Coop

Running the engine flat out puts the maximum stress on all components, gives the greatest temperatures and pressures, and therefore increases the rate of wear, etc. Sure, your engine might be able to take it, but if there are any flaws, then this will bring them out. Cooling systems, for example, are designed to minimise weight, and could be marginal when at max power. Combine that with (say)a butterfly sucked into the radiator core on a hot day (not considered in the design) and you could get overheating, whereas at less power, the system might cope. 10-15 minutes isn't a long time. My Gypsy's oil temp doesn't stabilise until 20 minutes after a change in power. The manual for my engine states maximum times for given power settings, some as short as 5 minutes, some as long as 1 hour, depending upon circumstances. It certainly doesn't approve continuous operation at max power. I also have operational experience on my side. I've always looked after the engine- given it plenty of warm-up time before opening up for take off; reduced power in the climb once the flaps are up; allowed the machine to accelerate in level flight before slowly reducing the power to cruise, and slowly reducing power for descents. There are always exceptions, of course- when a 'roo jumps out in front of you on short final the throttle gets opened promptly!! On my engine, 500 hours between top overhauls is considered about par for the course. We recently did our first top overhaul after 750 hours. That's a real saving, and I figure my careful handling of the engine probably contributed to it. So that's why I think it is unwise to run an engine at max power all the time.... Coop

As Dave says, well mantained Jab engines do pretty well. The problem is that a few owners don't understand very well what "well maintained" means. And a few others think they can run the engine with the throttle to the firewall all day. Doesn't matter what sort of aero engine you consider- poorly treated engines will have poor outcomes. Regards Coop

This one is owned by Robert Bunn, one of the Bunn Brothers and known aircraft restorers and Gypsy engine specialists. They are based in Albury. Maybe they were moving it and somehow the transponder got energised? I think I have their phone number somewhere. If I can find it I'll give them a call. Regards Coop

Great News!! Coop

Join the club.... Coop

Just going back to your original question, Reggy, I find METARS the least useful of the weather reports, and its mainly because of the encoding which makes them difficult to interpret. I guess its also true that the folks are trying to forecast weather at a single point (which is what an airfield is, as far as the Met. people are concerned) and I wouldn't mind betting that is the most difficult forecasting trick to perform, and perhaps the least accurate. I mainly use just the area forecast primarily for cloudbase, winds, and presence of fronts and other nasty stuff. I'll pay attention to a METAR or TAF if it mentions really nasty weather, and it may be the final part of a "no-go" decision (I'm strictly VFR). I'm ignorant of "sectorised visibility", probably beause if it's getting that marginal, I'm probably not going anyway.... Regards Coop

Hey, I'm not knocking looking at the windsock and clouds. Very useful sources of local information, and to be relied on more for your local airfield's weather than prognostications from an office in the city. But that doesn't tell me what the weather is like 90 miles south of here, and that can be very different (and often is). I've landed off-airfields because of weather on numerous occasions- but then, 20 years as a glider pilot and tug-driver does that to you:biggrin:. Only twice outside of gliding, and both were in the Auster, an eminently paddock-capable aircraft (even better than the Pawnee). There are always risks, which can be minimised, but not entirely eliminated, so its not something I make a habit of (or recommend others do without some training first). More often, I've dropped into airfields when the weather has looked difficult. Curious about the nature of your current job- "flying on only the worst days weather can throw at us in summer"- sounds like fire-bombing, care to elaborate? If that is the case, then your flying would be mainly local as you are trying to keep to a minimum the time between reload and delivery. In such cases local observations would be critical to your operations, but I bet you get the best possible advice from the bureau about the likey timing of the arrival of fronts which are going to generate wind changes, no? I'm sure you know that you can't read the weather hundreds of miles away by looking at your local sky and windsock. And with your level of experience, I bet you still get forecasts when you travel long distances cross-country. Coop

