if he could find another. No picture or video... just a big grin! Cheers all - Enoch

Thats a seriously cool contraption, reminds me a lot of the multi-rotor copters in the RC world. Very cool stuff. As for efficiency, they've taken the hard way - but perhaps thats the point. Decades ago, a fellow pedalled accros the English channel in a self-powered fixed-wing aeroplane. I believe the technology used at the time could be superseded by innovative design and materials commonly found today. I've never seen a human-powered vertical-lift craft before. - boingk

Sugar, fat, whatever... if you eat more then you should in terms of energy value then you will gain weight no matter what you eat. The big thing is to check out how much you're eating vs how much you're burning. This varies widely from person to person - I burn around 13,000kJ/day and therefore need to eat about half as much again as the 'average person' just to keep ticking over. Again, 8700.com.au is a useful site for finding that figure out. Just plug in your age, sex, height, weight and activity level (low/med/hi @ work/rest) and it'll figure out a rough guide for you. Cheers - Enoch.

I'll be using my own aircraft - the Minicab. The CIF doesn't seem to think this is a problem and has said he'd be glad to do this with me. - Enoch

Haha, shall do my man! Think she'd be right from what I've seen thus far, but the flight manual states that she is not to be operated from strips with less than 2200ft / 670m available. I'd have to do some measurements under a few conditions and see what she ends up at. Progress so far is that I've finished my ground testing (shes a pussycat!) and am now awaiting clearance from the CFI for my tailwheel solo. I'm also awaiting a new 6x6.5" tyre and the prop that I ordered to replace the Flottorp 72x48" thats on there currently. The first flight tests will be in and around Goulburn; essentially the Lake Bathurst / Tarago / Windellema area. I do not want to push myself or the plane to do too much too quickly, and definitely want to nail my tailwheel landings before I start flying into other strips. Cheers all - Enoch

Thats the way, Crazy D! All the best on the bicycle journey! On losing weight, yeah, I might not be one to talk about it... what with me being young and fit and all that, but the best diet I was ever on was at university. I had a very limited food budget ($50~70/wk) I bought mainly fresh veggies and meat I ate little carbohydrate I excercised often (2km bike ride to and from campus daily) Main meals were mostly steak (blade cut; lean and cheap) with veg, burritos, home-made pizza or vegetarian tortellini (spinach/fetta type). Sometimes I would treat myself takeaway, but that was rare. My burrito recipe is really got me through as it was cheap, nutritios and easy to make in bulk which enabled me to shop efficiently. 500g lamb or lean beef mince 1 largish onion (diced) 1 can three-bean mix 1 large clove garlic (2 small) Raguletto pasta sauce (garlic & red wine, from woolies) cummin & chilli flakes, or half a small packet of 'Burrito Seasoning' Brown the onion with a bit of olive oil, throw in the mince and break up with spatula, throw in sauce, beans and garlic and stir well. Simmer for a bit and throw in the cummin and chilli flakes to taste. You'll want a largish pinch of chilli and maybe half a teaspoon of cummin to start with. Simmer to reduce the sauce for a bit (15min) and then serve with burrito wraps (best I ever found were Woolies Homebrand), red capsicum, tomato and lettuce. Add a small amount of vintage cheese if you want (vintage tastes better so dont have to use much). Unused mix can be stored in the fridge in a sealed container for up to a week, and if you ommit the spices & beans and add a can of crushed tomatoes then you have the begginning of a good pasta sauce! Add some basil and olives, perhaps a tad of grated carrot, you'll love it. Anyway enough from me, I'm off to bed. Havagoodone! - Enoch

Hey Sol good to hear you're keen on the commercial licence. I am currently getting my CPL and thought I'd share how its going for me. I live at home after living at university for three years. I have a degree in Criminal Justice and work nights as a bar manager, leaving my days free for flying. It is draining but very rewarding. I have an agreement with the local training centre for my flying, and have obtained my GFPT and RAA licence so far. I am flying the 200hr CPL course and have recently bought my own plane to build hours in. Being able to maintain it myself is the only way I can afford it but I'd do the same regardless. I have been offered a position as RAA instructor locally, providing I get the endorsement on my own first. This would most likely be my first job and would build hours towards something better. At the moment I'm just working and flying... love it. Work hard and you'll get what you want eventually. Cheers - Enoch

F***ing loving it mate! Hope you have many more good times in her, stay safe and have fun!

