PaulN

Oh!

Onya Chris, good to see some one else havinga go. Paul

Hi Don, Like Ken says, make the effort to contact the owner/operator of the ALA prior, this courtesy is esp appropriate with private strips. The same courtesy is not req'd for your larger more public aerodromes. However, once down and parked one should make the effort to locate the owner/manager to settle your dues. The bonus here is that you meet new people and make new friends, and you'll know you will be welcome back there. Some of the larger fields you'll often find no-one around which is really tough because there's no-one to give your money to. How do you locate these owners? The ERSA lists info for most of the strips you're likely to use, but there are many that do not list here. Get yourself an AOPA National Airfield Directory from http://www.aopa.com.au/website/afdorder.cfmat a cost of $50. This lists most strips in Oz, but not all. Chances are, the ones not listed that you may want to use will be by invitation only anyway. Both the ERSA and the AOPA directory detail info about the airfield, landing fees, fuel availability, contact names and numbers, etc. The AOPA directory is more informative with stuff like nearest town, accommodation, and so on. From my experience, when you talk to owners in advance they are friendly enough and usually offerhelpful advicebased on local knowledge. It pays to double check stuff like co-ords, elev, and rwynums while you're talking with them too. When Gwen and I did a flight through the outback last Sept one of our stops was at Wilpena Pound. From the AOPA directory we noted all the relevant strip info for the flt plan and GPS set-up. However, in flight at about 30 mins out I contacted their chief pilot by mobile and just happened to mention the rwy nums we had in the conversation. To my alarm he said "Mate, you've got the wrong airfield. We are .......".What we didn't knowwas thereis another strip about 15 milesfrom Wilpena with different elev and different rwy nums. The AOPA book incorrectly listed all the strip data for this unknown field under their listing for Wilpena. Anyway, it made for an interesting "seek and ye shall find" scenario as neither strip is indicated on the WAC. Paul

Hey John, don't keep us in suspense. I'm looking forward to seeing that Pilot's Rainbow over Lake George. Please try again with your pic upload. Paul

Hi River, That's right, one has to keep alert at all times. Not exactly out of the question, just make sure you get plenty of air before turning. There's a "green" corridor under those lines that should be followed rather than turn over the homes. The owners of the strip, to keep neighbour friendly, prefer all ops to be 03 t/off and 21 landing which is usually no problem as the predominant winds are from the west, straight through those power lines. Gets a bit tricky though when there's more than one plane in the area. Oh, what you can't see in the pic are a couple of 300ft masts just off to the east and another one behind me on that approach shot . Since taking these pics they have added a cross strip 18/36. The final leg begins almost over top of one of these masts and the rwy ends in the hangars.More so on thiswould one need to be alert on a missed approach ... power on and turn right well before the hangars or you could end up being fried. I have the honour of being the first to use this cross strip. As it turns out, just before they had finished picking up piles of stones they had been cleaning up ... made for an interesting landing roll,my firstslalom run with wings. One soon learns the meaning of situational awareness here. Paul Oops, there's a few more clues. PaulN

Hi all, I'm soon about to launch into some major repairs. Before doing so I have been fiddling with the engine checking all things very thoroughly so that at least the pointy end is in order. One thing I discovered I'd like to share in the hope that it might save someone the trauma of sudden coolant loss while in flight. Our 912 ULS Rotax (ser num 4428278, factory date July 02) has done 483 hours. The coolant hose on the port side runs from the expansion tank through the inlet manifold to the radiator. Where it passes through the manifold it has been rubbing through more than half the wall thickness. The hose on the starboard side running from the radiator to the pump runs through an intersection of struts on the engine mount frame and also rubbing through but not to the extent of the other side. Please take the time to check your own installation for wear. If nothing else, at least give thought to putting in place something to protect the hoses from wear. Regards, Paul

Hi Geoff, It's been a while, eh. That looks likefinal on rwy 23 Broken Hill again, with more view of town to the right this time. Try this one. It's a bit obscure so will give a couple of clues. It'sbetween latitudes S 35 and 36(that should narrow it down), in a city suburb and is home to a great crew of friendly flyers. Cheers, Paul [ATTACH]1193[/ATTACH] View over-top. [ATTACH]1194[/ATTACH] On final rwy 21

Let's not forget the satisfaction factor too. Owning your own gives the advantage ofkeeping it maintained the way you like, caring for it the way you want,keeping it at a location convenient to you, and knowing it's always available when you want it (when it's not "broke" :;)4:). Just my $0.02 worth (that's all I can afford ...Ibought a plane). Paul

Wow, any closer Nosmo and you wouldn't be talking about it.

