Maritime_Ev

Thanks for the info. Not much point in replacing the batteries then, it's on offer online for only $299 for the whole unit. Did a bit more research online and it looks like they've all become a whole lot cheaper in the last few years. For $50 more you get a rescueME one that is watertight to 15m and half the weight (and has a seven year battery life too). BTW, I have a former Tasmanian paramedic on my crew, and he's quite vocal about the need for a PLB even for a shortish bushwalk or flight (having flown hours over dense canopy looking for someone 'somewhere between camp 3 and 4' ).

Anyone here up to speed on the latest advances in Personal Locator Beacon technology? A quick google search shows up the GME MT410G which does all that's required, and quite cheap too. Primairy use would be in the air (flying different rental ACs and don't want to get cought short when the club's PLB is unavailable), but I figure it would be a good thing to take when we go for a walk or do a bit of fourbying in the local NP. So in order of importance: -has to have 406 + 121.5 and GPS. -long battery life. -Not too expensive (<$500) -Light(ish) weight. Any advice (positive or negative) on brands/types and where to buy (online or near the sunny coast)?

I better go and book a test flight then to check it out, I love free food! Where is it stationed? Are they going to do a promotion tour with it?

Good on Rotax moving forward, with both the turbo (in the 914) and the EFI (in the 912iS) already flying it may not even have too many glitches to start off with. I guess it would make nice combo with a Sling 4 or perhaps another modern 4 seater (or maybe even in a C172, would the turbo and CS prop make up for the 25hp it has less than a standard 172?). I remember reading about a six cilinder Rotax a long time ago, I guess that didn't get anywhere?

With a bit of streching there are now even 5 classes of extinguishers, ABC for solids, liquids and gasses, class D for metal fires (which require a special powder) and E for (high voltage) electrical fires. Although the E class is a bit of a missnomer, an electrical fire is just a class A fire that you shouldn't get wet. We have a couple of class D extinguishers on board for putting out litium battery fires, I guess they'll become more common once electrical aircraft and cars get more mainstream. The reason you only need a very small amount of Halon or powder is that they work as a negative catalyst, they don't get 'used up' like evaporating water (in AFFF) or need to remove the oxigen to a non-flamable level (like CO2). From what I picked up at a bunch of more and and less advanced fire fighting courses over the years is that the cooling effect of CO2 (and to some extend foam) is quite limited, the main effect has to come from removing the oxigen from the fire. On all larger ships there's a total flooding system for the engine room in case of a large fire (with the benefit that ships are generally air tight on the bottom...) there have been quite a few stories where ventilation was started hours after the fire was put out and just re-ignited because there was still enough heat for ignition (which is usually the end of the ship since you only have a single shot of CO2).

True, ABC powder is nasty stuff and I certainly wouldn't recomend using it in an enclosed space normally, but sometimes it is a matter of priorities. It's also very bad for your electronics, they may still work a day later but once they've been contaminated it is only a matter of time before they will fail. Problem is that there are not a lot of alternatives available; Halon (or FM200) will do the job but is difficult or impossible to get for a private person. CO2 you can't use in an enclosed space and it won't do much out in the open when there's a breeze (except for liquid fires perhaps). Also you will need a fair bit of it to be effective (packed in a heavy pressure cilinder). I have a foam extinguisher (AFFF) at home and one in the car, which work fine, but as with the CO2 you need a bit of it to be effective so probably not suitable for use in the air.

Isn't there a requirement to have a fire extinguisher on board? It's usually on the pre-flight checklist I thought, "check charge and date", perhaps that was only company SOP. In any case a good thing to have handy, probably not so much for use in the air but more to buy some time for post crash evacuation (be it your own airplane or someone elses). Tried one during my last firefighting course and it is surprising how well even half a kilo of powder works. And while you're in the shop buying one for your airplane get one for in the car as well... It might mean the difference between pulling someone out of a wreck or being unable to do anything.

I'd be interested to get some more tailwheel practice, maybe take it for a week if that's possible. Only isssue would be the cabin space, my old instructor had a C120 and he reckoned that it was a bit cozy (and he is not a big guy by any means). Is there any chance that I could fold my 1.95m long frame in it, in some comfort? I have no problems in other Cessnas flew a C162, 150 and multiple generations of 172. No hurry tho, will be overseas for the next 5-7 weeks.

It happens to me sometimes especially when I'm flying a different AC than normal. YBSU tower was a bit cranky at me recently for only responding to the 3rd call. ("oh wait, that's me!" )

I get the point, sometimes it's hard to get a word in edgewise on 126.7 in SE Queensland. But on the other hand when there's a couple of gliders thermaling just off the threshold at YGYM I want to make sure they know where I am in the circuit so they will at least make a call before they join in front of me on short final. It's a bit of a delicate balance and I guess newbies like me prefer to err on the cautious side. Wouldn't it be a good idea to have a low power button on the VHF for when you're using it in the circuit, so you don't get circuit calls from a field 50km away? Marine VHF transmitters have an automatic power reduction on some channels for this reason (obviously not on CH16, which is sometimes unfortunate, like here in Rio where the local taxi drivers spend the night making animal noises on a stolen handheld).

It is available now via the Sunshine Coast Aero Club, did a few more hours today; was going quite well (off course I left my really bouncy landing for the first solo... oops). Unfortunately I'm heading back to work this weekend, hope to be doing some more time in it and get some aeros and spinning done in a couple of months when I get back from the ship. Might even take it to a fly-in, I really like the center seating (makes right hands circuits easier too) and it's also a fair bit faster than my usual rides (C172 and Foxbat).

