mnewbery

I've been riding a motorcycle back from Goulburn airfield most Thursday nights.

GFTC is holding FREE (as in beer) ground school / theory classes for anyone who is interested. This is good as I forked out $$$ for the same service at Brindabella Airlines Flight School some years ago. Pleasantly, the GFTC classes are higher quality than I remember elsewhere and its possible that some Goulburn Flight Training Centre theory exams are free for people who attend the night briefing classes.

Confirm with the school if this is of interest. I recently did some RA-Aus exams there.

Trouble is, its colder at night now we are in May and I'm beginning to feel it. I look like a black snowman on a motorcycle as it is.

I've taken to stuffing WAC 3457 down my shirt for the journey and it works a treat.

Come June, I think I will have to graduate to a hot water bottle!

*Please laugh now*

I failed my GFPT on Sunday 1 May. It wasn't really a shock and hindsight has suggested that pretty much everything could have been done better.

I want to make it clear this has nothing to do with the school or aircraft I used.

In short, it wasn't going to be my day. There are countless things I am going to do differently for the next exam attempt. The Authorised Testing Officer (ATO) said that he was only going to test me on the four things that I was deemed "not yet competent" if I re-sit the exam within 28 days. However my new preparation assumes that the next exam will have the following features:

1) Full fuel (still actually less than MTOW on this a/c example) which means woeful climb performance and a tendency to re-stall during SSR and approach configuration stall exercises but a duration of 2.0 hours plus 45 minutes holding time. My last exam was cut short to "only 1.6 hours" because we needed to use full rich mix all the time plus a lot of carb-heat and this delivered a planned fuel exhaustion at 1.8 hours with the amount I decanted. While fuelling I thought "hey if we are still flying after an hour, I'm not going to pass anyway" plus I made it _very_ clear to the ATO that I planned and filled for a 1.0 hour flight. Surprisingly the electric gauges read dead empty left and 1/2 full right. Either the company policy on planned fuel burn is pessimistic or the gauges are optimistic. Lessons: If you fly consistently right wing low and do left handed circuits (skidding turns), expect the gauges to deliver unsettling and possibly incorrect news. When planning fuel for GFPT, ensure the endurance is an hour longer than the test, plus holding time of 45 minutes. If that puts you over MTOW, have a chat before you go up and maybe plan to refuel on one of the landings.

2) Don't turn up four hours early. If someone is having a GFPT or other test before you on the same day, have the school or ATO call you on the phone just before they call "clear prop". There is nothing worse than arriving for an exam at 9am to discover that someone else turned up at 8:59am, started the exam, stopped it and is going to take two or more hours just to get their training history up to date. Forget the one hour oral exam plus the leisurely 45 minute pre-flight, you're done and your day could well be over if this previous student takes too long. I spent four hours sitting around an airfield grizzling about something that I had no control over and when I finally got back on the ground myself, I needed to already be in another part of the country. Lessons learned: Communicate clearly with the school or ATO how the activities of the day will be timed. Ensure they stick to it or make your apologies and bail out. Its their failing not yours. Alternatively, assume the whole day will be spent on the exam, not just two hours. PLEASE ensure your training history is up-to-date as of the last training flight. Do this well before the day of the GFPT. Book time with your CFI to go through the training history records with you, don't assume its already being done. I have only ever THRICE seen an instructor keep records that were correct within 24 hours of the last flight. The other instructors I've had (and you 10 people know who you are) you suck and you dissapoint me. Once you get the call that the previous GFPT practical is about to start you can make your way to the airfield. In my case its a 70 minute drive unless I'm hiding in my favourite bakery with pie-and-newspaper disguise. Finally, get there first, be the first to do the GFPT and/or knobble the other students so they don't get in your way. I wish I was joking but I'm still quite angry about facing a ~$1K bill for a failed GFPT that I now need to do extra training for. Its all about communication and you are the client, you need to tell people what you are planning to do.

3) The exam is not a training flight. The ATO is not an instructor. The ATO will ask you to do things that are not on the exam sheet (CASA Form 640 page 2). The one I got was "trim the plane for straight and level at 70 knots IAS and xyz altitude". WTF? Due to the thermals generated by the freshly ploughed fields and the clouds above, S&L at 70 knots turned out to be nose down +500ft/min, 80KIAS at 50% throttle followed by a swift reversal - 60KIAS, 100% throttle and -100ft/min. In short this proved nothing other than it was a good day for soaring. This activity was distracting, unexpected, hard and concentration sapping. I think this is exactly what the ATO intended. Same exam I got a simulated EFATO at 300ft exactly on the very first takeoff roll. Lessons learned: Expect the ATO to "order something not on the menu" early in the flight especially if you have more than the usual number of training hours up. Focus only on the issue at hand. Its GFPT, there will only be one exercise at a time so focus on that and not the preceeding or next competency. Know your ATO and ask about others' GFPT experience with this ATO. I'm not suggesting that the school should teach you to pass the exam only ... however exam technique should be discussed at length WELL PRIOR to the CFI giving the recommendation. If this hasn't happened yet, don't attempt the GFPT. Its my opinion but I'm giving it strongly as a former driving instructor with an above average student pass rate.

For the record I detest being entertainment for the bored individualator. Also for the record the preceeding student passed his GFPT and word was that his exam was totally different to mine.

