Learning to Fly!!!

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Hey all,

I know we have a few commercial pilots among us , Ltd included, but was wondering who else out there is an aviator or is in the process of becoming one?

Feel free to add your own story into the conversation or add some tips or words of advice for those of us who still have our L-plates on display

Here's my story:

My old man was an instro in the RAAF. Joined in the early sixties and retired as a Flight Sergeant after just over 21 years service. "Join the military and see the world" was what they told dad, but all he got to see was Wagga for rookies, then posted to Sale. Here he met my mum, and being a migrant family with no other relies apart from the immediate family, she wanted to stay in Sale as much as possible. That worked out ok, coz Sale was one of those places that no one really wanted to go to Sale, but once you were hear no one wanted to leave. So after a couple of years in Sale, and getting married and having two kids, we set off to Malaysia for 2 and a half years. Then back to Sale. Then Wagga again, but only for 18 months this time, and then back to good old Sale again. And that folks, is 21 years in the Australian Air Force for you!

So, naturally, I grew up around aircraft. Dad loved his planes, and even though he worked on them day in, day out, every time the Roulettes flew overhead, he'd stop to have a look. It was therefore only natural that I started doing the same thing.

Dad never spent time on fast jets. Most of his time was on DC3s, Macchis, CT4s, and later PC-9s. Not that any of that bothered me. I recall many an occasion where we'd be out at the base, for a family day, in support of an airshow, Dad going in as the duty officer to organise a refuel and a tub for a Tracker that was passing through, and even once when Dad was assisting with a public display on the roof at Myers where he was in charge of the Link trainer! Now that was a beast!

In year 12 I tried out to become a pilot in the RAAF, but I didn’t know at the time that I had an eye condition that would never have permitted me to become one. So, after they offered for me to become an Airborne Electronics Analyst, I stopped following my pilots dream at that stage in life. When I finished secondary school I got a job as an apprentice sparky and was lucky enough to get a position with Australian Construction Services who were based out at RAF East Sale. All of this was pure luck and there was no hand in organising any of this at all. So, for the 12 months I stayed with my apprenticeship, I was still around aircraft, with one of my favourite jobs being the first-business-day-of-the-week run around the airfield ensuing that all of the airfield lighting was functional.

Then I decided to quit the apprenticeship to go back to Uni and get me engineering degree. At the end of the last year during swatvac, I saw an ad in the local rag calling for engineers in support of the Hawker Siddeley 748 (which was used primarily as a Navigation Trainer) and the Pilatus PC-9. Being in a basketball team with the young engineer in charge of the HS748 fleet, I was able to get myself a tour of both the maintenance organisation and the logistics support organisation where the advertised position was. Having met the Chief Engineer on that visit allowed me to be rather more comfortable at the interview when I saw he was the main interviewer. So, before I had even formally finished my engineering degree, I had secured a pretty reasonable job with the RAAF as a public servant. And, it was based at East Sale!!
After a couple of years working on the HS748, I tried my hand as a contractor to defence in Sydney, but that soon failed and I found myself back in Sale again, and back at the organisation I had left only a matter of months before. Except this time I was employed on the PC-9. Now for those of you who don’t know what the heck I’m talking about (although I probably lost you a few paragraphs back), the PC-9 is most commonly known as the aircraft that the Roulettes use today. But what most people don’t know is that the PC-9 is used as the second tier training aircraft for both the RAAF and Navy. And that the fleet totals 65 (ok, I think after the last crash at Sale about 3 or 4 years ago, it will now be 64) aircraft in total at 4 different bases in Australia.

I had various roles over those following years and loved working around the aircraft. But as things sometimes go, the work environment for me become unpleasant, and a new move was in store. So I left the APS and got a job working for a power station in the Latrobe Valley, but continued to live in Sale, commuting each day. At that point, my interaction with aircraft on a daily basis disappeared.

