bushpilot

I agree 100% with this; why dont we all use a specific thread where we post reports of any incident for others to learn from.. 5 years ago I crashed a nanolight and put myself in hospital for a week -and took 2 years to fully recover. A CFI was present at the time, and saw the incident; yet neither of us bothered to log a report with anyone. On reflection now, lots of pilots could have benefitted from my report - but there was no clearly defined structure in place to report it... And I figured at the time that my job was to focus on repairing my body - and if it had have been important to report the incident, then the CFI would have initiated that, or at least suggested it to me.. I'm not trying to dodge my responsibility, just saying that the 'system' needs to support and encourage full disclosure... This Forum is invaluable in that context - as someone else has said. Cheers, Chris

And to add to the neck sticking out tendency here - I'm reading all this feedback and wondering if the administrators of our sport - and aviation more generally, could now be thinking that their having allowed the more relaxed rules, applied to our category, was misjudged in the first instance; and the more rigorous requirements applied to GA licencing should have been adhered to. There is, after all, quite a step in knowledge required and judgement to be applied to operate safely in say a Jabiru over my trike; the former is capable of exposing the PIC to all the challenges of operating in the same environment as any VH aircraft. On top of that the PIC can do much of the maintenance, and even modifications, themselves... Chris

I have to agree with this; having had a PPL since 1975 (but not kept current in last 15 years) I enjoy nothing more than stoogin around at relatively low altitude in the trike, with my trusty Nikon always at the ready, to snap anything interesting that comes into view.. Cant beat the unobstructed view out of a 'bare' Redback. Having said that, my aim is to also own a quickish 3-axis - STOL with cabin heater! Cheers, Chris

Good thought! Anyone know who is responsible for it? Txs Chris

Unfortunately is is very "un-flat". It has a gradient of more than 5 degrees...

Ref. Holsworthy road - if it is a public road that would not work - as he needs to achieve speeds over 100km/hr... But thanks for the suggestion anyway. Cheers Chris

Now here is a left-fielder: A friend on mine (a compliance engineer) needs occasional access to a near flat strip of bitumen to do ADR brake testing on motorcycles; a test can be performed in about 15 minutes. His facility is near Hoxton Park in Sydney. (Racetracks near Sydney are not flat enough). Does anyone know if ASIC or other agency would bar the use of airstrips for this type of purpose? If it could be permitted, does anyone know who is the right person at Hoxton to speak with?? Thanks Chris

Hi John - Welcome to the Forum. You will get a lot of useful info and contacts here.. Lucky you, having an Outback. I'm with the more basic Redback, that I fly from my farm - so no travelling to get to an airstrip at least! Do you fly into interesting place with the Outback? They are designed to land pretty well anywhere.. Cheers, Chris

Welcome to the Forum Chris. Trust you enjoy your time here. A buddy of mine imports a heap of stuff from Asia; he gets around the wooden crate thing by insisting that the Asian suppliers only ship in light steel frames with cardboard casing. No problems with quarantine people. Maybe speak with your factory and see what they can offer.. Cheers, Chris

Welcome John. You will find the community here very diverse and extremely helpful; and indeed you own experience and ideas will be welcome input. Cheers, Chris

Good that you enjoyed it Sam. We look forward to doing it again. How do the 'central western' community flyers exchange? I'd like to get myself in the circle. Are most of them on this Forum? One thing that Ian might be able to support is regional groups - where on the same Forum there a sections for members in given regions... I guess anyone could do that with a thread... What do you think Ian? (Some of the Car clubs do that on their forums - with indexed pages for each State). And, btw, its been brought to my attention that I called you by your Rec Av Forum handle ('Bateo') in my initial report here; shows how they can stick in ones mind . So I guess you wont mind me clarifying here that you are in fact Sam Bateman ;) Cheers Chris

Ian - What an offer! If only I had have thought. I figured that I was doing well to get guys in from Cowra and Canberra - so didn't even contemplate further afield. However, we are going to do a 'public' day in the near future - to get Bathurst folks interested in RAAs. So will definitely spread the word further for that one.. Cheers Chris