4)Every flight is a precautionary Search and Landing (PSL) exercise. This means you need to be able to point to and identify indications of wind direction ON THE GROUND at every moment. Now those cross country survivors who are still reading are going to say "well duh!" but this is GFPT and not for the licenced, experienced rudder jockey. Speak out loud when you see evidence of wind direction and strength on the ground - for yourself and the audience. Say where you think the wind is coming from and how hard because this will be REQUIRED for your field selection during off airfield PFL/PSL competency. If you don't know the wind direction and strength you will need to waste time finding it. The ATO gave me 12 minutes to choose a place free of livestock, fences, powerlines, trees, wombat holes and long enough to land, then takeoff from.

12 minutes? Is this in a book somewhere? Should I already know about this time limit? Or is the ATO making stuff up in the cockpit?

I'm torn on the whole PFL/PSL thing and it was identified as a failed competency in the exam. For the record, the ATO (after doing some flying of the type I was strongly discouraged from early on in my training and I'm sure CASA frowns on) pointed proudly to a dead flat paddock which could be seen clearly from the "other" side of the cockpit and said "There! You should have picked THERE!" I looked incredulously at the handful of large black bulls clustered around a water trough at one end and said "I thought you said no livestock". Somedays, you can't win (or see black bulls against a fence). I did three PSLs in a row and I found our later from the CFI (the ATO said) they were all rubbish. Hey fella! At least I can see the bulls!

No you don't do off field landings during GFPT unless its a real emergency in which case the ATO will be taking over. If its over private property or people you WILL stay above 500ft AGL and not do steep turns below 1000 ft AGL, even if the ATO does them for you.

Lessons learned: Point out all the great off airport places to land and FLY NEAR THEM. With enough trips over the same path or training area you will get to know the best candidate fields. In my case everything is in relation to a prominent and well marked dry lake (name withheld on request). Conversely, don't fly over areas that have very few or unsuitable candidate fields (once again this applies during the exam). Explain to the ATO that this is what you are going to do during the flight, what the wind direction on the ground is and how the wind direction is affecting your choices. Do this well before the PSL exercise starts. Prepare to argue your case. For god's sake have a reliable method of counting out seconds of time close by. More than one. I used the a/c flight timer on the ground and it seemed fine ... right up until the engine started then it changed modes and locked in a way that wouldn't allow counting of seconds. Maybe have a grown-up show you this bit. With PSL, sometimes its just not your day. Reject unsuitable fields at the earliest opportunity (e.g. powerlines anywhere inside the fence), then climb away and do a FULL 360 degree turn, possibly one in each direction. 12 minutes should give you four or five overpasses or its possible to do two rate one orbits in 4 minutes without steep banking. This leaves an easy 8 minutes to do two overpasses or three if the aircraft is slow and can land in under 400 metres. If you really do bollox any competency, just ask to move on to the next one.

5) Every circuit is a practical air law exam. Who has right of way? What happens if, on descent you lose sight of the preceeding aircraft (I did) and it might be underneath you, slower and not using its radio (as it was). Your CFI should be able to tell you and you should be able to immediately demonstrate CLEARLY what you are going to do in this situation. In my opinion, CAR 162 suggests that I should have climbed or halted my descent and simultaneously extended downwind AND made a radio call noting I was uncertain of the other aircrafts' positions plus my intentions. Another "duh". I was 10 seconds too late plus after 1.1 hours of exam pressure I was beginning to lose concentration.

Lessons learned: The pressure only goes up during the exam, especially if the circuit area is congested and circuits are at the end of the GFPT. Remember you've done 0.2 hours basic IFR by this time too. Have mucho spare mental capacity to allow timely responses to (yes its exam criteria 8.5) "manage abnormal situation" or the ATO will manage it for you. This is why YOUR pre-GFPT lessons need to be at least 1.6 hours because even a well run 100% pass GFPT can go for 1.5 hours (usually due to rubbish climb rates). Yes its expensive but so is failing the exam, then resitting it.

Nobody died. It could have been different.

6) Every circuit is a pre-solo exam, every circuit is a candidate for engine failure practice. Lessons learned: Spacing, spacing, spacing. Identify and correct spacing errors ASAP. Identify and correct heading errors ASAP. Ensure that where it is operationally possible to fly from either end of a runway, you can identify landmarks for both runway directions that give you correct spacing while airborne and use them. This is not cheating, its good preparation for the GFPT exam.

Other stuff in my opinion:

Get and take a copy of CASA Form 640 with you. Have your instructor go through the complete list during at least three consecutive lessons. I suggest that the instructor pretends to be his or her favourite ATO. If you don't get 100% satisfactory on the third exam practice (we are talking the whole exam at 1.5 hours, three times over but i'm going to do 1.6 to 1.8), work on the weaknesses identified. Then have another practice exam - it doesn't count unless you are 100% competent in end-to-end exam conditions. Yes it sucks and I hate it but I also hate driving for two hours there and back to fail an exam (or to be grounded due to changed conditions).

Now if you are waiting to turn 16 years old, still reading this and totally discouraged by the thought of having to come up with a thousand or so dollars to cover the cost of the GFPT pre-exam for the CFI recommendation plus the plane hire plus the exam itself (which benefitted the ATO $550 in my case), think about this:

Its the cheapest flying practical exam you will ever do.

While doing some research for an upcoming blog post I hit a wall. Last night I was in a group flight briefing. It was a big bunch of people and this was the second night. That was good news for the flying school.

I looked around. All of the students were men and most of them looked like me - single or recently married, mostly childless and mostly 25 to 35 years old. Two were retirees. No women and no kids.

I'm sure the school is happy to have people in their peak earning years occupying the seats and I am comfortable with my fellow students, but...

Is this the normal flying school demographic?

There is no information readily available that I can see. Please reply to this post. I will also seek input from RFACA.

