PaulN

I AM SOOOO GREEN Hooray for Ian, wonderful news indeed . Can't wait to see all the promised pics (be warned, part of the moderators' brief is to delete gloating posts). I guess we now know why Ross's techno help was called on ... Ian will soon be off the air more than on (or should that read "in the air"?). You forgot to mention the national tour to take all your forum buddies for TIFs. Looking forward to seeing the new baby in the flesh Ian. Don't be shy mate, Cooma is just a brief hop over the hills and it will give you a chance to see if she can climb high enough to clear LSALT of 8000. If you can't find the way just hit the AP button and sit back with a tinny or two. Paul

Turtle ... who contributes more than the rest of us ;). Paul PS Thanks for the kind thoughts Mike

Ian, If you wish, you can change this to read local time on the forum posts. On the menu bar above, select "My Settings", then on that page down the left side click on "Edit Options". Down near the bottom of this page is a window that allows you to choose a time zone that suits your location. Simple ;). Cheers, Paul

But they sure know how to sensationalise.

I don't follow what you're saying here Ian :;)5:. Paul

Ian For me, the forum has everything right there in my face already. So as others have said, it seems superfluous ... and represents another burden you (or some unsuspecting moderator) can do without ;). Perhaps another forum section dedicated to keeping users up to date with things like new lines and specials in the shop might be helpful. Paul

You know, politely advising other pilots in nearby airspace of a correct frequency or procedure should only be seen as a courtesy aimed at safety. A couple of days ago I was sharing the local sky with a sqdn of fire bombers who had just departed YCOM for Jindabyne. Even skilled veteran flyers can slip up with frequency switching from time to time. I heard them call on the YCOM numbers their inbound call for Jindy so to avoid embarassment for them I simply clicked in to let them know they were still on 118.1 switch to 126.7 for the Jindy area. Their response was thankful. I've had others (incl ATC) give me the same courtesy on more than one occasion. Paul

Kyle's onto something here ;). Generally speaking, the GA fraternity believes that RA-Aus pilots are of a lesser proficiency than themselves due to a "lesser" standard of training. Be this right or wrong, the fact remains, if RA-Aus instructors do not provide training to a high level the product of their training will indeed be lesser pilots. This is not to say that some GA instructors and pilots don't leave a lot to be desired in their flying/training practises. On the other side of the coin, a lot of RA-Aus pilots and instructors are way better than their GA colleagues. FWIW, in my opinion, RA-Aus training (regardless of types of aircraft intended to be operated) really should be on a par with the best GA training on offer, incl RTF and ATC procedures. Like it or not, many RA-Aus members want to and do fly aircraft capable and appropriate for cross country touring mixing it with GA and at times wishing to transit controlled air. If our training and qualifications could be demonstrated to be equivalent to GA perhaps some of this "them" and "us" attitude could be chucked out the window once for all. And, wouldn't airspace be just that bit safer if we all had a high level of proficiency and professionalism. Why the heck would anyone choose to further step levels of training probably creating even further discrimination. After all, isn't learning things aviation fulfilling and fun. My $0.02 worth. Paul

Onya Ian, sounds like fun. I'm sure you're going to find that with the new prop having a more coarse pitch your RPM will remain lower than with the finer pitch prop, even after the service. Paul

Ian, Maybe my wording wasn't all that clear. When I say "across the threshhold" the fence is in fact about 50m shy of the threshhold. Paul

Great to meet up again this morning Ross. Perfect daybreak air again, pity about the smoke haze. Thanks for the company. Ask Ross about the CT or Bose headsets, I think he's an advocate now ;). Paul

Hi Ross, This very same solution has been applied for our new security (?) fence across the approach threshhold for rwy 18 at YCOM. But then, anyone overshooting a 2km rwy perhaps shouldn't be landing there. Paul

Chris, The images below are from my Aviation Theory Centre manuals. Does this help? Paul

Look for a camera with a swivel mounted viewfinder ... very handy to have. Paul

Yet another great post. Thanks Rob. Starboard? Paul

Good comment Turtle ... and good practice. Just for the sake of local knowledge for anyone flying into the Snowy Mtns area, it's not unknown for winds to come up unexpectedly and/or at greater velocity than forecast. We local flyers are always aware and looking for changes, and sometimes they come in quickly and with lots of turb off the hills to our west. At least on one occasion during a flt from N'cle to Cooma I called ahead on mobile mid flight to a local pilot to learn of just this sort of thing. We diverted to Goulburn to hold over for improved winds, only a couple of hours and things were safer. Paul

Chris, My theory books and training say the crosswind component at 45 degrees to runway heading is 70% of wind strength, in this case that's 21kts. See my dilemma? Paul

My eyes have difficulty focussing for macros, esp out in the daylight. Took this image on my desk with no flash, just the room's incandescent lamp (no copies please ). Paul

It's just a point and shoot Canon Powershot A95 (5MP).

OK, I'll lead in with a hyperthetical that could become real one day. I do all my usual flight planning, check the weather and decide it's OK to go. Jump into the CT at Newcastle to head home for Cooma on a lovely clear morning with an easy 10kt W wind. As the flight nears its end I notice the winds have increased alarmingly from what was forecast. On arrival at YCOM I see the winds are howling at around 25/30kt (like they are as I write) from SW. The rwys are 18/36 and 14/32. The CT is rated for 13kt max xwind and I'm now a little anxious that fuel is getting low due to slower than expected flight into headwind. Added to this is the thought that I've only just got her back from repairs after being 13 mths grounded :ah_oh:. Polo Flat is just a 5 min diversion but still 18/36 and 12/30. Adaminaby is 15 mins NNW with a very exposed rwy 09/27 and Jindabyne is 20 mins SW with rwys 12/30 and 09/27 but nestled at the foot of high hills with lots of rotor turb. What would you do? Paul

Just for the interest, here's a few low level pics I took of a fire break out just 25km SW of Cooma this arvo. Those fire bombers know their stuff. Paul

Hey Chris, Promise us you won't try any macros of the runway while doing a fly-by!! That would be way too hard to solve the "Guess the Airstrip" pic. Paul

Hey Ian, Like TechMan suggested, keep it simple and clean ;). BTW this is copyright protected :big_grin:. Paul

Ian, Make sure to fit leading edge tape to help protect it from stone, bug and rain damage. I guess this can be sourced from various locations. The last lot I used was a clear tape and sourced from Bert Flood's ... you can buy it buy req'd length. Paul

Ian, I'm no expert here, and thank the Lord, I have no experience with this. However, from conversations I've had re prop failure it seems that the first thing one is likely to experience is severe vibration. And in bad cases there is a real risk of shaking the engine from its mounts. From what I understand, and the thinking I go through in the air, is that the first reaction should be an immediate closing of throttle and shut down. After that of course comes the inevitable forced dead-stick landing. Not a nice thought, however, a controlled forced landing is a much better option than losing lots of forward weight and spiraling in tail first :yuk:. Just my thoughts, Paul