Phil Perry

Ho Ho. . . . . like it, reminds me of a recently deceased aviator friend who liked extremely HOT curry. He asked me if I'd like to try a particular brand of imported Indian chilli sauce, I declined, as if there was such an animal as a" hotness factor" above tindaloo or Fahl,. . . . . then that was what he regarded as normal. . . . . . He stuck his finger in the jar, and slowly licked the lot off, and said " Beautiful" !! About fifteen minutes later, he went to the toilet and came back jumping about in total agony,. . . as he had ( I can only surmise ) touched a rather sensitive part of his male anatomy with a finger which was not, in fact, completely bereft of the aforementioned sauce. ( Ho Ho ) I would not normally find the extreme discomfort of a close friend A M U S I N G. . . . . But I nearly wet myself.

 

Anyway,. . . . . . SORRY ABOUT THE SLIGHT DRIFT OF THREAD Flyerme. . . . . . I promise I'll try harder next post. . . . . I had a friend with a Rans S6, whose windscreen was rather old, and very "Crazed" looking with tiny scratches. He was advised to get a new one, OR. . . . . try to clean it off with malt vinegar. [ Acetic Acid ?? ] ( True) and strangely enough, after an hour with a clean cloth and the aforesaid liquid,. . . the screen looked REALLY GOOD. It didn't flare into oblivion when landing nearly into the sun in the evenings, ( Rare thing, the sun, in the UK ) and it was still installed on the aircraft when sold some two years later. Rans S6 G- MYHI ( just in case it got exported to OZ, and it smells a bit of Fish and Chips )

 

Phil

 

 

OOps, sorry about the NNNN , I was forgetting, I'm not in the Aust Flight service training school on the AFTN anymore ( ! ) We used to end flight plan transmit messages like that. . . .

 

 

Thanks Maj,. . . .

 

Nice of you to respond, I'll keep looking. The guy I'm searching for was soooooo helpful to us when we built the X'Air, he even helped us weld up the hangar doors, and when I found that the Boulton & Paul restoration society were getting rid of some aircraft quality aluminium sheets, I shot down there and bought the lot, so that we could use them as a covering for the doors ! Geoff ( Jeff ? ) helped me to drill half a million holes and rivet the darned sheets to the steel box section to make the doors. Terrific bloke, and I'm sure he was the same at his own airfield, but I can't remember where he said it was in SA, but it was not that far to the Northside of Adelaide. My only deep regret is that when first introduced to him, I thought he said that his name was "Dennis" and the daft bat never corrected me, I called the poor bloke Dennis for two years. ! ! !

 

I don't know the area that well I'm afraid, I used to fly into Parafield occasionally, but did not do a lot of flying in S.A., mine was mainly Vic, Qld, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

 

These "lighties" that you fly were not around, as I left Australia in 1983, and only had a chance to try hang gliding at that time. I gather that you now have two completely separate regimes for Ultralights and G.A. . . . I'll have to read more posts to get a feel of the difference.

 

I have a JAR European PPL, but I'm allowed to fly our Microlight ( up to 450 Kg MAUW ) on a grandfather rights rating. Mind you, getting old now, and funds are shrinking, so might well adopt the British NPPL licence, which allows flight in Microlights, and any other GA Aircraft up to 2000 Kgs with " Non complex systems " so I wouldn't be able to retract the dunlops on the Piper Arrow, nor use the constant speed prop control ( !!! ) I dropped my twin, float, multi and I/R many years ago, as it was just too darned expensive in the UK to keep them up for weekend flying.nnn( And NOBODY would rent me a DAK anyhow ! ! ! )

 

Thanks again

 

Phil

 

 

Old friend Geoff ( or Jeff. . . never got the spelling ) Kemp helped us to build our hangar AND our X'Air about six years ago. He worked for ROH Wheels, and flew ultralights out of a strip somewhere to the North of Adelaide.

 

He suffered a serious cardiovascular problem whilst posted here in the UK by his Company, and regrettably we never got the chance to exchange addresses when he returned home to Australia after a major operation. I wonder if anyone knows if he is still around ??

 

Thanks.