Thanks in advance!

The C150 POH says that the minimum fuel is 80/87. I asked the Flying instructor who agreed that the performance data would be completed using this fuel (then slowly degrade as the prop and engine wears out). The C162 Flysmasher using the O-200D ... from the POH the minimum fuel quality is 100/130 (green) or 100LL (blue). No mention of premium ULP but it does suggest the use of DiEGME (fuel-anti freeze) when things get well and consistently below freezing.

Ethanol is hydrophillic. That means where there is a lot of water (e.g. a boat) you can't get the water out of the blended petrol once it gets in. Pure ethanol is only available in the lab. Everywhere you read ethanol, think "ethanol with varying amounts of water in it" Once its there some kwazy kwazy chemistry occurs. When you are driving a car every day and you have the right rubber parts its not a problem. Boats and planes that don't get used very much suffer accelerated deterioration where they are in constant contact with ethanol based fuels...

because the petrol with ethanol in it soaks up moisture from the air so much better than unleaded petrol and then it becomes weakly acidic. In time you end up with a tank full of acid. You'd be kinda sorta ok if you drained the fuel system every time but what a pain that would be!

Ethanol blended petrol also doesn't act like unleaded or aviation petrol during extreme hot or cold and planes can have both on the same mission

This one came up during a BAK ground school class. Pop quiz:

1. Can I put MOGAS in a C150 and /or C152?

2. Why or Why not?

Its been bugging me for a while - in the ground theory class we argued about the C150 engine and whether or not it would or should run on mogas.

Not a simple answer, it turns out.

1. Engine STC, Airframe STC

2. Modifications to engine.

Engine STC, Airframe STC

To run mogas, both the airframe and the engine need to be certified that they are unmodified from original manufacture. Nothing is said about the longer runway required or lower MTOW but the A/C must be fuelled according to the POH without the STC. I wouldn't use mogas unless I had little choice. I've never seen a C150 POH long enough to look so if it says 80/87 you'd be right and I would be wrong. According to the ground school instructor, the C150M "as delivered" specifies minimum 80/87 fuel. One assumes that the take-off distances are calculated using this fuel. Next time I see the A150M (VH-WXR) I'll read the bit about fuel and take-off distances.

Modifications to engine

Keeping things simple, the engine normally found in the C150 is the O-200A (there's a B, C and D too but not relevant). This engine will safely run on 80/87 mogas without modification to anything (source EAA America) so I was wrong. The O-200D which is supposed to be in the C162 Skycatcher should not "be able to run on mogas" but I suspect it will have to, straight out of the box. It was going to be FADEC, therefore injected and possibly with knock sensors but Cessna wimped out in favour of sticker price and you get manual fuel mix control. MOGAS (80/87) OK, if it says so on the C150 POH which apparently it does. Otherwise the STC (for the high wing A/C) is often a few minor changes plus lots of new stickers and placards.

In contrast the Lycoming O-235 can run on mogas but only for models C,E and H. Then it gets weird. Models J,K,L,M were meant to run on 130 or 100LL, then the O-235 N2C came along at the same time as the C152 which was a low-lead only engine. Incidentally the "mogas capable" earlier plus N2C models are rated about 10% down on power from the units that were meant for 130 Leaded - models F and G. The C152 only shipped with the O-235 N2C so the POH values stand. Note also that CASA (CAO 2.7.4) requires the pilot to add 15% to the book take off distance for safety. No MOGAS for the C152 without the STC and some changes.

The Lycoming O-360 in the Cessna 172 might or might not run unmodified on mogas. Cessna models up to C172M should be able to run unmodified on mogas. Model N was introduced the same year as the C152 (1977) and used the O-320-H2AD - a 100LL only engine. This engine was rubbish. The engine in the C172P that replaced it was the O-320-D2J which was notable for having two impulse coupled magnetos and not being rubbish.

This also came up in the BAK ground school. Most aircraft engines from Continental and Lycoming have one impulse coupled magneto and another direct drive unit that starts working when the engine gains some RPMs. The O-320-D2J is an exception.

Finally, often the reason why low wing aircraft can't have a MOGAS STC is because the fuel lines are smaller than they could be which makes them prone to vapour lock when the fuel is pumped from the wing tank uphill to the engine on a hot day. Gravity feed tanks (therefore non aerobatic?) don't suffer as badly.

Fun indoor activities for IMC Days

This should be a forum thread I think.

I'm looking out the window. What I wanted was crosswinds. Instead I get low overcast and occasional light rain. A flying gentleman's thoughts turn to indoor activities... These activities are all designed to focus the pilot or student on a particular skill or knowledge topic. Caveat: This post is for entertainment only. Refer to your training, take personal responsibilty for your decisions and fly the airplane.

Part A. Non Simluator activities for one or two players - mostly navigation

Ativity 1

Plan a day trip between the two nearest airfields using your fvaourite purveyance. Make the prevailing conditions as benign or challenging as you like. In fact do both - one with no wind and one with a cross wind at 90 degrees to one of the airfields and 90% of the demonstrated cross wind penetration of the aircraft. If you are not sharing the room with a pilot, email the plans to "someone who is a pilot" to check your work. Bonus points for using a pencil, map, ruler and an analogue computer. Repeat the exercise for all or a part of your "wish list" trip.

Activity 2

On the same topic, work through the list of examples that came with your analogue/pocket computer. The answers are in the back of the example book.

