tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45688281314887290012024-03-18T02:48:49.029-07:00Girl With A StickUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-85660604417092169812018-04-12T18:56:00.000-07:002018-04-14T13:47:43.732-07:00Dusty Logbook<span style="font-size: large;">
It’s
5.30am. The light is not yet poking in through the gap in the blind I can never
fix. It’s dark and, strangely for the inner city, it’s quiet. My body is on
Mexican time. I give in to its refusal to sleep and creep downstairs to make
coffee. My stomach reminds me it’s still yesterday, dinner time, and although I
have few of the ingredients with which to make huevos rancheros, I do have
eggs. As I eat my boiled eggs in the dark, I am reminded of the only times in
the past decade that 5.30am and I have been acquainted: to fly. Aviation is the
one thing that can bounce me out of bed in the morning when the world is still
dark.
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">By the
light of my phone, I seek out my logbook. I find it on the bookshelf, under two
years’ tax returns and a flier for salsa dancing. If my logbook were an emoji,
it would be the one with the sad face and the solitary tear. The last logged
entry is March 25, 2017. If my logbook were a soldier, it would be MIA. Today
is March 25, 2018. Clearly, nostalgia enjoys synchronicity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">The last
aircraft I flew was a Cirrus. In fact, the last time I flew anything <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">but</i> a Cirrus was March 28, 2015 when I
flew a C182 for a fundraising event. I calculate I have 136.3 hours total time
in Cirri (30.5 dual, 105.8 command) garnered over my two years as Sales and
Marketing Manager at Cirrus Melbourne. The most stable and consistent part of
my otherwise chaotic and diverse logbook, if this section were an athlete, she
would be at the top of her game. I had reached my dream, my goal, my </span><i>raison d'être</i><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">: to not only fly, but to be paid to fly; to have access to an aircraft
I could know as well as I knew the route to the airport, or the Virgin lounge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Nearly all
of those Cirrus hours are in FIFi – not the first machine for whom I professed
love, but certainly the finest. After years of feeling like an aviation
imposter – having flown with, and learnt from, so many incredible pilots, I
never felt in myself the confidence others would project on to me; always knew
I was a writer who flew, rather than a pilot who wrote – I finally found my
mojo with FIFi. She was not my first, last, fastest or most highly spec’d
aircraft - others bemoaned the lack of yaw damper, FIKI or new style door – but
to me, she was perfect. Somewhere in those 100 or so hours, I found an equilibrium:
a balance between my skills as a pilot, my knowledge of the aircraft and my
inner confidence. I had some near-perfect flights and discovered a part of
myself I sincerely thought I would never attain. I called it Av-Zen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">When FIFi
was sold to the Sydney Syndicate, I was allowed to continue to fly her until my
replacement, KBZ, arrived. My last flight in FIFi was January 30, 2017, when
she was on display at the Maitland Airshow. I never got to meet KBZ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">In May
2016, my dad, aged only sixty-four, was diagnosed with lung cancer. My sister
and I arrived back in the UK in the nick of time, as we watched him deteriorate
before our eyes. Four nights before he died, he insisted on taking us to the
pub. Skeletal and unsteady, he bought us all a pint, confessed his sins (and
there were many!) and talked about how he had very few regrets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Ten days
after our arrival, he was dead; a death that was rapid and brutal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Being so
very similar, we had a tempestuous relationship: we once didn’t speak for six
years, after which I phoned him up and informed I was now a pilot and editor of
a flying magazine. He hopped on a plane, and I took him flying, which resulted
in an article we co-wrote; a piece of work I’ll always cherish. To this day, it’s
one of my favourite memories, and the photo I took of him standing on the wing
of an old Archer, beaming with pride, is the picture we displayed at his
funeral.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">My dad’s death
triggered something in me which was very difficult to understand. I was
consumed by an impulse to live recklessly, passionately and in the moment. On
one hand, I was able to leave my grief, along with my impatience, my scattiness
and my flamboyance, on the ground when I flew. Every pilot learns that they can’t
take it with them. For months, I thought I was getting away with it: I flew
well, I was there for my clients, I lived and breathed Cirrus. But on the
other, something was pulling, stretching, niggling and bugging me, like a
mosquito in the dark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">And then it
broke.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">It was
January, 2017, in Knoxville, Tennessee. I was attending the wrap-up party after
a week-long global sales meeting. It had been a fabulous week, culminating in
the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to fly the Vision Jet. An exciting
year was ahead. I was drinking fine wine, listening to a country band, eating
home-made southern fried chicken on a waffle and watching trapeze artists fly
through the room (Cirrus knows how to throw a damn fine party). As I sauntered
over to the buffet table, I noticed a giant ice-sculpture of a Cirrus, placed
bang in the middle of the grits, shrimp and mashed potato. As I stood and
stared, watching it slowly, slowly melt, I was overcome with panic. I couldn’t
breathe, I couldn’t move, and as tears silently streamed down my face, I was
grateful that it was dark and that I was alone, far away in a hangar on the
other side of the world. I finally pulled myself together, found a bus, made it
back to my hotel, where I went straight to bed. The next day, the rest of the
team went on to Nashville, or back to Australia, while the Crowne Plaza in Knoxville
kept me safe. I stared blankly at the tv and binge ate burgers from room service.
Not even a visit to Dollywood could lure me out. I was in lockdown for 32
hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">When I
emerged, I hired a car and drove to Nashville. I felt different. Kind of
joyless. I went through the motions of sociability, but I felt like an avatar.
All my life, I’d been around people with depression – my friends are artists,
musicians, academics: the sensitive types. It seems odd now, looking back, that
I didn’t recognise it in myself. The colours dimmed and I felt sad, and tired,
and terribly old. Other times, I felt manic, on top of the world, invincible. I
suspected bipolar disorder, but was too afraid of a diagnosis, knowing that it
would mean medication. Already in psychoanalysis, I stepped up my sessions to
twice a week. My therapist helped me through the bleakness without medication,
but we had a psychiatrist on standby, just in case<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">In March
2017, after twenty-four years of marriage, my husband and I decided to
separate. At the age of 45, I was finely placed for what is commonly called a
Mid Life Crisis. Personally, I like to call it a Mid Life Adventure, largely
because none of life’s knocks can erode my optimism, and partly because a
crisis implies loss of control. And, as any pilot, or indeed any Type A
personality knows, loss of control is scarier than death itself. Pilots don’t
have crises; they have adventures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">And
adventures I had: I bought a vintage sports car; I engaged in a week-long
residential therapy course where I met a man who showed me how to live my life
in the moment; I bought not one, but two, motorbikes; I sampled a Cuban cigar
in Havana and learned how to make the perfect Mojito, courtesy of a Cuban
bar-tender; I smoked legal Marijuana in California, ate snails in Paris, zip-lined
through the jungles of Borneo, attempted Muay Thai Boxing in Phuket, drank
Singapore Slings at the Raffles hotel, drove a Chevvy convertible through the
desert to Vegas, and lay on the softest sands of Mexican beaches. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">However,
because this isn’t a film trailer for a cheesy rom-com called Life After Forty,
I knew that despite the crazy adventures, I had to face my dark side. I had left
my marriage, sold my beautiful house and broke up my family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">And,
because of the voice inside that tells me what’s right, I quit flying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">My last
flight in command was February 16<sup>th</sup> 2017. It was a beautiful flight,
to Mudgee, with the man who showed me how to live in the moment. It wasn’t his
first flight in a light aircraft, but I treated it with the care and compassion
of a first experience. The weather conditions were gorgeous and as we tied up
at Mudgee, I got chatting to another pilot, who kindly offered me his car. The
man who showed me how to live in the moment and I found a tiny vineyard,
serving delicious home-made food and locally grown wine (for him). Our flight
home was super-smooth, with the afternoon light illuminating the Blue Mountains
in a way that gives me goose-bumps. My landing was lovely, as if I knew it
would be my last flight in command for the unforeseeable future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">In June
2017, I left Cirrus. I stopped work altogether, apart from my six annual
articles for Flight Safety Australia, which kept my bond with aviation going
enough to keep me relatively sane. Other than that, I largely disconnected from
the aviation community, focussing on finding a new home, attending therapy and
working out whether I would need to retrain, start again, build a new life. A
health issue, which turned out not to be cancer, thankfully, helped to adjust
my perspective on life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">So, when my
last piece for FSA, entitled The Future’s So Bright – why now is the best time
to fly GA – was written, I took the story as a way back to aviation. As I was
researching the article, I posted on Facebook, looking for opinions and
stories, and was shocked by the response: people were angry about the ‘state of
GA’, about medicals, about the regulator. Some suggested my article could only
be a work of fiction. Others were sardonic; some witty; a few, encouraging. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Suddenly,
something in me moved. I felt my old passion for GA rise up in me and shouted, directly
in the face of Facebook, ‘aviation needs optimists, dammit!’ I wrote the piece
with a force of optimism and gusto that I really, really believe in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">As a consequence
of the post – I’d kept a low profile on social media over the non-flying period
– three separate aviation magazines contacted me, asking me if I was ‘back from
the dead’ and available to write.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">To write
about flying requires actual flying. I know that to be true to myself that I
must fly. I considered my options and decided that it was time. I accepted a
job I know I will enjoy; a job that will be kind to me and give me the space I
need to tentatively explore my next phase in aviation. I will continue to seek
varied work in the industry once more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">It’s now
9.46am. It’s light, sunny and the noises of the city have commenced. I’m still
in my writing position, my logbook open on my bed, my mug of coffee long cold. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">After a year
of adventures, a lot of solitude, time, patience and empathy, and nearly three
years (to date!) of therapy, I have reached a place where I can understand
myself and my grief without having to live under the label of a diagnosis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">I have
turned the page, both figuratively and literally: my logbook is open on the
next blank page, awaiting the stroke of my finest pen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">I don’t
know when this flight will be, or where, or in what aircraft type. But I do
know that I’m ready. If my logbook were a patient, this blank year would be its
scars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div></span>
girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-65148217872057199652016-02-29T02:06:00.001-08:002016-02-29T02:06:52.510-08:00Marvellous Mount Gambier<span style="font-size: large;">I'd like to begin this post with a gush alert: ALERT, ALERT! I LOVE MY JOB! WHAT FOLLOWS WILL REFLECT THAT IN SPADES.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And now, with that disclaimer laid down, let me tell you about the most marvellous weekend I've had since Hamilton Island.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Having recently taken delivery of the most beautiful Australis in the country - VH-FIF, or FIFi, as she's now lovingly known - I've begun the most exciting part of my job: showing her off to pilots and potential pilots all over my territory. So, when OzRunways' Bas Scheffers mentioned he'd be at Mount Gambier Aero Club for a masterclass, and that I might like to come along and demonstrate the new SR22, I hopped (well, flew) to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Firstly, of course, I had to get those landings up to speed. Having not had a demo aircraft since the sale of ZZD, I had become rusty, to say the least. With my transition training completed in Avia's SR20 VDR, I hadn't landed a 22 since Tasmania in November. I booked in a few sessions with CSIP Nige Clark and hit the Bankstown circuit. I'd forgotten so much about the power differences between the SR20 and SR22 (nearly a THIRD more horsepower in the 22) that my right leg was aching after an hour of training and I went to bed that night dreaming of yaw dampers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5-cUnX4wi5U/VtQVn62JAKI/AAAAAAAABtQ/IU0AjIrnUMw/s1600/IMG_2171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5-cUnX4wi5U/VtQVn62JAKI/AAAAAAAABtQ/IU0AjIrnUMw/s320/IMG_2171.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very patient Nige Clark</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">After a few hours of re-training, Nige declared me ok to go. So, with Graham Horne along to assist, and OzRunways pilot Dean Sewell as passenger, we loaded up FIFi for the very first demo visit of the year: to Mount Gambier. With the still-new-smell of leather seats and the cupholders loaded with water (no coffee in my new bird!) we loaded up the Perspective with the plan for Mount Gambier, and I applied my newly taut right leg muscles to rudder pedals for take-off.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N4uVisX_dls/VtQCdGvo9hI/AAAAAAAABr4/fPm2ZMuPvqQ/s1600/IMG_2182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N4uVisX_dls/VtQCdGvo9hI/AAAAAAAABr4/fPm2ZMuPvqQ/s640/IMG_2182.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team Cirrus!<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh what an amazing machine the SR22 is! While I dodged the clouds (instrument rating this year!) on climb, we whizzed up to 8500, where everything was smooth and calm. I set up the autopilot, leaned the aircraft and settled back to a smooth and comfortable 61% power, with a TAS of 168kts and a fuel burn of 12.6USG. The flight time to Mount Gambier tracking via Canberra and Melbourne was a minute over three hours, with a 26kt headwind! I spent the rest of the flight taking the opportunity to familiarise myself with some of the more sophisticated features of the Perspective, with Graham setting me challenges such as adding an extended centreline, locating end of daylight information and customising the panel with my own options (I like the man's voice telling me what to do; by that I mean the lovely gentleman in the Cirrus Perspective - not Graham Horne!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On approaching Mount Gambier, Graham took over to demonstrate the IFR features to Dean, conducting an RNAV with vertical guidance, which blew all our socks off! I took over at 1000ft and managed a very passable landing (still more practice for me!) which set me up for a great evening (who doesn't let bad landings ruin their day?!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Upon arrival we were met by the warmest reception from the members of the Mount Gambier Aero Club, with event organiser Paul Goodman and his lovely wife Sue offering us their car for the weekend. After a beer, we headed into to town for a gorgeous meal at the Commodore Hotel.</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cl6yowpPi4o/VtQFtoxjatI/AAAAAAAABsQ/Qxa5RqLISBU/s1600/IMG_2192.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cl6yowpPi4o/VtQFtoxjatI/AAAAAAAABsQ/Qxa5RqLISBU/s320/IMG_2192.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The next morning, we were joined by Cessna, showcasing their new 182 (which, suprisingly, has a 100KG smaller payload than the SR22!) and pilots from all over the state in Sportscruisers, Diamonds, Pipers and of course, Cirri, as well as a few C210s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">With FIFi parked up on the grass shining in her fullest glory, I commenced my favourite part of the job: showing people the aircraft and organising demos. With three lined up for Sunday morning, OzRunways commenced their masterclass.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Much to my surprise, Paul had asked me to present a dinner speech for the club's dinner that evening, and, strangely for me who has much room for improvement in the public speaking department, and so I went back to prepare the images and subject Graham to my speech. Having tidied up the images and tightened the speech, we headed out to the aero club and braced ourselves for the usual club fare of tough steak and sausages. Well, may we be struck for tarring all aero clubs with the one stick! Treated to a three course fare that would satisfy any restaurant goer, we feasted on fresh seafood, tender steak and magnificent cheese, swilled down with local wines from the vineyards of</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e5O25dEBoUc/VtQLRKKGODI/AAAAAAAABsw/gmRxRZVCutQ/s1600/IMG_2047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e5O25dEBoUc/VtQLRKKGODI/AAAAAAAABsw/gmRxRZVCutQ/s320/IMG_2047.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wonderful chefs of Mount Gambier</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">some of the club members. Oh, I do SO love aviation events!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">After the first course, the crowd were regaled by tales from Horsham Aviation's Tony Brand, a natural public speaker who presented with charm and grace. During the first course, it became apparent that my images were not going to play on the club's projector, and so I sought out Paul and told him it might be better if I abandoned my speech and let people simply enjoy the wine. However, Paul was having none of it, claiming he'd made up a great intro and I was simply to get on with it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So, with perhaps a little more wine on board than is professional, I shot from the hip and told the story of the careers officer who claimed I was too stupid to learn to fly. Thank goodness for the generosity of the Mount Gambier club members, who were kind enough to offer applause!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">After partaking in the very best red the region had to offer, and meeting some of the loveliest pilots in the state, I realised I was getting a little too glassy, and designated driver Bas drove us back for a great night sleep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The next morning, we were served a breakfast fit for any Sydney cafe, followed by Geoff's very own freshly brewed espresso; I declared Mount Gambier my kind of town. Had it not been for my beautiful demonstrator needing to be flown back to Bankstown, I might have just stayed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mount Gambier Aero Club, Cirrus Australia thanks you for your wonderful hospitality; you have set the bar so very high for the rest of the Cirrus Demo Tour!</span><br />
