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derekliston

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Everything posted by derekliston

  1. derekliston
    No argument with that. I fly for fun, not transport, but just ten minutes drive from Warwick airfield, around 15 litres per hour at 130km/hr so roughly the same fuel consumption as my Diesel Pajero. Problem is, as you say, if I use it for transport I need taxi, bus or hire car at destination.
  2. derekliston
    Definitely with RAAus there are ways of doing your own maintenance, might be worth looking into if you don’t want to build VH Experimental. To be the builder in Experimental category you must have built at least 51% of it. Most of the kits are carefully calculated to meet that requirement.
  3. derekliston
    Back when I learned to fly in the UK, around 45yrs ago, spin training was part of the syllabus (I believe that is no longer the case?) and part of the flight test was the ability to enter and recover from a developed spin, from memory I think 2 turns were required. It wasn’t easy in the first place to get the C152 aerobat into a spin and I am pretty sure it would have come out by itself. I personally think it should still be a requirement. I also did an aerobatic endorsement in a Decathlon as unusual attitude recovery practice, nice aeroplane to spin, also checked out on 150hp Airtourer for aeros, not so nice to spin, steep and fast. What did I learn? a) aerobatics are better viewed from the ground! b) I REALLY don’t want to stall/ spin on the base to final turn, I don’t believe I would be quick enough to recover!
  4. derekliston
    It is also worth noting that in terms of doing your own maintenance, it is necessary to be the actual builder of VH experimental, or you have to have the work done by a LAME. Also whilst ‘Experimental’ is fairly flexible and you can build pretty much what you want, once you have your CofA, modifications are not easy to approve. I am not familiar enough with the various RAAus categories to comment but I am sure others on this forum can tell you.
  5. derekliston
    I’ve been reading this thread from it’s beginning and the only place I’ve seen the ‘it’s so dangerous’ statement is in your post. Everyone else has been encouraging and helpful vis a vis learning to fly first or building. I, along with everyone else who flies KNOWS it CAN be dangerous but so is driving.
  6. derekliston
    Thoroughly recommend that. In the hangar where I am there is also a BD4 which is a fast American high wing four seat design and if Lou, the hangar owner has his aeroplane here that is a fast, four seat low wing design, all available as homebuilt designs.
  7. derekliston
    Hey Datson, I note your location is quoted as Warwick. Where exactly? My little aeroplane is at Warwick, maybe you should come along and have a look. If you want to learn recreational certificate style then Lone Eagle at Clifton would be your best bet, PPL then probably Darling Downs Aeroclub at Toowoomba.
  8. derekliston
    50mph is really slow. We tend to talk in knots and my CH701 cruises around 70kts, it has enough fuel for around five hours which is more than my bladder endurance anyway and we can travel in a straight line without traffic lights or speed cameras. 70kts, 80 mph, 130 kilometres per hour, faster than the road vehicle speed limit anywhere in Australia apart from the Northern Territory and as I said, in a straight line.
  9. derekliston
    Each to their own of course but I disagree about ‘slow and boring’ my CH701 is distinctly slow, but definitely not boring. As an example, the Rutan Longeze is indisputably fast but pretty much needs a long, smooth, preferably bitumen runway. The CH701 on the other hand can land almost anywhere, beaches, rough small paddocks, you name it. Have a look at the BFDU (Bush Pilots Down Under) group on Facebook for examples, The River Country Muster is worth a look and the STOL (short take-off and landing) contests are a real test of flying skill. Tim Howes would tell you that you should fly a taildragger, his own one is a modified Slepcev Storch which he lands almost anywhere. Anyway, it will be interesting to see which way you go. If flying is your thing then buy a finished aeroplane because building will take a while despite what most kit companies will tell you, but the satisfaction is tremendous, flying something you built.
  10. derekliston
    Ridiculous isn’t it. I worked there for about six years but don’t recognise it from the air!!!
  11. derekliston
    Excuse my ignorance. What airfield is that in first picture?
  12. derekliston
    Only fly tornado, don’t know what Wagners did to him but he appears to hate them with a vengeance!
  13. derekliston
    To my recollection C152 did not have an electric fuel pump, not even sure they had a mechanical fuel pump on the C150 just high wing, gravity feed. I have mechanical and electric fuel pumps on my high wing CH701 but only use the electric pump for pre-start prime. Other than that it is there for emergency use only. I know (I built the aeroplane!) that the gravity supply is ample under normal conditions.
  14. derekliston
    I fly from a country airfield (Warwick) and my own aeroplane. Start up from cold until oil temps in the green takes a wee bit more time in cold weather than hot (Obviously!) but around ten minutes average (That’s a guess!). Taxi to 27 takes about 2minutes, 09 probably 5minutes. Don’t often have to worry about traffic.
  15. derekliston
    I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again. That amount of money for something which in time of war is basically a consumable is obscene. Not sure who or what they are defending us from either, China doesn’t need to invade, they are just buying the place bit by bit!
  16. derekliston
    After a disaster like that passengers in possession of carry-on baggage should be prosecuted! Don’t know what avionics problems they were having but it was a diabolically bad landing from a professional airliner crew.
  17. derekliston
    Bucket Jungmann or Spanish Casa 1.131?
  18. derekliston
    I too fly behind a 2200 Jabiru and agree with everything said in the previous posts. Lovely little engine, lots of Jabirus at Warwick and all the owners swear by them. My plane is a Zenith CH701 and the engine is lighter, simpler and noticeably cheaper than the usual alternative. Just maintain it properly.
  19. derekliston
    I too have a CH701 flying out of Warwick. Where are you on the Sunshine Coast?
  20. derekliston
    Don’t know a lot about F35s except they are bloody expensive for something which in time of war is essentially a consumable!
  21. derekliston
    Discrete frequency at YWCK so no congestion.
  22. derekliston
    So did I, tongue in cheek though, at least the media didn’t call it a Cessna but they might have the model wrong!
  23. derekliston
    Don’t they have preflight briefing? Must admit I can’t understand that at all!
  24. derekliston
    Surprised me too! Once the aeroplane parked there was a lot of chatter back and forth on the airfield frequency about the patient, so I don’t really know what was going on. Possibly as you also said above, he may have also been broadcasting on area frequency, but that is no help to airfield traffic.
  25. derekliston
    Back to my favourite rant. Went out to Warwick today to check out the weather, decided not to fly because a bit yucky looking. Noticed an ambulance waiting at the terminal building and realised there must be an RFDS flight inbound. When at the airfield I always have my airband receiver on and hadn’t at that point heard any inbound calls, but sure enough a Kingair arrived on 27, turned around at the end of the runway and backtracked to the terminal. Fair enough, no other traffic broadcasting, however after they loaded up and started engines a Mooney called joining crosswind then downwind and base. The Kingair rolled out to the 27 holding point without any acknowledgement that it had heard or was holding. After the Mooney landed the Kingair entered and backtracked 27 again without any calls. The only two calls it made were ‘rolling 27’ No station, no type, no reg! Next call again without any other details was ‘on climb to flight level something or other’ Now I know I’m going to hear a lot against what I am saying but I think that was surprisingly unprofessional.
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