doc14u2

Thank you, good advice to consider

Yes, thanks guys for the wise advice. It is something that I have already been practicing. So far Dave thinks my decision making has been really good, just need to work on my discipline in setting up my approach earlier. I did notice that with the big breezes it seemed to work out best when I started slowing myself right down and getting my flaps out at about halfway down the strip on downwind. If I didn't, I found myself struggling when I was needing to turn base. Simple and logical when I think about it, with the extra tailwind on downwind of course I need to set up much earlier as I am getting blown downwind faster, doh. With Dave's help I am slowly getting my brain wrapped around it all, just wish I was smarter and quicker on the uptake but I am getting there. Let's hope for better conditions on Tuesday or if not, better and more timely decision making from me.

Yes, the way the wind has been around the oaks the last few weeks I have felt like a moth in a wind storm lol. Honestly, I didn't realise that a plane could bounce around that much and both massive wing drop and wind lift back and forth, like being in a tumble drier. And tho it did smooth out a little, and I mean a Little, when I dropped down into very short final, I am not ashamed to say that a few of my touch and goes were just go's. Dave agreed with me on a few occasions when it was clear to me that I was too fast, too long and not a bit stable enough to try to touch down and I just put the power back on, lifted the nose and scampered out of there, saying no way am I going to even try to get closer than about ten feet off the deck. You've probably all heard the old saw about there are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots. When I was just becoming a teenager, an old pilot friend of mine back then George Hazel used to tell me that over and over and if it doesn't look right, Go Around. It is nothing to be ashamed of. As a baby pilot now, oh yes, thanks George, I am listening. By the way, any wisdom like that sort of thing that any of you more experienced pilots wish to send my way, it will always be received with gratitude and I hope humility, at 55 I have a lot of catching up to do and I will always try to listen. Again, thank you to all of you pilots out there who have been so welcoming, it truly is appreciated

Yes Rusty, I don't think I could have done much better than to start out with Dave. Bags of experience and patience and an amazingly calm attitude. Many decades ago, I first started out with Heliflite in choppers then about ten years later tried Beechcraft Skipper's with Scoefields at Hoxton Park. The biggest difference? Now, Dave is trying very hard to teach me how to fly and how to be a good pilot. Then, I had instructors that were lovely blokes to hang around with but they really only wanted to build up their hours as instructors as a step to bigger and better jobs. It was more about them and not too much about me. Now, I am learning and both gaining experience and learning from Dave's experience, a really nice feeling. Also the pilots that hang around the oaks and the pilots that drop in for a cuppa and a chat from Wedderburn, Wollongong, Mittagong etc are all very welcoming and all seem quite nice blokes. I am grateful, home at last :)

I WILL love crosswind landings, I WILL lol Still getting used to how big the bumps in the air are in a jabiru. A very entertaining new experience. Not sure tho, does the green bit go on the right hand side and the blue bits on the left or vice versa, or a little confused about that the other day lol they kept swapping places over and over. Was almost a relief to be rolling down the runway with the green bits down and the blue bits up, happy to leave the other way to Matt Hall for now :)

Thanks for the congratulations. I made it lol. A long way to go, I do realise I am only a baby pilot but all by myself, I strapped a big chunk of engine, wings and fuselage to my back end, jumped up into the sky and flew, WOW. Now, if you all could just pray for these horrid westerlies to blow somewhere else lol. We have 2 runways at the oaks, both north south and not an inch westerly lol. Have been up twice since solo and both times Dave has said, well, instead of solo today, we might just practice our crosswind landings. Both times I said, that sounds good mate because there is no way I am landing long enough for you to get out lol. I sit here looking at the beautiful sunset just staring at Oatley praying that it will be like this tomorrow and or Tuesday morning because I want to go back up there on my own again hmmm lol.

Hi Rusty, Thanks for the question. YAY :) I did my first solo last Thursday Thanks to Dave for his thorough instruction and to John, his other instructor at the school, for his encouragement. It has been great to walk back in to the caravan for a cup a after a series of circuits and to have John greet me with, well done, that is a great improvement and Dave, after my untangling of my feet on the pedals and actually getting the rudder coordination thing fairly well sorted, to tell me that he felt my flying had moved to a whole new level and that he was very pleased. Then that marvellous, momentous event, OK, you can taxi back to Ron's shed where he is doing a bit of work to his plane, drop me off and go and do a lap by yourself then come back in and we'll have a cup a and talk about it. And I did :) Back for a cup a and then, OK out you go again. 7 circuits and a bit over half an hour later and quietly brought 5533 back in and parked near the sheds. Am I giddy with excitement, mm nup, overcome with joy, mmm nup, stunned and delighted, mmm nup Mmm well yup, all of the above are true and expressed with a quiet deep smile that just won't leave me. It isn't always on my face but inside I don't seem to be able to go anywhere without it. :) I did it, mmm yup ! I'm old enough to know that it is just the first tiny step on a very long journey and that I am way behind well basically all of you guys and girls but I did it, all by myself I went and strapped an aeroplane to my behind and flew up into the sky and safely came back down to the ground. A thousand feet above the ground, heading downwind and looking to my right and not seeing Dave sitting there, looking around and seeing the ground all the way down there and there is just me and my trusty little 5533, well, you've all been there, you know what it is like to go solo. Wow, what an amazing thing that we do. Thank you all for your encouragement. I'm one of us now :) a pilot, lol, yes, I know I'm only a baby one but I have flown and from here it is only better and further and higher and wow, I love this thing we do

Well it is not a pretty thing to see at the moment lol. Am in Coffs Harbour with my dear wife staying with her cousin and off to Brisbane (Woody Point) tomorrow for another week with my mum so a second week without my beloved 5533 and when even a bird flies overhead let alone a plane, I'm like a dog at the window of a shop selling cats, drool everywhere lol

Thanks for the info Tony, have been looking through it as you suggested and am busy checking the stuff on this site as Bob (Biggles) also suggested earlier in this thread. I know that Dave (my cfi and "he who must be obeyed") has pointed me the dhl(?) book way and others have pointed in other directions as well and I thank you for your advice Tony, it is well received.

Thanks Guy, I must admit that I am really looking forward to taking 5533 on a long flight. This close to my solo, the future is looking bigger and better than it has for some time. What an extraordinary thing this flying is

Thanks Bob, I appreciate the advice and will follow it up. Clear skies and trailing winds mate, thank you, Phil

And sorry, that was meant to be "Thanks Bob and Brent..."

Thanks Biggles and Brent, appreciate the kindness. Am not sure where to post my question but I guess here is a good place to start and am sure that if I am doing the wrong thing that you can point me in the right direction. Am looking for the best theory material and would like to know how others have fared in their search for the study material. So far I have been directed towards dhl (I think) theory book, Bob Tait's online RA theory course and the Go Fly Aviation (Caboolture, Qld) dvd only course. Am wondering what others have found to be the best and their opinions of where is best for me. Any advice greatfully received, thank you

Hi all. Am brand new to this and any thread stuff and am a 54yo just about to solo in Dave's Jabiru J230 from Dave's Flying School at The Oaks ALA just west of Sydney. Am well settled in and could not speak highly enough to do Dave justice. He is a very laid back guy that seems to be very slow and steady in all that he does but his relaxed attitude hides a razor sharp mind, enormous experience as a pilot and a bloke that really knows his stuff and how to pass it on to you and or me. Just poking my nose into the forum to learn a little from here and there as enough knowledge is never enough but at this point I just want to say hi all, it's good to be here