Pearo

Pearo when you say you can legally join anywhere I don't think that is technically correct. With the straight in and base leg joins there are quite a few conditions to be met before they can be done legally, not least of which is to make sure it doesn't inconvenience (can't remember specific legal term used) traffic already in the circuit.

IT may be legal, does not mean mean its the best way to do it. The only time I will do a straight in approach is when I am in CTA. The only time I do a base join is if no one is in the circuit (read no broadcasts are received from anyone in the circuit), and I broadcast my intentions at the CTAF boundary or reporting point, as well as broadcasting my descent to circuit height with intentions to join base.

Legally you can join anywhere, although straight in approaches are often outlawed at many aerodromes, and there is broadcast requirements. I often join base at YRED, but only if its quiet; I respect other aircraft in the circuit, I transmit my intentions well before I get to the circuit and if there is any potential conflict I will just overfly and join crosswind.

YCAB is a crazy airport at the best of times with its fair share of cowboys, not to mention gliding operations and parachute drops. I would overfly, descend on the dead side and join crosswind.

I reckon its going to get hectic there from tomorrow on, remember the new CTAF frequency is 125.85 from midnight tonight. IF you have 2 COM's, I would been tuning into 118.8 for a few months.

Did you keep flying commercial after PNG?

Air crash investigators is just about my favourite show! And it was the book QF32 that got me interested in taking up flying lessons in the first place.

Thanks Nev, I now understand this technique to be essential starting to roll with full power on so as to minimise rolling distance to rotation thus shortest takeoff distance achieved.Just like dropping the clutch on a 351 GT with a decent handful of revs and getting out in front quickly.

Just like dropping the clutch on a 351GT, there is a lot of prop slip. This is why drag cars like to minimse wheel spin!

There is a lot of info on this sort of stuff (irrational fears etc.) on the internet. Some crap, some very good. If you dwell on the bad memories instead of the good, you'll never get back in the air. The last few flights I have done have been in conditions that make me nervous but as I completed each flight I found it easier to do the next. I forced myself to concentrate on what I will do during the flight rather than thinking it's gonna be bumpy or rough. Once in the air it was not as bad as I thought and by concentrating on the flying - perfect circuits etc. I had less time to think about the actual rocking and rolling that might occur. And as usual, the video showed the turbulence to be quite minimal. Eventually I will do away with the blouse altogether.

I also got spoiled over the winter, got my RPL and have been doing heaps of personal flights in near perfect conditions, then summer has to come along with its thermals!! Mind you, I did get a few scary days with the westerlies of the ranges to the west of Brisbane, lots of upset air!. I am starting to readjust to the summer conditions again though.

BTW, Went up to see the Sunny Coast Controllers after I landed today. Nice to talk face to face with the people who guide us in. I mentioned that it must get frustrating dealing with us noobs all the time, but the reassured me that 90% of their traffic is training and its part of their job. Anyone doing CTA should try and get into the local tower for a visit.

I agree circuits are good for keeping you busy. stay away from TV shows like air crash investigators. Also spent time in the Accident forum here and now I stay away from it. I also didn't check the weather today. two reasons one I didn't won't to be put off and other is it was a local flight.

Might be a good idea to keep a real good lookout for the next month or two in your area. My local area went through the same thing some time ago and it is truly amazing how many people don't read the ERSA.

The new frequency will appear in the November ERSA.

https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/pending/ersa/FAC_YCAB_12-Nov-2015.pdf

https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/pending/ersa/FAC_YCDR_12-Nov-2015.pdf

Thanks for sharing Pearo. would also like to add that I had the same issue with airliners would get tanked on the plane to deal with it. But I can't do that when I am the pilot. But that part has gone now I have no issue with PAX flights now just have to work on my own flying.

Its the little things that count though, today for example. Getting ready for the PPL flight test I wanted to practice some some stuff, so I got out the POH to check some procedures in flight when there was turbulance. I actually took my hands off the controls to do other stuff whilst the plane was getting bumped around! Fair enough, it was not very much turbulance, but its one little step in the right direction for me!

Very good reason to check the actual NOTAMs rather than relying solely on the map screen.

Shafs,

Its interesting reading this, because I am one of those pilots. I am still shit scared of flying, have an RPL, about to do the PPL flight test. However, when I go flying on those nice calm mornings when there is no turbulance I just love it and cant get enough of flying. So I have become a smooth air pilot. The danger of that is if I get caught in conditions that are not great, I could end up in trouble. I am now forcing myself up in conditions that test my personal limts, but dont exceed it. If the conditions exceed my personal limits, I try and and get an instructor to go for a flight with me.

Step back 15 years, you would not get me in a plane period. In fact, if it were not that I was faced with loosing a job at the time, I would probably still not be flying. I had to be sedated to get me onto a commercial jet flight.

