GraemeK

At lilydale, at least 20 years ago, the final was pretty long as you had to turn from the power lines

To avoid meat bombers and stay well clear of YCEM, circuits are to the West - so yeah the hills and Coldstream are limiting factors, plus one or two houses we dare not fly over!

I had a look at the ATSB site and although I didn't go through it all, in the incident reports I looked at, lack of an installed radio was not the problem where it could have been issue. I am not sure what this proves.

And the thing that struck me was almost all were in CTA, where radio is required anyway. And I reckon this is because this stuff gets reported (VCA etc) because there's someone listening. The stuff that happens out there in GAAP or Class G by and large won't make it to the ATSB list because there's no-one out there watching.

SO - the ATSB data really doesn't help the argument in any way - we really don't know how many near misses in our airspace could have been avoided by radio. The ATSB stuff is a real red herring IMHO.

My position is still that I wouldn't consider flying without a radio, and I think everyone should have one, it's just one less hole to line up in the cheese. But I would stop short of mandating it.

Yeah - not everyone does it (in fact, I don't remember seeing anyone else doing it) but my instructor showed me how.

Just don't try it if he's sitting in the plane!

What's the 'static source'? (number 4 in preflight list in Jab POH)

Static source is vital to both the ASI and altimeter - also the Dynon EFIS depends on static and pitot pressure for all its indications - including its artificial horizon. So pretty important!

... every morning before any students arrive we go over our aircraft as per the POH and also to check for other things that we know will wear eventually, and make sure all the big things are done ...

That, plus the hairdryers and other paraphernalia needed to get the Jabs started in this freezing weather! :stirring pot:

One thing I found useful for my preflight checks was the Jabiru POH - if you haven't already downloaded it it's a good reference for preflights.

Some instructors forget things like checking the wheel struts for free play - the book has it all!

Dont they dimm the interior lights in the cabin on approach

Now they do like pretty much everyone else - dim them so we call all go oooh and ahhh at the pretty lights .

DS - just had a proper read of your blog and sounds a lot like my experience. I certainly had trouble early on with the throttle, it just seemed counter-intuitive to push in for power - but now its second nature.

I can also relate to the "looking at instruments" thing - at about the same stage as you I found myself looking inside too much rather than getting attitude right, then confirming with instruments - so much so that my instructor covered over the ASI and asked me to fly certain speeds. Again, not a problem now.

Worst I did was get the flap switch wrong! After takeoff at 300' AGL, I went to raise the flaps but lowered instead - that combined with the usual increase in backpressure certainly got the instructor's attention!

Lots of fun though! If you're interested in the theory, I reckon Stick & Rudder is a fantastic book even though it was written in the 40's.

Also See How it Flies is a great on line resource.

Cheers

Hi DS

The way I approach my preflight inspection is to mention anything that looks unusual to the instructor - that way I'll hopefully learn what's important and what's not. I'd be careful of assuming someone else has already picked it up, because if everyone did that we'd be in trouble! Sometimes I've picked up stupid things, but that's learning and no need to feel embarrassed.

Love your blog - great stuff! Have you seen this one?

Hope to meet you at YLIL sometime - my next lesson is Monday morning.

Cheers

Are you meant to dip the fuel tanks during each preflight, or just during the first of the day? I do the fuel drain to check for water etc, but I'm not sure whether I'm meant to dip the tanks as well.

The water check is legally only required for first flight of the day or after refuelling - but it's good practice to do it as part of your preflight.

I take my time over the preflight - I'll often find something to mention to the instructor (he probably thinks I'm a bit picky, but there ya go!). If I've finished before he arrives, I usually amuse myself fixing up the Dynon .........

Oh, and welcome to the forum - good to see another YLIL student here .

..... you are not aware of anyone using the cross strip during your taxi ..... but you are aware that it does get used at times by students practicing cross-wind landings ....Is it compulsory to stop at those holding position markings on the taxiway each time you approach the cross strip?

C0033/09

GENERAL AVIATION AERODROME PROCEDURES - (GAAP) CONTROL ZONES

A PILOT IN COMMAND MUST REQ AND OBTAIN ATC CLEARANCE BEFORE ENTERING,

CROSSING OR TAXIING ALONG ANY RWY WHILE AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES ARE IN

OPERATION

REFERENCE AIP BOOK A/L 59 EFFECTIVE 4 JUNE 09

AMD AIP ENR 1.1-50 PARA 27.1.1 B. TO READ:

B. TAXIING ACROSS OR ALONG ANY RUNWAY

FROM 07 201400 TO PERM

I don't think that a majority should so lightly sell out a minority.

