sixtiesrelic

Do you use Flight simulator for practising various things like radio calls etc? I reckon it must be magic. I certainly could have used FS for so much of my training.

What's the rego of the 172

Go for it!! You'll get there and LOVE circuits. With the landings , Student Pilot covered it well. Listen to him! EVERYBODY has the some problem at your stage. You think you have five big toes on the end of your hand and you'll never get there, then SUDDENLY the problem's gone and you don't know how it happened. The big toes on you hands... never go away when you fly. Unless you're an ace. You become proficient in one aircraft and it is part of you. You soar like an eagle in it. Get into a new more complicated one and you're back to being a "freak" wondering if you're doing the right thing. Most airline guys suffer the problem. I saw a friend tell the CFI she was giving up learning to fly as she was no good. Her husband, a bit of a "scummy" airline pilot, told her she was useless and would never get there! The CFI ... a bloke who started flying lessons in his late forties was one of life's gentlemen and had the best attitude to students and aviating I've ever seen said, "Lets go for a fly and see what the problem is" He'd had plenty of problems climbing the ladder to CFI and understood. On returning from their flight, I overheard them as they left the aircraft and he went through all her actions from the pre flt inspection to gettin' out at the end and he praised everything she did. He said' "Your only problem is flaring and we can fix that easily". She got her license. Should have divorced the selfish jerk who left her at the altar three times before before giving in and saying "I do", but Women are funny animals. She is too good for him. Which flying school are you with and who's the CFI? I guess the blokes I knew are gone by now... haven't been to MK since 1989 Sixties

Did you find trying to get your head around CSUs from books confusing and then wonder what all the difficulties were when ypu played with the real thing or has flight simulator fixed those old problems. Wish FS had been around when I was learniing to fly!

That's the sad thing about modern aircraft.... pilots are now computer monitors and inputters ... not stick and rudder men. At least we can get in lighties and pole a plane about the sky still.

Yes good luck... They are probably still as silly as when Student pilot and I did 'em. I got caught up in a change of syllabus and lost three credits because I hadn't passed all five and had to do 'em all again.

Good ... I went from "Old Caboolture" ... Morayfield in a Tripacer, before you were born.

Where are you departing from?

Don't let the GPS make you decide to go in a straight line from A to B. Keep close to the roads! If you have an engine failure, roads are a good place to land. That's where the police will come along to find you if someone else passing by doesn't stop first. You won't be too happy if you land up inverted, injured, stuck in a gulley out of sight of the road because you couldn't quite glide to a road. Like Student pilot said winter... I have done a number of trips out to those areas and chose August/September. Not TOO cold, flies aren't too bad and the density altitude is good.

Yes Wiz, your sense of smell and hearing improve and you get to have time to notice "little things"

Yes Student, old enough now to know better but have experienced "flying" not just operating a machine. Nothing like the wind whistling past your ears and concentrating on the theory of flight to remain safely aloft. It's nice to "operate" because your'e safe in the modern stable high powered aircraft but it aint' REALLY flying. Real flying? ... smelling the earth again when you come down through the inversion!

Just got back from Perth at 5:30 this morning after ten days of re-bonding with CWS. (More photos and video) Went for the three standard flights while I was there. The sixty minute joyflight over Perth and environs just after lunch on Saturday, the Dinner flight where we took off before sunset and landed after dark and had a sumptuous meal served on beaut big china plates with the golden cutlery (no pre sets all dished out aboard to the size and choice you want), and the Sunday day tour of the Busselton area's wineries, cheese and Chocky factories and lunch at the lavender farm. Margaret River hasn't a suitable runway and we were touring between Busselton and Margaret River anyway. All passengers were extremely wrapt at the freedom to enjoy themselves and the pampering they got on the flight... not treated like cattle but part of a group of mates there to enjoy each other's company. Got lots of vieeo footage of the flights to make DVDs for the passengers... more sound of round Chainy! for tosoe who hear round engines ... there's a beech 18 there too, but the Pratts have their own distinctive note. The Saturday Scenic orbits Perth both ways and does a 500 foot run up the beach so the people at the beach get a good look at the old lady ambling past. They gave one Pax who's birthday it was, a cake with a large picture of the aircraft on the icing. He reckoned he can die happy any time now after the experience. Hard toi cut the cake as it's a great photo you cut and eat. I'll post some photos tomorow when I'm less tired. Sixties

