farri

cziloft,

Hope you enjoy your stay.

frank.

Age.

J430,

Your right and some day`s you feel like the stuf you need the toilet roll for.

Frank.

Keep Learning.

John,

An achievement at any age,more so at our age.

Forever more,make every flight a learning experience.

Frank.

Vince,

Good to see there`s still interest in the Drifter.

I Have had a Maxair Drifter for just over 20 years.

Frank.

No looking Back.

Good on you,Kelvin.:thumb_up::thumb_up::thumb_up:

Frank.

Thanks Sean.

Frank. :thumb_up:

Isn`t it great, ,and I thought I was nuts.

Frank.

Green Machine.

G`Day Mathew,

Waiting on a prop from America.?????????

Stay in touch.

Frank.

Kaz,

Your attitude is great,the best way to be good and comfortable about what we do is to learn and understand as much as we can about what we do.

Frank.

G`Day Des,

Of course I rember you and what a memory you have.

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real.

I got my timing wrong,it was quite a bit later that I became president.

Regards,

Frank.

Multi Aircraft.

Hi Skylark,

I started flying when our aircraft were called ultralights and I`ve flown quite a few different types,I`ve test flown aircraft for others,I`ll try and remember some.

The first was called a Condor then I built a Chinook,flew it for many years, flew a Wheeler Scout, a Drifter on floats, my own Maxair Drifter,which I still have,a Skydart, a CFM Shadow,plenty HRS in Zenith 701,a Light Wing, an X Air, an MX Quick Silver.

There`s probably some I`ve forgotten.

Cheers.

Frank.

Better Spark Plugs.

Vorticity,

BR8EV are the way to go if you want better starting and longer plug life :thumb_up: ,I`ve had 220 hrs from one set,I`ve been using them for years,they are dearer but you get your money`s worth by their extended life span,should be able to get them from a motor bike shop.

I found BR8ES were only good for about 45 hrs then it became hard to start the engine,they foul easier also needing cleaning every 10 hrs.

I`ve had 1 Rotax 503 and 4 Rotax 582,recently purchased a new 503.

Frank.

Sean,

Do you know if there is a guy who flies from Caboolture,called,Dene Harmon.

He did some flying here years ago,I`d like to catch up if I could.

Cheers,

Frank.

Open cockpit.

Dale,

Have you tried the Drifter?,I`ve had one for over 20 years,wouldn`t be without it but we do have the climate for it here in the Cairns QLD. area.

Unfortunatly not too many schools still use Drifters however if you realy want to fly the Drifter and can`t find a shool, Wayne Fisher,is your man, he`s the best.

Frank.

F.N.Q.U.A.

Deslyn,

Can`t recognise you from your user name however I do remember a Grasshopper,Jack Stuart who passed away several years ago had one and also a Wheeler Scout and I think the other one was a Jackaroo and he later also got a Quick Silver.

I was president of the F.N.Q U.A around that time,you may remember me,if you get back to the Cairns area look me up,I`m still at Deeral and Still have the strip.

Cheers,

Frank. :thumb_up:

Inflight Safety Culture.

Kelvin,

What you say is fine and I`ve looked at those issues many times,We all need to remember however that we are talking about recreational flying and every time a pilot decides to go flying he or she makes a conscious decision to do so,there is no reason for going other than the pilot wants to, therefore it is up to the pilot in comand to take all the factors into consideration and act accordingly.

Fair enough, we need to know that the aircraft are designed to a safe standard and as far as I`m aware CASA. has done this,it is up to the pilot to maintain that standard.

As for wheels collapsing from landing on unsuitable landing areas, I don`t think too many aircraft will survive,unscratched,from landing on unsuitable terain, again pilot error,ask everyone to fly within gliding distance of a suitable landing area and I`ll bet you most will say " If we do that we`re too restricted to where we can go".

I don`t believe there`s any safety system that can protect people from themselves and after all we`re talking about adults who are intelligent enough to obtain a pilots licence and therefore in my opinion should be intelligent enough to make the right decisions.

Frank.

Kelvin,

Can you please explain what you mean by ,Enviromental and design element.

Frank.

Bushpilot,

Better to be down here wishing you were up there,than to be up there wishing you were down here.

Frank.

