Jump to content

nickduncs84

Members
  • Posts

    286
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

Posts posted by nickduncs84

  1. Just passing on what I was told from the pilot. Personally for a low hour pilot I thought he did extremely well. I won’t get into the religious debate around Jabs. Personally I loved flying them and bang for buck the 230 has to be the best aircraft on the market. Speed, climb performance, baggage space. It really is a great plane. That being said, I don’t have the same confidence in the engine as I do a lycoming/continental. I know that’s a religious debate in itself. Bruce, you are probably right about the maintenance side of things and I reckon if I had your experience and actually knew what I was doing, I’d be just as comfortable as you. I guess to a simpleton jab mx seems to be more mysterious than a lycoming. BTW I don’t reserve this opinion for jabs only. I wouldn’t put my family in the back of one of those piper Malibu’s for example. 

     

     

  2. I have had two problems relating to partial loss of power, one was ice on take off caused by excessive taxi time and required heat instantly and it still coughed and spluttered for a while as I lined up for landing, applied heat, swapped tanks and checked mixture rich, it came back into life and I climbed, failure to do those checks, mainly heat would have ended up in a rough paddock.  Sure no one is perfect and we forget but some things like carb heat, pump on and mixture rich are very important.  The other incident was on take off and it was a human factors mistake, Lycomings can foul plugs taxing so I leaned while taxing, checks done and left it lean until ready, well guess what happened, when the engine sputtered and near died I did the checks and put mixture in first as I realized I had made that error ! 

    My point is old mate in video could well have had carb ice and nothing was done ! He had a engine failure and maybe it was preventable or should I say recoverable.  My training and every BFR involved a simulated engine failure and my GA instructor would pull power on take off if I took my hand off the throttle. 

    It was a blown cylinder from what I was told. He landed and both he and the aircraft were fine. Pretty long bow to be pointing any of the blame at the pilot. 

     

     

  3. Always liked the HB...Have plans but never started the project. Yes 28 lts P/H is high but can carry two in comfort with autopilot etc at cruise alts of 8-10 thousand with good baggage capacity. Three fuel stops between Bundy Qld and Kununurra WA.Mike

    28 L/H at 160 knots is probably pretty close or maybe even less than the typical jab/rotax on a $ per nm basis. Its pretty hard to match the RV9 in terms of pound for pound value all around

     

     

    • Agree 2
  4. How does this fit in with the mantra of "minimum regulation, maximum fun". The aptly named "Canberra Club" are leading RAA down a path to oblivion. If these weight increases come to pass we loose the major "point of difference" we currently have with the GA brigade. RAA will become another CASA. They already are mimicking CASA with their confrontational bull at a gate attitude to change. What have we become? We are powerless to intervene as we have no regional representation and with a 6 man board no hope of any resistance or hope of change to policy. There is no wonder that RAA cannot run a flyin on their own anymore, they are on the nose and everyone can smell it. We are being made to jump through hoops that no one else in aviation has to ie Human Factors, Level 1 maintainers course, weight and balance and what about Jabiru restrictions (which they should have fought tooth and nail against) but assisted CASA. I could stomach 750kg MTOW but why do we need a fleet of 60 plus year old spam cans on our register?. All of these things only benefit someone trying to empire build and enhance their CV. Linke will keep making changes, then leave for a bigger pay packet an leave RAA members to pay for his whims.We have 8500 members and 3500 aircraft on our register, the income from this should be enough to run RAA. If not then we are outreaching our capabilities and should rein in our spending on unnecessary initiatives which we seem to have to comply with regularly just to please our masters.

    We no longer have a body which can keep CASA at bay but cowtow to their every wish - ex RAA employees who have sold out to (working for) CASA are slowly but surely screwing us to the wall, every week they have a lunch meeting with RAA staff to canvas their tyranny and we stupidly go along get shafted - WTF!.

     

    I say pull back on the BS and support the mantra under which we were initially known and successful with.