Activity 3

Choose the three nearest airfields to you or the three that you are most familiar with. Give an ERSA to a friend (bonus points if the ERSA is up to date) or print off the same details from the Air Services web site and hand that over. Get your (equally bored and grounded) friend to test your knowledge of each airfield by asking random piloting questions based on the details. Ignore the stuff about fuel, GPS marks and phone numbers. This is a memory test, essentially. You should already be familiar with the details, shouldn't you? Double points for choosing a controlled aerodrome.

Activity 4

Randomly answer questions from any basic aeronautical knowledge text book. It helps if the answers are in the back. Double demerit points and washing up duty for a week for not being able to answer all questions correctly. This can be done with friends or without. If you are living alone, you get washing up duty anyways. Take someone out for dinner if you get 100%

Activity 5

Read the latest Visual Flying guide. Use it to interpret some interesting METAR or NOTAM.

Activity 6

Go to the CASA website and have a look at some of the free stuff that CASA publishes. Note you still need to pay for postage so if you buy, buy up big and make the order count. http://casa.cart.net.au/cat/2021063.html

Activity 7

Plan a lap around the outside of the nearest controlled airspace, going between reporting points. Extra marks for remembering to change altitude when passing through 179 degrees or north. Calculate the time taken for your favourite aircraft to do th lap. Assume nil wind or another condition as appropriate. Also note where the MSALT pushes you into the controlled arspace and what radio calls are required at that reporting point.

Activity 8

Use an out of date map, pencil, a dart board and a dice. Draw a line between two reporting points or other waypoints. Put the map on a dart board and throw a dart at it. Throw the dice twice. The first number is the wind in knots and the second number is 1/10th of the direction (you can double the numbers if that suits). You are where the dart landed and you want to get back on track. Pick one waypoint and plot a course correction to get directly to it. Repeat the exercise for the other waypoint.

Activity 9

Find a quiet place to go for a drive, Preferrably somewhere hilly. Concentrate on driving safely . Pick a speed that you can safely maintain up and down the hills. Using the gears as flaps/pitch control, maintain a constant safe speed without using the brakes (much). Using the brakes would be like slipping. Choose speedometer readings that correspond to your blue and white arc values. You can do pre landing checks at red lights and stop signs too. The choke is not a carby heater (do any cars have chokes now?) Substitute the airconditioning or demister switch for the landing light. Note that selecting first gear while your car is still rolling is not generally recommended. Lose a point for every time you go 5km/h over or under your selected speed. Concentrate on driving safely and practise scanning your gauges, ahead, lookout and mirrors. You will know when you are doing it right. Lose points for hitting anything you don't own or getting a ticket.

Part B

Simulator activities

Activity 1

Set up a Basic IFR activifty (e.g. with just the panel showing). Hand fly straight and level for a minute, up for a minute at (for example) 500ft/min, down for a minute at 500ft/min. Repeat until you get the transitions between flight modes (to/from straight and level) comfortably right. Bonus points for constant indicated airspeed (e.g Vy) at all stages.

Activity 2

Repeat Activity 1 over your favourite airfield in the circuit, starting at 1000ft AGL over the field. Ascend using an IFR chandelle manoeuvre from upwind to crosswind to downwind. You should start downwind 1000ft higher than where you started and pointing in the opposite direction. Perform an IFR chandelle descent onto final. Pass over the top of the field at 1000ft AGL and repeat. Do this three times without any radio or visual navigation, only a timer and the 6 flight gauges. At the end of the third lap, check where you are visually. Bonus points for still being over the field. If you are really good at this, repeat the exercise at circuit height and go from IFR to VFR for a touch and go when you roll out onto final.

Activity 3

Set up an unusual attitude recovery activity. Record how long it takes to get straight and level again. Get faster at recovery. Bonus points for not redlining the engine or busting the airspeed limits for the type chosen. Review the flying training manual for correct procedures - no point in re-enforcing bad habits. Compete with a friend.

Activity 4

Using the repeat/location airborne function in the simulator, practice competitive spot landing. Agree on the method of keeping score before you start.

Activity 5

Repeat any part of activity 1 and 2 above with partial panel.

Activity 6

Peform EFATO and engine failure in circuit exercises. To make this a bit more fun, choose a random non standard departure (short or soft field takeoff) plus use fuel exhaustion to make the failure more unexpected and permanent. Review the mayday calls and required settings. Practise forced landings starting from 3000 AAL. Turn this into a competition by including spot landing at the end.

Activity 7

Using the repeat/location airborne function in the simulator plus a map and an ERSA, place the aircraft randomly. Measure how long it takes to become certain of your position and be able to point to it on the map. If you are setting this up for someone else, bonus points for messing up the directional gyro and turning off all the nav aids before handing over the simulator.Yes you can use the pause button.

I've got more time in a C150M than anything else. They are ok at sea level, which YRED and YBAF are. In Goulburn YGLB the choices are A150M, Gazelle, C182 or PA-28 140 Cherokee. The A150M (Cessna 150 Aerobat to you) would be grounded at Goulburn on a hot, low QNH day. At 18C OAT it gets maybe 280 FPM climb with MTOW. You do what you gotta do. I knew I was going to hire the C172S, post licence so I coughed up for the training. The difference in mental processing speed between a 100 Hp and a 180 Hp trainer is not to be underestimated either. I struggled to stay ahead of the faster aircraft for a time. Do yourself a favour and seek out one other training airframe before you pass your GFPT - only one, mind, and only for an hour or two or it will confuse you. You will be glad you did

Australian Aerospace helicopter pilots, I have a bone to pick with you. Do not takeoff from the taxi ways. I'll say it again, Iron Chef style, lest you forget "do not takeoff from the taxi ways". Especially when I am doing a precautionary search and landing overpass at 100 feet above your stupid paid-for-by-someone-else blade slapping flying showroom.

