nickduncs84

Aviationtrader.com.au then click the kits/homebuilt link at the bottom

There is a kit zenith ch750 for sale in Bendigo. It's advertised for 30k which he probably won't get, but it is cheaper than what you would pay to get the same kit landed and probably close to the cheapest high wing 2 seat kit around. If 30k is still too much you may be able to get creative with it depending on the sellers story. He may want to fly but not have the time to build, so he may be open to exchanging a share for build time. It's a long shot, but you won't know until you call him. Or maybe you could find one or two others and buy and build the kit together...

After 6 months in our mooney syndicate, I can safely say that there is no way I would want to buy a used aircraft on my own. The purchase price is irrelevant. Hangar and insurance will add up to 1k a month and the annual will likely be 10k plus. That's a couple of grand a month before you've left the ground. The reality is that old birds do need a lot of work and on top of that there is a lot of bs work that had to be done on certified planes to keep casa happy. So the mooney is good for me as I only have to cough up 1/5th of the cost, but when it comes time to owning my own seat outright, it will be either something Ra Aus or GA experimental. If I was after a 4 seater I'd be looking at an rv10. You'll have a much nicer, newer aircraft for about the same price. Just my 2 cents. If you are in the know with what aviation costs or have plenty to spend, then ignore me as I'm sure this is useless info. But if you're new to aviation or aircraft ownership, I'd make sure you speak to people who own a 182 to get their feedback. Might be better posting on pprune, but you'll likely get a bunch of grumpy old buggers complaining that they have answered the same question before blah blah blah.

Good looking bird!

What's the first one there??

A Mooney M20j. Great for these kind of trips. Saw 150kts + ground speed most of the day without any favourable winds.

1. Just aircraft superstol (most fun) 2. Pipistrel virus sw (fast and economical) 3. Jab 230 (cheap, comfortable, stable) 4. Vans rv8 or 4 (ramp appeal, taily, acro, fast) 5. Mooney 201 (fast, stable, economical...for GA)

Welp, made it Goulburn. Departed YMMB a but late so was going to need everything to go right to make YWOL by sunset. All was looking good with a 6000ft ceiling all the way to around Yass. From there it was down to 3500. As I approached Goulburn there were a few showers around, so the combination of all of that meant the only option was to spend the night in Goulburn. All in all a good day flying from Adelaide to Melbourne to Goulburn. First time into Moorabbin and generally good conditions. Thommo was that your pacer by the tower in Moorabbin??

Yep just looking at a map this is what I was planning. Thanks for the reassurance!

Thanks camel. Being my first time I think I'll go via Albury and resist the urge to be more adventurous!

I'm most likely not. Planning on heading YWOL to YADG Thursday arvo or Friday morning. May overnight half way depending on when I leave...

Thanks Camel. I'm at Aldinga which is at the base of the Adelaide hills so have a bit of experience in terms of how quickly wind and hills can ruin an otherwise joyful flight. That being said, the Adelaide hills obviously aren't in the same category in terms of size / elevation. Any pointers you can give me on my first journey through that region? What wind forecasts cause the most trouble, how far above the mountains do you have to be to avoid the dangers, etc...

Hi Everyone - I'm thinking of flying from Moorabin to Wollongong on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. Does anyone local or with experience have any suggestions in terms of the best route? via Albury and Wagga seems to avoid a lot of the really high stuff and also avoids having to overfly class C in Canberra. Is there a better idea/option?

Yep. Been a problem since I've started using it. Not just on mini either... No idea why they haven't fixed it yet. Seems to be less of an issue if you select the apt when it's in the middle of the screen

Yep people are getting two separate things confused. The leading edge slats deploy automatically and have always been part of the super STOL kit. The super STOL is basically a highlander with a few additions that make it worthy of its name. The slats and gear are the biggest differences. The gear can arrest a decent of about 800fpm without damage. The spoilers are a new option as ft pointed out. There is a thread on the just aircraft wings forum with more info I believe. Anyone who hasn't heard of a just aircraft super STOL, head over to YouTube and be prepared to waste an hour or so. Seriously fun plane!

Yep, I have to say this is why I think Ra Aus has a place. To be able to get into the sky in an affordable way is what it's all about. That being said, there has to be a line in the sand somewhere and I think that the current rules make sense. It's a good balance of reduced training requirements (because no cta, etc), affordability and a decent range of aircraft that appeal to a wide range of recreational flyers. If you want to fly at night, fly faster, do aerobatics, fly more complex aircraft, etc etc then you can step up to GA.

