timothyb

Great info. Thanks and marked as informative. 

Aircorps Aviation Library at https://aircorpslibrary.com/

I've been looking over various plans and images of plans on the 'Net (Google Images has all sorts of interesting tidbits, but a lot from model aircraft). Obviously any older plans or US-originating plans are going to be in inches & feet rather than mm/cm/m. If you need to source spruce (or say Qld hoop), or metal tubing and the plans all call for 1", 1.5", 2", 2.25:" etc. etc, do you buy and cut wood down to plan specified size or just oversize when it comes to metal? Even the EAA table is all specced in inches and feet - http://www.eaa1000.av.org/technicl/worktabl/tablefig.htm

For those interested in looking at plans, I've also discovered the Aircorps Aviation Library which has some free images of WW2-era plans.

Tim

Flying around the South Island Takitimu Range in NZ

[GALLERY=media, 3747]20150622-_DSC5524 by timothyb posted Aug 19, 2016 at 5:32 PM[/GALLERY]

So sorry to hear this. I bumped into him a number of times over the past few years in Townsville, the first meeting teed up via this very website. He had some great stories of his time in the US and the building/flying of the biplane. And he was such a wealth of knowledge and so generous with his time.

I was wondering about that after looking at wind speeds on the outer GBR which should really be higher. Still it makes for a bit of fun loading up YBHM as a location in the flight sim, pulling down current conditions and then watching all hell break loose when the bots start taxiing

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ60801/IDQ60801.94368.shtml

We're gonna have some windy conditions this week in Northern Queensland

An Australia oriented view is http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-222.44,-25.30,790

And yes, very cool - especially atm with the cyclone forming in the Coral Sea

Was that the 140 advertised in NQ in Aviation Trader?

Your hangar options are likely Montpelier Airpark (Antill Plains), Starke Field and Donington Airpark. If you need a hand, I can ask around. It's of interest to me because I will be in the same boat in about 6 months..

Looks to me to be way exceeding the angle of attack on that wing. Once you've exceeded AoA, there isn't any lift so there isn't any climb - it's just momentum vs gravity. Which is why, as you point out, airspeed drops so quickly.

Personally, I wouldn't go flying with someone reknown for hotdogging at 100 feet AGL.

Seemed like a pretty good ditch to me. Sounds like a stall warning before they hit the water. I did all my initial flight training around the Hawaiian islands so I know the area. He ditched off a little promontory called Kalaupapa which sits below the highest sea cliffs in the world. So if you can't make the strip there, you are in the water. I flew with a life jacket every flight and every pax put one on as part of the pre-flight - just in case.

Don't know about MTOW on sleigh/reindeers but it does look like he has an aircraft. Looks scratchbuilt to me.

Amazing stuff. But I think the multi-engine aspect would stop it being registrable under RAA.

Damn. Why would you want a helicopter!

It has a big name to live up to but this landing is definitely an eye-opener if you havent seen one

*buzz* *click* *whirl* we have been discovered!

What's the difference between blue and purple markers?

Mr Millard was kind enough to take me for a jaunt in his Lightwing a week or so back and it was a great 'spin around the blocks' and overview of the area. I can confirm that not only is he a wealth of information but also a really nice bloke! Good onya, Ross.

What an awesome resource. Definitely something to add to the trip planning kit. Looking at Undara Airport in Google Maps satellite view, what is that weirdness on the western part of the runway? Flooding?

And the Musgrave Roadhouse marker is in the wrong spot. Doing a Google Maps search for "Musgrave Roadhouse, Yarraden, Queensland" will point out the correct location.

I was looking over the Airservices site yesterday and saw this:

http://careers.airservicesaustralia.com/jobDetails.asp?sJobIDs=494307&lWorkTypeID=&lLocationID=&lCategoryID=&stp=AW&sLanguage=en

Looks like they employ people to be "simulation pilots"

I've always wanted to say things like "pushback" and "American Heavy" but have no interest in living in Melbourne..

Cheers, all. Heathrow looks like a really nice little spot & I think the Sunday BBQ photo probably sums it all up. Tim.

Love the picture of the Cubby. What's the engine in that?

Cheers, Maj. I couldn't agree more about GA vs Recreational. There are no doubt various factors involved but the only people I've met (since returning to Australia) who were consistently flying GA aircraft were guys who had basically decided they wanted to be commercial pilots and thus were prepared to hack the cost as part of working their way up the ladder. I rented a Beech Baron for a bit in Honolulu and remember being a bit freaked out at paying $200/hr wet. If only I had known :-)

About the local scene, I have a couple of q's.

What happens in the 'wet' season for VFR pilots and for places like Montpelier that have dirt runways (I think)? Is it pretty much hang up the headset and wait for the odd clear day?

Also, how many board members are there for NQ RAA? It would be good to know a bit more about the structure as I'm likely to become a new member.

Welcome, Tim. Sounds like you have done some interesting flying. We never hear about private/recreational flying in Japan. Did you see or hear anything?There are a few members from your area, so you might hear from them soon.

This is a great forum with a wide variety of flyers. The discussion sometimes gets a bit robust, but there is more to agree on than there is to divide us.

I found Japan a complete contrast from the US re flying (but of course a lot of other things too!). Getting a JPN flight licence was a doddle. I ended up in a room with a lot of airline pilots where we simply passed a written test - based on a fairly simplistic translation of their air law. However I never used it(!). C172 rentals were something like $250/hr and I had been used to $75/hr in Honolulu (NB. This is eight years ago. Hourly rates have gone up in HNL but don't actually seem to have moved much in Australia).

It seems that any Japanese interested in GA go to Guam and do all their PPL training in Guam. Then go back to Japan and convert. I can't imagine that Guam would be very interesting after you'd done a loop of the island and not much in the way of XC options

Townsville (other than TSV) seems to have three airfields - Bluewater, Montpelier and Donnington - courtesy of WWII. But I can't say there's much traffic in TSV airspace. But it is noisy when the F18s are in town. My work is right under the approach to 01 and you have to pause for 10-15 secs on a phone call when they come over. Tim

G'day all. I say newbie but I'm actually a 300hr PPL with an IFR rating. However I haven't flown for near eight years now so definitely not current. I've done most of my flying in the US as I resided in Hawaii for a number of years - before going off to Japan and then returning to Oz. I did all my PPL training in Hawaii and so have many hours island hopping - a great place to fly and some great scenery if you ever get the chance. Just get expect to fly over water a lot :-) In addition to HI, have flown a bit in California and have done some NSW/QLD flying in the past via rental GA aircraft.

I've been based in Townsville for near five years now and the flying 'itch' has returned. I discovered recently that the FAA has stopped with paper licences and so waiting on a new licence to come in from Oaklahoma - then I'll be setting off on the path to convert to an Aussie PPL.

Already been reading over the forums and lots of great info & banter. Looking forward to more..

Tim