BrettR44

This fella was very lucky indeed to be able to walk away from the forced landing. The distance from the impact mark and where he pulled up was about 20 meters. Fuel tank was intact and the prop was still in excellent condition. It stopped horizontally so there's no marks on it.

 

The pilot had all the right gear with him and did a bloody good job putting it down. The impact also ripped the left wing from the fuse so it was a hefty stop at the end. And he pulled up a couple of meters short of two big stumps and a rock!

 

Great efforts all round!

 

 

Yeah, yeah, but apart from all that, ya still can't see the bloody Rotto wind sock, can ya? rgmwa

Easy for me, I can slow down to under 30kts

 

 

Wow, your eyesight is a lot better than mine if you can see the Rotto windsock from 10 miles out! rgmwa

I already know the wind direction by the time I'm overhead Fremantle, either by other aircraft in the CTAF or the wind sock at Azure Helicopters on Rous Head. Plus if you look at all the merchant ships at anchor then that will also give you a pretty good idea of wind direction. Failing all of that, you've always got that wind turbine on the island, it sticks out like a sore thumb!

 

This was yesterday

 

 

 

That sounds good Brett. Probably don't need that many call though. ;)

It's always a good thing to do at an airfield like Rottnest, we get everything from RAAus aircraft, GA aircraft and Military aircraft using the airfield and the NDB to do approaches. Situational awareness at a location like that is paramount. Nothing like mixing it up with a few jets, P-3's and rescue choppers!

 

 

I training at the same school with Angus, it's a little closer to home this one.

 

 

Looks like a great idea

 

http://www.greatlandlaser.com/how-they-work.html

 

 

Example:

 

Rottnest Island traffic, Helicopter Romeo Tango Quebec, Robinson R44, currently one zero miles east of Rottnest, one thousand five hundred in-bound to join right downwind runway zero nine. Estimate circuit time three zero (meaning actual time to join the circuit e.g. 1330hrs) Traffic Rottnest.

 

From there I make a 5 mile call then 3 mile call before making my downwind call, base call then final.

 

Even if no-one is there, is excellent airmanship and keep in the back of your mind that someone is always listening!

 

 

Margaret River station in the Kimberly, Western Australia

 

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/suspected-fatal-chopper-crash-in-kimberley/story-e6frg13u-1226487967924

 

 

Mate we'd love to have you here!! I can't wait to meet a whole lot more forumites as well! Who else is keen?

 

 

Well it was a fantastic weekend and from the first 5 minutes that I arrived I was extremely impressed with the area, the facilities and the people and their aircraft! This is going to be a huge event here in WA for years to come!

 

I finally, after many years, got to meet Pud which was great! I just wish I had more time to mingle and have a good chat about his aircraft!

 

The static displays were brilliant and the organisers were on the ball all through the weekend with everything that was going on. I can see that this will be a huge event, we're going to talk with the organisers and get more involved with next year, get the word out as much as possible and get some more displays and aircraft out there! All you fellas in the east should come over! We'd love to get you over here and meet you all at the next event! So there's heaps of time to plan to get over and there's lots of parking for your aircraft or caravans!

 

So watch this space for news on the next event, Westfly was fantastic this year and we can't wait to make this a regular event here in WA!!

 

Now I'm pretty much up to my knees in follow ups and work so here's some photos from the weekend that I managed to get in between flying!

 

Fly safe!

 

Setting up the HLS on RW07

 

 

The view of the hangers from where we had the HLS on the first day

 

 

The tide gets pretty high in these areas

 

 

VH-RTQ ready to go

 

 

Taking a break between flights

 

 

Had to send this to the wife

 

 

5 Star accomodation

 

 

Loved spending the weekend

 

 

Hanging out for next year!!

 

 

 

Well the R-44 is packed and ready to go. Myself and my 2 crew are booked in for the Saturday dinner. Swag's set up for a -2 degree night..... Going to be so much fun!!!

 

 

G'day again Brett, Good to see you back in the forum. I was in the Helibiz hangar today at Shute harbor and they have several R66s being assemblied and sold. They operate here now almost daily. One was getting a sprayboom set-up installed for ag-spraying with 400 Lts capacity.............................................................Cheers Maj...

G'day Major! I'm hearing some great things about the R66, would love to give it a run one day! I reckon she'll be my first turbine endorsement. How's the flying coming along?

 

 

Cheers Planey, still keeping out of trouble then!

 

 

G'day Brett, is the company considering a R66 ?Eric

Always thinking about it, would love to go halves with someone!

 

 

Ladies, gents, I'm digging this up as the event draws closer. I'll be out there in an R-44 doing joy flights but I really want to meet up with people and say g'day.

 

Who's looking at getting along so far?

 

 

G'day all, I thought I'd drop in again to say hi and see how everyone is.

 

Several years ago I jumped online during my RAAus training and this forum gave me a lot of assistance and I got to meet with some great people.

 

After that I began chasing a dream which was my commercial helicopter licence.

 

Well today I'm working for Rotorvation Helicopters in both a Business Development and pilot role. I love flying and love sharing with everyone!

 

The main reason I've made a return is because we have a major event here in WA between the 29th Sept & 1st Oct. I'll be there with a few crew and a helicopter to conduct joy flights over the long weekend but I'm also hanging out to catch up with a number of forum members who have followed my journey over the years.

 

So I really hope to catch up with everyone, I'll be camping out over the two nights so fingers crossed we can share a beer or two while we're all there!

 

Fly safe and I hope to see you there!