BusaKaine

Hi and welcome. A great lot of people here with a lot to offer.

They other guys today went over the east side of Moreton Island as there are a few pods of whales out there, near Cape Moreton. I'd expect them to be around for a while.

Well another great day, my 3rd Nav and a big one this time and the credit card is still recovering from it. 2.6h total Plan was YCDR-YWSG-YGYM-YHBA-YNSH-YCDR via Nambour to miss YBSU airspace Everything started off nicely, YCDR to YWSG but I got diverted 1/2 way while over Woodford straight to YGYM. So a quick replan and continued on my way. I flew overhead of YGYM on to YHBA - lots of fog nearYHBA so didn't know if we were going to get in or not.... Getting close so I check AWIS and know I will be getting 29, a 1500' fly over for 29, mid crosswind join and just as I go flaps before base and what do you know, a damn engine failure glide approach... nailed it... running out of time so another re route - straight to Nambour (radio BNE centre to check R658B/A - all clear to fly over) and then back in for a downwind join on my favourite 23 at YCDR with a flapless landing (I love flapless). A great day indeed...

Well this weekend my son came down for school holidays so I took him up. I was hoping to get him addicted as I remember from a very young age of wanting to fly. Well mission accomplished he wants to... (I didn't think about the cost part until now - so looks like I need to become an instructor). A nice quick flight 0.8h from YCDR around Mt Tibrogargan and then over Bribie down to Woorim and back.

Yeah I was watching it, the flying Padre. Those crop dusters are crazy....

Welcome, it certainly is a great way to spend our hard earned money... I'm also currently doing my x country from Caloundra and share the same dream to explore more of our country by air.

What a great way to see our beautiful country, I'd love to do that one day. For now I am just working towards a flight next year to the Cape.

Very sad news

Hi Isak, welcome, I'm in Brisbane as well. There are a lot of good options around us for RPC. I decided that driving to Caloundra was worth the trip as I really like school and trainers at GoFly, the Sling 2 plane is very nice and modern and the Aerodrome there is great. There are also some great schools at Redcliffe and Caboolture if your looking for something closer as well.

Hi Erik, I'm just finishing my Nav in a RAAus so I can get my RPL and then PPL. It's definitely a cost saving over GA plus I really do love flying the Sling 2.

I started in 1996 in a Jabiru but as I was only 16 I couldn't afford it even thought it was $99/h with instructor. Then in 1999/2000 I did another 8 hours in the Jabiru and still at the $99/h (I think). I move away shortly after and didn't do it again until September last year. This time in the Sling 2. At $295/h dual and $195/h private, it's a lot more but at 37 it's a a bit easier to afford with 2 incomes..... still a very expensive hobby.... but it's so much fun. Plus my wife encouraged me to do it and even gave me a few lessons as a birthday present last year.

Not at all, if you had bothered to put the Nav in and looked at where Somerset was and where I was flying your experience would have told you otherwise. It's a real shame there are people on here that are quick to jump on their soapbox without even looking at the Nav. Without knowing the area or even looking at a chart, someone with that much flying experience would have charts and even OzRunways or AvPlan EFB to check and offer some constructive feedback not misinformed ignorance. You don't get to make informed judgement if you can't even do the basic check. I guess there are always people who are quick to show their ignorance and irrelevance when someone new like me is trying to get training and share my experiences.

Watts Bridge is just behind Mt Brisbane and I can tell you there is also a landing area on Mt Brisbane so it's once again ok. Looking out to the left I saw the entire Somerset Area was covered in fog (as expected), I was at 4500' and had more than sufficient glide capability to land on Mt Brisbane or continue on my planned flight path to Kingaroy as only a few more miles away were plenty of fields to land at. (The confirmed over Wattsbridge by GPS was purely to test my Nav calculations). At no point was my flight unsafe and at no point was I not under VFR conditions. I also had 100L of fuel on board and @ 15L/H more than sufficient - See my highlighted area for fog. It was low level fog and Nav via landmarks/mountains etc.

Yes sorry it was still completely VFR Ok, if you put the nav into a planner, you see that Somerset dam and region is to the left of my flight plan, the fog covered the whole Somerset area from what I could see. There was still plenty of places to land and navigate by. Sorry I should have spelt it out more, but not having my planned aerodrome to land in but I was constantly being quizzed on where can I land on the route.

What a great day, my first Nav. YCDR, YWSG, YKRY, YCDR. As there was fog until 0900 at YKRY we left at 9am to make sure there was plenty of time for it to leave. Unfortunately I couldn't get into Wattsbridge due to the entire Somerset area covered in fog but confirmed I was on top of it exactly as planned. Then a nice flight to Kingaroy, a very nice big strip there. Then back to Caloundra. It's a great feeling when you plan the flight and it really does come together as planned.

Last Sunday (Mothers Day) I was finally able to take my mum up flying. She has been waiting for this since she help me start flying 21 years ago.... Although it was a cloudy day, so my planned flight to the Glasshouse and then over Bribie became just a 1100' flight to Bribie and then over water where I could get up to 3500' at least and back. She really loved it.

That makes sense given everyone has to come from the same area. I only once had a grass takeoff and that was in Bundaberg for something different just before I left. I'm sure it was a J120 (I will check my log book when I get home and see what I had written down). A few of the guys at the Aeroclub back in the day had a few different ones. I just remember the guys with 172's saying how much cheaper to maintain the Jabiru's were. No idea how that stacks up today. I mean it was only $99/h with instructor back then to learn to fly....

Thank you, that's great to know. yes it seems that the endorsements are cheaper under RAAus so that's a big bonus. Helps my fly more for less :D Caboolture is a much busier than Caloundra that's why I'm happy to fly from there at the moment. Plus Caboolture is grass so I wanted to be more confident, even if I do all of my flying out of Caloundra until I'm certified. The Jabiru was a great little plane and back in the day (I mean over 20years ago) it was a very cheap plane to fly.

2 weeks ago. [GALLERY=media, 3835]14876640_10154554821519976_5951052085711377187_o by BusaKaine posted Nov 14, 2016 at 1:37 PM[/GALLERY]

Hi, Yes with GoFly but I'm currently flying out at Caloundra at the moment, a few more hours and I might go out of Caboolture as it's a bit closer but want to get a bit more confidence up first. As for the path, I'll probably go from my RPC to PPL, I'm hoping for the quickest but safest way. I'm more interested in making sure I'm a safe/confident pilot.

hi all, I'm new here so thought I'd better do the right thing and introduce myself. I'm 37 and for my birthday a few months back my wife booked some flying lessons for me. It's been many years sicne I last was flying and she knew I've wanted to for a long time. I'm currently learning in a very nice Sling 2 and then will go through over the next several months and eventually get my PPL. I am a Technical Scuba diver and the past several years I've focused on that as a hobby. The obvious problem is my hobbies clash both being weather dependent and of course the whole deep CCR diving and flying don't mix well. (Not without some serious complications) I've purchased a nice set of Bose A20 and I have to say that's made a world of difference from when I was flying a Jabiru back in 1996.... Well I look forward to reading up in the forum and contributing if/where I can.