Thanks for the link, I also like the 1/2A stuff and like to mix it up with electric outrunners and good old Cox .049's - electric is nice, clean and powerful but nothing beats the 'real' engines I reckon. Cheers! - Enoch

Louis - my advice would be to head to the local aeromodelling field and enquire about membership. My club asks for $120 or so a year and that includes all insurance etc and access to the field and clubhouse with your own keys. You can learn to fly via a 'buddybox' system, where senior members will take off for you and get it up to height and flying level, then 'hand over' control to you via a switch (you both have control sets). You fly around until you encounter difficulty, then the senior member takes control back and sets you up again, usually with a bit of an explanation as to what went wrong. Its much like the learning process in a real aeroplane. As an aside, if you're looking at getting into it then I would recommend checking out rcgroups.com and looking in the Classifieds under the Australian subforum. You'll ideally want a used Spektrum DX7 or DX6 control set, which are great for learning on and later also. Receivers are $6 a pop from hobbyking.com and models can be as simple as a flat expanse of foamboard ($10/sq. meter) with a few servos and a motor attached. Cheers - Enoch

110kg - maximum safe load on any glider seat. 105kg - weight limit for tandem skydiving. 90kg suggestion - weight limit on many folding bicycles. (I just bought a folding bike with the idea of not being restricted to the airport I fly into, seems like a good idea and fitness-promoting to boot!) - Enoch

Thanks mate, I've just finalised an order for the prop I want and its good to hear they've had positive reviews! The current one on the Minicab is a Flottorp (pronounced 'flow-torp'?) 72A48, or 72" diameter by 48" pitch. These have apparently had a good reputation for decades as outstanding performers on the little Contintental O-170 series engines, so I've ordered a prop with the same basic dimensions or 72" diameter and 48" pitch. You're not far off the mark with construction; its German Beech. I can indeed confirm the competetive pricing, with my invoice asking for $560 inclusive of freight. Thanks for the reply - Enoch

I've considered a lot over the past few months, Sapphire! The Sapph and Hummel have both been on my radar, as well as stuff like the SD-1 Minisport (a wooden DA-5 in reality) and DA-11. In reality I've found it a much more viable option to simply buy a plane that somone else is selling. I would still like to build my own single-seater someday but for the moment I think I will stick with my newly-aquired Gardan Minicab :D Cheers mate - Enoch

The biggest thing is knowing where you want to be, and you sound like you know what you want. Milestones along the way are good, but its best not to be too hung up on 'getting down' to the latest goal. Just change a few things and over time you'll find that you'll start losing weight. I'd suggest weighing yourself only one or two mornings a week - keep a log if you want so you can keep track of where you are and where you want to be. A good, acheiveable figure to lose is around 0.5~1kg a week. Some weeks will be better than others but so long as your weight keeps trending downwards then you're on the right track. I'd also suggest just changing a few things to start off with; eating regular and enjoyable meals but perhaps of a smaller portion size for example. Don't rule out takeaway, but instead try and limit it to one night a week. Packing lunches helps a lot with this I reckon; I'm a serial convenience takeawayer if I don't. The biggest thing is to be active. I don't mean the whole Biggest Loser 24/7 personal trainer crud either, just do something 'active' for 30min or more 3 times a week or more. Doesn't matter if its some hardy weed-pulling down the garden or walking the dog, it all adds up. Lastly, I'll add that everyone is different. Part of this will govern what you can/can't do in terms of eating and excercise. For example, I'm an active young guy of 6'2" and roughly 90kg. If I ate the 'recommended' 8700kJ a day energy intake I'd starve to death! I need something around 13,000kJ a day to keep my body ticking over... or about 50% more than what is recommeded. Check out 8700.com.au for a better idea of what you need, it really does help put it into perspective. Cheers - Enoch

A few videos: The second one is an onboard of a J-3 style model, if you watch closely you'll see it was being attacked by magpies! Cheers - Enoch

Looking good guys, and glad to see an interest in the non-pilotable planes out there :) I've been model flying for around 18 months now and love it - always wanted to do it as a kid but it was out of reach for the average family then so I stuck to paper planes and balsa models. Now I've got a fleet of kit and self-built aircraft and I absolutely love them! Scratchbuilt 32" flying wing: Electric-assist glider (sans equipment): Scratchbuilt 18" micro flying wing Foamboard pusher-prop jet: There are others in the fleet but these are the favourites at the moment. I do have nitro models as well as electric but at the moment I'm still perfecting them - my flagship 5ft .46-powered Stick got a bad receiver pack battery and ploughed in recently so its having a rebuild, and my Cox .049 engines are still awaiting a nice enough home to fly in again. Anywho, thats all. Continue the thread with more awesome photos everyone! Cheers all - Enoch