G'Day aviatrix, I couldn't agree more with respect to weather codes- they are no longer needed and we should be provided with the option of coded or plain english weather. I hate them, but I still use them because they are a good source of information. I think the reason they stick with coded weather is to maintain consistency with ICAO who have to set standards for world-wide operations, and some places may still be using teletype machines (although I doubt it).... Its probably just that such a wide-ranging change has to be approved across so many countries that it would take ages to achieve, and maybe they have other priorities. Anyway, that's my guess. As for accuracy- I think once you get the hang of reading the weather reports, they contain a great deal of useful, and usually accurate, information. But remember, they are forecasts, not necessarily a statement of what the weather is right now. Pay attention to their period of validity, and bear in mind that they are forecasting for an area, not just one location. Could it be possible that what you have seen was either out of the validity period, or only present in a part of the area? Which winds were being forecast at 35 knots? The aviation forecasts don't give winds at ground level (which is what you would see from your car)- they start at 2000'. It's not unusual for significant differences between what's on the ground and what is forecast at altitude. If you are flying, I presume you would want the winds at your altitude, unless you go in for worm-burning....:tongue: A pilot who ignores a local report from another pilot is a mug- as you so rightly observed. He'll probably pay more attention next time. Some of these folks are too "professional" for their own good.... I also adopt your procedure- I fly for fun too, and if the weather gets too "iffy" I land, like you suggest- usually at an airfield, but we've dropped into good paddocks once or twice to wait out a passing rain band. And I've met some very interesting people as a result of unplanned landings on many occasions. If conditions begin to get marginal, I'll only proceed if I can see that there is an "out" either behind or in front. Sometimes an hour or two on the ground is all it takes for the weather to clear, on other occasions I've simply amended my route to go around the worst of it. In remote areas where no other alternative exists, I'll use a land line to call Airservices and get them to read it to me. I've been to some pretty remote places in Dorothy, and its very rare that I can't get a forecast somehow. These days most places have internet access and most people don't mind letting you use their computer for a few minutes. I'm very surprised at the number of people here who think that the Met Bureau's forecasts are useless. But as I said elsewhere, maybe its got something to do with the area being forecast. Safe flying! Coop

Live in Adelaide. Keep the aeroplane out of town, but . Had an occasion where they forecast thunderstorms "north of a line Tibooburra to Cobar" when we got to Cobar- there they were. We had to fly between a couple to get in to Cobar. Likewise they frequently forecast cloud in a direction beyond a line from A to B and I usually find that they are pretty well spot on (give or take a couple of miles). Cloud bases are also usually pretty accurate in my experience. The least accurate figure is usually the wind speed/direction. But that rarely poses a safety risk, and once you are out on track you pretty well know what it really is anyway, and can adjust your plan accordingly. However, I guess some areas are easier to forecast than others, maybe SA's weather is a little easier to model than areas around Sydney or Melbourne. Coop

When I read the weather (I get my forecasts from AOPA's website- saves mucking about with NAIPS) I have a copy of the PCA next to the computer so that I can check to see where the various fronts, troughs, etc are going to be located and at what times. I find this makes the official forecasts much more understandable. I find these forecasts to be quite accurate, and so they should be, as they are only looking a few hours ahead. The four-day forecasts are nothing like as precise, because they are looking much further ahead. Another really useful formula (that the met people use) is the following: Cloudbase = (Temperature - Dewpoint) * 400. (eg: (38 degrees - 30 degrees) *400 = 3200 feet.) This explains why a low cloudbase in the morning often gets higher as the day warms up. You can get current dewpoint from many of the web weather sites. If you are flying towards rising ground, then knowing where the cloudbase is likely to be in that area is very useful. Finally, while I appreciate your sentiment in trying to avoid a penalty from a ramp check- all a ramp check will do (if you are found wanting) is cost you some money. Flying into deteriorating weather because you didn't get a good forecast can be a whole lot more expensive.... In over 30 years of GA I've never been ramp checked (touch wood) but then I've generally stayed away from the really big GA fields. However, I have flown in some quite marginal conditions and discovered that the met bureau generally do a good job. As for "sectorised visibility"- what the hell is that? :-) Regards Coop