It wasn’t until last year when the father of my daughter’s friend mentioned that he was taking lessons that the bug caught up with me again. I needed a new project to undertake in the new year, and since I had always wanted to become a pilot, the time was never better. So, I got in touch with an ex-colleague of mine who also happened to have worked with my Dad. He has always worked in the aeronautical field, and happened to have his own business on the side in the form of a flying school. Since I had gotten on so well with him, I decided he would be a good choice for me to go with.

Jarvo, my instructor, operates a Jabiru J-160C and a Savannah out of West Sale, Latrobe Valley and Yarram. To date I have only flown in the Jab and primarily flown out of West Sale, with a couple of landings and take-offs from Latrobe Valley. I have had five sessions to date, the first being a trial flight, followed by four formal lessons. The first lesson was level flight, the second was medium bank turns, the third was slow flight and the fourth, today, was aerodynamic stalls. I have accrued about 5 hours at the controls so far.

I don’t know where this will end up at this stage. I certainly aim to get my RA-Aus licence, but I don’t know if that is where it will end. Ultimately, I would like to be able to fly with my wife and daughter, which will necessitate a PPL, but I don’t know if I will be able to justify that continuing expense in the end.

The adventure continues!

Craig H

[ltd]

Well done.
You sound like you've caught the bug.
Aviation is truly a lot of fun, literally the sky is the limit.

My advice to you would be to always plan, never ever try to push on to make a deadline as that's how so many accidents happen. Also, always check weather where you're heading from and to, as well as weather enroute.
Finally, when your instructor does the introduction to instrument flying (from memory it's about 20 hours in), pay particular attention as many panic when entering IMC. Also, I practiced IFR every time I flew since then, it's a good thing to practice.
I won't bother you with details, but it saved my life one day at YORG in IMC.

[Kable72]

I'm so jealous. I tried to be a pilot in the RAAF as well but my vision is shocking so I never tried again. I have thought about getting a pilots licence but I can't afford the training. Best of luck to you!

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by ltd

Well done.
You sound like you've caught the bug.
Aviation is truly a lot of fun, literally the sky is the limit.

My advice to you would be to always plan, never ever try to push on to make a deadline as that's how so many accidents happen. Also, always check weather where you're heading from and to, as well as weather enroute.
Finally, when your instructor does the introduction to instrument flying (from memory it's about 20 hours in), pay particular attention as many panic when entering IMC. Also, I practiced IFR every time I flew since then, it's a good thing to practice.
I won't bother you with details, but it saved my life one day at YORG in IMC.

I think I was bit by the bug quite a number of years ago......it's just that it has taken this long for the symptoms to show themselves

As you know ltd, I'm a pretty keen watcher of the Air Crash Investigation program (and many years before that, the Black Box series) so am pretty familiar with the potential impacts of "push-on-itis". But you are right, even though you may know something, it's good to be reminded every now and then.

Under RA-Aus rules, we aren't allowed to operate under IFR rules, but if I decide to move on to PPL, I'll keep your suggestions in mind.

Originally Posted by Kable72

I'm so jealous. I tried to be a pilot in the RAAF as well but my vision is shocking so I never tried again. I have thought about getting a pilots licence but I can't afford the training. Best of luck to you!

I'm not sure if you've looked at it at all Kable, but getting your RA-Aus licence is nowhere near as expensive as a PPL, and, whilst you do have some additional restirctions that PPL doesn't have, the upkeep is not as strenuous either.

To give you an idea as to what the indicative costs are: to get your RA-Aus licence you need to have a minimum of 20 flying hours tuition. My instructor says that most people will take around the 25 hours. Most schools (from what I have seen) will charge around the $160 - 170 mark.

The instructor I have charges a little bit more per flying hour, but he doesn't charge for any school time (theory). Of course, you then have to throw in your student licence, solo licence, any text books, etc into that mix.

My estimate s that it will end up costing me about $6000 all up to get to the point that I will be able to fly an RA-Aus aircraft with a passenger. So, yes it is still worth a bit of coin, but it may not be as bad as what you think if you've looked into it in the past.

