Ultralights

Finally back on 2 wheels again, a nice very low miles 1983 BMW R65.. just need to track down some retro leathers and im set

XC exercises don't always have to be to an airport! we often use VOR or NDB stations instead, but without using those two instruments to find it.

through Safari, access it via the web.

i have one, perfect for checking weather, NAIPS, and our booking sheet, and a "jailbroken" iphone will do video, and MMS.. just as the new 3.0 update will.

not to mention, flight sim, the "G" meter app comes in handy in demonstrating the 2G felt in a 60deg bank turn,

not to mention flight computer app for checking manual flight computer calculations, oh, and how can i forget the BOM weather radar app so i can get almost real time weather radar, while in the aircraft, though limited to lower altitudes and close to built up areas...

oh, and their cool!

you will find the RAAus site has quite a lot of stuff there that will basically get you up to your licence level, all for free. flight briefings and theory kind of stuff.

http://www.raa.asn.au/

http://www.raa.asn.au/groundschool/contents.html

The Raaus mag, but the best would have to be Kitplanes.. plenty of good articals from aligning a Jabiru cowl, to flying a viperjet.

my new camera is a canon 450D, and the technique i have learned is HDR, High dynamic range, basically 3 shots are taken, at 3 different exposure levels, and then all 3 are merged to create the HDR image.

shooting the one on approach was hard, none worked out, so i had to cheat, by taking one image in RAW format, copying it 3 times and manually adjusting the RAW image to get the 3 different exposure levels.

any movement or change in distance/focus etc will cause the final shot to be blurred, or have "ghosts" so it was nearly impossible to get the finals shot without a noticeable difference in the images, as the aircraft is moving, so is the distance to the subject.

just a fancy name for your best aviation photos, not for monthly comps, but just to show them off..:thumb_up:

well, i have a new camera, and an new technique, what ya think?

Just an update on prices, at this point we are looking at taking the Ceiftain, 10 seater, if we can fill it, cost will be approx $220 Return, if we cant get 10, we will take a 6 seat Baron, and cost should be a little cheaper.

love that last photo!

Ill be there as always, wondering around camera in hand..

At which point is this measured?

ill find out exactly when i get a chance.

i did that with the tecnam after a few lessons underestimating its glide capabilities! coming up way to high for a simulated forced landing, so, during a quiet weekend i took it up to 2000 ft, picked a paddock in the distance to see if i could glide it there, and again from 4000 ft, my conclusion, if the field is under the wingtip, you can get there, the jab on the other hand, the usual 2/3rd line up the strut applies.

Not long ago, i checked out a very high time Hawaiian Airlines captain in our tecnam, i pointed out the usual circuit at bankstown, and he's response?

Why do you fly them so wide? in my 767 we aim for a 1.5 mile circuit!! :ah_oh:

so i asked him to show me a proper circuit, and he did! he taught me more in that hour of circuits than i have learnt in my last 500 hrs!

fortunatly it was special VFR, 900ft scattered cloud and vis 5000mtrs in constant rain. so we had the entire circuit to ourselves. after take off, climed to 500ft AGL, 180deg turn onto the reciprical heading for downwind, reached circuit height at early downwind, we were no more then 1/2 a mile from the runway, (if you know bankstown at all, we flew the downwind leg pretty much over the airfield boundary near the museum on the south side!!!) we were using runway 11. at mid downwind, he pulled power to idle, slowed the aircraft to about 50 kts, dropped full flap, and conducted a 180 turn/base/final.. and landed exactly on the touchdown zone without touching power once!, we made the turn pretty much about the tower at bankstown! i could only imagine the look on their faces watching these crazy people in an ultralight at bankstown in rain and low cloud doing such incredibly tight circuits turning base and final over the top of the tower!

in that hour we managed 12 circuits! i was amazed! during the post flight social chat, i found he had 21,000 hrs total time, in everything from 727's 737's 747 and 767's. in his spare time he flies his P51 Mustang and A36 Bonanza, has hundreds of hours in Tiger moths, Beech Staggerwings, and a SPITFIRE!

after just half a circuit, he had mastered the Tecnam, and taught me a thing or 2 about nice close tight circuits!

