Mazda

Motz the naked thing on the windsock has been done at CN before. At night. Then someone flew in and turned on the lights ... But if Camden is ever threatened I might join you there on the windsock. When I did my twin training we did have to completely shut down and feather an engine, but this was only ever done at altitude. When in the circuit area we had to set "zero thrust" which a simulated failure. Both engines stayed running. However there are serious controllability issues with twins on one engine, and yes getting below Vmca doesn't leave options open.

I'm really pleased that Rob and student are OK. Best wishes to Rob for a speedy recovery from his back injury. Old Man Emu, there already appears to be an anti-Camden lobby and this will only add to it, but there is no way we can let anything happen to that airport.

Dog, there is no such thing as a CTAF R.

There are professional aircraft detailers and they charge like wounded bulls. Their main clients are corporate jet owners.

There is much information published already in text books, and everything required should be in the syllabus (such as the day VFR syllabus for GA). I think there is enough in the text books for the theory tests. The practical side should be taught well by your instructor, if not, ask lots of questions or get another instructor. They should provide practical briefings, answer questions and make it relevant to your lesson. When it comes to navs it is very important to be taught how to read maps thoroughly. I think lack of map reading skills is why there are so many VCAs. You should be taught this by your instructor. If you can't take it all in at the time, ask again, and again. Ask before and during your navs. When I was learning the ATC nav books had detailed information on the different charts.

Oh, I see, we are supposed to put WRONG things in here to see how people react.

Now CFI, that's a bit forward offering me your bed! :ah_oh: I've flown in Tassie CFI, down to Melaleuca, into Sandfly etc. It's not very big! Whip out your trusty Broken Hill and Cooper Creek WACs and let me know which line on the Strezlecki you will use, because believe it or not, those dunes actually shift!!

Exactly CFI! So you've been flying over the Strezlecki for quite some time, how do you find where you are on the map?

No sextant either.

OK CFI, maybe I'm being a bit narrow-minded. I'd like to hear your method of navigation and track correction, I might learn something. Say I'm navigating Tibooburra, Corner Store, Nappa Merrie (Dig Tree), Innamincka, Arkaroola, Muloorina. In my little beast, no navaids. Maybe back via Broken Hill and Parkes.

How so CFI? I don't understand why military and RA pilots are so interesting? I didn't mention RA, I was talking about GA and military. Do tell why it is so interesting ...

CFI, I don't know what planet you are on, but the GA schools I know teach markers (10 mile, 6 minute - either will do) and this is expected at PPL and CPL level. It means diversions can be made at any time, not from a feature (there may not be a feature, it's not like Tasmania), and it ensures people are not "track crawling" from one landmark to the next. Anyone track crawling will fail a CPL test, and track corrections must be made using a method, such as a 1 in 60, not by guesswork. By the way CFI, military pilots are taught to navigate with minute markers, in fast aircraft they use 2 minute markers. They learn to navigate jets with a compass, stopwatch and map just like the rest of us. Anyone who says it doesn't work because the wind changes hasn't been taught correctly.

The coastal areas are really scenic, the islands, Tangalooma, or near Caboolture you can't beat the Glasshouse Mountains. Heading west, going over the dams isn't too bad, and if you head out past Toowoomba the Darling Downs area has some nice farmland. Once you get west of that there isn't that much to see for a while, just flat land really. If you like huge cattle feed lots and silos there are a few of those. There's also the scenic rim area near Boonah.

I wrote a long reply but fortunately my computer dropped out. Suffice to say I'm sick of the GA bashing on here (not Motz). You cannot presume to know what GA instructors aspire to do, I've had several career GA instructors, and no GA instructor can have 100 hours - they are only half way to CPL at that stage, let alone having the required 50 hour instructor course (not 20), night or instrument rating, spin training, class 1 medical, CPL theory. RA only instructors can't go to the airlines because, being realistic, they are not qualified to do it. GA instructors may do it because GA pay is lousy and they may not be able to support their families unless they take a better paying airline job. There is poor airmanship on both sides, I could go into the RA ones like flying through major jet airline airport zones and conflicting with traffic, completely oblivious. I've heard stories on here from RA pilots that no GA pilot I know would ever do. If CFI needed the callsign for some reason to avoid a collision, he could have asked them to repeat it, which is completely useless when dealing with some RA pilots with radios that cannot be heard. They make all the calls, but the static and noise means there is no meaningful information. No GA aircraft would get throught its maintenance with a radio like that. I do not wish to say anything against RA, it is a good thing, but the generalisations on this thread are unfair and unwarranted.