I am not a stunt man. This happened at Redcliffe Aerodrome YRED. It "happend" more than once. The pilot got yelled at by me, over the radio. Something about "stay on the ground you ****, I'm directly over you, you didn't look up, you didn't listen to my radio calls and you didn't taxi to the holding point" I seem to recall. Then something magic happened. The helicopter stayed somewhere near the ground until I did an upwind turn. My instructors listened, laughed and said I did good.

Note to self. "Professional Helicopter Pilot on board". I also noted with some glee that the rescue helo pilot and the 300CB helo pilot doing auto-rotations and even the Tiger ARH pilot were super nice and super polite and used their radios, even if it was just to say "Hi, I'm passing below and behind you" (he had an american accent and machine guns).

Redcliffe Aeroclub (RAC) has LOTS of C172S trainers mostly 2005 or 2006 models. I chose them for an intensive training period to make up for my total absence at any airfield for many months. I did just on 20 hours of training in two weeks plus some ground exams. I would like to say that if you can get accomodation sorted (not too hard, ask the aeroclub and you might score a billet) you will find very high availability and a training area which is a very nice 5 minute flight along the coast.

Plus the C172S is just a 21st century 180Hp revelation to fly. No high hot and humid problems for student plus one here.

For the southern gent, South East Qld in the middle of summer can be a bit tropical. The instructors were suffering from heat stress, dehydration and unavoidable general sweatiness so I didn't feel too bad if I felt a bit the same. Redcilffe Aero Club briefing rooms are airconditioned and have A/V equipment for the briefings which are being converted to PowerPoint as time permits.

Now here is a tip for all you student pilots. I really sucked at Basic IFR, the first time and mostly because I wasn't used to the scan rate. I told my instructor that I brought a PC based flight simulator with me and he said yes go ahead and try that. So I did the whole Basic IFR lesson again on the simulator, starting with 5 minutes IFR and a 5 minute break, working up to 20 minutes IFR with repeated climbing and descending turns just like the lesson I was going to have the next day. You can use a post-it note for partial panel.

I passed Basic IFR including partial panel the next day and the instructor complemented me on my improvement. I was exhausted.

The aircraft are nice, weather is mostly nice, RAC is nice, airfield is nice, instructors are very nice and I'm starting to sound like Borat.

I'm back training at Goulburn, trying to stay proficient while waiting for a crosswind sign off. But that is a story for another time.

Re: SA Pilot in need of some advice please?

Do you want to learn to be a flying instructor in rural NSW? PM me

See my last post for the background

[ame=http://theaussieaviator.net/showthread.php?t=42411]New GA and RA Flight School in Goulburn YGLB[/ame]

Two things make my life nicer:

1) Trading cash for experience

2) Trading avgas for altitude

Recently this got a lot harder due to some things I thought were unrelated. Specifically 700 junior scouts camped out on the town side of Cotter Dam and my handyman qualities. It turns out that kids break stuff more often than you think, in ways you can't imagine. When you turn your back another kid does it again. The adults supervising them are usually good with kids not hand tools and glue. This added up to some very early mornings but get away from all of that I did.

Nobody said brownie point were easy to earn. Sometimes its makes the experience more valued. Sometimes its a crock of manure and you wish kept your wallet shut.

After weeks of planning and angst, scheduling and re-scheduling ... plane and pilots were in the same place at the same time. Our ride returned from Adelaide the night before after an unexpected week long delay.

We arrived at Canberra late. Nobody was waiting for us and we had the rest of the day to do as we pleased, or so I thought. My fellow pilot left fairly direct instructions for his wife to call AUSFIC (the people who cancel your SAR time) if we had not arrived and called in. We were on our way to Goulburn and we expected to be in the air for 24 minutes... Nope. Delay after delay plagued our efforts. Nothing serious or safety related, just stuff happening like a quiet 4km taxi to the opposite end of the aifield and being fourth in line for the departure line up.

So it was no surprise that, immediately after shutting down fellow pilot (we'll call him PIC) interrupted the call between the wife and AUSFIC. The AUSFIC operator said "Nah they left late, I've got the clearance time 35 minutes after the flight plan time and they could not have travelled that fast. By the way, tear 'em a new one for me because they didn't check in..."

And so it was. Note to the wise: Figure out what your plans are and at least double the SAR time duration if you are leaving a note with a friend and its a SHORT (< 1 hr) trip . You don't have to race the time, just know that delays accumulate and deal with it. I dunno, maybe the non flying pilot (me) could have sent a text message or something.

Flying over Lake George was something I was planning to do since March last year. Then, again everything got in the way and I even tried bribing someone for free stick time in a Duchess for a trip over the recently and rarely flooded 'dry lake'. I can see why someone would want to go out to Lake Eyre to see the same thing. The other thing about Lake George was that, at 5500 feet, it was calm. I mean eerily calm like if you closed your eyes it felt like you were in a theatre with a really cool sound system and not actually moving. Noise cancelling headphones helped. See my post [ame=http://theaussieaviator.net/showthread.php?t=38898]fettle your headset[/ame].

The view was spectacular as I expected, everything and everyone was doing what they should and I had a flying lesson booked at Goulburn. I had not seen the ground from this far up since August even though I crossed the equator twice. Low and slow flying is a delicacy to be savoured.