 

Phil

 

 

Thank you mAgNeToDrOp. The PPL flying is mainly from Wonderboom (wonder tree) just north of Pretoria and I must actually still start with the microlight. Hopefully I will get a hanger at Kroon airfield, north west of Pretoria, a small private grass strip. GA a/c is realy expensive these days and ML's give freedom. ... Gustav

Hey Squirrell . . . .

 

GA flying has A L W A Y S been expensive when compared to our stuff. . . . . I used to fly commercial beasts for a few years. . . ., but after the first few months, there was no. . . . "FUN" in the flying any more, it was just B****y hard work, especially when you had to "Hand load" a cargo because the airfield's forklift was always. . . ."Waiting for an awkward part. . . ." Anyhow, welcome to the forum, I only just joined myself,. . . . there's a lot of nice people on here, and you will always get a welcome, and lots of useful info from the experienced worthies in the forum population.

 

Phil xx

 

 

I'm interested to note that you can have either yoke or central stick variants, the "Y" column is a comfortable alternative (my opinion only ) to the single "pole" arrangement on UK kits / models, My friend Simon has one fitted to his Jab 80HP Savannah ( G-SAVY).

 

The original reason for asking was that when a friend of mine was involved in the original import of the first of the FOXBATS into the UK, he was a little surprised that the LAA ( then PFA ) would not accept the yoke variant, whereas it was available in other parts of the world. One of his comments was that some owners were not that enthralled about having to hold hands on the single stick during instructional / check flights ! I don't remember a "Y" column being an alternative back when A22 - 001 ( G-FBAT ) was first imported and constructed, and of all of the separate ones that I have flown, the column arrangement with motorcycle type brake lever mounted thereon, remains the same. This was of course decided prior to any imports so there would not be any mention of it in PFA / LAA Mods.

 

That's a Nice looking aircraft BF, I like the tundra tyres. ( Good job you don't have "Tundra Spats" . . . they'd look like Floats !! )

 

We have four Foxbats at the moment at Otherton, with another couple of possibles in the pipeline I believe. One of them is the "Sport" version, but all of them are 450 Kg MAUW under the UK "Microlight" regime. Very nice stable machine to fly though, they have been described here as a "Gentelmans' Carriage" Our Sport version was the actual aircraft which the suffered the rudder flutter / loss of yaw control problem which caused the grounding of the type for a short period, pending a Mod. They ALL have the cockpit Sill mounted throttle lever on each side, as you have described yours.

 

I've only seen one problem "Created" by that design, and this was when a visiting owner took one of our non-flying \club members for a jolly, then asked him to exit the right hand door whiost the engine was still running ( ! ) He inadvertantly caught the lever with his posterior on sliding out. . . . and the aircraft jumped forward a little,. . . . No comment.

 

One of ours had an engine fire, apparently due to over - cranking of the starter motor, I put that on youtube a couple of years ago, entitled "Foxbat A22 engine fire" dunno if it's still there, that cost rather a lot of insurance money to put right, being a total loss of the 912S and all ancilliaries, plus the firewall itself and also the windsreen and associated other components. I believe the syndicate owners now carry a cockpit mounted fire extinguisher, to preclude having to run about searching for same.

 

 

Are the Aeroprakt a22 "Foxbat" aircraft in Australia fitted with twin control yokes, or, did they have to be modified to a single central stick as they were in the UK prior to approval, as our PFA, (now LAA) chief engineer, the redoubtable Francis Donaldson, . . . no committee, just ONE BLOKE. . . . . ( No Comment. . . . .[ though I'd really like to. . . ] ) decided that if two pilots turned the yokes in opposite directions, . . . the linkage would break if the argument exceeded 150 pounds of force in opposite directions. . . .. pardon, me, but I don't really think that a C-152 / 172 / 182 or PA28 would survive such an unreasonable test. . . . ANYHOW,. . . he said the design was flawed, so he insisted that the design was changed altogether, so that all UK Foxbats had to have a centrally mounted single stick ( YUK ) to circumvent this "Problem" what's the situation on OZ with regard to this ?? are they supplied with "proper" sensible dual controls as befits a proper design from someone who also part designed the AN 125 alonng with a lot of other very big aeroplanes, In my experience, anything designed by the Russians, can usually be thrown down two flights of concrete steps and still be useable. . . . .they really are not stupid. . . . . ?

