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I think we all would! but some of those who tried to find out, arn`t with us anymore! There`s an old saying that goes something like this! " It`s better to be down here wishing you were up there, than being up there wishing you were down here!" I`ve done a lot of "being up there wishing I was down here" but I havn`t yet found what my Drifter is really capable of, what I have found though, is, what I`m capable of, with my Drifter and what weather I`m prepared to fly in! Keep in mind that regardless of what weather the Drifter and pilot are capable of, in this country we are restricted to VMC. Frank.

Merry Christmas to you Andy and all your Canadian Bro`s! A great and safe new year for you all. I`ve taken several Canadian backpackers, flying in my Drifter...Regards, Frank.

Thanks, Mark, Didn`t know that! It`s going to be interesting to see if they get the person who shot the one here in the Mulgrave River. A Merry Christmas and all the best for the coming year to you and all your family and friends. Frank.

Gregory, I retired from instructing several years ago! I fly from my own property, here at Deeral, 45 k south of Cairns so we`re a bit far apart but if you are ever in the Cairns area, I`ll be happy to take you flying. Frank.

That statement says nothing factual or useful, take no notice of it! The Drifter is a Tail Drager and needs to be treated as such...To fly your Drifter legally, you will need a TW endorsement. Frank, Ps, In case you`re wondering! I hold both TW (tail wheel) and NW (nose wheel) endorsements` and instructed for 12 years, in my Drifter.

The story of BA flight 009 and the words every passenger dreads ... | Daily Mail Online

If using springs, to get maximum steerage from the wheel, the cables to the springs need to have enough tension on the springs so that when the rudder is being used the springs have enough tension on wheel assembly to make it turn. To see if it`s all working correctly you really need to have the wheel off the ground and the easiest way to do this is to use a jack under the fuselage tube. Put something between the jack and the tube so you don`t damage the tube then once the wheel is off ground, keep the rudder straight in line with the verticle fin and apply equal pressure to both rudder pedals, the rudder cables will be tight and the cables to the springs should also be tight, with the springs pulling firmly on the wheel assembly now move the rudder left and right with the pedals and the rudder and wheel should be turning together. Frank.

I`ve had the Austflight pneumatic tail wheel since the modification, from them, first came out, many years ago... I have it connected to the rudder cables but I have the cables to the wheel further up the cables to the rudder than in Kiwi`s photo... I also took the springs out, for a couple of reasons, many years ago, however, i`m not suggesting others do as I`ve done. Keep in mind, even with the springs, the cables to the wheel need to be the correct length, if too short, the wheel will turn before the rudder, if too long the rudder will turn and the wheel may not turn at all, or, while on the ground, the wheel may turn in the opposite direction and it doesn't take much for a novice pilot to lose control. On take off, once the wheel comes up off the ground, if the cables to the wheel are too short, you will still feel pressure on the rudder pedals but you may not be getting the rudder input you think you are, which could cause, runway loss of control. Frank.

This afternoon I did some solo flying to High Island, then later, I took Emma for her first flight in an Ultralight. Fran and I have known Emma, from when she was about 10 years of age, we hadn`t seen her for a number of years though! Today Emma and her husband, Robert, attended a birthday party for our 1-year-old, Great Grandson, here on our property and knowing Emma, I asked if she would like to go for a fly, she couldn`t get in the Drifter fast enough...Wasn`t enough time left for Robert, he`ll go up another day. I never get tired of flying over this sort of scenery and I never get tired of taking up lovely ladies, like Emma...Just for the record! From High Island, I can easily glide back to my strip. Frank.

Chris27, Hello from Deeral, Queensland, . Do you fly? Frank.

Back in the late nineties, I did some flying out of private property up at Kaban Nth Queensland, elevation, 3,100 feet.The guy was a club member of ours..I used to be able to chalk up the figures but now, I`d have to refresh it all...These day, all my flying is done from my own property, which is 2 meters AMSL.

...You`re ahead of me, I just had to find out what a Pastafarian is.....Flying Spaghetti Monster - Wikipedia....

So here`s the situation! How many guys out there flying Drifters or dare I say, any other R.A.A. registered aircraft, know how to calculate Density Altitude/Pressure Altitude, even if you can do the calculations, if you can`t apply it to the particular aircraft, at the time, all you have is a lot of figures. Frank.

My question was meant to see if you understood Density Altitude. Density Altitude/Pressure Altitude,is what is occurring at the time and needs to be considered for each flight, regardless of time of the year or time of day....As far as I`m aware, there no Performance Charts for the Drifter so it`s better to err on the side of caution. Cheers.

Google Earth shows 187 m which is 613 feet so 600 feet is good enough but why would you say "Winter only airfield?"

BP, What is the elevation of the runway?