Craig H

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

I know there hasn't been a lot of chatter in this thread, but I just have to tell everyone who reads the thread:

I had my first solo flight today

It was one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done!

Flew down to Yarram from West Sale through broken cloud to undertake some theory lessons with a couple of other students. We all sat both the Air Legislation and Radio exam and passed. Then flew a couple of circuits and instructor asked if I wanted to go solo, so I did a full stop, he jumped out and away I went!

Not my best landing, but I made it stick and did not have any major dramas, so I am pretty happy.

So, was a good day all up.

Still on cloud nine (sorry, bad pun!).

It's taken me about 13 hours of dual time to reach solo. Next major target for me now is to achieve passenger rating so I can take my wife, Mum and in-laws up for a fly.

Craig H

[malazn mafia]

A lot of fun. Know a flying instructor and did a supervised flight in a little warrior aircraft once. It is surely addictive but a very expensive hobby. Still not quite as fun as pushing an xr6t far into triple digits down a backroad and sensation of keeping the car balanced at those speeds on bumpy roads feels remarkably similar to settling the air bumps and turbulence up in the sky , but comes close and is legal I guess

[xrxystu]

Nice work, Craig.
I too love aircraft/aviation. I started looking down the path of becoming a pilot but in the end I found I really enjoyed working on them.... So that's what I do for a living!

Stu

[ltd]

Nice work Craig, congratulations.
Tell you what, last time I flew a GA aircraft was late 2008, and yet those were some really fun times.
I would try to press on to get a PPL though, as you'll find you'll start to want to go further afield, and Australia has some really awesome places to fly to.
Back in 1993, me and a mate (just over a year after year 12) did a trip up and down the east cost of Oz whilst he was trying to gain hours for his CPL, and it was one of the most fun things we ever did. I could tell you some stories - some fun, some a little stupid, some scary; but in hindsight all of it was good.
Speaking of getting hours, we use to even run a little quasi-business flying people we knew to Sydney harbour at night to see the lights of the city, and orbits around Centrepoint tower. They'd pay for the rental, we'd get the hours for free. We did it so often I started to dislike flying during the day, and preferred NVFR.
We even had one douchebag from school (we didn't really like him but he was paying for an hour worth of time for us) propose to his girlfriend who he was notoriously unfaithful to in the back of an A36 Bonanza 1500 feet above Sydney Harbour. She said no, and as we were all wearing headsets we heard the whole thing - we had to try to hold back from laughing.
Ohhh, memories..............

Anyway, congratulations again.

[Mesa]

Well done mate!! I did a few years in Defence working on a large number of various aircraft. Apart from playing 'hangar pilot' when the cockpit got masked out I finally got a flight in a F/A18 B Hornet in November 06. I can't begin to describe how much fun it was, even got to fly it!!!! I've always wanted to take up flying after that but haven't got around to it. I hope you enjoy it!!

[Taily]

Go for it Craig, but be aware there will be times during your training where your "learning" seems to plateau and you will find it seems difficult to make that next hurdle as easily as you jumped the one before it. Believe me, that is very much the norm as (without you realising it at the time) each step you take is a bigger one than the last.

I wont bore you completely with endless details of my working life to this point but like many before me I left school early (year 11 but then completed my basic HSC subjects at tech during that same year) and went into an apprenticeship, all the while studying mechanical engineering subjects at night school. I qualified as a motor mechanic in 1989 ("that year" for those of in the aviation industry) and after a stint at Holden R&D involved in the VR Commodore development, soon afterwards went into business for myself by opening my own workshop. Business was good for the 4 years I owned it, but for a 25 year old the 60-70 hours a week were doing my head in towards the end so I sold the business as a going concern, packed the car and took 12 months off and drove around the country.

My mum had been an Air Hostess (very un-PC to call them that these days...) with Ansett well before I was born and I had grown up with her stories of her working life. So after heading home after my "walk the earth" sojourn I asked my old man if I could grab a few weeks labouring work with him in the building industry... A few weeks turned into 7 years but in the mean time I put my mind to learning to fly.

