KRviator

I built a spreadsheet a couple months ago to price up what it would cost to replace my RV-9. Depending on the exchange rate, you'd be looking at very close to $250,000AUD. And that's not an extravagantly-equipped RV, either. There's no GTN750, no leather interior, no CS prop...Add those in and you're over the $300K mark in the blink of an eye. Then there's the 18+ month lead time for a QB kit, and the assembly time to boot. Most used RV's are actually quite reasonably priced all things considered.

Sadly, they are. I've noticed a trend of RV's being advertised fairly high and then dropped over the course of a month or two, but most spam-cans do seem to be advertised at those high prices before being removed. Though there's several that haven't sold since they were advertised at stupidly high prices by brokers, too....

The other alternative - if you are use it routinely - is to get rid of the cylinder and use an oxygen concentrator like the Inogen G-series. Kitplanes did a writeup on their early ones in 2010 and I've been thinking about it for the RV. You can pick up a G3 for well under $2K on Gumtree. They are mostly single-place units though, so it depends on your intended use. OVer time it'll be cheaper and less hassle than refilling cylinders - cheap as that may be - but you'll need 2 if you plan on flying high with a Coey repeatedly.

Have a look at the PPRune thread discussing Autism and flying! If you even think there's a chance you or a relo could be diagnosed, don't tell CAsA anything! Those cretins (CAsA, not 'prune) came up with an Instructors form for them to fill out for their Autistic students that included a comment "May not sit still in class - hopefully does not get out of seat in flight!" - I shit you not. I know a train driver that was diagnosed with it as an adult - the Company suspended his Safeworking qualifications for months and put him through the wringer just to prove he could do the job he'd been doing for the last (think it was about...) 11 years by that point. He reckons he had to go see the Company Doc in Perth and as part of it she ordered him to remember 5 words at the start of the interview and repeat them back to her at the end. He got 1 out of 5 and she tried to ridicule him for doing so, "I told you you had to remember those 5 words, don't you think that's a serious problem?!?" and so on. He cut her down by responding something like "Nope, not at all. 5 meaningless words in an interrogation to determine if I can do the job I've been doing for 10 years are irrelevant. But I can mentally calculate how many tonnes of force I'm putting into the leading coupler based on traction horsepower, can tell you every gradient, signal and asset protection device across 1000km of track and describe the actions to be taken on any issue I encounter uptrack. For anything important, I put it in my phone, or utilise the clearance books provided by the company for precisely that purpose..." From what he says, she wasn't overly impressed, but signed him off anyway.

The SAAA booted Peter Leonard out for reasons undisclosed.

Got this in my email tonight and as I've not heard anything about goings-on it made me wonder just what you have to do to be expelled from the SAAA - particularly as Peter was awarded life membership a couple years ago...Peter was one of the trainers at my MPC a few years ago, and beyond his correspondence when he was up for election to the SAAA executive, I've not heard from him since, nor anything bad about him. "Very serious" breaches brings a lot of possibilities to mind, and I for one, would have thought it would put an end to speculation if the SAAA executive laid out exactly what he was found guilty of, that is so serious.

1:4 is a fairly steep driveway, if you're going to winch your plane up by the NLG alone, consider whether you're potentially overstressing the attachment structure and you may be better to run a bridle cable across both MLG's. Just a thought. The builder & PO of my hangar flew a 185 and installed an electric hoist that he dynabolted to the floor and spliced in 30m or so of orange multi-core cable to run the up/down buttons to get it in via the tailwheel. I don't use it as I taxi it in nose-first and am thinking about repurposing it to pull the caravan in beside the RV. Whatever you use, make sure it has an in-built brake that can hold your Vixxen, let it bugger off down the driveway without you. Most will, but just make sure.

Thanks muchly @RossK - saves me delving into the books again . But you've highlighted something I'd overlooked, the "Screened air service" bit. So if QuaintArse fly their Q400's in there, they're big enough to need screening, but if they only fly their Diminutive Dash's or Rex with Saab's which don't carry enough SLF to require screening - 40 pax is the magic number you're golden. So Broken Hill is ok, but Tamworth is not. But it is still useful to bear in mind should some security zealot try it on for anyone in their Jab or Jodel who is simply passing through on a Sunday arvo. I've tried to find a list of airport tiers and failed. I do recall a bit of discussion a little while ago in the rural papers about Miles (I think) trying to downgrade their screening to avoid paying extra. The other interesting tidbit there is the punishment a mere 5 penalty units. Each Penalty Unit is $275 now, if I've read it right, so you only have to be asked for your ASIC every 6 years, be unable to produce it, be arrested and prosecuted for failing to display your ASIC and you're ahead financially.

