sixtiesrelic

Beware of Qantas. We booked months ago and on rolling up to Melbourne terminal found we were standby passengers because the flight was overbooked. We arrived an hour before the flight so we got seats, but some later pax missed out and there were some disgruntled people who thought they had over wing exit seats they'd snagged at seat allocation then got new boarding passes. Others couldn't travel together. I asked pax service why. Can be over booking (up to 10% are no shows) or there is an aircraft substitution ... smaller capacity replacing larger capacity. This shomozzle mostly occurs on high traffic days like around Christmas and Easter. It doesn't matter how long ago you paid... you go into a queue. Overseas connections, internal connecting flights, Qantas club all get precedence over the single leg traveler The lesson... check in early at those busy days or travel on one aircraft type fleets.

Been having more adventures lately... First: was to have a chunk of me, three quarters the size of a house brick hauled out of a four inch cut in my side to rid me of a kidney, it's cancerous little hitch hiker (a bit bigger than the kidney) and a slab of surrounding fat, a month ago. Found by accident, early; it hasn't spread or caused any bother, so I'm having a beaut six week holiday on sick leave. Second; was to go over to Stradbroke island and sleep on a friend's caravan he keeps by a hangar at Dunwich airpark. He flew in for an afternoon and we naturally had a bit of a fly in his 182. That thing has more equipment in it than we had in the DC-9 or 737-200s. Kept in immaculate condition it GOES and you know exactly where you are and how that engine is operating. His mate came over in a new Decathelon for a look at the air park so we got to have a good look at that shiny little beast. He's an ex Indian Airforce, Air India, and Singapore Airlines pilot who has plenty of interesting stories of flying in fighters, Curtis Commandos which they flew below radar so low, that the prop vortices left trails across lakes, through 707s to most of the 747 types... 200, 300, 400 pax and freighters. It's marvellous to hear stories from blokes who've been there and done that, but aren't needing to skite or big note. Lance, the old airpark caretaker is another, with a week or two's stories... best thing about his were, the number of people he'd talk about that I knew. He has a wealth of ultra light / RAA stories. He was there from the start of seat of the pants, Skycraft scout flying to now, and still flies funny little collections of bits of rag and ally pipes around. An interesting dude with more stories lobbed in the second day in his aircraft, so it was a magic two days of no bulldust old style aviation with no pompous gold braided "insignificants" strutting about and NO bloody annoying HELICOPTERS. Long live the little out of the way airstrips.

Where do you get 'em?

Thissy has been doing the rounds since around the mid seventies. It just goes to show Goodies never get stale.

na more like a helicopter... At least we were healthy coz we either ran like hell or rode bikes to get 'em turning.

I made one of the cassic ones... it broke.

Now THAT's my idea of flying! Back to basics and FEEL flight, not sittin' pushin buttons and monitoring computers.

WHAT a bummer! Makes it a lonely and expensive past time.

Hmmm 70 litres per hour for almost the same speed as a DC-3 using 360 lit per hour. How many can it carry? 2? Fill a Goonie and it comes to about 12 lit per hour per seat and the sound of TWO big round engines... Nice big throaty DOUBLE row radials. CWS has been flying at Perth over the last three days, bringin' tears to the eyes of a few nostalgiacs.

I live in Brissy too ... Narangba xo they'tr high when they pass over me, but I work as a "Blip driver" in the ATC simulator, so get to pretend I'm the planes passing over your place.

Or is it Tapini PNG

Hard to stay away from flyin' aint it!

I’d been on previous flights but the memories are too hazy. I was three. It was 1946. The old man was doing the demonstration flight when TAA introduced the great big Skymaster (DC-4) to the public at Mascot. My mother and I were the only passengers on that quick flight. After take off when I’d finally gotten my hands off my ears … sacred of the loud noise, I became alarmed at the old man’s disregard for my safety during a turn and reckoned he’d scrape the wing tip on the ground. My mother explained we were high up. I had no conception of our height above the ground at that age. On shutting down the engines some men rolled out a red carpet to the steps that been pushed to the aircraft door. The red carpet for ME was quite correct in my opinion. We waited till the old man had finished in the cockpit. I’d become riveted on the trim wheel….can’t remember anything else in the cockpit other than “me dad†in civies and that knurled wheel. As we approached the back door to leave, the first visitors entered the aircraft. Some kid my age had the audacity to try and barge past me. I put him in his place by ordering him off MY father’s plane in no uncertain terms. One of the great disappointments in my life was to discover it wasn’t MY father’s plane at all and that other people could wander in willy-nilly. Went home quite shitty about it.

Wrong about the company choppy! I agree with Chainy JJP people need to see your stuff, it's too good to not be seen.

I certainly remember the golden years and was part of it!

I agree ...that's a good way to do it.

Uncle Chop Chop used to be you on other forums. Ask him where it got HIM! He is one of a VERY select band of aviation enthusiasts now.

Nice to know just how far you can go and see that it CAN be done, but as you say, the idea is not to get yourself into a situation where you need to do it.

What's the difference between a micro and ultra light

Catalena for me as well as joining TJT with the DC-3s

I work in the ATC centre... lots of books and a wide variety of people who know things in my area.

HS748 nav trainer at Sale and short haul VIP aircraft Chainy.

What IS going on? Are there more of them flying than Light aircraft or is the greater thrust /drag ratio, compared with lighties catching them out with engine failures.

2 posts

The sound of round is great! There's the sedate moan of the DC3 passing overhead. The more business like growl of the Caribou DC-4 and Convair.Even the shakey jake's sound good, BUT, what about a Merlin! don't they make the eyes water?