 

Just curious

 

Phil

 

 

Hi Crayonbox,Lovely part of the world up there. My folks live in Harvey Bay. I started flying a Jabiru 170 in April and have just gone solo. I too am trying hard to be nearly finished by November. I watched a trike flying on the weekend and I have to say you couldn't pay me enough money to fly in one. Besides it is way too cold in Adelaide. Good luck and keep posting with your progress. It helps the rest of us realize we all struggle at times.

Way too COLD IN ADELAIDE ???????

 

I usually wear fingerless gloves ( for the radio buttons ! ) and bar mitts and I still freeze in our MILD English weather !!!!! Plus, a home made padded chest protector under the Ozee suit, I uesed to stuff a newspapaper down the front in the early days, but I got really wet in a storm and all the newsprint transferred itself onto my sweatshirt ! ! ! Trike flying in South OZ ???? LUXURY.

 

Phil

 

 

Please accept my most profuse apologies, and that goes for anyone who read that post. I am utterley ashamed that I mentioned that at all. One possible Reason ( No Excuse ) is that I'd just crawled out of the taxi from a stag evening ( Buck's turn ? ) with a group of friends, and have to admit to serious consumption of mouth (Brain ?) loosening liquid. Having re-read my post this morning I am appalled, and will never repeat never post again unless it is following coffee or tea.

 

Thanks for the memory jogs regarding Kevin Moore, I don't know the later instructors obviously. I never saw CHR have a bingle, the aircraft in my photo was a visitor I believe, but my friend Rog HArt almost Bought EJM but something went wrong with the finance and the deal fell through, I used that aeroplane regularly, It was in pristine condition and a pleasure to fly. I used to use it to nip up to Bendigo, and occasionally to Merimbula where I had business, if the 210 ( IWK ) wasn't available. Keith had a 182 for a while, which was my second "jump up" from EJM, I remember flying down to Pakenham where it had been dumpedd by a PPL who had got lost in bad vis one day, and abandoned it. It had sunk in the soft ground and it took quite a while to pull it out, following which Dave took it back to Casey, whilst I flew the 172 back. John Hewat had a really dry sense of humour, I did some I/R training with him, and whenever I started to sweat a bit, he started telling jokes ! One of our members, Dick Donnely died of a heart attack, he was a really BIG bloke, and I remember they put him in the back of the Cherokee six 300 along with three other worthies to carry out a "Load Check" after Dave Squirrel had checked me out in it. . . The full flap "Go-Around" was , er, "Interesting" We broadcast Dick's ashes above his beloved airfield as he had wished in his will, but regrettably, it was a very dank, wet day, and afterwards we had to quietly remove most of the ashes from the side of the fuselage, tail and fin. . . . . Dick would have been most amused about that, we had a really nice bunch of people then. . .

 

I chuckled aat your story of the Tulla landing,. . . . I landed IWK at Merimbula one Saturday afternoon, after announcing on the radio what runway I was going to use. After a fairly short run, I was following the runway to the top of the bump in the middle and an F27 appeared, also on the ground, directly in front on a reciprocal heading, I swear to God I never saw him on the approach, we had to vacate fairly quickly off to the side !!

 

I don't see many similar incidents on the forums nowadays, perhaps pilots don't wish to recount these stories, especially the commercial lads ... ? or maybe we are just a lot safer nowadays. . . .mmmm.

 

Phil.

 

 

Who let you in here Phil.They had instructions at the door to keep you out !

Ah, well, you see now,. . . . . .

 

I are a product of AUSTRALIAN FLIGHT TRAINING.. . . . . OK, ok, I was taught to fly bell 47 in Indonesia, but thats a helicopter, ( bloody dangerous things them...) so it doesn't really count ( Sorry Alan ) But I learned my proper flying trade in OZ. so there !

