RossK

Quick googling shows it's come down 4km in a direct line from the threshold of runway 30 at Santa Maria airport. Odds on a Base to Final stall, not enough time to deploy chute by the time you realise you need it.

Actually, scanning can be detrimental to old photos. The intense light from the scanner can kick off the residual deveolpement chemicals and over time the original photo will darken. Best to take a photo of the orignal with a digital camera. It's how museums do it.

Great Video of a forced landing in a Sling. Well done! I've no affiliation with GoFly Sling Forced Landing

This ^^^ You can buy a J160 for $35K-$45K, but; The annual fixed cost to have a J160 and store it at an airfield is around $10K ( hanger fees, maintenance, insurance etc). That gets me around 90 hrs or hire time. If i did that time in my own plane I would have fuel on top too, another $3-4K ? but with hiring I don't get to fly whenever I want, wherever I want, so ownership has its advantage obviously, but you have to fly 100+ hours a year to really make it worth while. Something with folding wings (aeropup, kitfox, skyfox etc) that can be stored on a trailer at home reduces this considerably if you have the space though.

Nav Endorsement passed on Sauturday:thumb up:. Was a challenging flight, spent the day dodging rain showers, scudding under clouds and going around hills to avoid high terrain and low clouds. Was pretty hard to stay on track, had to do numerous 1 in 60's, a PFL, prec search, and a diversion whilst trying to recover track after dodging another rain squall. By far my most challenging Nav to date. Where to from here - not sure, I really enjoyed the solo Navs, so just looking forward to flying without feeling like I'm being examined all the time. I will give a plug to my instructor, Matt at YLIL, always encouraging and adapting lessons to challenge me on whatever I was struggling with. Cheers Ross

Pilot Practice Exams RA-Aus RPL PPL CPL

From where you are, Tyabb and Tooradin are pretty close and have good rates. Minimum for RAA is 15hrs dual and 5hrs Solo, but budget for 20hrs dual and 10hrs solo

Any suggestions on where to do a tail wheel endorsement? I'm currently doing my Nav Endo out of YLIL and they don't have a RAA tail dragger. I'd like to avoid Moorabbin due to the CTA and all that entails. Easiest places would be Tooradin or Coldstream, but I'm open to suggestions. Thanks, Ross (Yes, I've been watching too many Trent Palmer and Cory Robin videos)

I think you have to avoid "organising" it. I understand if you organise a fly-in you have to comply with CASA's regs. So if you just happened to meet up somewhere on public land that you're allowed to land on and had some fun, well then.... I think it needs to be public land to avoid liability for the land owner etc.

Wedgetailed Eagle - Natural enemy of the UAV Wedge-tailed eagles winning war of the skies against drones Wedge-tailed eagles and drones competing for airspace in the workplace

If you have a look on Google Maps of the location, she didn't have many options - airfield is surrounded by suburbia and tiger country. Only other option was the beach but she probably wouldn't have made it. To top it all off, have a look at the street view and where she put it down. Managed to get it stopped in about 240m before a T-intersection Great flying!

Sending Ford Exploders into space would be considered an act of hostility, could start an interstellar war.

^ Much like boats, my other hobby.

So reading through this, fixed cost for rego, insurance and hanger costs are going to be around $100/wk for someone close to a city. Hourly costs are typically $50-60/hr. So unless you're doing 2 hours a week minimum, hiring a J160 or similar for $120-140 is a better option.

Ok, so that means I have to fly more, I think I can do that

Yes very much aware of that still, after the flight the CFI does a debrief, to discuss what you did well and what he'd like you to keep aware of, and keep working on. Need to work on getting the nose wheel off the ground earlier during the take off roll and keeping it up longer during the landing roll - and a couple of other minor things, forgot to turn carby heat off on one landing, use cadence braking for short field landings etc. I was very happy with the PFL though, seemed to have all the time in the world, got all my checks done, mayday call, passenger brief, hit my high key and low key spots and the approach was spot on and did my go around at 550ft AGL. Both my instructors hammered it into me that the CFI will give an automatic fail for messing up the PFL, no do overs, one shot at it only.

RPC passed!

