DrZoos

Awesome flight with my more difficult half, from Port Macquarie to Manilla Gunnedah . A coffee and morning tea . Back on board over Keepit and on to Armidale then down the Macleay river to Kempsey . At Crescent head we saw so many whales in really shallow water . Then some more whale watching back to Port Macquarie. The way out was silk smooth, by mid day on the way back there where the usual speed humps.

oMG that take off is crazy

Recreational pilots the lazy buggers just sit and fly Sports pilots use pedals

Sweet but id rather

Yeh i always double check... I have had several old guys comment that its too dangerous and shouldnt be done, despite the manuals saying to do it...so was wondering if anyone actually had any experiences in recent times about actual rpms or effort needed rather than just fear mongering or reference to old stories.... Im all for standing in a very safe position and turning it slow, but just wanted to know from others of any recent experience with one firing... Sounds like everyone is cautious, but none have fired recently??

Thats a disgrace, id be reporting that for sure...these guys have jobs becuase they represnt companies that want a certain levle of service... This is not on...

So how hard is it in terms of hand propping... Would it be 75% of your best efort? 100% ? Given that experience do you think its at all possible to accidently start a 912 while purging or compression testing..

Right now most places will have REALLY cheap ski gear or thermals on clearance in Australia.

Thermals or aldi snow gear are the ducks gutz..we ski extensively and never get cold in climates far cooler than you could possibly fly in...however....they do weigh a bit... Thermals are the best warmth to weight ratio..and fleece...two sets of thermals and one fleece should be adequate for almost any flight... You could imagine... Jeans with two thermals is ok, but jeans are not particularly effective...cheap ski pants will be far far betterat the same weight as jeans.

Just kidding... Your meant to be the happy flyer.

If you left Port mac you undoubtably faced a barage of CTA RA and other factors to contend with when heading anywhere but NW...well done you survived, still have a licence and an aircraft...

Lets set him up for a bargain out west and use him for pig bait....

Lets face it , its a shit storm! That needs fixing.

Was that your Level 6 ?? If so what FTF if you don't mind... I might have to drop buy with a 6 puck of chosen bevirages and convince him over those that i speeeeks peruct englursh

Nev they are getting better and better as they get further along with the training...in fact by the time they are fully qualified, Im sure they will be able to speak and understand to the level required... The problem is the interim when they are dangerous and inexperienced and cant communicate... often they have instructors on board as a safe back up... But that presents two problems... it significantly ads to the stress of other pilots ie us as we are struggling to communicate with them and it clogs up an already very very congested CTAF, because Port Macquarie and Taree are on the same frequency for some horrendous reason only know to CASA. 33nm apart I think is the CASA concern. But form our perspective that 13nm separation would be a godsend to change CTAF... Another concern is that by the time they are solo many still struggle... they get the normal calls such as heading, altitude distance and time, but they have no clue when it comes to any pilot negotiations, like changing track or sequence or similar things that go on between pilots regularly. I too really feel for them as I know how overworked the trainee pilot is in the cockpit. I cant imagine how hard it must be... But i think the FTF's are doing the students and themselves a big disservice by trying to train them when the English skills are simply not sufficient.. But the bit that still erks me the most is us being told to travel to an examiner and pay $200 for the level 6 english (to ensure we can understand poor english)