 

I had an interesting array of Interesting instructors, . . . starting with Alan Basket, ( See other post ) who smoked more cigs in an hour than anyone I've ever met in military or civvie life !. Geez, could that man smoke. It was a good job the local C-150s had a dash mounted cig lighter and ashtray, as we were semi - IFR in the cockpit most of the time what with me being a fagger as well. . . . . then I had Kevin. . . can't remember his surname, . . .Nice bloke, but VERY, er, "Military" in his teaching technique, ie, three paddock widths to the front, two paddock widths to the left, and that's your circuit turn point .... ( ? ) he always did the Preflight briefing and After flight debriefing as if he was addressing a hall containing 300 people. . . . . as I said, . . . very good pilot, but a strange teaching technique. I used to wince if Alan Basket or their youngest instructor, ( ** Editor's note see below )** whose name I cannot recall. . .. wasn't about when I tuned up for some flying. .... I used to LOVE flying with Dave Squirrell, a cropduster turned instructor, as he was so laid back it wasn't believable. He checked me out on the Tiger Moth, using those horrible Gosport tubes ie, stethoscope intercom, where the instructor yells" MMMMUUUUghhhh" ? So I used to do the

 

manouvre, and he'd scream, Noooooo, I meant"MMMMNNnGGgRrrmmmm YOU STUPID T**T " Thank God for electric intercoms ! After one particularly spectacular bouncy landing in VH-TIG, He said, "well, . . . that was entertaining, . . . what were you playing at exactly ? " I said, . . . ( And I swear on my kid's lives this is the truth ) " I thought you said. . . "I have control . . . " !!

 

Anyway Clive, that aint the quarter of it, I got plenty more. . . . . .

 

** Editor's notes ** The young instructor was named "Dougie" can't remember the surname, but an EXCELLENT instructor who was about to depart for Ansett Airlines. . . he was shagging Helen, who worked in the office, and her husband Dave was also a member at the same time ... ( ! ) I guess I'm not telling tales out odf school now, as I'm sure Dave found out. . . . There was also a guy called Baron Von Eric. . . but THAT. . . is another story.

 

Phil

 

 

Hi Phil, interesting that you fly from Otherton....... I was down there a year past October. that's where I bought my Xair Hawk !

Ahhh well Bruce, I was probably the miserable GIT on the air / ground radio, as they normally leave it to me, as they are all too darned lazy to bother talking to inbound aircraft. !!!

 

I trained over 30 operators in the air / ground art, and we now have 3 left, the rest have migrated to other places. . . . so I usually operate the station on Sat and Sundays in order to give visitors a nice welcome. I usually buy a sausage and bacon sandwich ( with brown sauce) for the visiting pilot who has read the approach procedure in all the national manuals, and conducted the cleanest overhead circuit join. We never had to do that at Casey airfield, Berwick, . . . we just called "KQM over the top at 1500 descending for 12 or 30, . . . .and just got on with a freestyle approach !!! (** Editor's note ** ) all circuits were to the South at Casey Field, no flying over the village see. . . . .! )

 

Moorabbin was different, it was usually a right or left base join, which of course, is a lot simpler, same with Essendon airport ( wonder if that is still there ??) my old instructor from Casey field, Alan Basket, was supervising a guy in a Partenavia P68 one evening, after nightfall, doing night circuits, when the electric pitch trim went wrong and ran to full forward. They were unable to control the resulting dive ( at low speed on takeoff towards the Freeway) and the aircraft crashed on top of the houses bordering the airfield. One of the wing tanks fell through the roof of a house, where the family were sitting around a kerosene heater, and it fried everyone there, five of them I think, the Dad had just nipped out to the local shop for a packet of cigs. . . . . very sad. Alan Basket woke up still in his seat in what was left of the aeroplane, with fire all around him, with the semicircular bulkhead above him burning like the fiery circus ring that the animals jump through ( his words ) and managed to scramble out, the student survived with massive burns, but a passenger in one of the middle rear seats was killed on impact. I missed that flight by sheer luck, I was offered a back, observer seat on the flight also, but had to leave the airfield shortly before the flight on urgent business.

 

I guess I wasn't intended to go out in a blaze of glory. . . . .