Probably doesn't count but I had a near miss with the airfield fence at Polo Flat when first learning to land. New task, lots of stress, brain o'load... just after an awkward touch down the Allegro started running off to the left and to correct Ipushed the rudder pedals as if driving a billy cart . Thankfully my CFI was onto it very smartly. Can't remember if we lifted off over the fence or came about in line with the strip again. Have never forgotten that experience and have never made the mistake since, yet. Paul

For what it's worth I have to agree with the author of the above article. However, landing to a full stop, back tracking and lining up again and again at a less than "lonely day at the airfield" day would more than likely lead to some congestion and annoyance to other users. Then again, the need for extra comms and lookoutcould lead to better habits in situational awareness for all concerned. Any other thoughts? Paul

Welcome aboard Mark. Good to have another flyer to share experiences and ideas. Hope you continue to enjoy the forum. I know you will find a wealth of knowledge and experience from other members. Paul

Hi Cecil, The question of preferred pic size and format is one for Ianmate. I'm sure he'll get onto it when he's back on deck and cleaned the sand from between his toes. Ben's pretty much got the idea but some of us use other photo editing tools than Photoshop. I use CorelDraw which allows me to physically size the pic in millimetres and then compress the file size on saving while retaining 300 dpi. Seems to work alright, most of the time . Cheers, Paul

That's great shot Darren. There's sure is some pretty speactacular scenery along the south coast.

Very clever. It would help viewers if you are able to resize the pic a little smaller. Cheers, Paul That's good gtblu, now we can see the pic as a whole :). Thanks PaulN

Hi Darren, Doesn't the "Weather" tab at the top of this forum page already cater for this? Paul PaulN

50kts and flying? I so wish I could be there, sounds great. And would be a good opportunity to catch up with some of you guys. Next time . Have a good weekend. Paul

That's crazy ... you'd have about 25 mins cruising in your old CT for that . Hi Ian, can't keep away can you? Enjoying the warmth and smilesin Qld? Hurry home, my brain's going fuzzy (oh alright, more fuzzy) with all this news reading stuff . Paul PS I can tell you some stuff about Flydat too . PaulN

Peter, I sure hope tone doesn't include the many other high end($) ultralights already on <STRIKE>the</STRIKE> our register . Paul PaulN

Phew, you had me worried there for a second, thanks Nosmo. No, last time I looked the CT2K had no rust on board. That brown stuff you see around the hangers/hinges is staining from a corrosion inhibiter come lubricant.

Here's another taken around the same time but as we flew over the South Coast Ranges east of Cooma just after sun-up ... you can see the sun glaring off the Pacific in the background. Paul

I have to agree with Danda ... flying has given me so many opportunities to appreciate the handiwork of our Creator. Here's a pic I took over the Main Range of the NSW Snowies, a perfect flight on a perfect day. Paul

Welcome to the gang Arthur, looking forward to your posts and build progress. Hey, with pics like that you should post some to the "Guess The Strip" thread. Don't you agree Geoff? Methinks all strips should have their names in big letters like Truro Flats ... makes the guessing easy. Cheers, Paul

In scenario 1 you may have implied it but I didn't clearly see (must be the clouds ) a "Advise ATC of your situation and request help" - never ever be scared of doing this - they are there to help. ... No, this was neither implied nor overlooked. In my response I was thinking the resolution would be straight forward. I wonder just how much help ATC could be if they had neither a paint nor a xpdr signal ofmy a/c, I guess they would soon tell me. You're right in suggesting no-one should ever be afraid/shy to ask for help ... as someone else has said "better red than dead".You'll note I opted for ATC help that time over YSCB, and glad of it. Now you have thrown in thevariable of tracking over the cloud at say 45 degrees to the movement of the front. I confess, that Ididnot consider. Now the cloud your drawwill be moving at "x" knotsopposing my initial flight pathand flying into a h/wind mygnd speed will be less than airspeed. So by turning back my gnd speed will proportionally increase so that at say 120kt IAS I should beable to sight the cloud front fairly soon. However, if I'm still anxious I could pitch up to gain some height affording a better look around to find a way down (so long as I don't run into another wind layer opposing my flight path again). Dang it, now you've got me worried.What am I missing?? BTW... you are relying entirely on your navigation skills of only time and track as you can't use land marks - you would severely question those skills after 10mins ... I question these all the time. Paul

Those CT thingys sound pretty impressive. I want one ... one that flies that is.