Thx1137

With those weights you could carry 60 liters of fuel in our 160 so thats 4 hours total fuel. Our BEW is 327kg. Steven

I would be happier if it could carry another 30 kilos (or me lose 30 kilos!). Our jab 160 is ok and has been doing the job fine, I would prefer a sportstar but they cost a lot more! Steven

A chook shop (not Kfc!) will let you have a couple very cheap. Sometimes even free.

Nah, not unless they have eaten a whole cow. The mess you see on a pavement is all spread out but the volume, in my limited experience, is actually very small. I was sick on my third of fourth lesson and used a chicken bag. Because the bag is a decent weight foil I was able to just fold the top over a couple of times so that nothing would escape and there is no odour. To save embarrassment I actually put it in my pocket (hard to break a chicken bag) when we got out of the plane so the locals didn't see it (although they said that I looked like I had a rough time :-)). Steven.

The only issue I have on the iPad is the "Hi..." panel on the home screen. I always go to click "New posts" before the screen finishes loadings and the "no avatar selected" box isn't expanded to full height. The click always goes to my control panel because if it seems the click isn't actually registered until after the whole screen is fully rendered. I haven't had any other problems at all though I haven't been to all pages...

I certainly think you should study the topic in the book that will be covered in your next lesson before going to the lesson. People with terrible short term memory like myself need to revise too. I think it is about a year since I got my certificate and I recognise that there are some topics that have faded so once I get at least one of my current projects done I plan to brush up again. Reading up before hand gives you time to put together any questions you might have to the instructor. I read all the books from front to back then kept revising those chapters I had trouble with. I am not a good communicator, especially when I am not 100% sure of myself so it probably seemed I didn't study much to my instructors (hi guys!) :-)

Good on em! Though I would have though an ATPL would be in reach. We shouldn't be discriminated against!! It looks like someone pulling their chains :-) Really though, an extra 20-50 kilos is all I want so that I have more than 2 hours fuel (even then theres no baggage) when me and the missus go flying! I just can't lose enough weight, sugar has me in it's clutches so it will have to be the aircraft that changes not me! :-( If I want night flying, IFR, more seats, etc the PPL is available!

hehe, yeah, weigh up the arguments but err on the side of the designers is how I look at it. The only time I will consider changing my best glide speed is as FH said, based on wind, even then it is only if I really had to. At the altitudes I fly at I don't want to get creative with speeds, I think I would have have other things I need to ponder! The point is to get down safely not set glide distance records! I think the idea of having one speed is partially so we can concentrate on the problem at hand while flying at a fairly efficient speed.

We were throwing out a couch. I took one of the cushions and cut it down the middle to make it thinner then trimmed it so that it fits in the jab. So this is basically a piece of foam that is about 2 inches thick. Works well so far although it isn't very pretty :-)

It seems a common thing. Myself and another student kept having things jump in the way when trying to get our certificates, especially weather (or in my case, just sucking :)). It will happen :) Steven.

I think we are talking generally, not that once in lifetime event where something special is required. It also depends on what we call overtaking. I often have cubs behind me cut in front for base and final a few seconds before I turn for base. As long as they do not impact my normal ciruit and I know where they are and what they are doing I don't mind. I don't like the idea of overtaking in the circuit though if someone just wants to get down quicker and blasts past me on downwind. For the "cross country downwind". I have been tempted to turn inside but haven't. It is rather annoying though because I find that I have to fly out of the circuit area to get behind them or do an orbit. It just doesn't flow and to me that increases risk.

I agree. I love to use electronics everywhere I can but when flying, the books or the ipad are only for unplanned events. I take the pages out of my ERSA and have them sitting under my flight plan on my kneeboard ordered in flight plan order however, I copy the frequency and airffield elevation onto my flight planning sheet so I don't even have to refer to those ERSA sheets normally. Paper still has its purposes :-) Steven.

Some of us really like the extra screen space :-) I can visit real sites without having to pinch and zoom. Software like my VFR flight planner is just a pain on an iPhone screen (so much so it is iPad only atm), I like all my info in one spot and my eyes aren't what they used to be. The VFG and the Jabiru manual PDFs plus the ERSA PDFs are perfect on the iPad too. again, no pinch or zoom required :-) Oh, and the power last for 10 hours with the screen on. My old touch couldn't do that! So, a big iPod Touch, sort of but I love my iPad. I am _really_ looking forward to the Android tablets though. Steven.