After one of the most thorough pre-flight briefings ever I strapped on a Cessna 150 Aerobat (you don't climb into it you fold yourself up and unfold inside it like an inflating origami water bomb) and slowly ascended into the training area south of Goulburn airfield. Cessna 150's climb relatively poorly. Maybe a hang glider has less climb. One of the really cool things about flying over a ploughed field is that dark earth means thermal uplift. At the training area, nothing but green and patches of trees greeted us. It was hard work just staying straight and level at 70 knots. No lift today! Somehow we got to the mandated 3000 AGL for ... Stalls, spins, spiral dives and wing overs!

This explains the super duper thorough pre flight briefing. It was my third visit to this particular lesson and to be honest I was still apprehensive because of previous lessons involving screaming. Sometimes mine, sometimes the instructor's but not this time. Oh my, I finally found a patient instructor. You'd want to be, climbing was a long running chore in the afternoon sun. Due to my previous experience with stalls we re-covered that bit quickly which was confidence inspiring and provided no intestinal side effects.Next was fully developed spins. This was an eye opener. I can see why you would want to skip this part of training if you could. Don't avoid it if you can help it. Take motion sickness medicine for the first couple of tries.

Spin recovery isn't a mandatory part of the CASA PPL(A) day syllabus. I know why and I understand the reasoning (not covered here). Here I was in this tiny little flying tank with these "OMG they are huge, what do we need them for" acrobatic harnesses and a VNE so high I don't think you could reach it without being shot directly at the ground from a long, long way up. I thought "bugger it what could possibly go wrong, the guy in the other seat doesn't want to die either".

And so it was. The instructor noted that Cessna's don't kill pilots, it is the other way around. It is really hard to get this type to do anything that isn't benign unless you are very deliberate. That's not to say the type is safer because there are plenty of things you can do wrong, like not using carb heater. We covered developed stalls, spins, sprial dives and their relevant recoveries all without going outside -0.0 or +2.0 Gs. I'm not a fan of low G (e.g. less than 1G holding you in your seat) manoeuvres and I really didn't like spin entries and recoveries but after the third one I was jazzed like a kid with a new car licence and I wanted more. Spiral dives gave me this in spades and hopefully I can do this again really soon. Continuous 90 degree banking (e.g. knife edge flight) is a new way of viewing the world, not coming to a rollercoaster near you anytime soon.

To celebrate we did a couple of wing overs on the way back. This positive G acro manuoevre also caused me some angst previously so I wanted to get a handle on them, which under the patient and concise guidance from the other seat, I did at least once without a loss of altitude. Apparently the view of the manoeuvre from the airfield made the aircraft look like a lost, demented and angry marlin leaping into the air so I got quizzed when we landed. Envy!

For the first time in a while I didn't feel totally shattered after a lesson. It may have been the masses of chocolate I ate or the relaxed and pleasant environment - still no turbulence and no rushing back to the field but I don't care. The point is, this is the way I expect lessons to be conducted every time. Do that and you have me as a client pretty much forever (or until the money and leave passes run out).

Unfortunately we did need to do the Harold Holt soon after landing. Fortunately for me there is a C152 Aerobat waiting in Qld in a week's time. While the PIC made his inbound call to the wife (her being the keeper of the SAR time) I molested the navigation aids for the return journey, did a quick check of my maps and notes, like where did I put them, and waited.

It turns out that two people communicating and co-ordinating their pre-flight activities can do it a lot quicker than on and a lot more safely. Little tiny mistakes and differences of opinion are discussed and sorted very quickly. Progress is efficient and before you know it, you are nearly home. We entered the Canberra circuit area and were greeted by some very scratchy, loud 80's rock music on the tower frequency. PIC and I looked nervously at eachother. This bug smasher didn't even have an FM radio, where was it coming from? Was it my new whizzo headphones playing a trick on us? I could tell it was an open microphone somewhere because I could hear other noises. I thought that it would end eventually and it only lasted 30 seconds ... in the middle of the critical bit where we joined base, dodged other traffic and tried to be at the correct height, speed, configuration and a whole other bunch of choices that are supposed to end in a landing and a re-useable hired aircraft.

Mic. happens, even to the best of us. The worst bit is that the operator doesn't even know its happening to them because everything sounds normal. Who listens to Pearl jam while flying anyway?

Speaking of origami, does it really have to be that hard to put a cover back on a plane? Instructions and markings (like "this bit goes under the right wing, flap A to slot B") would have saved us a few minutes. Drinking time people! That's what I'm talking about!

Summary:

1. Flying to your lesson is way cooler and much more fun than driving the same distance.

2. Watching someone else pilot and knowing what they should be doing is educational. Roles reverse often enough and its fun to figure out how to politely remind them they missed something, then try not to get caught missing it yourself.

3. Flying with another pilot isn't only safer, it's cheaper, easier and more fun too. Plus if you are learning it consolidates what you already learned.

4. Acro aircraft are tough and that makes me feel safe. So does height above the ground. Put the two together and its a recipie for some "mamma didn't tell me there'd be days like this and I've still got my pants on" kind of fun. Speed and power don't need to come into it. Try it before you die!

Aftermath:

We returned to the scene of the crime. PIC's house was full of teenagers who appeared to have not moved since we left. I asked them what we missed.

One of the unblinking video game contestants replied without looking up "Not much!"

If there is a problem with any training organisation it will mostly be because the service provided doesn't meet the customer needs. Further, training at its most basic is a team sport and both sides need to agree on the rules. I don't need to say anything bad about Goulburn Aviation and I won't. In my first draft of the post below I made the factual comparison of what each organisation appeared to provide but I deleted it. Its not my desire to publicly judge and I wish both schools the greatest of success. They are fundamentally different in so many ways, not better or worse. Just different. Finally everything I saw points to both schools benefitting from their relative proximity and their continued prosperity.

