gooneybird

Wasn't the nickname " trauma hawk"

my son and I were lucky to catch a chat with Mike at 2009 Reno Air Races

I did some low level training with Kevin Walters,good stuff.He has been there do that so much experience and knows his onions. going low is part of the deal for properties,

When I showed interest in getting my nvfr other wise pilots said I should always pack a party hat and whistle to take on night flights,the reasoning is that when the noise stops it,s likely to be your last party!

Frank great to hear that the new owners have things under control and even better to hear from satisfied bantam owners.we had to source parts etc around the time max clear passed away,it was a nightmare! luckily barry and sally Readman who made the wing covers etc invited us over and helped us out.(amazing Kiwi couple).I rang the new owners a good while ago to check and make contact,and fortunately I haven't required parts since. all in all good news for us bantam flyers!

My wife and I went over to new zeland last year to meet some of the people with bantams and servicing them over there.Dave Redman is an instructor using Bantams in his school and took me for a fly,great guy with thousands of hours in the bantam.His folks make the wing covers etc for many fabric aircraft and sun shade covers for g.a aircraft.Absolutely the best people , introduced us to many other bantam owners and aviation enthusiasts.We got our wing covers home as luggage and had a great few days overthere.

part of me wants to know the details of this sad accident to learn from it and prevent the same thing.-- and the rest of me just feels for those folk and wants to stay out of their ordeal.

honor the man by learning from this tragedy,seems we all need reminding.

Local ABC radio said yesterday that the pilot of an ultralight aircraft that crashed in south west qld had died in an adelaide hospital.Police said the aircraft was mustering and typical of ultralights used for that purpose. Local radio said that he was a great guy around 57 I think with quite a bit of experience, such a tragedy,terrible. So little on the forums about this. I can only assume it was a drifter as they are popular for mustering etc but I don't know,it's just a guess.No idea what happened either. So sad for the family and the community.

clever handle "gimblelock". is it too wet to fly drifters in SE qld today?

Kaz, tell me more I have the Ipad and ozrunways and want to know where to from here.At the start I thought of getting the garmin glo but you and others seem to go for the bad elf.Does the garmin glo have a gps useable or is it just an arial.the bad elf can be used as a gps can't it and the ozrunways gives you flight planning.

Well despite that sad looking photo, Foxbat is the plane I dream of owning. Had a fly of one with Nich Sigley and really enjoyed it

thanks for the insight Arthur. There is so much knowledge and experience avialable on these forums. Cheers

yeah that's it. Around the julia creek and Richmond areas also there aren't the rivers etc to crosscheck with the wac. But as you say to navigate from town to town generally it comes down to roads and railway lines, of course they are about as direct as can be in the large open flat and arid zones. thank heavens for gps I can't even find my prayer wheel but I still love maps. Telstra is the only carrier out here, people don't get that.

Hi Guernsey thanks for the reply if it was the one that Ozzie posted about please tell me about it. What was it like to fly,where many of them made are there any stuffed in a shed somewhere .It may be worthy of a spot in that collection of early ultralights. Cheers

Wow Ozzie thats the one I was asking about. I find it fascinating! People can put so much into these projects and for what ever reason overtime they can disappear into oblivion .Perhaps if that was a project that a few years later when engines etc were better it might have been a real success.

Thanxs Damkia ,No it's not that aircraft the one I'm talking about was a taildragger.

I'm being nostalgic at the moment and wonder if anyone can fill in the blanks for me. I remember in about 1981 seeing on a current affair program on TV a story about some guys from Amberley(qld) I think developing an ultralight they called the Cygnet. It was a welded aluminium frame high wing pusher single seater. I bought the plans but was too isolated to do much with them and no trade qualifications. About 5 years ago I saw some parts i.e. frame were for sale or give away and thats all I know .I think the guys had something to do with the airbase. Wonder what ever happened to the Cygnet were many made ,flown still around or just totally forgotten

love those pics. How flying used to be,the the thongs make great flying boots

thanks guys for the feedback. My Ipad doesn't have next G as I use wifi at the house so I guess I need to get a simcard. Interesting Bob Biggles hasn't used external gps even in remote areas. The bad elf gps and garmin glo both read well, but I guess thats business. Does the 3G Ipad get both the usa and russian sats (not dead sure of my facts there)

one thing about the ipad compared to the older gps is the screen size and clarity. A 3x2 inch screen [grey scale] in the dazzleing sunshine,very hard

Ok thanks for that will have to check it out.

My Gps units have died! But I have an Ipad. My son has downloaded OzRunways for me . What now ? I think I should get a "Garmin Glo" to go with it, or so I've read.

we are following a local guy who is riding in the Daker 2012/13 He's in 20th overall and the highest placed Aussie at the moment.Good one Rod

Hi BPN,yes I like flying this country. You can see the weather coming and there isn't any mountians to run into.On the other side it can blow a gale for days and in summer the turbulence can give you a bad case of white knucle!