Deskpilot

Too bloody right

Tony, indeed a brilliant post.

In years to come, our current plastic fantastics will still be filling the skies, Thursters, Drifter and the like will be things of the past. As in the GA experience, there will be people within RA-Aus, or it's replacment association, that will have a sence of history and will want to see these early machines, flying or not. Sooner or later, someone will come up with the idea of building replicas Aka Wright bro's Flyer. If we still have these early machines, we should make sure they are cherished and kept as original as possible. Perhaps RA-Aus should start concidering a permanent home for them, particularly the home designed and built ones (Australian, that is). Also bear in mind that many people gave their lives to get our pastime of the ground.

Cheers and good luck with your efforts. Doug

I'm proud of the fact that at age 62 I learnt to fly and therefore I'm willing to 'discuss' my hobby with anyone. Who brings the subject up? Usually it's in conjuction with other subjects where I use it as a comparision. Of coarse, when there's been an accident, the safety issue comes to the fore and the 'misinformed' start shouting the odds. I particularly get mad with the media who still insist on referring to our planes as 'ultralights' for the sake of senstionalism. Education is my aim and should be for all pilots. As to those who believe that if God intended us to fly, he'd have given us wings, there are several answers. Don't knock it untill you've tried it, or God intended us to evolve and move on, not stay rooted and die out, or do you swim? we were not designed to enter the realm of water either, and so on. I'm happy to say that when asked if they'd like to try it, they usually say yes. What I don't tell them is how small a Jabiru is and when we've travelled 1 hour to the airfield, it's too late to back out. Cheers and safe flying, Doug

Thanks Guys, older but not neccessarily wiser.

Adcom, sorry, but didn't know your father. Butterworth is on the Malay peninsular. I only got to Singapore with the British airforce.

Cheers Darren

Hi Guys/gals and in-betweens :big_grin:, as many of you have given your career history istead of just your current occupation, I'll follow suit with mine.

Having failed a marine radio course at college, morse code sent me nuts, I joked with my father that I'd join the RAF. Next day he had me in the recruitment office and I joined up to be an airborn radar mech. After 1 year on the fabulous Blackburn Beverly (look it up) with 47Sqdn, did a tech course for E.E. Lightnings and finished a 15 year stint servicing their attack radars and later, their entire navigation instument and auto stab/pilot systems. Served with 19, 23 and 74 Sqdn in UK and Singapore. Also handled Meteors, Venoms, Hunters, Javelins, Spitfires, Hurricans and Lancaster of the B.o.B. Historic Flight, the occassional Harrier and various overseas visitors, particular Tiger Sqdns. Met Douglas Bader and took an instant dislike to him, very up himself. However, I digress. In civilian life I got involved in quality control, initially in the electronic world with Gilbarco's where we designed and built the first electronic petrol bowsers, then later turned to the mechanical side of things. Emigrated in '82 and got involved with the auto industry. My final 20 years of employment were with Tenneco Walker, exhaust systems, where I became their Metrologist (not Meterologist) working on prototype systems and tooling. Been retired for 6 months although today is my 65th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME :):):) Want to build my own plane but the other half has other ideas so will be content to fly a Jabiru out of Murray Bridge here in good ol' S.A. Cheers and all the best for this new year to you all.

G'day one and all, Thought you might like a bit off background 'noise' to any posts I might make in the future. I chose the handle of Deskpilot some years ago when the only thing I flew was a fightsim.Since then I have joined the Aldinga Aero Club as a backseat pilot, and after two seasons of shark patrols along the metro beaches, Sellicks to Outer Harbour(check your maps), I finally got fed up with being in the rear of 172's and decided to get my RAAus license. Got 50 odd hour up now and only need to complete my Xcountry. Sorta got used to the user name so I've stuck with it. BTW, my interest in flying started waaaay back in '59 when I joined the RAF as an airbourne radar technician. Worked on Blackburn Beverley's for a year then retrained for E.E. Lightnings. Also worked on Hastings, Javelins, Hunters, Meteors, Vampires, Spitfires and Hurricans (polishing only). I currently fly Jabirus out of Recreational Pilots Academy at Murray Bridge, and will be going for a taildragger endorsment soon as, probably in a Lightwing. I retire later this year and hope to spend a couple of years building my own plane. I've taken the first step towards this goal by down sizing to a home with no lawn, too time consuming, but with a bloody big shed, well, big enough. Now all I have to do is to coerse my other half to lend me some money.Hmmmmmmm.Actually, she encourages me to fly, which sometimes worries me. What's she after! :big_grin: So far she's refused to fly with me so I've been able to take a few youger ladies up with me and have had some very interesting moments, but that's another story ;). Time to close the hanger doors, so safe flying, D.