Hello Folks,

First, a disclaimer. I have no affilliations or investment in the organisations named below. Secondly, I have been trying to progress a PPL(A) licence for over a year now and its been a bit of a rollercoaster. Not the good kind either.

On Friday a fellow flyer based in Canberra advised me that there was a new training provider in Goulburn and sent me the link http://www.gftc.com.au . If anyone sent me the link before then, I ignored it thinking that it was Goulburn Aviation. If that was the case I stuffed up because Goulburn Flight Training Centre (GFTC) isn't Goulburn Aviation, there was a BBQ and there were $50 flights on offer in November. My loss but I was probably still getting over my honeymoon.

So on Saturday 8 January I cashed in all of my brownie points and went to Goulburn Airport. I like to turn up un-announced and see how the place rolls for the first visit. I've done this with other training providers and sometimes you really do get to see them at their worst (or best).

Pleasantly, the proprietors of GFTC didn't complain when I arrived after an hour of riding in the rain and made a puddle on their floor. Did I mention it was 'low overcast with occasional rain'? Perfect weather for hangar flying. Also pleasantly the CFI is Malcolm Poulton who was or may still be the CFI at Brindabella Airlines. I did my TIF and some flying at Brindabella Airlines Flight Training School prior to it shutting. So we chatted...

My fellow flyer turned up and pleasantly for me, didn't leave a puddle on the floor because he travelled by car. He was doing a currency thingy in a C182 and we had a while to wait before the weather cleared. Malcolm said that the weather was coming from the North East, it was getting less cloudy and in a while it would have passed the southern edge of the training area. He was right and by the time the aircraft was pre-flighted there was blue sky in abundance above us.

Side note: As we walked airside, someone was having a play in a Kawasaki 369HS helicopter, mostly practising hovering on selected bits of grass. This thing looked like it belonged on a poster on a teenagers bedroom wall to me, clean and shiny and menacing in its carbon fibre grey paint. It was a bit noisy idling on the ground but once it was up to speed and hovering a hundred metres away it was no problem to us. I wish the aircraft commonly used for TIFs looked this good, but then again I don't wish. A lack of traffic in the circuit can be re-assuring to new students and having shiny toys to play with just encourages people. I only felt a tiny bit sorry for them when they hand filled the 369 with jerry cans. Either there is no JET-A at Goulburn or at least not conveniently near where they landed.

So the C182 whisked the flyers away leaving me to kick the weeds, look into aircraft cabins and chat some more with people at GFTC. That was my choice.

Goulburn Airport is a pretty laid back sort of place. Its a place where kids can come and ask to have a close-up look at the 'real thing' of flying without the cyclone wire and 'too-busy-to-answer-questions' attitude often present in even some of the smaller coastal airfields. You know the ones I'm talking about...

I chatted to a guy for a while after he asked to perch himself in one of the GFTC trainers. No problem, said the people at GFTC. It was a type I have most of my hours in so I was happy to talk about what I knew and did. He had an ultralight in a hangar around the corner and professed to knowing one of the previous owners of the trainer he sat in. He sounded like he wanted to try this one out. His ultralight was probably quite simple so if he was like me it would have been like sitting in the cockpit of the starship enterprise this day. All those mysterious knobs and gauges! It was refreshing to see someone quite a bit older than me (and the plane) gazing upon the console with a combination of wonder and curiosity. I guess in his mind he had just discovered something new to him and he was pondering whether or not to take an interest. I have no idea how long he stayed there, long after the windscreen was cleaned with him still in the cockpit and after the C182 returned un-eventfully. He looked like he didn't want to leave the cockpit and I don't blame him. I remember feeling the same way once upon a time.

We all wandered inside and chatted more about the future of GFTC. A couple of TIFs were due later that day so I made some bookings for myself and aimed for a hot meat pie at Trapper's bakery across the street from the Big Merino on the way home.

The pie was everything I hoped it would be. The weather back to Caberraaaaa was mild and warm so I dried out and returned feeling refreshed and enthused. I stopped off at the international airport (still makes me chuckle when I say that out loud). The skydiving company took off no doubt with a paying load and then nothing for the rest of the time I was there. Not even the usual security patrol coming to check me out.

GFTC isn't Goulburn Aviation as I noted earlier. They are right next door to eachother. It is interesting to compare them and I can't avoid doing it. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to do the same.

The thing I remember most about that day (yesterday) was the pie. It was a simple but high expectation I had and it was met. I wanted that pie. It was going to be my reward for getting all my chores done, getting up early, getting through the weather and getting closer to the end of my training, even if only a little. Now I have the same expectation about my choice of training provider and in particular the instructor as every student does. I've been through a few training organisations and more than a few instructors. What I have to show for it is a lot of dissapointment but I'm not alone there (See the jetwhine post - Aviation has the CFIs it deserves).

More than anything I want to avoid (e.g. not risk) that deep sense of disappointment that seems to be frequently and prodigiously served by certain flight schools. Sometimes its the only thing they are good at. These horror stories are not for here. Today (actually yesterday) I chose to be optimistic, enthusiastic and committed to furthering my goals in private aviation.

Things are looking up for the first time since April last year. I think I chose my training provider well but only experience can validate my judgement now.

Matthew Newbery

Any ANR is going to be better than none. Alternatively, you can fit hearing protection ear plugs in your ears, under the cans. When I ride a motorcycle or do festival camping I use these - $2 each at the local chemist. I have used these with standard cans too and they work pretty well until the speakers give out after a few years *laugh*. The passive noise reduction of two sorts of hearing protection can't be understated.

