BirdDog

Nope - You are right!

We were in the circuit doing a number of them. The parachute plane joins on base. :(

Hmm.. The manual states On Condition is OK - No mention of exception s to Rotax etc. And yes, it's the latter with 2000 TBO. Hence why I think there is still a lot of life left in it yet.

I had a similar incident during my training - at an AD that will remain nameless, I was landing from the south, and my instructor noticed another bird directly ahead wanting to land from the north. Now lucky my instructor was on the ball, as this bird was returning from Parachute drops outside of the CTAF, so a quick Freq change and my instructor had him sorted. He was on Base, we were on final. If I was a solo student, that could of got nasty. But he is a big bird and apparently has little care for 10kts tail winds.

Hey all, So my bird has a Rotax 912ULS with only 320 odd hours on it. The problem is, it will be 15 years old (TBO) in 3 very short years. So I have a few questions I would love your opinion on. 1) - Would you try to offload it now, and put that coin towards a new one? OR 2) - Would you wait for the 3 years and try and offload at TBO and do as above? OR 3) - Would you keep it and run it "On Condition" as allowable under RAAus? (Private use only) I would love to hear your thoughts. The engine has meticulously maintained, with all SBs etc completed. Just scratching my head on how to proceed. I want to keep the airframe (also only 320 hours in) as it's immaculate, and I love it. Anyways... Fire away. Cheers J

6. "we all want RAAus to be the safest it can be" Ah, but you don't, and you shouldn't. WHAT THE??? Of course we all want it to be the safest it can be! And it probably is. I agree, RAA makes it cheaper and easier for us to all fly, and yes, that does come with higher risks, and so maybe it already is as safe as it can be. To say anyone should not want it as safe as it could be is a silly statement! Otherwise, we could forget any form of regulation and go nuts! Then it surely won't be as safe as it should be. I am new to RAA. Been here about 3 years, and I am not sure what everyone is up in arms about!! I don't know much about the leadership, as it does not really interest me. What does interest me is that an organisation has enabled me to buy my own bird, maintain it, and fly it pretty much anywhere I want (CTA aside, not that I want into busy ADs anyway) so I really don't see the problem. Someone I spoke to had a whinge about registration and membership fees - They are kidding right!!! It cost's me less for my RAA than it does for my gun club membership! SHEESH! Lastly, through RAA I saved about a thousand bucks on my Aircraft insurance. So personally, I really don't see the issue. But like they say I guess, you can't please everyone. Just my $0.2

Thanks Admin! Any reason I would still not be getting any email alerts? Checked SPAM, nothing there. Is there any way you can check that mail is actually being sent?

Yep! Sure is!

No, what I meant was, my flight school advised that I could not use my iPhone as a backup as it was too small. Had to be 2 iPads.

Hmm... Where does it say it's not for private operators. My training mentioned it all the way through it, and I was not doing commercial!!

Exactly what I said. Just go to preferences, and try and make a change and save it! I get that error, and I am not getting any email notifications at all. Cheers John

This from the CASA site... What is the minimum size for an EFB? EFBs need to be able to display information in a manner comparable to the paper aeronautical charts and data they replace. They should have a minimum screen size of approximately 200mm measured diagonally across the active viewing area. A PDA can only be used for calculations. A smartphone is not appropriate or acceptable as either a primary or backup device.

It appears I am not getting any notifications when someone replies. When I go into profile Preferences to try and set the alerts, I get this error - even tough all the boxes are ticked.!

Well, I flew over many strips last week on an epic adventure.... Let's see how good you all are. ;)

I am with Nev. It's why I like to start on the dead side. It gives me time to hear where everyone is, but it also lets me see from the corner of Xwind, right through to the corner of Base for any aircraft entering downwind, in downwind, or turning onto base. Also - Orbiting in a circuit (360) is a really bad idea. If things are not going to plan in the circuit, then leave the circuit. Don't orbit, as you will put yourself in places that other traffic are not expecting you to be. When craft are in the circuit, other pilots will be building a mental image of where everyone is, and that image is a big rectangle. Once you start orbiting in the circuit, that goes out the window, and NEVER turn against the circuit. Another 10 minutes in the air to reconfigure and properly rejoin the circuit is safer, and it's only 10 minutes. The bonus will be you get 10 more minutes in your logbook! :D

My concern is with this call... (descending to join righthand downwind RWY XY) You should not (in my opinion) descend into downwind! You should already be at circuit height before you enter the circuit. If you are overhead the field you should be one of two positions.... Either joining Midfield Crosswind, in which case you should be at circuit height coming from the dead side, or you should be above circuit height spotting a wind sock. Descending into a circuit is dangerous, as you may not see craft below you, they may not see you above them. If I have misread your post, I apologise. Cheers J

Hmm.. Ok... But what if on a flight, the power does not return - maybe there is no power being generated. Once the battery goes completely dead, so will the engine! That was all I was thinking. If you are close enough to the strip, might not be too much of a concern I guess.

Am I the only one that would ask why you would be flying at all - if the problem happened after the 2nd time? Or is that just me? LOL! Glad you have it sorted though!

Hey All, I currently have the Garmin Aera 500 mounted on my dash, and I am wondering if the 660 will plug right into the mount? It looks to be the same mount on the rear, but I am struggle to get 100% confirmation. Anyone? Cheers J

Thanks guys, keep them coming! We are forever students.

So, I thought I would start this thread as a way of maybe educating other pilots of experiences that could have turned out really bad, or maybe you got yourself into a situation you would have rather you didn't and would like to share. I will start.... So it was an almost perfect afternoon, and a friend had a day off work to come flying. I was 50 hours in, so still wet behind the ears, and as my instructor said, experienced enough to get into trouble. We arrived at the airfield under sunny skies, but the wind was up a bit more than I was comfortable with - and that should have been the end of it. But we had driven over an hour, and it was his only day off in a while, so I pulled the bird out of the hanger, and prepped her for flight. I won't go into the nitty gritty, but while we were up in our hour long flight, the wind worsened, and shifted to be basically crosswind. Long and short of it, I took 5 go arounds to get the aircraft down, and although my buddy was having a good time of, I certainly was not. This was a while ago now, and I am into my 100 hours, but it taught me a valuable lesson. Don't push my luck. I should never have taken off in the first place, and I should have listened to my gut instinct telling me the same. If it does not feel right, then it isn't. I love the mantra of my instructor now.... If there is doubt, then there is no doubt. ? Anyways... thats one of mine... Care to share?

Interesting how we all do things slightly different. I was taught to drop power to idle right at the downwind/base turn. Maintain 70 (in my bird anyway) all the way through the downwind/base turn. Depending on height etc, deploy a stage of flap either on base, or on final, right after the base/final turn. I was taught to again maintain 70 (again in my bird) right the way through the base/final turn (way above stall speed) . It was hammered into me as the most important turn of the circuit. Then once on final, maintain 60 and deploy flap or side slip if the height is wrong. Worse case, go around. Was also taught to lower the nose right before flap deployment. Have practiced the crap out of 3 stage flap with side slip, and she can get down pretty bloody fast! Lastly, was taught to "never chase final" In other words, if I overshoot the base/final turn, don't chase to get back on centre line. If it's too bad, go around.

Hi FS. My bird is out at Coota and next time I am out there I will ask around for you. It's a really nice AD with fuel, and well maintained strips. I should be out there this week or next week and will see what i can find out for you. Cheers J

That's a nice strip!!!

Hmm... That's not a bad trip option actually. I have planned to keep me out of Sunset County and the Big Desert, and going up around Wentworth does both. Thanks man, I will look into this more. Cheers J