Pearo

I have often wondered what the actual difference between an PPL and an RPL with all the e I have an uncle, who owns a large cattle property, and owns a plane. He uses the plane for mustering and thats it. The RPL is designed for people like my uncle, flying GA planes around their property. The GFPT was a failure for them, because of the recency requirements. He is not interested in cross country, or CTA, he is only concerned about locating cattle that he can ship off to abattoirs. Me however, I want to fly a GA aircraft, and I am surrounded by delta and charlie airspace, so a PPL makes sense. I could do the RPL with endorsements, or I could do the PPL. Given I am also considering a CPL, the PPL route is the correct option.

So prior to entering CTA, whats your normal routine? Not sure where you are, but when I am heading into Gold Coast from the north, I get hung up on the coastal VFR traffic ( Jacobs well, Heckfield, Southport etc...) and I often miss the call from BNE Centre identifying me. Its busy down there, and I still find it quite overwhelming at this point!!! I know experience will help overcome the problems, I will never forget how terrified I was flying into Sunny Coast for the first time. Now its like meh, Class Delta so easy!!

I still remember my first solo, and I still remember how bad my landings were back then!! I got sent off on my solo and bounced it bad! The instructor told me to do a T&G, but then did an simulated engine fail on the runway. We taxied off and he said to stop at the holding point and then jumped out!! MY second sold was about half dozen circuits, and I had to do a couple of go arounds. I cant recall how many hours I had, but it would have been up around 20 I suspect, maybe more. I was coming off a fear of flying though, and still am dealing with it to be honest.

I am interested in how people deal with backround COM chatter. When I fly into CTA, I will have Brisbane Centre on one COM, and usually the CTAF or area frequency on the the other COM. Initial contact with BNE Center to get a transponder code is fine, but I always seem to miss them when they call me back to identify me., mainly because I am paranoid about the traffic in class G before I get into CTA. Anyone who flies into Gold Coast from the north will know, listening to 126.7 is pretty busy, When in CTA, I a, starting to develop a habit of turning off the BNE Centre COM and only listening to the tower. Just after a few tips on the best way to deal with your COM's as you head into CTA. I am one nav excercise of being sent into class charlie airspace on my own, and I would really like to have this sorted before then!

High fives allround!! Once you crack that solo, the rest is a breeze. Your will be out there on your own in no time now.

Forgot to say, that most times any military training outside of CTA is published in the NOTAMS also.

No. If they are operating in the area you will know about it, and they will avoid you. Any military jet activity is well broadcasted.

Are you CTA endoresed? If not, I would just go the direct route between Oakey and Amberly, Ie Warwick to Toogoolawah and stay below 4500 in that area. If you are CTA endorsed, go Coastal and transit YBCG, its well worth it. If you are worried about transiting controlled airspace, dont worry, Gold Coast Tower is great, and they are used to dealing with noobs like me, so someone who knows what they are doing will piss it in! If you are concerned about traffic, then avoid the coastal route altogether.

Only problem was that every booking I had there was no wind!! I had plans to go to YCAB or YCDR if we got any wind above 10 knots. It was a laughing point for a while. Most new students book early mornings to avoid crosswind, and I was booking late afternoon trying to get a typical 15knots South Easter.. Apparently that is common for students who are ready to do their first area solo!!!

Just not sure why would go via Dalby or Gold Coast when you can go straight through the middle of Oakey and Amberly. I get going coastal for the scenic route, but its way busy. As for tiger country, well flying from Dubbo is tiger country anyway. If you are worrying about controlled airpsace, then go via Warwick, Gatton and maybe Toogoolawah. Its the most direct route. Less traffic and more ALA's. The restricted area's between Amberly and Oakey are almost never active, and even when they are you just need to stay below 4500. The Gold Coast Western VFR route is definitely worth it for scenic reasons (still need ATC approval) but flying coastal all the way is even better. But if you are going that way, I would go Coastal all the way and skip the West VFR route providing you can get ATC clearance. North of YBCG is some of the best scenic flying you will get in South East Queensland.

I just did a track from Dubbo to Caloundra, and the direct track is about 20nm south east of Oakey. Amberly is the airspace to you will transit on a direct route.

I am spending all my time transiting the Archerfield, Amberly and Gold Coast Airspaces at the moment. Given I am a student, I would transit Amberly, or scoot around it via the VFR route just to the north and I am a noob to controlled airspace. If you go the VFR route you will have to descent to 1500. Alternatively, I would track via Toowoomba. Check NOTAMS, but if you are coming up on a weekend chances are Amberly airspace will be open, but just check the ATIS first because I know of a couple of other students that have bused the airspace because it can open quickly outside of TWR hours. In my limited experience, any military aircraft activity is well broadcasted and minimal, and the traffic west of Amberly is way, WAY, less than the coastal VFR traffic. I would be more concerned about the coastal traffic than the military aircraft.

