nickduncs84

I believe they call it vinyl siding and whilst us Aussies have no excuse, I can tell you as someone who used to live in and still owns a house in Boston, that crap holds up far better in the arctic winters than the alternative (wood).

the yanks must build their houses like we build our ferris wheels

What made you choose the Viking over camit or Jabiru? Only reason I ask is that there seems to be an abundance of people who have had bad experiences with Jan. Not that you can believe everything you read online, but there certainly is enough to scare me off. I'm currently deciding between an RV and a Morgan. Hopefully you post some pics of yours once it's ready!

http://www.iflscience.com/technology/green-jet-fuel-sunlight-developed

Welcome Bill. Where in RI are you from? I went to umass and lived in Boston for a few years. Back in Oz now but miss new England!

Yeah I did weigh up a few options including the USA. A year ago that's probably the way I would have gone, but with a baby on the way, I'm staying at home and so the Adelaide area is what I've got. I think I'll give Aldinga a shot. I want to do my tailwheel endo as well so will be able to kill two birds with one stone. The instructor down there is a very good instructor with many years of experience in everything from cubs to 747s.

Yes Nev I agree that 40 minutes can be enough, but there are a lot of variables. At Parafield when the far runway is in use I'd say at least 15 minutes a flight between run up checks and taxi. Then it's about 5 minutes to the training area and another 5 minutes back. That's 25 minutes, or almost $300 of stuffing around before you've even really started learning. I'll take the country airstrip and the Jabiru for now!

Yes I think there were two issues. As far as GA goes, the hard facts are that regardless of how you do it, it's a lot more expensive. When you take into account the avgas, licensing, security cards, medicals, LAME rates, etc, your cost per hour goes through the roof, even when you are comparing airplanes with the same value and cruise speed. Essentially, controlled airspace and two extra passengers will cost you a lot of money. All of that being said, it's all well and good to limit your flying to 1 passenger in theory, but ultimately, if one of the reasons for flying is to be able to do trips to hard to get places with the family, then GA is the only option. The second lesson relates to the school and the instructors. This school advertises the hourly rate, but it's a dry rate, not inducing instructors, fuel, etc etc. When I did the math, the $200 was really more like $600! Anyway, I think I'll still do my PPL eventually but will probably do it down at Aldinga. The school down there have more of a recreational focus and I've heard good things about the instructors.

Last week I decided that I wouldn't mind getting my PPL. I knew it would cost about double the hourly rate of RA, but thought that it would be worth the money and was looking forward to the new challenge of controlled airspace and a bigger plane. This is a general summary of how things went.... The first time I went out to the airport (40 minute drive) I was surprised that they had not scheduled me in to fly. Instead it was a general chat that lasted for about 5 minutes. I'm not sure why we couldn't have had that talk over the phone, but I am always prepared to be patient when it comes to flying, so I left happy with a time scheduled for the weekend. The second time I went to the airport, I had a 1.5hour time slot scheduled in. It was explained that this allows for 15 minute pre flight briefing and a 15 minute post flight briefing. That being said, by the time we reached the tarmac, we had spent 30 minutes talking. Given that the instructor had a student booked for the following slot, we didn't have much time to spend in the air. After a long taxi out to the runway, we took off, departed to the training area, turned around and then flew back in. All in all, about 20 minutes of taxying and checks and 15 minutes of flight for a total price of $300. Breaking down the cost, I calculated that the cost engine hour in the 70's Cherokee would be about $500. If you take into account at least 15 minutes of taxying, the true hourly cost per hour in the air works out to be about $650!! Keep in mind that's not including the cost of ground school. Don't get me wrong, I was expecting it to be a lot (around $300-$350 total), but I have no idea how anyone can justify spending $650 an hour to fly around in a Cherokee. The lessons I learned 1) Be grateful for Ra Aus. The good outweighs the bad by about 99:1, which can get lost on you a bit if you read too many forum posts 2) If you're going to convert to GA, research the flying school options closely. There can be a huge difference in the cost per hour once you get to the bottom of everything Nick

Just another example of the strange obsession that the media fed public has with aviation safety. There was a ship that just sunk off the coast of South Korea. Looks like hundreds dead. Do you think it will dominate the news for a month like the Malaysian airlines flight? How many hundreds of innocent people have been killed on the roads since the old bar incident? Is there an investigation and reporting process like this everytime a truck almost kills an innocent driver how about the dozens of times a year they actually kill people. What about cyclists? Dozens killed every year by cars or trucks. Should we ban cars? How about we ban cyclists. Pure and utter media fed hysteria by politicians and public alike.