 

 

Ok Daz, that's interesting, I ought to say that I only had a hate fixation about their ATC for a short while, And I guess nowadays; I might even talk to them on the radio if the need calls for it !! The ground crew were a bit amusing, when one of our aircraft was being refuelled, a TINY bit got spilled onto the apron surface, (about an oil capful ). The fire engine was called out and they cleaned it up with detergent. One of the crew said "EEE Lad, if that fuel 'ad got in Tut River Ribble, ther'd have bin an environmental disaster Tha Knows. . . . !!! no comment.

 

And as for your little trip Alan, I would have really enjoyed that, one of my friends flew all the way around ( anticlockwise ) with a couple of 582 Quantums around ten years ago, he had a ball too. Iwasn't so sure about the adviseability of zero feet flight over croc infested watery bits trusting a Rotax 2 stroke though !!! Bit brave that. .

 

I landed on the road in a C-210 and taxied up to the cafe in the early 70s, and in the back of the place they had an aerial photo above the pool table showing about seven aircraft parked around the back ! can't remember for the life of me what highway it was on now,. . . . . might have been a few hundred klicks East of Wyndham, I think. . . or I could have been "Temporarily uncertain of my position" again... memory is fading along with the medal ribbons I'm afraid. . .. I DO remember trhat they had some nice purple 130 octane on sale though !

 

Phil

 

 

Thanks, Dazza, I'm really sorry I was too poor a physical speciment to get into Mil Flying, always wanted to be a jet fighter jock when I was a sprog. . . . closest I've been is a bloke called Pablo Mason, who flew tornados in Gulf War one, I know him but couldn't say that he was a "Mate" really, he's retired now but occasionally gives talks about his experiences in Tornadoes, and the Airlines too, at out Club meetings.

 

I have however . . .had some stick time on an English electric Lightning, many years ago as an Air cadet, WHAT A BLAST !!!!!!!!!! Doubt whether I'd like to try and land one nowadays though, not at the kind of speeds those things operated at. . . !! You need young sprog reactions for that kind of kit. Closest I ever got was Dak cargo, then 727 cargo P2, moving up from flight engineer. No commercial paperwork any more, don't even have an IR now, not even the British IMC rating, I can still fly IMC in practice, but the only time I ever call on that experience is on the odd occasion when I'm flying as Pax with another GA driver friend who gets himself into the crap by not checking the weather forecast and relying too much on his Aware 5 colourmap or whatever. . . , and then it's just a nice turnaround into the clear stuff. As you will know you need to be a bit sharp and in regular practice to fly sensibly through even en-route IMC, especially using radionav at the same time. . . I think that the latest generation of pretty picture moving map GPS units are putting inexperienced pilots into trouble thinking that the kit will get them out of the crap, but as most of us know, it usually results in the driver getting disoriented and flying into some cumulo granitus, or the trees, or breaking the wings off in a screaming dive . . . . . .Not many modern microlight aircraft are fitted with even a wing leveller at the moment, but I guess it's just a matter of time before the market changes in response to the whingeing of naughty Imc wannabees. . .

 

Whilst running a little business making graphics for cars and trucks, I decided that cost and discretion was the better part. . . etc. . etc. . . . and didn't want the hassle of regular revals for the PPL/IR and every 13 months for an IMC. I tend to fly low energy stuff nowadays, purely VFR and use my experiences to annoy the crap out of younger Club pilots with my constant nannie whingeing, both in their face, and on FORUMS TOO !!!!

 

We get some howlers here on the forums in the uk, like, "I could download that beer tilting app for my Iphone and use that to keep level in the clouds. . . . . . . ." !

 

Phil

 

 

Darned good picture of an ATR Boingk, you ought to sell your pics at rallies, only critique would be, wing chord too much, fin to tall, looks abit like an AIRBUATR757777 ?

 

 

B****y Hell Alan, I don't know how to respond to that. . . . ! I hope that your business recovered to a satisfactory level after the truth finally came out.

 

We also occasionally have problems with "Certain" Civil Service aviation personnel who try to cover their arses and shift any blame onto the pilot(s) involved when they know damned well that they are in the wrong.

 

EG., This story happened on my 50th Birthday, June 2nd 2000; I was flying to the Isle of Man to see the TT races, flying my Gemini Flash2 Microlight, accompanied by Two Rans S6 three axis aircraft.