Which headset model will you be modifying?

You have to define "best".

Is it the cheapest way to go?

Is it the least risk?

Can I turn it back the way it was?

Do I have the time to get it right?

Do I like the fit & finish of the kit?

Can I afford to throw away nearly $300 if it doesn't work?

Can I do without the BlueTooth/other features offered on the hi-end units?

Is the PNR irrelevant or adequate for when the ANR power is off?

For me,all of the answers were yes. You need to come up with your own answers.

The Australian vendors I chose also offer a build service where for a fee, I can send them my cans and have someone else do the work. I believe any Australian agent for Headsets Inc will offer a build service.

Further I use the modified DC H10-13.4 units to "tune out" annoying workmates.

I have a set of DC H10-13.4 "clones" too. They will get the same treatment when/if I need a 2nd or stereo ANR heaset. I'm not sure how they will go because the PNR on the clone was woeful which is why I got the DC H10-13.4. Hopefully it was just the clone had cheap sound deadening material (the ANR kit has new material).

The alternative explanation is that the clone plastic shell has a rigidity that makes it vibrate at 2700 RPM/45Hz. This may explain why my fillings were rattling at the end of a climb out, using the unmodified clones.

If that is the case then the ANR kit will have its work cut out dealing with that scenario, but deal with it, it will. That's what it was designed to do but with crappy cans, the battery may get a big work out. Of course plugging into the aircraft power makes that moot.

I'm willing to do the experiment again.

I recently bought a David Clarke H10-13.4 Mono headset for not very much money from someone at work. I was going to use it to replace my Pilot Brand "training bra" headset. At first glance they appear to be part for part identical. The DC H10-13.4 delivers significantly better passive noise reduction (PNR) and I think this is due to the better foam padding in the cups.

The Pilot Brand headset is stereo and when I'm not listening to music with them, hearing VHF on one ear and pilot intercom on the other just does my head in.

Yesterday I went one step further and installed the Headsets Inc ANR kit from DM Electronics here in Australia. I installed the kit in a but under two hours and I am really impressed. I've been wearing them around the house just to try them out before getting into a cockpit. So for change out of $600 and 2 hours of assembly I have a near new comfortable ANR headset that provides good classic PNR plus ANR that rivals or betters (if you read the reviews) something twice the price.

Plus I can repair it myself.

Now I have a few spares for my other headset and I can either experiment with the discarded PNR foam by putting it in the cheap headset or put an ANR kit in that too. Either way I am going to have two relatively good headsets.

For those going down the Headsets Inc path here are a few observations:

1. Everything is in the kit, except the tools and this is a good kit

2. Instructions are provided for mono and stereo installation, the kit does both

2a. Wiring is in colour. Further there are You Tube Videos of the kit installation

3. Spend the extra $ and get the power cable + auto off battery box so you can use it at home (e.g. for studying). Rechargeable batteries anyone?

4. The ANR speakers have the tiniest hiss in them when they are on but it is nothing compared to what it blocks out. I have a fan blower room heater about 3m behind me and with the ANR turned off it sounds like a big clothes dryer

5. You hear all sorts of things differently when going from ANR to "bare ear" and back so be prepared to suddenly hate certain noises you never heard before, like the ATC slurping coffee in the background during a standard transmission

6. There was an annoying click coming from the headset when I used the Headsets Inc battery pack provided, everytime the light on the battery pack flashed. I tracked it down to MYSELF not removing ALL the original DC foam from the right ear cup as per the instructions. These units have the size of the cup programmed into them in the factory (which is why there is more than one ANR kit available) and the volumes are different from left to right cup. I took the foam out on a hunch and the click went away. Also the right ear wasn't quite in phase with the left during Mono transmissions and that feels too weird. Removing the foam fixed that too.

7. Based on 6, follow the instructions. The reasons might not be explained but they are very specific and deliver the desired results

8. Your mobile will still interfere with the headset when it polls. This hasn't changed

Have a listen to the Warren Truss interview on Plane Crazy Down Under. I have an opinion about where the 2nd Airport should be but I can tell you it won't be Canberra. Terry Snow and Stephen Byron don't want General Aviation activities messing up their plans to become a 24 freight hub. Freight, not people! Geriatric jets hauling pallets charged by the kilo or cubic metre to the freight forwarder. Modular, mechanised, automated, clean, secure and profitable. No need for a second runway at Canberra because the freight planes would be encouraged to move nearer midday or midnight (by charging the fv<k out of them for movements during the morning and evening peaks). No extra aero bridges, its not even in the master plan (?). And I call B.S. to Stephen Byron claiming that in section 2.9.2 of the Lancaster Place plan that "Suitably located sites have been provided for General Aviation in the Pialligo Precinct, at Fairbairn" then charging $21.42/tonne landing fees for piston aircraft. That is usury. Don't get me started on the ILS fee. We know Canberra Airports Corporation want a freight hub, everyone in Canberra has an opinion on it. Its time to let the rest of the world know what yours is Stephen.

Get your friend to private message me and we can discuss it further

I am already a CRAA member. I downloaded and read the report. Currently I still need to cross the state border to get a GA PPL(A) licence and I do that regularly. Any suggestions on how to get flight training without leaving ACT would be most appreciated

Hello team,

I'm one of the people who is effectively grounded in Canberra after the 30 April closing of Brindabella arilines flight school. I took up flying elsewhere as did others from Canberra. I am interested in hearing from anyone who lives in Canberra and still likes to fly.