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I have known Trevor for about 50 years. First in RC modelling when a teenager. he has a hangar at YCAB and built the RV8. I have been flying it it but when he had a more sedate engine in it. Trev changed the engine out a couple of years ago with a much more powerful turbocharged suburu than what he had in it. It also had a constant speed 4 blabe prop. The plane was a weapon. He travelled regularly to Raglan to see Ron the owner as they were good friends. Trevor is a very strong person. We are all very upset by this and we hope like hell he can pull through. We are well aware of the odds of survival with the percentage amount of burns he has. As a signal of his strength to be that badly burned and also the chest and other physical injuries from the crash then to walk 2km back to the homestead shows just how determined and strong he can be. Trevor is a very experienced pilot and has flown a lot of different aircraft including WW1 Fokker Triplane and Sopwith Camels and many others. He has done a heap of first test flights on all sorts of aircraft. He can be a bit gungho at times but his experience in flying all sorts of aircraft and his skill can not be denied. The club at YCAB and all of his friends are praying that he does pull through of course. I looked at his track it seems he took off from Redcliffe on the 22nd and the accident took place on the 23rd at about 10am. We dont know for sure but pretty sure EFOTO most likely . The suuru would have been at full power and I would say it let go. There isnt a lot of options out of that strip but it is a very long strip. I think he has gone into the trees at the end and has walked all the way back to the homestead. I dont know anymore details yet. 11K views · 104 reactions | A pilot is fighting for life in the RBWH,... WWW.FACEBOOK.COM A pilot is fighting for life in the RBWH, after his plane crashed and exploded into flames in Central Queensland.

After dragging the plane in and out of the shed a few times, I decided to construct a tow bar to make the process a bit easier. Bent it up out of some 0.064" scrap, attached an old Bunnings table leg to it and put a cross piece on the end. I thought it may have been too short, but just tested it and it works a treat. Because it slides over the axle just inside the fork, it's easy to turn the plane too.

And 2 months later, my shed is now a blaze of colour. 😁

It's reported the pilot has suffered burns to 80% of his body. That is a dreadful figure, and doesn't augur well for his survival. The docs used to say that if you add your age to the percentage level of burns, and it comes to more than 100, you have little chance of survival. Fortunately burns recovery methods have advanced in a big way in recent years (especially since the Bali Bombing), and the burns victims have a better chance of survival today. Despite all that, the first few days are critical, the body becomes overwhelmed with the repair job it's facing. I've burnt myself badly twice, it sure wasn't fun. Once when I dropped an open 1 gallon can of petrol onto a battery when I was crouching over it (youthful stupidity) - and once when I tipped a full cup of boiling water into my lap at breakfast time, as I was sitting in my jocks. It was made worse by the fact I'd microwaved the cup of water to boiling point, which really makes everything doubly hot. The pain was unbelievable, off the scale, and it took weeks for the burns to heal. I hate to even imagine what it would be like, being caught in burning wreckage. I trust this bloke pulls through O.K., and I wish him all the best for recovery, but he's got a long and painful road in front of him, if he pulls through the first few days.

Enjoyed an overnighter at our favourite bbq beach site with flying friends then an early start back to Palmyra for the Mackay Aero Club bbq event. Hazy skies due to our bush fire season. IMG_7439.mov

Sadly 10 years ago Ross left us. RIP mate.

Yes, certainly need consistency. I hadn't flown since the Thursday before easter and it took me a full two days to get back to where I left off. That's why I started out by getting the plane, I wanted to get my RPC and then keep it up until I actually feel comfortable jump into the plane and scoot off anywhere. It looks like I should get the Sportstar up here within a week or two. I started out training in the Evektor Harmony because it is basically the same but I ended up in the Jabiru J160 and J170. The first J160 scared me when it came to practising stalls but the one I had last week was as good as you can get, it would just stall and fall, rarely dropped a wing at all and if it did it started out as a steady roll that was easy to arrest. I'm back on Coodardy for a couple of hours morning and afternoon from 27th until 9th December. I'm hoping to have the Sportstar here for some of that time. The station owner invited me to fly in whenever I want to.

Pilot returns home after months of rehab - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-25/avalon-airshow-crash-stunt-pilot-glenn-collins-returns-home/106048632

Hoping he makes a good recovery.

He was a great contributor here.