What I have realised is, that it does not matter what anyone says here. It may 'gee you up' mentally, but does not help when you are actually up there. I have more than 150 hours up now, I should be getting over this, but I am not. However, I am starting to learn that if I tackle each individual issue about why I am scared, then I learn to deal with that issue. It does not take the fear away, it just enables me to deal with it, allows me to rationalise it in my head. For example, I was scared of doing steep turns in gusty conditions because I thought the gusts would roll the plane into an unrecoverable spin, so I went up with an instructor and did stalls in 60 degree turns. I now know what the plane does in steep turns when it stalls, and I had no issue doing the recovery, but alas I am still scared of steep turns in gusts.

A few times now, I have been close to tossing it in, but something is driving me to continue. I like being challanged, perhaps thats what it is. All I can suggest, is that you need to isolate all those things that scare you, and address them individually. Its hard to do, trust me. I am realising that the fear of flying is not one thing, but many. For me, overall it was a fear of not being in control, and that one big thing adds up to many little things that you are not in control of, like turbulance!

So mate, be honest with your instructor, nail down those fears and address them. It takes a while, but you will slowly start to nut them out. I mix it up with about half a dozen instructors, so they all pick up little things.

Also, do youself a favour, pick those calm days and go out an do some solo stuff. It reminds you why you go flying, and why you battle through the fears.

I fly right on the boundary of Brisbane Class C all the time, just dont cross it! I also monitor BNE centre when I am skirting their airspace. Its actually worth monitoring centre anyway, because they will often broadcast advisory traffic messages, which is a nice thing to have.

Also, when flying around amberly, I always was always taught to obtain a code and monitor amberly clearance just in case I wander too close! TO be honest, maybe I should apply this principle to Brisbane CTA as well.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/29713072/pilot-plucked-to-safety-from-wa-crash-site/

No idea what the aircraft was at this point.

That first flightchops video is like Caloundra (YCDR).

A few observations made watching the video:- Too many distracting gadgets (iPad, ADSB receiver on glare shield, knee pad)

- Knee pad limited control wheel movement, not good if landing with a right crosswind.

 

- Checklist used as do list (do checks from memory, then use the checklist to make sure you didn't miss anything, which why they're called "check" lists)

 

- Too much chatter between pilots, which led to missing aircraft on RWY 27 calls.

 

- Aircraft on final 27 didn't respond to the line-up call of aircraft entering 32

 

So much for radio calls preventing traffic conflicts, lots and lots of talking but the good old lookout saved the day!

To many distracting gadgets - I have an iPad as a backup, dont use it for flying at this point because I am not allowed to, but rest assured it will be my primary tool for navigation once I have my PPL (just as it is my primary nav tool when sailing).

Knee pad limited control - I use an A4 clipboard folder for nav and fuel logs at this point, will probably switch to a5 with experience. When flying on my RPL privileges I use an A5 kneeboard, it does not limit control, that is why we check controls before takeoff.

Checklist - My instructors taught me to do it form memory - I fly once a week, not daily like them, so I use checklists. If I use the checklist, I don't forget anything.

Too much chatter between pilots - I think that was covered off in the video, and what is most important is that the PIC made the correct decisions.

I have learned a great deal from flight chops videos. He always makes a point of saying he is not an instructor, just a ppl, but he hands over so much useful information that most people are scared to admit too. He often posts up stuff that shows his errors, and I applaud that.

I am in a category not listed, New to Aviation but doing GA training. My intentions are purely recreational (doing a PPL) and I have no interested in going commercial. I personally see LSA and the like as the backbone of recreational aviation and I am fully behind RAAus. However, I am not young (not old either) and not stupid, and I see some serious flaws in RAAus that I find genuinely concerning, and this is coming from someone who is not exactly adverse to taking risks.

FWIW, I am green, only have about 150 hours of experience, about half of that as PIC. I hold and RPL but have completed all my PPL training (just have to do the test). I am not sure about what sort of flying I intend to do as yet, but I suspect that 95% of my time will be solo stuff, so LSA ticks a lot of boxes at the moment.

I've picked your post Howard, because it really asks the big question. The answer is NO - because this little rabbit learns from his mistakes without asking Big Brother to intervene. If you haven't worked out what caused your miscalculation - ask your CP or CFI. ,

While we are on the subject of war wounds, I spent most of June 2014 trying to do an RA-Aus cross country endorsement. Did not complete. The weather was insane. I was at the airfield every week day for two weeks and managed to fly four times.This year I had three tries at flying from Canberra to Bankstown (and on to elsewhere) but got turned back by cloud. The fourth attempt was a success. I lost count but that was maybe 15 hours dual to do a 4 hour navex.

 

I was supposed to do my long cross country in late July or early August. I ended up booking three days in a row but every day got messed up by fog lasting until lunch or rain.