 

I was the most senior pilot ( old fart ) and I'd been asked to handle all the R/T comms for the formation ( I've never understood why people are afraid of using a radio... ) We ran into some really severe unforecast weather and asked BAE Warton ( Near Blackpool, UK ) for a weather diversion. This request was refused, ( ! ) When I asked why, the nice lady controller said that they didn't accept "Non - Emergency" diversions, and we could only land there if we declared one !!!!!! In all my flying I had never heard such a load of unintelligent bull***t. Warton is where they were building the "Eurofighter" project, and they had received a severe B******ing due to an incident the previous week, more on that later. . .

 

By this time, the solid "Wall" of weather was rapidly approaching the threshold end of the runway we would need ( 26 ) and we were now flying in heavy rain at the half downwind point for 26L.

 

I tried to reason with the controller, but my bar mounted PTT switch had filled up with water, and I got no transmit. Fortunately, my friend Ian, in one of the other aircraft, whilst only a student pilot, called a very well put together "MAYDAY" for the formation. What happened next should go down in the annals of aviation stupidity and downright criminality. . . . . . . the controller said (and I quote verbatim ) "Roger your Mayday Bravo Juliet formation, please hold your position whilst the BAE146 departs" The 146 was, at that moment, clearly visible still on the taxiway, approaching the 26L hold point.

 

So. . . . . we were forced to hold whilst the other aircraft crawled onto the runway, I would estimate this took a further four minutes. By now the weather "Wall" was only around 100 metres from the 26 threshold and the field was going to be zero vis in a matter of a couple of minutes. We watched the 146 climb out behind us, then we were given clear to land. It was too late, the weather front had blanked out the 26 numbers and I turned in front of the other two aircraft hoping that they would follow me onto a dangerously tight circuit for 08, and a downwind landing.

 

This they did, and we landed very close to each other two side by side and one close behind just as the airfield disappeared. After parking, we were asked to visit the tower, where the controller had the worst bollocking that I have ever given to anyone, culminating in my comment that her job was now seriously in jeopardy, and a full report would be going in to CAA flight safety. I had asked her if she could define what a "MAYDAY" message actually meant . . . . . and why she thought that it was secondary to the mail plane to Farnborough. . . . .

 

We were then shown to a rest room, where all six of us found that we were locked in, with an armed guard outside ( I'm not joking here ) for a couple of hours. Later the pilot of the 146 came to see us ( local mail sortie aparently) and we were told that he would be filing an "Airprox" report against us as we'd "Cut him up" on his climbout . . . . ( you couldn't make it up !! ) We had another short discussion with him later, after they had checked us out to see if we were terrorists (!) when we told him that we'd got THREE GPS tracklogs to prove that he was incorrect ( that's not the words which were used by the way) He went a bit white and buggered off. We were told we couldn't continue on our trip after the storm had passed, as ATC had "Gone Home" for the day, and it wouldn't be safe. . . . .

 

The only thing which saved my birthday (a little bit anyway ) was that my mate Mitch ( Ian of the Mayday) knew an airline pilot named Howard who lived just outside the airfield perimeter. He and his wife put us all up for the night, on sofas and floors and whatever, and stuck the heating on wo that we could dry our wet knickers on the radiators. . . Apparently, Howard used to work for Warton and had flown the ubiquitous 146 himself. He'd been away flying B757s for another airline, and this was the first night he'd been home, so instead of a bit of rumpo with beautiful Wife Nicola, all he got were six half drowned microlight flyers. The best bit was the local corner shop, where I told the lady my sad story, birthday and all, and unbelievably, she GAVE me a bottle of champagne, and a case of tinnies for the lads and all at no charge ! ( Obviously she'd never worked for BAE Warton)

 

We flew out the next morning, and air traffic were a litle bit terse with me on the wireless, but we departed OK, and continued on our journey, though somewhat late.