Welcome Lenroy, and good luck on your adventures in aviation. A suggestion: Get into the cheapest aviation you can find and build your experience. Maybe LSA, maybe a syndicate aircraft, perhaps gliding (free flying if you qualify to drive a tug plane and get onto their roster). Almost any sort of flying experience will do, but get as much as you can before you become an instructor. There are too many instructors with limited or narrow ranges of experience who know how to instruct, but don't know much about aviation in general. Your eye-hand coordination must be pretty good if you are flying R/C Helicopters. I read once about a competition between R/C helicopter pilots and real helicopter pilots where each tried to fly the other's equipment (under instruction, of course). The R/C pilots made a fair fist of flying the real thing, but when the boot was on the other foot, the Real helicopter pilots had almost no luck trying to fly the R/C choppers. Regards Coop

Would like a link for that.... Coop

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra has a good display of aircraft. http://www.awm.gov.au/ But the ones at Temora and Wollongong consist mostly of flying aircraft- and they sometimes go away to visit other air shows, so check in advance. Regards Coop

One other thing, Aviatrix. How many times on this trip was your ASIC checked when you were accessing your aircraft? Regards Coop

Gotta do the renewal thing again..... It's gonna cost $196 with Aviation ID Australia, but apparently only $160 with RA-Aus. Since I have both tickets now, I can take my pick (obviously I'll go for the cheaper one). But.... has anyone seen any prices less than this? Also, can people comment as to whether they have ever had their ASIC checked at any regional airport (ie not the main capital city airports or GAAP airports- I'd expect to get checked there). In 4 years of flying I have been into "Security controlled airports" on 64 occasions over 20 different airports from Geraldton to Bundaberg and many places in between (including Parafield once and Rockhampton twice), and guess how many times I have been checked? Yep, you guessed right. Zero. So where is the increased security? Why are we forking out this money? The Aviation ID people have included on their form a box where you have to explain why you need an ASIC. If I was renewing with this mob, I'd write "Buggered if I know". Coop

You should see the "tags" (bottom of list) for this article. Somewhat mystifying for sure!! Coop

NIce report, Todd. But could you put the names of the departure and arrival points in for those of us who have to go to the books all the time to figure out where you are actually going? Regards Coop

Nice report. The 707 was there only briefly when we attended- doing a low fly-by (actually 3) with the wheels almost touching the runway. Certainly the tour of the 747 was worthwhile- although we didn't take the option of the wing-walk. The Powerhouse museum was also fascinating (now there's a flat-4 of a decent size!!), but I found the Stockman's Hall of Fame a bit pretentious (although still interesting for all that). Regards Coop

No worries Inn. Glad you liked them. Good luck in your training, Coop

If it ran you over, it would certainly leave a crease in your trousers.... Coop

What do you think of that chaps? (And we thought flying was risky...) Coop

The Hi-Wheeler, eh? That should get a few giggles. Makes me laugh just looking at it... You should put up a photo here- while it's not, strictly speaking, an aircraft- it does get you well off the ground.... Coop