Just came across this....EHP officers investigate dead crocodile in Mulgrave River. EHP officers investigate dead crocodile in Mulgrave River (Department of Environment and Heritage Protection) I had a chat with a couple of officers who came to take the Croc away and I was told, it is an offence to interfere with a Croc... Even though it`s dead, you must remain at least 6 mts away from it...Technically, my neighbour who tied it to his boat so that some poor bugger in a tinnie wouldn`t hit it and me for being within 6 mts, taking photos, could be charged...It`s not likely to happen, but there you go! We`ll see how it tuns out. Frank.

G`Day BP, as you want to see some comments, here goes.....From what I see on the videos`, it`s similar country to some of the Atherton Tablelands, that I did a lot of flying over, when I was flying out of Pioneer Valley airstrip...That airstrip would be a bit over twice as long as yours. Coming in to land shouldn`t be too much trouble for an experienced pilot provided sufficient altitude is maintained so that a glide to the strip can be carried out in the event of engine failure or wind shear, causing a loss of altitude. Please correct me if I`m wrong, but from both videos, it appears to me and I repeat, appears, had the engine failed you wouldn`t have made the strip and there were a lot of trees ahead of you. Frank, Ps, I`d like to see a video of taking off from there, before commenting about getting out of there.

Maybe not what you want to know but!... I`ve been asked this question many times, over the years and my answer is still the same today...Workout exactly what you want to do and what you want from the aircraft then go and find the aircraft that will do it. Regardless of any information give here, if you don`t know or are not sure of what you want from the aircraft, how can you decide which one is best for you? Frank.

Don`t know if you`ve seen these so take a look at page 15, post, # 288, #294...That Croc was shot by the Authorities and they put it out to the media that it was the one that got Warren....Up here, those of us who know better know that it is very highly unlikely, that was the one that got Warren...Take a look at my post # 300. Coincidently, I`ve just learnt tonight that a big Croc that took a dog in front of it`s owners, when they were taking it for a walk around their rural property on the bank of the North Johnstone river, the weeked that Warren was taken, has been taken care of, I can`t say who took care of it, but I can say it wont be harming anyone or thing, anymore. By the way! The owners of the dog were able to take a photo of the Croc with the dog in it`s mouth and they released the photo to the media. The weekend Warren was taken, 2 dogs were taken off the Northern beaches of Cairns, the dog, in the North Johnstone River and a stupid young guy who jumped of the public jetty in Innisfail, to impress his mates, landed straight in the jaws of the waiting Croc, he managed to get it to let go, but he was badly injured...In the last couple of weeks, 3 Crocs` have had to be taken out of stinger nets that are put off the beaches to protect swimmers! There is a way to take care of a Croc, that I can`t mention here, it`s lethal and it doesn`t need an weapon...I reckon if the Authorities don`t start to take some serious action, there will be more taken care of, illegally. Frank.

Someone in our area has had enough of the Crocodiles...Some unknown person shot this Croc, illegally, about 2 or 3 nights ago, the white spot in the middle of the head, is the bullet hole...A dead Croc sinks to the bottom then it takes a couple of days for it to come to the surface, due to the buildup of gas in it`s body. A local neighbour who has his boat moored in the Mulgrave river, in front of his house, half a kilometer up the road, saw the dead Croc being pushed along by the tide and came and got me...I took the photos. As I was at the boat, with the owner, taking photos, a local doctor and his lady partner turned up to have a look...It turned out she was the lady who was in the water with her friend when her friend was taken by a Croc...The lady looked at the Croc, went back up on the bank, sat down and cried. Human remains found inside crocodile caught in far north Queensland Frank.

Thanks Richard...Merry Christmas!

G`Day Richard ........Because of your post, I`ve taken the time to go back through all of the previous posts, in case I missed something...I can`t find anything that anyone has said, that to my way of thinking, is making fun of the pilot or the accident...What have I missed, if anything? B.P. You`re not going to be a, "closet reader," are you? . Frank.

A guy I`ve known for many years, owns and flies a WB Drifter...He wears a helmet with full face visor (not a full face helmet) and has flown off my property many times...On this particular day,he`d taken off, got to the point where he was committed to keep flying and a very large Dragon Fly went up under the visor and was fluttering all over his face...He said he was in a fair bit of difficulty trying to see where he was going, fly the plane and try to get the Dragon Fly out...Thankfully! it ended well. One that didn`t end so well...I recall reading about an accident that occurred in the days of the AUF...This poor guy was on his first solo Nav exercise and if I recall correctly, he was flying a Drifter...He became so confused about where he was that he decided to get down low enough to try and look for some road signs, unfortunately, he hit a power line! He was wearing a helmet and the strap of the helmet cut his throat badly...He was fortunate to survive. I tried a wearing a helmet when I started flying, didn`t like it for several reasons...Not enough up and down, left and right, head movement and the vision not good enough through a visor...I modified my windscreen so that the wind goes up over my head and I have clear vision in all the directions I need. I often wonder how many forced landings end in disaster because of poor vision, either due to the design of the AC or other factors. I rode motorbikes, on the highway for years without a helmet before they became compulsory and for years with a helmet after they became compulsory, didn`t like it there either, for much the same reasons, I`ve given above. Frank.