    Minority view. RA Aus has to make decisions to suit the majority of members. It can't always keep everyone happy. Members want higher weight limits and access to CTA. Also think about getting younger pilots into ra Aus to replace the older ones leaving. Most of the younger pilots want faster, more modern aircraft. If RA Aus are able to negotiate these changes it helps to secure the long term health of the organisation. Personally I am very happy with the RA Aus administration over the past couple of years and know that many others are too. Of course they are aware that they can't be all things to all people

     

     

    • Like 1
    • Agree 3
  5. It wasn't a dig at anyone it's a simple fact. I never one spoke on area during my Ra Aus training. I'm sure that's not uncommon. I'm also not saying anything about anyone's capabilities as a pilot, that would be absurd. I'm also a big supporter of ra Aus getting access to cta. It was a simple observation that I don't think it's going to go down well with a lot of stakeholders if ra Aus pilots all start going out and making position reports and part of my reasoning is that it's not something that they've done in the past so how can they go out and do it without any training.

     

     

  6. I really just can't accept that a bunch of bug smasher RA Aus pilots with no CTA training going out and making position reports on area frequencies is a good idea. There is a sense of organisation when talking to ATC that doesn't exist on one way broadcast channels. The only time a position report on area would make any sense is when you are beyond 10nm from an airport or ALA on the chart and also arguably when not in radar range. Keeping in mind that you're also travelling at a correct vfr altitude, are looking outside regularly and are listening to area, I really can't see the point in thousands of aircraft among these new types of calls. Keeping in mind the fact that pretty much no one does or has ever done this and there hasn't been a collision like this in the past, I'd say it's overkill.

     

    To throw a bigger cat amongst the pidgeons, cost issues aside, the obvious solution is ads-b in and out in every aircraft. I know the pundits argue that relying on technology means eyes in the cockpit which is counter productive, but I'd take it any day over any of these radio based solutions. Sure in the busy terminal area you're better off using your eyes and ears but out in the middle of nowhere you'd probably only have 3-4 other aircraft within 100 miles of you so keeping track of them on a screen wouldn't take too much of your attention away from other things

     

     

  7. I make position reports on Area every 15-20 min or as I enter and exit a FrequencyI'm against overuse of the radio, but by the same token its there to help with situational awareness and they have no right to tell him to be quiet...

    Very hard to be situationally aware if no one is communicating, and we can say all we like that you should be looking which is true....

     

    But we also know that there are a lot of times your looking at a map, a list, doing a calculation... if someone is heading in my general, Id love to know so please don't shut up for my sake....

    Imagine if every ultralight and GA in class G made position reports on area every 15 minutes....

     

     

    • Agree 1
    • Haha 1
  8. He was flying cross country from SE South Australia towards western Victoria. He was on the frequency written on the VNC chart for that area, the same one I had on just to listen to the important planes and in case I had an emergency.I was flying from Gawler to Edenhope at the time, but he was a good 50km from where I was. The Melbourne center guy ignored him for a time, while he gave a position report every 10 mins or so, then he told him to stop.

    The frequency was not overloaded at the time, but it could have been if everybody gave position reports every 10 mins.

    Why would he be making position reports on area frequency? Sounds like the same guy I heard making position reports on Adelaide centre over Hahndorf at 3,500 (1,000 ft inside class C). I reckon the ATC guys are pretty understanding and tolerate plenty of mistakes from us weekend warrior types but even they have their limits

     

     

    • Agree 1
  9. Not much room over your way Nick between the terrain and that 2500' step!I flew around the Mt Barker summit the other day and thought about a flyover (flypast) your hill..

     

    bugged out in the end as theres not really any place for a nonSTOL aircraft to put down if needed!

    Maybe not a lot of good landing spots but not many trees either! Might bend something but could be worse! If you fly over Hahndorf, fly east from there over beerenberg strawberry farm and you'll see my hangar on the top of the hill about a mile from there!

     

     

    • More 1
  10. They are the subject of the discussion paper.

     

    Because CASA has made a rule that the transmissions must be on Area, due to some ridiculous perception that there is a danger of collision between someone using their unmarked strip and aircraft in cruise.

    Fair point! Maybe they should change the discussion paper to discuss the real issue then.

    My strip is under the 2500 step at Adelaide at an elevation of 1500. It actually does get fairly busy in that 1000 ft gap as people transit outside cta. But still, I don't transmit on Adelaide centre. I know it's the rule but it doesn't make sense to me to interrupt atc. Multicom wouldn't make much sense either though as everyone would be on Adelaide centre. Strobe and transponder on and keep eyes and ears open. A few time I've heard Adelaide centre point me out to traffic octa as I depart or arrive.

