rgmwa

I’m sure you will get lots of opinions. I don’t think they help much for flying because you don’t get the seat of the pants sensations, noise and movement of a real aircraft to develop your sight picture and coordination. I think the time and cost would be better spent on lessons and studying the books.

The props on the DH88 were two position - set to fine on the ground for takeoff and climb and automatically went to coarse pitch for cruise. They had to be manually reset to fine on the ground, so they would be landing with coarse pitch. I don't know how that would affect the landing as they would be throttled back but it probably didn't help, and would have made go-arounds interesting.

A lucky escape?

I saw Grosvenor House in pieces at the back of the hangar in about 1976 before it was restored, so I guess they can do it again.

I don't think your age would be a factor here even if it takes you a bit longer, but it will definitely be harder if you're not sure in the back of your mind that you really want to keep going, particularly if there are other demands on your financial resources. It comes down to whether you want to go the full deal or not, and it sounds as though you have more or less decided that the answer is no because you've achieved pretty much what you set out to do. Building and flying is already more than most people ever achieve so deciding you've done enough is perfectly OK. In the end whether to stop or keep going is something only you can decide.

Ask your instructor what you need at this stage. Pen and paper plus maps and an E6-B flight computer would probably be his/her recommendation to learn and understand the basics of navigation. Later on an iPad Mini or regular with OzRunways or AvPlan would be the way to go but don’t rush into it.

Don't worry about it.

Variations in ambient temperature also affect the tension. Checks are supposed to be done at the temperature the manufacturer specifies.

I got one of these - a Casio 200H. They're well known in the watch collecting fraternity as being cheap and reliable and come in different dial arrangements. Has a rotating bezel, which can be handy. I actually got two because I couldn't decide which dial design I liked better so I got both. In my opinion all you really need is a watch that is easy to read. I think analogue is better because the brain has to do less processing to interpret what it's seeing compared to a digital watch. My daughter gave me an expensive titanium `Pilot's Watch' a few years ago that came with an instruction book an inch thick that I need to read with a magnifying glass just to remember how to set the time. Looks good but is totally useless.

That's a LOT of engines, and the unlucky owners won't be happy. Luckily mine's not on the list.

I was involved as a mentor for the SAAA RV-12 multi-school build about three years ago. Malcolm led the Perth end of the effort as the organiser and lead mentor. I regularly worked with him and got to know him quite well. He was very experienced and knowledgeable and well known around the Serpentine and Jandakot builders and flyers. A sad loss.

I believe it's an aircraft owned by someone I know. Hope I'm wrong, but even so it's bad news.

No, it's just another day. Don't worry about it.

I hope they had the patient strapped in.

I don’t know about a simulator. I think maybe it could help with things like navigation training but flying is a three dimensional seat of the pants thing and you won’t get that sitting in front of a screen. One advantage of getting a licence first is it will give you time to look to look around and decide what type of plane you might want to build. You might change your initial ideas once you’ve done some flying.