Think of the advances that have been driven by the rag and tube guys and the home builders, look at our avionics compared to most of the old GA stuff out there - the great beauty of less bureaucracy is that it allows innovation - whereas the GA regulatory framework stifles it (and probably should, too, where paying passengers are concerned).

So let's rejoice in our common enjoyment of recreational flying, and not obsess with what we fly or how long we've been doing it. And remember that we all contribute, and we need to respect each other's positions even if we disagree.

Apologies for thread drift.

I believe that we shouldn't just learn what we need to know but we should continue beyond that, even if that involves a separate theory course at a school etc. Sure it may seem an unnecessary cost considering areas covered may not be required for a particular qualification/rating. But any "above and beyond" training (theory or otherwise) can only make us safer and thus help answer the question as to what is better between RA and GA.

Personally, I reckon everyone should have a radio and use it - just one more thing to help stop the holes lining up in the cheese (although maybe offset by a tendency to be lulled into a sense of false security in CTAF and neglect looking out).

Just not sure about mandating it though.

(Jab 160, started Oct 2008).

The wording says it all: 'under the supervision and control of a CFI' .................otherwise do your x/c.

Despite legalities, I'd be personally reluctant to venture too far without full XC endo - how far is too far, well it depends I guess. Where I fly there are plenty of landmarks to guide you home, other places there may not be. I take turbo's point about weather, but that applies in any case .....

Landing at a new strip? I guess I'd be happier if I'd tried a few different ones first with the instructor in the RH seat, just to see how I could handle different situations.

You'll need to do the GA BAK if you only have the RA one (I was advised to do the GA one anyway - saves doing both).

Main difference I think is that the GA one has more questions on weight and balance so you'll need to know your loading charts (alpha, bravo, etc).

Hi JayKay

Good question - I'd always just accepted the definition of CAVOK as per your definition above, without going back to source.

The BOM defines CAVOK as just "Cloud and Visibility OK" which is not particularly helpful to us!

The AIP (AIP GEN 2.2) defines CAVOK in Australia as "Visibility, cloud and present weather better than prescribed values or conditions", again not much of a help!

To get to nub of it you need to go to AIP GEN 3.5 4.4.1g which pretty much defines it as per your earlier post, ie vis>10km, no cloud < 5000ft, no TCU, no CB, no significant weather.

Makes it a bit tough when you have to search that hard I guess - why couldn't the BOM and both bits of the AIP use a consistent definition? I suppose the answer is that if the ICAO changed their definition, then we'd only have to change it in one place - but there's surely gotta be a better way!

I can't find the definition for CAVOK on the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) website and it appears that the BOM does not use the CAVOK acronym in its weather forecasts.

You also see it quite often in the Area 30 ARFOR for Kilmore Gap - nice and succinct and, as you say, conveys a whole lot of information. Much easier to quickly interpret than "no clouds below 5000 feet above aerodrome level (AAL) or minimum sector altitude (whichever is higher) and no cumulonimbus or towering cumulus, visibility is at least 10 kilometres (6 statute miles) and no current or forecast significant weather such as precipitation, thunderstorms, shallow fog or low drifting snow" IMHO!

I dunno, but in Suva on holiday I was offered a human ear in a jar.

Does that make it a souvenir?

I never resent him keeping me and the plane in one piece!

Fortunately, it's something we discussed early on, so we both understand - and it's worked well in my case :thumb_up:.

What's this with the bitumen and the white line? Luxury I tell you!

I'm happy if I don't hit the markers on either side of the grass strip !

But yep - I had (sometimes still have) the problem of looking over the prop instead of straight ahead, when you can't figure why the instructor is still yelling "right rudder" when you reckon it's pointed straight ahead.

For anyone in the area, is most traffic using the CTAF 119.1 or Melbourne Radar or Melbourne centre frequencies? I am right on the edge of all these???

Most times we're on 119.1, with 135.7 (Melbourne Radar) on the second frequency. On weekends you'll hear a fair bit of traffic on the CTAF with several aircraft in the circuit and one or two skydive planes and charters coming and going. Bit quieter during the week though!

In all of this, no one has come and said they have had an engine failure in a Jabi

Bit scary when things go suddenly quiet .....

They respectively show magnetic variations for Griffith NSW of about 10.4 degrees East and 10.9 degrees East for 2005. ..... My ERSA lists the deviations in whole degrees with both as 11 degrees East.

So it's a bit academic really !!

Geoff's pic is here I think ....