Wow, I can see some real potential there! Fill all the open spaces with expanding styrofoam, paint the outside of the cardboard with some Dulux Weathershield, and you're in with the winners! 😄 Crashproofing due to the styrofoam, waterproofing due to the Dulux, all that's needed is to ensure triple-wall cardboard is in the fuselage and wing spars! 😄 Have you seen how strong triple-wall cardboard is, and how durable Dulux Weathershield is?! Fantastic stuff! This thing will outlast the Gooney Birds! 😄

I'm using this and it is still being updated, at least the aviation metars/tafs and radar pages that I use.

join the club. my xair is easy to see. looks likje a big jaffa

I'm back home after a good and bad few days down Northam way. I got my RPC so that's one hurdle I've managed to clear but somebody is running ahead stacking a few more up. The Sportstar has been getting hard to start so I dropped the old fuel and replaced it with new 98. When I tried to start it I found I'd left the Master on for more than a week so my nice new Odyssey battery was dead as a doornail. I managed to get enough charge into it by running a battery charger off the Hyundai but it never fully charged. At least the fresh fuel sorted out the Riotax starting problem. I hear plenty of people knocking RAAus but I've had nothing but polite friendly and prompt service. I worked my but off on Saturday getting through my test flight and numerous questions. I passed but he was probably a little generous with some of my answers however he knows I'll continue to work hard to become a better. My instructor processed my application late on Saturday but he had a prior arrangement to have my application dealt with quickly so that I could get my variable pitch propeller endorsement done Sunday. I checked Saturday evening and the application had been processed but with an error showing that I was still a student pilot. I called my instructor and he said "No problems I'll call him in the morning and get it sorted out in time". Sure enough Sunday morning the corrections were made. It now shows Recreational Pilot Certificate. How's that for service? Sunday the CFI who was due cancelled due to weather conditions however it was dead calm from when I got up at 4:45 until about 10am. Anyway I had other problems. I left home with the little Mercedes Vito towing the car trailer. My plan was to tow the sick Hyundai from Northam 106km up to Wongan Hills to have the rattle diagnosed and repaired. I would normally do the repairs but I'm trying to learn to farm work out. I may as well be doing what I enjoy, digging a bit of gold to pay for it. When I tried to load the Hyundai onto the trailer it just lifted the Vito of the ground and each time it just ran away. I ended up hooking the trailer onto the back of the Hyundai and then loaded the Vito onto the trailer. That meant driving the Hyundai heavily loaded for another 106km. It was not the best thing to do because it was obviously sick but it did make the fault diagnosis easier. Even though it hasn't been pulled down it appears to have a collapsed piston. It's done about 440,000 so I think I'll be opening a can of worms so my best option is likely to be a replacement engine. Too much to deal with right now so it's just another job that has to wait a while. Right now I'm waiting to see if my LAME can test fly the Sportstar and deliver it to Cue.

I've had a Garmin D2 Aviator watch for 6 years and just upgraded to a D2™ Air X15 https://www.garmin.com/en-AU/p/1957609/ Marvellous! Real aviation flight plannikng &U navigation, METAR & TAF. I've added the Windy App to get my usual forecasts plus weather radar. Over 10 days of battery life.

The whole career has been constant training, practice, conversions and upgrades. Each new type, you effectively start from scratch - but the longer you go, the more experience you have to draw from. He’s now a qualified F-22 instructor (night and day) with an FCI-equivalent role on squadron. But you’re right, failure is a possibility at any step of the journey. Having seen what they go through, I’m in awe of the guys and (now) girls who succeed.

Being in IT I understand your confusion. IT contractors do what the contract says. Who wrote the contract ? I have been involved in a contract were the company hiring us told us to remove a core conponent of the application. Several team members advised them in writing that it would cause several modules to fail and all others to have limited functionality. 2 weeks before it was due to go live they realised it was a massive c/f. Lots of meetings, lots of loud blame on us. 2 years of legal fights. The contracting company won and the application still does not work several years later. We CAN grow your food but if the manager running the project says 'water is not required' you do not have to be a rocket scientist to realise the end result.

IF it works, you can look out through it too. Nev

Enjoyed an overnighter in the Nynja with Sandy at our favourite bbq beach site catching up pre Xmas with flying friends then an early start back to Palmyra for the Mackay Aero Club bbq event. Hazy skies due to our bush fire season. Evening was cool due to 16 Knot ESE breeze and that was welcome after the warm day. IMG_7439.mov

Building one of these suits my pensioner budget. Haha! Not sure it would meet Nev's full approval. 🤔

You CAN be a bit too sensitive Skip, yet handout a bit yourself. One recent example, Drone DRIVING. A demeaning and not the normal term used, as well as "Doctorate". . YOUR entire statement is Insulting and demeaning of PLANEY He's been forced to state his qualifications. Where are yours to be so critical? How much SKIN do you have in the game? Nev

I must say that the training for a CASA approved, commercial drone pilot with RePL and REOC is to a much higher KNOWLEDGE level than it is for a recreational pilot by a really large margin. Not meaning to offend anybody but those with the qualifications in both commercial ops and RA-Aus aircraft will know exactly what I mean. The knowledge required for commercial drone exceeds what I did for IFR and instrument ratings in general aviation. T510 would agree with this statement, I am sure

Too late for this year....