Wanabigaplane,

You`ve got a damn good one now.

Frank

Hi Sean,

I am well thank you and I hope you are well also.

"Very cost effective",better.

I came down to Caboolture a few years ago to test fly a Sky Dart for a student of mine who then became the proud owner.

I was very impressed with the amount of hangers and Ultralight,(Recreational) aircraft housed there,there were quite a variety of aircraft,is it still the same.

Cheers,

Frank. :thumb_up:

Safety Culture.

When I started flying there had been 39 deaths in Ultralights,this worried me so I decided I didn`t want to become another one but I realy wanted to fly these machines.

The accidents kept happening and I became so concerned I stoped reading the reports,I finaly decided it was better to know why the accidents were happening than to bury my head in the sand and I started to research them all as best I could and what did I find?

Most accidents occur because of the actions or mistakes of the pilot,I know of only 1 where it looked like a wing came off,was this pilot error?.

How many have gone into the ground because they could no longer see because of cloud,wern`t they taught to stay away from cloud?

How many have crashed trying to get back to the runway because the engine failed on take off ? wern`t they taught to land straight ahead and not to turn more than 30 degrees left or right?,of course they were.

How many have hit power lines?,one of my students did,I considered him to be a very good pilot,he crashed in front of his family who was driving down the road,I was devistated,I didn`t teach him to fly at that height,he`s sadly missed by me and his wife and children.

I could go on for far too long as I know of far too many however finaly it is up to the individual to to maintain a SAFETY CULTURE, no system will ever be able to.

SAFETY CULTURE starts and ends with YOU.

Frank.

Cheap And Reliable.

Sean,

I don`t think we can get cheap and reliable,cheap is usually inferior.:yuk:

Frank.

What Has Changed?

Skybum,

Don`t know about GA training,only did a couple of hours and found out it was more fun to fly from my own back yard,whenever I wanted to.

Speakig of recreational aviation only, I think I can shed some light on what`s changed in the time taken to learn to fly.

Have a look at the syllabus of training,it just keeps getting biger,as more people want all the privilages of GA with flight into controled airspace and controled airspace becoming more congested, the requirements for the pilot to meet increase however there`s no less requirements for those who only wish to fly outside of controled airspace,where it all started in the first place.

I agree with you that it doesn`t matter where we came from,only where we are going so we need to look after everyone, not keep making it harder,flying the aircraft is the easiest thing to do for most people, it`s all the other , in some cases, nonsense, that makes it hard.

What about the DOLLAR , as running costs increase schools are going to try and improve their income either by gaining more students, and students are limited, or keeping the ones they`ve got going longer,I think ,unfortunatly, it`s mostly become about the DOLLAR,these days.

Frank.

Cheep,Cheep,Cheep.

The bottom line is that there is no such thing as cheap, cheap is relative, relative to what??? :hittinghead:

Frank.

BAK CD.

Kelvin,

I can`t help with the CD,someone else may be able to,however, I can try to assist by sharing some of my experience and philosophy.

As far as BAK goes,it is just the theory to understand why the aircraft flies,It will not and can not fly the aircraft ,the pilot does and it is the understanding and the skill of the pilot that is required to complete a safe flight,what happened to your CFI has nothing what so ever to do with your ability or anything you may wish to do in Recreational Aviation,other than your memory of the accident.

As an instructor I asked myself, what I could do to stop the accidents and I came to the conclusion,that, other than to instruct well and create the best pilot I could,I could do no more,I was never going to stop accidents because I believe that everyone has their fate and accidents will always occur for many reasons.

I started flying, what we used to call,Ultralights,now called, Recreational Aircraft,over 20 years ago,we didn`t even have twin seat instruction then, as twin seat aircraft were not legal,I have never so much as been scratched, in all of that time.

I can assure you that todays recreational aircraft, well maintained,are far safer than driving on our roads but they are still only as safe as a pilot wishes to make them.

I can also assure you that, the Australian Ultralight Federation and now the Recreational Aviation Australia have always done everything possible,within their power, to improve safety within our sport,it finaly comes down to the individual.

I don`t know if I helped at all or if you will ever build the idol-of your -life`s confidence,just give it your best shot.

Regards,

Frank. :thumb_up: