KRviator

I live adjacent to a Council-owned airfield and pay an annual "access fee" for through-the-back-gate access. I'm also entitled to an annual landing fee, but the Council billing system doesn't seem to recognise that so they continue to bill me for each landing. Which I continue to ignore.

From the UK version of the NRMA I give you their average fuel prices: Unleaded Super Unleaded Diesel LPG 190.81 p/L 201 p/L 198.58 p/L 84.98 p/L That's $3.34 / $3.526 & $3.483 AUD a litre! Good thing there's not too far to fly in the UK - you'd run out of money before you run out of fuel, flamin' eck!

There was a 206 in a wirestrike up towards Hawkesbury River / Wisemans Ferry way the same day - though the WSPS served its' purpose and they landed safely with little to no damage beyond the pilot seat cushion. But of the two clips I've seen from the Maroota accident, I didn't see any wires or towers in either of them.. Not to say he didn't hit wires, but just that I didn't see any.

Typically the runway is preferred as should you drop in from more than a foot or two onto grass, there is a better-than-even chance of the fiberglass or sheet metal cowling folding up and allowing the firewall to act as a plough, scooping up dirt and bringing you to an uncomfortably rapid stop. Landing on the runway avoids that, giving you a greater distance in which to decelerate - rendering the gear-up landing that much more survivable.

Not even remotely similar to flying but to answer your questions: 1: Do I plan a road trip beyond, say, 50NM? Yes. Even if it is as simple as "Do I need to refuel first, or will the available fuel get me there and back?" Closely followed by "Which servo enroute has the cheapest fuel in FuelCheck?". Even at work, we are required to do a Journey Assessment for any road trip at night, or any trip beyond 50NM by day. 2: Yes. I'm going long-distance, or without the KRviatrix, I'll plan my trip on Google Maps for real-time delays and diversions, and then share that trip so she can track me and have a real-time ETA. If she's coming, then we'll usually call our rellies and give them an updated ETA when we're on the road. Insofar as tracking, incidentally, so does my employer on almost every vehicle in their fleet. I got a txt from my Supervisor just last week saying "KR, the tracker shows you stopped for over an hour, are you ok?" - I wasn't stopped, and hadn't stopped, but "the system" thought I had for some reason and he was checking on me. 3: If there's a chance of inclement weather, yes - I do check NSW LiveTraffic for weather-related issues, and enroute I use Google Maps for reeal-time traffic info.

I want your luck. I've had two in 200 hours with the RV. Both on the NLG, thankfully.

Not quite - It's one with a few formulas whereby you can enter things like FPT, distance and the winds, and it calculates ETI, HDG and the rest, along with fuel burn, TO & ZFWCG position and can give you warnings about fuel reserves or CG out-of-limits. I discussed it a little in THIS post and you can download the spreadsheet HERE

In order of precedence: SkyVector's online flight planner the night before for the initial routing SkyVector's NavLog printed the morning of the flight to take with me to scribble on. OzRunways NavLog to crosscheck SV & allow the upload to the Dynon. My own Excel Navlog when I am told I can't use OzR or SV - such as in training or a flight review.

Permanently in the aircraft is only my Rescue Swag first aid kit. That's clipped to two eye-bolts on the baggage bulkhead and is only ever removed for the annual, or to put something bulky in the baggage area. But if I'm going anywhere beyond the circuit, even just an after-school local scenic with Mini-Me, I wear my survival vest, that's loaded with similar goodies to what you've listed.

That's cool to watch.

Strewth I hope I don't pull up behind you at the bowser! 😁 There's no flight suit, but I do wear a tactical style vest loaded with survival goodies. The usual explanation for anyone curious enough to ask about it is "I'm flying in a plane that I built in my back shed! And I'd like to tip the odds in my favour if it goes to shit..."

Wouldn't mind putting a bid on the Cardinal, but I'm on shift so couldn't get it off-site in time... And it has 2,600TSO and a prop that needs an overhaul in less than 100 hours too. No mention of the spar inspection either, for what is a fairly high-time airframe. If that doesn't pass, you've got a 2,000lb paperweight - replacements are rarer than unicorns!