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-18064515615439997622015-09-15T18:16:00.000-07:002015-09-15T18:16:23.476-07:00The Cirrus Life<span style="font-size: large;">According to the late American psychiatrist William Glasser, we are driven by five genetic needs: survival; love and belonging; power; freedom and fun - and it just occurred to me that aviation caters to each of these needs, sometimes in turn and sometimes simultaneously. I have just returned from an experience of the latter: The Cirrus Life event at Hamilton Island.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">With SR22 FER at Roma</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">While no pilot on earth could argue they <i>need </i>an aircraft for their survival, any pilot who remembers their first solo (and that's all of us!) can attest to the fact that flying is a survival exercise. The moment that giant piece of metal (or carbon composite!) is in the air, the pilot's impending survival is dependent on their ability to land the aircraft; we literally take our own lives into our hands when ever we go flying. Of course, flying a Cirrus aircraft which boasts the lowest accident rates in the industry [0.49% compared with the average of 1.2%, 2014. For more info visit <a href="http://whycirrus.com/safety/cirrus-history.aspx">http://whycirrus.com/safety/cirrus-history.aspx</a>] with their in built safety features: the blue button, the CAPS, ESP, hypoxia alerts and FIKI, significantly increases the chances of survival, should an unfortunate incident occur. So, while take offs are optional and landings mandatory, it's clear to see that once a pilot is airborne, flying is about survival.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Co-pilot to the fabulous Rob Fuller<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Cirrus Life event placed a big focus on training, improvement and learning. For two days, seminars were offered on engine maintenance and management, avionics, flight planning and advanced handling techniques. Specialist mentors were on hand to aid pilots with advice and support and senior American staff were present and approachable across the entire event. I myself manage to catch CEO Dale Klapmeier, to ask a few Cirrus specific questions, including what does the SR stand for in SR20 and SR22...answers in the comment section, pilots...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dale Klapmeier presenting a seminar on the Vision Jet<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, flying is about so much more than survival. Although for many a job in the industry is their mode of financial survival, for the majority of us, flying begins (and often continues!) as fun. There are as many ways to have fun as there are aircraft types, and while flying inverted isn't my favourite way to get my kicks, for some it's the only way. For me, the fun is in the travel, the journey, which is why I'm at home in a comfortable, well-equipped tourer (with cup holders!) Fun, too, is belonging to a group of like minded individuals. Like many mammals, humans are pack animals, for whom the group is vital. Birds of a feather do indeed flock together. 36 Cirrus aircraft flew in from all over the country (which represents nearly 25% of the total Cirrus aircraft in Australia) including five Australis (Australi?) with 143 people in attendance at the dinner on Saturday night. Although I was at the previous Cirrus Life event in 2013, this was my first Life event as Cirrus staff. The contrast is that now I am part of the Cirrus family, which extends to everyone involved in Cirrus - pilot or not. Not only do I have the chance to fly amazing aircraft, I also have access to an enormous body of group knowledge; between the attendees at the Cirrus Life event the knowledge and experience of the company - its history, its future - every aspect was covered. There's nothing there one couldn't learn about any aspect of Cirrus. But, in addition to the knowledge, is the shared experience. I could literally walk up to any person and start a conversation (not hard for me, I know..) and be certain we would have something very vital in common - our love for Cirrus aircraft.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Landing at Hammo with Rob Fuller</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But, aside from learning, the event's focus was equally on fun. The Friday night cocktail party hosted a steel band, alongside drinks and canapés at the breathtakingly beautiful yacht club. Saturday night's dinner was headlined by the side-splittingly funny - and extraordinarily talented - James Morrison (former Cirrus owner, who arrived in a Piper as Dale pointed out in his intro speech, with comic derision!). The James Morrison band, made up of his (giant!) sons and the most fabulous scat singer I've encountered since Kurt Elling, provided a diverse and amusing evening, which ended in a raffle and a happy birthday to my boss, Cirrus Melbourne CEO Charles Gunter. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Sunday evening leaving drinks, set around the pool, had no planned entertainment. However, half way through the evening, one of the event waiters made an announcement that a staff member was getting married. He invited her to step up and sing a song in order to receive her wedding present, and blushing, she stepped up to the mic and issued a painful rendition of Waltzing Matilda. The crowd applauded her bravery, when the waiter, Mario Lasagne, broke into Pavarotti, claiming 'THIS is how you sing!" As the crowd stared in disbelief, Rebecca, the tone deaf waitress, declared he hadn't mentioned she should sing <i>opera</i> and burst into the aria from Carmen. After a duet, followed by a rendition of <i>Hey Big Spender</i>, the team announced they were hired by Graham Horne (regional director of Cirrus) from a company called Undercover Entertainers, whereupon they proceeded to thrill the audience with their outstanding opera selection. Finally, Vice President of Marketing, Ben Kowalski, was added to the mix, with his outstanding performance on the triangle!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In addition to seminars, presentations and musical fun, the Cirrus Life event provided an opportunity for interested pilots to fly with mentors, both CSIPs from Australia and the USA. As I'm midway through my Cirrus transition, I took advantage of this opportunity by booking a session with Andy Hartel of Cirrus Sunshine Coast, and Kevin Korteum from the factory in Duluth. And here is where I had the chance to experience both power and freedom in the same session. The SR22 is the most powerful aircraft I've flown to date, with a 310hp IO-550 six cylinder Continental engine. To date, my command experience has been on the smaller IO-360, 200hp. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Short final, Hamilton Island, me in command</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">With Kevin Korteum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I spent the next two days, in two sessions of two hours, flying circuits (in challenging coastal weather!) and learning about power management in higher performance aircraft. By the end of session two, I could barely walk from all the rudder inputs (oh for a yaw damper!) but had finally earned the right to change my name to Kreisha 'nails the centreline' Ballantyne. And while I'm not fully certified as Girl With a Side Stick just yet, I now have the confidence and the knowledge and experience to know it won't be too long. Both Andy and Kevin were incredibly laid back, and made me feel confident and capable, despite the unfamiliar surroundings and challenging winds. I cannot reiterate the value of spending the time with qualified mentors, something I lacked in my early flying experiences (but more than made up for in the later part of my journey: you know who you are, dear mentors of mine!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For me, flying has always been about freedom. From my very first flight, a TIF back in 2008, aviation has represented liberty to me. As someone who believes that travel begins when you pack your bags, the process of travel - flying - has always been my favourite part of the journey. When I became licenced to BE the pilot of that journey, I gained the absolute freedom: to combine travel and flying, my two passions, into one event. To fly to the Cirrus Life event (although not PIC, I was fortunate to be co-pilot to the fabulous Rob Fuller in his lovingly cared for and immaculate SR22) on Hamilton Island, and then spend the weekend amongst like-minded people, eating, drinking, learning and making new acquaintances, is about as good as it gets. Cirrus Life? Yes please!</span><br />
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<br />girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-40127258640288162152015-06-17T23:39:00.000-07:002015-06-17T23:39:00.976-07:00One week; three lovely birds!<span style="font-size: large;">My life has taken a very exciting turn: I have been offered and accepted a position at Cirrus Melbourne as Sales and Marketing Manager!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Suddenly, everything is Cirrus, and while the learning curve is huge, I have had the opportunity to learn on the job over the course of the last week. The first flight in an SR22 GTS to Wagga, detailed in the previous post, was the start of many more flights in many more Cirruses (I still like Cirri better as a plural).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For my second flight of the week, I was fortunate to be present for an 'acceptance' flight: a customer had purchased an aircraft from the factory and had it shipped to Blue Demon in Moorabbin for assembly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">After the test fight and signing of documents, the aircraft was released and Regional Director Graham Horne and I conducted the acceptance. This involved checking each item - the doors, the air con, the anti-ice, the EVS camera, etc - were all in tip top working order. This aircraft, an SR22T, was top spec, and very very exciting, not to mention luxurious, to fly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">After the acceptance flight to the training area, where a few minor issues were noted, we refuelled and prepared to return the aircraft to Air Gold Coast, with Graham dropping me off at Bankstown on the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As this aircraft is turbocharged, and fitted with oxygen, we climbed up to FL170 for the return leg. Check out our TAS at 17,000ft! The trip between Moorabbin and Bankstown took an incredible 2 hours and ten minutes!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The following weekend, I was back in Melbourne for Avia's Cirrus Life open day. The first perk of the job - other than the privilege of working for a progressive, forward thinking company with the best selling piston aircraft in the world - is travelling everywhere by Cirrus! I felt like a celebrity as I waiting at the Bankstown passenger terminal for Graham to arrive with Avia's new Australis - (so new it's still in N reg - N9ZN). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the passenger seat was Graham's son and co-pilot Benjamin, who as a fine young gentlemen, slipped into the back so I could take over as co-pilot. Once more, we had a lightening IFR trip to Moorabbin, at a little over two hours and fifteen minutes, with Benjamin in the back listening to his own iPod, whilst Graham and I shared tunes in the front.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">With the weather gods on our side, Avia GM Shannon Taylor - a professional chef - fired up the barbecue. No soggy old snags for Avia, though: Shannon prepared steak and salad for the Avia audience, who turned out to admire Avia's new Australis. AvPlan, Jacobson Flare and Wingmate presented seminars, while Avia CEO conducted tours of the facility including the state of the art six axis simulator. The day was an enormous success, as I experienced the fear and fun combo of giving my first on-the-ground demo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Like all good things, it was over all too soon. However, my fine fortitude continued for the remainder of the day, as Graham and Benjamin were returning the aircraft to Ballina, with myself as lucky passenger as far as Bankstown. It was passed last light when we arrived, and I experienced the glory of the SR22 by night, where the massive 12 inch screens are really seen to their advantage. Graham demonstrated a superb night landing, before refuelling and heading straight off for Ballina, leaving me on the ground in an absolute whirl.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Three Cirruses in one week! It doesn't get better than that!</span><br />