its all about ENERGY management, full flap and 50 kts in a tecnam =1000 to 1500ft/min ROD, and rule of thumb is as you pass over the fence, speed should be 1.3x stall speed. if the aircraft stalls at 45 kts, then approach speed should be 58kts. instead of using power to maintain speed and overcome drag, use the rate of descent...the aircraft flying energy comes from gravity, not engine power. this is how we managed such tight steep circuits and kept approach speed at 55 kts to a perfect landing with no float whatsoever. timing the flare is everything.. for obvious reasons.

i would highly recommend practicing such slow speed flight and descents with an instructor, and start at a decent altitude and practice at height before attempting such maneuvers close to the ground.

apparently according to the Boeing ops manuals, a 737 circuit should be 1 mile, a 767 is 1.5 miles and a 747 only requires a 2 mile wide circuit.

I am an advocate of such landing techniques, as i have had an engine failure on mid finals. over a built up area. fortunatly i was doing a glide type approach, and made the strip easily. thought the pucker factor was high as you fly an approach with a stopped prop in front of you.

and the failure was mechanical, not related to icing or other caused by long power off descents. :)

im not worried to much about the wording, the aircraft will be operated under its owners AOC, the aircraft, and the others if we take one of them are all used to carry paying passengers. and the pilots are employees of said aircraft owners company. at the moment we are begging the boss to let us use it for fuel costs only, but we have to wait a little longer to see how the bookings are going for is normal operations, we should know soon though! if the booking pick up next week, we might not be able to take it and be stuck with the smaller duchess, if they stay pretty flat, we might get the 10 seater.

hopefully not to much, the more the cheaper obviously. depending on numbers will dictate the size of the aircraft, cheiftain, caravan or duchess.

we have found circuit work to be quite beneficial with our jabiru engines, in a flying school environment they get worked hard, and funnily enough, flying school Jabirus seam to have the least engine issues!

i think the constant and large change in power setting stops the rings getting gummed up with lead deposits, lowers the chances of the barrels glazing over and less plug fouling.. im not an engine man, but it doesnt seam to harm them at all, same goes with out tecnam and its Rotax.

our LSA has nearly 6000 hrs on it, and every engine has gone to TBO without any dramas. the only issue was the oil pump wearing out of tolerance.

it will be a cost sharing, no profit, everyone pays equal share of the cost of fuel, and yes, we do have a AOC. :) basically we are hiring the aircraft off the boss.

just a quick poll to see what percentage of pilots here read the Bi-monthly Flight Safety Magazine

as i am planning on a series of threads in the training forums based on this magazine..

it doesnt matter if you dont, as what i have planned is of benefit to all pilots and aircraft owners/operators.

hello, just after expressions of interest in a flight from Sydney (bankstown) to Narromine.

i am thinking of hiring a Chieftan, 10 seater to fly to Narromine on the Saturday, 11th April.

departing in the morning, and returning that afternoon.

the flight will be IFR so there will be no worries about weather.

just testing the waters to see if i can fill a 10 seater. if not, we might have to take a Duchess or similar..

cost to be advised, though with a full flight, it should be about the same cost as driving there.

thanks.

glide approach is the norm, and a glide approach if set up right can be used for a short fielder as well!

i was thinking those Cannons, the Hawk and hornet all look very familiar, i work for BAE during the week! so where can i get hold of some old Rotax's off the UAV's?? trade you for a AMRAM and RADSIM bomb!

Dont worry too much about variation in procedures, every pilot has their own habbits and ways of doing things, if you have a few instructors, even at the same schools, they will each do things a little differently, so eventually you will come up with your own, but for the major things, Always use the Checklists! that way you wont go wrong with any Vital actions, and if in doubt, read the POH.(pilots operating handbook) it is the aircrafts bible.

very interesting now its LSA...... but the importer though... hmm

mine has only had schedule maintenance done as per the rotax manual, it now has 550 Hrs on it, and no sign of wear on any parts at the 500 hr top end overhaul

if (when) i win lotto or Powerball, i want to buy Camden Haven, and turn it into a Marina/air park.

everyone in a boat or aircraft is welcome!

My Sig picture is my Vampire taken at the Inaugural Recreational flying flyin at Camden haven.