When PIC - Ive only seen two different drones...but only one in the actual circuit area ...and I saw it twice on the one day ... see star on the pic Riding and walking around town though i see them all the time...I run and ride a lot along the river walk and parks and they are often flying them and model AC (illegally) in the local parks...the days of people flying these at the designated RC aero club seem to be long gone... Im not up on the current regs for RC airplanes. I would generally see 2 to 3 quadcopters per week when walking, running, riding around town... these ones are in close to the township and not far from the circuit, see map below Most are only about 200-300 feet high at the highest. But occasionally I will see an operator with the tripod type video display where they place the cover over thier head, and those guys seem to go pretty high... id be guessing but id say they are around the 400-500ft mark In the image below they are most often flown at 4 , but at on average around once a month i see them at 1 or 2 (at arrow) or 3 or 6 2 (at arrow) is a real concern as its right on early base.... or glide approaches, 3 is right in the middle of extended downwind Our big saving grace is that generally as the tourist season hots up the wind is NE so we use the other other side ...makes it a non event. However these holidays its been blowing SW most of it including today and I saw two flying this morning at location 4 on my walk... I have not seen any at number 5 which is an open playing field immediately prior to the threshold. Its only a matter of time and some well meaning, but poor thinking dad will rock down there with the kids on holidays and their new drone, throw it in the air and then realise oh poo as an aircraft plows through it on late final. The main concern is the student pilots doing precautionary S &R at 500 ft as they come past locations 1 & 2 , or on glide approaches some tend to cut the corner past location 1 and 2 [ATTACH]24861[/ATTACH]

As i previously stated the cta in isolation is not an issue, but combine that with cloudy ranges at 4800 to the west ocean to the east, and all the restriced airspace and hopefully in these two images you.

They certainly are around here... we get the Nav students from other schools a few hundred NM away coming by solo... when they cant answer they jst go silent...so you ask...them something simple like their current altitude and they suddenly answer... Its more a case of we have to know where they are and just avoid them, because other than our altitude, most have no clue what we are saying

LOL thats a great read.... angry wife...got sued, got off... poor silly fella...just goes to show you can have an extremely high IQ and be dumb as a post all at once. That was one expensive flight , makes the $100 burger look cheap

That's exactly what is happening...they are not actually allowed to come into Australia by a lot of the flight schools until they have passed the test... but when they get here they are so poor with english that the flight schools are giving them tuition almost full time tuition just to get them to the standard where the flight instructors can actually communicate with them... On the radio is another story all together.. most are ready for solo navs well before they can speak English to a level that can be remotely understood by other pilots. When they start we cannot understand 10% of their calls and they clog the radio trying to string together simple calls. Im not being racist, I really support this practice of training OS pilots as many of my friends are employed by them , but its an absolute joke they are getting ticked off as English proficient and we cant even prove proficiency without a $200 test... I would guarantee 99% of Australian children in kindergarten could speak and understand english better...and i would guarantee 95% of you could not understand even one radi call of these guys. I have been to china and I loved it... I have tried to talk with these guys about china and piloting and its near impossible even when your not in an aircraft... I can understand some of what they say, but their understanding of what I say is virtually non existent. Yet these guys are a certified Level 6 English....what a joke!