Two that I've flown under. Classic Wings Swan (How did you miss this Choppy?) Bouraq Indonesia pre jet logo.

check ebay TAA , ANA , Ansett.

Check the photo album Vintage section and cargo section for a few interesting, little seen, aircraft.

I'm meaning in most fields people don't want to do the hard yards. Cadetships... most of the cadets from the sixties were quite embarrassed to admit they'd been one by the seventies. I think it was because there were a couple who had VERY big heads and had plenty to say about THEIR importance. THEY were rapidly put in their place by the old and bold, but the stigma stuck to ALL of them. Cadetships now??? I don't think they're all that they're cracked up to be. There would be a huge feeling of uneasiness on one's shoulders having 100 G of their parent's money riding on their performance.

I was a bit pissed when I read Student Pilot's statement about wankers. I think it was not seriously meant on re reading it. When you got into an Airline, one bar tended to let everyone know you were a new boy, so you kept your head down and did a bit of learning. After between fifteen and twenty years of learning and proving yourself, you got to be awarded four bars. You'd WORKED for them. I look these days at who wears bars on their shoulders and feel that the meaning has been lost. I guess army guys did the same at the drop outs who wore surplus army uniforms... the sort of little runts that wouldn't make it in the army if they had the guts or ability to join, yet they wanted to look the part... tough, brave, but controlled. A paragraph from Aussie Aviation, written by one of my compatriots from DC-3s in New Guinea seems to sum my feelings on the subject. "So my advice to up and coming airline pilots is th watch, listen and learn. Don't be in too much of a hurryto rush into command until you soak up some real knowledge from your elders.It is called a rite of passage called apprentiship; don't sell yourself short." It seems today that too many people want to start at the top without bothering with the necessary experience.

Geday! I sometimes wander around Redcliffe... mostly at Pat Harrington's or Mal shipton's hangars where OLD aeroplanes live. That extra 20 minutes driving is the best thing you could have encountered when it comes to flying... you'll save many hundreds of dollars for the flying hours you do, because of all the taxiing and hold ups you get at AF. You're on top too because you sound like you started at AF so it isn't going to be the boogy man students who start at non controlled airports think GAAP will be. Redcliffe has been a great airport ... I started flying there about 1975 when it was gravel and had virtually only the aero club there. Don't like those noisy bloody helos that infest the place these days, tho! sixties

It's a lot like these professors who have hidden in the hallowed cloisters of Uni, never having gotten out into the world. They're bright but inpractical and spend years studying and producing courses on common sense which companies pay thousands for and send the employees off to get certificates at the end of a boring bunch of lectures. Lots of ceremony with bound notes and powerpoint presentations, but at the end of it we mere mortals "wonder what the hell that was all about". Sadly the wankers have gotten control and the allmighty dollar (just making ends meet mostly in this industry though) means fleecing poor buggers who had a lifelong desire to fly. Go RAA gents! "Normal" CASA controlled flying has almost had it. I speak to many of the realists who have tried running flying schools and they are selling their VH aircraft in disgust. As for the miriad reports in the circuit... some new bloke winll come along and come up with sweeping directives to cut down the chatter on the airways AGAIN!!!! You'll have been all through that lot Jackson on a frew occasions too. Every one reckons their's were the good old days, burt I think maybe most will agree that ours really were!

Chop! Did we tell you that my father Bill and David have all flown that same aeroplane... How many aircraft will have three generations fly them over a fifty four year period and the years will be added as long as David flies her.

