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Nico13

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Posts posted by Nico13

  1. I remember when this happened and wondering what went wrong.

     

    You see as an interested by stander part of my job many many years back was to install Martin Baker seats into the Mirage III for the RAAF after we had finished a major service on the aircraft at Avalon.

     

    The other interesting thing that came to mind was back then, about thirty and some years back we installed a modification to the seats to convert them from a "zero/ninety" seat to a "zero/zero seat". This modification was basically the installation of a rocket pack to the bottom of the seat allowing an ejection at standstill that would throw the seat high enough with the pilot firmly fastened in it to parachute height and then automatically falling away leaving the pilot with his main chute again automatically released.

     

    Prior to this the aircraft had to be doing at least ninety knots fwd speed to allow the canopy jettison to work, with the rocket pack they just go right through the canopy with no problem, canopy breakers on the top of the seat would look after this.

     

    Sad to see a life saving device fail and wind up taking a life.

     

     

    • Informative 6
  2. Today I continued with my lessons at Lethbridge and while sharing a coffee with my instructor he related to me about some feed back from my original post on side slipping on this site, link below.

     

    I was disappointed to hear what was said next as a result of miss information that word had come back via the grape vine saying,

     

    "Some instructor at Lethbridge is tell the students that you can't side slip Cessna's"

     

    Well this "Some instructor at Lethbridge" is totally incorrect and I refer back to my original post,

     

    " I was shown this technique about twenty seven years back during a trial instructional flight after returning to the airfield way too high for a normal approach.

     

    The instructor on the day affectionately known as Captain Jack E said to me

     

    "don't do this in a Cessna or you'll bend it"

     

    Now to some this may seem a little trivial but a trivial error like this can be damaging to a reputation so I am setting the record straight That this did not come from Lethbridge and all I can say is read the original post.

     

    Side slipping (video)

     

     

    • Like 1
  3. If you haven't managed to catch The Flying Show (Channel 31, 44 Digital), there are at least 15 episodes viewable online at The Flying ShowThe show airs on C31 at 6.30 pm, Wednesday.

    Thanks, yes been having a look through those online.

     

    I work Arvo Shift so I rely on the wife to record things of interest for me, she's pretty good at catching most things but wouldn't have known about these.

     

    I was just wondering if anyone knew much about the expo next month really.

     

     

  4. Thought that rego of the inbound bonanza rang a bell. It's the former aviation minister Gordon Rich-PhillipsHon. Gordon Rich-Phillips MLC | Member for South-Eastern Metropolitan Region > Home

    Spot on Robbo,

    He was there, there being Lethbridge, for the opening of the new fuelling installation by Sarah Henderson and a few other hanger-on's and of course quite a few locals.

     

    Very nice new setup with Mogas, Avtur and Avgas. Self serve twenty four seven, swipe your card and away you go.

     

    Bernie has posted a few pictures elsewhere on here re the upgrades at Lethbridge along with his nice red Skybolt.

     

     

    • Like 1
  5. I was shown this technique about twenty seven years back during a trial instructional flight after returning to the airfield way too high for a normal approach.

     

    The instructor on the day affectionately known as Captain Jack E said to me

     

    "don't do this in a Cessna or you'll bend it" 029_crazy.gif.9816c6ae32645165a9f09f734746de5f.gif

     

    I don't know if that's true about the Cessna's but it adds to the story 003_cheezy_grin.gif.c5a94fc2937f61b556d8146a1bc97ef8.gif

     

    Anyway he proceeded to perform a very steep side slip, oh by the way, we were in an Auster at the time.

     

    I thought to myself this looks like a bit of fun.

     

    Not having continued with the lessons at that time due to cost I find myself many years later performing that very same manoeuvre and enjoying it like I did then.

     

    Oh and I'm not in a Cessna 006_laugh.gif.0f7b82c13a0ec29502c5fb56c616f069.gif

     

    And I still don't know if Cessna allow it, some knowledgeable person will be able to fill in the blanks there.

     

    Anyway have a look at my bit of fun on how to lose 400 ft in a hurry and a serious learning experience at the same time by the way.

     

    Enjoying the flying. 080_plane.gif.36548049f8f1bc4c332462aa4f981ffb.gif

     

     

     

    • Like 4
  6. Here is my video from the big day.