Please don't do the RA vs GA thing because this is one particular school and a couple of people in a circuit. It is NOT standard GA practice. Motz, you could submit an incident report, or a REPCON, or try to talk to their CFI to talk about currency training for their instructors and good airmanship. You could use your own good airmanship to lead by example. Or you could invite Dick Smith to fly in and give both schools a talk about airspace!

Once the National Airspace System comes in in its entirety we should be OK, it's based on the US system. Having A, C and G is not the way to go though, that is like the pre-1991 airspace here of controlled and uncontrolled. If you read that Russian one it says IFR cannot be in G, that sounds like an awful lot of Class C must be around in that case. Without an airspace diagram it is hard to tell - maybe they have Class C corridors along airways (The US has Class E corridors, with no transponder requirement for VFR). There is GA in Russia by the way.

Enjoy the build! It's about time Dave got back into "Fly Off Quick."

Flighty there are lots of places to see along the way. Coastal is so much nicer but do be careful of weather and Maj isn't kidding about the storms. The weather changes much faster up this way than it does in Sydney. I'm not sure if you are able to go into Class C or D. If you can go into C, you can get a clearance through Williamtown up the coast. If not, there is an inland lane which follows the railway line. It's low and has hills around. Up that way Maitland and Cessnock are good places to stop, but beware of the flying school traffic at Cessnock. If you go up the inland lane you'll come out near Taree if you go coastal. Port Macquarie is a good place to stop. Good strips, fuel, and if you can get into town it is a nice place to visit. Beware of the Coffs Harbour airspace, it is large. No problems if you can go through Class D. No transponder requirement of course being in D. If you can't fly through D then it would be quite a long way around. Beware the high terrain if you need to go west. There's a private strip up near Yamba, I think it is Palmers Island. It has a really good strip and a clubhouse with showers. I'm sure it has a website. That would be a good place. Up that way too there is Evans Head airport which is OK for a stopover. They have a fly-in which I think is usually in January. Beware of the restricted airspace there, check the NOTAMS. Ballina is a big sealed strip on the coast, there's not much at the airport but if you stopped there you could perhaps have a look around if you can get a car. Heading up towards the Gold Coast, if you are permitted to fly through Class C just call up for a clearance. There is a coastal lane along the beach, and an inland lane. If you can't fly through the Class C it is only a small patch of airspace, you can fly west of it via Murwillumbah. Do be careful doing this because the terrain is high and the airspace is low. If the weather is marginal I'd suggest waiting at Ballina for a while. If you get stuck though, with low cloud and high terrain, call up Gold Coast and ask them for a clearance anyway. The terrain is much lower in the controlled airspace. It's beautiful flying in that area. Beware of Southport traffic and don't fly to Southport. You would be welcome at Heck Field/Jacobs Well, but not at Southport. Go up the lane along North Stradbroke Island. You can land at Dunwich, beware the sand and the slope, and yes they do have caravans on the field. There is nothing there though! You can get a taxi but it is expensive. That would get you to Dunwich township, Little Ships Club is good for food, or get the bus to Point Lookout. Along Moreton Island, have a look at Tangalooma. I wouldn't recommend the strips on Moreton. You do need permission for Tangalooma and I'm told the other one needs some work. The lane pops you out near Caboolture, you could stop there. There is a good club open on weekends and fuel. It is walking distance to a motel/pub. Heading north do fly around the Glasshouse Mountains, and from there there's not much point going through Maroochydore airspace, just head up over Australia Zoo towards Nambour, stay west of the highway. You can head over to the coast when clear of the airspace, or cut the corner a bit. There is a strip at Noosa if you head for the coast. Heading up towards Fraser, there is a strip at Tin Can Bay, it's a funny sloping thing but it is a strip. Beware the restricted airspace. There is a strip at Rainbow Beach, I don't know who runs it, plus a strip on Fraser, but I haven't been in there. If you head over to the mainland there is Hervey Bay and Bundaberg. Bundy is a good airport and there's much to see in town. There is a Bert Hinkler museum which is great, and steam trains through the park on Sundays. You can visit the Bundaberg ginger beer place, and the Bundy Rum distillery, and go to the beach at Bargara. PM me if you need anything further.