I (like every single other pilot there is on this earth today) remember my first solo flight like it was yesterday - it sure doesn't feel like 20 years ago! I went solo in a PA28 warrior JRZ at (what was then) Axis aviation at Bankstown. Like many I paid my own way through flying training and the whole process took around 4 years from beginning to end (I had to take 12 months away from training at one stage after Sydney had that massive hailstorm as we were working 7 days a week over that 12 month period as there was so much work around Botany/Randwick/Moore Park areas we had 4-5 jobs (warehouse roofs) going at once with teams of up to 10 on each jobsite. I did do some part time work on the dock at Rose Bay with a seaplane operator for a bit in the late 90's, which gave me some great connections for later on.

As I was not a full time student (even though I was enrolled in the 150 hour course) I did have many times where weather slowed training but I kept studying my Trevor Thom books and my AIP/CAO's etc and sat the PPL/CPL/IREX when I could. Luckily enough I passed each of those theory exams first go, so it was only the flying itself that slowed me down. I passed my CPL in late 2000 and did a few weekend bits and pieces around the place for a few months - tailwheel and some banner towing at Camden, some weekend skydiver driver work in a C185 in the Hunter valley at least paid for the fuel to get up there and back from Sydney each weekend too. All the while I was getting closer to that "magic" 500 hours...

Remember those contacts I spoke of? My first proper paying flying job came from one of the guys who worked for the "oposition" seaplane company who had gone out on his own and started a business up at Palm Beach. He endorsed me on floats and ICUS'd me through to the point he was happy with me and checked me to line. I couldn't believe my luck at my first job so close to home, yet I had heard horror stories of guys having to drive across the country to get theirs! Anyway, all was good for about two days until the other (full time) pilot wrote the only company aircraft off at the base of Barranjoey... Thus ended my first job...

So I ended-up doing like the rest of the UGALS (unemployed GA losers) and packed the car up, kissed the fiance goodbye and set off for the "Holy Grail" of low houred general aviation pilot destinations... Kununurra in the east Kimberley, WA.

My work since then has taken me through the NT, SA, both western and FNQ and finally back down to NSW in 2007 when I made the jump into kero burning RPT. I've met some great people in this industry that I will call friends until the day I die, and I have met some people who were not interested in the collateral damage they caused as long as they got where they wanted to get too... But hey, that is the same in every industry isn't it!

I stepped back from the big stuff at the beginning of last year to do something more worthwhile (to both me and the community - and to also cut my stress levels to zero) with my qualifications. I now work for the RFDS and have a better lifestyle/lower stress levels than I've had in the past 10 years and loving it!

All the best, enjoy the journey and never give up!

Oh, and never be too scared to ask for advice!

Dave.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Well guys and gals, I thought I would post up some info on what will be the closure of the first chapter in my flying 'career'...and the opening of the next Chapter.

Today I obtained my Pilot's Certificate!

Went up last week with the view of revising some activities that I had not done for a while (stalls, engine failure en-route, precautionary search, slow flight) with the view that if everything progressed well we'd keep proceeding through the flight test. Unfortunately, I was a little rusty on a few things and the stalls, efer and prec search did not go well, so the instructor called it off and we went and did some of the other activities in the test (which I did well, go figure!).

I was bummed initially, but after I realised that it had been 12 months since I had conducted stalls, I didn't feel too bad.

So, after a little bit of study to brush up on my mnemonics and procedures, we attempted it again today. And today we had a cross wind that we didn't have last week so we were able to fit in cross wind operations, too.

Man, I am absolutely stocked that I was able to get the certificate today! It has been a very educational and rewarding journey to date, and I know there is a lot more still to come.

Next goal is to complete another 4.2 hours solo time so that I can then obtain my passenger endorsement, which is what I am really looking forward to. Being able to take family and friends up with me is probably the biggest goal in this process for me.

Watch out aviation world!

