NT5224

11 hours ago, eightyknots said:

 

Hi folks. 

 

In my personal experience kangaroo repellers don't work. I've tried a couple  (on vehicles not my aircraft!)  However, my take on why they don't work is as follows.

 

Kangaroos are dumb. I absolutely love them, but they are  among the dumbest of Gods creatures! When Im out walking the  sound of my footsteps through the bush will likely scatter a a big mob when they hear me  approaching. However, I can fire a shotgun close to the same mob and they will stand  frozen, transfixed  by the sound or in some cases even hop forward to investigate.

 

So  the question is not whether roos are hearing the sound emitted (whistle, horn, approaching vehicle or whatever), but how they respond to that sound,  and whether it is (from a human perspective) a rational response? Without a much deeper understanding of roo psychology, it is impossible to assume just because a roo hears a particular sound it will respond to it the way a human would. 

 

This is why my own  roo control mechanism is the best. Like all good shepherding  dogs,  The Boy 

has learned  to intimately  understand and predict roo behaviour, and does exactly whats required to shepherd them to safety off the strip.  Funnily enough, the roos have also learned about the dog (its the same individuals that come back to the airstrip everyday), and so, like sheep, are not unduly concerned at being shepherded.  To them its pretty much  part of their daily routine. 

 

Everyones happy.

 

With respect to fencing the strip, it would cost me approximately $4000 to put a three wire fence round the perimetre. Trouble is, a three wire fence  might be useful in sheep country,  but wont stop roos as they hop over or push through  between the wires. And  the occasional buffalo around the property wouldn't even know the fence was there. It would walk straight through, dragging the pickets out behind it. Then Im hit with repair costs. A steel cyclone mesh fence might keep most of the critters out, but as a private individual I can't afford that.

 

Another consideration is I actually quite like having roos grazing the grass strip, other than when its actually being used for flight operations. I don't want to restrict their access permanently. 

 

Having a good shepherd dog as airstrip guardian is the way to go. Purchase price  $2500  and all up about  $1000  per year maintenance costs.   The airstrip is cleared of critters whenever you want it, and the he keeps an eye on the homestead and hangar too.  

 

And.... I get my face licked at 6.00am every morning. 

 

Result. 🤣

 

Alan 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

57 minutes ago, onetrack said:

But how do you get Rin-tin-tin to sort out the kangaroos, prior to landing? Drop him off with a parachute, and let him go for it? 

Nup

 

Assuming my wife is at home, I  radio ahead. My strip is about a kilometre through thick forest from the house but when the boy is dispatched and Im circling overhead it takes him about three minutes to get there and another two minutes to clear the length of the strip... ( say  time it takes me to fly one circuit).

 

He won't approach an aircraft until the engine shuts down. 

 

He knows his job...

 

Of course if he's flying with us its more of an issue... Perhaps we should explore the parachute concept...?

🤣

 

Alan 

Where I live we have a mob of 30- 50 roos that graze my strip morning and evening when I generally fly. I have therefore  developed a highly effective method of clearing the airfield  prior to landing or take-off.

 

Its 100% effective, and this effectiveness does not diminish. It is also humane, as no animals are hurt or unduly frightened by my control method. Here it is:

 

 

 

 

 

Alan

Hey folks

 

A good question  from OP.  Even though I now only fly GA  I am firmly of the opinion that BFRs are valuable.

 

My personal experience of BFs in RAA  and GA has basically been good. Instructors have been helpful and the process has been beneficial.  Particularly somebody like myself,  who operates remotely  from  their own strip rather than In a club environment,  spending a couple of hours with an instructor is useful to pull up on any emerging bad habits.     

 

But  in the past I have added some additional endorsements to my ticket as a way of achieving BFRs. I believe that there is great value in continuously learning and  broadening our knowledge as aviators. We should never stop learning, and so,  until somebody comes up with a better way  I'm happy to fly BFRs (GA or RAA)

 

Alan    

 

 

 

Merry Christmas to all and their loved ones

 

Lets hope this coming year is better than the current one!

 

Alan 

Hi Glen

 

I said earlier that my new hangar has been built without a concrete floor, exactly along the lines of what Nev has suggested. I would echo  this as a genuine alternative to a slab, depending on what and where you are building.

 

I have built plenty of slabs. My wife and I built our whole home including outbuildings, workshops, sheds and now hangar entirely with our own hands. We have only had outside assistance with electrical wiring and our off grid solar system. All our slabs have been hand mixed and poured on site, because we are too far for a concrete delivery (even with retardant) and at any rate our home site is inaccessible to trucks. 