@MattP how'd your mate go with this Deb? Still listed so I'm guessing he has passed on it as well, or did he dig deep enough that he found why she won't sell?

Question for those at Murwillumbah - VH-CDD a Comanche, looks to have been kept there, at one time or another last year. Anyone know of her up that way, and if she went for a swim? I think this is the one that has just been listed for sale and I'm thinking about making some enquiries about her, but this photo - and Murwillumbah's recent history concerns me... Image courtesy or AustAirData.com.au and was taken 26/3/21.

And the dates are out for 2024...I've already checked my roster and I'm on RDO's - who else is going?

I thought anyone could maintain an Experimental, you just couldn't sign off the 100-hourly? Will go check the latest CAsA Instrument and report back! EDIT: Nope, T88 is correct as things stand now - unless I welded the downlocks in place and turned it into a fixed-gear, you need to meet one of the clauses in Instrument 18/22 to maintain it - so long as the aircraft are essentially similar, being defined as "not" essentially similar if: if they are made of different materials; or if 1 has retractable landing gear and the other has fixed landing gear; or if 1 has electrically-powered landing gear and the other has hydraulically-powered landing gear; or if 1 has electrically-powered flaps and the other has hydraulically-powered flaps. But that looks like it'll change with CAsA proposing the following:

I think that's Experimental Exhibition, whereas CAsA shows this as Experimental Amateur Built. And I've no idea how anyone has achieved that with what is, really, at the end of the day a factory built aircraft. Yep - and that fuel burn is enough to put me off for the performance you're going to get. Though the appeal of a heavy-lifting twin I could maintain myself does have a certain appeal, but whether or not it is enough to win when you look at the hard numbers and $$ to operatee, because lets face it, Avgas isn't getting any cheaper, remains to be seen.

Mini-Me and I flew up Friday arvo - after I flew home from work in the Pilbara to Sydney Thursday night and finding the car had a flat battery in the long-term carpark and the NRMA was 4 hours wait time (they actually arrived right on 2 hours), I finally got home around 0100 Friday morning. The KRviatrix graciously allowed me a sleep-in until 0930 and we were airborne around 1300 after topping off the RV at $2.85/L. Ouch... 4.0 hours start up to shut down via Narrabri, Gundi and Chinchilla, with only a few occasional clicks of the HDG bug to go around clouds we'd made it to Raglan. However, I did forget to tape over the air vents and with an OAT well into the single digits, it was just a little bit cold at 8,500 (LESSON 1 - Tape over the vents earlier in the year)...Landed, taxied to parking over in the back row near the tractor pull and threw out the swags before heading over for the roast dinner. (LESSON 2 - take your chairs for this, saves sitting on the grass, and you'll be more comfortable if you decide to stay for the music & beers) Dinner and a Bundy later, we headed back to the plane and Mini-Me has inherited my 20 year old swag and so climbed in and promptly fell asleep, so I got the new one we'd not long ago brought - and it was about here I remembered we had brought a junior swag, for Mini-Me Mk1....So here's me at well over 6' trying to get comfy in a swag meant for a kid who tops out at 5'. Dozed off, slept through the Saturday wakeup call and eventually pulled the swag back to reveal a very dewy, very cold RV. Dressed and went down to have a look at the tractor pull, Mini-Me wanted a choccy thickshake for breakfast, as you do, so he got that, and we went for a walk up the hill to take in the birds-eye view. Came back down and went to look at the Albatross and ran into an old mate from 173 Squadron that I hadn't seen in nearly 20 years, we both knew we'd be there as she's a local and I'd been trying to get to Raglan for years, so it wasn't a total surprise, but it wasn't explicitly planned either, so we caught up for an hour or so, Mini-Me and her kids played well together, they liked the RV and I got a heads up about the 6AM "wakeup call", so when it happened Sunday morning, I wasn't as surprised...We thought we'd top off the tanks today to allow an early getaway Sunday as we had to be home around Sunday lunchtime to drive to Newcastle that afternoon, so did a quick circuit, refuelled and headed back to our parking spot and then walked back over the northern side with the camp chairs in tow. I do like the Raglan runway though... The two smoothest landings I've done in a long time were made there, and right in front of a bunch of spectators. Though my chances of getting a hat-trick are slim indeed, I reckon... Had a look through the bikes & trucks, and then picked out a good spot for the air display before hooking into some steak burgers from the school P&C (VERY good!), then a look through the markets, dinner (Another steak burger) and dessert were had while we watched the fire twirlers & fireworks before heading back to pack up what we could and then into bed. 6AM came and went with that big-asre explosion, so up and (eventually) out of the warm swags, rolled them up and put them away, left one sleeping bag out to tuck away on top so we could pull it out on reaching cruising altitude then off for breakfast. B&E rolls from the P&C - again, quite nice - then a longish wait for a hot chocolate for Mini-Me and we headed back to depart. On the plus side, we got to see at least a dozen other fliers depart, as well as the Albatross go out and return. Wheels up around 0830 and we set course for NSW. Up to 9,500, the KLN-90 feeding the Dynon its' flightplan, GPSS & ALT modes selected on the autopilot and we settled in for the trip home, VFR-on-top for about an hour north of the border, before clearing to scattered clouds in northern NSW then thickening again around the Hunter, necessitating a steepish descent through a couple of gaps then a more gentle descent to keep Mini-Me's ears happy, even though we could have stayed high then done a rapid descent straight to the runway, with the weather camera showing CAVU skies within the 15 mines around home. Tucked the plane to bed, had lunch then into the car to go to Newcastle. Around 8.5 hours of flying, nearly 2,000km and perhaps $700 in fuel, food and drinks for what was a great weekend. The flight north, pretty much like this the entire way there. Apart from one big-arse cloud just north of Narrabri where we looked at it and went "Nope!" BYO Device, but Netflix was the order of the day. First time camping with the plane. Next time, I'll get a lightweight tent over the swags I think. The roast dinner / bar / live music area. I think they said they had around 130 planes there on the Saturday. You can see they're probably no far off! And several thousand campers tooo With many more still queueing to get in when we did our lap! I've got a Lego one just like this! The ground is down there, somewhere...Glad I have the KLN-90! Still bloody cold on the way home, but this time we had the sleeping bag around us! 😛

