Ultralights

the Nowra Zone is usually deactivated on weekends, but there is a VFR lane you can use when its active, but you need a clearence, and PPL.

as for Syd, there are 2 options, the LOE to the west, which starts at Prospect reservoir and trvels north east to Patonga, max 2500 ft.

or there is V1, or victor one, coastal, max 500 ft, but its class G, starts at Jibbon point and ends at Longreef. no clearance required, but radio calls are. and a good lookout. either way you will be over water, or suburbia. as for Newcastle, there is the lane to the west, actually quite a nice flight, just follow the railway to taree from Maitland... or you can go the coastal route, but need clearance and PPL.

Got some pics up, so, tme to show them..

Enroute, overhead Bowral/Moss Vale, cloud on the horizon.. above or below...

After spending 3 hrs in a 40 kt Headwind, we finally arrived, after holding for 10 mins 6 miles west for the display to finish... perfect landing on 23 by someone...

Temora council have made a great effort to improve things, nice new Oshkosh style sign...

Yes, i think it WAS a Jabiru. Winner of the Scot Winton shield...

flight home... nice and smooth flying, at 5500 ft.

Once above the Inversion layer, surprisingly warm air at 7500, and a 5 kt tail wind!

trip to YTEM from YWOL direct took 3.3 Hrs! return flight along same track took 2.1, a ground speed of 50 Kts at 4500 ft gives plenty of time to study the ground in detail...

i have plenty of more pics from Temora but all include pictures of forumites and others so i wont post them...:)

i was going to say first solo as well, Bankstown airport, in cherokee 161, VH SVW. at about 6 am.. never forget it, the aircraft didnt even need a headset! just a big speaker in the roof and a big hand held microphone!

photos coming, i actually enjoyed the weekend, Unicom were doing a great job especially handling all the inbound aircraft around an aerobatic display, very professional, Temora council have gone out of their way to help make it a great experience, new signage etc, enough community groups providing food without too much of a wait. the music piped through the PA was annoying while trying to get to sleep in a non soundproof tent though..

what brand fuel lines where they? and what type of fuel are you using? could it be ethanol?

need ballast? i have passport!

in short, yes, but also the level of journalism in this country is in a serious decline, so i doubt any journo will actually care about accurate reporting these days.... who cares about the facts when it sells...

Sunfish, get yourself a Savannah Kit, ours comes in at 280 Kg empty, plus 115 Ltrs fuel long range tanks(83kg) 2 Pax at 90, (180kg) gives a total of 543 Kg! so thats 2 people and enough fuel for a 6 hr trip! or drop 35 ltrs and get yourself 4 hrs endurance with 20 Kg of baggage, and with careful loading you can get quite a bit in 20 kg. and Savvys are built to 600 Kg MTOW.

and people wonder why the crew demand they stay seated until the aircraft has come to a complete stop at the terminal....

just completed a 700 hr inspection of my Savvy, no sign of loose rivets, only a few working rivets on the aerodynamic fairing in front of the vertical stabiliser the 3/32 ones. the only rivets i have had to replace have been the blinds around the door cutout due to chaffing of the rivet heads down by the door seals.

why drive a nice new car, when you can have a nice new aeroplane! (that wont lose anywhere near as much value as the car)

have noticed most of the real short stuff happens on a windy day!

with my Savvy, as seen above, (no i wasnt flying it then) i am more concerned doing a STOL take off. my technique is hold brakes bring to full power, and as the rpm comes up to full, release brakes, and hold some back stick, not too much, just enough to get the nose wheel off, then once the ASI hits 30 kts, begine a steady pull on the stick until she gets airborne, usually at around 35 kts. but you have to be ready on the rudder and hold a bit of right aileron to counter the torque and prop wash at full power with a relatively low airflow over the controls.

as for landing, first step is practice Spot landings! practice until you can hit the mark you want every time..with a glide approach

i dont like the drag it in behind the drag curve approach, as it leaves little margin for error should the wind change, or engine have a miss.

i try to get my STOL landings setup on base, with a glide approach with full flap, using gravity to keep my airspeed at about 4o kts ( dont forget you can always go-around and try again, and again)

i keep the glide right into the flare, during the flare, speed will drop quickly through 35 to 30 kts, and the sharp increase in drag in the flare reduces forward speed, touchdown on the spot, and stop it in about 50 to 60 mtrs. n NIL wind conditions, sometimes it might need a quick burst of power in the flare to arrest the sink as you flare, but not usually if you get it right. then get the nose down and get on the brakes. or if you need to stop quicker, kill the ignition as you hit the brakes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsAJs3grzH0

wouldnt exactly call it a crash

Read a little thurther into it and you will find "unless by approval by CASA or casa approved delegate" or something along those lines, now the RAAUs technical manager migh be just such an approved person.

4200 rpm, full flap, cruise speed settles around 35 to 38 kts. though that is at a fairly high nose attitude, but totally stable and controllable, though adverse yaw is quite severe with full flap, fortunately it has a big powerful rudder.

Just get a Savannah. Cruise at 35 kts if you like, or 90 if your in a hurry. And with long range tanks, do it for up to 8 hrs

a lesson on when to go around...

actually there are quite a few, get a hold of a copy of the country airstrip guide, and there you will find heaps of small private airstrips not listed in the Ersa.

get a broom stick, sit down on a chair, put the broom on the ground, with your feet either side of the stick, hold the stick between your legs, in the hand you use to fly with, push stick left and right, and your feet will follow. its not much but it helps with initial co-ordination

the secret to being seen in the air is contrast! as long as the colours contrast well against each other, they will be easy to see, our savvy is easy to spot from a distance mainly by the dark blue colouring on the wing tips and nose contrasts well against the white.

Just dont ask Mr Heintz/ Zenithair about what they did to the Cri Cri! or Cricket. from what i have heard, they bought a set of plans from Micheal Colomban, the original cri cri designer, (you can only buy plans from him direct), Zenithair modified the plans, and sold a few Kits, a few of those kit built Crickets suffered a catastrophic failure in flight, and america being the litigious society it is, decided to sue Zenithair, who the quickly pointed the finger at Mr Colomban, who sadly was bankrupted clearing his name. it was Zenithair modifications that resulted in the failures. but this is only what i have read on the internets, so who knows..

Now this i find hilarious,

"The [Australian] Hornet STOL looks quite different compared to the 701..... The fuselage has a different shape but the construction method is nearly identical. Isn't it illegal to copy and use your wing?"

as with everything else to do with CASA, dont believe it till its done.

dont forget with flight above 5000, your "proximity" to a CTAF and aircraft operating in and out of it, will be quite large. a nice example is a SAAB 340, or Dash 8, descending into a CTAF, they will be descending through the 10,000 to 5000 ft area up to 30 Miles out.

Above 5000 i always monitor the appropriate Centre frequency and also CTAF when within 30 Miles. (if more than one, then the one with known RPT traffic),

you can be transiting past a CTAF, 20 miles from it, and you will be in conflict with a Departing Dash 8 as its on climb to it cruising flight level in your direction. (eg, a Dash 8 departing Dubbo for sydney, will be climbing your way if you are tracking south, but 20 miles to the south east of the field.

my biggest safety concern is low level IFR betwen 5 and 10,000ft, so with this in mind, dont plan on following a busy IFR airway between waypoints

100LL plus catalytic converter?