 

In our experience the key issues are the mixture, quality of cement and materials but most of all the  base and screeding.

 

My wife is an excellent screeder. I personally wouldn't worry to much about polishing unless you're aiming to get onto Grand Designs.

 

But even then we are now opting for a gravel /metal dust compacted floor. Can't face doing another  144 square metre slab! 

 

But seriously, throwing up a shelter structure  isn't a big deal and can be done quite cheaply if you do it yourself.  No arcane knowledge required. My wife and myself have hoisted  our fabric roofed arched structure  

unassisted, with total budget of under $10,000.  Would accomodate two C172s comfortably..

 

Alan

 

 

I know there are great pics from the air  of international airports congested with grounded passenger aircraft, but I've just driven into the Alice airport and had to do a double take as I turned the corner onto the airport access road.

 

Dozens of aircraft dragged into the scrub and left there. Its quite extraordinary!  Not something I expected to see in my lifetime.

 

Alan 

 

 

Hi RF guy...I just built out of the dirt. No concrete slab.. but interested to follow this thread for when I hoist a proper hangar

All good points Skippy.

 

A good pilot can fly any configuration of aircraft most places. However as a tailwheel pilot myself based at an outback strip, I consider conventional configuration offers a number of advantages for Bush flying. Possibly tougher undercarriage as you point out,  but more important is propeller clearance... There is also something to be said for the  angle of attack tail wheel configuration offers.

 

But hey, the trade off is a really slow cruise and many would feel a faster aircraft better suited to long distance touring... Its just a matter of personal preferences I guess...

 

Alan

I have little doubt that Faeta are excellent aircraft. They look great and so they probably fly great too. We all know the Czechs build good small aircraft.

 

But the  specific question is whether one would make the best touring aircraft for a lap?  My personal feeling is that aircraft with bubble canopies are just not climate appropriate in northern Australia. Unless you want to wear a hat and sun cream all way round... Perhaps there is a tropical model with a opaque canopy?  Also  I would always favour high wing  and tail dragger for the bush and rough strips.  Thats not to say that low wing trikes are inferior. We are discussing a very specific mission here.

 

Alan

My preference for a LSA tourer would be a Brumby in conventional configuration (taildragger). Metal, tough, tough, and easily repairable and lots of room inside. 

 

Having crossed over to VH now, I  think I'd struggle with a 600kg MTOW  these days, but if I had to, the Brumby would let me use every kilogram. The J230 is a great aircraft with awesome cruise but for my tour I'd want to be dropping into out of the way places and rough strips, where the Brumby would perform better.

 

Alan

 

 

Hi Shajen!  Congrats on the beautiful new bird. 

 

I've gotta ask. Do you now have two Jabirus? Didn't you give us a glimpse of one in your hangar a few months ago? 

 

Cheers

 

 Alan  

23 hours ago, cscotthendry said:

The weather for video has been great these past few weeks and since the plane is much closer to home, I've been taking advantage of it.

Here's the latest, a wander around our "neighborhood".

Scott 

 

That's a wonderful video!  Its a very beautiful neighborhood  you have there, and the production quality of the clip was high. Great job!

 

 Three questions:

 

What's the Legend like to Fly?  Its got a whiff of Cessna about its appearance. Does that carry over to flight characteristics?   Just a two seater, right? Its a nice looking aircraft.

 

Second, can you tell us anything about your external camera mount? It seems to work really well. 

 

Finally, do you fly far enough over the soup to need to carry a life raft and buoyancy aids? Or are you staying within glide of the coast?  if the former can you tell me about what safety equipment you carry and how much it weighs...

 

Cheers

 

Alan   

 

 

 

 

 

Just as we finished the last stages of our  home hangar build we decided to move our bird up to MKT and an available hangar space there. Cant wait for the luxury of our own Hangar not having to worry about cramming in with other aircraft, moving things around and the ever present fear of 'hangar rash'. The ferry hop to the coast was pleasant and I just love clear wet season mornings. 

As said above, for me 'easy to fly' suggests a nice stable airframe with forgiving flight characteristics. That is integral to the aircraft.

 

'Nice to fly' suggests the both the experience of flying (comfort) and what you can do with an aircraft (performance).

 

My own aircraft is very easy to fly, extremely stable (some might call it 'boring' in flight). But you have a huge interior, can fly cross-country eight hours ( admittedly at a very slow speed) and can land pretty much anywhere. Its built really tough and solid and you have the advantage of it being a proper  

aeroplane with the little wheel at the back...