Craig H

[ltd]

Really well done Craig, one piece of advice I would always give to every pilot, always check the weather, and never be overly optimistic about conditions.
There's a great podcast we did with John King (you probably know who he is) of King schools in the USA, well worth a listen for all pilots.
http://www.flightpodcast.com/episode-5-john-king
Follow the link to find the play button.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by ltd

Really well done Craig, one piece of advice I would always give to every pilot, always check the weather, and never be overly optimistic about conditions.
There's a great podcast we did with John King (you probably know who he is) of King schools in the USA, well worth a listen for all pilots.
http://www.flightpodcast.com/episode-5-john-king
Follow the link to find the play button.

Thanks ltd. Will keep your advice in mind. Even though I think I am already cautious, you can never be too careful when it comes to aviation. One constant through my training was the instructor providing me with feedback that my situational awareness was very good. Mind you, I have read the ATSB report into a fatal incident at YLTV and that makes you far more aware that, despite your own skills, there are others that share the sky with you and that you have little to no control over how good (or poor) their airmanship is.

I want to continue enjoying my flying, so I do not want to risk having an accident and therefore jeopardise future activity.

An example of that is my planned first licensed flight. The weekend after I got my license, I had booked in for a flight, but as the morning progressed the wind came up. I had already determined in my own mind that it would be too windy for my first licensed flight. So when the instructor contacted me and suggested it would not be a good idea, I was already a step ahead of him.

Craig H

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Been a while since I posted in here, so thought I'd throw a couple of pictures in to show you all what I have been up to since I got my Pilot's Certificate back in May.

First off, here's me getting presented the Certificate by my Instructor after we had returned to West Sale on the day I passed the test. You can probably tell I was proud as punch:



So, after I got my Certificate, I needed another 4.2 hours solo time to be able to then sit for my Passenger (Pax) Endorsement. I flew my Pax Endorsement flight fairly quickly after completing the 4.2 hours, and passed it pretty easily. There really is not too much to the Pax endorsement test.

I was planning to take my mum up as my first pax, but she was away when I was looking at my first flight, so I decided to take the father-in-law up instead. Fate played a hand and he got cold feet on the morning of the flight and pulled out.

So, a couple of weeks later, mum ended up being my first pax, just as I had originally planned.

This is a pic of me with the Jabiru that I trained in (Tom Cruise eat your heart out!):



One with my mum:



Mum in the pax seat (just a little nervous, even though she has flown a fair bit in small aircraft):



Mum and I both in the cockpit:



And a few snaps from last week where I took up a workmate. Taxiing out for a quick circuit with the aircraft owner (and my instructor) since it had been just over a month since I last flew:



Taking off for the first circuit:







Taxiing back after completing one circuit:









And one just as my workmate and I were about to take off:



As you can probably tell, my workmate is a keen photographer, and I would have loved to see some of his airborne shots, but unfortunately the battery on the camera went flat just after we lifted off. Oh well, just means another flight is in order

So to date, I have amassed just over 50 hours of pilot time. This allows me to hire another Jabiru at west sale that is less per flying hour, and being a J120 will expose me to a different aircraft type, which is always a good thing. The timing is good too as my instructor will not be available for a few months which means I wouldn't be able to get access to his aircraft for that period either.

Oh, and the other thing that comes up with a lot of people seeing the aircraft for the first time is how small it is. But, personally, once I'm in the aircraft you have little sensation of just how small it actually is.

Hope you guys and gals enjoy the pics.

[Romulus]

Well done. I did around 20 hours including a solo in a 152. It was great experience and I learnt a lot. I've always had an interest in aviation, found it far more exhilarating than going in a quick car. Aircraft truly are engineering master pieces, I'm always looking up when I hear a GE90-115B powered aircraft with 115,000 plus HP per engine. Awesome.

I hoping to get my son into RAAF so he can be a pilot of he chooses.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Darn, just realised that I forgot to smudge the aircraft registration so that no one could steal the photos for their fake ads

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Wow, another large time gap since updates. Hopefully this will bring anyone interested up to date.

