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sfGnome

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Everything posted by sfGnome

  1. It’s the old luck versus experience thing. I did good cross-country training, including real situations turning back when the weather was deteriorating. However, it still took a bit of get-there-itis on my part long after I had my certificate to teach me that it really isn’t worth the risk. I flew into worsening weather, and was lucky to turn it around without hitting the ground. Never again! That was the real learning experience, when you’re up there alone and suffering the results of your decisions. I’ll bet you that he was thinking the same things that I was; maybe I was lucky, maybe my extra experience to that date made me turn back just a fraction soon enough? Who knows, but one thing’s for certain. There are many things that might kill me, but flying into bad weather ain’t gunna be one of them (any more).
  2. I’d forgotten how many stops planes used to have to make. And here was I complaining about having one stop between Oz and Europe. 😛
  3. Therein lies the conundrum. If you get a store-bought plane, it all looks flash and, of course, you can’t change anything. If you build yourself, you have to trade off your ability to change things as often as you wish against your desire to make it look as store-bought as possible (for the psychological comfort of intending passengers if nothing else. There’s still plenty of folk whose concept of a home-built is that of a lawnmower engine strapped to a broomstick with some old sheets for wings 😱). That trade-off is, of course, a personal decision (and one that I have yet to make).
  4. That is very neat. Does the laser engrave in to the paint surface, or just leave a stencil in the masking tape? That is, does the finished product leave the text rising above the base paint (where it could, over time, get rubbed off), or is the text set into the base paint so it’s somewhat protected?
  5. May you and your floppy-eared dog remain fire free… My brother and sister both lost their farms in the Black Summer fires of 19/20. My brother rebuilt, my sister sold up, but the psychological scars remain for both.
  6. 1300HP! And here was I thinking that 130HP was impressive… 😝
  7. Has anybody tried to read it? I was on about page 180 when I realised I was only about a third of the way through! if you have to memorise all of that to be able to fly in controlled airspace, then I think I’ll have to stay OCTA. 🫤
  8. Yep. Years ago, while working for a reasonably large company, I hired a contractor to do some work which he didn’t do. When we refused to pay his invoice, he issued a winding up notice on the company. Needless to say, he didn’t get very far… 99% of winding up notices are meaningless. 🙄
  9. Who know what changes CTA access will bring, but for OCTA, group G is the same as group A as far as medical is concerned - just self declared.
  10. The stall will occur if the actuator can’t reach the limit switch for some reason (eg too much load).
  11. I bought tefzel wire recently from a performance vehicle supplier (Performance Motorsports) on eBay. Cheaper, but no guarantee that suppliers there will have the size/colour/length that you want.
  12. That’s really remarkable, Red! I enjoy reading them (particularly the oddball ones).
  13. It amuses me to think of how ‘slapped together’ the final result would be to do it in 400h. No deburring, no corrosion protection, no checking, no good. 🫤
  14. How to get depressed quickly. In the latest Kitplanes magazine annual roundup of kits, the ‘beginner’ build time for a Ventura is listed as 400 hours. I’m up to 380 and I’ve only just started on the fuselage… 🫣 p.s. I’m not really bothered; I just found it amusing. I know I like to take things slowly, but there’s no way a beginner is going to get anywhere near finished in 400 hours!
  15. Is it possible that the POH is in miles per hour, not knots? Regardless, contact the factory directly. They’ll sort it quickly.
  16. I’ve got a Victa 72V mower and edger. About 5 years old now and going fine. Good wide cut (unlike the 18V Ryobi one my son was given which is absolute rubbish), and much lighter and quieter than my old 4 stroke. However, now that I have 1500 sq m of very fast growing kikuyu to mow, I got an electric Toro ride-on about a year ago. I can’t see me ever going back to petrol.
  17. First time I had to drive on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, I kept trying to change gears with the door handle. It’s surprising, though, how quickly you switch.
  18. My beloved gets to choose our car colours, and her choice is normally red. However, her current car is white because she hated the ugly dark reds that seem to be the only option these days. Definitely a vote for nice bright fire engine red!
  19. I used to use the foldable ones (no longer have them, sold with our plane). Never took them up when loaded, but really handy for getting fuel when away from home as they take diddly-squat space in the luggage area when empty. However, do check that you’ve tightened the cap properly before carrying them (full) I someone else’s car! I think my daughter has forgiven me… 🫣
  20. Only time I’ve flown into Milawa (long time ago, so may have changed), I had to get written permission in advance.
  21. Frank and Thruster’s posts struck a chord with me, and could possibly be summarised as: Things that I think will kill me Midair collision Structural failure Engine failure Things that will actually kill me Unintentional stall Flight into cloud Low flight/hooning
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