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-67051762289013090402015-06-08T01:30:00.000-07:002015-06-08T01:39:47.531-07:00A Cirrusly Good Day...<span style="font-size: large;">I am not known as a 'morning person' and there are very few things that can entice me out of bed at lark o'clock. In fact, there are three: the possibility of travel, the chance to fly an aircraft at dawn and a giant diamond at the end of the bed. Sunday offered two out of three, which is good enough for me to set my alarm for 05.00 on a Saturday night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Woken by the smooth tones of Mr Sinatra offering to fly me to the moon, it was still dark when Charles Gunter from Avia Aviation rolled up in his car and drove me to coffee. It was still dark when we pulled back the hangar doors to reveal a bevy of Cirruses (Cirrai? Cirrarum?) not yet glinting in the morning sun. Refuelled, preflighted and ready to go was the magnificent, the awe-inspiring beauty known as VH-XTS - an SR22 GTS Platinum. It was still dark when I opened her gull-wing doors and reclined onto her magnificent leather seats, and still dark when we taxied to the run up bay. Indeed, it was so early, the tower had yet to become operational and we received our departure clearance from Melbourne Centre.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">With Charles - Director of Avia Aviation and Cirrus Melbourne, and former airline pilot with over 14,000 hours - in command and AvPlan EFB open on my lap, we ran up and rolled for take-off, the only aircraft on the airfield. With power on the magnificent XTS emitted a sound halfway between a growl and a purr and within seconds we were airborne and turning, taking up the course for Tumut, our first stop of the day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I, having had the enormous good fortune of being invited on the first stop of Cirrus Melbourne's Australia Tour, was heading to Tumut for breakfast, and Wagga for lunch. The <a href="http://pages.cirrusaircraft.com/AustralasiaTour2015.html">Australia Tour </a> is set to showcase the latest in Cirrus technology, visiting flying schools and aero clubs to showcase the magnificent aircraft for which every pilot pines (even the ones who claim they don't can't help but feel awed after a demo flight in an SR22T).</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W7s3GgP3ubc/VXVPDAskHnI/AAAAAAAABEU/q58N9R8dcpo/s1600/2015-06-07%2B07.27.09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W7s3GgP3ubc/VXVPDAskHnI/AAAAAAAABEU/q58N9R8dcpo/s640/2015-06-07%2B07.27.09.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-93LFbxmiBAs/VXVPS9k7LnI/AAAAAAAABEc/_RrSRb4I5xU/s1600/Kree%2Bin%2BXTS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-93LFbxmiBAs/VXVPS9k7LnI/AAAAAAAABEc/_RrSRb4I5xU/s320/Kree%2Bin%2BXTS.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Our 228nm trip to Tumut was, according to <a href="http://www.avplan-efb.com/">AvPlan EFB,</a> going to take a speedy 81 minutes, as a cruise speed of 173kts. At top of climb, Charles requested direct to MUSOP, and with a ground speed of 184, the flight was a little over an 70 minutes. But my, what a seventy minutes! Flying above the clouds, in the silky morning air in an aircraft that purrs, that feels like a luxury car with wings, is as good as it can get; better perhaps than finding a vintage diamond, or discovering your tax bill is actually a rebate. It's up there with the most pleasant thrills in life. And, on an early morning in Melbourne, an aircraft with 'reverse cycle' air-conditioning just topped it off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We barely had time for Charles to show me the highlights of the Cirrus Perspective - oh the joy! The ease of flight planning, the wonderful traffic system, the terrain visible on the synthetic vision even when we're above cloud! Oh boy, I could gush for hours - before it was time to begin planning the approach.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ek06VFO8_mk/VXVPmIxPIRI/AAAAAAAABEk/75qOZ8IoRoY/s1600/IMG_0107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ek06VFO8_mk/VXVPmIxPIRI/AAAAAAAABEk/75qOZ8IoRoY/s640/IMG_0107.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As Tumut has no TAF, we were working on the forecast for Wagga, the METAR for which was claiming fog. Charles loaded the RNAV approach for Tumut, but as we neared, we heard two local gents on the radio, both of whom were ahead of us, and would serve as our canaries. John in a Mooney and Jim, in a Paradise, both landed without issue, despite some clumps of fog near, but not over, the runway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even throttled back, we orbited the field, for distance between us and the preceding aircraft, and we watched them both land from overhead before going in through a lovely hole just above the aerodrome (thank you, weather gods. It's been a while since you've been so kind!) The old adage that a great landing always follows a wonderful approach, we landed smoothly and in style at Tumut, just in time for breakfast.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Approach to Wagga</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This was my first visit to Tumut Aero Club, but it certainly won't be my last. The standard of the aero club brekkie is legendarily high, but the banquet at Tumut would give a Sydney cafe a run for its money. And what a fine bunch the club members were, too; some of whom I knew from AvPlan and others from my time at AOPA, as well as some new faces I'll not forget in a hurry!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles with XTS</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The interest in XTS was great, and Charles was lightning-quick in setting her up for the excited club members to have a look. It never fails to make me smile, seeing the reactions of grown men when they're sitting in a luxury aircraft! They really are like children at Christmas; a look I know I've worn many a time when having had the privilege of an amazing new aviation experience.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, John and Jim</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All to soon it was lunch time, and time for departure to Wagga. The ever-generous Charles invited two lucky club members to join us in XTS and I happily gave up the front seat to experience someone else's joy. Nick and Ryan tossed a coin, and fortune favoured Ryan - student pilot and club Facebook admin and future Cirrus owner! </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m61pQYdJfIg/VXVQfIwDvcI/AAAAAAAABFA/llA6MJpD3Pw/s1600/Ryan%2Bin%2BXTS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m61pQYdJfIg/VXVQfIwDvcI/AAAAAAAABFA/llA6MJpD3Pw/s320/Ryan%2Bin%2BXTS.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ryan, Cirrus Owner of the Future!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sitting in the rear (the seats recline!) I was reminded of the Cirrus Life event on Hamilton Island back in 2013 when Cirrus CEO Dale Klapmeier spoke of how the Cirrus interior was inspired: wives and partners. He knew if he could persuade wives and partners to join pilots in long journeys by light aircraft, he would have to design something that was both safe and comfortable. And did he ever succeed: the rear seats of the SR22T are as comfortable as those in a luxury SUV; the cabin is cavernous, with plenty of room in the footwells, and the seatbelts are like that of a car, unlike the usual neck garrotting affairs that are found in the rear of your average GA aircraft. Of course, there's nothing average about the ST22T.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Charles, keen to show Ryan the brilliance of the Cirrus Perspective, set up a practice ILS at Wagga and XTS flew the aircraft right down to the minima, with perfect precision. Our flight to Wagga took a mere 18 minutes, and as we taxied in, the crowds were already waiting for demos in XTS. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Leaving Charles to show prospective buyers the full range of features, I took the opportunity to experience something quite different - a ride in a Paradise. The Paradise, a two seat LSA manufactured in Brazil, is not an aircraft I'd encountered before. Having had breakfast with its owner, Jim, in Tumut, I was thrilled to be offered the chance to fly it. It was something very new for me - a high wing lighty with a CSU! It was so much fun to fly, and quite a different experience approaching at 55kts. My landing was a little bumpy, but Jim was super calm, used as he is to landing the Paradise in paddocks. I love regional NSW, and it was a pleasure to have a flight over the local area in an aircraft with such wonderful visibility.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1vUQXm5DZQc/VXVRP57244I/AAAAAAAABFU/a6K1-L38z1I/s1600/IMG_0114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1vUQXm5DZQc/VXVRP57244I/AAAAAAAABFU/a6K1-L38z1I/s640/IMG_0114.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Paradise</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Back on the ground I encountered a couple of gents who'd been participants of a recent AvPlan webinar, and who were keen for me to check their aircraft details, so I spend a happy half hour demonstrating the joys of AvPlan EFB, while Charles took club members on demo flights.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And, just like that, it was four pm and time for me to leave. I'd booked a Q-Link flight home (the Dash 8 being something of a come down to me, even in 2C right near the front, after the joys of the day) and had to depart, leaving behind the fabulous friendly folks of Wagga Aero Club to continue their Cirrus experience.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ckfNHT5BaOQ/VXVRBhm3-ZI/AAAAAAAABFM/xsjcnQQKK-E/s1600/2015-06-07%2B17.25.55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ckfNHT5BaOQ/VXVRBhm3-ZI/AAAAAAAABFM/xsjcnQQKK-E/s640/2015-06-07%2B17.25.55.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles' flight home<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I woke to the sounds of "Welcome to Sydney" having fallen into the most delicious doze. My Cirrus cap, which had fallen over my eyes, was thankfully a reminder that the day hadn't been a dream. May there be many more...</span><br />
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<br />girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-3083337806565489142015-03-15T20:03:00.002-07:002015-03-15T20:03:45.567-07:00I Glid, I Did<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Clunk! </span></i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s both the sound of the tug
rope leaving the glider and the sound of your brain realizing you’re up at
2000ft without an engine. In that moment, a powered pilot must own and
acknowledge that they’re going to have to land without the energy of an engine.
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">There are no second chances at landing a glider, a fact
all too blatant to Captain Bob Pearson, pilot of Air Canada flight 143, the
Boeing 767 that lost both engines due to fuel
starvation, and became the Gimli Glider <u>(www.damninteresting.com/the-gimli-glider/#continue</u>).
Captain Pearson’s near-perfect dead-stick
flying, and the skills he utilised in landing
the powerless jet serve as the definitive demonstration, for
every pilot, of the value of gliding experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">In an attempt to understand these skills first hand, I
was invited by glider pilot Leonie Furze to the Bathurst Soaring Club, based at
Piper’s Field, just to the north-west of Bathurst (</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://bathurstsoaring.org.au/default.asp"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">http://bathurstsoaring.org.au/default.asp</span></span></a></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">).
Myself a powered-pilot with around 600 hours, I asked Leonie how she expected
my glide experience to differ from a ‘normal’ powered flight. “The most
interesting thing about gliding,” Leonie explained, “is that every flight is
different. In order to succeed as a glider pilot, you have to harness so many
things: your understanding of the weather becomes critical; you become an
expert in energy management; you spend so much time looking outside, always assessing
the options for landing. You’re critically aware of your altitude, your
surroundings, your attitude relative to the horizon at all times. You won’t
believe the way it extends your skill set as a pilot.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I’m often asked
by powered pilots, ‘How long before I can solo a glider, as I already know how
to fly?’” commented instructor Nick Wills. “My standard (tongue in cheek) reply
is “slightly longer than if we picked a random person off the street!” As an
instructor in gliding and powered flight, Nick extolled the benefits of gliding
experience. “I cannot recommend it highly enough,” he said “The advantages are
enormous: a glider pilot must fly accurately and efficiently, being in balance
at all times, because energy management is critical. Adverse yaw in turns needs
precise coordination of stick and rudder - those pedals are not footrests! You
learn to gauge height and distance (glide angles) with instinctive accuracy at
all times during all phases of flight –you don’t have an engine dragging you
through the sky – so you are constantly looking for options to land safely. When
you do land, you have got one chance and one chance only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no going around! What do you call a
Cessna 172 when the engine quits?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Answer: a glider (although not a very good one!) In addition, the GFA
require full spin recovery checks for all pilots once per year (in my opinion,
this should be a requirement for any pilot who flies an aircraft capable of
spinning –which is most of them).”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graham Brown</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Keen to experience these benefits myself, I’m
introduced to my instructor for this session, Graham Brown - a glider pilot
with over 40 years experience - and my long-winged bird, a sleek looking ASK
21, </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">a </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-reinforced_plastic"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span lang="EN-US">glass-reinforced plastic</span></span></a></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
two-seater mid-wing glider with a </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-tail"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span lang="EN-US">T-tail</span></span></a></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Touchy
Feely – fly by senses, not just by instruments<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Aside from the enormous wings, which boast a glide
ratio of 36:1, the obvious difference between a glider and a powered aircraft
is in the cockpit instrumentation: there’s barely any in a glider. An ASI, AI,
compass and the glider’s unique instrument, the variometer, which used to
determine rising or sinking air, are the main instruments in the ASK 21. But,
as Graham is about to demonstrate, a competent and experienced glider pilot can
manage without any of them. “Gliding is very much about feeling the sensations
of flight,” he explains. “Your attitude, along with the thermals, will
determine your altitude. The sound of the wind will indicate your airspeed. You
will feel, in your seat, whether you are climbing and descending. And, at this
stage, you will know where you are in relation to the airfield, because we will
not go far, and you’ll be able to see it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s a very tactile experience, one that emphasises why the senses of
vision, hearing and balance are so important to a pilot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">As we hook up to the tug, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Graham reveals the airbrakes which increase drag,
reduce lift and are used to control the rate of decent during the approach to land.
The ideal approach is a “half brake approach”. They can also be used to descend
rapidly from altitude.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Graham’s safety briefing includes the tug release
control (“please don’t touch that one” he comments, sardonically) and the trim,
which sits alongside the stick. “No throttle!” I remark, pointlessly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">With the wind straight down the runway, we begin
rolling and Graham demonstrates how to stay out of the tug’s slipstream by
adopting a high or low position. At 2000ft, Graham asks me if I’m ready, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">clunk</i>, the tug banks to the left, we
bank to the right and we’re soaring. I suffer an initial moment of panic before
calm descends over me. Without an engine, the sounds are so different; you can
hear only the wind and it becomes immediately clear that you are soaring; that
you are experiencing flight’s most pure form. Graham shows me how to listen to
the wind to judge our airspeed, and by changing attitude, we change the sound
of the wind, first in the climb (quieter) and in the descent (when the wind
howls). In this, I’ve learnt how, in a case of instrument failure, a glider
pilot could be confident in landing the aircraft without the instrumentation on
which a powered pilot is so dependent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Fancy
Footwork – learning (again) the importance of rudder<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">It’s a wonderful day for gliding, with plenty of
cumulus clouds providing us our desired lift, and we experience no problem in
climbing to 6000ft. Graham hands the ASK 21 over to me, and instructs me to
turn, to climb, to descend and to have a ‘good feel’ of the controls. “One of
the benefits of a glider is that it allows us to demonstrate adverse yaw,”
explains Graham. “This is turn shows the importance of using the rudder in
keeping the aircraft in balance,” he says, giving the right rudder a huge boot
to demonstrate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">These rudder skills are also vital in a non powered
landing; without an engine to provide power close to the ground, and with a
go-around a non-option, a glider pilot’s landing requires a great deal of
rudder skill. I think back to the times I’ve relied only on power to rescue me
from an ugly approach, and shudder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Seeing
is Believing – improve your situational awareness<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">The cockpit FLARM starts beeping, and I immediately
look out for traffic, spying another glider heading our way. “It’s common for
glider pilots to all head for the same cloud, invariably the best cloud,”
Graham explains. “This is why situational awareness is paramount in glider operations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sighting and avoiding traffic is a critical
skill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t assume other aircraft
are also FLARM equipped.” Another hazard is birds, particularly eagles, who
often confuse gliders for other birds. However, because there are so few
cockpit instruments to monitor, it’s very natural to spend most of the time looking
out, scanning for traffic and searching for clouds, like a surfer seeks waves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Watch
the Birdies – learn more about the weather<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Curious to learn more, I ask Graham for clues. “ The
birds give us a lot of information,” he tells me. “</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Have
you ever seen a flock of pelicans circling high in the sky or a seagull
hovering motionless over a headland? The pelicans are flying in a column of
rising air (a thermal) and the seagull is flying in the rising air deflected
upwards by the cliff face. In both cases the birds are in an air mass that is
rising faster than they are descending through it. Gliders exploit exactly the
same natural phenomenon.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">While knowledge of the weather is vital to all pilots,
it’s paramount to gliders, particularly those participating in a cross-country.
