metalman

Sucks to be a four percenter though!

I've always liked the "idea" of cheap auto engines in aircraft, sadly the reality just doesn't stack up, having said that I'd still love an SE5a replica with an Ls6 Chevy ,

My plane is in an igloo type hangar , seems pretty good although if it blowing the dog off the chain it gets wet. The biggest thing I feel is regular use, every machine suffers if its just left for long periods, my plane gets used probably twice a week so I'm always blowing the mould spoors and the spiders out,

I've bought heaps from the states, apart from my RV 6 kit I've kept it under the grand and never had any probs, I'm thinking that if the stuff is from somewhere that appears legit( invoicing ,declarations, packaging) it goes a fair way to getting sent through. Another thing that would give me the sweats is imagining some customs officer on a mission to save the world slicing the packaging of my new wing skins open with a Stanley knife , having said that I've never felt anything I've had sent had been opened. Matty

Bit more thread drift, what part of the country are you in mate,cheers Matty

No comment on the joke, but I've been asking for that button for a while now!

Interesting no one mentioned the tecnams, I did my RAA cert in a golf, an echo and then did a few hours in a bravo. Apart from being expensive to buy I thought they were a pretty forgiving plane, maybe a bit light in pitch ,especially after a C172 ,but pretty docile. I haven't flown a Gazelle but they'd be identical to my plane in the air ,just the first and last bit would be different . I'm really keen to fly a highlander though, maybe if I can get to Oshkosh next year, they look great with the room and it would be interesting to see how the wing,flaps and ailerons work compared to the Skyfox gear. Matty

I got caught out late ,once, I've never ,ever, made the mistake again, obviously it worked out but flying final with a mobile phone lighting the panel is a BAD thing, the only thing I did right was knowing the PAL freq without that I don't know what I would've done! The thing I've noticed with aviating is the randomness of death, we all make mistakes,,,some of us get to learn from them, others get to be an example , there is no way of telling which one you'll get to be !!! Matty

Both the schools in the Yarra valley are GA/RAA ,it should be a pretty easy path for anyone wanting to go from an RAA cert to RPL and then further,

I think it's called a f*** me wheel rather than a tailwheel:stirrer:

I'd wait till December when the Part 61 regs come into play,,,could be a very simple path from an RAA cert to a RPL then onto a PPL, Matty

I haven't had any bad experiences ,,,yet,,,but heard lot of stories. A mate had an RV7 quick build arrive with a couple of forklift tyne holes in the side of the box ,the fuselage was a write off. If I had the dosh it would be a good pastime to pack a container with a few of these projects ,wouldn't get rich of it but would be an interesting side line.

http://www.kikoauctions.com/?nav=auctions&details=3358 http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=4767 http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=4760 Just checking out the classifieds on a Kitfox forum, there is some good deals to be had I reckon, damn shame the freight is a killer,

Is that with Russell?, good instructor if so!

One of the problems is in having people feel that comments are all encompassing, there are always exceptions, but from what I've seen in the short time I've been flying is that young people (under 25) are an exception, unless it's being bankrolled by a Chinese or Indian airline but then there isnt the same passionate motivation there( not counting the exceptions ). As for the decline in the industry it is EVERYWHERE, the motor trades ,manufacturing ,steel workers, there are simply very few apprentices and for that simple reason the manual trades are slowly dying. Aviation does add another dimension to it all with the regs we have, I was keen on getting into the rag n tube resto side of things but after a few chats with older LAME's I kinda thought it was all to hard, one area I am looking into is getting a welding approval still time consuming but as I get older I can see it as a bit less physical than my current trade.

nicely worded Nev, i fin d the longer I fly the more addicted I get, I find myself counting the minutes to last light at the moment and doing the traffic maths to see if I have enough time to do a few laps, and on that, I can remember being so bored with circuits during the beginning ,now though, I find myself enjoying the "getting aquainted" part of a new type. I can see a couple of problems with the perception of flying and the youth of today, one is the idea of the costs, people are often surprised when I tell them that a RAA cert might run to $5-7000, and an aircraft can be bought for around the same as a nice tinny, but regardless it has to be a passion, there is a bookshelf full of log books at the school on my field(and at my previous haunt for that matter) with a few entries and then no more. I asked the FI about it and he reckons a couple of things, some people just want to see if they can fly an aircraft with no ambition to go further, some want to go solo as some sort of "life time " tick list, others start but then the money becomes an issue, ,,,so I guess there will always be a bit of a revolving door senario at the schools . The other issue is the attitude of a lot of kids today(not all though) is the gaming scene, I've watched my sons with it and really, real life can't compete (in their minds) with the games, you can be and do anything in the game ,instantly, no training required! Place that against flying and it's a lot of study ,time and money just to get into a pretty slow aircraft. With so much out there competing for our time and money I think flying has to be a passion or it wont hold a person for long!

Good to hear, get well mate, good job

Y Yeh, the design has had it's fair share of copies, I think it all started with the Avid Flyer, and it seems there's a copy in nearly every corner of the world, the Kitfox has been very successful ,I've got a few mates with them. The South African one look nice aswell. I've got an old gazelle fuselage sitting at home that'll get carved up and modded in the next few years.

Just started reading "the killing zone", and am half way through a chapter on the electronic flight gadgets ,very interesting, so far pilots still seem to die from the same things regardless of how they navigate( although getting lost and using all ya fuel will get you into the fuel exhaustion category) , I have a couple of gadgets ,iPad and garmin, but never leave without a whizz wheel ,fuel calcs and charts on board.

This is a Skyfox , a gazelle has a training wheel on the front, strangely the Skyfox has a reputation for being a bugger to land and the gazelle ,the complete opposite,

Just replaced mine, 190hours, although the engine sat around for a while, I noticed it a bit of rough running and thought it was a balance issue with the prop ,replacing the sockets fixed it. Matty

I've had to use some sail repair on my plane, the stuff I used is clear ,you can see the patch but from 5 ft it blends in okay, not sure how it would handle a high airspeed but I'll never have that problem ,I doubt the drifter would either. I bought it from BCF ,pretty cheap

My thoughts are twofold, one I enjoy teaching ,have put a few apprentices through over the years, and even considered going into the school system as tech teacher. Secondly , as I get older I am thinking I may not be able to continue the pretty physical job I have now ,nor will I want to, instructing would give me an income, doing what I love ! The clincher for me in the decision to do the rating was a few weeks ago, I was coming back over sugar loaf dam and it occurred to me that the only time I was truly happy was mucking around in aeroplanes ! Now I just have to settle on a school to do the RAA course through, which is in its self not an easy decision

I've always found the size of the bounce is directly proportionate to the number of spectators ,,,,,and a wheelie( motorbike) is guaranteed to go pear shaped with an audience ,,,,sadly some of my most magnificent landings have happened when there's no one to see it :-(

Tail wheel first is very easy on the RV's, I've spent a bit of time in a mates rv6 and found it would touch down tail first real easy, in the end I used to round out ,get the three point attitude and just wait, the slippery buggers don't like to stay put if there's a hint of extra airspeed