Since my last update, I switched across to hiring the Jabiru 120, as it only cost me $110 per flying hour as opposed to $140 per flying hour for the Jabiru 160C that I learnt to fly in.

Spent just over 18 hours in 2016 flying fiends and family around the area, noting that I was restricted to staying within a 25Nm (~50km) radius from West Sale. My favourite trip was from West Sale down to Seaspray, then along the 90 mile beach to Golden Beach, scoot around the southern side of Lake Wellington, then between the RAAF Base at East Sale and Lake Wellington up to where the Avon river enters the lake. Then I'd follow the Avon up-stream to Stratford, head westwards to Maffra, then out to Lake Glenmaggie and finally back to West Sale. Or sometime the reverse depending on other aircraft movements. This trip would take about 1.4 - 1.6 flying hours, depending on weather.

Unfortunately, in early 2017, the Jabiru 120 was taken off the market as the usage rate was not covering the additional insurance costs. That meant my only real alternative was to return to hiring the Jabiru 160 again. May saw the second anniversary since I had obtained my licence roll around, and this meant that I needed to complete a biennial flight review to continue flying. So, I went out with the instructor I had learnt to fly with in his J160C and had an absolute blast being put under the pump with some operations I had not undertaken in the last two years: engine failure in the circuit, aerodynamic stalls and recovery, soft field take-offs and landings, etc.

The next stage of development was to obtain a Navigational Endorsement which would allow me to fly outside of the 25Nm restriction. This involves sitting a theoretical exam as well as undertaking practical lessons. The first trip was very much a spur of the moment activity, and saw me heading down to Yarram from West Sale, and then heading home again via Jack Smith Lake. A fairly basic route that only took 1.4 flying hours to complete.

This was followed a month later with a flight from West Sale to Bairnsdale via Briagalong. Following a landing and debrief at Bairnsdale, we then came home via Loch Sport and Golden Beach for another 1.4 hour flight, and a visit to an aerodrome that I hadn't been to before.

By the end of 2017 I had only flown 9 hours for the year, and my total flying time was up to 78.3 hours.

During all of this time, neither my wife or daughter had come up for a fly with me. My wife is not a good flyer at the best of times, and she was concerned that, if something happened whilst I was flying with my daughter,, that she would lose both of us (I actually think she is happy to lose me, just that she doesn't trust me enough with the daughter )

But both the daughter and I finally convinced the wife to let her go up with my instructor. He has over 2500 hours flying time, so is very experienced, which put the wife at ease a little. So, last week our 12-year old daughter went up for her first flight in a small aircraft. This is her sitting in the passenger seat about to head off, with a slight hint of nervousness but a lot of anticipation!:



The plan was to just do one circuit of the airfield initially, to see how she handled it. If all was good, they'd do a touch and go and then go for a flight over the town and see our house. So, when they came in after the circuit, I was very nervous about how she went. When they touched down and I then hard the engine fire up again, I knew it was all going well. When they came back, she had a smile from ear to ear! She absolutely loved it! She stated she could see why I enjoyed it so much.

My instructor then asked if I was available the next day as he had to head down to Mallacoota to undertake a servicing on an aircraft. This was a great opportunity for me to get a nav to the east out of the way, so I jumped at the opportunity.

After meeting at 0730 at the airfield, we finalised a flight plan, submitted a report for Search and Rescue (in case something happened to us along the way) and headed off around 0830. The initial plan was to fly down at 3500ft (making the most of the tail winds) via Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance, Orbost, then turning south at Genoa into Mallacoota. However that changed pretty quickly once we discovered a cloud base at around 2000ft. So, we opted to fly at 1500ft and then went along the coast after passing overhead Orbost.

After arriving at Mallacoota at about 1030, we set to getting the servicing out of the way. The aircraft that we were doing a servicing on is a BRMAero Bristell:



Here's the cockpit, with leather upholstery:


After completing the servicing, we took the aircraft for a quick flight to make sure everything was running ok.

