icebob

Hi, Picked up a smallish heliograph/mirror from BCF for about $6. The usual went in looking for the mirror/heliograph and came out with about 100 bucks of gear, the wife was real happy she sat in the car for nearly two hours, looks like i will have to do some serious smooching tonight???? Bob.

Hi R467, if i went into the drink i can make my own marker, its big and brown, well you get the picture, Ha, ha. Oh that survival at sea in boiler suits and boots??????? Bob.

Hi, I would have to agree with Maj: Miller here, the 912 is a joy to do maintenance on. My main background is military aircraft and we all know how hard the maintenance on them is/can be. Also another consideration I placed an order for Rotax parts and they arrived from interstate in four days with an appology for being slow. I also ordered Jab parts and four days later find them still on the way?????? Which would you choose? The Rotax owners web site is also a gold mine of information plus videos of the latest maintenance activities,well worth it. The Jab web site and engine maintenance is still in it's infancy so one should not expect the same or similar service information just yet but one then should ask how long has the Jab motors been around and why is there not more readily available information on day to day maintenance how to's on the Internet? Sorry off the soap box now. Bob.

Hi Keeffe, No this is a CASA funded RAA run "safety" airframe/engine workshop, well worth attending. Bob.

Hi Adam, Yes you missed some good stuff that was in the morning sessions. Was good to finally meet you. Would recommend this workshop to all. Bob.

Hi All, Just got back from the Level 1 Maintenance Workshop at Cessnock. A big thank-you to Carol Richards and all the hard working people at Cessnock for making this workshop so successful, I believe there was 40+ attended. Thanks also to all the Cessnock "locals" who made us all feel so welcome and the "visitor" from South Africa too. Some of the aircraft there allowed a few of us to go down memory lane and the Jab and Rotax engine section I found most absorbing, so thanks guys. My wife would not let me bring an aircraft home either:crying:. Bob.

Hi, Also works the same way for GPS for dummies units(2) Bob.

Hi, To compare the GT500 and a drifter is fair as most of the flight envelop is common, however the GT500 i flew in only had the Rotax 503 and that did not do it justice at all, I had one hour in one that had a 912 what a beast! The landing was not unlike a Cessna 310, that is solid, set up exactly to the right numbers and on the day i flew it the runway heat actually assisted with the flair(minimal flair at that) much like a glider here, forever a floater. The wings were removed, the aircraft fitted into it's enclosed trailer and hooked back up to the car in about 30 minutes, could have been quicker but guess who got in the way????? A few guys in the US have thrown the seats out and there are some magic after market ones out there at reasonable price and fixed the drafts behind the seats and also fitted static lines to the altimeter because of the slight suction effect in the cabin because of all those little gaps. There is an issue of the windscreen having small cracks but fitting a new one in 2 or 3mm perspex fixes that. Bob.

Hi, I rang the people we know at Ipswich it appears the airstrip he was talking about is privately owned. He did say Boonah or Redcliff are the only closest ones he knows about. There was a push about 5 years ago to the local council to build a strip close to town, land was allocated but he has not heard anything more of it, he was going to learn to fly then. Bob.

Hi, As Maj. Miller said the GT400 is not bad at all, I have had only 4 hours in the GT500 but thought it a little underpowered and would suit the Rotax 912 or the Jab motor. I found you would need to modify the seats, uncomfortable for longer than two hours and the drafts oh boy, small things i know but..... I am tossing up between that and the standard X-Air. Bob.

Hi Keeffe, Two years ago a friend of ours who lives at Ipswich said there was a light aircraft club about 25 kms south of town but could not give me exact details. One of the forum members who is an Army Engineering Officer lives in that area so hopefully he will jump on and give you the details. Bob.

Hi, I can answer you on that Maj. Miller. The relative State must request the service from the Commonwealth in writing the issue is all the rotten red tape. In the 1994 bush fires Navy and Army choppers were on standby, everyone knew the order had gone in but 2 1/2 days later it got to the ADF. Too many hands for this paperwork to go through and too many "xxxxxxxx" departments. Bob.

Hi, If there is any member getting their aircraft out of harms way of the bush fires and land at The Oaks, Camden or Bankstown, if You PM me first i can pick you up and we have a double bed(that creeks) if you need it. If you are leaving your aircraft i can keep an eye on it for you too. Bob.

I like a man that has "been there and done that and bought a tee shirt":thumb_up:

the clearer the better.

Thanks guys, just my usual monday to friday work. We did a fair amount of inventiveness out there as there was nothing not even a hose available. I rang the hospital at 2pm today and he will be discharged tommorow so that is good news. No not at the Oaks, Camden, lucky the ambulance was close. I never got to fly in the DG1000e either bugger! Bob.