Gosh - sorry Phil! I've seen that baby there - but not recently; so how come we haven't met?! Ive been a member for 2 years. Do you go to any of the club functions? Will pm you with some other thoughts.. Cheers, Chris

This post is about underscoring the conviction of those that represent recreational aviation.... all of you out there! I am a member of the Bathurst Aero Club; the club owns a Cessna and most members are GA pilots or students. I am the only RAA member, but a few others in the club are interested in RAA aircraft. I offered to assist the club come to know more about RAA aircraft and set about inviting some RAA owner / pilots to bring their aircraft to a club competition day - last Sunday. I approached Sam Bateo and Bruce Barcham from Mudgee to bring their a/c over - and they spread the word to others. I also invited the guys from PG Aviation in Cowra and Orange Aero Club to bring their RAAs along.. In total we had 11 aircraft visit on Sunday including - 4 Jabs (with a great tail dragger Jab. from Orange), a Tecnam, a Savannah, a Thruster, a Brumby, a Storch, a GlasAir and, of course, my trike! Each owner gave a short presentation on their a/c to the group. It was a real eye-opener for our club members to see such a diversity of aircraft - backed by such enthusiastic operators. No wonder we are the fastest growing segment in Australian aviation...;) Cheers Chris

This is all useful advice; thanks heaps to all of you for helping... Will be into it next weekend... BTW: Any hints on buying /fitting EGTs? Cheers, Chris

Thanks for the detailed run-down! It sounds like the goods... I assume if it is bought in OZ, then the OZ maps are more current than 50 y.o. (?) Can you say why you would have preferred AvMap (apart from the price..)? Cheers Chris

Hey Darren - Is there a strip there?? Cheers, Chris

Ian - Cant help u with your question - but I'd be interested in what criteria u used fr selecting yr Airmap - and what others u considered. And, in time, your user experience, if you care to post that at some stage... Cheers Chris

I for one have always been interested in the notion of tail-draggers.. And Ive been thinking of it again recently in my deliberations on what 3-axis a/c would work best for me and my shortish grass strip... Is the following a fair summary of the cons?: 1. Difficulty in seeing over the nose in taxiing and take-off? 2. Difficulty in turning sharply in taxiing? (Esp. U turns?) 3. Need to go easy on the brakes on landing? 4. Limited number of instructors - esp. in the bush. Cheers Chris

Thanks for the advice guys.. Can I assume then that in making these adjustments that I do not have to worry about balance between the 2 carbies? ie if the same adjustment is made to each, say the circlip adjustment - then they will be balanced OK? (BTW: I dont have EGT - only CHTs) Txs Chris

My Rotax 503 needs a tune; it is running a bit rich - exacerbated by my strip being at 2,800' ASL I guess.. Is tuning these (dual carby) something that can be done as a self-maintenance thing? Any clues on how and equipment needed? Thanks, Chris

Ive also seen 2 litre plastic milk bottles with a little white paint put inside and shaken to coat the interior. Then piece of bale twine thru the handle and tent peg to secure. They are easy to see and easy to pull out to slash the grass.

Apparently the fuel delivery guys are no longer allowed to lift the handpumps out the drums, to fill them; and not allowed to reach, or stoop, or climb. So even above ground bulk tanks have to have bottom fill snap-lock pipes and connectors.. Where will it all stop..:confused:

There is now a problem with 205 L (44 gal) drums - OH&S regs mean that from March 2007 bulk delivery drivers are not allowed to fill them. So the only answer for bulk deliveries is bulk tanks. So I threw out my 6 44s and bought 2 tanks on stands - 600 L each - one for diesel and one for unleaded, that I use in my trike. $400 each, second hand, which is pretty good value. Getting it out is simple gravity feed..

Well Scotty - you did potentially save me from having fuel spraying back on that exhaust manifold - so 5 minutes of fame is due.. :big_grin: Replacement line was easy; the local Repco man had good quality USA made hoses - so I bought a U.S. measure yard! Some great flying was to be had last week - b4 the change, and welcome rain. I took my camera along and over-flew Black Springs, Oberon and Hartley; 10am to 11:30am and still smooth as silk... Did a quick lap today - but was real bumpy with the NWesterly still putting up a bit of fight.. C U soon. Chris