Good point @Yenn - I was thinking about just what OpLims the AP would have mandated. Even if it is just PVT VFR or PVT IFR that'd suit me as I can do my twin training in it and fly the family. There's no interest in charter or having her online at a school. The other thing I was thinking was whether she'd have the CAR 262 approval for "flight over built up areas", though with two type-certified engines I can't see why she wouldn't have it...

So in my ongoing search for a suitable 4-seater, I came across this a few days ago on PlaneSales... Now, VH-EBT (apart from being a 747 in years gone by) does show as "Amateur built" on the CAsA register, with (presumably) an "Experimental" CoA to go with it. Given the SAAA is pretty clear on shenanigans such as this (thou shall not do it, kinda thing) - and someone has taken CAsA to the AAT before about trying this on (and lost) can someone perhaps educate me just how this particular Aztec has been issued an Experimental-AB CoA? From what I can see online, she was originally registered in Seth Effika as ZU-BIY, so I'm guessing it was redone over there and then imported here under the category, but I'm truly at a loss as to how an AP could issue an Experimental (Amateur Built) CoA. Apart from the fuel flow (21GPH @ Econ Cruse / 155KTAS or 28L/100km compared to the RV's 10L/100km), I'm seriously interested in it, as I could maintain her myself and only require a Condition Inspection from a LAME, and she'll carry full fuel (144 USG) 4 adults, and their bags a longish way - but how many LAME's would sign off on such a bird is my question?!? And what would the chances be of "someone" in CAsA revoking the CoA and leaving you with a 5,000lb, twin engine paperweight?