On the strip, ready to take off:


Mallacoota airfield from the air:


Overhead Gabo Island:


And finally, Mallacoota inlet and coast line:


Flying in the Bristell was fantastic! It is like a luxury sports car, whereas the Jabiru is like a Lada Niva Mind you, the price tags match too!

So, after putting the Bristell back to bed, we refuelled the Jab, finalised our flight plan, and then headed home, leaving quite a bit later than we had planned at about 1630 (a little earlier the instructor had revealed that he was planning to drive the car home and allow me to fly home by myself, but time had run away on us). Again, we stayed low at 1500ft, not because of cloud but to try and get a tailwind from the easterly sea breeze. We didn't get much but at least we didn't get a head wind. Without any difficulties, we made it back to West Sale just after 1800.

It was a big day, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. The smile on my face was bigger than my daughters the previous day!

I headed straight to the pub to catch up with the family for our regular Friday night dinner, and filled up with a chicken parm and a nice cold one (or two).

What a day!

So, in 2018 I already have over half the hours I flew in all of 2017. With more navs, including one through Melbourne airspace and up to northern Victoria somewhere, I expect the 9 hours from 2017 will be passed pretty quickly.

[Blue Shadow]

Your Daughter has more guts than me, I crap myself standing on my deck in the back yard :-)

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by Blue Shadow

Your Daughter has more guts than me, I crap myself standing on my deck in the back yard :-)

Heights has never been something that bothers her, really. Back in 2015, for my mum's 65th birthday, we took my mum to Sydney to climb the harbour bridge which is something she had wanted to do for ages. My daughter, who was 9 years and 10 months old at the time, wanted to come along. Kids had to be 10 years old to climb, but we told a little fib, and with her being tall for her age, no one batted an eyelid.

I fully expected she would freeze once we got out there, but she did a great job. The only time she was bothered was when we climbed through the bridge deck right next to the train tracks. Just as she popped her onto the deck level, a train came roaring past, no more than a few metres away form her.

[Mercury Bullet]

What is an RA-aus licence?

Have spent 5000 odd hours (15 years) in the left seat of longranger then as355f then bk117 and sa365n helicopters.
Left seat is non flying in choppers

Have spent considerable time on dual controls. Flying choppers is the single hardest thing I've ever encountered co-ordination wise. Planes want to fly, choppers want to bury themselves....backwards. Lol.

Started a ppl 28 years ago until I was cleaned up by a drunk.

[383hq]

Nice little plane, I flew a Jab 3300 once, jumped off the ground compared to the cessna spam cans I was use to, whats cruise performance like ? 120 kts?

From an engineering perspective, helicopters should be renamed rotary cyclic fatigue machines...

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

What is an RA-aus licence?

Have spent 5000 odd hours (15 years) in the left seat of longranger then as355f then bk117 and sa365n helicopters.
Left seat is non flying in choppers

Have spent considerable time on dual controls. Flying choppers is the single hardest thing I've ever encountered co-ordination wise. Planes want to fly, choppers want to bury themselves....backwards. Lol.

Started a ppl 28 years ago until I was cleaned up by a drunk.

Ra-Aus is Recreational Aviation Australia, a body set up to administer aviation in the recreational aspects of the industry. Basically, you are limited to operating aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of no more than 600kg, can only carry two people on board (pob) and cannot operate in controlled airspace. It evolved out of the GA world where the requirements were too restrictive and expensive for those who simply wanted to fly for the fun of it.

A lot of people start off flying in RA-AUs world and then transition to GA as it keeps the costs significantly down.

More info here if you want it: https://www.raa.asn.au/

Originally Posted by 383hq

Nice little plane, I flew a Jab 3300 once, jumped off the ground compared to the cessna spam cans I was use to, whats cruise performance like ? 120 kts?

Cruise on the J160 is around 95kts. The Bristell was about 110kts.

[Mercury Bullet]

Cheers mate.

Geez 600kg is light. Little Rotax I presume?