“On poor soaring days you will be restricted to within glide range of the
airfield,” Graham says. “However on good days, once you are competent, you can
attempt recognised flights of 50, 300, 500 or 1,000km. The straight glide
performance of gliders varies immensely. A typical club glider will easily
glide 10km for each 1,000 feet without encountering any rising air. You soon
learn to spot the banks of cloud that facilitate long range gliding.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Be
Aware, Be Spatially Aware – and improve your judgment of height and distance<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Typically gliders fly at around 70 - 100 knots between
thermals. When circling in lift, the speed may be as little as 40 knots;
gliding is all about energy management and this is best demonstrated in the
approach and landing. While the wind whistles about us, we commence our descent
to the field, and Graham demonstrates the importance of our height and distance
from the strip as we fly a circuit. He deliberately overshoots on final to slip
off a little height, but just as I remark that we seem terribly high, he deploys
the air brakes. We sink like a stone. We aim for the latter part of the strip, to
avoid turbulence from the hill. What happens if we undershoot? “We don’t,”
answers Graham, with a laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">No
Second Chances – learn advanced energy management<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Short final in a glider is much like any other – we
are certain to land on the nominated point. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, what becomes clear to me (other than
the clear absence of engine power), is that landing a glider is like landing a
tail-dragger. Turns out all gliders are tail-draggers, which I discover when I
ask what prevents us from taking off again, given our weight and the into-wind
position we’re in. “We stall the aircraft onto the runway,” explains Graham.
It’s another example of energy management: “we will run out of lift, and then
bring the stick back to pin the tail down. Eventually, we’ll use up all the
energy.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And indeed we do, and I soon realise there’s no energy
left to get us back to the hangar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Smells
like Team Spirit – join a culture of safety<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As we wait for the pick up car, Graham details the fundamental
importance of teamwork in gliding. “It’s not a solo sport; it takes a team to
glide. Someone has to fly the tug, there’s someone at the wing to aid with the
take-off, another person to collect you from the field. It’s a club sport, and
with that comes a club spirit. We’re extremely sociable here; we have a
clubhouse, and a series of caravans in which people come and spend the weekend.
A lot of our pilots live in Sydney and spend the weekends up here. A benefit of
the sociability of gliding is that it promotes airmanship and safety. We constantly
discuss our experiences, and the old mentor the new. We encourage each other to
share tips and tricks, and that breeds a culture of safety and respect.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Upon arrival back at the club I’m introduced to club
CFI Bob Hall, who is very keen to hear about my experience. I discover that
gliding in Australia has one the best safety records in the world. Before long,
Leonie and Nick are joining in and we’re discussing the many merits of gliding
and the way in which it stretches your skills. As they kindly invite me to join
the club, and to participate in their next social event, I can’t help but
wonder if gliding not only makes you a better pilot, but whether it makes you a
happier, more sociable person as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Huge
thanks to Leonie Furze, Nick Wills, Bob Hall and Graham Brown<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">For
more information on gliding please visit </span></i><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.glidingaustralia.org/">http://www.glidingaustralia.org</a></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This article was first published in Flight Safety Australia 103 - March - April 2015</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b></div>
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-9636046046290592422015-03-09T15:41:00.001-07:002015-03-09T15:41:37.576-07:00Passing the Stick...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Hot the on the heels of a week at Avalon, I barely had time to recover from the av-frenzy before it was my turn to tote the baton. My friend Andrew, owner of Banktown's finest C182, had offered to lend me his aircraft in honour of the relay and arrived at Essendon on the Sunday to hand over the controls (and the cushion!) </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kIGxu5TjEuw/VP4c2xf4ByI/AAAAAAAAA_k/BnRHJRshgus/s1600/IMG_1589.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kIGxu5TjEuw/VP4c2xf4ByI/AAAAAAAAA_k/BnRHJRshgus/s1600/IMG_1589.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Landing at Mallacoota</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Having caught up with baton-wielder Peta Denham Harvey at Avalon, I knew the suspected the arrival at Mallacoota might be a little later than the projected 13.00, on account of the first leg being flown by four ladies, each stopping at a different port to hand over the marvellously hand-crafted wooden baton, and iPad provided by AvPlan.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pxnIkf46vOM/VP4dJYipGyI/AAAAAAAAA_0/uji32biGIPk/s1600/IMG_1604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pxnIkf46vOM/VP4dJYipGyI/AAAAAAAAA_0/uji32biGIPk/s1600/IMG_1604.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">The Vic girls arrive with the baton</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Having landed at Mallacoota at lunchtime, just as the wind swung round to the gravel runway - 07 - I took the time to relax and enjoy a tour of the town, courtesy of local couple Peter and Wendy (who provided home made muffins). The Vic girls touched down at 16.30, shortly after the arrival of two Falcos from Merrimbula, piloted by Neil Bourke and Ian Newman. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QTE4-_oqk-Q/VP4d5y4el9I/AAAAAAAABAI/Wd7RHCG-d_M/s1600/Kristen%2Bhands%2Bthe%2Bbaton%2Bto%2BKreisha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QTE4-_oqk-Q/VP4d5y4el9I/AAAAAAAABAI/Wd7RHCG-d_M/s1600/Kristen%2Bhands%2Bthe%2Bbaton%2Bto%2BKreisha.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Kristin hands me the baton<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZLjO1UdpZFw/VP4eyRKalFI/AAAAAAAABAU/jMmsoGudQ2A/s1600/the%2Bvic%2Bgals%2Bhand%2Bover%2Bthe%2BAvPlan%2BiPad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZLjO1UdpZFw/VP4eyRKalFI/AAAAAAAABAU/jMmsoGudQ2A/s1600/the%2Bvic%2Bgals%2Bhand%2Bover%2Bthe%2BAvPlan%2BiPad.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Handing over the AvPlan iPad</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">After a whirlwind of photos, it was a race against the light to get to Merimbula, hand over the baton to Belinda Baulch on behalf of Jan Goodhew. After another round of media, and a wonderful welcoming committee (special thanks, as ever, to the Frogs Hollow Fliers for their generous donation) we took of and pointed the nose towards Bankstown. Weirdly, Nowra was still active, and even with a direct to Ulladulla, the elements won when I ran out of light near Wollongong. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kU4QvgiCnvA/VP4gIDBrYXI/AAAAAAAABAk/yqcDpKO4Eu8/s1600/Kreisha%2Bhands%2Bthe%2Bbaton%2Bto%2BBelinda%2Bin%2BYMER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kU4QvgiCnvA/VP4gIDBrYXI/AAAAAAAABAk/yqcDpKO4Eu8/s1600/Kreisha%2Bhands%2Bthe%2Bbaton%2Bto%2BBelinda%2Bin%2BYMER.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Handing the baton to Belinda in Merimbula</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">A VFR pilot without a current night rating is always prepared (a dollar for every time I've been caught short at YWOL due to wx!) and it was a no brainer to tie down the 182 and hop in a cab for a direct to Wollongong's Novotel. As I touched down on the blissful hotel bed, I was reminded that the finest bonus of flying a 182 is that I always have a spare pillow - feather at that - should I ever get stranded in a regional hotel.</span></div>
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-56880888128604377312015-03-03T15:10:00.003-08:002015-03-03T15:10:46.819-08:00Avalon International Airshow, 2015 - Voice-Breakingly Good!<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span>As the unofficial holder of the ‘talks
under water’ award, it takes a lot to break my voice. I do demos for a living
and my favourite pastime, aside from flying, is talking. I prefer controlled
airspace to class G, largely because it gives me a greater chance to talk. So
when I lost my voice on the last trade day of the Avalon Airshow, it was a
certain sign of how busy the show had been for Team AvPlan.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXiai-xNsNU/VPY-f8xpoyI/AAAAAAAAA9w/oD6cKQaO5yA/s1600/10173653_830006490395214_9192384148673484761_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXiai-xNsNU/VPY-f8xpoyI/AAAAAAAAA9w/oD6cKQaO5yA/s1600/10173653_830006490395214_9192384148673484761_n.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The AvPlan Crew gets ready for Day One</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-US">Avalon 2015 was the most successful airshow
yet for AvPlan EFB.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the Tuesday, it
was announced that we had won the Civil Industry National Innovation Award
2015. Bevan attended the ceremony, where the award (a glass boomerang) was presented
by Air Marshal Les Fisher.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FalEKxvXAkg/VPY-0l55WGI/AAAAAAAAA94/yd2Wn6UbubU/s1600/Bevan%2BAnderson%2Baccepts%2Baward%2Bfrom%2BChairman%2Bof%2BAerospace%2BAustralia%2BLimited.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FalEKxvXAkg/VPY-0l55WGI/AAAAAAAAA94/yd2Wn6UbubU/s1600/Bevan%2BAnderson%2Baccepts%2Baward%2Bfrom%2BChairman%2Bof%2BAerospace%2BAustralia%2BLimited.jpeg" height="640" width="550" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bevan receives the award. Photo John Harris.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-US">The AvPlan stand, in hall 2, began buzzing
on Tuesday morning and didn’t stop. With the impending launch of version 5.0,
pilots were lining up to see our new features, to offer feedback and (mostly)
praise about AvPlan and to share their experiences of using the app. We had
visitors from all over the country, including jet pilots; a ballonatic; a state
senator who never flies without AvPlan; a Powerball winner ($20m! Can you
imagine? He was visiting Avalon with ten mil to spend and popped by to say how
much he loved AvPlan); and a myriad of pilots from the Army, Navy and RAAF. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UowIuohwqs/VPY_FwSby8I/AAAAAAAAA-A/PxfhjLs4-xs/s1600/11021123_10153157147975522_8359166585454016909_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UowIuohwqs/VPY_FwSby8I/AAAAAAAAA-A/PxfhjLs4-xs/s1600/11021123_10153157147975522_8359166585454016909_n.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rochelle and Bevan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All five of us – six on Friday when
Rochelle popped in to help out – were flatchat the whole show. Popular
questions were around our upcoming iOS release, V5.0; our impending Android update,
and the ever present ‘what’s the difference between you and the other EFBs’
(which is one of my personal favourites, as I love nothing more than
demonstrating AvPlan’s Mega VFR maps, amazing weather radar overlay, velocity
world weather and active airspace options – to name but a few).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Wednesday, I handed over the AvPlan iPad to Peta Denham Harvey, who is the first pilot in the Women Pilots' Relay <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WomenPilotsRelay?ref=hl">https://www.facebook.com/WomenPilotsRelay?ref=hl</a> from Avalon to Launceston, counterclockwise. The relay has already raised over $7000 for cancer research, and AvPlan is proud to be a supporter.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaZAjSW1QzU/VPY_Q9MTpHI/AAAAAAAAA-I/nA_4vLwq0eY/s1600/11033156_831326436929886_6444091699490814686_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaZAjSW1QzU/VPY_Q9MTpHI/AAAAAAAAA-I/nA_4vLwq0eY/s1600/11033156_831326436929886_6444091699490814686_n.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Handing over the iPad to Peta Denham-Harvey</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">After having met what seemed like every
single one of our users – and lots of new users, too – I left on Friday, while
the rest of the crew continued through til Sunday, enjoying the airshow and
questions from the general public.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">On behalf of the AvPlan team, I’d like to
thank everyone who came by to offer their feedback, support and their
congratulations on our winning of the award. 2015 is shaping up to be the best
year yet for AvSoft Inc, and I’m delighted to be a part of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-42641237775617218012015-02-10T16:21:00.000-08:002015-02-10T16:21:07.100-08:00Girl with a Relay Stick<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I don’t think I know one person who hasn’t
been touched by cancer. My aunt died of breast cancer at the age of 39; my
husband’s mother died of cancer when he was seven, and my father in law has
recently battled (and won) a nasty attack of bowel cancer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">One in ten women – including my self and my
lovely sister in law – know what it’s like to have an irregular pap smear
result; and I’ve been having breast cancer screening since I was 29.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Whether we like it or not, cancer is part
of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">With that in mind, it’s with huge pleasure
that I take part in the Women Pilots’ Relay of Flight to raise funds for the
Cancer Council. As a private pilot with around 600 hours, I’ll find any reason
I can to fly, and there can be no better reason than flying to raise awareness
about something that is such a huge presence in all of our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I’m excited to be carrying the baton from
Mallacoota to Merimbula on my way home to Sydney from the Avalon Air Show. As a
member of the Australian Women Pilots’ Association, I’m proud to be part of a
team of women, from all walks the aviation sector – from balloons to 737s – who
are so committed to raising public awareness in a way that’s fun and
adventurous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Additionally, as a member of the AvPlan EFB
team – who are supplying an iPad with a full version of AvPlan EFB for the
duration of the relay – I’m thrilled to be contributing in a practical way that
ensures improved situational awareness for the team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I’d like to thank my dear friend Andrew
Andersen, for permitting me to fly his lovely C182 – VH-OPA – for this leg of
the trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you’d like to sponsor me as part of the
Relay Team, please click here</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://nsw.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/personalPage.aspx?RegistrationID=858110">http://nsw.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/personalPage.aspx?RegistrationID=858110</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Onwards and Upwards!</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-53678366307986824382015-02-08T19:34:00.004-08:002015-02-08T19:39:32.698-08:00Women Pilots Relay - an Amazing Way to Raise Awareness and Funds for Cancer Research<br />
I'm very excited about getting involved in this, and will be at the AWPA event in Launceston to see the baton arrive. AvPlan EFB has kindly donated an iPad loaded with a full IFR/Georeference version of AvPlan, which will join the ladies on the trip around Australia.<br />
<br />
If you're interested in the trip, and the amazing diversity of aircraft flown by some of Australia's most kick arse aviatrices, do check out the blog at <span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">http://womenpilotsrelay.blogspot.com.au</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Most of us have been touched by cancer at some point during our lives. Some have had their own personal battles
and many of us have lost loved ones to the disease.</span><br />
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">Cancer Councils are the leading independent funders of cancer research in Australia. In 2014, research grants
through Cancer Councils totalled more than $65 million. Cancer Councils directly funded $42.9 million in research,
with a further $22.2 million contributed by research funding partners.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">A group of female pilots, mostly from the Australian Women Pilots</span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">’ </span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">Association (AWPA) members, wanted to help
make a difference and why not do it by sharing our love of flying?
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">The concept is pretty simple;
</span><br />
<ul>
<li style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Starting from the Avalon Airshow on the 2</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: 5pt;">nd </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">March 2015 and finishing at the Australian Women Pilots</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">’
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Association National Conference in Launceston Tasmania, women pilots from all areas of Australia have been
recruited to fly a relay baton in their aircraft around Australia to raise money for The Cancer Council.