     

     

  11. Fields that don't appear on charts are the least likely to get (or require) a discrete CTAF frequency.The issue is e.g. if you have a private strip and invite a few friends over for a BBQ, what frequency do you use when everyone is arriving?

     

    CASA say Area. The rule used to be 126.7.

    Never said unmarked aerodromes. They aren't the issue. There are way too many marked aerodromes on multi com. Loxton, Renmark, waikerie, Strathalbyn all near Adelaide and all a decent amount of activity. The issue of people having a BBQ at their unmarked strip surely isn't the real issue. Most people that use private strips would just monitor area and not make any radio calls. If it's just you at your own property then what's the point. And if you're having a BBQ then why can't you just inform the attendees of what frequency to use so that you can not run into each other.

     

     

  12. The problem with over use is created by pilots using 126.7 as a chatter channel AND giving1. Initial Inbound call

    2. What they had for breakfast

     

    3. General obversations

     

    4. 3nm inbound

     

    5. Joining circuit area

     

    6. Joining downwind

     

    7. Joining base

     

    8. Joining final

     

    9. Reporting clear of runway

     

    Etc. when there is no other aircraft "near" their area of operation at the time causing traffic at near airports with circuit traffic communication difficulties.

     

    Remember "potential for traffic conflict" when deciding on what calls are relevant.

     

    Also over use of the radio does nothing for separation with potential "non radio" aircraft.

     

    Short, precise, and relevant is what is best.

     

    More is better, as promoted by some, is not the answer.

    Agree completely. But training schools are the worst offenders and I'm guessing they are getting taught to make all those calls to get them ready for their airline lives of doing everything by the book. Same reason they fly 737 circuits in their diamonds. East of Adelaide is an absolute disaster with all the airports on multicom and the dozens of foreign students setting out on navs every week. Just give those airports their own frequency so we don't have to listen to it. How many people just turn multicom off because it's so annoying? That's not a good solution surely

     

     

  13. Hi Hannah. I have a hangar with nice views out of the doors over Mount Lofty towards Adelaide. That being said, the hangar itself is a rather bland and generic looking 18x15x5 meter shed so probably not what you're after. What about Port Lincoln? The property they call 'skypark' is very special with Cubs, RVs a Pitts along with classic cars, model trains, etc.

     

    IMG_0954.JPG.08b949879c316348f85e65fb9f5adcfd.JPG

     

     

    • Like 1
  14. Ok, so I am as tech literate as the top 5% of people. But, no BS. Was in flight Port Macquarie to Ballina, just west of Coffs , near CTA...iPad stopped, phone stopped, nothing, and my triathlon watch had no GPS signal, even my AvMap in my aircraft had no signal.....I will reveal why later....now on the coast that's not an issue...you know there is an airport directly N or S..... but what do you do if your 200 nm west of whoopdy doo with limited landmarks, limited roads and aerodromes that are very hard to spot, even when you know where they are.... and your rustys as hell because you have become reliant on technology...its a very dangerous and serious issue and you won't realise how serious till it happens.Then this part is theoretical, but let's assume your in an area which I have been multiple times SW of Tamworth and radar has no idea where you are? They can't help you either.

     

    Believe me when this happens, the most high priority thing you will do is re-study all those onerous manual calculations and dead reckoning.

     

    Im am in agreeance that iPad flying is far safer than dead reckoning. however when technology glitches , like it inevitably does, you better damn well know how to dig yourself out of that luxurious hole in a hurry.

    that's why I bought bushwheels. in all seriousness, it's not like when you are using a GPS you have no idea where you are. It's also not as if, if you are near or in controlled airspace and you are out of options, you can't just call up and ask for help. I've flown all over the country and can't think of one scenario when a total GPS failure would have bothered me to the point of fearing for my life. I get why DR navigation was so important in the day, but come on, it's 2016..... And besides, if that really was a complete no no, then what about IFR when you are relying on a bunch of devices that could very well fail. Does that mean we shouldn't fly IFR at all? Long story short, I'd rather take my chances on my 5 GPS devices simultaneously failing and simultaneously being both over an area where I couldn't make a precautionary landing if needed and an area with no radar coverage than have to keep up with all this whizz wheel rubbish.