MY reading of "the roolz" is you do not need an ASIC unless you are arriving at a Security Controlled Airport during the Traffic Period - which is 2 hours before ETA to 2 hours after ATD of the RPT, IIRC. Could be wrong about those times, but that's the gist of it. No RPT scheduled today? No ASIC required today. RPT in the evening and you're there in the morning? No ASIC required. Of course, you could always say you dropped it at the bowser at your last refuelling stop, too, should anyone ask. What are they gonna do? Perform a Citizen's Arrest?

A quick clarification, the CASR's / CAR's / MOS / Whatever-the-****-CASA-calls-them-this-week do not require the carriage of WAC's - or any specific chart for a flight - only carriage of such charts that ensure you won't get lost. That's my understanding anyway. They recommend that if you're using an EFB that you have a backup, but (for PVT ops) do not mandate what that backup should be in terms of size etc. Personally, I use the Dynon as primary, the iPad as backup and the phone as the backup's backup. I don't completely agree with you OME as regards needing to navigate "old school" with paper charts and whiz wheel, however any aviator must be able to mentally calculate roughly where they are and where they need to point and for how long, with a reasonable degree of accuracy when flying visually to get where they need to go before they run out of fuel. Any new pilot needs to be taught the fundamentals of navigation before being taken on their first XC. Drift angles, ETA's and, as Bob Tait says using the clock, are the building blocks before you begin putting them together to actually go somewhere and trying to learn navigation while navigating. That doesn't work for new pilots. It's like trying to dink from a firehose. I don't expect, nor could I myself confidently say "I am 3NM SE of Upper Bumphuck Homestead and I'll be overhead in 60 seconds" mid-leg if my EFIS failed. I don't plan my flights like that, nor do I believe such tight tolerances are necessary for all but 0.005% of our flying. Typically, I'll plan the flight the night before on SkyVector, update it on the morning of departure on the iPad, Wi-fi it to the Dynon and follow along on the moving map display with the autopilot engaged and me watching the world pass by. There's 4 independent GNSS/GPS receivers on board my RV, one of which is a TSO'd unit the AIP allows for RNAV position-fixing (and extended VFR-on-top if needed), but even if they all failed, I could still say "Well, we're 40 minutes into a 60 minute leg, I'm going to change from NAV to HDG on the Autopilot, not touch anything else and I reckon in about 15 minutes I'll be able to see the next airport/town/feature and in 20 mins I'll be overhead, so I'll turn by X degrees onto the next leg and repeat the process there." For me - and most other fliers behind EFIS' with the OzR / AvP charts loaded - to lose all navigation data you would have to have a total electrical failure (losing my TSO'd GNSS), followed up remaining airborne long enough to deplete your EFIS backup batteries (thereby losing my Dynon GNSS & both screens with their displayed charts) - then staying airborne long enough to run your iPad battery flat, and continuing to stay airborne long enough to run my phone battery flat. By that time, I'm 6 hours beyond my endurance and probably 7 hours past my passengers "I need to land to pee" time.

The list of VFR (and IFR) Waypoints is found in the ERSA. Most appear on the relevant visual charts, but not all (I shouldn't have generalised and said "they're all on the charts..." in my previous post, there's always exceptions when dealing with CAsA / ASA!). This is Navigation 101 and your instructor should be showing you not only how to navigate, but where to navigate to! As well as the references to use both during planning and in flight. Sounds like they're short-changing you on the theory component somewhat - but at least you're asking questions here. As I said above though, if you want to know what waypoints are available for your flight, you can download the list from the DAH into Excel, massage the Coordinates into Decimal and export it to a CSV. From there, upload it into Google Earth and you can pre-plan your flight with reference to VFR or IFR waypoints or just have a look at what's in your local area. I routinely use IFR waypoints in XC flying VFR as it makes it easier for Center as that's what most other traffic they're used to handling is using. If you want to get realllly fancy, do it as a VLOOKUP and add some Trigonometry and you can plan your flight in Excel, right down to printing your NavLog & FuelLogs.

Victor 65 is described in the YPPH ERSA, same as the Sydney Harbour Scenic's are so described in the YSSY ERSA entry. For YPPH V65 the route is CTE-PCTY-HKE, which translates to the VFR waypoints of Cottesloe-Perth City-Herdsman Lake and is what you would put in your ASA Flight Notification if that's your intent. For a Harbour Scenic, you'd plan via Long Reef. There's a lot more info and knowledge required than just what you see on a chart...

Depth of field almost makes it look like a toy plane there. Even more so than usual for a Jabiru...

They're all on the VTC's & VNC's you can download from ASA so you can see if they'll be aligned with your route. If you're really keen you can copy them from the DAH into Excel, export the file as a CSV, then upload that into Google Maps or your favourite EFIS. I did that for the Dynon & Garmin EFIS' several years ago before you could purchase Australian databases for them.