55 kts @ 20l/h?! 20 litres per hundred km to carry a 190kg payload! Makes our mooney seem like a prius!

Well as long as it suits your definition of recreational we should be sweet. On your reasoning, we should each have our own association so that we can make sure the rules suit us. For the record I have converted to GA and don't disagree with the premise of what you are saying, but unfortunately when there are thousands of members, all of whom are flying recreationally, whose to say your version of recreation is correct and theirs isn't?

Should run fine on an ipad mini with 3g. Oz runways can be quite buggy at times. Have you tried turning the ipad off and back on again? Also try doing a restore via iTunes and then reinstalling Oz runways... I've noticed the maps refreshing every few seconds since the new update. As I said, it's buggy, but the best thing to do is make sure iOs is the latest version, ozrunways is the latest version and then reset your ipad before each flight....

If these are the statistics we are putting the sword to Jabiru over I may have to switch teams. 1.27 for GA, yep safe as houses. 1.55 for rotax, yep she's safe. 1.98 for Ra Aus, sure why not. 2.63 for Jabiru..... URGENT ACTION REQUIRED! BAN THEM ALL! That being said, the graphs do look mighty scary when the major units are 0.5/10,000 hours.... How about this for a solution for Jabiru. Create a new company called Flabiru. Make sure that the new Flabiru engine experiences failures at a rate of around 3/10,000 hours. Now 2.63 is looking pretty good! CASA bans Flabiru, and Jabiru go on their merry way. 2,000 replies in the other thread and I've just solved the whole issue. I think where we going wrong was assuming that because CASA were involved, the solution had to involve safety and logic. It's not about safety, it's about playing the game!

I think given the length of this thread, it's pretty much all been covered and that I'm not going to add anything new but just to summarise my viewpoint: 1) just because they are less reliable than rotax doesn't mean they they should be banned. They have their place. 2) there are plenty of things that can bring you unstuck when you get in a plane. If we're going to get obsessive about statistics, why not ban single engine ifr or night vfr flights for ppl without an ir? And then once that happens, why stop there? Turbines are more reliable than piston engines so why not ban all piston engines? And two turbines is better than one, so let's get rid of all those pc-12s... 3) I'm not sure to what extent Jabiru management contributed but from the outside looking in, for casa to publish this draft instrument out of the blue is ridiculous. There should have at least been a notice or request for comment without any proposed actions attached before destroying the value of thousands of aircraft and risking the livlihood of dozens of flight school owners. I could think of more but I'm sure it's been said. Point is that I don't believe Jabiru have risked peoples lives to a point beyond which is acceptable to the people who fly in them. Just my view, but I think that if the goal is public safety (ie not the safety of pilots who should be expected to understand the risks they are taking on) then there are a number of things which would be far more effective.

You've been in China too long Bex. In all seriousness, I had dinner with an American expat in Vietnam once and his view was pretty much this. In some countries, individual freedoms are not as important as others. It's not a good or bad thing its just that different countries have different priorities. The man I met had made a decision to move to Vietnam because he chose to adopt a society with views that were better aligned with his. Hard to understand for your typical freedom loving American but true nonetheless. In Australia, most people value their individual freedoms. So as far as most of us are concerned, it does annoy us when the government gets involved in our affairs to the point where it impacts our freedoms. Even the people on this site that are kicking and screaming about how dangerous Jabiru engines are. The problem is that unfortunately most of us are self centred morons. It's just how us humans are wired. We don't give it much thought when governments do something stupid. That is until it affects us, then it's very important. By any measure imaginable CASA are a deeply flawed organisation, but to most people it doesn't matter. All they see is that Qantas planes aren't falling out of the sky. The fact that they are killing an industry and destroying jobs for very little in the way of safety goes relatively unnoticed. So even if you think Jabiru have a problem with their engines, sign the petition because of what this really represents. Another unjustified dig at recreational and general aviation.

This exact thing happened at a beach in Florida recently. Only it wasn't a Jabiru it was a Lycoming powered Cherokee. See where I'm going with this...

You're right, data can easily be manipulated. Like you have demonstrated, all you need to do is move a decimal 3 places and all of a sudden things are looking very grim.

I'm tractor shopping at the moment. I know nothing about them, but thanks for the heads up. I've crossed them off the list