Chocolate

Thanks for posting. They are really interesting. Also interesting to see how much they look outside the cockpit checking for traffic.

I have found Aviation Insurance Archerfield good to deal with and they will work with you to come up with an insurance that you can afford.

Go for it Rosemarie. But...Be prepared to have to battle attitudes of peers. (“Surely it’s too hard at your age)”; and attitudes of younger instructors. Keep going to different instructors until you get one you are completely happy with spending money and time on. I had three different goes before I found the right instructor and that’s a common experience for women learning to fly.

well the office is good to deal with for getting a card. i have always been given a lift to and from town by motels and there are good pub bistros so i dont mind stopping there.

i did get caught with inverell recently. it was the long weekend so they went away. (!) so glad i phoned beforehand especially as it is so far from town and so bloody cold at this time of year.

goondi is quite interesting as i sometimes see the rfds there from roma for a run and circuits. i left roma same time as them and they were there in a wink and i got there more than an hour and a half later to find them doing circuits. after my five mile call i think they got in three circuits! .. a bit of a laugh.

you need a Lowes card. Not difficult to get one. Just phone them. good to deal with.

Always phone ahead.

I have a helmet for sale. 0409224605

G

No, that answered my query just fine. Thanks!BTW, we were discussing (above) whether, if one had to choose, a Xponder or a Dual-watch radio would be the better safety investment (each about $2.5K).

 

As it happened, I listened in to a little drama unfolding on the local FIA freq. this morning (from the ground) which persuaded me that both are really very useful.

 

I think it turned out to be a false alarm but a member of the public, it seems, had reported an aircraft flying very low overhead with a rough sounding engine.

 

Apparently this was around 10 miles to the north of Taree airport. Anyway, I was listening to the Brisbane Centre controller trying, among other things, to get the help of aircraft in the area to go and have a look-see pending the arrival of a couple of assigned search & rescue choppers. But, of course, he could only 'see' aircraft with Xponders - which, it turned out, was only one at that time. However, he could not contact that aircraft despite several attempts. This was probably because every flyer in the whole Taree-Port Macquarie area is instructed (it's clearly written on the Newcastle VNC) to tune in to the shared 118.1 CTAF freq. So I guess this chap was doing exactly that and maybe wasn't listening to Area on a dual-watch. This left the controller semi-blind and semi-mute.

 

Eventually Centre did manage to get hold of that guy by asking another pilot to relay a message but by that time he was well past and said he'd need to re-fuel at Port Macquarie first. And anyway, the cavalry was starting to arrive by then. But the first thing the chopper pilot asked the controller when they made contact was "Any other traffic around there, we should know about?"

 

The thing is, quite a lot of training and air-work happens in that area but generally they won't be on Centre (due official instruction) and few, I believe, carry Xponders. So the Area controller would not be in a position to know or even to warn. He/she would mostly see IFR traffic and whatever VFR aircraft that are squawking 1200. Of course, the choppers probably arranged their own separation on CTAF whilst also staying in touch with Centre and their own controllers.

 

Anyway, I came away thinking how desirable both of these tools can be in busy environments; for oneself and for others.

Google maps. To have a look at unfamiliar airport s. Windyt. I use a Garmin aera as backup. I just don't trust the iPad when it gets hot.

Thanks for letting us know about the problem. This is one I usually didn't phone beforehand...will now.

There is no 'active prohibited '. Prohibited is prohibited.

Restricted has activated, not activated. Might be wise to look up the aip. I was taught 1 m from boundary.

Welcome.

First gold nugget of information I got from the hangar person at my school...don't bother comparing yourself to anyone else. You will be good at some parts of the training and not so good at other parts so just enjoy yourself.

Exactly what Nathan said. The calls are definitely irritating as a controller especially when we are busy, but ultimately that is the rule and I won't have a go at any pilot for following it. Just keep the calls as short and concise as you possibly can and use a bit of airmanship, if you can hear the controller is excessively busy and the frequency is congested try and save the call for a better time.

YEP.

I am full of admiration for this pilot. Well executed auto rotation with not much height to boot,

Scotsman. Why oh why even think about going past top of green with rotor rpm. Risking failure of parts imho Making your situation worse.

By the way what do you think about the news reports. Maybe are a bit confusing..pilot said loss of power and hydraulic failure rather than engine stopped. Fuel starvation? I understand no engine no hydraulics.

Anyone like to speculate on the causal part?

The thread has been very informative for me as a low time pilot. And I certainly took on board Ian's comment about a pilot being judged by others by their radio calls. (Some of my fumbling half wrong calls would certainly alert others to my experience level. ).

I would not like to venture into changing the order of the phrases. It has the Swiss cheese effect. It's called a 'normalised violation of the rules' in the safety experts field.

The real problem is, from my point of view, not treating the radio for what it is...it's a radio..speak slightly louder and slightly slower. So much of what I hear is completely garbled because it's just said too fast.

So how does a "clear of runway" call avoid a collision? In general this is a totally unnecessary broadcast.

The reason the phrase is "Clear of all runways" is it's unambiguous. There could be an inbound aircraft unfamiliar with the field and it's runways. He may have looked up the details in ERSA but not everyone has a phtographic memory. Also, as we know, some people don't use the duty runway, or even know what it is.

I comply with the standard calls as much as I can and practice them driving as I have messed them up going into unfamiliar places due workload. As a low hour pilot I know it's about practice. If there was any change I would Prefer to hear the "place traffic" repeated twice as the alert to others to get over the clipping problem.

Mostly radio is treated like its a telephone...it's not! Talk slightly louder, not quieter, and talk slower.

Shouldn't that be runway vacated? Rather than clear of.

What type is it. Piano wire or Bowden? How likely the inner cable is to run dry depends on whether the cable is covered with something that will hold oil or flowing grease, as well as keeping water out and if it's Teflon lined. A small oiler clamped over the cable somewhere that accesses a small hole works fine if you can inject a bit of oil or light grease. If you can remove it easily and hang it vertically oil applied at the top will slowly drain through it, especially if you coil some rubber sheet around it to form a funnel for the oil. Nev

Can you explain what Bowden type is like? Mine appears to be a cable within a woven outer casing also steel. I have used wd40 but it seems to take any grit with it to the lowest point and gets gunky there rather than let grit out through the woven outer. Warm day no problem..cool morning..not so good.

What products would you recommend to keep this cable free moving within its outer cover.

Ahha..so yours is the friendly voice I have in my area.! What about 126.8 pashendale..yours too?