100% From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Airways#Accidents_and_incidents Accidents and incidents Buffalo Airways has seven accidents listed by the Aviation Safety Network, none of which had any fatalities.[24] On 26 June 1994, a Douglas C-47A, C-FROD, crashed on approach to Fort Simpson Airport, Northwest Territories due to fuel exhaustion. The aircraft was on a cargo flight from Trout Lake Airport. There were two crew on board at the time and both were injured and the aircraft was a write-off.[25][26] On 24 July 2001, a Consolidated PBY-5A Canso, C-FNJE, caught a wing tip in Sitidgi Lake (about 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi) north of Inuvik) while fire fighting and crashed into the lake. Another aircraft landed on the lake and picked up the two crew. The aircraft was pulled out of the water; the engines and other valuable parts removed. The hull, which was left at the lake, was later retrieved by Fairview Aircraft Restorations Society and taken to Fairview, Alberta, where it is undergoing restoration.[27][28][29][30] On 28 August 2002, a Douglas C-54, C-GQIC, landed short of the runway at Diavik Airport. The right wing came off the aircraft, which travelled 1,000 ft (300 m) down the runway. The aircraft caught fire and was a write-off. The two crew escaped with minor injuries.[31][32] On 1 or 2 August 2003, a Douglas C-54, C-GBSK, touched down short of the destination runway. The landing gear collapsed and the wings came apart from the fuselage. The wings then caught fire. The four crew were unhurt, but the aircraft was written off.[33][34] On 5 or 6 January 2006, a Douglas C-54, C-GXKN, had departed Norman Wells Airport when the number 2 engine caught fire and stopped. The crew attempted to put out the fire but were not successful. While feathering the number 2 propeller, number 1 also began to feather, leaving them with only two engines. They returned to Norman Wells and performed an emergency landing, but the aircraft left the runway and ploughed through the snow. The four crew were unhurt, but the aircraft was written off and the nose was later used to repair another C-54.[35][36] On 5 March 2012, a Lockheed Electra was forced to land gear-up at Yellowknife's airport after its right main gear failed to extend after over an hour of circling and attempting to lower it manually. The aircraft skidded off the runway, coming to rest safely in an open field, damaging both right engines and shearing off the number 4 propeller. Both pilots and four passengers were unhurt; one of the passengers was a cameraman for Ice Pilots NWT, the reality show based on the airline's operation.[37] On 19 August 2013, a Douglas DC-3C, C-GWIR, performing flight BFL168, crashed on return to Yellowknife Airport, Northwest Territories after suffering an engine fire. The aircraft was on a passenger flight from Yellowknife Airport to Hay River Airport. There were 24 people on board the aircraft, of whom three were crew. There were no fatalities, but the aircraft was written off.[38][39] The subsequent investigation determined the cause to be an engine cylinder fatigue crack, propeller feathering pump failure, and overloading of the aircraft.[40] On 25 September 2015, a Curtiss C-46 Commando performed an emergency gear-up landing on a dirt road near Deline, Northwest Territories following a single engine failure enroute from Yellowknife to Norman Wells. Four crew were aboard; none were injured.[41] 100% From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Airways#Accidents_and_incidents Other than 1995-2001 and 2007 to 2011 thats a pretty dodgy record.. Pretty survivable though...only two injuries in all those crashes

How do you possibly explain that to the owner... umm , David, i bumped into KBZ with my prop, ya better come take a look... oh, might be best if you go via the hospital and take a few valium on the way...

Go straight to 3 minutes Absolutely that is a real video...the shadowing gives it away as real and there is no editing I cant verify what all the leads are for , or if they help, but undoubtedly he started that by hand, with or without electrical help via those black leads.

Camel I agree I have taken up around 6 current or recent former GA pilots up in my aircraft in the last 12 months, several with well over 1000 hours and their piloting skills, particularly rudder are atrocious...My aircraft hardly requires any rudder input till late final or touch down...but they seem to get it wrong all the time. Even when no rudder is required at all they have the ball way out of centre... In fact i would say a monkey can land my aircraft....but GA pilots seem to find it near impossible...they tend to want to smash it into the ground or land at twice the landing speed. They have no idea how to hold a wing low and keep it straight for touch down They have no idea how to hold a nose wheel off the ground and they have very poor general aircraft control from my experience. Similarly I have taken up recent RAAus grads in my aircraft regularly and I have to say If you forced me to hand my aircraft over to 6 GA pilots or 6 RAAus former grads, I would have absolutely no hesitation handing it over to the grads over the GA pilots...in fact...i would outright refuse to hand it to the group of GA pilots. unless they had a lot of recent RAAus experience. Its weird because GA look down at us as their reckless cousins, but from my experience not many GA pilots can handle a light RAAus aircraft without a LOT of time on controls. Where as me and they guys I know who have flown both recently come back and are astounded at how easy a heavier GA aircraft is to fly and land.

Shags we have 50 Chinese students who have passed the CASA english test and honestly i could understand your but hole better than most of them for the first 6 months. Thier spoken English is worse than a Kindergarten kid and their understanding of your English is almost non existent. Yet they get an CPL and ATP licence with that qual and you cant even get a CTA without it. If ever there was the biggest inequality in aviation this is it...we have people who speak english like its a 16th language with a qualification and people who have spoken it since birth having to pay $200 to be ticked off. Even an RSA course with 8 hours of tuition and an exam does not cost $200...so how on earth does it take $200 to tick off a native english speaker to speak english cost $200+