Butch

Well said Dutch, Having witnessed a Piper Cherokee with five on board crash 100 metres from me in 92 all killed....not a pretty sight ! Scud running similar conditions to Barwon accident, had to be at the Ouyen Trots by 3pm......ended up in HEAVEN at 1.20 pm. All they had to do was turn back, there was a safe exit behind them. Tried to push through weather (300/400 AGL ) in misty rain, caught in low cloud ....attempted a turn.......end of story!

Drove to Melbourne today, went over Pretty Sally (Kilmore Gap) the fog was way down on the ridges. In Melbourne cloud was not much more than 500 AGL with low drizzle. Not my idea of a good day to fly VFR........not even IFR

Thanks Kununurra I didn't think it would be safe flying any distance in those type of weather conditions..........just wait for the dry season, cheers Butch

I'm in the 600 kg class....there were lots of rotary machines flying.....didn't see any light fixed wings in the air.

Just arrived back in Victoria from a weeks holiday in Darwin. The weather conditions were so unpredictable, sunny one minute, micro burst and storm the next. Lots of intimidating storm cells and thunderhead cloud formations. I would love to hear from Pilots up North...do you go out and fly or leave the plane in the hangar ? So many wonderful places to see from the air with all that water around ! Tell us about it, cheers Butch

Why do some supermarkets make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front? Why do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke? Why do banks leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters? Why do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in our driveways and put our useless junk in the garage? EVER WONDER... Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin? Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed? Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'? Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word? Why is it that doctors and attorneys call what they do 'practice'? Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavoring, and dish washing liquid made with real lemons? Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker? Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour? Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food? Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes? Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections? You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?? Why don't sheep shrink when it rains? Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together? If flying is so safe,why do they call the airport the terminal? Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread the stupidity and send this to someone you want to bring a smile to (maybe even a chuckle)... in other words, send it to everyone. We all need to smile every once in a while.

I'm glad you didn't say " comparing apples to lemons "! Just kidding............

Thanks Robbo, just Microsoft off it's tree with security . cheer's Butch

This message popped up on my screen while I was browsing Aviation Advertiser. Has this happened to anyone else ? Is the website safe ? This website has been reported as unsafe aviationadvertiser.com.au We recommend that you do not continue to this website. Go to my home page instead This website has been reported to Microsoft for containing threats to your computer that might reveal personal or financial information. More information This website has been reported to contain the following threats: Phishing threat: This is a phishing website that impersonates a trusted website to trick you into revealing personal or financial information. Learn more about phishing Report that this site does not contain threats Disregard and continue (not recommended)

THE DINNER PARTY My wife hosted a dinner party for all our friends, some we hadn't seen for quite a while, and everyone was encouraged to bring their children as well. All during dinner my wife's best friend's four-year-old stared at me sitting across the table from her. The girl could hardly eat her food for staring at me. I checked my shirt for spots, felt my face for food, patted my hair in place but nothing stopped her from staring. I tried my best to just ignore her but finally it was too much. I finally asked her, "Why are you staring at me?" Everyone at the table had also noticed her behaviour and the table went quiet for her response . . . . .. . . The little girl said "I'm just waiting to see how you drink like a fish."

It's like the girl that had a small butterfly tattooed on the top of her bum at 18 years old Now she's 40 it looks more like a Wedged Tailed Eagle

Another good app to try ! TAFGRAF.....Local or listed airport met weather ....also in graph form showing forecast for next few hours.

Apologies Roundsounds, You are obviously a very experienced pilot, it's just seems that there's two schools of thinking. In our area the majority of pilots make three call per circuit and instructors teach it, to you it's all second nature, to us not so experienced pilots it doesn't piece together quite as easy , cheers Butch

How would you know there were 5 aircraft in the circuit if they didn't make relevant circuit calls ?

Please explain situational awareness ? How can you have it if other pilots don't communicate with you by radio calls and you can't see them visually! Maybe when I did my training they didn't teach me mind reading so I knew what other pilots in the circuit were doing !

Ok so you make a mental picture of 5 aircraft in a circuit with no relevant radio calls of their position.......GOOD LUCK WITH THAT

This is another issue, airmanship politeness belongs to the pilot making a call, not how many calls are used in the local CTAF.