I guess the big question is "What's your route length?" - the reason for asking is, for anything less than 10mins or so at 8,500 or 9,500, I will climb as high as I can and stay there as long as I can. That being so, overflying airports is not as risky as doing so at lower altitudes and I routinely overfly enroute airports at high altitude. Doing so is beneficial in that you both have good glide options, , better VHF & ADS-B coverage, ATC knows exactly where you're aiming for (instead of a random dam or HV powerline intersection on the VTC - and assuming you actually have a plan in the system...) and barring any traffic inbound to those airports, there's little to no conflicting traffic. So if you're going a fair way, go high and go over airports if they won't take you too far out of your way. If you have to stay low, for cloud or CTA, then planning around airfields is sensible to avoid traffic, so long as you still have a decent forced landing option within glide range.

@planesmakerA bit of a delayed post but where did you rustle up the engine mount for your Jab, Tom? Off the shelf from South Africa or the US or custom done here?

Scone has a new residential estate going in on the south side of the airport, with 2 or 4 (depending if they sell all or part upfront) of the blocks going to back on to the airport fenceline - you can see the earthworks in the weathercam image below (it's actually facing West, not SE, ignore the overlay). No prices are available yet, but I wouldn't mind buying either or both as an investment! Council is receptive to adjoining residents having through-the-fence access to the airport for a reasonable annual fee. I know the family who put this camera up and they have the right idea! MCG-KURRAJONG-FIELDS-MASTER-A4-130722[1].pdf

Gonna be one hell of a logbook entry!

It's interesting to note the following commentary on Bigrigs.com.au Note that there's no mention of the third tyre, eh? Having three tyres fail in the 120km from Goondiwindi (Southbound) or 20km from Gurley (Northbound) is beyond unlucky - and I call bullshit. But that also implies there's no truck bays between Goondi & Moree, and I'm sure there's at least two from the last time I drove that section...But anyway speaking of luck, there's also this pearler You're in control of a what? 50-tonne B-double. You don't have the luxury of trusting in "luck" to operate safely. I'm privileged enough to operate some of the biggest trains on the planet but I don't rely on 'luck' to make sure I stop at a red signal or pull a coupler in half trying to lift the train from a standing start. I'm getting the brakes on early, or I'm mentally calculating the coupler forces based on traction HP & speed. I'm not relying on luck to do my job safely...🤬 Me getting lucky is making a smooth landing when there's someone watching...

Except the Bo and Baron don't have hydraulics in the gear system. It was a worm-drive motor turning a sector gear in turn linked by pushrods to the gear assemblies themselves. It's about as bulletproof an electro-mechanical system as you can get, in part for that reason, there's no hydraulics involved...

Fast forward 12 months and HO Notams are going to be filled with the following:

I can somewhat relate to @Bosi72 and the 'cruiser sale. I brought a new Cruiser in 2020, decked it out, drove it for a year and promptly sold it after being thoroughly unimpressed with pretty much everything about it, except its' performance off-road. Didn't make a killing, but we did break even on it. Put the $$ on the mortgage and used the balance to buy the KRviatrix a new Prado, and that's a keeper... From what I've seen with these aircraft listings, there's little-to-no improvements in any panels or maintenance, with the exception of the Commander - that has had ADS-B fitted between sales so I can understand the $$ difference there. The Comanche's have had nothing done from what I can see. I just can't get my head around buying something so expensive before finding it doesn't suit your mission.

So I'm still actively hunting for a decent family 4-seater, and in my time I've noticed several aircraft that have been purchased, and then 6 months, maybe 12 months later, are re-advertised for from their new owners... VH-PJO, a Rockwell Commander is one, now sold 4 times in 24 months, VH-PKZ, a Comanche 260 is another, she was sold last year and has now popped up again, and also in the Comanche lineup is Howard Reiss' beautiful Twinkie, that was sold for $160,000 at the beginning of this year, and is now for sale again, initially listed for $175K (PLUS GST!) and has now been dropped to $160K - still plus GST though! Is it the interest rate rises, or are people buying these and finding they're a lot more work than they first thought? In -HPR's case, she looks well cared for, but desperately needs a diet, but for a few others, I'm genuinely curious as to why someone would buy a well-over-6-figure airplane, and then sell it again less than a year later. Any suggestions?

I'd rather keep living beside the Council airport and let those buggers maintain it! Looks like that runway needs resurfacing too, so that won't be a cheap endeavour if you want to do it right!

All fun and games until BN CTR replies to your calls of "Brisbane Center, Good morning, RV Eighty-Five Nineteen" with "ARMY Eighty Five Nineteen Good morning Center?" After the umpteenth time of that I resorted to using Romeo 85-19 as that's what they saw on TAAATS from my ADS-B squawk. Not strictly in compliance with the AIP true, but after spending several years in Army Aviation, I know they used callsigns prefixed with Army. Army 16, 24 and 26 for their Kingairs for example... Of course, now the RV's VH- it's not a problem, but something to be aware of for other RAAus RVators out there if you want to routinely talk to ATC.