 

Then my wife had a baby.

 

The moment I booked for Thursday coming up the probability of rain increased to 90% and I found out I have a new instructor.

 

With luck like that and no ability to hang around an airport for weeks at a time just in case the weather clears, it's no surprise I have ...

 

over 140 hours total time and not even an RPL.

I am not sure if I have posted it here, but I am actually scared of flying. about 15 years ago I got on a commercial flight for the first time, but I had to be sedated. Not a PPL yet, but you would be doing well to wipe this grin off my face at the moment!

As I suggested earlier, I was due to do a solo nav the day after said accident. In my case, initially the CFI was dubious because of the forecast of severe turbulence. Forecast said turbulance was supposed to burn off by 1000hrs local, and I was supposed to be EOBT at 1200hrs local. I was delayed because the aircraft I was booked in had a faulty intercom and only had one functional com. Switched aircraft and left 1 hour later. I was lucky, flew with same CFI in moderate turbulence 2 navs prior and spent the whole time arguing with the plane just trying to maintain altitude. So I was wheels up 3 hours after forecast turbulence was supposed to be gone, but when I got airborne I knew it was more than I could handle only because of the prior flight with the CFI.

In my case, a stubborn student would have persisted, and would have completed the nav. Me, I am pushing 40 years old and not chasing a CPL career, and I have no desire to be flying in conditions I dont care to be in. Different mentality. The forecast may say one thing, but when you are up there it may be a different situation altogether.

I was beating myself up for not doing that nav, all the instructors are applauding my descision.

I think there may be a couple of issues here. Also, I believe the class of airspace has no relevance as to how you conduct yourself on the ground.

Everyone does a pre-test because the L1 instructor (usually the Chief FI) needs to make a recommendation to CASA that a candidate is ready to do the practical exam. Some students fly ok until they are under exam conditions so chucking a less familiar body in the other seat can expose some weaknesses peculiar to that setting.Also if the L1 recommends more than a few students who fail, it's on the instructor and school. It is not unheard of to get both the authorised testing officer and someone from CASA observing the proceedings from the back seat during an exam so it's good to be sure of your weaknesses before that day

I just had a look at google, they clearly need a taxiway to 03. Its fairly substantial runway, surprising that it does not already exist. 1600m (have not checked ersa btw) is a long backtrack!

I have one instructor that insists that you cannot be on an runway when a plane is taking off (class G) but my understanding is that you can be on the runway, you just cant takeoff until the separation minima is met. Maybe I need to review the CAR's, because I often enter a runway to backtrack as soon as the departing plane has passed the holding point (I stress this is all in class G).

Finally, after a false start last week due to turbulence, I managed to complete my second (and final) cross country solo!! I have officially completed my PPL training syllabus and can now move onto the testing phase!! Only problem is I go on call next Friday for 2 weeks, then I am out of town for 4 weeks :(. Hopefully the 6 week break is not too detrimental. RAC does a pre-test (not sure if this is a MOS thing or a RAC thing), so if there is any issues I will do some remedial work before the actual flight test.

Left Redcliffe for a full stop at Archerfield (class D), all good but got told off by ground because I was not over the holding point when I requested taxi clearance (minor brain fart). Departed Archerfield west for Dalby via Gatton and Millmerran. Got cleared through Amberly (MIL class C) after a bit of a delay, managed to successfully reroute to Gatton after initially heading for the Lake Manchester VFR Route. Full stop at Dalby for a break (well needed by then, it was pretty rough ride, lots of thermals). Last leg was Dalby-Kilcoy-Redcliffe. I tried unsuccessfully to get cleared through Oakey airspace (MIL Class C, RA2) direct to Kilcoy, but no luck so stuck with Plan A. Avoiding Oakey was probably a better idea as I got some more DR practice rather than cheating with the GPS!

Anyway, I think I might still be just short of the PPL standard in some areas, but I personally think I did OK today.

I was a simmer before I started flying, have yokes, rudder pedals, quadrants etc. It was detrimental to my learning because I kept looking at the instruments. In fact, it was so bad that I even obtained my RPL with these bad habbits. It was not until I started my PPL navs that I actually realised how bad it was. I know now. I packed up all my sim gear about 4 lessons in, and its still packed away (until I complete my PPL and start my IFR training!)

If you want to learn cockpit layout, go sit in the actuall aircraft outside of you training sessions. They dont charge you to sit in the aircraft on the ground and its far more effective. I would have spend hours on the ground running through checklists, doing my FMOST checks for forced landings etc. Honestly, its the best way to do it.

By the way, airports don't have local customs.

I was supposed to do a solo nav today. Same model aircraft. Clear skies, but wicked turbulence near the ranges, so decided to terminate the flight. Today was a good day. How could they let a student go off on a solo flight on a day like suggested?