Romeo Juliet Whiskey

Its a perfect day for flying - not a cloud in the sky and hardly a breath of wind. I feel like flying out into the blue yonder, but alas, its more circuit training for me :) In this lesson I also have a go at sideslipping and deal with the occasional circuit emergency. Who knows, maybe next lesson might be my first solo flight in the Jabiru! ABOUT ROMEO JULIET WHISKEY: I'm a student pilot learning to fly in my spare time. I originally received 30 hours of flying instruction 17 years ago and now I'm back in the cockpit and learning how to fly all over again. Currently flying out of Wollongong (YWOL), Australia in light sport aircraft such as the Jabiru and Pipestrel alpha with Fly Illawarra: Fly Illawarra: Fly Illawarra Recreation Aviation Australia: Home - RAA Jabiru aircraft: Home - Jabiru Aircraft & Engines Australia Pipistrel alpha: Pipistrel USA, Sinus, Virus, Taurus, Apis LSA Aircraft Motorgliders Gliders

Congratulations on your 2nd 1st solo! You must have read my thoughts with your solo experience and summary of the Jabiru. I just did my 2nd 1st solo a few weeks ago. I learnt on a tomahawk 17 years ago and i cant recall really using the rudder pedals! The Jabiru requires much more rudder use and is definitely harder to land. Maybe its the high wing with less ground effect.

Welcome Jarm! What are you flying?

Congrats...Top effort! And thanks for the tips

Congrats mate. Send us a message when your in the gong if you want to talk aviation or need someone to show you the local sights from the air

Well done mate. Make sure you swing by Wollongong when come to the south coast!

Get to escape the circuit... enjoy!

Haha ... so true. Didn't get much sleep that night but still woke up with a smile on my face.

Here is the video of the solo flight: Can't wait to do it again, Rich

Hi SSCBD, I spoke to my instructor about inspecting the engine during the preflight. He said for the first flight of the day, as Geoff mentions, an engine inspection is preformed. I've updated the video description to emphasize this point. Thanks for for your feedback. Rich

Despite the odd light shower and a faulty flap system I survived my first solo (again). Pretty happy with how the whole flight went including the landing. The only bad part was my airmanship ....deciding to do 'dry July' for the first time in my life. So now I'm at home recapping the flight in front of the fire sipping on a celebratory non-alcoholic apple cider.... oh well... shouldn't complain :) Rich

In this lesson, I'm introduced to circuit emergencies - engine failures after take-off and within the circuit area. This is the most fun lesson I have had to date. More importantly it could save my life one day. ABOUT ROMEO JULIET WHISKEY: I'm a student pilot learning to fly in my spare time. I originally received 30 hours of flying instruction 17 years ago and now I'm back in the cockpit and learning how to fly all over again. Currently flying out of Wollongong (YWOL), Australia in light sport aircraft such as the Jabiru and Pipestrel alpha with Fly Illawarra: Fly Illawarra: http://www.flyillawarra.com.au/ Recreation Aviation Australia: Home - RAA Jabiru aircraft: Home - Jabiru Aircraft & Engines Australia Pipistrel alpha: Pipistrel USA, Sinus, Virus, Taurus, Apis LSA Aircraft Motorgliders Gliders

Although I have solo'ed a couple of times before 17 years ago, I still have that feeling of excitement mixed with a dash of absolute dread! If you don't hear back from me ...well... you know....

As a student pilot I find it unbelievable I dont how close I can legally fly to another aircraft. Of all the CASA rules I have to learn for my exams (e.g. no starting engine within 8m of unsealed building), this one doesn't seem to be addressed.

Thanks mate

Can anyone point me to the legislation that states the minimum distance allowed between two aircraft in flight (excluding formation flights). Strangely, I can't find any info on this in my textbooks or Google. Rich

Good tip! I wish I could paint a permanent line on the engine cowling ... It would solve a lot of problems for a lot of students.

Glad you enjoy the videos Phil! I'm flying once a week so there are plenty more videos to come. Never heard of the Alpi before, but looks like a nice plane from the images I saw on Google. Looks like you will have lots of fun with her :)

Well done mate!

Thanks for your feedback SSCBD. I'll have a chat to the instructor about checking the internals of the engine. As far as I recall though, it's not mentioned in the flight manual to inspect the internals of the engine. Nevertheless, the point you make seems valid to me. Maybe someone who flies a jab can share more light on this issue. As for the fuel/oil I have been taught to separate these checks from the standard preflight routine, which I think is a good idea. Rich

Something different this week. My instructor Bruce takes me through the process of pre-flighting the mighty Jabiru 170: Jabiru owners/flyers, do you add anything else to this routine? Rich

I think it was my 4th flyover I did my best landing to date, unintentionally of course! My wheels just touched the ground as I was applying go-around power at the end of a fly over. It was beautiful :)

Thanks for all your encouragement guys regarding my last video I posted. Great community we have got here and the help and advice is very much appreciated. Went up again this weekend and had a great lesson. Instructor thought I needed to get a better feel for the Jabiru so we did 6 or 7 low passes above the runway in pretty gusty crosswind conditions. The aim was to track straight down just above the runway - controlling drift with aileron and keeping the nose straight with rudder. I only did one landing in the end but it was a 12kt crosswind landing and it was my best landing to date .... go figure! Pretty stoked after today's lesson :) For the student pilots out there working on circuits and landings, I felt this type of lesson really helped me out a lot! Any of you guys do this type of lesson during your training? ABOUT ROMEO JULIET WHISKEY: I'm a student pilot learning to fly in my spare time. I originally received 30 hours of flying instruction 17 years ago and now I'm back in the cockpit and learning how to fly all over again. Currently flying out of Wollongong (YWOL), Australia in light sport aircraft such as the Jabiru and Pipestrel alpha with Fly Illawarra: Fly Illawarra: Fly Illawarra Recreation Aviation Australia: Home - RAA Jabiru aircraft: Home - Jabiru Aircraft & Engines Australia Pipistrel alpha: Pipistrel Aircraft USA | Sinus | Virus | Taurus | Apis | Virus SW | ALPHA Trainer | Taurus Electro | Panthera | LSA Motorgliders Gliders

Yeah, that makes more sense. There is nothing like an ambiguous question to test your knowledge :) I expect my coming exams to be full of them!

Hi guys, was just doing a practice exam from RA-Aus Pilot Practice Exams | RA-Aus Pilot Practice Exams for my upcoming radio operator exam when I came across this question: "A serviceable VHF radio is required for operations at: a) Outside controlled airspace above 5000 ft AMSL b) In Class G airspace below 3000 ft AMSL or below 1000 ft above terrain c) In reduced VMC d) at CERT and REG aerodromes e) All of the above" Correct answer per the website was e - all of the above. I haven't come across anywhere that states you must have a radio if in reduce VMC or in Class G airspace below 3000 ft AMSL or below 1000 ft above terrain. Is this true? Rich