 

A 172 is also stable and easy to fly  but the overall experience is somehow different 

 

Alan

 

 

Hi folks 

 

Hope all are staying well. Another question from me which might be more relevant to some of our fraternity than others.

 

For those of you grounded for any period longer than a few weeks owing to lockdown related restrictions, what has been your experience of returning to flying? What did you do, and how did it go?

 

Just curious

 

Alan 

On 19/11/2020 at 6:33 PM, poteroo said:

Ompkali, Eastern Highlands, PNG (1969) in PA-23-250Turbo C.  Twas around 15% and absolutely no go round off final. Over 5000'if I remember.  Talair used to fly C402s and Barons into there. Needed near full power to get up the last bit onto the ledge that served as the parking area.

 

The other frightener was Keglsugl, 8400 amsl and the highest strip in PNG.

Amazing! 

31 minutes ago, 440032 said:

Flew into a friend's property north of Sunbury, taxied into the back yard and parked near the back door, almost under the hills hoist.

 

How long/ wide was the strip and what were the surrounding clearances?

 

Just curious...

OK,  a whinge from me

 

The most difficult airstrip I ever landed at was Longreach.  About five years ago I was traveling across Australia without an ASIC card. I think I landed at Longreach  on a weekend when the place was deserted. It  was mid summer, in the  mid 40's centigrade   and no shade. I had landed to refuel and wait through peak of the heat to avoid midday turbulence.   It was  extremely hot and I needed avgas and drinking water. I called the relevant authorities, explained my situation and  asked permission to leave the apron to because I was becoming dehydrated and needed to drink (there were no water faucets  airside). My request for the security gate code was denied.

 

In the end  I got the avgas guy to bring me some  a couple of bottles of drinking water with his bowser delivery.  That got me to Winton, which in complete contrast was the most wonderful  and accommodating airfield I have ever visited. I  subsequently wrote to  the major  and council to thank  and commend the caretakers at the airfield  for their amazing service.

 

I still find it hard to believe  the authorities would deny a passing pilot drinking water on a blistering day.... 

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

23 hours ago, Blueadventures said:

Looks nice.  Re pump I made up a 12 volt one using the red 'AreoFlow' 97 GPH pump  works a treat off either the aircraft battery or my hangar spare on a trolley.  Cheers

Blue

 

Good idea. I've admired systems like you describe but to be honest I'm a bit wary of an electric fuel  pump owing to fire hazards. I'm out the back of beyond and in the dry season this whole district is a tinderbox waiting for a spark.

 

The  high ambient temperatures  here makes batteries temperamental. I'll stick with a basic hand pump for now.

 

Cheers 

 

Alan

21 hours ago, Old Koreelah said:

Alan you have some serious hold-downs there! 

Old Korrelah

 

My father-in-law is a German  structural engineer. He calculated we needed 24 tonnes of ballast to hold the structure secure to a sub-cyclonic wind speed. That's 24 tonnes there but the reality is the fabric would give way long before the blocks shifted! Our bird flies south if big winds are expected -and we live outside of the cyclonic zone.

 

Alan

Just a little update on this.

 

As I mentioned a while back in a discussion about hangars, we are throwing up an arched shade structure for ours. In addition to the basic fabric roof cover we will put up a steel rear wall and a lockable gate on the front.

 

In case anybody’s wondering,  putting up one of these with just two people and a dog  beyond the black stump and in blistering temperatures is a bit of a struggle.

 

Next project will be a little avgas depot with hand pump.

 

Alan

 As a Top End aviator I must correct Jaba Who. Either he is wrong or I have been conducting my fuel reduction burns at the wrong time for many years..

 

Fire smoke is a problem  for aviators in the north  from May until October, our 'Dry season'. You dont hear Northerners talking about 'summer' or 'winter'. 

 

Downunder is on the mark. Turbulence is a huge issue and of course wet season thunderstorms. Early morning flight is most advisable. Fly high enough and those extra couple of degrees make no difference to your engine.  But as he says the thermals will ultimately get you and make  descent and landing  miserable. Temperature in the far north doesnt change much year round, but humidity does so carby icing can also be an issue on descent.

 

Alan  

Oh dear. CASA is being reduced down into a bureaucratic soup.

Wow! Thanks KR. Thats actually a really good response to another thread I started on here about reasons to maintain  a RAA pilot certificate if you fly a VH aircraft. Pretty much all available endorsements will be cheaper with RAA. Even floats....  This could well put financial pressure on GA flight schools. 

 

Alan