They can be hired at a school in Archerfield (Brisbane) but I'm not sure if there are any in Sydney. If he has a US licence there's a bit of work to do though before he can fly. Otherwise it would need to be dual. So if dual, why not look at flying something a bit different? Maybe aerobatic, tailwheel etc.

Darky, alpha isn't the most accurate. Try to use a really sharp pencil! I'm sure DJP can help you out in person.

Firstly there never was a type of airspace called CTAF ®. They were just CTAFs, but some had a radio requirement, and people tended to call them CTAF ®s. However, even in that context, CTAF ®s have not existed since 3 June. Secondly, ADS-B is not the primary tool in controlled airspace, the majority of aircraft don't have it. I'm not sure what is happening at Willy. In the past they have closed down over Christmas but it was being reconsidered due to the RPT there.

Well done Darky! (Does this mean you will charge for each of your posts?)

Round in circles again. Glide approaches are not the best, otherwise professional airline and military crews would do them every day. But they don't. Powered approaches are normal in a powered aircraft. Glide approaches either mean you are in a glider, are practising an emergency procedure, or you've stuffed up and going to idle power and slipping the thing in is your only way of getting down. It removes your options. But the worst thing is it is really hard on engines. By doing glide approaches all the time, especially in circuits, you might find you can't increase power when you want, and the engine might have shock cooling issues. It's ironic that in trying to fly in a way to safeguard from engine failures may make an engine failure more likely.

Redcliffe is a good sealed strip and you would be welcome, but there isn't really any parking, with "no parking" painted on the ground everywhere. If DJP doesn't come up with any ideas you could phone the Redcliffe Aero Club and see if they could assist. It is a nice looking aero club. Caboolture is only a few minutes north of there and there's certainly plenty of parking there on the grass. It doesn't take that long to drive between the two and there is a station at Caboolture (taxi or bus from near the airport to the station), but there is no station near Redcliffe. I'm not sure about Byron but Ballina is a good strip, sealed and not too busy although it does have a bit of a traffic mix. It's nothing to be worried about though. There's a private grass strip at Palmers Island near Yamba, and Evans Head is south of Ballina. Just keep your eye on the weather at that time of year, there can be some big storms. The airspace isn't too bad. Coolangatta airspace is small and you can fly west of it, then fly along the beach on North Stradbroke and Moreton Islands to avoid Brisbane airspace. From there you turn in to either Redcliffe or Caboolture. Heck Field/Jacobs Well between the Gold Coast and Brisbane is friendly, Southport is not.

Personally I think there is not enough emphasis on the initial training in slow flight and stalling. Exploring slow flight and recovery. Stalling clean, power off, power on, flap, approach, go around, turning, level, climbing, descending, accelerated. Recognising yaw. Wing drop recovery/incipient spin recovery. Stall stick position, holding it beyond the stall stick position, keeping straight with rudder. Getting comfortable being in stalled flight, and with the recovery. Understanding the theory of factors affecting the stall. Load factor and what it means. Recognising situations which may lead to a stall. Preferably spin recognition and recovery, but that must be done in GA. I've flown with commercial pilots who were only trained in stalling with a couple of demos and recovery as soon as there were symptoms. These people have never even been demonstrated the more advanced stalls, but that isn't good enough. If you haven't been shown this sort of flying, go up with an instructor who can show you. Once you have been shown, do practise every now and then, but keep sufficient height under you. I agree with Motz that not going below 1.5 stall speed in the circuit is counterproductive. What is wrong with the published figures that are used for P charts? What about when doing a short field approach? I can even think of one aircraft with an approach speed 20 knots below the 'normal' stall speed but it is a pretty specialised type and power must be kept above 87% during the approach on that one.