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This is the enhanced search addon that costs $50 which should assist everyone with a more enhanced search function...Registered Site Members Only though:

 

XenForo Enhanced Search - $50

 

XenForo Enhanced Search is designed to give significantly better search performance and additional search options to your users. It is built on top of elasticsearch, which is in turn built on top of Lucene. This gives excellent performance, even with millions of pieces of content. Elasticsearch allows nearly infinite scalability and redundancy by silently allowing searches to be run across multiple servers. Additionally, you benefit from a very small stopword list and no minimum word length, allowing nearly any search to return meaningful results. Elasticsearch also provides support for returning results based on how relevant they are to your search. You can select relevancy ordering on the advanced search page.

 

You must have access to install elasticsearch 0.16.0 or newer and XenForo 1.1.1 to use this add-on. Only customers with dedicated servers or VPSes will be able to use it.

 

Access to Enhanced Search updates and support is included as long as your XenForo license is current for support and updates. When extending your XenForo license, the cost of add-on extensions will be automatically added to the base cost.

 

 

Would it be possible to have a read-only preview of these social groups? At the moment they are locked up as tight as a..... You have to BE a member of the group to even look at the threads. Perhaps a read-only preview of the first post in the thread would be useful.

Thanks Damkia, to do this would make the groups non-private and this would not differentiate the groups from the normal forums. If the person creating the group wants to have control over it for say just their club's members etc then they can ensure that things that are discussed in the group are only seen by the groups members...but hey, if others want them to be non-private then I can easily make them that way...tell me what you want

 

 

I am too of the opinion of "aint broke", the only thing that i can add is with the search function. When searching if a word is found to be to short or too common it is left out of the searches. This has been annoying recently when looking for posts on CX4, Half VW, VW conversions and others as, im sure that there is good content that i have been unable to find

Great thanks, I can fix that with a $50 enhanced search engine for the site...great contribution

 

 

Would it be possible/acceptable to track visitors, and after say a month, or maybe 10 visits, or whatever, send them an email, politely inviting them to join if they wish to continue visiting?

Wayne, I would need to get their email address and without them freely providing it there is no "legal" way of obtaining it to send them an email...if I lock the site up then those that remain just visiting may end up missing someone's post that can have a safety aspect to it...the more people that just post in one spot i.e. here, the more the greater collective wisdom grows that helps everyone minimising the prospect of missing out on something important, especially in the exchange of information related to safety and the greater the numbers the more precise the information is by way of having more experiences posted, but there will always be "visitors" for one reason or another yet there is absolutely no reason why they can't join in and help everyone else...human nature. So this thread will hopefully come up with some ideas, your ideas, that may make the difference in visitors becoming users.

 

 

Just think, Pud could be a roaming builder, travelling around the country side with a spirit level tied to his Thruster making life one big huge working holiday

 

 

If it ain't broke Ian, don't fix it !!............works for me as it is................................Maj...

I agree, I don't think it's "broke" either Maj but what I am trying to do is more about how to make things even better and grow even further for everyone

 

 

I am always surprised at how many people are visitors compared to members. It is a free site after all. I think it is great. My only thought is sometimes as a newbie to flying I feel some members jump on you from a great height if you ask a silly question or give an inexperienced comment which makes people like me reluctant to join in. I love the shop and will continue to support you.

Any suggestions on how we can overcome this?

 

 

80knts...I will look into making the photo gallery better...thanks

 

 

Hi All

 

I have titled this thread as Important Message simply because it is important to me and this site.

 

Recreational Flying has been going for 8 odd years now and has gone through many iterations, some have proven to have been needed and some very disastrous changes which I wear the blame for but the site is now what I believe stabilised into a fantastic and very friendly resource for EVERY recreational aviator. This has only happened due to many little things like moving back to Recreational Flying, removing bans, making it Australian focused and accepting each other as at times having differing opinions that make up the persona of the site.

 

Much of this has been a focus of turning back the clock and realising that I and we have over the last year or two, strayed from the successful formulae that made this site as important to you as it once was. It still is the leading recreational aviation web site in Australia but it is time to get it back on track making the site what YOU (the majority) want it to be.