The weather has been strange the last couple of years!!! Winds are normally blowing from the North East leading upto Christmas once the land warms up (think Semptermber-ish onwards). Then from late January they tend to go to the South East till it gets cold again. When Cold, its usually blowing from the West in varying unpredictable angles and velocity!! I say this as a sailor, not as an aviator because I am more familiar with the surface winds on Moreton bay. However, nothing is normal in Moreton Bay, and you can expect South Easters at anytime, so YRED is a great place for learning crosswinds! South Easters are normally blowing at about 15knots too. When I was doing my initial training I must have done about a dozen lessons waiting for a crosswind. At that time, I think I must have racked up about 10 hours doing solo circuits because there was no wind at all. That just never happens! at YRED!! Then now, my last two instructed lessons I have done the worst crosswind landings ever, with only about 5 knots from the southeast. Yet I went up for a private hire about 2 weeks ago, and did one of the best crosswind landings I have ever done in my life, in 15G20. Go figure. I did see all the Bob Tait CPL students watching me on the way out, and I have been there eating lunch observing and critiquing. Maybe that had an influence on my landing!

The BOM dude was really good. I think he was actually excited because someone was showing interest in what he does! It had a positive effect on me, because next time I have a query about a forecast I will just give them a call for clarification rather than just second guessing it.

This is fine if you are going for a fly near you aerodrome. What if its sunny where you depart, but not where you intend to land? I was going to do a nav to Coffs last year, but the weather turned bad so we went to Bundy. Weather was good at home. However by the time we got back to Brisbane, guess what, the front had moved north and storms every where in BNE. First time for me in the left seat, but not the first time I have seen it whilst flying with others in the club.... I have been sailing all my life (40 years now), and I know how fast weather can turn. Forecasts are important if you are straying further afield than your local aerodrome. The rules are their for a reason.

You do. But given I am doing my PPL the endorsement is hardly worth it. I only have 2 more instructed navs to go and a solo, then its flight review and flight test time. Got a nav booked in Sunday, then the last Monday week. Fingers crossed I will have a PPL in 6-8 weeks time. I am giving serious consideration to doing my CPL now....

Actually, the leaning part on the bike is more about keeping the bike in balance, think rudder and centering the ball. You steer with the handle bars, contrary to most peoples thinking. If you want to turn in harder, you actually steer the opposite way on a bike. Leaning stops you from getting tossed off the bike in the opposite direction of the turn.

I am really desperate to piss off on my motorcycle around australia at the moment, but I am so close to my PPL that I wont give it up at the moment. Stories like this motivate me to finish my PPL sooner rather than later. I am getting bored with the 25nm restriction of the RPL now, and like my instructor said today, get you PPL and you can ride the hire aircraft around Aus too.

Today I was briefing for my next Nav. I got the ARFOR for area 40. I am flying into Ballina on Sunday, so I looked at the TAF for Ballina, and I noticed something I have not seen before. TAF was as follows: TAF COR YBNA 242335Z 2423/2512 (rest of forecast) Did not know what COR was, neither did my instructor. So we looked it up in the AIP, and find it means corrected. There is no explanation of corrected in AIP, so my instructor said we should call the BOM for clarification. They were awesome and told us exactly what it means. So if in doubt, call the BOM. We used the number in the ARFOR. FWIW. a correction v amendment. Correction is for a mistake in the forecast, amendment is for a change. The guy from BOM in BNE said he would just amend the forecast, but some meteorologists will put it in as a correction. The Ballina forecast (which is right on the border of area 40) is a handled by the office in Sydney.

Fair point. You mention you have been on bikes all your life but not road bikes, well my worst ever biking accident was solo on a trail bike! As a low hour pilot, and an RPL pilot that only just recently acquired a licence, I tend to keep my mouth shut here. But I often wonder weather the minimum hours are enough. I reckon the hours required to obtain a PPL are probably more suited to an RPL. And its got me buggered how RA-Aust students can get a licence with so little experience. Not only that, but I have met quite a few RA-Aus pilots and have walked away shaking my head in disbelief at some of the stuff they have said. But like I said, I am only new to the whole flying thing, so maybe my lack of knowledge in the area makes my opinions unjustified? I dont know, still trying to figure it all out.

I went out today with the intention on practicing some wingdrops and forced landings. Cloudbase was a bit low for stalls, but got the forced lands in. Got about 100 hours up now, and my forced land technique was still good, although a low pass over the chosen landing are revealed some really soggy ground!! Thankfully I was able to power out of that one! Enjoy your circuits. Its very overwhelming to start with, but once you finally master it and go solo you wont wipe the smile off your face for a long time!!

Actually, flying and riding are not much difference. Both are inherently risky, but with a skilled operator both are equally as safe. Let me take you phrase, and edit it a bit. Riding has lots of dangers , most of them you have the choice to avoided if you follow the rules , stay within your limits and don't end up in a place that your training and experience can't handle.

FWIW, I am pretty sure a commercial guy told me a few years back that avplan could submit a flight plan to naips, whereas at the time ozrunways couldn't. Maybe avplan was first cab of the rank and the reason more commercial pilots use it now.

That big rock gives it away.

Biggenden.