</span><br />
</li>
<li style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Each participating team will plan their flight somewhere along a proposed route anti clockwise around
Australia and will pass a commemorative baton from each flight crew to the next along the route and then
handed to the next state at the designated exchange point. Aircraft will range from smaller powered
aircraft, gliders, balloons, twin engines, helicopters, Navy and Air Force aircraft, through to the big airliners.
</span><br />
</li>
<li style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">The relay details and photographs will be recorded by each team and uploaded to the web site and
Facebook page so that others can watch our progress around Australia.
</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt;">http://womenpilotsrelay.blogspot.com.au
</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.facebook.com/WomenPilotsRelay
</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">• </span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">The Cancer Council have a link on their website for people to donate to the cause as we fly around Australia
to raise awareness. So far we have reached 10% of our target!
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 100.000000%); font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">http://nsw.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/teamPage.aspx?TeamID=85203
</span><br />
<span style="color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 100.000000%); font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">‘</span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">We believe that we can really make a difference and share our passion for aviation along the way. This will be a fun
filled activity that will span our country, create history and support a charity that is advancing towards a cure for
cancer.</span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;">’
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 11.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 8pt;">Email: </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 8pt;">womenpilotsrelay@gmail.com www.womenpilotsrelayblogspot.com.au www.facebook.com/WomenPilotsRelay</span></div>
</div>
<img alt="page1image21192" height="0.719970" src="file:///page1image21192" width="188.210000" />
<img alt="page1image21352" height="0.719970" src="file:///page1image21352" width="212.930000" />
<img alt="page1image21512" height="0.720030" src="file:///page1image21512" width="338.830000" />
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-29327984254812651182015-02-05T16:32:00.001-08:002015-02-05T22:46:24.179-08:00Genuine Southern Hospitality from the FroggiesSome aero clubs are just special.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, the right blend of adventure, hospitality and fun come together to make a truly fabulous club. It doesn't matter what kind of aircraft are flown or whether the strip is grass or gravel - every now and then I come across a little piece of aero-heaven in the guise of a well loved aero club.<br />
<br />
Just nine or so miles north of Merimbula, on the stunning Sapphire Coasts, between the highway and the go-kart track, lies the splendid grass strip and club house that is home to the Frogs Hollow Fliers <a href="http://www.frogshollowflyers.com.au/">http://www.frogshollowflyers.com.au</a><br />
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<br />
It's one of those clubs that has a perfect 'ma and pa' feel about it; a brass kettle on the stove, a giant barbecue outside ready for a zillion sausages (but not just sausages, there are meat patties too! And real tomatoes!) and a wonderful array of aircraft on the flight line: an AirCrusier, a Grumman Tiger, an Sportstar, a series of C182s (including our C182 OPA, my new challenge, owned by my dear friend Andrew who's game enough to let me fly it with him!) and of course, Drew and Neil's fabulous Falco.<br />
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<br />
The crew from Curtis Aviation flew down in a caravan of C182s and a Warrior. The Curtis flyaways are such an amazing experience for pilots, low hour and otherwise, to work in a team, fly in a crew, to learn from others and share experiences. I had the amazing fortune to participate in two of their air safaris when I was a student, and they changed the way I fly - in my approach to trip planning, dual pilot ops and in harnessing the organisational skills required to plan and enjoy long trips. And, back in the day, flight planning with paper, pencil and whizz wheel - before the days of my favourite tool - AvPlan.<br />
<br />
And speaking of AvPlan, I was invited by the Frog's Hollow Fliers to present an AvPlan demo at the club. Now, I don't want to pick favourites, but I just want to say that this was the most engaged, attentive and friendly audience I've had in all my demos (and this was my fourteenth demo!)<br />
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<br />
So much has been written about the decline of the aero club, and I agree with nearly all of it. There is nothing finer than a day out with a group of like minded individuals that may very well share very different views on life (politically, socially, etc - certainly in my case!) but are united by their love of aviation. I love the way aviation allows me to meet people I'd never meet in other walks of life (my friends are artists, musicians and writers); allows conversations of the sort I would never have in everyday life (most of my friends wouldn't recognise a magneto if it painted itself purple and danced naked across the table) and introduces me to a world I would have never otherwise known.<br />
<br />
And nowhere have I had a welcome as warm and as generous as that I received last weekend at Frogs.<br />
<br />
Now, I'm going to get back to googling 'holiday properties in Merimbula' and 'how to make more money without selling your kidney'...<br />
<br />
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<br />girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-24307660938182408862014-12-20T14:04:00.000-08:002014-12-20T14:04:07.712-08:00Allowed in Cloud, Part TwoI am officially dangerous.<br />
<br />
Yes, that's right; me - a forty-something female with a penchant for heels - dangerous. And I don't mean 'dangerous if armed with a credit card in a boutique' either, although that may, indeed, be the case.<br />
<br />
Nope. Stats gathered and published by both CASA and the ATSB ascertain that a pilot with between 500 and 1000 hours is at a greater risk of accident. It's known as the 'complacency' phase, and on my recent flight to Temora, I have to admit, I saw signs of it in myself.<br />
<br />
Once the butterflies in the stomach stage of flying has passed, and a pilot knows they can handle the aircraft, navigate pretty much anywhere (thanks, AvPlan!) and communicate with ATC and other pilots, it's inevitable that one becomes a little more relaxed. The high tension, double check list, self doubting phase is over (although for me, it seems to come back if I don't fly regularly).<br />
<br />
What I noticed, in fact what my friend (a much more experienced pilot than I) pointed out, is that I've become just a little bit lazy with the systems: failing to align the compass with the DI, forgetting to turn off the fuel boost pump; nothing dangerous, but there really isn't a place for slackness in the cockpit.<br />
<br />
Someone wise once told me: whenever you reach a stage of comfort in aviation, it's a sure sign that it's time to take on a new challenge. Learning to fly isn't over with the arrival of your pilot's licence. So, with that in mind, I've commenced the next step (again! I've tried this once, and became way laid by work). So, here it is - take two - the instrument rating.<br />
<br />
This time, I've decided a private rating (rather than commercial) is enough for my needs. The plan is to plough through the study, pass the exam and then commence the flight training. A whole new language is required (Advanced Acronym, I believe it's called) with LSALTs and Sector Entries and SIDs and STARs all part of the new lexicon.<br />
<br />
As a sweetener, my friend Andrew - an IFR pilot and owner of a C182 - took me for a buzz down to Moruya yesterday. It's agreed among IFR students that mastering the radio calls is one of the big first challenges in studying for the rating, and so Andrew kindly handed the radio over to me. Clearances and reports are so much more detailed than VFR, but with my AvPlan notepad at the ready, I managed to catch the whole clearance, and read it back without any mistakes. The only call I bungled was a short one, typically.<br />
<br />
As Andrew is running in a new engine, we whizzed down to Merimbula (through the cloud) before heading north to conduct a practice approach using the Moruya RNAV.<br />
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After completing the approach, which we discussed at length before nearing Moruya and Andrew asked me a stack of questions about the plate (and I learned that a METAR QNH doesn't count as an actual QNH), my head was bursting. AND we flew the approach coupled with the autopilot! I can't imagine trying anything quite so tricky, demanding such precision, without an autopilot, and in crappy weather, with a drop pilot throwing out canopies every 30 mins. Apparently, your brain expands to take on the extra work - or so I hope.<br />
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<br />
After a lovely picnic on the beach, I flew home - VFR - in the delightful comfort that is a C182 with a brand new engine. However, nothing is free, and the trade off for the wonderfully smooth cruise and rocket speed that belongs to the 182 is the fact you have to land the beasty. I've never found 182s easy - they're so nose heavy, and I'm so puny - and I know the trick is in trim trim trim, but I always struggle. Having given me the most perfect flying conditions up the coast, the Imp of the Perverse decided that landing a 182 without a crosswind would be cheating, so threw me in around 7 knots or so, just for a laugh. While I will win no awards for graceful landings in a 182, the landing was fine, if not a little heavy.<br />
<br />
To celebrate a successful flight (an important ritual in aviation, which must always be observed) we stopped at the pub on the way home, where I demonstrated my 'dangerous' streak once more by ordering a rare steak, a bottle of wine AND a dessert.<br />
<br />girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-4774826402068662232014-12-10T21:43:00.000-08:002014-12-11T05:49:35.482-08:00Rocket WomanBefore I launch into a new blog, I feel I owe an explanation for the absence from this space over almost the whole of 2014.<br />
<br />
Amongst the new speak of the Millennials is a loathsome expression, which for me is up there with lifestyle, synergy and chillax: work/life balance. Until recently, that expression has inspired in me the same kind of rage-against-smugness usually reserved for thick shakes containing grass of any sort, people who boast about their property portfolios and pilots who own aircraft and never fly them. This year, however, I've had my own personal demonstration of the importance of a work/life balance and now, suddenly, I can see why people at least strive for one.<br />
<br />
Balance: it's not just for rudder pedals.<br />
<br />
After five years as a columnist - and two years as editor- of Australian Pilot, I've moved on to new skies. As of March of this year, I've been globetrotting in my new role of Customer Engagement Manager for AvPlan EFB - visiting Sun n Fun and Oshkosh to promote AvPlan in the USA, as well as travelling around New Zealand on an AvPlan demo tour.<br />
<br />
I'm also freelancing, having taken on the SAAA's Airsport magazine, and a contract with CASA's Flight Safety Australia.<br />
<br />
And now, the balance ball feels, once again, in the centre.<br />
<br />
It's in the capacity of Airsport Editor that I took on the following assignment:<br />
<br />
It may not take you out of this world, but it sure can rock it<br />
<br />
“If offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask which seat. Just get on.”<br />
<br />
Christa McAuliffe, astronaut and first high school teacher in space<br />
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F1 Rocket, ready for take off<br />
<br />
I had mixed reactions when I told people I was going to fly in a rocket over the weekend. My arty, non aviation friends assumed it was another crazy stunt - up there with wing walking, formation flying and flying solo across the country in heels and lipstick – and soon lost interest. My pilot pals, however, responded with the all-important question: F1 or Harmon?<br />
<br />
The answer is: F1. In fact, the full answer is: two F1s.<br />
<br />
Although the two have known to be confused, the Harmon is Vans’ high performance derivative of the RV-4, while the F1 is the product of Team Rocket of Texas, USA. The F1 Rocket is a stand-alone, quickbuild kit and does not require the builder to purchase anything from other aircraft manufacturers to complete the assembly.<br />
<br />
Designed in the Czech Republic, the F1 Rocket is a tandem two-seat low wing, constructed largely of aluminium. A fixed gear tail-dragger, the F1 features an enormous rear-sliding canopy, and deep bucket seating and is fully aerobatic. Designed for construction with a range of nose-mounted engines between 235 and 350hp, the prototype has a Lycoming IO-540 with a three-bladed propeller.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q_99N-QVCNE/VIkqcox6MPI/AAAAAAAAA5E/Uf7U5DniN8Q/s1600/_DSC4060.jpg"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q_99N-QVCNE/VIkqcox6MPI/AAAAAAAAA5E/Uf7U5DniN8Q/s1600/_DSC4060.jpg" width="640" /></a> <br />
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Rocket Cruise<br />
<br />
Nick Wills is part of a syndicate that has built - and now owns - two Team Rocket F1s. The aircraft are hangared at Temora, NSW, and Nick invited me along to admire, fly and experience their sheer magnificence. I flew to Temora on a glorious afternoon, in time for an evening flight in VH-NBW.<br />
<br />
VH-XFI and VH-NBW are subtly different: XFI is the most glorious, with its three-blade variable pitch prop, traditional clocks and sleek black exterior. NBW boasts a mix of digital and analogue instruments, a two blade prop and uber-modern silver skin.<br />
<br />
Nick and his syndicate partner, Rohan Hall, had previously owned an RV4. After much discussion, they decided they wanted something a little faster and more comfortable for the rear-seater. Rohan’s son Matt had flown an F1 Rocket in the USA and described the experience as ‘the most fun he’d ever had in a single engine piston, with the exception of a P51 Mustang.’<br />
<br />
Six years in the build from start to finish, Nick was involved in every stage.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3GitFYNSvso/VIkrQ6hhzaI/AAAAAAAAA5M/sCgvgTbTPJ0/s1600/_DSC4279.jpg"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3GitFYNSvso/VIkrQ6hhzaI/AAAAAAAAA5M/sCgvgTbTPJ0/s1600/_DSC4279.jpg" width="640" /></a> <br />
<br />
Dual Rockets<br />
<br />
As there are a mere nine F1 Rockets flying in Australia today, the privilege of being invited to fly in two was not lost on me. After a detailed briefing, Nick introduced me to our photo-ship pilot, Kenny Love and his immaculate 1973 (??) Piper Lance. Our photographer, Qantas 747 Captain Rod Andrewartha, came armed with a giant lens and a harness, ready to strap into the Lance for the first of our two formation shoots.<br />
<br />
After allowing the Lance to take off and climb, we ran up and were ready on the runway, with Nick eager to demonstrate one of the F1’s finest features: its climb performance. With a max take off weight 907kg – BEW is 544kg – and 260hp on the nose it’s no word of a lie that I held onto my hat as we climbed out at 3500fpm! With a cruise speed of 200kts, we caught up with the Lance in no time, and with the township of Temora as a backdrop, we flew a series of rolls and turns for the photographer, while I marveled at the machine’s grace.<br />
<br />
Unexpectedly, the F1 is very polite in level flight – not nearly as twitchy as its looks imply, with its behaviour in steep turns and loops far less aggressive than I was anticipating. After an hour, as the sun was starting to set, we headed back to the airport, where the pressure was on Nick to show me the perfect ‘greaser’ landing. With 352 hours in F1 Rockets, Nick didn’t even break a sweat as he executed a perfect ‘wheeler’ on 36, with a slight crosswind at that.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oHS4qhjR1wM/VIksN3CN3dI/AAAAAAAAA5c/S4ZNPOMSD3M/s1600/_DSC4677.jpg"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oHS4qhjR1wM/VIksN3CN3dI/AAAAAAAAA5c/S4ZNPOMSD3M/s1600/_DSC4677.jpg" width="640" /></a> <br />
<br />
Rocket Team<br />
<br />
The next morning, we were joined by former F18 pilot Alan Clements for a formation shoot involving both aircraft and the Lance. This time in the rear of XFI, I was briefed and shot once more into the sky for an hour of close formation, in the hands of the most experienced Rocket pilots in the country. After a little hands-on time, Alan took back the controls and demonstrated a series of loops (one after the other!) in attempt to provide the perfect cover shot. “Again!” came the command from the photo-ship, and I swear we turned seven or eight before we were told to stop. And reader, I didn’t even blanch, so elegantly flown were the maneouvers.<br />
<br />
Back on the ground, and high on adrenaline, I asked Nick about his passion for the F1. What is it, I wanted to know, that makes this machine so seriously superior? “It has everything,” he declared. “It’s fast, agile, aerobatic, has six cylinders, makes a six cylinder noise, and it looks great. It has been described, by several F18 drivers, as the closest thing to a piston engine fighter that is not military in origin. It’s truly superb!”<br />
<br />
As I prepare for the impending disappointment of my return in a Piper Archer, I ask Nick one final question: to what would you compare the F1 Rocket? He laughs and says, “There is nothing that compares to an F1 Rocket - except another F1 Rocket!”<br />
<br />
Photos by Rod Andrewartha<br />
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Just five nautical miles due west of Port Macquarie, lies an 800m private grass
strip. The owners of this well-tended strip – Clyde and Sue Stubbs – have built
a home any aviator would envy: an architect-designed modern house with a
four-place hangar and wonderful district views. So tranquil is their spot - a
mere 30 minutes from the town of Port Macquarie - they recently made the
decision to share their paradise with the rest of the aviation community. In
the style of their house, they built The Hideout, a modern, fully equipped two
bedroom self-contained cottage, constructed to showcase its rural setting,
with a fabulous wide deck and access to the 15m solar heated saltwater pool and
three person hot tub. To make catering easy, the Stubbs’ will provide breakfast
and dinner food hampers, if ordered in advance. The tastefully decorated
cottage is wonderfully appointed for families or small groups, offering a
second bedroom with a flexible configuration to suit families. Small dogs and
children are welcome and Clyde and Sue are warm and hospitable hosts, with a
passion for aviation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ny5V_mSfnsI/Uu9Bcw6Xd_I/AAAAAAAAAdc/wOJZ7VwwAnA/s1600/P1011577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ny5V_mSfnsI/Uu9Bcw6Xd_I/AAAAAAAAAdc/wOJZ7VwwAnA/s1600/P1011577.JPG" height="358" width="640" /></a><span lang="EN-US">The southern edge of the property borders a
branch of the Hastings River and provides a perfect spot for fishing from the
bank or simply enjoying the serenity of the river. Nearby Wauchope is
surrounded by blackbutt forest and is best known for the nearby Timbertown
theme park. The town has a good range of shops, cafes and banks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 15pt;">Both pilots, Clyde flies a Cirrus SR22T and
Sue is the proud owner of a Cessna 150B. “We love hosting pilots,” says Sue.
