Ballpoint 246niner

No mate I still hold all examiner priveleges - so you don't escape that easy- unless you want to!!- Many thanks

Watch out Col and all CFI's coming soon for review...

Many thanks to all- I look forward to formal communications with our membership through my role in the coming weeks.

We love it and expect to have Second one later this year. Errol is a great distributor and we have taught ab initio in it as well as heaps of conversions. A breath of fresh air in the LSA market.

Still on mine! Caboolture to Whitsundays and return tomorrow, just a magnificent part of the coast... More to post on return.

We had a small issue with one of ours where one LANE( Ignition) warning light would intermiitently come on- a slight adjustment by the local Rotax approved LAME of the idle seems to have fixed the problem.

That's the point " some " made it - now most make it. Formal instruction has been the greatest contributor to safety in ultralight aviation, please prove otherwise. As to the quality of instruction some are teachers other instructors, there is a huge difference. Just like people in every facet of life, some are born to it, some adapt to and some should never do it.... We get all sorts as does every facet of instruction.

Hey Rank we are now operating a Tecnam in Armidale if you want to get some airtime???

Ian was going to do this his post in the original thread.....

Great to see the "pubs I want to fly too one day" thread is still alive and well, thanks again to John for referencing all the great info gathered over the last two years on google maps.

I just ordered a bunch of parts for mine coming up to 600 hrs in 2 years and the new bungy was top of the list, there is a factory approved mod for the nose leg bracket doubler and mine was LAME fitted at around 260 hrs, with nearly 1700 landings all is good. Other than working rivets and the control hinges and bushes which wear she is going great guns. A solid investment and great all round performer. I have in my hangar at present also the WAC Spirit first of type in Oz and it's interesting to see the lineage and differences that Max has applied to this new venture. Many good things. Any enquiries feel free to contact me.

I try to get all our students to set a goal for each flight, and self assess their success at the end. It's easy to get all cosy and float around up there but having some interesting task setting can help in further training fly to x and tell me how long it took. Fly a square with each leg over 10 mins and report what you see at each turn point etc etc etc, keeping your flying interesting is the conduit for continued learning whether you have 50 hours or 5000.

Bloody "rice burners"- turn the fuel taps off boys!

Does anybody know if tis was part of a group Savannah trip ?

And I am often asked why you would jump out of a perfectly good airplane- my reply........ They ain't that perfectly good!

Wonder if the 2 pilots had a formation brief before departure?

Totally agree with all you say mate- so why when we have comprehensive stall training in all syllabus'( RA/GA) is this failing to stop " loss of control" type accident findings and failing to stop stall accidents? HF issues? Is going one step further going to stop the above? My only point being if you can't effectively recovery in the first 1/2 turn of a developing spin then the rest is probably history if you are on base or similiar ( cite- Murwullimbah 2012, Caboolture 2011/2006), Gympie 2011- just to mention a few I know locally. Perhaps better RECOGNITION before the event is better than a post incident REPAIR. Food for thought....

David, if we need to allow pilots to get to a fully developed spin( in training) in order to convince them of the dangers of going there in the first place then we have already failed in our teaching duties. How many ( experienced)pilots do you know who could effectively recover a 1 turn developed spin at the sort of heights where the x-control, skiding turn/low airspeed scenario will present the most danger, ie in circuit?- I have done 100's of spins over 40 years, many with students in other forms of aviation( gliding) and in earlier days when in the Day VFR syllabus and to recover a full turn spin in under 6-800 ft( depending on type) is almost impossible. We don't need to get AIDS to be aware of the dangers of unprotected sex, and while spin manouvres are good to practice, I believe, as I said before, pilots still don't even recognise the pre-stall condition well enough let alone going for broke in a developed spin. That is where good instructional energy should be spent- but by all means- sent them to an aero school, or demo in an approriately certified aircraft with pilot likewise- but to " wake them up" suggests we have not put the "fear of god" into them enough in the first place.

Yes interesting that AOC s are required to be working to a MOS in a months time that is still in draft form.....? MM the eurofox will be our next aircraft - great shot thanks

Aus, the RA syllabus does allow for recovery from incipient spin ie wing drops (sect6.2 in the flight training syllabus) and should be taught to all students as part of their basic training. The fact so many are unsure of this really bothers me in respect of what is being taught. Having said all this stall recovery and stall symptoms are ( hopefully) being and have been taught to all pilots for many years but alas ,pilots still stall aircraft and kill themselves. All the training in the world is only valuable if you apply it without hesitation when you need it and more importantly, fly in such a way to never get to the edges where these things can occur. Go jump in with a glider or aerobatic instructor if you really want to explore full spins more thoroughly, very worthwhile for all pilots.

Hey Cos, well done first of all for posting- I've known you personally for many years and can attest to your safety consciousness and good airmanship. Marks right, it's a good learning experience, the rest is incidental -so what can we learn. Always do a thorough "pre landing" check BUMPPFISHA covers it all- the first one is BRAKES. In any toe brake aircraft you must deliberately pull your heels back and ensure they are well clear after checking for pressure . The fundamental Savannah problem is the brakes are huge paddles and the rudder bars short- kinda stacks the odds against all of us from the start ( so vigilance is paramount). I've stuffed up more than a few times let me tell you! Next the vibration??? Did you ever figure out what it was, I've flown Marks Sav and can confirm what you said. It would have set the bells ringing and the rest becomes human Factor related and situational awareness. Finally- and this applies to all aircraft but lifty low performance ones and draggers particularly. Many have been a little upset that the Sav has been identified as Low Performance by RA Aus but there are characteristics that the Savannah has, and can exhibit at very low air speeds that it is capable of that must be understood as low performance envelope characteristics, the flip side of this is that if we fly them at the higher end of the speed envelope, particularly in landing then that lifty wing can be like a kite that doesn't want to come down, this can set up interesting conundrums in some landing situations. All of this adds up to ONE most important point NO aircraft is landed until it is safely back at taxi speed ( or less) and we all log flight time when the engine stops so that's when we need to fly the plane till. Now having said all this, and I've waited a while as I've been busy- this post is for the benefit of ALL Pilots and Savannah ones particularly. We can all help each other in some way, and I will always offer a hand to any pilot who asks and I always look for ways to improve myself. Thanks for posting Cos - you humility underpins your character as a great bloke and good aviator.

So sorry to hear Andrew, my deepest sympathy to all .

The pilot is An experienced pilot and should be aware of distress procedures.

My My Pleasure!

No i No mate - an aircraft going back to Gatton from Archer Falls on Sunday, we were overflying Kilcoy at the time, the pilot issued the Mayday on 126.700 which is not monitored by ATC so I relayed for the pilot while he was busy. Are all RA pilots on this forum aware that distress calls, where possible should be made on the appropriate CTR frequency for the area they are flying?, that's the second one in twelve months I have heard on a CTAF or MULTICOM. It's no problem for a fellow pilot to relay but having the standby freq on your radio set to CTR or better still monitoring it when away from a CTAF area is not only good airmanship and CRM , but may save you in more ways than one. Just putting it out there......