GraemeK

Two Irishmen flew to Canada on a hunting trip. They chartered a small plane to take them into the Rockies for a week hunting moose. They managed to bag 6. As they were loading the plane to return, the pilot said the plane could take only 4 moose. Mick and Paddy both objected strongly - "Last year we shot 6. The pilot let us take them all and he had the same plane as yours." Reluctantly, the pilot gave in and all 6 were loaded. The plane took off but didn’t quite clear the ridge at the end of the valley and went down. Somehow, surrounded by the moose bodies, only Paddy and Mick survived the crash. After climbing out of the wreckage, Paddy asked Mick, "Any idea where we are?" Mick replied, "I think we're pretty close to where we crashed last year."

Goodonya Darky - well done !!

Yeah - my instructor kept making jokes about how I was floating down the runway too much! Happens a bit in winter unfortunately - usually resulting in closing the runway, although it was in use Friday, there's a displaced threshold on 18R anyway. Bigger problem ATM is that our taxiways are so cut up we are backtracking on the runways, there's also a big mudpatch developing near the threshold of 18L. Upside is at least we are getting some much-needed rain ....

Well done Dave!! :big_grin:

True - mate of mine who worked on building Nauru House in the '70's always reckoned he carried around a lump of 4 by 2. If he fell off he reckoned he'd put the wood under his feet, then jump off it a few feet from the ground. Less distance to fall!

Total fear of heights, floor to ceiling windows on tall buildings etc freak me out (I have a corner office about 40 floors up, full height windows and I can't make myself go near them). But flying? Like others have said, no problems at all. Dunno why, maybe being in control is a factor - or maybe it really is a fear of falling rather than a fear of heights. Either way, go for it!

Ian I have the HTC Desire on the Telstra $49 cap plan. Just love the phone, and would recommend it to anyone. The GPS is terrific (I know you can get it on other phones too) - I use it to monitor my circuits and I reckon they've improved in consistency.

There is an airstrip at the Bright lavender farm, but no idea of the current condition and from memory the approaches were a bit "hairy". The website used to mention it, but now doesn't (possibly for good reason!). Porepunkah is your best bet, nice strip.

I just pretend it's free and dont let my wife look at the bank statements. ...... fixed

Sounds like a great idea .....

Good luck Jennifer, hope you get there!!

Many people have had bad experiences with ASIC's through CASA - better to go through one of the other suppliers such as ID Australia or RAAus if you want it this side of Christmas. But I'd start now with the ARN/SPL application (BTW, not a bad idea to get an ARN anyway - I applied for one at the same time as I joined RAAus so I could order online from CASA).

Terrific MadDog - congratulations!

Damn Darky, that really is frustrating! So near, and yet so far ...... Sorry to say today's flying was terrific, slight headwind on 36, no bumps and plenty of headroom under the cloud. Plus fairly quiet in the circuit, just 2 of us (Jab plus Warrior) doing leisurely engine failures/glide approaches. Hope you can get the check over and done with before the taxiways give up completely (even the Jabs now have to backtrack on 36R)!!!

Welcome to the site Josh!

Thanks for the Shell article horsefeathers - I'd always been trained to keep the Jabs at around 1400rpm in the holding bay on the first flight for the morning until the oil temperature got into the green. I'd just assumed it was to make sure things were nice and warm before taking to the air - now I know there is another (and maybe even more important) reason to do so. I'll also revise my shutdown procedure.

A very timely thread, and some great advice! I was in the market for a new phone (the ancient i-MATE JAM was slowly degenerating into old age, getting to the stage of needing a reboot once a day to fix its scrambled memory cells), and was leaning to the iPhone. After reading through this thread, however, I took a closer look at the HTC Desire. All the reviews seemed to rate it above the iPhone. After looking at each side by side, the standout for me was the screen, the iPhone's looked a bit fuzzy and dull by comparison. apart from that, it did everything I needed, plus seemed to be more customisable. So I ended up getting the HTC, and so far am very pleased with it. I've downloaded the GPS tracking app, so I'll be able to see how accurate my circuits are! So again thanks to the contributors on this thread for steering me in the right direction!

Well done Andy!! :thumb_up:

Fantastic pradeep - well done!!! :thumb_up:

Darky - was that you taxiing in with the Jab at about the 3 minute mark?

No Darky - missed it unfortunately - but I know the owners of the swimwear company involved, they've made a few videos in the same style ..... And they were very complimentary of the service they got from the Lilydale crew.

You might want to contact the folks at Lilydale - Jono would be the bloke to talk to. They have a bit of experience with film crews, as in this recent swimwear commercial (the local pilots enjoyed the filming as well!! ) - the actual plane stuff starts about 1½ minutes in. [YOUTUBE]39MTJSy8nEo[/YOUTUBE]

One of my favourite military ones was the sign at the entrance to the old SR-71 Blackbird base in Kadena, Okinawa: "Though I fly through the Valley of Death, I shall fear no evil. For I am at 80,000 feet and climbing."

Another very good reason why we need to stick together is to ensure that aviation flourishes, and we still have access to airports. Currently, after about a decade of very little traffic growth in GA at airports like YMMB and YSBK, we are now seeing declines at both these airports (on AsA stats, YMMB is down 11% in 2009 and 4% YTD, YSBK down 4% in 2009 and a whopping 21% YTD). This despite significant growth in recreational flying. A worrying trend indeed. Next thing the commercial operators at the old GAAP fields will have to put up charges to cover their costs on the smaller base, leading to lower traffic and we are in a downward spiral. The anti-aircraft lobby will keep up the pressure, and the operators will eye off the potential profits from the type of DFO developments we are already seeing - soon it just becomes too hard, and the city airports will just disappear under the commercial/financial/environmental pressures. If I was in GA, I'd be absolutely encouraging the CTA endorsement for RAAus - because it might just be the only thing that will save these great airports from extinction.

Terrific stuff Tomo - great to see that the old crosshead so important in the age of steam locomotives is still around in the latest diesels!