It's in the relative airfield docs. So if available it will appear when you select an airfield from the map view. I tried Apollo bay as an example...

Yep. Not so much on a calm day, but with a bit of wind or thermals you need to have everything working together. When I was at that stage I found it helpful to go up to 3500 and practice flying around at different airapeeds. If you spend a bit of time manoeuvring at just above stall speed, the approach will seem a lot easier.

I was doing circuits at the time. The article incorrectly stated that the plane belong to murray bridge light aircraft flying school. they have 3 jabirus only, one of which I was in. The plane that came down was a GA plane. was about 500m short of runway 20. Almost made it back! Airfield is surrounded by flat paddocks so a pretty safe place to have to put it down.

Nev - I completely agree with everything you say. No point beating a dead horse as it seems like most people here are saying the same thing. I will certainly be doing everything I can to keep myself (and others) safe. Really my only point was that from an outsiders perspective, it's surprising that with all the technology available, this is the system we're happy with. My post was originally designed to get some feedback on what solutions were out there in case I was missing something.

Thanks Bevan, it's great to see you in here responding to questions and listening to users. It's enough to make me an avplan fan at least. Aldo, I do always pay attention when someone of your experience has something to say. While I agree with you that it's not the system that is broken, that doesn't change my opinion on the issue as a whole. At the end of the day, it is what it is that matters and in this case the way it is has issues. Although I'm a low hour pilot, I've had a keen interest in aviation and particularly aviation safety since I was a teenager. The one thing I know for a fact is that it's bad decisions by people that should know better that is usually at the root of any accident. Sometimes these bad decisions are obvious, but often it's a simple false assumption that leads to a tragic chain of events. So in this case, given what we all know, the assumption has to be that the system doesn't work and therefore can't be relied on. At the moment, that only leaves the eyeballs as the last line of defence. If people think that's sufficient, then they're entitled to their opinion, but in my opinion, a technology based solution would be more effective. And as for the separation requirements and how that relates to GPS accuracy, I'm afraid I can't see the connection. I'm not talking about using technology as a primary means of maintaining adequate separation, im just saying it's better than the current system when OCTA. Nick

Seems like I'm not the only one who thinks the current system isn't good enough. To those who say you're more likely to spin/stall so focus on training, statistically you're right, but my point is that I will be focusing on the training, because I'm aware of the risk and it's within my control. Not the same with traffic avoidance. To those that say the eyeball is best, that may be true at the moment, but my point remains that if this really is the case, then I think there is plenty of room for improvement. Doesn't matter how good a look out you keep, there are plenty of factors working against you if you're relying on your eyes. So my original point remains. Two planes with transponders should be able to avoid each other, but why is there such a lack of focus on everything else? It seems to me that from a technology standpoint there is this belief (and maybe regulation?) that it has to be perfect. But the radio work and eyeballs are certainly not perfect. So my question is, when you fly do you have a switched on iPhone or android in your pocket? If you do, then without having to spend any money on any additional equipment, you have a device that can transmit your location to within 50m or so horizontally and 250m or so vertically. Sure it wouldn't work in areas with no mobile service, but like I said, why does it need to be perfect? If the perfect solution costs $10k and prevents 95% of RA flyers using it and an imperfect solution costs $50 and allows 95% of RA flyers to have traffic info in 90% of the airspace we use, then I know which one I'd find more useful. Bevan maybe you can shed some light on why this isn't out there at the moment? Is it because the RA market isn't big enough for this to be an important feature in Avplan? Or are there technical reasons? Or both? From a technical perspective, the only real limitation I can see is that in order for it to work, the data would need to be aggregated independently with access then granted to Avplan, ozrunways, etc. Nick

Yes accuracy is an issue and yes I know some of those big brother types but the vast majority would be in the same boat. That is they will take all the help they can get if it helps keep them alive. I actually think a mobile ap based solution would work well. Accuracy wouldn't be commercial grade, but around ctafs I find the 10 mile call to be the most useful, so don't think being super accurate is that important. Even knowing what quadrant to look in would be a big plus...

