Bennyboy320

Give Kathmandu a try, we bought our lightweight 2 man tent ⛺️ from them, first camp out will be under the wing at Raglan.

My wife & I just spent the last few days at Figtree Retreat YFIG just NW of Pittsworth Qld, we flew in with our Foxbat 🦊, the 400m strip was in excellent condition & the accommodation first class as was the hangar, the grounds were immaculate & watching the sunset with the fire pit raging & a glass of red🍷 is a must, Ken & Ruth were very welcoming & hospitable, we can highly recommend Figtree & we’ll definitely be back. IMG_2457.MOV

Flying in & camping ⛺️, May the weather gods be kind to us all.

It’s not much but in a small way showing my support for Ukraine 🇺🇦, it’s people & the outstanding staff at Aeroprakt. Bennyboy320 Proud owner of a FOXBAT A22LS.

The Aeroprakt factory is on the outskirts of Kiev operating from its own airfield.

Very happy with the Foxbat steam driven instruments, plus my iPad more than suitable for a VFR pilot. Plus, The DA40NG when you’re not paying for it yourself.

Here’s me taking off in HKG filmed by my wife, dispatched with a brake fan inop which required you to leave the gear down for a given time ( a minute or two from memory) for cooling, if you had a subsequent engine failure you raised the gear, all briefed & understood before take off. (Please turn off volume 😳) If you got an ECAM caution after gear retraction you would have to slow down if required to below gear extension speed, lower the gear & let the temps reduce, a 200 KTS breeze does the job quit well. On a side note if you have all engines operating regardless of gear up or down performance/noise abatement is not an issue on an airliner, unlike a GA twin. IMG_3426.mp4

Just returned to Caboolture after a nice but bumpy trip to Clifton & return, amazing how lush & green the valley looks after all the rain, thanks again Trevor for your hospitality, excellent grass strip & first class facilities, definitely a counter lunch in town next visit.

It’s a Diamond DA40NG, glass cockpit with a Garmin 1000 & all the bells a whistles, even fitted with an aircon.

I’m 6’4”/97kg & have plenty of room in my Foxbat that has a centre console controls.

Operating out of Redcliffe yesterday as well as today taking cadets for air experience flights on a perfect Queensland day.☀️

Just back from a local flight around Moreton Island, the pax I took was from my previous company & I actually gave him his 4 bars on his final command check back in 2015, I think the smile on his face says it all, priceless.

From personal experience my most memorable of about half a dozen bird strikes AT NIGHT over 40+ years was when I was on descent passing 8,000’ doing 250 KTS when we heard a loud thud, obviously we hit something. Once we taxied onto the parking bay the engineers first words were WFT happened to you guys? there was large hole in the Radom with the associated blood, guts & feathers splattered all over the weather radar, this required an ASR & unscheduled overnight stay.

I was there last August parking an A320, even back then it was a surreal sight. As you can see with my location on my profile below my picture I’m no longer an airline pilot, being over 60 I’m one of the lucky ones, feel so sorry for all those young folks who’s careers have been cut short, “keep the faith”

You could say nearly every accident is a breakdown of SOP’s plus the huge gap between perceived ability verses actual ability of the pilot.

Another example that the laws of aerodynamics are “non negotiable.”

Yes they do, I can’t speak for Australian ATC as I haven’t flown commercially here this century but in Asia it was very common to be a given a 3-5nm right offset by ATC, it was never pleasant in RVSM airspace being 1,000 below opposite direction traffic especially when it was a wide body, the 777 was the worst in coping dirty air when the conditions were unfavorable, ie wind direction.

I hear you, I’m onto my 10th logbook, that’s in nearly 41 years of flying, recently resigned & opted for early retirement, once I get out of hotel quarantine I’m looking forward to more pen entries logging my Foxbat time. PS when I was in the RAAF some of our guys did the combined logbook option, leather bound with gold embossed name & wings on the cover & it looked stunning, I did a google search for you & saw that there are 7 bookbinders located in Brisbane.

Easy, you buy 3 standard logbooks & take them to a bookbinder & they’ll do the magic, leather cover with your name & wings etc, finished product looks great.

GPS altitude measures your absolute altitude off several satellites not the same as a rad alt that measures height above the ground below the a/c ie used during low visual approaches eg CAT2/CAT3.

Remember safety is paramount, declare a PAN & climb as required, you & the authorities have to remain FLEXIBLE.

According to RAAUS news letter Airservices required TWO independent fitted vhf radios, hand held not acceptable.

I’m trying to get my head around the TWO independent VHF radios.😡

So as my Foxbat is fitted with a mode S transponder & a dual frequency monitoring vhf (I have a valid PPL) I would have to maintain 1500’ till class C airspace, then legally enter & climb as requested to any altitude to below transition altitude but make then make sure I get a clearance prior to exiting class C to be at 1500’ to re enter class E, what well thought out concept, mmmmmm.