This year I decided to take part in the "Funflight" event at Goolwa. Similar events were held all over the country. The aim is to take kids (and sometimes parents) for rides in aircraft. The kids often have somewhat limited prognoses (cancer, and other diseases.). The aim was to get there before 10:00am so I aimed for a 9:00am takeoff as Goolwa is only a few miles down the road from my home base. Dragged Dorothy out of the hangar, refuelled, unloaded all the usual paraphernalia that lives in the back seat (to leave more space free for kiddiewinks), and cranked up. Taxiied out to the end of the strip and... Damn! Misfiring on the left magneto. Been using a lot of avgas lately- probably leaded up a plug. Had the same problem after returning from the Arkaroola trip a few weeks back. Running Dorothy up to almost full power didn't clear it, so I had to change the plug. Taxiied back to the hangar, shut down. Hopped out, chocked the wheels, tied the tail down and re-started. By switching the right side off and carefully placing my hand under each exhaust stack I was able to tell that number one was just pumping cold air, so it was number one plug on the LH side. (That's one advantage of straight exhaust stacks!) Dragged Dorothy back into the hangar to get out of the sun and got out the tool kit. Removed the safety pins holding the long air scoop pins in place and withdrew the pins. Removed the air scoop, undid the lead to number one and pulled out the plug. Yep- a bit wet looking- that's the one, alright. Grabbed a spare plug from my pile of old but (hopefully) good plugs, smeared some anti-seize on the threads and wound it in. Reconnected the lead, replaced the airscoop, double checked all was as it should be, and replaced the side cowling. Nine-thirty, should still make the 10:00am briefing. Pushed Dorothy out, chocked the wheels and re-started. Piled in, ran up for another maggie check- Damn!! Still misfiring on the LH side. Shut down again. Now what? Dud maggie? Dud lead? Leads are pretty new, probably not. Chocked Dorothy and tied down the tail again, re-started and turned off the right maggie. Felt the exhaust gases again- still cold on number one. I couldn't have picked another dud plug, surely? Pushed Dorothy back in and went through the rigamarole again- sure enough the number one plug on the LH side was wet and oily. Grabbed another spare and tried again. If she misfires this time I'll swap the plug with the plug from number two and see if the problem goes with the plug or stays with the location. If the former-it's a dud plug. If the latter- it's probably a dud lead. But this time all was well, and Dorothy ran sweetly. Parked the car, shut the doors, and I was away. Too late for the briefing, but heck, I could still get involved. The air was quite lumpy on the run to Goolwa, in keeping with the northerly airflow and relatively high temperatures for Springtime. At Goolwa I managed to find a parking spot near another Auster and wandered over to the hangar where things seemed to be happening. There was a chaotic assemblage of pilots, kids, onlookers and organisers, but everyone seemed to be having a good time. I was sent up to the office to register and collect the briefing materials (along with a red pilot's hat), then back to the hangar to arrange some customers. Lots had already been flying, so there was a chance that there wouldn't be too many left. However, after a short while I was connected up with a young mum carrying a two-year old girl who wanted a ride. I was a little apprehensive- I wondered if she would be old enough to appreciate the experience or would she be frightened. But Mum seemed quite relaxed and didn't show any signs of worry when I told her the aircraft was 63 years old. I'd brought a pillow, so with a little juggling we got junior esconced in the back seat on the pillow with her lap belt on, and Mum sitting in the front. The headset looked a little large on the girl's head, but she didn't seem to mind. A mate swung the prop for me, and we taxiied out. I could hear giggling and chortling from the back seat, but had to keep my eyes outside the aircraft with all the comings and goings. The giggling got louder as we opened the throttle, and after we had turned away towards Hindmarsh Island I took a look at the back seat. There she was- eyes glued to the scene outside with a huge grin on her little face. We had a Cessna behind us, so I told mum to expect it to pass us at some point. Sure enough as we approached the Murray Mouth he overtook us on the RH side about 500' below- just where my passenger could see it. There were squeals of delight from the back seat as he swept past. I chatted away to mum as the flight progressed- she was intrigued to learn that the engine was made by GMH at Fisherman's bend during WW2. "So it's like we're driving a Commodore?" she said. "No" I replied "More like an FJ Holden". We turned over the Murray Mouth and ran back along the coast, a little offshore so they could take in the view. The little tacker continued squealing and giggling and pointing at the scenery. Mum, watching her, had a little tear in her eye. "She's got cystic fibrosis" she said. "That means maybe 4 to 6 years left". "Well", I replied, "I guess we'll just have to help her pack as much living as we can into the time she's got." Mum wasn't the only one with a bit of a gleam in her eye..... All too soon the ride was over, and we were back at the parking spot. Mum thanked me, and they were gone. After a sausage and a cold drink (all free) I was presented with my next customer- a young lady of about 13 years. She didn't say much during the entire flight, but on the run down the coast, I offered to show her the controls and she had a try at it. She still didn't say much, but there was a grin on her face by the time I'd taken over again a few minutes later. There were parachutists dropping over the field, so I extended the ride a bit until they were gone. After the landing, I asked her what she thought of it. She turned to me and said "That was AWESOME!!!" and she, too, trotted off to the hangar, maybe to record her experience on Facebook or whatever. It was her first ride in any aircraft..... And that was it for the day. I hung around a bit longer, took a look at one of the enormous prime movers that had turned up for the day for the kids to play in (yeah, big kids like to play too) and had a cuppa and a piece of cake before heading for home. Some days we like to whinge a bit about our lot in life. It pays to get involved with something like this occasionally to remind ourselves how lucky we are...... Coop (Bugga- left the camera in the car, didn't I. Maybe next year...)