 

So this thread is important now as I am asking what can I do for you to kick start the site again? The site needs to embark on a massive growth spurt and the only way to do this is to ask you what you want from it so what do you want?

 

We have forums...are these set out the way you want? Is the subject matter being brought up what you want? Is the style and level of moderation what you want? What is wrong with the forums and what are the best parts of them that we should capitalise on?

 

We have a News section...is the news broad enough to cater for all your aviation news needs or are they too broad...again what do you want?

 

We have a Photo Gallery and Video Library...again do these suit your needs or do we need them at all?

 

We have Private Social Groups, Clubs and Schools can create their own forum either private or public, we have an Event calendar and an Aircraft Section all ready for data input...we have a range of Free Pilot Tools, advertisers and more.

 

Is the Home Page what you like, would you like to see more things on there and if so like what? Should we even have a home page, is the site layout easy for you or could you suggest better ways of presenting things that you would like to see and use, what other areas do you want to have here or should we change to a completely different style of site like Wordpress, Facebook, Yahoo groups, vBulletin instead of Xenforo etc etc etc

 

The clock has been wound back and we are getting back on our path as being the absolute BEST recreational aviation web site based on what YOU want so PLEASE explore options here, brain dump your thoughts and ideas to help make this your number 1 recreational aviation web site...thanks for your input.

 

 

Crikey Pud, you could have dropped in to Melbourne on your way, got a wall that needs your building expertise Sounds like you guys are having a ball...good on ya!

 

 

Andy, the case is 1 in that legal action has commenced by way of legal representation obtained who have responded to RAAus on my behalf. Why it will no doubt mean the commencement of member's funds being used is that RAAus will no doubt now obtain legal consult thus immediately incurring RAAus legal fees paid for by membership money...they can however just drop it and advise my solicitor that they will accept my membership in which case no expenditure of member's money would be used...bar the cost of an envelop and postage stamp, and this matter is concluded, but that is now up to them hence why I said that if they don't take this option then "explain to the members how they feel that spending their own membership fees in this way will benefit them at all"

 

The choice now lies with RAAus on how much of your membership fees they are going to spend...once they start then they run the risk of losing a lot of your money in not only their own costs but cover mine along with damages as well.

 

 

I can now advise that legal action has commenced with regards to this so I want to take this opportunity to personally apologise to all RAAus members that their membership fees will no doubt be spent by the RAAus Board to pay for the costs of RAAus to pursue their action in stopping me from being an RAAus member and therefore preventing me from flying a recreational aviation aircraft, of which I was certified to do and have always done so without conducting any illegal flying or jeopardising anyone's safety, but also all my costs plus damages that they have caused in this very very silly action that they (or he if appropriate) started.

 

So it is now down to the RAAus Board to realise this and immediately take my membership or explain to the members how they feel that spending their own membership fees in this way will benefit them at all

 

 

There would have to be some form of addendum or something that has allowed them to do it this way for some time...I mean they even had to get legal opinion which held up the NSW by-election with Don Ramsay so in the investigation of that I can only presume their legal advise would have picked up any untowards in the legality side of this. But as you say TP, it would be good to get a definitive answer to it

 

 

They have corrected their notice:

 

Results of the NSW/ACT Board Election

 

August 20, 2012 | members

 

The successful candidates were Mr Michael Apps and Mr Paul Middleton

 

There were 356 valid ballot papers and 23 invalid papers

 

Michael Apps 113 votes

 

Colin Jones 52 votes

 

Paul Middleton 191 votes

 

After distribution of Paul Middleton’s preferences the votes were

 

Michael Apps 199 votes

 

Colin Jones 101 votes

 

Paul Middleton’s 2nd preferences contained 24 votes without a 2nd preference

 

Ken McCloskey witnessed the counting and Mr Malcolm Yates (non-member) was the scrutineer.

 

 

The Note seems a really nice unit and a possible great compromise between a phone and a tablet...good choice and well done...thanks for letting us know about Airnav

 

 

The successful candidates were Mr Michael Apps and Mr Paul Middleton

 

There were 36 valid ballot papers and 23 invalid papers

 

Michael Apps 113 votes

 

Colin Jones 52 votes

 

Paul Middleton 191 votes

 

After distribution of Paul Middleton’s preferences the votes were

 

Michael Apps 199 votes

 

Colin Jones 101 votes

 

Paul Middleton’s 2nd preferences contained 24 votes without a 2nd preference

 

Ken McCloskey witnessed the counting and Mr Malcolm Yates (non-member) was the scrutineer.

