flyinghigh

RA-Aus aircraft are permitted to enter controlled airspace so long as conditions in CAO 95.55 (paragraph 5.2) are met - see http://www.auf.asn.au/operations/9555.pdf ; same applies to GAAP/Class D aerodromes. Read the document, and all relevant referenced documents for clarification.

Hey CK, that's great news. I'm one of Glenn's instructors, and it'll be great to have a new, young, face around the hangars. Oh, and the planes REALLY need a wash :-)

I would suggest ground, but the procedure may vary per location: if it's the wrong frequency, they'll tell you ;-) The visual pilot guides for the major GAAP aerodromes may spell it out: see Civil Aviation Safety Authority - Visual Pilot Guides

"<LOCATION> tower, <CALLSIGN> request start approval for circuits"

First off, give your wife a big CONGRATULATIONS from me. We don't know each other, but in my mind, anyone who passes any exam deserves a congratulations for the efforts made. Don't read to much into the 'KDR'. A 'KDR' is issued for the questions that were answered incorrectly. You take the 'KDR' back to your school, sit down with a suitable instructor, and revise the areas that you were 'deficient' in. The instructor will ask a few questions to determine how deficient your knowledge actually is (i.e. did you just make a mistake in interpreting the question, or do you really have a hole in your knowledge), and will take steps to rectify. My experience was that this was pretty simple, took maybe an hour of discussion for the questions I had wrong on my PPL. CASA (and your school) just want to ensure that you do understand what the subject is all about. To me, this is way better than "well done, you received 85%, see you later". As an instructor, I follow the same process in RAAus when students sit a test. Start with 'well done, you passed'. Then go through the questions answered incorrectly and discuss/understand why the student gave the wrong answer, filling knowledge gaps as required.

Hi Tomo, will be interested to hear about what you see if you get there next week. Am flying from W.A. to Bundy in a J230 leaving Mon 15th March, and had planned Bourke -> St George -> Bundy. Wondering if we might need to divert south to avoid areas if the airfield is damaged &/ fuel supplies are contaminated (naturally, will be calling ahead and choosing alternate route if that's the case).

Temora is not a security controlled airport, so does not require an ASIC: ERSA (current) ERSA (Mar 11, 2010) RAAus Website

Doesn't take much to "swap hands". Took me around 6hrs total going from GA to RA (Jabiru), and most of that was getting the landings sorted. I now instruct in Jabiru's, sitting on the right side, and the transition for controls wasn't hard (the different view from the right hand seat however took some time to get used to!)

Up to 100hrs in RAAus aircraft can be credited towards a (200-hr) CPL. See http://www.sportaviationacademy.com/PDF/CivilAviationRegulation5115.pdf for details. Suggest you cross-check the regs to confirm.

Heaps of good advice given already. I started out with a PPL, training in C152, DA20 and C172. A couple of years later, I joined RAA and did my transition training in a J160. I reckon I learnt to fly then! For ease of learning, the C172 is an easy winner. It's easier to land, it's way more forgiving during training, and it handles the bumps of the hot days a lot better. If you want to train as quickly as possible, and money is no object, go down that path. But, if you want to save a few $$$, go RAA through to Pilot Certificate level at the very least (GA "GFPT" equivalent). If at a flying school that offers RAA and GA, then their training program should make the transition to PPL extremely easy. No matter what you choose, enjoy your flying :-)

'tis often the case with flying (training or otherwise), some days it just doesn't work out (weather, mechanical or otherwise). Well done for persisting, and glad to hear that you enjoyed it!

Assuming you have a XC endorsement with RAAus, then do attain PPL standard you'll need to obtain a Class II aviation medical obtain an ARN (aviation reference number) / student pilot license obtain an ASIC (if you're flying from a "security" airport like Moorabbin or Jandakot) do a conversion into a GA aircraft - could be as little as a couple of hours do a minimum two hours IFR flight a couple of Nav flights covering controlled airspace (assuming you want a CTA endorsement) pass the PPL theory exam pass the PPL flight test RVAC have a nice chart here that outlines how RAAus and GA training inter-relate. The reason you won't get straight answers from a lot of people is that the training requirement varies depending on your skills and background, and on the "willingness" of GA schools to accept your previous training. The CFI of a school (GA or RAAus) is required to ensure you cover the full training syllabus: there are GA schools out there that may not want to help you down this path. So, before approaching GA schools, I'd recommend that you ask your RAAus school to provide a letter outlining your training and certify your logbook hours. I think a reasonable cost to budget would be min 10 hours flight time @ $300/hr, plus medical (allow at least $150) plus ASIC ($150?). Have a search through these forums too, as I'm pretty sure you'll find a post or two on this topic.

Tomo, You mentioned that it does change the date/time when you use this method, just not to what you are expecting. Have you tried working through a few iterations, i.e. time was: xx set card with data: yy restart, time is now: zz do it again,: set card with data: aa restart, time is now: bb post your results after doing this a couple of times. Someone here might be able to see what's happening and suggest an answer?

Any chance that it's expecting the TAG.TXT format in US date format (mm/dd/yy) rather than what we normally use (dd/mm/yy)? Looks like the manufacturer is nGear in Canada, you could try sending an email asking for assistance to [email protected]

The bare minimums are spelt out in section 2.0.7 of Operations Manual. See section 2B, under Aeronautical Experience. Your training and time spent in GA aircraft will count towards the recreational license minimums of 20 hours and five hours solo, but you will need a minimum five hours conversion training including one hour solo in an RAAus aircraft. It will be up to the CFI of the RAAus training facility to assess your skills and knowledge, meaning that the five hours is a bare minimum and you may require further time. If approaching an RAAus school, bring along your logbook and any training records that your GA school are prepared to release. This will assist the CFI in ensuring you have covered the full syllabus. Oh, and you'll need to join RAAus.

