waraton

Is there a free service which forecasts thermal activity (times and heights). I have had a boy look and have drawn a blank.

Just got home from a river trip along the the darling river in NSW from Menindee to Wentworth then along the Murray to Renmark and Loxton. South West NSW is still dry as bone which is hard to imagine given the drenching other areas have had. Few pics of some river towns along the way. Weather was about as good as it gets. Poonacarie in NSW, the Darling river is pretty shallow between here and Wentworth. Renmark in South Australia. Loxton, just down river from Renmark and Berri.

In a thread about proposed major airspace reform in Australia we have wondered if Drones are a motivation driving this proposal. Reports there is currently drone testing in Brisbane so I am curious to know what others know or have heard about this or other developments in this rapidly evolving airspace invasion. Found this picture online, has Uber printed on the side suggesting that company is spending some bucks. There must be some seriously smart technology and money going into drones. Wonder what is on the way!

I wonder if part of the motivation is to develop a framework which will accommodate freight and passenger drones into the future. Sounds a bit Dick Tracey but considering watches receive phone calls these days as routine, possibly not! Who knows what airspace will look like 10 years from now.

Hemispherical flight levels. There's an olden days idea that could work, actually I believe it does work.

Was using this as an example of risk in fixed wing aircraft where we are at most risk in the circuit, either power loss on takeoff or overcorrecting turns on landing approach with lack of airspeed. If you know what the risks are associated with your aircraft being aware of them will help avoid getting into strife. Was not inferring that rotorcraft stall in the circuit.

Adding to the explanation by Russ My understanding is there are two main causes of airborne loss of control in a gyro. Flat spin with a backslide caused by negative airspeed and no rudder authority and a pushover. High thrust line gyros where the thrust is higher than CofG are more prone to this. I believe most gyro prangs are due to rotor mismanagement on the ground. Power pushover is generally caused by a pilot with uncontrolled oscillations (porpoising) which causes the rotors to unload. This is where the relative airflow hits the top of the rotor rather than impacting below. Once unloaded the energy of rotation is lost, rotors are no longer coned up and results in a loss of control. It is also a risk as described by Russ in a steep climb and loss of power. (High risk scenario for all aircraft). Many accidents early with benson style home build machines were people teaching themselves to fly (a bit like early days of AUF or before). Gyros are no more subject to catastrophic component failure than any other machine depending on maintenance. In Australia Gyros are used extensively for mustering and many of these machines work 1000+ hours a year. It is not uncommon for many of them to have 5000 - 10,000 hours on them (or more). My old style high thrustline gyro now has almost 6300 hours on the hobbs and is on its 2nd 2.2l subaru car engine. Did 3 hours of fun flying this weekend in it. Plenty of people criticise anything outside mainstream for reasons I can only speculate. Many modern Gyrocopters are well over $200,000 new and are very sophisticated. Like fixed wing and stalling in the circuit, know the risks, know your aircraft, stay current. They are an amazing platform. Training, airmanship, maintenance. Good to go. Probably a bit off topic now!

Shame ASRA has shut down its forum again, was heaps of great info on Gyros there. BFRS with ASRA now require pilots to complete and pass the human factors exam every time you do one. Not required with any other organisation, including CASA.

Not acceptable in areas where that is ground height or close to it. Plenty of terrain in VIC to NSW corridor puts us very close to or into the dirt at A050. There are some very strong responses being written for submission which speaks to how seriously disturbing the proposal is being viewed in the community.

Almost every landing in my gyro is power off. Drops like a rock with no power, forward airspeed is the key. Like everything, practice.

Try to get your transponder calibrated in regional areas, if the service is available nearby it is expensive, time consuming, and inconvenient and another level of compliance which impacts on recreational flying.

I don't recall seeing any instructor driving a mercedes. It must be a labor of love. I recently spent time with one who is running 2 aircraft, they are averaging 300 hours a year in total with less than 40 students on the books. They take the time to pre and post brief training flights, time which is not charged for. The tuition charge for test preparation is $80per hour. Flying charge is $200 an hour. While I was there on each day I saw at least 1 cancellation due to no show or last minute withdrawal. Tjat impacts a one peron operation They told me they were exhausted after 5 lessons in a day and I am not surprised. Four hours in a day on an average nav wears me out. This person like many others is over 75 and unbelievably experienced. These operators are often in regional areas and there doesn't seembto be any sucession planning probably for a few reasons. It seems to me that he large commercial operators are romanced by oversight bodies as it allows outsourcing of many functions that they should be responsible for. This in turn increases the cost to consumers as profits take a driving seat. It also means the time and financial costs associated with complience must make smaller opeations evermore unattractive to pursue. As others have pointed out there are some bad ones, and remember we can all have a bad day, it must be a tough gig being an instuctor at times. Most of us will benefit from a bfr if for no other reason but some reassurance that we are going okay. We should celebrate the overwhelmingly positive impact our instructors have on our sport.