 

 

Looks like I will go ahead and get the screw in tie downs manufactured...thanks for the comments

 

 

I wonder, if Steven Runciman, and the board for that matter, are found to have initiated this action not only illegally but as a result, cause an enormous amount of shall I just say issues for the RAAus, can they then be individually brought up as bringing the RAAus into disrepute based on their ill thought out actions or do they, unlike everyone else, get indemnity under the disguise of discharging their duties of office?

 

 

Personally I don't think they have thought through all the ramifications of this and what the end result will be...and that is the real pity

 

 

Andy, I simply let my membership lapse, I didn't renew it as there was no point till my health was certain again.

 

 

I know a lot of people have seen the letter but for the odd few that haven't, here is "my" letter to RAAus about getting my licence back:

 

G'day Mate, I am writing to you because I need your help to get me bloody pilot's licence back. You keep telling me you got all the right contacts. Well now's your chance to make something happen for me because, mate, I'm bloody desperate.

 

But first, I'd better tell you what happened during my last flight review with the CAA Examiner.

 

On the phone, Ron (that's the CAA d*#"head), seemed a reasonable sort of a bloke. He politely reminded me of the need to do a flight review every two years. He even offered to drive out, have a look over my property and let me operate from my own strip. Naturally I agreed to that.

 

Anyway, Ron turned up last Wednesday. First up, he said he was a bit surprised to see the plane on a small strip outside my homestead, because the " ALA "(Authorized Landing Area), is about a mile away. I explained that because this strip was so close to the homestead, it was more convenient than the "ALA," and despite the power lines crossing about midway down the strip, it's really not a problem to land and take-off, because at the halfway point down the strip you're usually still on the ground.

 

For some reason Ron, seemed nervous. So, although I had done the pre-flight inspection only four days earlier, I decided to do it all over again.

 

Because the prick was watching me carefully, I walked around the plane three times instead of my usual two. My effort was rewarded because the colour finally returned to Ron's cheeks.

 

In fact, they went a bright red. In view of Ron's obviously better mood, I told him I was going to combine the test flight with some farm work, as I had to deliver three "poddy calves" from the home paddock to the main herd.

 

After a bit of a chase I finally caught the calves and threw them into the back of the ol' Cessna 172. We climbed aboard but Ron, started getting onto me about weight and balance calculations and all that crap.

 

Of course I knew that sort of thing was a waste of time because calves, like to move around a bit particularly when they see themselves 500-feet off the ground! So, it's bloody pointless trying to secure them as you know.

 

However, I did tell Ron that he shouldn't worry as I always keep the trim wheel set on neutral to ensure we remain pretty stable at all stages throughout the flight.

 

Anyway, I started the engine and cleverly minimized the warm-up time by tramping hard on the brakes and gunning her to 2,500 RPM. I then discovered that Ron has very acute hearing, even though he was wearing a bloody headset.

 

Through all that noise he detected a metallic rattle and demanded I account for it. Actually it began about a month ago and was caused by a screwdriver that fell down a hole in the floor and lodged in the fuel selector mechanism.

 

The selector can't be moved now, but it doesn't matter because it's jammed on "All tanks," so I suppose that's Okay.

 

However, as Ron was obviously a nit-picker, I blamed the noise on vibration from a stainless steel thermos flask which I keep in a beaut little possie between the windshield and the magnetic compass.

 

My explanation seemed to relax Ron, because he slumped back in the seat and kept looking up at the ****pit roof. I released the brakes to taxi out, but unfortunately the plane gave a leap and spun to the right. "Hell" I thought," not the starboard wheel chock again."

 

The bump jolted Ron back to full alertness. He looked around just in time to see a rock thrown by the prop-wash disappear completely through the windscreen of his brand new Commodore. "Now I'm really in trouble," I thought...

 

While Ron was busy ranting about his car, I ignored his requirement that we taxi to the " ALA ," and instead took off under the power lines. Ron didn't say a word, at least not until the engine started coughing right at the lift off point, and then he bloody screamed > his head off. "Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!" "Now take it easy Ron," I told him firmly. "That often happens on take-off and there is a good reason for it."