Build it yourself, Experimental VH- or RAAus = Can maintain it yourself. Buy a Factory RAAus aircraft = Can maintain it yourself if not used for hire/reward Buy a second-hand RAAus aircraft = Can maintain it yourself if not used for hire/reward Buy a second-hand VH-Experimental = Must use LAME (Or original builder UNLESS you have previously built a "similar" aircraft - ie I built my RV-9A. I can sell it, and buy a second-hand RV-10, Sonex, or other metal Experimental and maintain it myself. I cannot buy a second-hand Long-Ez, Jabiru 430 or Velocity, nor anything with folding feet from memory) Buy a Factory (new or second-hand) VH-aircraft = Must use LAME Pretty sure for the avionics upgrade you mention, under RAAus because it is factory built, you ned to do the MARAP process - but I've since left RAAus so am not 100% on it. To modify a factory-built VH- aircraft you'll need a LAME to do it, either under an Engineering Order, or an STC.

My money's on space junk - but part of me wants to know just how dense that tiny bit of metal is that it punched through the roof and the ceiling and then took a chunk out of the tile floor too! Whatever it is must've been really moving!

RecFlyers: I saw on FB that Upper Hunter Council has their new Operational Plan out for public comment, which incorporates the landing (and other) fee structure for Scone Airport - Pages 323 & 324 have the airport fees... Tell you what, you wouldn't want to be going there for a weekend! ~$25 landing fee and around $75 in parking if you stayed for 48 hours with an average bug-smasher.. $100 before you've spent a dollar in town I think is pretty pi$$ poor. You might also care to note that Upper Hunter Council also provide - at no charge - 48 hours free camping for caravanners only a few minutes walk from the centre of town, complete with a dump point, for any Grey Nomads. Again, why is one lot of tourists actively supported with no-cost facilities yet others aren't? For anyone that wants to put their two bob in, either email [email protected] or go via snail-mail to: General Manager, PO Box 208, Scone NSW 2337. Here's what I'm submitting, so feel free to copy, paste and tweak it as required - but for fuxake please put something in to try to put a stop to these ongoing bloody fees. It only takes one Council to abolish landing fees for private fliers that'll in turn provide an example to others.

Ain't nothing wrong with a Prado. 😁 We had a 2020 200 Series Sahara with all the ARB gear and after a year of being thoroughly unimpressed with pretty much everything except its' torque & the traction control offroad, we pissed it off and got the KRviatrix a 2021 Prado VX. SSSoooooo much nicer to drive, is quieter, carries half the fuel of the 200 did but will go just as far, with the only downside being we lost 500Kg of towing capacity. And I can talk to the bloody infotainment system. That's something the sales rep never tells you about the 200 Series, bloody arseholes. Spend a hundred grand on a car and you can't talk to it.🤬 Though now I've been relegated to the Suzuki Swift for town runs!

@MattP I did yes, I briefly spoke to the owner a few months back, and again, he's not going to sell it for a dollar less than $100K even though the broker has listed it at $99K. No documents or logs are available to be sent electronically, they're held with the LAME, in Tocumwal, IIRC - so I called him and had an....interesting....discussion. Apparently he is quite reluctant to send any documents or really assist in anything like that as he's "been in strife" for putting people off the plane somehow. He wouldn't clarify how he's managed to do that, but shortly after that discussion I had my Covid booster and the following day wound up in hospital for 3 days and off flying for a few weeks so didn't do any more follow-ups after that. If everything checked out, it would probably be a good plane, but there's enough red flags raised so far that I've moved on now. If the broker and owner aren't going to so much as lift a finger to help a potential buyer, then go straight to the next one, IMHO. If your mate is still interested, impress on him something doesn't sit well with me about it, or she'd be in my hangar already. I can't explain what it is, but there's something there. The lack of assistance (trying to hide something maybe?), the near total lack of communication (Not really for sale?), the LAME 'getting in strife' for putting people off the plane, or just general disinterest, I dunno, but my spidey senses were tingling. By contrast, when I do find my next plane and list my RV, the attached PDF (Haven't fully finished it yet) will be online or emailed to anyone who wants it to help them decide. It doesn't take long to do up something similar, but if you want to sell your plane and are asking 6 figures or more, for fuxake put a bit of effort in. Let us know how your mate goes anyway. It's a shame as she does look in good nick from the photos, but what's in the logs, or more importantly, isn't in the logs, might tell a different story... Version 1 PDF.pdf