flyinghigh

What a weekend! Just got back to Perth after enjoying the fantastic airshow on Saturday and display on Sunday. Saw the Thunderbirds practicing on Friday, and it wasn't looking great with all the smoke and dust in the air (couldn't see them above about 3000'), but thank goodness it cleared enough for an amazing display on Saturday. Can't pick a single "best in show" moment - the Thunderbirds were awesome, especially the "low and slow" pass by a single F-16. The Hornet was probably the show stealer, such amazing maneuverability (and it was just an "A/B" model, can't wait to see our own supers!) The skydivers were, well, put simply, quite mad - if I approached my landings like that, I don't reckon I'd be walking away!! Probably my highlight for the weekend was watching the Roulettes landing on Friday afternoon. Had a great vantage point at my old man's business just off the end of the runway - the Roulettes approached the runway in formation, then over the threshold peeled off to the left one by one for a 360 degree turn to land - each one making the turn just that little bit wider/longer to come in one after the other. Beautiful. Sunday, wow! What amazing access to our Aussie aircraft and the Thunderbirds. Pilots, maintainers and crew were all out sharing their enthusiasm of flying. The new MRH90 helicopters were something to behold. And it was just so casual - no overwhelming security ... plenty of people in thongs and tshirts. While the aircraft were very spreadout (Thunderbirds and Roulettes on one side of the runway, everything else on the other), it was a good way of keeping the crowds thinned. And well done to our guys for showing off our sport and your aircraft. The crowds certainly were having a good look throughout the day :-) Photos to follow ...

I've sat down many-a-time to work out the running costs of aircraft ownership in an attempt to justify owning an aircraft; yet to be convinced that it's worthwhile unless you do at least 200 hours a year (or cannot get relatively easy access to hire an a/c). I figure a 100-hourly on a (reasonably good) RAA aircraft is going to set you back around $1000, and on a GA aircraft about $2000 - these aren't based on any personal experience but just from talking around the traps with aircraft-owning friends (best case situation, halve these numbers, but average out some "good" 100-hourly's with some bad to get these numbers). Parking for your steed will cost anywhere from $100/month in the sticks, to $1000/month undercover at some of the bigger GA airfields. There's a heap of variation, so pretty hard to give you a fixed number. You should also take into consideration interest costs (unless you're fortunate enough to own outright), depreciation (10% a year?), insurance ($3000/yr +), and engine overhaul costs (figure around $10/hr on jab/rotax, $15/hr on a lyc/continental engine). Putting all this together, I came up with a comparison on a C172 advertised for $70k (with 1000 HTR on the engine) vs a new J230 at $95k: (sorry about the formatting, couldn't get it to tabulate properly): C172 J230 Cost $70,400 $95,000 Interest 5.19% Fuel $1.80 $1.40 (avgas vs. bp ultimate 98) HTR on Engine 1,000 1,500 Engine Cost $18,000 $12,000 Fixed Interest $3,654 $4,931 Hangarage $2,000 $2,000 Insurance $5,000 $3,500 Depreciate $7,040 $9,500 $17,694 $19,931 Variable/hour Fuel $68.40 $35.00 Engine 18 8 100 hourly 20 10 $106 $53 Now look at that on an hourly basis overall: Hours/year 100 150 200 250 C172 per hour $283 $224 $195 $177 annual $28,334 $33,654 $38,974 $44,294 J230 per hour $252 $186 $153 $133 annual $25,231 $27,881 $30,531 $33,181 I can hire a C172 at $200/hr and a J230 at $145. Which means I need to fly 200-250/hrs a year to justify owning an aircraft. Or, bigger picture, spend $35-45k/year on flying. Put into these terms, I pick hire over ownership ... But, and many will agree, owning your own aircraft is something special :-)

WebTrak If you want to find details of aircraft movement into major Australian airports, take a look at the Airservices Australia "WebTrak" site. You can watch 40-min delay feeds, and view aircraft movements going back 14 days. Very cool to watch YSSY during peak times (such as 7am weekday mornings) sped-up to 10x. Aircraft coming from everywhere!

Thanks all for the advice and offers. Still in the" thinking about it" stage ... if the trip turns into reality, will be in touch :-)

A seed has been planted, and I'm thinking of a trip to Lake Eyre, from Perth, mid to late July, in a J230. For those of you who've done the trip (or are local), what route would you plan from Forrest (no HF radio, so I'd want to keep close to civilization!), and where's the best place to base myself for Lake Eyre (William Creek?) Have had a bit of a read on the Woomera Restricted Airspace (don't have the appropriate WAC to hand as yet). If it were active at the time, is it reasonably easy to get authorisation to transit (either to follow the railway north from Tarcoola, or the road from Woomera) up to Coober Pedy, and then across to Williams Creek? Cheers Alexis.

See the club webpage at Sport Aircraft Builders Club - SABC - there is mention that training at that airfield is for members only. The membership process is detailed here

Personally, I'd go J160 for initial training through to solo. Consider the J230 once you start doing nav exercises. I obtained my PPL flying C152/C172s - I learnt to fly properly in a J160 - the latter teaches you real stick and rudder skills.