 

I explained patiently that I usually run the plane on standard MOGAS, but one day I accidentally put in a gallon or two of kerosene. To compensate for the low octane of the kerosene, I siphoned in a few gallons of super MOGAS and shook the wings up and down a few times to mix it up.

 

Since then, the engine has been coughing a bit but in general it works just fine, if you know how to coax it properly. Anyway, at this stage Ron seemed to lose all interest in my test flight.

 

He pulled out some rosary beads, closed his eyes and became lost in prayer. (I didn't think anyone was a Catholic these days) I selected some nice music on the HF radio to help him relax.

 

Meanwhile, I climbed to my normal cruising altitude of 10,500-feet. I don't normally put in a flight plan or get the weather because, as you know getting FAX access out here is a friggin' joke and the weather is always "8/8 blue" anyway.

 

But since I had that near miss with a Saab 340, I might have to change me thinking on that.

 

Anyhow, on levelling out, I noticed some wild camels heading into my improved pasture.

 

I hate bloody camels, and always carry a loaded 303, clipped inside the door of the Cessna just in case I see any of the bastards. We were too high to hit them, but as a matter of principle, I decided to have a go through the open window.

 

Mate, when I pulled the bloody rifle out, the effect on Ron, was friggin electric. As I fired the first shot his neck lengthened by about six inches and his eyes bulged like a rabbit with myxo. He really looked as if he had been jabbed with an electric cattle prod on full power.

 

In fact, Ron's reaction was so distracting that I lost concentration for a second and the next shot went straight through the port tyre. Ron was a bit upset about the shooting (probably one of those pinko animal lovers I guess) so I decided not to tell him about our little problem with the tyre.

 

Shortly afterwards I located the main herd and decided to do my fighter pilot trick. Ron had gone back to praying when, in one smooth sequence, I pulled on full flaps, cut the power and started a sideslip from 10,500-feet down to 500-feet at 130, knots indicated (the last time I looked anyway) and the little needle rushed up to the red area on me ASI.

 

What a buzz, mate! About half way through the descent I looked back in the cabin to see the calves gracefully suspended in mid air and mooing like crazy. I was going to comment to Ron on this unusual sight, but he looked a bit green and had rolled himself into the foetal position and was screaming' his 'freakin' head off.

 

Mate, talk about being in a bloody zoo. You should've been there, it was so bloody funny! At about 500-feet I levelled out, but for some reason we kept sinking. When we reached 50-feet, I applied full power but nothing happened. No noise no nothin'.

 

Then, luckily, I heard me instructor's voice in me head saying "carb heat, carb heat." So I pulled carb heat on and that helped quite a lot, with the engine finally regaining full power. Whew, that was really close, let me tell you!

 

Then mate, you'll never guess what happened next! As luck would have it, at that height we flew into a massive dust cloud caused by the cattle and suddenly went I.F. bloody R, mate.

 

You would have been really proud of me as I didn't panic once, not once, but I did make a mental note to consider an instrument rating as soon as me gyro is repaired (something I've been meaning to do for a while now).

 

Suddenly Ron's elongated neck and bulging eyes reappeared. His Mouth opened very wide, but no sound emerged. "Take it easy," I told him, "we'll be out of this in a minute."

 

Sure enough, about a minute later we emerged, still straight and level and still at 50-feet. Admittedly I was surprised to notice that we were upside down, and I kept thinking to myself, "I hope Ron didn't notice that I had forgotten to set the QNH when we were taxiing."

 

This minor tribulation forced me to fly to a nearby valley in which I had to do a half roll to get upright again. By now the main herd had divided into two groups leaving a narrow strip between them. "Ah!" I thought, "there's an omen. We'll land right there."

 

Knowing that the tyre problem demanded a slow approach, I flew a couple of steep turns with full flap. Soon the stall warning horn was blaring so loud in me ear that I cut it's circuit breaker to shut it up. but by then I knew we were slow enough anyway.

 

I turned steeply onto a 75-foot final and put her down with a real thud. Strangely enough, I had always thought you could only ground loop in a tail dragger but, as usual, I was proved wrong again!

