CAV0K

I like that quote, its true that not everyone will get along/be best buddies in a club, but there is certainly knowledge to be gained in a diverse group who at least share a common interest in aviation!

That's fair enough regarding enjoying the tailwheel and I find most schools have a similar requirement for check flights. I did 1 hour in a carbon cub and certainly enjoyed the challenge but ultimately stuck with tricycle. If youre able to find/join an aeroclub you may find more like minded people who just enjoy flying for fun, it may even lead to you flying more by way of filling an empty seat to a flyaway BBQ breakfast or other aeroclub social activities, worse case you cost share. This is what I am hoping to do in the near future as I gear up to renew my RPC, my goal is to make it more fun and just enjoy the finer points (quick circuit bash/scenic flight).

I agree it is getting too expensive, $300+/hr for hire and fly is crazy. What do you currently fly? I note your info says RPC, if youre flying RAAUS you can get a bit cheaper, however if youre flying GA then less than $300/hr is not easy.

Thanks for all the responses and some trends starting to show. Do you think there is any relationship between hours flown and aircraft ownership? ie people with less hours tend to rent whereas people with more hours tend to own?

I thought it would be interesting to see how many hours you usually fly in a year

Yeah from what I understand you will need to install and log in (cant confirm as I am a mac user). Yeah fair call it does seem it would be restrictive on work PC's. I believe you can also access your icloud account just through a web browser but not sure if you can drag and drop into the browser. Alternatively if you add your email to Apples Mail application, could can always email yourself what you need on your ipad provided they are not too large for email.. again limiting but gives you another option.

I dont know anyone that uses iTunes to transfer anything. Use your icloud account and download icloud for windows. You should then be able to drag and drop as you see fit. https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/icloud-windows/icwddbc813bd/icloud

Just seen on Jabirus website the J170D is no longer in production. When did this happen and will they return to production? I couldn’t find any specific information on their website or Facebook other than the main page saying it’s currently not in production. https://jabiru.net.au/aircraft/j170-d/

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, I’m curious to know if you have completed your bushcat?

Thanks everyone, So regarding maintenance, if you build you can do all the maintenance yourself or choose to use a LAME, however if you buy factory built (new or secondhand) you must use a LAME? Also if you were to buy a factory built aircraft, but second hand, and I wanted to upgrade the avionics, could I do that myself? Thanks again

Where’s the best source of information to read about what you can or cannot do, pro’s and con’s of building vs buying factory built? Ive looked on RAAus website but couldn’t find much on building vs buying, let alone owning an aircraft. Id like to know what are the limitations and freedoms of each scenario (build vs buy)

Wow thanks to everyone who has responded so far, I find it really interesting to see what is being built. Whilst building for me is not in the immediate future, I do really hope to build a kit one day.

Hi Everyone, A question for all the builders out there, what kit aircraft have you built or are planning on building? There are a number of kit aircraft available to build, so I thought it would be interesting to find out what kits have been built in Australia or abroad. Cheers!

Hey everyone, I thought it would be cool to see how everyone commits aviation around Australia, if we are not flying as much as we would like, we might as well talk about it! Do you just like to get up in the air for an hour to escape the chaos below? Do you like to fly around the country exploring? or visiting other airfields? Do you enjoy fly ins? Bush flying and camping? $100 hamburger? (is that even possible is Australia - seems to be more of a thing in the US with FBO's and Diners on the airfields) There is purpose and a goal during training, but after that you have the freedom to choose. So what encourages you to get airborne? For me at the moment I just like to get up for an hour and enjoy the freedom that flying offers. I look forward t reading everyone's response!

As mentioned above unfortunately you will need those extra dual hours. However I'm sure you can use the time of your flight review towards it (best to confirm though). I'd recommend also using those couple of hours to practice recovery from unusual attitudes and flying under the hood as it is most certainly part of the flight review and good to know as well!

Hi Parkway I have recently completed this process. Good start on getting the medical and ASIC. All that's left is a flight review in a VH registered aircraft, maybe a BAK exam and paperwork to CASA. In order to get up to the flight review standard, you may need to do a few hours with an instructor first and then complete the flight review. These hours depend on you and how fast you get up to the required standard (which shouldn't be too long if you have been flying recently, more so just to get used to the new aircraft). It may also be a requirement of the flight school that you undertake some minimal training before the flight review. As I mentioned before you may also need to take a BAK exam, but again that may come down to the flight school you choose. Best to choose a school that does both GA and RAA the process might be a bit smoother. Total time depends on how often you can fly/medical/ASIC/CASA Processing. Hope this helps!

Thanks for your input. It appears that fields offer the greatest flexibility and although road surfaces are good it's everything around them that can make them not ideal. More food for thought thanks again to everyone.

Glad we could help! Don't feel dumb, we as pilots are always learning. At least you took the initiative to ask for clarification of something you were unsure of. Good luck with your study.

Look at it as the upwind and crosswind leg .. that way all CCTS are LH on the left diagram. Hope this helps

Thanks everyone for your responses!

Hi everyone, I recently completed my RPC flight test and I had an interesting light bulb moment after one of the maneuvers. It happened after I conducted a PFL, I did all the right things (Immediate actions, searched for a field, attempted a restart, etc.). All went well and the CFI was happy, but straight away he asked why didn't I choose that dirt road? or that one? It had never occurred to me to choose one of the many dirt roads within the training area. I had only ever trained to get down in a field .. I did however think straight away why didn't I? There were no power lines around them, they ran forever and were easily recognisable from altitude. My question to you guys is do you only train/practice for fields or both? I understand that a field might be the only option in an emergency but im curious to see how everyone else trained for this emergency. Please share your experiences!

Haha yes, you are quite right! it must have been ft. Thanks for the correction.

When I sat the exam a month or 2 ago the answer was 100m/ft (cant remember if it was m or ft, pretty sure it was ft though, 100m/30ft seems really close) .. I couldn't find a definitive reference anywhere. I did raise a few issues with exam questions and have since been told all RA-Aus exams have been reviewed and replaced within the last couple of weeks.

I agree, I guess what I'm saying is it makes sense if the situation requires an overfly, I did mention in my post that if I knew the wind/conditions I'd probably join downwind. And what I said is incorrect? CAAP 166-1(3) says otherwise. Neither of us are incorrect and I've never disagreed with what Howard has said. Over flying is obviously personal preference to the pilot (unless situation dictates otherwise), after all the pilot is the one paying for time!

It makes perfect sense. To answer your question as to why would I overfly the active side to join mid-field crosswind? Well if I am unfamiliar with the aerodrome it puts me in a position to safely assess the wind and conditions, it also prevents me from flying in at circuit height to then have to transit across an aerodrome to position myself within the correct pattern (whether it be the other side of the circuit or a different runway). If the circuit is busy, it gives me time to slot in and make myself known in the circuit to others flying. If you knew the conditions/heard traffic on the CTAF then sure I'd probably join downwind. Both are correct ways to join, but to say this makes no sense? Obviously it depends on the traffic at the aerodrome, but I shall clarify it for you, depending on the the circuit speed of the aircraft that use the aerodrome you'd add 500ft on top of 1000ft/1500ft AGL. Let me know if you'd like some speeds.