No, just the one girlfriend Alan haha... shes great! She does enjoy shopping, but not generally just for the sake of it. We met about 6 months ago and get along very well. My womanising days are pretty much over; I had enough at university, what with the ratio being about seven to one and all! Anywho, today I got my cross-country endorsement for RA and am slating my tailwheel endorsement on the Minicab for tomorrow. After that I should be able to take her on a few local flights... and later on a proper trip somewhere. Can't wait! Cheers - Enoch

On a more serious note... I found that the propellor fitted (although free of any visual defect) was originally fitted whilst 'on condition'... in 1969! Whilst I'm not overly worried about the powerhouse A-65 rendering the cuurrent prop to splinters, I've still gotten onto an Aussie mob who do CNC-machined, wooden laminate propellors. They're called 'Ark-Tech' and responded quickly to an enquiry I sent them, also providing a reasonable quote. Has anyone had any experience with these guys? Cheers - Enoch

Certainly seems a few of us have had banking troubles... why cant they just do their job well? As for promises and bithdays... the girlfriends mad for it haha... that and flying! Does it get much better? :grin: - Enoch

No mate, just work hard haha... the bank f***ed up my loan application so now I need to get backdown there tomorrow morning and fix it. Pretty irritating. Cheers - Enoch

Thanks everyone! It does, indeed, feel good. I took delivery today (despite some bank bungling) and thankfully have her safe and warm in a hangar out at the field for the week while I organise more permenant lodging for her. Hopefully I'll have everything sorted in a few days and I'll be able to start flying her! Cheers - Enoch

Sorry, should have mentioned that, gosh! Shes a Gardan GY-201 Minicab. The design originated in post-war France after a national initiative for a light aircraft 'for the people', and was type certified in 1949. Initial production was 22 factorybuilt aircraft, with the design later being offered as plans for homebuilders. Initial model number was GY-20 but the 201 had several improvements such as split flaps and better gear leg design. They won numerous design and performance awards throughout the 1950's and by all accounts are a good personal craft. Engine is usually the venerable Continental A-65, often upgraded to an A-80 for improved performance. Seating space is comparable to a C150, with leg and headroom enough to not be cramped for a 6ft+ pilot such as myself. There is a parcel shelf immediately behind the seats with a few square feet of space for luggace etc. Cruise (solo w/full fuel) is 75~80kt @ 15lph on the A-65 and fuel is on the firewall, totalling 65 litres. Cheers - Enoch

Best week ever for me... I got my Pilot Certificate in the mail and also managed to buy my first aircraft, a Gardan Minicab: I've made a deposit and will be taking delivery Monday after finalising finance. She flew very nicely and I'm sure she'll provide many enjoyable flying hours. At some point I'm planning to do a decent trip up North somewhere, but for now I'm just going to be cruising around and getting used to her. Once I finalise everything of course! Cheers all - Enoch PS: Thanks again to everyone who helped me out in my 'hour builder / tourer wanted' thread.

If I were the pilots, I'd be saying something along the lines of: I've got clearance, and a job to do. Get out of my way or I'll report you for obstructing a commercial flight. For some reason people tend to do what I ask when I get stern with them... must be something about being 6'2" and cut like a suit hahaha...

Wankers, mate... plain and simple. Wankers. That, and corruption. Old mate in charge of policy development has an interest/mate/family member in security or a perhiphery BS service and thinks they'd do better if he implements some C.R.A.P (Cretinous Rules And Procedures) which mandate the use of their products/services. That... and apathy. People will whinge and moan but not actually do anything or bother to find out why they should. [rant] Example - I was in final year of university when the election for the current govt was on. People thought they'd tell me just how great Labour was. I was doing a Bachelor of Social Science - Criminal Justice, and thought it appropriate to inform them of why they were wrong. Most were not impressed. Several years later and guess who's right... yeah that's right... the guy who told you right at the beginning, the guy who actually knew what he was talking about, and from things other than empty election promises, too. [/rant] On body piercings, my father doesn't have any (that I know of) and used to regularly get stopped at detectors due to, we suspect, a large amount of old-style metal-type dental work. Modern detectors can distinguish the size and location of objects so are generally calibrated to avoid such incidents but I remember clearly one time he was made to out-turn all pockets and take off shoes, belt etc... and still triggered the detector! We eventually apologised profusely and ran to our flight as it was leaving in some minimal amount of time... good old Dad still setting the detector off as we ran through. Cheers - Enoch