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G'day everyone for anyone interested our club is selling our Lightwing See Aviation Classifieds Cheers

I was instructing at The Oaks today and there were a number of L39's operating over the top of the circuit area - returning to Camden at various times, often in pairs.

Hi The Sydney Recreational Flying Club at The Oaks has a Lightwing that will be put up for sale soon. PM me if interested. Cheers, Mark

I'm with you Motzartmerv on the inclusion of references to the horizon. Having done aerobatics in the past with Noel Kruse with the Sydney Aerobatic School who had a heavy emphasis on stall stick position, the article for me reflects the typical approach to stalling instruction - start straight and level, slowly raise the nose etc, and then once it stalls nose down. I remember stalling in the top of my loops a few times - I wouldn't be pushing the stick to recover. The issue I have is that anyone can write anything and put it in the magazine - there is minimal editorial control over whether something described is best practice. The article about MTOW by RAAus Ops even mentioned how articles have appeared in the magazine where aircraft would potentially have been over loaded in trip reports. Not a good look if we are trying to build a safety culture. In the EAA Sport Pilot magazine anyone who writes an article has a little min bio at the end stating experience, qualifications etc. I personally think RAAus Ops should be vetting any articles (it is supposed to be our official publication), and a bio should be included so that readers can decide for themselves as to the level of confidence they can have in the material being published. Cheers

Hi Jerome it probably depends on what you want from your flying. I fly at Sydney Recreational Flying Club and believe that we have a great formula - great aircraft (primarily A22 Foxbats or a Hughes Lightwing all with Rotax reliability) excellent instructors and a great social atmosphere. We pride ourselves on being more than just a place to hire an aircraft, as we offer a range of social activities including flyaways (e.g Natfly), competition days, and other events (e.g. courses, and regular club meetings). We are a not for profit organisation based around benefiting members, and as such our rates are very competitive. However. as we are a volunteer organisation there are limitations. For example, we are not a 7 day a week operation - we only fly primarily Saturdays and Sundays (but also some Thursdays and some public holidays). We also expect people who wish to fly with us to join the club ($100 pa). We allow people to fly 3 hours before having to make this commitment. In return people can hire a well maintained A22 Foxbat or Lightwing for $125 solo or $170 with an instructor (or $160 with an instructor once a club member). Another variable is the weather. At The Oaks we fly off North/South grass runways, and we are in the foothills of the Great Dividing range. That means we are very much at the mercy of the weather (particularly the rain and westerly winds). You need to factor this in when choosing where to fly. However, the benefit is that we taxi out and take-off straight away and we are already I the training area. Please send me a PM if you would like more information, Cheers, Mark

I concur with Facthunter and ryanm - in that it seems to be a private operation. Being employed as a pilot does not necessarily in itself require a CPL. The requirement is based on what type of operation you are conducting... (CPL also)

A few questions: Can the Super Diamond be built as a tailwheel Do the wings come off for regular transport Are four strokes such VW or 1/2 VW useable?

Perhaps an alternative to not landing where you're not supposed to is to do what the balloonists used to do way back. That is, carry bottles of champagne, and land wherever you need to, and then hand the champagne to the land owner as a sweetner!

Boingk Small HP is ok if you keep it light and its in keeping with the design. Another of Leon Davis's designs, the DA-11 I think it was, had a 18 HP engine. There is a video of this on youtube - it certainly gets up and goes. Sadly the designer passed away before plans could be developed and sold. Another design to consider (which I like) is the Teenie 2. All metal, VW powered (50-65hp), and reportedly quick to build even from plans. Around 12000 sets of plans were sold. There is a yahoo group with lots of resources - files/pics etc.

As already stated, all aircraft already have one - the control column

Hi Tomo Thanks for the info. The logical place for me would be Camden as its only about 10mins away. I'm not sure if you can do tow endorsements there or not - I had heard that you can do them at Bathurst with the Bathurst Soaring Club on a Pawnee. I have the tow pilots manual and have had a bit of a read - I found it interesting that it even includes AUF aircraft such as the Lightwing when talking about relevant experience for tow pilots. Cheers

Can anyone comment on how much glider experience a prospective tug pilot needs at the average gliding club before starting to do some towing (assuming they have the requisite experience on power a/c & a tow endorsement)? Any general thoughts on making the transition appreciated.

For me I'm not too worried about the title. I think what needs to be addressed is: The issue of on-time delivery Content - stuff that is useful in helping us be better pilots, and may entice new members.

Thanks Steve Glad you mentioned changes to the magazine - can't say I get much out of it at present.........

Good luck with it all, from the info I've read Sonex provide some of the best plans in the game. Cheers