My eyesight is 20/20 and I look outside, I think any pilot that can retain the position of 5 other aircraft by sight in a circuit is a lot smarter than me or just over confident of their abilities. It reminds me of the old guys that drive down the road that don't use their blinkers because everyone behind me knows what I'm doing!

We can all play with numbers! You can rephrase and say no aircraft should use more than 7 seconds or 2% of a 6 minute circuit to inform other aircraft of there position (base) leaving 98% of frequency time free for other aircraft. Or for just 4% more you can make 2 more extra calls informing aircraft of your position and intensions at all times in the circuit still leaving 94% of the frequency free. Even 5 aircraft in a circuit making 3 calls each only uses less than 30% of available time in a circuit leaving 70% of the time for taxying, inbound, joining and overfly calls. I'm only a low hours pilot but to me every clue helps.... wether it's visual ,radio or anything else, I just try to stay safe. Maybe I am naïve but I still like to hear full circuit calls. If I was inbound joining a circuit with 5 aircraft in it at an average of 72 seconds separation I like all the info I can get.

Everyone's different, I was the exact opposite , on my very first TIF flight I felt like a duck in water, sure after many lessons I felt no need to practice on a Sim and rarely use it now, Lets call it a draw! and let Sean decide for himself. cheers Butch

Robbo, I made my comment about using flight Sims to practice with in the pretext that Sean who started this thread has ZERO hours in any aircraft. He's not going to give two hoots about flying a realistic A330 simulator, my point was he needs to familiarize with cockpit layout and controls of the aircraft he is having instruction in. I think it is an enjoyable way to get your head around some of the basics skills in learning to pilot an aircraft . Sure you need realism if you are a heavy commercial pilot but for a novice pilot I think they do no harm, and like all things in life use it in moderation!

Hi Roundsounds At times at the airfield I fly out of there maybe 3 even 5 aircraft practicing circuits and touch and go's. Some are experienced pilots doing tight circuits in faster aircraft others are low hour pilots doing wider circuits and usually a bit slower. I know you don't want pilots rabbiting on in the circuit area but I find it helpful when aircraft call downwind , base and final with intensions (full stop or touch and go). Its not always easy to keep visual with 3 or more aircraft at different speeds at the same time, as well if you're close behind an aircraft turning on final its good to know if they are going to full stop so you can give them time to back track if they need it. WE have had more trouble with aircraft entering the circuit with too few calls ( confusing the other traffic ) than we have with pilots making to many calls. I only fly from regional airports , things may be different at busy city airports with heavy traffic, cheers Butch

Thanks Narrabeen rick, I was 55 when I started flight instruction , for 12 months before I practiced on MSFX flight sim. It has a whole set of tutorials on how to fly a Cessna 172 starting from take-off through to landing. I was instructed in a Tecnam but all the basic principles of flying a 172 helped me to focus on the hands on part of flying as I was familiar with what makes this machine fly and only had to adapt to the Tecnam layout. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but still managed to solo in under 8 hrs. As you pointed out its not about flying the real aircraft its about getting your head around all the procedures and feeling comfortable, you cant always afford to be doing instruction with a CFI in the right seat, cheers Butch

No ones saying that flight sims are 100% realistic , but you can learn a lot about the aircraft you are flying. You can practice circuit calls , run up check lists , stall speeds and all of the things that have to become second nature if you are to fly safely. At one stage I had to stop using my flight sim because I was using a joy stick with little rudder input and when flying the real aircraft my feet became lazy. Its all about using the sim to practice the basics, and as I did if its not helping don't use it.

What a load of bulls!t, Commercial airlines use flight Sims to train and practice all forms of flight simulation. The whole point of using a flight sim is to familiarize yourself with the aircrafts characteristics, cockpit layout , take off , landing, and the ability to replicate aircraft flight at a low cost. Why pay $200 an hour to have your instructor tell you where the altimeter , Tacho, etc,etc. is when you can practice at home on your computer. You wont learn to fly a real aircraft on a sim but you can take the parts you need to learn and practice and save that for when you are at the controls, you soon learn to differentiate between the real thing and what you have learnt and practiced on your flight sim. Just my opinion!