     

    **disclaimer...I have to do a flight test next week so am currently in the process of re learning all of this whizz wheel rubbish**

     

     

    • Agree 1
    • Haha 1
  15. Ease up fellas, no one will learn anything if your attacking each other.My guess is in time , he will realise himself a few good learning experiences from this...

    Well I did try the polite approach first. Then there is this article that is always front of mind with things like this. Sorry if I stepped on any toes but I'd rather say something than regret not saying anything

    Unusual Attitudes: Am I My Brother's Keeper?

     

     

    • Like 1
    • Agree 2
    • Winner 1
  16. Nick - 'no offense' but were you in that plane. Did you feel the drag on the wheels? Talk is cheap so save it. All light aircraft not just 'many' should be okay on this strip. The fact of the matter is is a Jabiru, the most common small plane in Oz will struggle, there is an issue.The whole point of letting people know is to prevent an issue in future. Grass grows and you may have no issue last month or in future if you catch the field at the right time, but based on being told it was mowed 2 weeks ago and the ACTUAL experience I had with the grass dragging on the spats like it was, this is a problem. If you think it's okay for you, go for it and take the risk - then the blame can be all with you the pilot (but I'm sure your family won't care who is to blame when they bury you), but saying 'the majority of the blame will have rested with me' if I crashed, does this make it okay? Legally I don't give a @# who is to blame but I won't let an unsafe field for 'some' planes to crash as a result.

     

    This is what we try to prevent... You sound like you want to be a responsible pilot Nick but your priorities in attacking me are a bit left of field.

     

    Men survive Fraser plane crash

     

    It seems Nick you are more concerned with your own agenda to fly there then giving a S#$% about others safety - I normally don't go whinging to CASA over nothing but I spoke to the local store owner and based on her response of "well we'll charge $50 if we have to mow it more often' is absolute BS. Their attitude there is "the caretakers plane can get out of there so everyone else should be okay" is not on.

     

    SSCBD - it is a Jabiru J400. Roughly 100 hours experience (60 on this plane). Mainly tar strips. I understand what you are getting at with regard to decisions making. However, if you see an obvious problem do you not try to correct it? The grass as of yesterday is just too long, plain and simple. No incident report, but I have approached the relevant people to ensure this strip is looked into to make sure they have a better standard set relating to an acceptable grass length.

     

    Thank you johnm, yes - much learned. Hopefully not just for myself also and the strip is never let to get to this grass height again. The runway is very wide and would be a lot to mow so this is likely the reason but if they just mow the main central region and keep the outside at this length it would eliminate the issue, you just keep on the short section for take off and there is no issue.

     

    I would also recommend if you have spats fitted, it is not recommended to land here unless they have halved the grass length from what it is now (but how do you really know). So just be aware as the spats exacerbate the issue. If we had no spats, we may not be having this conversation as well, but I can only speculate.

    Mate I hate to break it to you but these are the facts. Nothing I said was innacurate in any way. In fact, I could have chosen much stronger words as no doubt many others are after reading your story. I'm guessing that 99% of pilots would agree with what I said. It's not even a matter of opinion. The comment that all light planes should be capable of taking off from all strips is a ridiculous statement. I was trying to be polite about it on an attempt to get you to accept responsibility for your mistake and hopefully avoid it in the future but it looks like it's gone straight through to the keeper. So complain to CASA all you want, but don't complain if they have a few questions for you and for Petes sake take the chance to look in the mirror before you go pointing fingers

     

     

    • Agree 9
  17. No offence mate but I don't think you can state that you did nothing wrong. Like I said, if you did crash, the majority of the blame would have rested with you. Runway condition may not be an exact science but it's more scientific that the approach you used. it's sad that you made a complaint to CASA because to many aircraft this strip would be perfectly fine.