Hi All, I would like to alert all to an incident that happened this morning. I had been invited to inspect a new aircraft and when i got there another owner/pilot was "tinkering" with his aircraft in front of the hanger in full sun and said to us he was running a long extension cord out to his aircraft passed the aircraft we were looking at to vacuum all the grass seeds and crud(his words) from the seats and carpet. The temperature at the time was 41 ish degrees on the concrete. anyway i went to look at the new aircraft and would have been there some half an hour. On passing the other aircraft we noticed the cleaner was going and no movement of the guy there. We ran over switched the cleaner off and notice he appeared drunk and his words were slurred. The alarm bells rang for me when i noticed he was not sweating,we confirmed he is not diabetic. We removed him from the aircraft and carried him to the shade and wet him down as quickly as we could. his temperature was very high, we forced water into him, I am sorry to say about 2 Lts in about 40 minutes and kept water flowing over him, especially around the neck, arm pits, elbows and knees. His condition did not improve and we called an ambulance and got him to drink another big cup of water and it was then we saw evidence of some small improvement with his speech. This owner/pilot had gone from heat stress to heat stroke in just 30 minutes in the enclosed cockpit of his aircraft with only doing moderate to light work, he had not brought with him any drinks and had not had anything to eat this morning. If we or others were not there he could have died from the heat. Someone with a heat related illness needs quick action to preserve their life, cool them, lots and lots of water and call an ambulance please, we do not need to loose another pilot. So in this hot weather please keep the fluids up. One easy way to tell on a hot day if you have taken on enough fluid is clear or near clear urine. some heat related injuries to runners it may take 4-5 Lts of water(with a can of coke added to the 4Lts of water to provide the salts needed) to get them on track and naturally 4 or more trips to the loo to flush the build up of toxins. Bob.

Hi Tomo, Thanks.... "There was a sailor from Wagga, who sat an exam in"........ will tell the rest later do not want to get banned, ha, ha. Bob.

Two Irishmen walk into a pet shop in Dingle, they walk over to the bird section and Gerry says to Paddy, 'Dat's dem.' The owner comes over and asks if he can help them. 'Yeah, we'll take four of dem dere little budgies in dat cage up dere,' says Gerry. The owner puts the budgies in a cardboard box. Paddy and Gerry pay for the birds, leave the shop and get into Gerry's truck to drive to the top of the Connor Pass. At the Connor Pass , Gerry looks down at the 1000 foot drop and says, 'Dis looks like a grand place.' He takes two birds out of the box, puts one on each shoulder and jumps off the cliff. Paddy watches as the budgies fly off and Gerry falls all the way to the bottom, killing himself stone dead. Looking down at the remains of his best pal, Paddy shakes his head and says, 'Blow dat. Dis budgie jumping is too flam'n dangerous for me!' THERE'S MORE... Moment's later; Seamus arrives up at ConnorPass. He's been to the pet shop too and walks up to the edge of the cliff carrying another cardboard box in one hand and a shotgun in the other. 'Hi, Paddy, watch dis,' Seamus says. He takes a parrot from the box and lets him fly free. He then throws himself over the edge of the cliff with the gun. Paddy watches as half way down, Seamus takes the gun and shoots the parrot. Seamus continues to plummet down and down until he hits the bottom and breaks every bone in his body. Paddy shakes his head and says, 'And I'm never trying dat parrotshooting either!' IT IS NOT OVER YET... Paddy is just getting over the shock of losing two friends when Sean appears. He's also been to the pet shop and is carrying a cardboard box out of which he pulls a chicken. Sean then takes the chicken by its legs and hurls himself off the cliff and disappears down and down until he hits a rock and breaks his spine. Once more Paddy shakes his head. 'Blow dat, lads. First dere was Gerry with his budgie jumping, den Seamus parrotshooting... And now Sean and his flam'n hengliding!'

Well done Brett a day you will not forget! Bob.

thanks for that will contact you.

Hi, Is there any X-air owners in the Sydney metro area i can have a chat too? Bob.

Hi, Merv has a good point about students fixating on the center line. When i started flying in the 60's there was a number of students that nearly killed themselves like that, one stalled and wrote off an aircraft just short of the strip and had both legs broken, and i must admit i had that fixation too our instructor just said to us with the engine out anywhere and any direction on the airfield is fine as long as you don't hit anything real solid and its a proper approch. You know what that still rings in the head now, the incidents of near fatals dropped but goodness some aircraft were parked in odd places around the field:laugh: and some were a very long walk home to the hanger too, especially if you had to push :censored:the aircraft back:confused: a cub can get very heavy. Bob.

Hi Trike girl, You would be made most welcome at the Oaks, you would have to spend some time getting the dribble off your trike :laugh:as there is a few of the guys and gals down there talking about trike ownership and the ability to trailer home. Always a meal and a bed if you guys need them just PM me when you are ready. most Sundays and every second Saturday the wife and i are down there at the Oaks with chicken salad and champaign:laugh:. Got the champaign from the self made ballon days, oh the follys of youth:blush:. That was after the hang glider phase. Bob.