TAA Steve

I'm currently looking around for somewhere to get my aerobatics approval, and possibly my aerobatic training approval as well, in the Brisbane/SEQ area. Currently I'm leaning towards going with Don Mitchell at RQAC in their new Citabria but does anyone have any recommendations on places/people to do it with. I would prefer to do it in a taildragger like a Citabria or Decathlon to get my tailwheel endo at the same time. I've talked to a few places including Redcliffe Aero Club, but they don't have anyone to do them at the moment. I also know of Matt Handley at Toowoomba, who I did spinning with for my instructor rating, but would prefer to keep the travel time down a little. Cheers.

Hi all Well, thought I better check out TAA again after some time being absent and decided to reintroduce myself. I'm currently living in Brisbane, have a CPL, multi engine CIR and grade 3 instructor rating. Like most people with these credentials I'm also struggling for that first job, so if anyone wants to learn to fly in Brisbane, let me know. Last time I was here, I had a website called Aviation Downunder that I was never really happy with. I've decided to re-build it and it should be ready again soon. The main point of the website was to provide an Australian-centric information portal with information on learning to fly, airports, and the aviation scene in general as this information can be hard to find. Hopefully I'll stick around a bit longer this time and be able to contribute some thoughts to the forum. Cheers all. Steve

Hi all I'm looking at doing an instructor rating with Darling Downs Aero Club at Toowoomba. Can anyone provide any information/experiences with the school? I'm going out to have a chat with one of the instructors next week but wanted to get some wider opinions. Cheers!

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted here... (NB. I have posted this on another well known aviation forum, but thought I'd come back here as well for a wider range of opinions) I'm currently training for a multi-engine command instrument rating at Archerfield. Once I finish (around the end of the year) I'd like to continue with an instructor rating. I'm now at the point where I would like to start looking into the various schools in the area at their instructor rating courses. Before I start making some initial calls, I want to create a list of things I should be looking for in a good course. At this stage, my thoughts are: Aircraft type (therefore cost) Average time to complete course (have heard full time courses usually around 3 months) Start dates Average number of students per course Potential for job at conclusion Industry contacts the school/instructors have for future employment Potential for charter work with the school Total number of students/instructors at the school (indicator of job prospects) General vibe If anyone can add anything to this list, that would be great. The plan is to give some schools in the area a ring first to get initial information, then go and visit and talk to instructors, CFI, see the school etc. Or if anyone recommends a school, let me know (by PM if you don't want to post publically). Thanks!

Starting next Monday, December 17, we will be holding our first competition! The basic concept for the competition is to increase the knowledge base of articles available on Aviation Downunder. To enter, you must submit an article about an aspect of aviation in Australia that you feel will improve the quality of the website. One winner will receive a copy of the 2007 CASA Visual Flight Guide, containing essential visual flight rules information including pre-flight planning, operations and emergency procedures. For more information on how to enter, and the terms and conditions of entry, please go to the Competition Page. Entries close at 23:59 Eastern Standard Time (14:59 UTC) on Thursday, January 17, 2008. User ratings will be taken into consideration when determining the winner, so make sure you vote for your favourite article. Good luck! :)

Aviation Downunder - reopen Just to let everyone know, I've reopened Aviation Downunder. You will need to re-register. Please spread the word.

Hi again, I'm not sure if you are aware, I started my training with Arena Aviation at YBAF which had, regrettably, moved to YRED out of my reach and has recently closed. I moved to Hempels at Archerfield as it seemed to be a similar operation to Arena, and their Chief Pilot was an ex-arena instructor I knew well. However, as I want to continue with an instructor rating after my CPL, I don't feel it would be in my best interests to do an instructor rating with hempels and apply for a job at the end. From what I've heard, most flying schools will hire their grade 3 instructions, given their flying is up to scratch etc, so I wanted people's opinions on continuing with FTA, the only other feasible school at Archerfield, as the others are too expensive, or just not right for me. However, I went in today to ask how the CPL training is done and I just got a sense that it wasn't for me. I don't know exactly why, it just didn't feel right. This is the pickle I'm in. Can anyone confirm for me what FTA is like from inside, or recommend a course of action for me to take. I am about 1/3 through CPL, with 3 subjects complete, no CSU or NVFR yet and about 120 total with 40 command. This is one of the hardest periods I've had so far, and I'm rapidly loosing motivation to fly, which I really don't want. I hope you've understood my ramblings here, I just really need some advice from someone not affiliated with the school, and not on Pprune. If you feel you shouldn't post opinions on the forum, you can get me on msn messenger at eskimo887(at)hotmail(dot)com. I'm on most of the day to about 9pm EST. Thanks all in advance. Steve

Come on guys, everyone knows there's three methods to a perfect landing everytime... It's just no one knows exactly what they are. :P

I don't know. I was going to let it cool off and perhaps move to a different CMS with hopefully more security features. It wasn't spam, but it was turning into PPrune, which I said to myself wasn't going to happen to my site. People were posing as admins and mods and I've no idea what the TOP GUN guy's deal was. It will re-open eventually, 1-2 weeks but I won't announce it, just keep checking. I think announcing it to a certain forum is what did it.

Just to let you know, the site is now closed until further notice. Reason....the dickheads that sign up and (admin edit to remove swearing) around on the forum.

After months of planning and weeks of writing, I am please to annouce that Aviation Downunder is now officially open. Aviation Downunder hopes to provide pilots learning to fly in Australia a place to find the information that is often buried under mounds of legislation and 20 links deep on government web sites. We aim to make finding answers to the commonly asked questions easy and make the tough choices of where to fly and with who a bit less complicated. You do not need to be an Australian pilot to benefit from the advice given in the articles and provision will be made to extend the borders of the site in due course. So, goto http://www.aviationdownunder.net and see for yourself. Aviation Downunder, Your Site for Australian Aviation Information.

It all depends on you really. Most are just remembering and regurgiating facts, like Human Factors, Air Law, Meteorology, AGK, and aerodynamics. Op performance, navigation and operational met require some thought and calculations. From what I've heard, performance is the hardest, as you have to be spot on in the P-Charts and calculations (I haven't done it yet), and Nav was (for me) the easiest so far as most of it is what you do trying a navex anyway, like 1-in-60s, ground speed checks etc. What I did was start with what I was interested in (met) and work through in order of what I feel would help my flying (nav, air law and now aerodynamics).

YBAF

I'll still be using one of those though, I can tell you. :P

Hi everyone, I am in very very early, as in just thinking about, planning a flight from Brisbane to Alice Springs and Uluru, possibly not until Spring 2008. As a fairly green PPL (CPL by the time I get around to this flight in all probability), I have yet to do a flight of this magnitude and so I'm looking for people's ideas and experiences for routes, times of the year to depart, and any other hints that may be worthwhile. Cheers all Steve