As a matter of interest TJT who do you think was responsible?

You can do anything! The bubble window. Weather out of sydney. The Coorong. Past the front near the SA/ WA border. landing horsham... where were you Colt PA22 while I was taking this from the Cessna? Jubilation in Perth. David hugging Bill while Kathryn watched on. She was david's best mate who had faith in him so he named his first plane after her.

Most pilots who do the journey between Kalgoorlie and Ceduna refuel at Forrest. If you ever get the opportunity to drop in there? DO! Forrest can only be described as a? settlement?? It has a population of two. It sits on the train line and highway way out in the Nullabour. The only native trees there, have been planted by man. There isn?t any grass as we know it, but the ground is covered in low herby mostly prickly shrubs that seem to glow with a velvety sheen when looked at in some directions. Watch your sox, those prickles are tenacious and many have given up and chucked their sox after being careless. The whole place is on a limestone sheet which is full of fossils of shells. You?ll easily find them in many of the bits of rock strewn about those plains where ever you walk. The aerodrome is an emergency one for 737 / A320 size aircraft doing ?extended range operations? and require a ?suitable airport? within an hour?s flight in case of engine failure. The large igloo, historic, hangar was used by the old three engined De Havilland Hercules on their long flights between Perth and Adelaide in the 1930s. Then, the aircraft taxied into the hangar where the engineer could do maintenance while the passengers and crew sat in comfort to have a restful meal after hours of getting bashed about by the thermal turbulence. There were accommodation blocks beside the hangar for over-nighting personnel in the old days, but now there are five comfortable bungalows three hundred metres away in the ?Township?. One is the converted old school house, from when the place had a population. We paid $127 each, for a great stop over which included air conditioned four bedroom houses, with fully functional kitchen and laundry, a four seat, four wheel drive Hilux to use to drive to the aircraft or for an explore of the area?s historic meteorological and railway stations. Dinner was planned for either around the camp fire or in the warmth of the veranda. It was a thick hot meat filled pea soup, camp oven cooked lamb, spuds in alfoil from the fire and vegies followed by puddin. This went down most satisfyingly, as we?d been eating sporadically up to then and when the evening did it?s rapid desert cooling, we chose to return to the enclosed veranda after having ?a couple? at the open air fire. We were fairly tired from the hectic pace we?d had up to this time and were asleep early so we could get up for the dawn light and more photos. We could have had a hot breakfast but chose the toast, serial, juice variety to save time which wer were given as we went off to bed. Part of the tariff was a cut lunch that was delivered just as we left. Sue made sangers for six of us, big generously, filled ones, on fresh, home made, whole wheat bread. Brenden and Dan served them on the KAL to PH route when David?s mother, uncle and cousin joined us so there were nine served and we couldn?t eat them all! The hangar wasn?t quite large enough to fit the DC-3 but we could have pushed most of her in if we felt the need. (We easily moved her with seven people the night before to push her away from the refuelling area at Mt Gambier believe it or not). Overnighters park in there for peace of mind normally. The tiny terminal has all it?s walls full of business cards left from visitors and photos of some of the aircraft that have visited, although many photos have been put in photo albums to make room for the cards. You?ll find friends and aircraft you know in this museum. Plenty of tourist mementos are for sale too. If you plan a visit, make sure you allow enough time in the arvo and again next morning to enjoy all there is to experience at Forrest? we didn?t and we were there from about 4:00PM till 9:30 AM.

For you sleuths... there were two channels that interviewed David at Adelaide 7 and 2 I think.

I concentrated on videoing and didn't get a copy of the close on 3000 stills we all took when I left Ph as I was very sore from a slipped disk and David was flat out running all over PH, getting CW organised for tourists. I've been watching the videos and there's way over an hour of the floor seatcovers from close up and the inside of the lens cap. Lots of good stuff however. I pick up my new computer next week and can start learning how to down load into it and start moviemaking. I'll get onto Chopy, he's probably floating still after all tha adventures he's had.