mAgNeToDrOp

Hi jay - welcome, good to see another member joining up from WA.

10 miles for the 150 might be just enough - the "curvature of the earth" factor comes into play and might get airborne as planet earth falls away under it:roflmao:

Good question, never done it before but am guessing carrying a gas cooker would be out of the question, gas canister being dangerous goods and all? Box of matches, find some wood? :)

Got some flight time for a present so took the sportscruiser in Bunbury for a fly with instructor, first time in a low wing, what a lovely looking aircraft! Biggest difference for me was the visibility compared to high wing, huge difference, handling was totally different too but haven't had enough time to comment with authority on that, landing was ok seemed to float forever but settled nicely, not a bad landing considering it was 6 months since my last flight... controls alot more sensitive and responsive than the jab...hope to get some more time up there soon, flying bug sunk its teeth in me again :) Might stick to j230 for Nav endorsement so I can concentrate on the navigation side of things instead of getting used to a different aircraft,left hand stick, toe breaks etc, but definitely on my list after navs...oh and so much more room in the sportscruiser, being 6'4" and 120kg (humorous sight climbing out of a j160) was still room to spare..:)

Welcome - did some flying (as madkeen passenger/mapholder/autopilot) around Neslpruit (fair distance from you tho) in various light aircraft in and out of bushstrips in the area over Kruger National park etc, pretty much cemented flying bug in my head so I got my Rec Pilot license when I came to Aus after that...good luck with the ppl...

Hi All Since I have only ever flown high wing aircraft, was wondering what the pros and cons were of both? Do most pilots have a preference? Is it hard to transition from high wing to low wing and vice versa or is it not really an issue? Cheers

Well done Brett - love your work ;)

I tried to contact them a few months ago to get some info on the bantam and was told they are no longer distributing the Bantam due to the current economic climate... Also I contacted the factory in NZ and they told me the six cylinder option is only available in South Africa, something about it not being cost effective to get it certified in Aus/NZ - correct me if I'm wrong... But agreed not many around would love to see a few more or even have the option of hiring one here in wa, none I know of...

Welcome Dave - WA member numbers growing good to see, we'll have to organise a recflying wa fly-in one day..

Welcome Cossy - don't worry you won't get a coronary - just big fat stupid grin and a craving for more ;)

Am guessing circuits is just that, only circuits, anything else would be to the designated training area, within its boundaries, and back again. Once you have the restricted license you are restricted to 25nm from the airfield you took off from., until you do your Nav endorsements then you go where ever you (legally) want..

Yes its the Release Candidate which can be downloaded for free from microsoft. It is a "trial" as such and shouldn't be used to replace your production machine. Expires June 2010 I think.. There will be no support really until you upgrade (purchase ;) )the full retail version which should be released later this year hopefully I've installed it as a dual-boot, second Operating system (I select which operating system to load on bootup)on my machine just to play around with, but alot of the guys where I work, (we are an IT company), are using it as their production machine and so far its been very impressive, looks good but doesn't suck up all the resources like Vista. easiest install I have ever done -didn't need to load any drivers for any of my printers, joysticks, scanners etc, just automatically installed. If you need to do this it has the options to do it. Never been a huge fan of Windows but windows7 looks the best one so far. Ozzie without knowing details of your setup I wouldn't say win7 would improve your performance that much over XP, FSX in general is a very resource (esp CPU ) intensive piece of software. Most important thing is to have a fast processor, then as much RAM as you can and a decent graphics card. Anyway will have a play on FSX tonight as I only finished installing it late last night and had a quick play...

I have installed windows 7 (64bit RC) on my pc, and tried running Flight SimX. Runs well, actually better than WinXP suprisingly(and my pc is old, p4 about5 yrs old) - installed orbx scenery etc and it is running great, no glitches and using about the same resources as I was with xp, but in general the game runs better/smoother have most sliders at or near max... Windows 7 in general runs beautifully so far from what I have seen/tried, think I'll skip Vista completely Anyone tried FSX on windows 7?

Got my cert and have done NAV 1, still need to clock up the required PIC hrs for PAX endo should almost cover it with solo nav and a good excuse to go for another fly ;) so aiming to do navs...

Legend, thanks Bas - just when I was looking at the daunting task of manually entering waypoints...

My understanding is that Transponders respond when they receive a signal from any active interrogation device like Radar or TCAS, These PCAS devices can pick up transponder signals and warn you of this traffic up to six miles away - or interpret signal from transponders in mode S (broadcasting). So they will work in a non radar environment if transponder is mode S ?

I don't think transponders should be made mandatory, not sure it will make much difference, there is no substitute for looking out the window and communicating accurately of position/intentions.. But for those that want the option these PCAS systems appear to be an option (anyone had any experience with them?) Zaon Flight Systems - Home Ok they will only warn you if the other aircraft has a transponder but they are relatively small/lightweight (size of a deck of cards apparently) and not as expensive as active systems like TCAS.. and can be integrated with your gps for instance.. curious if anyone has seen or used these before

Yep no complaints from me about the guys at Wyalkatchem, did my training there and still hope to complete my navs...maybe will run into you sometime. Good luck and enjoy!

Hi Matt Welcome, nice to see another WA pilot (soon to be?)...where are you flying out of? Alot of experienced aviators on this forum am sure they will be able to answer any of your questions..

Correct me if I am wrong - this is from memory - but the mtow of the J160 isn't 544 but 540kg because they couldn't get it to stall at 45 knots or below at 544kg, but at 540 its fine...? As for the reason for the post I enjoy the J230 - simply for the grunt , climb and sound of that six up front ;) Still love flying the J160 but was definitely a bit harder to learn on..but worth it.. I found I floated alot at first but I had a tendency to come in a little fast - full flaps made it easier to control the speed and for better landings but obviously watch that speed ;)

Well done Brett, must feel great to be back up in the air again

Well since I've been grounded (what the hell, blame the global financial crisis ;) ) for the last few months I went down to the aviation Heritage Museum in Bullcreek, Perth for my aviation fix. All I can say is wow, can't believe that has been there all this time and I haven't gone down for a look. Most impressed by the restored Lancaster bomber and the Spitfire, and a Catalina - also a huge range of other aircraft in two huge hangars incl tiger moths, dakotas, Canberra bomber, Vampire, flying tea... too many to mention, was like a kid again, if you're at all intersted in aviation, or history then go down and have a look. It is staffed by volunteers who all seem to be ex RAAF with a lifetime of experience and some great stories.. get down there you won't regret it

Go the 160 for initial training, cheaper and it will make you a better pilot, transitioning to the 230 is a sinch as it is easier to fly in my opinion, just quicker...and the experience of feeling the difference in climb performance the first time you go up by yourself in the 230 will bring a big fat stupid grin to your face (i speak from experience :big_grin: love the sound of that six when you give it heaps down the strip ) I too trained on the 160 and am now doing the navs in the 230 (if only that money train would arrive so I can finish...)

white may be more difficult to see but I don't think these jabs and other plasticfantastics have any other choice since the white reflects the heat the most, and if am not mistaken can only have a certain percentage of the surface covered with paint,decals etc.. to avoid overheating the airframe and softening..correct me if I am wrong...

Yep, I don't remember anything about calculating weight and balance in the Raaus BAK exam but was shown how to work it out by my instructor, witht the Jab it's as easy as being able to read the chart, and of course understanding why we need to consider these things...