Neil_S

Hi Marty, Welcome to the site. Now you have your X Country and Pax I hope you will enjoy a few long flights with a mate/spouse/girlfriend/etc Let us all know how you get on! Cheers, Neil

Welcome, Baz! Good luck with your build.....how about a few pics? Cheers, Neil

Hi Billy, Welcome to the site! Good move to buy the airfield.... Cheers, Neil

......with access to all that duty free booze - why not?

Bonjour! I didn't build my Savvy, but am happy to help with any questions you may have. Yeh - gotta love that low pound - I have a pension from ex-employer British Airways, now worth not a lot! Cheers, Neil

I always check windyty as it has a graphical display of the forecast winds at various levels up to 10,000 ft and above, and also a cloud overlay forecast. It covers 4 or 5 days ahead. You can zoom in and out, and click at any point to get a detailed forecast for that exact location. I used it yesterday and managed to find a slot of a few hours when winds were light and cloud at around 30% to plan a flight to the 12 Apostles, a destination that has eluded me a couple of times before due to high levels of low cloud at the coast. On the day of your planned flight combine that with the area forecast from NAIPS which, by definition, covers a huge area, and you get a good idea of the overall picture. Willyweather is also useful for an idea of weather (esp. rain) a few days out, but only covers ground level winds and has no info wrt cloud. Good luck with your Navs! Cheers, Neil

On short final in a Gazelle when a bloody great spider runs out of the wing root and across the windscreen......startled the hell out of me! By the time I touched down he was nowhere to be seen. Sprayed everywhere with Mortein and assumed all good. However, a few days later found him sitting on my seat, but again by the time I had the can of spray in my hand he had disappeared. Sprayed again. Finally found him under the seat on his last legs (so to speak), and gave him a decent burial with full military honours...

Hi Andy & Good luck with your return to the flying fold! Cheers, Neil

Hi Lizzy, As I am male and 61 I don't quite fit your category, but it is great to welcome you to this site and aviation in general - there are far too few lady pilots of any age !! Best of luck with your training and I hope you get to have whatever career in aviation you are looking for. Keep us informed of your progress, and feel free to ask any questions you may have - there are loads of people on this site with many years of experience, and I am sure they will be only too willing to assist you. Cheers, Neil

If you are using "Aunt Mary" as a name (Good morning, Aunt Mary. I went with Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary. -- The same way you'd say "Good morning, Frank" or "I went with Peter and Alice") then use capitals. If you are referring to her like this: "I went with my aunt, Mary, and two of my cousins" then it's a generic noun and not part of her title.

The apostrophe can be quite important too - the difference between "knowing you're $hit" and "knowing your $hit".....

Hi Lance, Will do. My brother is in Holcombe, which is about 30 miles from you as the crow flies. Romsey is just up the road from our airfield, which has only just opened again yesterday after more than a week of being closed due to boggy conditions. Lots of rain here recently, so very wet ground around and lots of towns in Victoria are still flooded. Kyneton Aeroclub has just had to postpone its 50 year celebration airshow (scheduled for Sunday Oct 23rd) due to boggy conditions. Very frustrating! Cheers, Neil

Hi Lance, Whereabouts in Somerset are you? My brother lives in Somerset and, although he is into old cars rather than aeroplanes, he did join me at Oshkosh earlier this year and enjoyed it. I am over in the UK reasonably often, so may be able to drop by whilst in my brother's neighbourhood next time. I fly a Savannah at Penfield (Sunbury), although at the moment a float plane would be the best option - it has been SO wet here recently. All the best, Neil

I saw a piston-engine powered one of these at Henstridge in the UK. I thought it was an RC model until someone came along and got into it.... It then took off and did an amazing display of handling. These French! Sacre Bleu! Amities! Neil

Oi! Who are you calling old?? I'm 61, and learnt to fly at age 54. Go for it! You will only regret not having done it sooner! Cheers, Neil

I agree - this would be a real advantage if implemented. Or if we (recreational pilots) were able to use FLARM at $700 a go, that would also be good. My only nagging concern, as someone has already said, would be having a false sense of security that ALL aircraft would be picked up, when in reality they wouldn't. But on balance I think it would be better to have it than not, as I have also been in the situation of hearing a radio call from an aircraft in close proximity, but never being able to see it, despite straining my eyes in the direction stated. Cheers, Neil

Hi Javier, Welcome on board! Cheers, Neil

Ah yes! So when are you over Penfield way again?

Personally I find the full size iPad too big for a small cockpit, and so I have an iPad Mini on a kneepad, which has worked fine for me...

Hi Matt! Good to have you on board. Where do you fly from? What sort of flying do you like (local, long-distance etc) Cheers, Neil

Hi Marty, Good to hear from you! Hope all is well. Actually it is "Warbirds over Wanaka", and is a must for any WW2 plane enthusiast. Also there are the shows at Omaka (the two shows occur on alternate years), which are a sheer delight for WW1 plane enthusiasts like me. So you will have to head over to NZ on TWO years Have to admit the Kiwis put on bloody good shows!! Cheers, Neil

Hi Jonathan, Yeh - we all put it off for far too long! Hope you put in an airstrip and enjoy flying from your own back door - my back yard is not quite big enough Keep us informed of your progress, and all the best! Cheers, Neil

Hi Sonja, Welcome from a fellow Melbournite. Where/what are you flying? Cheers, Neil

Details added - now cross fingers the wx is good.....

Hmmm - I love flying my plane, but the reason I like Fly-Ins and Airshows is not so much looking at other aircraft, although that is fun if they are a bit unusual, but talking with the other attendees. Some will be fellow pilots/builders, and others not, it doesn't matter. That is probably why I did not get to see everything I wanted even in 7 days at Oshkosh - I just seemed to spend so much time talking to people. The sheer variety of backgrounds, experience, and opinions was great, and I made a few useful contacts with whom I will keep in touch. But maybe that's just me..... Cheers, Neil