Hi SlipperyDipper, welcome to the forums! The posts above have already answered these questions in the general sense. One thing I would strongly advise is to ask the same questions directly of your chosen flying school. If they cannot or will-not sit down with you to help you calculate this in advance, then look for another school. Also, spend some time browsing these forums and reading the information on the Recreational Aviation website: the more prepared you are before starting lessons the better! The cost of a license is related to the time taken. This differs for all people, based on a number of factors including: ability - some people "get it" straight away, others take longer, age - the younger you start flying, the quicker you tend to learn. Broadly speaking, where an 18 year old might obtain a license in 25 hours, a 45 year old might take 35. frequency of lessons - fly every day, you'll obtain your license rapidly. Fly once a fortnight, or with large gaps between flights, expect to spend a lot of time and money going over earlier lessons aircraft - some aircraft are just "simpler" to fly, so you get to solo standard more raplidly. You mentioned Jabiru - they are not the easiest aircraft to achieve solo in, BUT they will teach you invaluable skills that won't need to be re-learnt if you move to a more advanced aircraft type

Kelmac Aviation in Geraldton offer training in a Tecnam. They are also the WA dealer for Tecnam so might be able to assist in locating someone closer to Perth.

It has allowed Jabiru to make some improvements to the J160 (i.e. soft-linkage steering), and offer options like the Sensenich prop and external charger connection. These improvements could not have been offered without re-certification. All factory J160C models have identical specs (airframe/controls/engine/prop) per the original certification, and you cannot change prop types or make modifications to these models (well, not easily at least). That's my understanding ... but I'm sure there are further technical or certification reasons for this too.

Congrats! Nothing like your first solo, you'll remember it forever.

Was wondering if anyone has modified a Jabiru to enable a paraplegic (or person with limited leg strength) to control rudder by hand, on an aircraft with console-mounted throttle. I've seen designs to suit Jabiru with seat-mounted throttle, along with mods that work on GA trainers (see Wheelies With Wings), but nothing for current factory Jabiru aircraft.

Helicopter water bomber in action in Butler, Western Australia. Watch Now!

I'm a huge fan of Booko: Compare book & DVD prices in Australia with Booko when looking for new books. A search on that site shows that Stick & Rudder can be bought for a little under $26, including shipping, from bookdepository.co.uk (I have no affiliation with either site).

Being outside radar coverage doesn't mean that you won't be detected squaking 7700 - large commercial aircraft carry TCAS equipment and if overhead may detect your signal and relay it to CENSAR. Aviate, navigate, communicate: don't set your transponder if you don't have enough time first to ensure the safest possible landing, activate your EPIRB, and send a mayday call. But NEVER think to yourself, "oh, I'll be fine, that paddock looks safe enough and I'll just look like an idiot if I send a mayday / squak 7700 / activate EPIRB". Accidents happen landing in paddocks, and it could be YOU spending the night on the ground with broken bones, in pain, way off course, waiting for help to come your way. The first thing CENSAR are going to ask when you call them safely on the ground is "Are you ok? Thank goodness, we're so glad to hear that". They will not judge you for taking the steps to ensure YOUR safety. And if you don't know who CENSAR are, please take the time to find out and program the number into your mobile - their job is 100% to look out for your safety. If it's been a while since you last practiced forced landings, give it some thought and take the time to at least rehearse your procedures: you don't want to be in the situation where the engine stops (or goes bang) and you can't remember your checks and procedures. Having the process memorized and rehearsed could very well save your life.

Great observations and writeup Steven. I did my initial training in GA, going through C152, PA-28, DA-20 and C172. Each was a little different, but the DA-20 being a brand new aircraft really took some getting used to (responsive controls, stick between the legs, modern engine). I can see why so many schools just use the C152 and C172 - it really is a breeze to go from one to another. When I came to RAAus, the J160 was my introduction. I too felt like I'd never flown before. Lots of rudder, lots of power management, lots of trimming. But man, it sure makes you learn how to use all of your controls - and I promise that if you can fly the J160 well, you'll fly just about anything well! I now instruct in the 160 & 230, and so find myself in the right hand seat observing exactly what you experienced in that flight. Don't worry - it'll take a few laps of the circuit but it will come to you. You will need LOTS of rudder during takeoff roll and climb. The only time you can really relax use of that rudder is in S&L flight with cruise power settings (assuming the aircraft has been been refined with a manual trim tab attachment on the rudder - if not, your experience may differ). In terms of reducing power in the circuit, it can be a challenge - the Jabiru's are slippery little buggers - it's just a matter of making sure you get CH heat on and reduce the power adjacent to the threshold, and keep that nose on the horizon! We recently tried adjusting the circuit to wait until the turn onto base to reduce power - it's very effective as by the time the turn is done, you're in the white arc. But, you really need to be ahead of the aircraft and be flying accurately, or you'll find yourself turning final too high. Regards the touchdown, I personally would suggest keeping some power on all the way down to rear wheels on the ground - not a lot, maybe 1400RPM or so (set by speed, not RPM). You'll find the aircraft easier to manage that way - and if you cut the power too high (more than 5'), and don't lower the nose a suitable amount, control effectiveness will be lost, you may float and you'll probably bounce the aircraft off the tarmac. Of course, all advice above is worth what you paid for it, and if it differs from what you're being taught, discuss it with your instructor first. Welcome to the Jabiru fraternity - we're not fancy, but we're cheap (and fun, and strong, and aussie made!)

Photos from Saturday and Sunday.