Butch

Come on all you forum followers.......If you can afford a take away coffee per week you can afford a $50.00 donation once a year! Get behind this site . I would hate to wake up one morning with no Rec Flying.

Turbo, I have been in the CFA for 45 years....started with Austin trucks with no protection , just a tank and pump! I'm just sick of the bulltish ! Common sense these days doesn't come into the equation. You can't stop someone from being a dikchead! Some of the new breed of CFA members go off and do all of these courses and think they know it all. Nothing beats experience , and any brigade worth it's salt will mentor new members and not put them in a situation where they haven't got somebody with experience as part of a tanker crew going into a dangerous situation. The 4 deaths at Linton in Victoria years ago was attributed to that fact. No one on the unit had experience. I have flatly refused to enter a situation that I thought was unsafe as the driver of our Tanker. Experience has taught me that if you have a bad feeling and are not happy it's not worth risking the crews safety. Sadly the people with all the common sense and experience are leaving because they have had enough. I know this is progress and there has to be rules and regulations but if the general population aren't prepared to finance permanent fire fighters they will end up with no fire fighters at all!

Splitz, both of our tankers, one heavy and one light carry chainsaws. You are supposed to have special course training to operate one. I had a professional faller and loggers licence until 10 years ago for DIPI. The brains at the CFA won't recognize it and wanted me to go to a course run by some snotty nosed instructor to show me what I have been doing safely for years (after passing a Government accepted licence). OH&S and the threat of someone suing are making it impossible for small brigades like us to attract new members. We all want to stay safe but as volunteers it's getting hard to keep current with all the courses and protocol enforced by the CFA. I think sometimes the paid members forget that the majority of fire fighters doing the ground work do it for free and in some cases lose income if you are self employed like I am.

Our local CFA area borders Puckapunyal army base, in Victoria. I was a contractor there many years ago. While I was there I saw lots of equipment suitable for fire fighting. They had dozers, graders, water tankers and lots of personnel that could be used in an emergency situation. A few years ago we had a BIG fire between Melbourne and Kilmore in Central Victoria Less than 40 kilometres from the Army base. They could have employed all of their equipment in under an hour. CFA had to round up local contractors to supply equipment to support units on the ground. Surely as part of defence training they could instruct their personnel on how to assist in protecting the average Australian in a bush fire . I would have thought it would be easier than teaching them how to blow someone's head off!

Sorry I meant to say less than a $1 a week for a $50 a year donation ! That's only 1/4 of a coffee a week.

I think you are doing a great job Ian! I became a financial member this year to support all the effort you are putting in. When Sport Pilot magazine folded this year the only place left for information and stimulation was Recreational Flying Forum. My suggestion is to all members if you can afford it become a financial member and get behind Ian and support this site. I visit here every morning and most nights and get a lot of enjoyment for only a $1 a day donation. (the paper costs me $1.50 a day)

A mate of mine invented a chair to take to Third World Country's to slow population growth. It worked by offering males $100 to sit on the chair with their goolies hanging down through a hole in the chair. Then he would get two bricks and smack the goolies in between them. I said " bloody hell that would hurt " and he replied " not really just make sure you don't get your thumbs caught between the bricks " sorry ! couldn't resist.

I thought we already do that in Australia. What Country do you live in? Just make sure you take a Viagra as you are passing away, otherwise there will be nowhere to hang a hat LOL

I am a member of Bendigo Flying Club, when we got all the upgrades and Quantas Link flying return to Sydney I thought this could be the end of our friendly, affordable club. I have also heard rumors that if there is an upgrade to the flight terminal (that the council is pushing for ) we may even lose our club house to make way for it! The following is a letter of objection to landing fees sent to the airport manager. To the Manager Bendigo Airport, Please except my sincere opposition to the City of Greater Bendigo’s plan to introduce landing fees at Bendigo Airport. I have been a member of the Bendigo Flying Club for six years. One of the reasons I chose Bendigo to train for my Pilots Licence ( I live 40 ks from the airport) was that the local flying club has very competitively priced training rates with multiple aircraft for hire. Introduction of landing fees will increase costs to local pilots to the point they will reduce their annual flying time (a major safety issue as you need to stay current) and our local flying club would have to increase their rates to the point that other flying school rates would become more attractive to perspective pilots, losing income to the club and the area of Bendigo. To give an example Shepparton Airport introduced landing fees probably two years ago. Myself and most of the recreational and Instructing pilots from Bendigo no longer fly there as it is cost preventive. Shepparton’s local flying club is now struggling due to the lack of airport traffic and increased costs. Visitors to Bendigo arriving by train, car, bus or bike pay no entry fee to enter your beautiful city, why then should people arriving by aircraft be charged a fee? Most airport users would be prepared to pay a parking fee the same as you pay to park in Bendigo’s inner city , to charge to visit will only encourage them to visit another destination. (Losing local income for the area)

You didn't offend me. We are all entitled to an opinion !