Can't say I'd be too happy, I vowed never to enter a chopper without at least one turbine, preferably 2.
No Robinsons for this black duck.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Cheers mate.

Geez 600kg is light. Little Rotax I presume?

Can't say I'd be too happy, I vowed never to enter a chopper without at least one turbine, preferably 2.
No Robinsons for this black duck.

Yeah, they are small! Most people don't really comprehend how light a MTOW of 600kg is. That's plane, fuel, oils, passengers, luggage. Everything. But when you consider that is about 1/2 to 1/3 of the weight of your road-going car before you add the passengers and luggage, it starts to put it into perspective.

Rotax's are certainly a popular engine in this category. The Jabiru's have their own proprietary range of horizontally-opposed engines. The engine on the J160C is a 2.2l producing around 80hp.

The difference between a plane and chopper though is that a plane will glide, as opposed to a chopper which, even with auto-rotation, will drop like a brick. And you do realise that even if you have two engines, thé main rotors are only held on by one bolt

[devilcv8]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Can't say I'd be too happy, I vowed never to enter a chopper without at least one turbine, preferably 2.
No Robinsons for this black duck.

I’ve been lucky enough at work to get quite a few trips around the Torres Strait islands. All planes used were the Britten islander and for the chopper we had bell jet rangers. Only nervous time in all the flights was when the chopper pilot of the Bell after refuelling on Saibai had to punch the side of the chopper as the igniters didn’t work at the first attempt. Then having the pilot talk about how depressed he was the previous year and that he packed his bags and took off overseas for 6 months topped it off.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

On the same day that my daughter flew, I took a work colleague up for a fly, following the same path I outlined above re my favourite route, ie West Sale down to Seaspray, then along the 90 mile beach to Golden Beach, scoot around the southern side of Lake Wellington, then between the RAAF Base at East Sale and Lake Wellington up to where the Avon River enters the lake. Then I'd follow the Avon up-stream to Stratford, head westwards to Maffra, then out to Lake Glenmaggie and finally back to West Sale.

Here's some pics he took during that flight:

The jab we flew in:


Overhead Seaspray, looking to the south west:




The small, predominantly holiday home, hamlet of The Honeysuckles, located between Seaspray and Golden Beach.


Lake Glenmaggie, looking from the south towards the north, with the weir wall at centre right:


A couple overhead Lake Glenmaggie, with yours truly at the controls and the Macalister River valley to the north:




Lake Glenmaggie dam wall, looking towards the east:


Views over the Macalister Irrigation District, from around Heyfield-Tinamba looking towards the south and south west. Loy Yang power station is just visible on the horizon to the right of centre in the 3rd photo (bit hard to see at this resolution)






And a couple on approach to runway 27 (westerly direction) at West Sale:

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by devilcv8

I’ve been lucky enough at work to get quite a few trips around the Torres Strait islands. All planes used were the Britten islander and for the chopper we had bell jet rangers. Only nervous time in all the flights was when the chopper pilot of the Bell after refuelling on Saibai had to punch the side of the chopper as the igniters didn’t work at the first attempt. Then having the pilot talk about how depressed he was the previous year and that he packed his bags and took off overseas for 6 months topped it off.

We used to call jetrangers crashrangers.

At least once it's started the igniters aren't required (mostly)
Must admit never seen that before...id be nervous too.
Saw one in the shop with a cracked rotorhead once. That raised a few eyebrows.

[Mainforcepatrol]

I always had a passion for aviation since knee high and wanted to fly but only came as far as maintaining and looking after the metal birds in the end and almost 28 years later i am still in the industry.

[devilcv8]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

We used to call jetrangers crashrangers.

At least once it's started the igniters aren't required (mostly)
Must admit never seen that before...id be nervous too.
Saw one in the shop with a cracked rotorhead once. That raised a few eyebrows.

The other option was a Robinson, although I hear they are called ronsons as they light every time

[robertmanziel]

I've always wanted to learn how to fly, but really don't know where to start. How much is it to go to a flying school?