“There are no extra charges for fly-in visitors. We also understand that bad
weather can throw schedules out when flying, so we will accommodate changes in
plans as much as possible.” Hangarage is available for guests’ aircraft during
their stay.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Port Macquarie, situated at the mouth of
the Hastings River, has possibly the most favourable climate in NSW.
There are wonderful beaches and for water sports enthusiasts there is jet
boating, parasailing, deep sea fishing, scuba diving and beach and estuary
fishing. Enjoy whale-watching cruises in season and a wide variety of
river cruises, or simply stand on the beach and watch the dolphins at
play. There are a number of vineyards and a great boutique brewery.
The area is a haven for koalas and they can be seen at the various
wildlife parks or at the koala hospital in town. Port Macquarie boasts a
wide range of restaurants, bars and cafes to suit every taste. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">“If you’d like to visit some of the local
attractions we can also make available a vehicle for your use – you will not be
stuck without transport,” says Sue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">“All landings on our strip require prior
permission, and you must read the airfield information sheet
(http://www.dexfieldpark.com). Occasionally, the strip is unserviceable after
heavy rain, but Port Macquarie airport is only 5nm away, so there is a good alternate.
Fuel is available at Port Macquarie airport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-75979431055222832582013-12-16T15:34:00.001-08:002014-02-04T13:40:29.021-08:00Hangar House<div class="MsoNormal">
During Ausfly, a gentleman by the name of Bradley approached me at the AOPA stand and declared I must visit his new bed and breakfast, Hangar House, in Mudgee. He left me a card, said, “you’ll love it” and went on his way.</div>
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A week later, I received an email saying, “Are you coming to visit?” </div>
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I was, of course, intrigued. With weather too blustery for me to fly, I engaged a more experienced pilot - my friend Andrew, with his trusty C182S - and embarked on the 50 minute flight from Bankstown to Mudgee.</div>
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Upon landing on runway 22, I spied a fabulous looking building, which I quickly deduced must be the bed and breakfast. It turns out Hangar House is as minimalist and intriguing as Bradley himself. </div>
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After collecting us in a luxury 4WD, Bradley introduced us to his partner, Alex, and we began the tour of the dream project they have dedicated three years to building. </div>
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“In Australia, the concept of an airpark has been fairly limited,” explains Bradley. “The pioneers were developments at Narromine and Temora Airports, where you could hangar your prized aeroplane and live basically alongside it or attached to it. These types of airport developments are common in the United States and have proved very popular with the general aviation enthusiasts there. A notable example is John Travolta, although his house is more airline than general aviation!” </div>
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The hangar is the integral focus of Hangar House, with magnificent curved beams, covering an area suitable for four to five light aircraft. The hangar space makes a unique, attractive venue for a variety of aviation themed events, and has already been home to an AirTourer convention and an Australian Women’s Pilots’ Association social event.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-69dw84lgHm8/Uq-J2-wT3mI/AAAAAAAAAc4/B3InsLBL_Fg/s1600/IMG_0046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-69dw84lgHm8/Uq-J2-wT3mI/AAAAAAAAAc4/B3InsLBL_Fg/s640/IMG_0046.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a> “Hangar House is situated on a small subdivision tendered out by the Mid Western Regional Council. When the opportunity presented on the proposed subdivision, Brad and I jumped at the idea of setting up their dream,” said Alex.</div>
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The house itself is a two story steel structure designed by Sydney based architect, Maurice Patten of Patten Design - (www.pattendesign.com.au).</div>
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The hangar is accessable from the western end of the living area, where the first suite, The Skymaster, is located. The Skymaster suite consists of an intimate lounge with Jetmaster fireplace joining a large open kitchen and dining area flowing to an informal TV/lounge area. The first floor is the home of the Airtourer, Bonanza, Baron And Constellation suites, where is a tea/coffee station at the top of the stairs for guests.</div>
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The layout is spacious and airy, with an impeccable eye for detail. The furniture is a wonderful blend of modern, antique and exotic (as Alex hails from Cuba), with the décor having a distinct aviation focus. A giant mural of the sky, onto which each visitor’s aircraft is laminated, fills an entire wall. Alex is in the process of organising an aviation themed bar, and of course, each suite is named after an iconic aircraft type.</div>
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Were I to offer three superlatives to describe this remarkable living work of art they would be: Fabulous, stylish and cutting edge.</div>
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Hangar House also offers accommodation for students; conference facilities and a private chef for dinner parties, functions or corporate events. A courtesy car is available for fly-in guests and as well as hangarage for up to five aircraft, allowing you to taxi right up to the hotel.</div>
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Located on the northern apron of picturesque Mudgee Airport and only less than a 5km drive north of the town centre, the Hangar House is an ideal location to explore the area’s 35 plus vineyards as well as Mudgee’s cafes, restaurants, pubs and nearby historic villages such as Gulgong and Rylstone.</div>
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The Chief Pilot of Observair, Brad Welch learnt to fly way back in the early 1970s with the Hazelton clan at Orange and Cudal Airports and has always loved the Central Tablelands of NSW. Mudgee is relatively close to the large coastal population bases and is an ideal base to conduct the specialised aerial services that takes Observair Australia wide. In the last couple of years, it has completed major aerial surveys for Flinders University , Murdoch University and International Wildlife Foundation, in the research of dolphins and whales breeding grounds and Blue Whales migratory patterns.<br />
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To host your avation event here, please visit www.hangarhouse.com.au</div>
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For the aviators, location YMDG - S32 33.7 E149 36.7<br />
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-37215043561095467052013-12-10T18:12:00.001-08:002013-12-10T18:24:16.225-08:00A Whole New AttitudeSince my very first TIF, back in 2010, I've dreamt of learning to fly helicopters. Even though I would have to grow another limb to gain the coordination necessary to fly a chopper, I've salivated over helicopters ever since, even going as far as applying for a conversion scholarship.<br />
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Although sometimes even an optimist has to put dreams in the 'save for much later' basket, it doesn't stop one seeking out time in other peoples' magnificent machines. Imagine my good luck, then, when the lovely Bas Scheffers of OzRunways 'broke the news' that I would be returning to Bankstown from Ausfly in an R44. Poor me.<br />
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Neil Weste is part of the OZRunways success team, a Cirrus AND R44 owner, and extremely generous to boot. A helicopter pilot before he was fixed wing, I sense Neil's real passion is with chopper flying and as we begin the start ups for departure from Narromine, he has that look I know so well.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Whole New Attitude</td></tr>
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As I sit there, transfixed while Neil speaks the language of chopper, watching gauges unfamiliar to me and twisting levers I don't have, we begin the magic (or the magimix, as an old instructor used to call helicopters) of hovering. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, it really does feel like magic. I realise this illustrates my scant knowledge of helicopter aerodynamics, but I'm going to risk looking light-headed (again) and simply say - "wow!" You don't know you're flying until you're taking off vertically and floating along to the runway - look no taxiways for me! - to take off in a glass bubble. It really is the most sophisticated form of flight. It is, however, a little slower, but in my mind, certainly on this trip, a 100 knot cruise only furthered my enjoyment of the scenery, above which we remained low enough to see people's washing on their lines. Thankfully, Neil only had one set of controls fitted, so he wasn't obliged to give me any 'hands on time' which was (frankly) a bit of a relief, as I remembered the 'pat your head and rub your stomach' technique of keeping everything upright and stable from my TIF.<br />
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After a blissful hour's flight, peppered with my shortfire questions to the very patient Neil, we landed at Cessnock for fuel. Although the aerodrome was as busy as a fly-in day (who says General Aviation is dead?) we didn't have to worry about joining circuits at 1000ft. Helicopters have their own circuit height, and as we were the only one there, it was straight down onto the grass for us. As Neil shut down, I offered to go and fetch coffee. Upon my return, I spied a fabulous old Bonanza (which the owner wouldn't sell, alas) as well as SkyThrills pilots Jodie and Jeremy, in their Decathlon and newly acquired Nanchang.</div>
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After refuelling, with both coffee and Avgas, we departed and headed coastal for the most scenic and stunning part of the trip. Neil resides on Lake Macquarie - an area I've visited by road, but is most certainly best seen by air. As we did a touch-and-go on his front lawn (which was really no bigger than a handkerchief!) I realised this amazing area, with houses perched on the side of the lake, is something of a residential secret (until now!) You really wouldn't know it was here, in all its hidden magnificence, unless you were looking for it.</div>
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As we continued coastal at 500 ft, we spotted a whale. I sighed in perfect contentment, and started mentally selling my shoes and frocks to save up for chopper lessons. Neil, however, had saved the piece de resistance for last. "How'd you fancy a harbour scenic?" he asked. Nodding furiously, he took my 'yes' and went on to say, "this will be quite different from a fixed wing scenic."</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yREkSRw_cw8/UqfH0mqWQcI/AAAAAAAAAb8/R-5O1mWp_OI/s1600/P1011512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yREkSRw_cw8/UqfH0mqWQcI/AAAAAAAAAb8/R-5O1mWp_OI/s400/P1011512.JPG" width="400" /></a>It turns out, to my utter astonishment, that choppers don't need clearance into the harbour. Not only THAT, they get to fly at 500ft, just skimming the harbour bridge AND are allowed west of the bridge, down the Parramatta river all the way to Bankstown. I don't know what kind of special place helicopter pilots have in the 'can do' drawer at CASA, but this was beyond amazing. No wonder Sydney chopper pilots look so damn smug!</div>
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Our landing at Bankstown was an eye-opener, too, with the chopper circuit being quite busy. "Choppers West" and other inbound points I'd heard on the radio, but never really acknowledged, became a reality as we headed for 'the main pad'. After the pad, we danced over to Andrew's hangar, where he and his son came out to gush over the R44. As I alighted the fabulous machine, I felt like a movie-star, giddy with excitement, privileged in experiencing something only a very few are allowed. </div>
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Once again, I reminded myself that while I may not have fallen into the most well-paid profession in the world, I get to fly in (and on) the most amazing machines in the world and am lucky to meet the most fabulous people.</div>
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And, this time, when asked if I enjoyed the flight, I didn't answer, "oh my! The EARTH moved!"</div>
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Which is progress.</div>
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-39075730206384215212013-11-27T03:15:00.002-08:002013-11-27T03:15:16.698-08:00A Good Old Dose of Optimism<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;">I have had the most
incredible two months, and as tempting as it is to use this space to tell you
all about the wonders of flying in the USA, the thrill of landing at Oshkosh
and the fabulousness of flying in an R44 through Sydney Harbour (thanks Neil Weste!)