Sorry double post !

Octave I agree with you 100% I was just taking the P!ss I just don't like the DOOMSDAY approach ! The thing that annoys me, is that most of the climate change posters do the following: Drive cars Eat food from the supermarket , covered in plastic, grown with water that has been robbed from the environment Go on holidays overseas on aircraft polluting the upper atmosphere Buy clothes that are made by 12 year old children in a sweat shop being payed 20 cents an hour Have the latest mobile phone that is made from plastic and metals that are supplied from mining that rape and pillage the earth Drink coffee on the way to work that is produced in a 3rd world country that slash and burn jungle But who am I to judge!

Well I may as well join in for a Rant! In my lifetime (61 years) the following DOOMSDAY predictions have been made. We will not have enough petroleum to last the next ten years. Didn't happen! There's a hole in the ozone layer ( we will be fried like prawns on the BBQ ) Didn't happen! Climate change ( Debatable) But for the people with the glass half full mentality ! Lifespan has increased by probably 15 years ( a lot of my Dad's mates dropped dead of a heart attack in their 50's ) Vaccinations have almost eliminated most fatal diseases Most Australians living standards are the highest on record Australia is the safest it has ever been ( even if the media tries to make out it isn't ) We haven't had a World War for 74 years We have freedom of speech and the rite to have a democratic vote ( see Hong Kong ) The old I'm doing it for the grandkids is BS! If your fair dinkum do the following Get a bike ( pollution free ) Turn off your heating or cooling or go off the grid Stop flying your aircraft (waste of fuel ) Grow your own vegies Get a vasectomy (the world is over populated ) Stop eating lentils ( to much methane ) where do I stop? I think we all need to stop being political hypocrites ! Maybe we need another world war to give us something to really worry about ! Or maybe we have it too easy and don't appreciate how lucky we are. END OF RANT !

No thanks needed mate! I've been doing it for 45 years and have been more than rewarded. Knowing you helped to save somebody's home, crops ,livestock or even their life is payment enough. Who knows one day I might need the favour returned ?

I have worked with Choppers fighting fires with the CFA. They have changed the way we fight fires. Many times when we think we have lost control of a fire front they will hit a rough patch of country that we can't get access too, getting it back in control. We have a permanent Heli fire chopper based at Bendigo 40 ks from us and most times it is operating at the fire front before local trucks get there. I agree with Bex, People have to learn that they are responsible for their own safety. If we attend a fire we need access and a clear space to operate around houses. I (as a driver ) will not put my crew in danger trying to reach a burning residence surrounded by trees, long grass with only a narrow access no through road. As the saying goes " you make your own luck ".

Derrrrrrrrr...I was trying to understand (Asian accent) I'm not at all racist but when it means I'm in a circuit with another aircraft and have no idea what they are doing it worry's me!

Soar won't be missed. They swamped us in Bendigo. Their touch and go's, clogged up the circuit and students had poor English!

Sorry Bex Was at work today and remembered it was Mambo who made the T shirts, their logo had a similar dog logo! My work boots are Mongrel , so you're spot on. cheers.

I had a few T shirts years ago that were the " mongrel " brand with nearly the same cartoon dog on them. Was that your brand ?

Yep Skippy meant East! ( failed my nav test lol ) Just brought a new Triton ute, rang the service department of my local dealer and inquired which side of the original filter should I fit an after market water trap and filter in the fuel line ? Stern reply was if you fit any type of after market filters you could void your warranty, as far as they are concerned there are adequate filters and it could interfere with the water contamination warning sensor. My mates ute was a Mazda BT50 and there's a bitch fight between the servo, fuel company, insurance and Mazda about who takes the blame and pays the bills.

Also beware of buying fuel if you see a tanker doing deliveries at a servo. The large volume of fuel dumped into the tanks at delivery stir up contaminants (rust ,water, etc. ). Have a mate that filled up his diesel ute 3 hours west of Perth while a tanker was doing a delivery . 30 ks up the road the ute died and couldn't be started. Outcome was a large amount of water in the fuel destroying the whole common rail system on the ute!

Are you stealing the CEO's words ? Or was that Phil Mc Crackins ?

I know you said your new plane had fly by wire.............didn't expect this!

I think you have hit the nail on the head. I just renewed my subscription before his passing. Tried the electronic version but just not the same as having it sitting beside the couch to browse at leisure.

So many big words! I'm flabbergasted! As Pauline Hanson said "please explain" I hope you know what he is saying Thruster 88 ? I'm don't think I have the intellectual cognitive dissonance to resonate or validate the Dunning-Kruger effect.