     

     

    • Agree 6
  18. Short answer - DO NOT USE 'YORC' !!! - this runway is a death trap at the moment (19th Oct 2016). The grass is WAAAAY too long. I have a J400 and the grass was whipping at the spats so much so that we could not get to rotate speed and used up literally every inch of the runway (and more). I am lucky to have escaped it today. We had to veer off to the corner of the runway, to go up a small 'ramp' at the end of the runway to avoid hitting the trees and once airborne with the stall warning blaring, I nosed down over the cliff (sand dune drop off) to get the speed to continue on to the shock I'm sure of some 4wd's on the beach. I tried to call the airfield today but no answer as I have some stern words for the caretaker. They will be hearing from CASA as well as it is an accident waiting to happen. Our friend in tow also departed 2 weeks earlier when they were told it was mowed the day before and barely made take off. They were with us today and made it with about 50 meters to spare but have a 180HP engine and higher clearance from the spats to the ground which helped, but you don't want to be here as everything has to be working for you to survive a take off here right now.

    It sounds like you got very lucky, but you should also reflect on how the accident report would have read. The long grass would have been a contributing factor, but you were on the ground safely before you got into the plane. The primary cause of the accident would have been your decision to take off from an unsuitable airstrip. Runway condition is just one element of t/o performance that should be considered before every takeoff in the same way that wind and density altitude are. If it were me, I'd have waited for the bigger more powerful ship to go first as it would have given you some clues. Additionally, I would have an abort point in my mind half way down the runway. If I wasn't at 70% of rotation seed by that point, I would have aborted. Anyway, not having a dig as it's all easy in hindsight, but the complaint to CASA may have unintended side effects. I certainly wouldn't be telling them this story.

     

     

    • Agree 9
    • Informative 1
    • Caution 1
  19. Nic, you sound quite young , having a go at us oldies saying we long for the "good old days " is wrong , what we mean is that us oldies came up in a different time , where we were responsible for our actions, we were all so post war and there was work in abundance , now most of you "younger ones " dont really know bad times , your parents fed you , housed you , educated you, looked after you financially for a long time , us oldies however worked hard and wanted better things for our kids far from whinging look at it from our side , we are now over regulated , nanny state mindless reg,s could go on , we didn,t sit in airconditioned offices with our bums on chairs staring at computors all day , technology is great , but we still need people to manufacture ,and as someone said no government is interested in it , so lets all get jobs in technology and let the peasents do the grunt workcheers gareth

    Mate honestly I wasn't trying to offend anyone and if I did then I'm genuinely sorry. What annoyed me was the dig at the younger generations as being lazy dole bludgers, so I guess my reaction was similar to yours. Also, I might be younger than you but not that young and I'm sure that I certainly share a lot of your views. Nanny state, mindless regulations, crippling bureaucracy. I agree with all of that. I also agree that the way the World is going is probably not all that sustainable in the long run. What I mean by that is that our economic system of requiring perpetual growth ultimately creates a lot of issues. Like many have pointed out, the relentless pursuit of increasing profits has many side affects. We are told we are better off and have more opportunity than ever, but many of us would surely prefer the simpler life of our parents generation.

     

    As for us younger ones not knowing the bad times, I suppose it's easy to generalise, but every generation has it's challenges. I look at my parents friends now and it's interesting to listen to them tell stories about how hard they had it growing up as they are selling off their family home for millions. In fact, I'd say pretty much anyone who bought a house in Sydney 20 to 30 years ago is now a millionaire. It's fair to say that they have certainly cashed in on the housing market in a way that previous and future generations won't be able to. But I guess you are right, for the most part, I've grown up in very stable times. I can only hope for the same thing for my boys, but it's safe to say that looking at the World right now, I'm not all that confident.

     

    I hope you didn't take my comment about jobs in technology as a dig. Believe me, I look at some of the people on this forum, no doubt from an older generation, with a lot of envy. I would love to be able to go out into the shed and craft something like Bex or HITC. I genuinely mean that. The skill and expertise that you see from these guys far suppresses what I can do on a computer, so it's not a matter or me thinking manufacturing is for the peasants. I guess the only point I was trying to make is that in my view, conversations like this are only productive if they take place within the framework of things which we can control.

     

    Anyway, I hope I'm wrong on manufacturing but in my view, taking into account the advantages that other countries have on labour, if we're going to have a manufacutring industry here, we'll have to find our own advantages.

     

     

    • Like 5
×
×
  • Create New...