The threat of a mid air collision is probably the only thing that really scares me about flying for the simple reason that to some extent it's beyond my control. I've only been doing this for 6 months or so and have already had a couple of head shaking moments and have heard a few stories that are down right scary. I've been watching the post on which frequency to transmit on and the fact that there is any confusion at all is scary. I can't help but wonder why, in this day and age, we are relying on radios and all of their inherent problems to keep us apart. Of course I think proper use of the radio is imperative to preventing accidents, but surely there could be a backup solution beyond looking out the window. So it got me thinking, what are the other options for RA aircraft? All of the commercial solutions can instantly be ruled out due to the cost element alone. Sure you can set up an ADS-B receiver easy enough, but it's not the planes with ADS-B out that I'm really worried about. Does anyone know of any other solution? One thing I can't work out is why Ozrunways or AvPlan can't integrate it into their apps. Every smart phone and most tablets have a data connection and GPS chip. Of course the data won't work in remote areas, but in most of the busy areas, you would get a signal. So why can't Ozrunways /Avplan aggregate and map location data from all active users? I'm guessing that if they did that and were prepared to combine data streams, it would be pretty useful. Especially if they were to release an iPhone/Android version of their app that could be put into 'traffic' mode. That way most people woudn't even need to buy any new equipment...you could have a lightweight, relatively effective little TCAS display by mounting your phone above the panel..it's far from a perfect solution, but then again, neither is the radio. Nick

I agree with Phil. Don't be shy about promoting Clear Prop within the forum. This is a very useful tool that none of us pay for (or pay very little for). As such, not only will most members not have a problem with you advertising on the site, they will actually want to help you out by purchasing from your store. Community is a powerful thing and this is probably your biggest advantage over other online stores, so don't be afraid to use it! Nick

I have to admit, after reading all the comments on RA Aus on this site, I'm rather surprised to find out that there is a spare $2m sitting on the balance sheet. Like others on this thread, I'm even more surprised that they (and we) are even having this conversation. Imagine if the Federal government had a spare 50 billion in the budget and decided it would be a good idea to spend the money to build a 300 story skyscraper in Canberra that every Australian citizen could visit. Seriously, when I look at RA Aus, I see so much opportunity, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the issue of moving HQ, where to move it, whether to move it blah blah blah will have no impact on how much of this opportunity is realised. So there is an issue with registration. How about we work out what is needed, pay someone 50k and boom problem solved! I've got 10 people in this office who could probably design and build what you need in 3-4 months. Anyway I won't dribble on but my point is RA Aus has a lot of problems, a lot of opportunity and $2m is a lot of money..........It doesn't matter WHERE HQ is, it matters WHO we have in the building....or am I missing something?? Nick

Nothing if you're only going to be vfr I'm guessing. Only reason seems to be if you want nvfr or cir ratings

I hadn't seen that document. Seems like a blatant attempt to dismantle RA Aus doesn't it?? I think I am correct in saying that any owner builder who is currently RA Aus registered will be able to apply for an RPL, switch to VH experimental and continue to fly / maintain their own aircraft without having to worry about RA Aus. They will then also be able to add on a controlled airspace endo... for those with 24 rego's similar thing, with the only difference being you'll need to pay a LAME for maintenance. Or am I missing something??

I'm a newby almost done with my RA cert. I think I'll do my PPL after just to give me the flexibility to fly other aircraft and fly in controlled airspace, but as far as aircraft ownership goes, I still think that I'll stick with the 24-xxxx rego. I can't see any reason not to. I would imagine that from a cost perspective, the training, operating and ownership costs of GA aircraft are prohibitive for many. At our RA school the dual rates are $180 in a j160. The 30 year old 172 in the GA school next door is $290. I guess there is no reason RA schools can't use jabs, katanas etc to bring the cost down, and I know a few are, but they still charge a lot more, I'm guessing because of the extra maintenance costs and the higher training requirements of instructors. Fair enough as well, but one way or another RA is still a much more affordable entry point and I'm guessing once a lot of people are 'in' they will stick with RA Aus as there's not enough of a reason to switch....

Thanks everyone. Some really good advice. I'm definitely not in any rush and can't imagine actually wanting to do any of the work without an L2 that I trust being involved. Even if I did want to, my wife would veto it! Really it's not about saving money or anything like that, just something I want to learn more about out of interest. Now I'm off to convince the mrs to let me buy a model airplane....

So here I am. A 30 year old pencil pusher getting into the aviation thing. One problem I have is that I don't know the top of an engine from the bottom. What are my options for mechanical training? Is there a path from zero to L2 that makes sense for someone like me? Ie someone with a day job!