Having learned in a sportstar I had a heck of a time for the first 4 hours or so. The first hour or two was simply amazingly difficult for me. It is mice and easy now that I have plenty of experience of course :-)

It wouldnt play for me yesterday but seems ok now. Pretty cool eh :-) I wish I had video of more of my early flights. I do have one of my first solo though Christine had trouble keeping the video camera steady. Steven

When I fly I sometimes do scenarios like "engine stops now" or "aircraft banks hard left". It scares the hell out of me even thinking about a city, not that I can fly over one. While the idea is to hit the softest thing at the slowest speed, those fields would look awfully small When surrounded by lots of built up stuff I reckon. Most of us know what we should do and i am sure he did too, I can't truly comprehend how he felt but I do know it was a nightmare that would cause most if not all of us to not be at our best. Thats part of being human. Very sad. What evidence is there that he didn't consider all available options and didn't perform checks faster than greased lighning? None at all. We weren't there, we can't know and will never know all of it because the only person that does didn't survive.

Hmm. SMH has two people dead, a pilot and a nurse. The 5 children were in a "nearby" school and suffered shock. No one on the ground was physically injured according wo what I just read.

Yeah. Got it downloaded and indexed on the iPad. I have only had a quick skim so far, it is such a great concept. I keep meaning to price how much it would cost to get documents like that professionally printed. Gotta remember...

Interesting. I don't agree with it (not saying it is wrong, I just don't agree :-)). Besides uncomfortable and tiring I don't like the idea that I might turn or move my body and accidently change the throttle setting which I think is a bit more likely than something happening where the extra half a second is going to cost me. Thats why I am interested in the "why" of it. I am sure there is stuff I don't know. :-)

I was never taught to have the hand on the throttle at all times, a 1000 feet seemed to be enough for my instructors. Far too tiring. Do some of you guys really never let go? If not when and why?

Um. So they are going to provide maps that are less useful than the people they are replacing? that sounds about right. Heaven forbid that we get the coordinates from the source. Much safer to try and retrofit it! <cough> Frankly the "because everyone wants them in different formats and they couldn't keep up with the technology" is laughable if they are using any kind of real GIS system. It is trivial for us to export the data an almost any format needed. Where I work we can write a script that would output ALL the maps in a plenty of different formats at the press of a button. Surely their systems aren't that backward! If they don't want to do it they should just say so instead of making excuses. I have send off a polite message with some of the above points. It will be interesting to see the results.

G'day Chris, It seems a fair few of us started learning in our mid 40s :-) I learnt on the SportStar at Aldinga but fly a Jabiru 160 these days. I do miss the Sporty though. Steven.

For the chart probably not, I don't think the chart publisher has the resources and they are the ones who have to chase you in a civil case. But don't believe it for music and video. The Oz version of the RIAA has stated fairly recently that it wants to start suing individual copiers, like they do in the US. When ACTA gets the green light and copying becomes a criminal offence, even single copies, then it will get really interesting. The police reckon they are busy now! Wrong people to ask. That is the relm of the law makers and has nothing to do with what we mere mortals might think of as fair.

heh. I am not a lawyer either but I do read about this stuff alot in various web sites. Plus I sometimes read at least some of the terms and conditions when I buy something. The law isn't about being ethical. A pXXXXXted work cannot be copied unless the licensing agreement allows you to. Whether the copyright holder is in business or not makes no differenceat all. As in almost all digital purchases, you don't own your copy of the product therefore you have no rights over it except those explicitly given at purchase time (and subject to change retrospectively at the licence holders whim).

Make sense when your low. So the question "In a sportstar, why is there a need to keep a hand on the throttle during takeoff". The reason is to make sure that you don't loose power while your low and slow. In the sporty the throttle has these notches, like a thread. When you apply full throttle, an let go of the button the throttle can be sitting on top of a notch which means during takeoff the throttle can pop-in to a lower notch causing a small loss of power. A small loss of power during the ground run or when low can be rather serious! I have only had this happen once, maybe twice. Generally, I keep my hand on the throttle atleast until I have completed my crosswind turn (maybe 600, 700 feet). If I am doing circuits then I leave it on until I have reached circuit height. (whats the point of taking the hand away for such a short period, I guess). My explanation isn't the only reason I am sure but it is particular to the sportstars kind of throttle. Steven.