 

What followed was six months of crap in the form of letters from the CAA following a completely fabricated story of the event, received from Warton. They WERE shot down in flames by our indisputable GPS track logs, but we never received an apology from them, nor heard that they had been censured for "Holding" aircraft which had declared distress. ( A hanging offence in my book ) They tried to prosecute Mitch since he was a student, and owned the aircraft, but he had a fully licensed GA pilot with him acting as P1. A N Y W A Y we got the closest thing you ever get to a "Sorry" letter from a Goverment department after the thing had been going on for so long. "No further action in this regard" Yours faithfully etc...etc.....

 

We found out a while later why they had possibly been a bit "Jumpy" apparently, prior to our unexpected visit. . . a British SAS force Hercules had landed in the dead of night on a "Security Check" detail, unloaded a jeep and placed "Smiley" stickers on all of the secret hangars where the new Eurofighter aircraft was being built !! ! ! The Herc, took off and no one at Warton saw or even heard the thing !!!

 

Red faces all around I guess.

 

Don't you just love aviation ?? where else couyld you find such daft tales ??????

 

Postscript, I ferried a Rans S10 from Blackpool to our base at Otherton some while after this, and when Blackpool ATC handed me over to Warton, I told them, sorry, readability one. . get yer radio fixed. changing now to London Information 124.75 . Have not spoken to them since and don't particularly want to.

 

Phil

 

 

Sun, wine, good food........ Remind me....... Why am I still here ? :-))

OOps, forgot to say,

 

Welcome Bruce, Nice forum this, I've been here for a couple of days myself.

 

Phil from othertonairfield.co.uk

 

 

Hi Bruce welcome to the forum. I fly an Xair Hawk/Hanuman fantastic aircraft to fly. Im currently grounded at the moment for 8 weeks I snapped my archilles tendon, 1 week down another 7 to go. Going to be a long road ahead.Cheers.

Hi X'Air,

 

Sorry to hear about the AH situation, why not just fly without using the rudder? Ours does that quite well,. . . . . . .oh, hang on, yes, the nosewheel steering. Delete previous comment.

 

Or just M a y b e. . . . you could train the Missus or a close friend on ground steering control? . . . . . .

 

And C L I V E . . . . . . I didn't know you had emigrated to OZ as well ???

 

 

The biggest factor is winds at cruise level. A Jet aircraft at the optimim cruise altitude cannot go faster or slower because it will get to a high or low speed stall with a speed variation of about 15 knots as a percentage of about 480 knots Average TAS, this is not significant as a consideration. Nev

I had my first ( and only ) flight in a Learjet some years ago, we were flying at FL 420,. . . .Following a long discussion with the crew, I was told by the handling pilot that it was not adviseable to "Hand fly" the aeroplane at this level as the curve between VNE and stall was very narrow; and that autopilot was the only sensible option at these levels. Dunno your name Facthunter, but there is a good aerodynamic reason for this, have you got the formula in basic terms ? This isn't a "wynd up" by the way, as I don't know you since I'm a forum Newbie.

 

 

I don't believe that downward deflection provides all the lift and don't believe the theory taught in flying schools has been all wrong. To prove it mathematically would take too much time for me. As long as I get sucked up into the air when I pull the stick back, I am happy [my scienfific explanation]

Sucked up ? P U L L stick ?????????????? G E N T L E change of pressure toward the gut dear boy. . . . ( tut tut ) that is, unless a sudden and unexpected tree or rock face appears in your front window. . . . .

 

 

Alan,

 

Thanks for the memory jog on the Gyro crash, I seem to remember the local banter suggesting that he'd pushed the cyclic Forward a bit, OR. . . was operating at too low rotor rpm when he wrenched the thing downwind. . . wish we'd had email / skype / forums back then, These kids dunno how lucky they are ( !! )

 

One other query,. . . does your Civil Aviation Authority ( then DCA ) still have the dreaded "Form 225" ?? As I remember Dave Squirrell 225'd Katherine FLight Service for insisting that HE was lost around that time too !!!! It was quite rare in them thar days for a pilot to "225" a ground station, in fact it might have been unique - vwhat a character.

 

And X'Air, thanks for the kind words, Our X'Air is the older model ( 582 Bluetop and "Snarky" looking airframe )

 

Phil.

 

 

DJP, that's very sad re- Barry, he had a major heart bypass op in the seventies, but still managed to return to flying. I'm really sorry I lost touch with him soon after I left for the UK in 1983, Really nice bloke, friend and client.