Did some circuits in a super-decathlon today, unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough to go out and do aeros (lowish cloud) but I did make good start for my CSU and TW endos. Got one (X-wind) landing that went a bit wobbly, and I can definitely feel how it could go pear shaped easily, but on the whole it wasn't as scary as I was thinking in advance. A few more hours more before they'll let me off by myself though, and then off to the training area for some aerobatics!

Strange that there's nothing on their UA website about the new model http://www.aeroprakt.kiev.ua/airplanes/ It's a more sophisticated looking aircraft for sure, but I call хуйня on the 20 knots speed improvement... That would take it from being among the slowest LSAs to one of the fastest. Even with the aerodynamic improvements it is still optimized mostly for slow flight and short landings, not a lanceair/glassair racer. No free lunch in aviation... not even a cheap lunch :) I've done a bit of flying in the A22LS and I like it a lot, it has a few big advantages compared to the other LSAs in the aeroclub hanger: mostly the very low stall speed (and this landing run) and especially the load carrying ability. You can take a full tank of fuel and two healthy sized adults and still not worry too much about the W&B (try that in the Pipersport or Pioneer). But of course this comes at a price, it's quite bare bones and noisy inside (to keep the empty weight down) and it is very slow in the cruise 85-90 knots IAS, perhaps 95 if you go pedal to the metal. Can't wait to have a go in the A32 though, hope they call at Sunny coast airport when they go on a demonstration tour.

Ah the old Bernoulli vs Newton debate... Almost as heated a subject as the Blues/Maroons, pages have been written full about it on various aviation fora. Don't really wan to start that again, and I agree with Langewiesche that it is not relevant to the pilot in flight, it's all about AoA. Also https://xkcd.com/803/

Just received the bub's ear muffs, I'll leave a review once I've caught up on enough sleep to be safe in the air again :)

Yes, yes!! I love a good technical discussion... Can we promise each other that we will leave GA vs RAAus, Labour vs Liberals, Maroons vs Blues and people's opinion on a certain Australian brand of aircraft out of it? Please...

Haven't finished it yet; so far found it quite interesting and given it's age quite relevant too (just imagine reading a book about driving a car that was written before WWII). His remarks on flight training are not so relevant anymore (i.e. "it would be good to include some slow/high AoA flying before starting to practice landings") ; I would imagine that the training syllabus in the late 30ies was a lot smaller than it is today. We all know the stories of people going solo after 5-7 hours in a Tiger Moth, clearly they couldn't cover everything in that time frame. I don't mind the 'ship' too much, but the 'flippers' are weird, even writes Elevator in brackets behind it at some point. Curious to know if that was the accepted American term back then? Anyone here owns a Cessna PoH from that era? That was something that struck me as something very obvious and yet not much discussed during flight training. Only 1 out of the 3 flying instructors I've done basic training with stated that in such an explicit way. Stalling is caused by a to high AoA, and the AoA is regulated by the elevator. No back stick, no stall (of course how much back stick depends on the load of the AC, correct?)

He chucks out Bernoulli on page 6, I like it already!

No flying this week, weather in SEQ is a bit avarage, lucky I received a prezzy in the mail to keep me occupied: Interesting reading from the fourties... (have been looking for it in Oz for a while, eventually got it free delivery from the US via fishpond). After the first couple of chapters I'd recommend it.

Caltex states on their website that only their E10 labeled fuel contains Ethanol. http://www.caltex.com.au/LatestNews/Pages/NewsItem.aspx?ID=12510 Obviously, that won't mean much if a franchisee is mixing up the fuel with something else, but then that would be a pretty risky thing to do (if only from a legal liability point of view). Still might be a good idea to check, does anyone know where you can buy a testing kit in Australia? I can only find them in the US online (where ethanol doesn't need to be labeled on bowsers).

Yes, and I'll be doing a reeeeaaally slow descent too.

Do you (or anyone else here) have experience with those Em for bubs ear muffs? And yes the RA-Aus manual is of accademic interest only here :) as said, I don't think having to deal with the baby and flying at the same time is safe, especially as a low time pilot, so a two seater is out of the question. I had a look at the applicable CAAP and there's nothing in there about a minimum age but there is some interesting stuff about the use of car seats in aircraft. Australia has it's own standard that is different from the rest of the world (which uses ISOFIX) in that it has a top strap which needs an anchor point that Cessna (and Airbus/Boeing) doesn't supply, but apparently some seats have a separate 'mode' for use in the air without the top strap.

A kid under 18kg can't use the normal seatbelt, might have a look if there's anything in the ops manual about CSRs in RA-Aus aircraft? I will be flying a GA aircraft though, so we have someone who can monitor the baby without interfering with flying.

Had a look online and found that the noise levels in a 172S is avarages around 86dB(A), whith a maximum of 101 dB(A) which would be enough to justify wearing hearing protection for an adult so I wouldn't want to expose the baby to it either. Got quite a few hard-hearing people in my family, mostly from industrial noise exposure back when it wasn't considered much of a problem, so I do take it serious. Considering ordering a pair of these, don't seem to be any shops on the coast that stock them, but I guess they're not that expensive so worth the try. http://www.earmuffsforkids.com.au/ems4bubsbabyearmuffs The clogged nose thing is definitely something to keep an eye on; he can't complain about ear pain yet... (and it's only a very small nose too!)

There's a CAAP on the carriage of children and infants (235-2) that has some info on how to fit a child restraint, it's mostly focused on RPT but it does mention GA. It doesn't mention the ability to exit, which is precluded by using a CSR anyway even for a child that can walk. Maybe the RAAus ops manual has something like that in it?