What they are doing is completely within the regulations, regardless of whether it is sensible or not. If it is under 250gm they can fly pretty much anywhere You can find it on the CASA website here https://www.casa.gov.au/drones/drone-rules/flying-near-airports#Controlledairports "A non-controlled airport does not have an air traffic control tower. Many airports in Australia are non-controlled. You can fly your drone within 5.5 km (3 NM) of a non-controlled airport and in the approach and departure paths. However, when you become aware of an aircraft, you must: not launch your drone safely manoeuvre your drone away from the path of the aircraft and land as soon as possible. We measure this distance from the centreline of the runway."

I was a late starter too. It took me about 20 months to get my PPL and then four years to build the plane. It all takes time (and money).

I think a bloke that fastidious and also in the marine industry might know how to look after his aircraft.

Pretty sure no one has said on their death bed, I wish I had not taken my aircraft to the beech all those times.

Looks great! Some of you guys have a tough life 🤢

I thought this was a pretty good watch:

It depends on the model I am guessing. A lot of people get confused about the Virus and the Virus SW, which are completely different aircraft. There are also changes based on the equipment levels and the empty weight of the airframe (they really excel if flown light). Peter Bugg is the local expert on the Virus SW and he flight plans at 150 kn at 8000 feet but I can't remember if it was 14 or 15 L per hour but it was something incredibly low. He has the fuel injected engine, in fact the 1st one sold by Rotax EVER. Little bit of history there.

Jetstar has two new Airbus A320 simulators, worth $20 mill each. The other item reported was that they have also developed a virtual reality training system, using virtual reality headsets, for maintenance staff, so they don't have to travel to Brisbane for training and procedure checks. Apparently NASA are so impressed they have asked if they can use them. The company built a virtual model of Boeing 787 and Airbus 320 aircraft and made programs where maintenance staff could conduct training sessions on these aircraft models via VR. Using VR has enabled company training to be conducted remotely and without the need for a physical aircraft. Jetstar has found that using VR has resulted in operational efficiencies in the VR training sessions only require about 30 minutes compared to 3 to 3.5 hours for training sessions in the real world, and as such has decided to increase the size of the program.

Hope they don’t do virtual repairs on real aircraft.

There is a Sonex canopy for sale on Aviation buy sell swap, Australia. I have no idea if this is compatible with your machine, but thought I should alert you to it, regardless. i don’t know the seller.

I flew from the Murray River to the Hunter Valley around a week ago. The ‘green’ didn’t start until north of Wagga. Lots of crop failures in Victoria this year and a dry spring knocked yields around in parts of central western NSW. For those that know the area, north of Dubbo the crops were pretty good. i think these pics were near Cootamundra, but I wasn’t the photographer.

Better to deal with the problem head on and suffer any consequences than do a Boeing & not tell anyone.

I can rember flying aroung Maryborough Qld and a RAAF Hurcules was flying around and landing there ? - they stated Hurcules - positon and intention at at the end said 'caution wake turbulence' ............ a reminder to the unwary

I am lost Skippy, i also have IFR, Multi engine, turbine etc ratings on 'real' planes and others as well. But my experience is that going through the commercial drone system in 2025 was significantly more intensive than any of the general aviation ratings that I have. That is my opinion based on my experience and nothing else.

Not sure how you would couple them without a major redesign. Probably simpler to design a brand new engine.

Why don't you just use the old BOM site. I only use the app on my phone and it hasn't even changed. I haven't seen this new crap one people are talking about.

Sorry T510, you are wrong. Sub 250g you can only go to the airport/field boundry. There are photos taken WITHIN the boundry and using google earth to reference viewing angles above 400 ft. Stupid BUT model aircraft have different rules to drones, hard to believe but true. I know. CASA ARN XXXXX | CASA ReOC XXXX | CASA RePL | CASA BVLOS and EVLOS | NOTAM originator authorised person etc. under my belt

Orange AND purple! Very 70s. All I need then is to bolt a surfboard on top. 😁

Everybody feels like that. It took me 23 months (including cross country). Did the paperwork for RPL and now I have run out of money. Need to get job so I can finish it then ...

Twice the time I planned on. When I turned 70 I planned to learn to fly. It took me a couple of months to sell sufficient assets to finance the entire project and another three months to come up with a plane. About six months the commence lessons and bring the plane home from Queensland and then it all dragged on with delays for various reasons. My biggest delays has been dealing with very poorly organised flying instructors. For a project where I'd raised the money prior to starting out it should have been reasonable straight sailing but I didn't count on having to deal with other people. When I want something I want it NOW. I turn 72 on Friday and I still have to get the plane here, get my prop endorsement and do my navigation. I feel it should have all been done a year ago.

You've done very well to achieve all that in pretty quick time.

My wife gets that alarm every time she chops wood.

I believe the aircraft was an RV-8

Just be thankful that government IT contractors don't grow your food.

It has just been announced the new website cost $96 million, 23 times the original estimate.

It can't be designed to fail and also Have redundancy. There's NO Logic in that. Nev