You could try these guys. https://www.aaestore.com.au Haven't used them myself but have lots of goodies and seem pretty fair with pricing.

I have been told that livestock and roos get confused by a continuous sound like a horn blowing and they can't work out the direction and location of the sound. An intermittent beep beep beep beep (for example) gives them a clearer indication of distance and location of where the sound is coming from, this allows them a better chance of moving away. There are bushies who have a constant beep beep horn they can run at night while traveling and they swear by this. I have tried it by just using the the horn with regular short bursts as I approach and it seems to work. Emus are a different kettle of fish and at times have suicidal tendencies. Recently tried to clear some roos off a nearby strip, after they refused to move on the first run I did a second just over their heads and they still would not budge, I went and landed elsewhere. When they are in poor condition they are sometimes just too buggered to move.

Part of the challenge of teaching anything is to develop the student and bring them along. Sometimes that won't work out but I would have thought it would have had taken more than 4 flights. When I learnt fixed wing I went solo in 8 hours, 35 years later it took me 21 hours to solo in a gyro! Thankfully my gyro instructor persevered for more than 4 flights!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am currently mentoring/supporting my 14yo though his RAA theory subjects prior to commencement of flight training. It has been 35+ years since I did the theory myself and have found the process really good for a refresher. Having said that it has highlighted to me how much the questioning style leaves to be desired rather than sensibly actually testing knowledge. It has been like that since I did mine and I thought it may have changed since then but no. On the matter of BFRs - due to COVID this year I used an instructor I haven't used previously. The cost was $240 for .5 in my own aircraft with a cup of coffee before hand, I thought that was expensive especially as it was instant. On the last circuit, while completing a no flap simulated engine failure the feed back was its all good full stop here I've seen enough. Later when paying, as I was leaving I accidently grabbed a document summarising the BFR which was being sent to RAA in which it discussed how lousy my rudder control was and that I had received corrective instruction. When I asked if I was going to get the corrective instruction the response was that my rudder control was good and the document is only to show RAA that something had been corrected. I was unhappy that the system must make people feel they need to do that and make stuff up. I fully support BFRs and always ask that I am pushed or challenged. I love flying and feel so lucky to have been born in a time and country which allows me to have a hobby like aviating.

Any recommendations for an aluminum supplier in Canberra please. 6061 T6 various bits needed for homebuild.

There are many options available to get you in the air if its the flying that you are after. If commuting or speed are important then your options go a different direction. Power paragliders, trikes, gliders, gyrocopters are recreational flying machines that will safely get you into the air and can be very inexpensive depending on which way you go.

HELP! I cant find an old style CASA pilot logbook. The ATC book displayed in an earlier post here is the closest I can find but not what I am after. I want one with less columns (like they use to be) which is more suited to Recreational flying.

Hi Bosi I may have missed something but who is BT?

Speedsta, thanks, have you used this service ?

Has anyone got 4 2nd hand flanges left over from from an engine changeover they would part with?

Old thread but wondering are these thermostasis regulators a common installation or not. Does anyone have a 2nd hand thermostasis regulator for sale or know where I might get one in Australia.

Lots of great advice here. I'd add a photo of the cockpit of your aircraft and put it up on your big wide screen TV. Lounge chair fly (imagine/pretend) you are flying and practice radio calls with physical movements operating your imaginary controls. Really useful after a lesson for revision. You will look like an idiot to someone who doesn't know what you are doing but helps build familiarity and muscle memory. Go outside and draw a big runway on the ground and walk it. Pretend you are taxying entering backtracking rolling departing and the rejoining for a circuit. Talk it out loud including your calls. I think a lot of circuit training value is lost with the pressure of radio calls. This is what I am doing with my 14yo who is currently learning, he is assisted by his two younger brothers who are also learning simply by association. Effort equals reward in everything. P.S. this is an old pic!

Thinking out loud here about replacing the surge/overflow tank on my gyro with something like this. Currently has a 1.5 litre tank fitted. 1I like the idea of this which is 10 litres and has a fuel level sender. Would be mounted below the seat tank and give a better indicator of fuel remaining than I currently have which is a site tube on the side of the seat which cannot be seen while strapped in. Anyone done anything similar or used this style of tank. Picture flogged from eBay which has many sizes and designs on offer.