 

Halfway through our third loop, Ron at last recovered his sense of humour. Talk about laugh. I've never seen the likes of it. He couldn't stop. We finally rolled to a halt and I released the calves, who bolted out of the aircraft like there was no tomorrow.

 

I then began picking clumps of dry grass. Between gut wrenching fits of laughter, Ron asked what I was doing. I explained that we had to stuff the port tyre with grass so we could fly back to the homestead.

 

It was then that Ron, really lost the plot and started running away from the aircraft. Can you believe it? I saw him running off into the distance, arms flailing in the air and still shrieking with laughter.

 

I later heard that he had been confined to a psychiatric institution - poor bugger!

 

Anyhow mate, that's enough about Ron. The problem is I got this letter from CASA withdrawing, as they put it, my privileges to fly; until I have undergone a complete pilot training course again and undertaken another flight proficiency test.

 

Now I admit that I made a mistake in taxiing over the wheel chock and not setting the QNH using strip elevation, but I can't see what else I did that was a so bloody bad that they have to withdraw me flamin' license. Can you?

 

 

Great that this thread has started and we have all heard many stories about aircraft being flipped over but what is of interest to me is I am currently talking to a manufacturer about tie downs and getting them made. The Claw is the best tie down that I know of and it will take a cyclone to impact that savage thing but they are not a light piece of gear to be carrying around with you...about 5kg. The screw into the ground tie downs that I am looking at getting made will be very strong and made out of thick metal that will screw into the ground and at this stage they will probably only be priced at just a few dollars each...you will be able to get any number of them that you like. Would make for great give-aways in the shop here with orders over $100 for example

 

So, the question is...do you think the screw into the ground type of tie downs are something that you would consider using if they were cheaper then anything else or similar products at a higher price on the market

 

 

What would be cool is a map of Australia with a dot to represent the location of each member. Having said that it would probably be easier to get blood out of a stone...

This can be done very easy however it would only display the members when they were online as it would use geo-locating. To have it display every member then the issues are:

 

1. It would need some extra development (cost)
    
    
   
2. Users would have to have a location entered in their settings (again the question of mandatory or voluntary)
    
    
   
3. The data entered into the location field would have to be in a certain format for Google Maps to distinguish it
    
    
   

 

 

Currently if you click on the location text of a user's post (on the left of the post), a google map opens up in a new window with the location pin pointed. You will notice that I use "Watsonia Melbourne" as my location. If you click that on the l;eft of this post a window will open showing google map with a marker displaying the suburb Watsonia in Melbourne so a user can still be general in their location so they don't have to enter their specific address, just a general location but in a way that Google maps can display it.

 

 

A few weeks ago I phoned the office and asked to renew my membership. The staff member asked me for my name and number, there was a pause and then she asked me to hold on and I was put on hold. When she returned she took my credit card details and asked if I had flown in the last 12 months...that was it

 

A couple of days later I noticed the payment had not gone through my account. I phoned the office and asked about this and I was asked to hold. When the office girl returned she said that there are people away with the Flu so things are taking longer.

 

A few days later I received the letter from Steven Runciman which I passed on to my solicitor.

 

A couple of people who have posted in this thread have now seen the letter from Steven Runciman and a first draft of the solicitors letter but that is all. This IS big and has many ramifications not just for me but ultimately for EVERY RAAus member and therefore I must be guided by legal advice on what gets disclosed where and when to ensure this doesn't get tried on any other member again.

 

 

Interesting points Ian & Allegro, one can purchase 9+ inch Android operating tablets now for as cheap as $200. I have one Apple device it's OK but overpriced in comparison, not really too interested in buying another if I can help it.But whatever your preference I love the competition between these different camps, the consumer is the big winner here.

Just a word of warning about the $200 tablets, if I may, is that you can only get what you pay for. Many of them have short battery spans, can't use many of the Android Apps like Google Earth on them, are very hot to use etc. I have tested several cheaper units which is why I wanted to test and compare a premium priced unit by a high named brand and can say there is a "huge" difference all round compared to the cheaper ones. Naturally there may be some boutique cheaper ones that are just as good but generally the "supermarket" ones don't compare.

Just my opinion...and we are all entitled to that!