 

Nice though to hear that both Keith AND Elsa were still around not so long ago. I wonder If DS is still hiding somewhere . . . he did some instructing at Moorabbin as well as Berwick, in between AG flying work as you probably know. Althoughthis was in the early to mid seventies and time takes it's toll. . . . . . .

 

Thanks again.

 

Phil

 

 

Gee Whuzz guys,

 

I wonder how many characters I can type on one post to respond to you all in turn. . . ( ! ) Dazza: Know Boonah, though I never landed or crashed there. / Gareth from "Wolvo" - you got to OZ about a year after me then ! And Yes, I do still fly, mainly now Hired PA28 Arrow 4, and a couple of microlights, one owned, and one shared ( Flash 2 Flex and X'Air) plus anything I can blag.

 

Alan In the Clouds : Is my old mate Barry Coutts still about? he used to own Volkspower near Moorabbin, and used to fly accross the USA in a Cessna nearly every annual holiday. I had no idea that he had a strip at Koo Wee. Shame that Pakenham is gone as well, but I guess nowt is forever. :

 

Metal - No I'm in the UK now, I have several friends in Melbourne, Gold Coast and Brisbane who I Skype to regularly though ( non flyers) : Turbo - Thanks for the link containing Moorabbinites. . ., I'll have a look on there shortly, good idea, might find some other ancient larrikins there too.

 

Boxfat : To be perfectly honest, I didn't actually damage TIG that much, one of the members "Said" "You've probably shock loaded the donkey mate" the prop was stopped and did so nearly level when the mainwheels entered the ditch, which wasn't at the intersection by the way, I'd turned lefrt off Rwy 12 and was following the parking track which paralleled the clubhouse buildings. I got a big gust and due to me panicking about hitting the tails of a couple of parked Cessnas, I badly over corrected for it with too much throttle, and swung 90 degrees right. I cut the mags and entered the ditch in SLOWMO. !!

 

I have a photograph of me standing in front of a PA28 which was flown over the railway power lines at the 12 threshold end, but hit the deck before the wire fence and went underneath it. And NO. . . It wasn't me guv Honest. I'll try and dig it out, scan and upload it.

 

My lady passenger thought this was the normal parking method (!) Keith was really nice about this and would not accept any payment for the resulting inspection. : Howard : I don't know what period you were there, but us members regularly took visitors and enthusiasts for a flight if they couldn't afford to pay for it. . . I wonder if you were in theframe between 1970 and 1974 ? From memory, a C-172 was costing me $A18.00 per hour wet, and I used to use Keith's C-210 VH-IWK ( It Will Kill ) quite a lot, as it was quite reasonably priced at around $A27.00 PH. It was his fastest "hireable" on which the undercart solenoids regularly failed. Had to pump the gear down a few times, a hundred and B****y four pumps of the lever if memory serves !!! ( Ahhh sweet memories ) I see you're located near Bulli, been there a few times as an old mate was a fireman thereabouts, and went to his wedding in Wollongong.

 

Thanks for all the responses people, I feel really welcome now !!

 

Kind regards to all

 

Phil

 

 

I can only imagine how luxurious it would have been back in the 70s if we'd had GPS..... !

 

 

Flippin 'Eck, that was quick, Thanks Dazza, Where do you fly from, as, from what I remember when I was lost somewhere around 200 miles South of Darwin, Katharine Flight service insisted I was lost, and I told them that I knew EXACTLY where i WAS, What I didn't tell them was that I was a bit unsure about the area underneath me. They didn't want to know about my report of "West abeam "Numerous Sand Ridges...."

 

Phil

 

 

Sorry Derek, but I read a book a long time ago, written by a German American bloke called Wolfgang Langweische, it was called ( Not unusually ) STICK AND RUDDER.

 

With much experiance in the trade he deduced that an aeroplane flies for one simple reason. . . . . . .

 

IT BEATS THE AIR DOWNWARDS WITH IT'S WINGS.

 

So. . . . . There you have it, none of this totally unneccesary aerodynammiccal fysics stuf required. . . . .

 

Sorted.