upon my return, I felt I needed to bring to your attention something a little
less exciting: our industry’s apathy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;">A year ago, when I became
editor of Australian Pilot and implemented an ‘anti-whingeing’ policy in this
magazine. I vowed I would not carp on about restrictive regulations, the red
plastic ASIC which we all loathe, or the frustratingly poor customer service
that is indicative of so many flying schools. I promised I would be the go-to
publication for positive stories, to promote progressive businesses and share
the excitement of flying. And yet, after returning from the USA, I no longer
felt like the Doris Day of Aviation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;">After a month of American FBOs
providing me with $10 per hour hire cars, aircraft hired for $103 per hour and
airstrips every ten nautical miles in every direction, I could be forgiven for
not being a Pollyanna pilot. After receiving over 25 emails detailing increases
in landing fees, airport closures and wrestles with AvMed, I felt like hanging
up the headset and applying for the green card lottery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;">And then, something
fabulous happened: I attended Ausfly. After four days with the nation’s most
enthusiastic aviators, I realised all is not lost. Not at all. We might be
smaller than the USA, we may well be over-regulated and we might just have a twentieth
century attitude to flight training, but we are a nation of determined
individuals who are prepared to continue to fly against some very tricky odds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;">Among the fine aviators—and
aviatrixes—of Ausfly, I met: a young couple with a flying school so
progressive, the bulk of their students are under thirty; a remarkable young
man who flew solo around the world despite a significant lack of sponsorship
and no donor aircraft; an aircraft distributor who had taken a punt on a new aeroplane
because they really, really believe it’s the best trainer on the market, and a
man who sold his house to buy his dream machine. I chatted with scores of
people who flew in every kind of aircraft, from every corner of the country, to
be with like-minded people. I saw children staring open mouthed at the flying
displays, and wallets opening at the speed of light to fly in a Pitts.<span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kfxKnJllXmI/UpXTLEL8fzI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/0tI00CTWjdw/s1600/IMG_0157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kfxKnJllXmI/UpXTLEL8fzI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/0tI00CTWjdw/s640/IMG_0157.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo by Phil Buckley<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;">At the Ausfly dinner, I
listened with interest to SAAA President, Martin Ongley’s speech about the
importance of joining organisations and supporting the industry, and I joined
the crowd in a standing ovation for Ryan Campbell. I calculated the average age
of my table’s diners to be around 50 (which is lower than the average pilot
population—or maybe it was just the mood lighting!) and felt positive that
Ausfly is succeeding in the very thing our industry needs—a good old dose of
optimism.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dwO-E7BdSNE/UpXS0Q0pkQI/AAAAAAAAAZE/nSIoGN87VKQ/s1600/IMG_0245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dwO-E7BdSNE/UpXS0Q0pkQI/AAAAAAAAAZE/nSIoGN87VKQ/s640/IMG_0245.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo: Phil Buckley</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;">Everybody I spoke to
agreed we have a long way to go, yet each had a personal story about flying and
how it had enriched their life; journeys one could never have without having
flown; marriage proposals in Tiger Moths and beautiful picnics at coastal
airports. Tales of aircraft built, rivet by rivet, year by year, were shared
among stories of lives saved by pilots, apps designed to make lives safer and
friendships formed at aero club sausage sizzles.<span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LFRQqO6wXw0/UpXTBib1i-I/AAAAAAAAAZc/RcbkhIoyYSw/s1600/IMG_0556.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LFRQqO6wXw0/UpXTBib1i-I/AAAAAAAAAZc/RcbkhIoyYSw/s640/IMG_0556.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Phil Buckley</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%;">We may not have courtesy
cars at our airport, our CPL may still require the passing of seven exams and
we might have to dangle an expensive piece of red plastic from our shirts for a
long while yet, but while there is fuel in the bowser and gable markers on the
runway, we will fly. And while I’m editor of this magazine, I will not whinge.
Instead, I will take my lovely new Bose headset with me into the sky and visit the
remarkable pilots who keep this industry the only one to which I am happy to
belong.<span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rAGGFv1qnKQ/UpXTKrqpOgI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/NvhDUK2gSgQ/s1600/IMG_5185.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rAGGFv1qnKQ/UpXTKrqpOgI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/NvhDUK2gSgQ/s640/IMG_5185.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Phil Buckley</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-25285477217856710832013-11-15T14:57:00.003-08:002013-11-19T07:25:22.991-08:00Cirrus Factory Tour<br />
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It’s early on a Tuesday morning of the Oshkosh week and I’m sitting in the FBO of Wittman Regional Airport trying to contain my excitement. With me is Dave, an Aussie commercial pilot and instructor, and Robbie, a retired airline captain. Together, we’ve been invited to tour the Cirrus factory in Duluth, Minnesota and we’re here this morning awaiting our Cirrus for the one-hour flight to the factory.<br />
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Having always been fascinated by the Cirrus approach to design, marketing and safety, I’m delighted by the opportunity to visit the manufacturing plant; here’s a chance to see, first hand, whether the ‘Cirrus Vision’ begins from the ground up. Having toured Diamond and Rotax last year, I believe that the manufacturers’ ethos and identity is most alive on the factory floor: the attitude of the production team, the assembly systems and the interaction of the staff tell their own unique story about the company and its culture.<br />
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Our adventure begins with the arrival of our pilot, Bradley DeGusseme who leads us to one of the many Cirruses for factory tours.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_iaAkdK__rg/UoW9DphIzOI/AAAAAAAAAX0/kRlqGuMKO_M/s1600/Kree+to+Duluth.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_iaAkdK__rg/UoW9DphIzOI/AAAAAAAAAX0/kRlqGuMKO_M/s640/Kree+to+Duluth.jpg" /></a><br />
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While we were hoping to score a ride in the new Gen 5, Bradley apologised and said we’d have to ‘make do’ with the Gen 4 SR22T – hardly slumming it, I can assure you! While Bradley prepared the aircraft and safety brief, we were invited inside to begin what would be an hour of fabulous comfort and luxury. In a class of its own, Cirrus does things differently, with the pilot’s comfort and safety designed into every aspect of the aircraft. For instance, in addition to the CAPS (Cirrus Airframe Parachute System) for which the company is well-known, other safety features include hypoxia protection, electronic stability protection and a fail-safe system for recovery from unusual attitudes (known as ‘the blue button’) which will level the aircraft and hold altitude when activated. In terms of comfort the SR22T is air conditioned, roomy with impressive visibility. And boy, it’s fast too!<br />
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Added to the excitement of the day was a departure from Wittman during Oshkosh week, where Osh tower becomes the busiest control tower in the world. As I had flown-in a day before the show in a Bonanza formation of 108 aircraft, I had some idea of the well-timed dance that is arrival at Oshkosh. What I had forgotten is that arrivals and departures continue throughout the week in tight slots designed to fit around the aerial displays. We departed on Special Procedures, with radio work faster than a dj’s patter – it was head-spinningly quick. Bradley, as cool as a cucumber in a cocktail, handled it with grace and ease and before long we were airborne, IFR and heading to Duluth. With its 315hp, six-cylinder Continental working its magic, we climbed out at around 100 knots with the single lever control (both power and propeller, which is governed to 2500RPM) set to 36 inches of manifold pressure, and mixture full rich. We climbed to 6000ft for our one-hour flight to Duluth.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tMbLA5qG8O8/UoW-X_hrhRI/AAAAAAAAAYY/RXV2hlq2En8/s1600/P1011435.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tMbLA5qG8O8/UoW-X_hrhRI/AAAAAAAAAYY/RXV2hlq2En8/s640/P1011435.JPG" /></a><br />
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What impressed me most, after the 1700fpm climb, was the clean and sensibly laid out cockpit. The Cirrus Perspective avionics suite is so streamlined and uncluttered that even for a pilot with limited glass experience, the panel is intuitive. The layout - with the FMS keyboard, auto pilot and audio controls placed in a centre console, and only the CAPS system and lights above – create an ergonomic easy to scan cockpit, which reduces the chance of disorientation. Cirrus worked alongside Garmin to develop a Cirrus-specific integrated suite, which includes Garmin's innovative Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT).<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BVhMLAuwLh8/UoW-m-FvncI/AAAAAAAAAYg/qKagdCtOSfQ/s1600/P1011429.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BVhMLAuwLh8/UoW-m-FvncI/AAAAAAAAAYg/qKagdCtOSfQ/s640/P1011429.JPG" /></a><br />
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With the autopilot engaged and the radio work completed Bradley and I chatted about Cirrus’ company values. “It’s a great company to work for and I see myself with long term prospects here,” he says of his already-dream-job. A young pilot not heading to the airlines? My curiosity was piqued. “There are plenty of opportunities in the company, to go in all sorts of directions: flight planning and ops, training, and later on, perhaps time in the Vision Jet. Cirrus is a diverse company, and I think the opportunities here are more exciting and more suitable to me than those offered by the airlines.”<br />
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Bringing the Outside In<br />
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With a cruise of 180kts, it seemed we were airborne for only minutes when Bradley began preparing for the approach into Duluth. As the ILS was u/s, we flew the approach on the localizer. However, the Cirrus Synthetic Vision made the approach appear exactly like an ILS, as Bradley flew through the pink boxes, known as the flight path marker, or ‘highway in the sky’.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nBKcJTJK7js/UoW-4n-sDQI/AAAAAAAAAYo/Z-OSwyKaWHQ/s1600/P1011442.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nBKcJTJK7js/UoW-4n-sDQI/AAAAAAAAAYo/Z-OSwyKaWHQ/s640/P1011442.JPG" /></a><br />
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“I love the flight path marker,” declared Bradley. “It’s been a hugely popular inclusion. You can tell at a glance whether you are on course and at altitude. The green flightpath marker will tell you where the aircraft is going with consideration of crosswinds, and the magenta rectangular pathways will guide you with increased precision en route or on approach. Anything that makes flying safer in potentially high stress situations, like short final in low visibility, wins my vote.”<br />
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Another vote for safety is the autopilot coupled go-around option.<br />
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“The autopilot remains connected and the aircraft automatically pitches up to a normal climb attitude and the missed approach segment is automatically activated. All you have to do is monitor and apply power as necessary,” explains Bradley.<br />
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At Duluth HQ, we’re introduced to Program Manager Marlene Grand, a Cirrus employee of fifteen years, whose enthusiasm and passion for the company is an asset. As in previous factory tours, safety spectacles were donned and photography forbidden (with a few exceptions at the start of the tour).<br />
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Tougher than Nails<br />
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The manufacturing of the composite parts and main structures occurs at the Grand Forks, North Dakota plant. The Duluth facility houses the company’s headquarters and main manufacturing and assembly. Using a wall mounted display, Marlene was able to show us how the carbon and glass fibre composite parts are produced using the rigorous Cirrus manufacturing techniques. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-svDbDru4CHc/UoW9bO24dII/AAAAAAAAAX8/GkMsSBos1eE/s1600/composites.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-svDbDru4CHc/UoW9bO24dII/AAAAAAAAAX8/GkMsSBos1eE/s640/composites.jpg" /></a><br />
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It takes over 10,000 samples to qualify a new material and process.<br />
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Upon arrival from Grand Forks, the composite parts arrive at the inventory section of the factory, where they are transferred to a grit blast booth prior to bonding. This prepares the composite for the next stage of manufacture. The parts are broken down into groups and delivered to the relevant sections of the floor.<br />
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Parts are cured after each bonding operation in order for the adhesive to attain the strength required for handling and movement through the facility. A final Post Cure later will ensure the material reaches its maximum strength. Bonded composite parts result in very light-weight, yet very strong, assemblies.<br />
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Waste not, Want not<br />
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Efficiency and effective waste management are the focus of the factory’s systems. Transport carts are used rather than boxes, which save time and packaging and allow the aircraft and parts to be wheeled around the factory with ease. “In our early days, we would use 14lbs of packaging for one prop!” comments Marlene. “Now, with this cart system, our parts are easily stackable and there is no waste – in time or product in the unpacking process – and we’re able to set an example as an environmentally conscious company.”<br />
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A two bin parts-in-parts-out system is in place to ensure the parts inventory system is at its most effective.<br />
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“We conducted lean manufacturing studies throughout the facility to determine where our largest bottlenecks and worst waste were occurring. Not having parts required, in each station, on time and on a consistent basis, was our biggest problem. The two bin system – where two bins of each part needed are stored in each station where they are used – provides many benefits. Parts are stored where they are required for use. An empty bin triggers a reorder so more parts are stocked before the second bin is empty. Rotation of bins drives First In First Out (FIFO) inventory control. Most importantly, technicians don’t have to leave their work stations or waste time looking for materials. Everything is on hand when needed and nothing is wasted!”<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6LUds9sIfz4/UoW9mv6EUoI/AAAAAAAAAYE/G0ZfZxmjmvM/s1600/parts+vending+machine.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6LUds9sIfz4/UoW9mv6EUoI/AAAAAAAAAYE/G0ZfZxmjmvM/s640/parts+vending+machine.JPG" /></a><br />
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The entire floor is modelled on the same vision for efficiency and waste reduction. Staff vending machines are accessible with a staff badge, but rather than providing coffee or muesli bars, the machines provide office supplies, consumable materials and basic tools. “The office supplies being continually ordered by admin staff wereas taking up a huge chunk of time, in inventory and management. This way, each machine keeps track of what’s been taken via a central computer and we refill accordingly. The staff badge will allow access to all office supplies and production items such as paint brushes, cable ties, etc. Once again, this assures no waste and we don’t run out of needed items.”<br />
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Streamlined Materials; Maximum Efficiency<br />
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The fuselage is made in two halves and then joined together. The composite is so tough, technicians use diamond drill bits. Two sets of aircraft composite assemblies are placed in a specially configured oven and are ‘cured’ for seven hours at 200-210 degrees F.<br />
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Aluminium mesh is used to help dissipate lightning strikes and prevent damage to the composite structure. A Cirrus specific bonding adhesive is used. This custom formulation was developed jointly with the manufacturer after no product on the market met their requirements.<br />
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The main spar is made of carbon fibre and weighs around 60lbs, providing a considerable reduction in weight compared to the previous fiberglass spars. The main landing gear is manufactured from glass fibre. The fuel tanks are wet and sealed with epoxy resin and fuel tank sealant and are positioned around the main spar. Titanium panels are used for the ice protection system. The composite material is very durable and can withstand many minor impacts with no damage.<br />