     

    I gave a running commentary for my instructors benefit just so he could see what was going through my mind at the time.

     

    He liked that and he noted that it was the first Solo flight he'd seen from the cockpit other than his own.

     

    Anyway have a look at it and thanks for the congrats.

     

     

     

    • Like 1
    • Winner 5
  7. Well it was my turn on this fine Monday the 22/6/2016.

     

    David my Instructor at Lethbridge had been threatening to get out for the last couple of hours but for the weather being a bit on the rough side.

     

    Yes I know they normally don't hint at this but he felt it wouldn't bother me to know he was ready to set me free and was just waiting for a nice sunny day.

     

    That being said here we were Monday, that nice sunny day with bugger all wind we were waiting for and so I was thinking, well today will be the day.

     

    All good lets do a few circuits to warm up and nothing said about solo.

     

    Now have you had one of those days when the right foot and the rudder peddle just don't get along, well Monday started off like that, everything else was going perfect and after about 45 minutes of just not getting it down the middle with a little cross breeze on rwy 28 he said to me , what are you doing, I'm trying to get out of here.

     

    We had a bit of a chuckle as I knew what he was on about so two more circuits followed that flowed pretty good, so on the second one he said alright how do you feel about one by yourself?

     

    I was ready and so out he gets and the rest is history.

     

    Surprisingly no nerves and yes those little Tecnams do leap into the air with only half fuel and one on board and probably a tad more flap than I should have had.

     

    Half way down the runway I had two hundred feet or better and thinking to myself that's a bit better than expected I looked around to see why and sure enough spot the obvious mistake, I hadn't reset flaps after landing and letting David out. All good, still below flap ext speed in the climb so time to clean up and get on with it.

     

    The rest was text book if I don't mind saying so myself, well maybe a little to the left of centre on touch down, but only a little :-)

     

    So 0.2 as Pilot in Command and looking forward to a lot more.

     

     

    • Like 3
  8. Hi Geoff,

     

    Although I have some hrs to go yet before solo these sort of stories are what is needed and your candour is appreciated.

     

    As can also be appreciated going solo is when these words are more relevant than probably at any other time.

     

    I can also be appreciative of this because although my official training is only at just over five and a half hrs other experiences and ten years in aviation has seen me be possibly over confident and when your told you are not having any difficulties and are hrs in front of where others are that confidence is boosted even more.

     

    So having no real fear of flying but being very aware of my situation is something I keep a very careful eye on and this story is the sort of thing that brings one back to reality very quickly as it demonstrates just how easy things can go pear shaped.

     

    Very glad to hear all is ok in the end and hope all goes well in future.

     

     

  9. That image gentlemen oh and ladies of course is definitely a made up one.

     

    A quick look around the outline of the plane quickly shows a very irregular line.

     

    My cousin now in her mid eighties and her husband both IFR pilots and I think she was the one who could have shown the ones with the biguns a thing or three when it came to Airwomanship.

     

    They would often when traveling overseas not hire a car but a plane to get around.

     

    She cursed when hubby sold the 210 out from under her.

     

     

  10. Last Monday morning saw a lovely day for another lesson and this time it was stalls.

     

    At the completion of the stalls that all went very well my instructor, David said ok let's do a few circuits.

     

    Only difference was this time it was my turn to do it all so after a demo touch and go it was my turn.

     

    Three very successful touch downs later Monday's lesson was over, with a big smile

     

     

     

    • Like 4
  11. I have started really using the iPad these days, but if I am doing a long flight into unfamiliar territory I still plan on paper and I still log positions on a paper map in conjunction with the iPad. This is a hangover from my sailing, I still like having my position logged on chart in case things go bad.

    I'm a great believer in backups whatever they may be, a good tip thanks.

     

    They are pretty much of a muchness; each has similar features and a bit of leap-frogging goes on in terms of adding features. The best advice I can give is not to subscribe from the Apple Store if you are using an iPad, it will cost you more than going to Ozrunways site, however I don't know about Avplan in that regard.

    Yes thanks for the tip on price, I did know about OZ R website price and have just had a look at AV Plan and they offer a similar deal from their website, about a forty dollar saving for the VFR version.

     

    Weather is looking good for Monday, its got to the point where I've booked two sessions a week for my lessons in the coming month as I was missing every second week because of weather.

     

    Cheers guys,

     

     

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