If you want some maritime history - Port and starboard terminology originate from where the steering oar was placed. As most people are right handed, the steering oar (or board) was on the right side, Steerboard - right. Boats were then docked on the left side so as to not damage the steerboard, which meant the left side was the port side.

Flying a Jab 160. 18 hrs to date, back into upper air training - steep turns, advanced stalls, Engine failures etc. I'm having trouble getting the J160 to stall with flaps out - It puts it's nose up, the stall warning buzzes and the nose seems to just stay there, whilst we lose altitude, so more work to do there. Wing drops, climbing stalls, full power stalls I'm OK with. Who would of thought that getting a plane to stall from straight and level could be hard. Instructor says that I just have to be more aggressive with it. Passed my Radio and Area exams though.

Solo again today , Doing better. relaxed, having fun keeping it straight and thanks for the encouragement. it seemed like such a huge problem at the time, caused by such a small error in technique. I'm just glad that it seems to have been quick and easy to correct as my ability to control the planes direction after landing was getting worse. Cheers Ross.

Well, reality bites! 3rd Solo yesterday and a flaw in my landings became an issue yesterday. I've been having a bit of an issue keeping the plane straight after getting it on the ground. Initial phase of landing and touch down are fine, its the bit immediately after that I was having issues with, ie all wheels on the ground, veering right then harder left as I over corrected. After a couple of landings where I explored both sides of the strip I pretty much lost the last one and exited the strip to the left, hard left! taking a marker cone with me. At no stage was I fearful of getting hurt, more worried about bending the plane. So this morning, back at it with the instructor doing dual circuits. We did a debrief and review of yesterdays circuits and landings and what I though I was doing right and wrong. Early on we worked out that I've been so focussed on getting the plane down smoothly that it was unlikely that I was looking up to the end of the strip, just keeping my eyes fixed about 10m in front of the nose. So we did a couple of landings with a determined effort to look to the end of the strip just at the hold off. The touch downs were heavier than last weeks solos, but the thing just tracked down the middle of the strip. So now I'm back to working on my landings for the next lesson or 2, working on my flare and hold off. Better now than later. Cheers Ross

I thought it would be soon, as my instructor said I need to do my pre- solo exam this week. So this morning, before we fly, he hands me the exam and says " do this , then we fly" So I do the exam, pass and off we go. Did a few circuits, some very average landings which had me thinking not today, not with landings like those. Last circuit he says, make it a full stop and take us back the office. So I do that, knowing no solo today and lay it on the strip like a feather, best landing to date and taxi back. Do all my shut down checks and switch off. He gets out and says, "do all your checks and then one circuit, I'll wait here!" and shuts the door! Checks done, taxi, run-ups, enter and rolling and airborne! Just like that! Neat circuit, but too high initially, this Jab climbs well with only one person. Final going well, almost down, transition and float, and float and balloon, and float and aw crap. Full throttle, go around and do it again. Radio call - go around. Another neat circuit, but again too high initially. Good approach, good speed, gentle transition, hold off, and gently touch down! I so much wanted to open the throttle and go again, but I let it roll out and turned off the strip, called clear, and cleaned up. First Solo - DONE! Cheers, Ross

You land in the first paddock. The lone cow in the second paddock is probably a Bull.

So I'm up to 6.6hrs to date and into circuits now. First circuits were crosswinds, had my instructor laughing and apologising at the same time. At the end of the lesson, his comment was, "well it looks like we can still use it (the plane), so not too bad". Those Jabs are pretty tough. I will admit I'm surprised at how much coordination is required, and how things get out of shape really quickly. I'm starting to use my feet better, not great, but better, but it's taken a while. Luckily my instructors reactions are quick (i'm sure they all are), I can count 2 landings and 2 take-offs that I wouldn't have walked away from on my own. I've initiated 2 go-arounds, which my instructor said was the right call, he could have landed them but was happy with my decision. Having a ball, got some landings today and did some flapless and glide approaches. Cheers Ross.

Well I survived , booked another 6 lessons over the next 4 weeks. Hooked! Actually got to land it (with some assistance I'm sure ), wasn't pretty, but I'm still here. Cheers. Ross