Perhaps a brief celebration of Wittbur's attempt in a Bleriot at Bolivar in Adelaide? He preceded Houdini, and of course, there is controversy over whether he actually flew (and therefore over whether he was the first in Oz) but his attempt is worthy of marking, even so. He went on to try to develop a new aircraft, apparently doing this on Kangaroo island, but I don't know what happened to that. THe remains of one of his engines is in the Port Adelaide Aviation Museum. Regards Coop

The run into Broken Hill was great fun. I flew number 4 in a diamond formation and we cruised over the city to help advertise the coming weekend's activities. Around the airfield once and then we progressively broke off to join the circuit. The weather was warm, producing numerous thermals, so the formation flying took a fair amount of concentration and pole work. [ATTACH]530.vB[/ATTACH] The Navigator got busy with the camera again during our approach to the runway at Broken Hill, and once again Murphy obligingly looked the other way. [ATTACH]531.vB[/ATTACH] We spent the next couple of days exploring in and around Broken Hill- meeting a few of the locals in the process..... [ATTACH]532.vB[/ATTACH] ...and checking out some of the local art work (Pretty, eh? The bit of rock on the left ain't bad either.) [ATTACH]533.vB[/ATTACH] About a dozen Austers attended the rally- less than usual, probably because of the distance from the eastern states. This example- a J5F freshly restored- flew all the way from Kempsey and took out a major award. The last time I saw this aircraft it was a skeleton of steel tubes in the process of being covered with fabric. [ATTACH]534.vB[/ATTACH] The dinner on Saturday night was very well attended and there was the usual hilarity as various prizes, both serious and humorous, were handed out to their deserving recipients. On Sunday morning we overflew the breakfast at Langwell Station (about 25 miles south of Broken Hill) and headed straight for our rendezvous with a good mate at Overland Corner. During the run south we diverted from our direct track and followed the NSW/SA border for a while because the scrub on our direct track provided few clearings for a successful forced landing, whereas the border fence had a clear space either side which would be large enough to accommodate our wingspan. Our colleague at OC drove us to Cobdogla where we observed the Humphrey Pump in operation- an earth-shaking experience (literally!) if ever there was one. (See here: http://www.icestuff.com/~energy21/hump.htm ). This enormous pump (it's about three stories high- two of them below ground level) uses the water as its piston delivering about 12,000 litres on each stroke. It operates about three times each year for the benefit of visitors and is the only working Humphrey pump anywhere in the world. After lunch we took off from Overland Corner and headed for home. About 30 miles out, Dorothy's engine gave a little hiccup to indicate that the belly tank was empty, (there's no fuel gauge on the belly tank) and we switched to the main tank for the remainder of the run into our home runway. A convenient fire gave us the wind direction, so we tracked for a straight in approach and lined up on our grassy strip, freshly mown while we were away. Before long we had Dorothy unloaded and tucked into her hangar, with her sump plug removed to allow the hot oil to drain. We didn't feel like ending the holiday just then, so we diverted into the little french restaurant in the nearby town and had fresh coffee and scones before reluctantly accepting that the holiday was over and it was time to go back to work so we could pay all the bills. Coop [ATTACH]17934[/ATTACH]