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The first generation of Cirruses were built with homemade tools, but the second generation’s fuselage redesign prompted a new process, whereby a new uniform approach was introduced. Ceiling mounted winches were installed across the factory, allowing aircraft to be transported with ease. Bonding fixtures now allow parts to be cured in place, saving time and movement of parts and tools and increasing part quality. The company has also invested in a custom made drill and trim robot.<br />
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“Since the second generation, we can’t build aircraft fast enough,” commented Marlene. “We’ve streamlined all materials and processes for maximum efficiency. We are now building aircraft in 1575 hours, down from 3000 hours, due to implementation of lean manufacturing efforts throughout the facility.”<br />
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At the time of our tour, Cirrus was filling an order for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF), who had ordered 25 custom-build aircraft for training. Due to harsh desert heat, the RSAF requested the aircraft be customised without rear windows, which Cirrus accepted. However, the demand for trainers from the Middle East has also inspired the company to research 100% UV resistant Perspex windows.<br />
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The console is made on a separate assembly line and each is custom built. After paint, engine and avionics are installed, the aircraft is ground run and tested. Then there is a full inspection, followed by sign-off for flight verification with a Cirrus-approved test pilot. The whole process takes eight weeks.<br />
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Chute Happens<br />
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The parachute straps of the trademark Cirrus aircraft recovery parachute system, or CAPS, are laid out in the fuselage skins (Marlene noted here that Cirrus had to construct larger tables to lay out the new chute for the Gen 5 Cirrus, as weight changes in the aircraft dictated a larger, stronger chute). The parachute system straps are designed to ‘unzip’ from the fuselage skins when deployed. Due to this design, when the chute is deployed, it minimises damage to the fuselage, supporting the possibility of repairing the aircraft after deployment of the parachute. Having said this, the landing after the deployment of CAPS doesn’t guarantee re-serviceability of the aircraft. “At the end of the day,” maintains Marlene, “Cirrus’ number one commitment is to saving lives. Machines can be replaced, Human lives cannot.”<br />
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When the chute is packed, it is compressed with a force of 23 tons, and then heated to ensure it remains compressed.<br />
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As of August 2013, there have been 50 known CAPS activations. Thirty seven of those have saved 77 lives; there have been no fatalities when CAPS has been activated within its demonstrated parameters.<br />
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Cirrus Communication<br />
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As Marlene concluded our tour, I mentioned that in addition to efficiency, morale in the factory appeared very buoyant. “Each staff member is an expert in their area,” explained Marlene. “We encourage very open channels of communication between staff and management and welcome suggestions for improvement in every area of the workplace. A lot of the practices you see on the factory floor have been born from ideas by the staff in that particular area. We always make staff’s ergonomic comfort a priority, and have constructed the factory with that in mind.”<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u4SQicFAh54/UoW-HYk9anI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/l71JI963FO4/s1600/P1011426.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u4SQicFAh54/UoW-HYk9anI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/l71JI963FO4/s640/P1011426.JPG" /></a><br />
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As we waited for Bradley to pre-flight the SR22T for the return leg, I had a chat with a young staff member who was learning to fly in an SR20. Astonished that anyone would have the opportunity to learn to fly in such a sophisticated aircraft, I asked her how she was enjoying the glass cockpit. “It’s all I’ve ever known,” she said, “so I don’t have a point of comparison. All I know is that my future is with Cirrus, and therefore it’s a Cirrus I intend to fly. The staff rate to learn to fly an SR20 is $50 an hour, and I know I’m extremely privileged to have such an opportunity, so I’m certainly not going to waste it!” Dave and I looked at each other and said, “Crikey! Where are the application forms?”<br />
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To watch a short you-tube video of our trip to and from the factory in an SR22T, please visit www.aopa.com.au<br />
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Knowing my penchant for the beautiful Beech, the answer was obvious: it would be the aeronautical equivalent of winning a luxury holiday; it would be the most stylish and exciting way to begin the greatest show on earth! Before I drowned him in enthusiasm, Bas gave me the address of Larry Gaines, coordinator of B2Osh – a group of around 120 Bonanzas and Barons who make the trip from Rockford, Illinois every year.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cw5FVRf-YEY/UivjjrDMhwI/AAAAAAAAAV0/TrfywAVm8DM/s1600/Larry+Gaines.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cw5FVRf-YEY/UivjjrDMhwI/AAAAAAAAAV0/TrfywAVm8DM/s320/Larry+Gaines.jpeg" /></a>Within days I’d heard back from Larry – who is a big fan of Australians – inviting me to join the aerial caravan that formally invented the formation fly in to AirVenture. Larry was instantly likeable, boasting the most fabulous combination of enthusiasm, determination, leadership and seriousness about flight safety. He filled me in with the group’s history, operations and schedules, as well as forwarding the NOTAMs for Oshkosh (about the size of the Yellow Pages) and a list of parties (most of which were compulsory and would not be a problem for any self-respecting Aussie).<br />
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Bonanzas to Osh made its first flight as a group in 1990 and have flown in every year since. I was to participate in the 24th fly-in (and the 23rd flight, with 2010 being known as Sploshkosh when it was too wet to land) and one that promised to be a biggie. This year, Larry would be leading the first element with Wayne Collins and Larry’s predecessor, Elliott Schiffman.<br />
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However, before the event, there is months of training, culminating in a clinic at Porterville. The clinic co-hosted by B2OSH's Stephen Blythe and the Mooney Caravan's Director of Training Dave Marten, active duty USAF, and an instructor at Edwards Air Force Base's Test Pilot School. "I doubt there is a better training scenario anywhere in the world where a civilian pilot can learn how to fly in formation with other aircraft," said Gaines. And with that, I felt confident that I would be taking part in one of the most exciting and well-organised events of the year.<br />
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<strong>B-Day</strong><br />
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And at last, the day arrived. Alighting the bus at Rockford, Illinois, we (I’d tacked on another Aussie and a Scotsman) arrived in time for the meet and greet hangar party, where I spotted Larry straight away. He was just as I expected: dashing, humorous and in control. I gave him a gift of an Akubra hat and he, in exchange, gave us the compulsory B2Osh t-shirts (green this year), and off we went to bed ahead of the imminent big day. <br />
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The next morning, weather was overcast, but not problematically so. The mass briefing took place in the morning, where attendance was compulsory and it was hear that altitudes and procedures were discussed and finalised, along with probable runways at Wittman, go-around procedures and radio etiquette (all calls to be kept to an absolute minimum, with each element leader responsible for their element’s calls).<br />
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Looking around the room of around 250 green-shirted pilots and co-pilots, I could actually feel the buzz: the camaraderie, the excitement and the obvious life long friendship, which had been formed over the years. There were children, babies, elderly men and women and teenagers. I noted I was the only co-pilot in green t-shirt and heels. Everyone was smiling, taking photographs, introducing themselves to the newcomers. And finally, the remaining passengers were paired with their pilots. I scored Glenn Wimbish, a southern gentleman from Burlington North Carolina, with a serious expression and a voice that could read me a bedtime story every night for the rest of my life. “Ahhh, y’all be safe with Glenn,” remarked the gentleman next to me. “As long as you don’t try and drink beer in his cockpit. He’s very serious, but an excellent, excellent pilot.”<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4-ukGzAo_o/UivkUU5e8WI/AAAAAAAAAWE/AoU_jOU_BOU/s1600/B2Oshers+getting+ready.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4-ukGzAo_o/UivkUU5e8WI/AAAAAAAAAWE/AoU_jOU_BOU/s320/B2Oshers+getting+ready.jpg" /></a>After introducing myself, Glenn and the element leaders had a final brief, and I walked out to the aircraft. And there she was; my dream bird – an immaculately maintained 1973 V35B – just begging me to take her home. Upon Glenn’s return, I asked about her history, “She’s the only airplane ah’ve ever owned. One wife and one bird is enough for me,” Glenn drawled. “I’ll sell her to you, if you like,” he teased, before we climbed in and waved goodbye to the other 107 aircraft waiting to taxi. As absolute luck would have it, we were in the fourth element (although I was in my complete element!) and so would take off right near the beginning of the formation. Glenn, as element leader, would be taking the lead and the radio calls, and I promised him I wouldn’t prattle on, or drink beer in his cockpit. “You can do what you liiiiike, ah don’t mand at awl,” he smiled, and I could see the others had been pulling my leg about his taciturnity.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tnl4crfjlvw/UivkmOszvnI/AAAAAAAAAWM/QNLxVMCi5Ko/s1600/Glenn%2527s+beautiful+V35B.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tnl4crfjlvw/UivkmOszvnI/AAAAAAAAAWM/QNLxVMCi5Ko/s640/Glenn%2527s+beautiful+V35B.JPG" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eCSf861MO_c/Uivk6E7gFTI/AAAAAAAAAWU/8SlWZN2tim8/s1600/Glenn.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eCSf861MO_c/Uivk6E7gFTI/AAAAAAAAAWU/8SlWZN2tim8/s320/Glenn.jpg" /></a>With Larry taking the lead at the first element, we were cleared to start up and taxi, element by element, three by three. It was a sight of great awesomeness to see 108 Bonanzas and Barons (the Barons at the back) of all ages and models, taxiing en masse to the runway. Next to us, on the left was a super splendid 1962 Beech P35, owned by Mr Kevin Smith, and on the right a mint 2001 A36 and her proud owner Mr Clarence Lambe. We were in fine company as we rolled out of Rockford and into the sky for our cruising altitude of 2000ft.<br />
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<strong>Oshkosh, my gosh!</strong></div>
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It was a flawless flight of a little over an hour, with Larry keeping check of the formation from the front, and the Baron at the back holding up the tail end. Glenn concentrated furiously and flew seamlessly, this being his twenty-third (and final, he claims, although someone told me he says that every year!) B2Osh trip. </div>
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For me, as lookout, it was over so quickly; it seemed only minutes before Larry was making contact with Osh tower (the world’s busiest control tower for one week a year) informing them of our imminent arrival. The reception from the tower was unexpectedly enthusiastic, after Larry announced the arrival of a formation of 109 aircraft, inbound: “Welcome to Oshkosh. You guys rock!” declared the controller, who then went ahead and made an announcement to everyone on frequency that we were coming.</div>
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The rule is that each element leader would call ‘gear down’ and visually check their element’s gear. I cannot put into words the sound of 36 pilots, one after another, minute by minute, calling their gear is down and they’re ready. And then, the famous Osh tower monologue began: “Bonanza formation, element one, cleared runway 36 left and 36 right, land on the purple dot and keep it rolling.” </div>
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As we were fourth in to land, we were treated to the marvellous sight of the aircraft ahead of us landing on the purple dot, while we were cleared for the yellow dot, which of course Glenn made with great elegance. As we rolled off the runway and were marshalled onto the taxiway, I caught sight of the crowd gathered to welcome us. Waving and gesticulating, I had to remind myself that the flight is not over until the wheels are chocked, and that we may be at the greatest show on earth, but we still had some distance to our final field. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QJTcMAxmuTE/Uivm_70O0QI/AAAAAAAAAXE/7g5Lc3Jy4-w/s1600/landing.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QJTcMAxmuTE/Uivm_70O0QI/AAAAAAAAAXE/7g5Lc3Jy4-w/s320/landing.jpg" /></a>When Glenn killed the engine and shut down, a marshal came running up and said, “Welcome to Oshkosh, can I help you with anything?” to which I was, for once, speechless, as rows and rows of Beech aircraft lined up, tied down and started setting up camp. “Whaale, we’re here. Welcome to Oshkosh,” declared Glenn. “Y’all wanna come do it again next year?” he asked with the sardonic smile of a man who knows he will be doing this every year for the rest of his life. “You betcha!” I retorted, in my new American vernacular, as I skipped off to find the media tent, before returning for the after-flight pizza party and speeches. </div>
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And with that, I acknowledged that Glenn Wimbish would not be the only pilot to return, year after year, in a beautiful Bonanza. Who knows, maybe after eight years or so, I might be brave enough to fly one in myself.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='600' height='500' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/cpp3AkSKJNs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
And, if miracles work, there will also be a video - but I'll probably have to wake up Clay for it to actually work...</div>
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I drove (gingerly, in the rain and the dark, at about 30mph) to Loews, the lovely hotel I'd booked in the canyon and managed to get myself so completely lost trying to find the front entrance that I had to be rescued by a young man who was on his way back to staff HQ. Curious as to why a 41 year old woman was wondering around a staff carpark towing a lurid suitcase, he guided me to front desk and sent someone to retrieve my car (which I had parked over two spaces). I was kindly upgraded to a suite, and repaired to bed straight away.<br />
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In the morning, as I drew back the thick, luscious curtains, I saw immediately that I was in Arizona 'proper'. Ahead of me was a spectacular mountain, embedded with cacti. It looked exactly like a Roadrunner cartoon. With the day shaping up to be 'scorchio' (that's over 40 on my barometer) I threw open the roof of the Stang, and made for the air-conditioned bliss of the PIMA Air and Space Museum.<br />
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At the museum, I was (very kindly) given a tour by the museum's Director of Marketing and Visitor Services, Mary Emich, a woman with a vision for this non-government funded museum. With the enthusiasm and passion I so love to see in aviation, Mary showed me around the main hangar, introducing me to some of the volunteers who form the backbone of the museum, as guides, tour operators and restorers.<br />
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I can't go into too much detail here, as I intend to compile a feature for Australian Pilot, but suffice to say, a wonderful, wonderful day was spent. First, among the hangars, where I quickly found my very favourite aircraft! Secondly, I embarked on a tour, led by the most fabulous tour guide who was an ex-fighter pilot in Nam. His sparkling and unique commentary kept me riveted for the entire one hour tour,<br />
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where we visited every aircraft outside the museum by open-top bus. After the tour, I revelled in the aviation themed cafe before touring WWII hangars, the nose art and the Space Center.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NgGaTkFx6Dw/UgO-CovizqI/AAAAAAAAAU8/zsJ3hTUdJUI/s1600/P1011359.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NgGaTkFx6Dw/UgO-CovizqI/AAAAAAAAAU8/zsJ3hTUdJUI/s320/P1011359.JPG" width="320" /></a>Of course, everyone knows the highlight of a visit to PIMA is the tour of the boneyard: the military controlled ground where over 4,000 aircraft go to die. I cannot express my awe (and sense of sadness) in seeing rows upon rows of defunct aircraft, groaning in the sun and rotting to death. However, our tour guide, one of the many fabulous military men with moustaches, pointed out that many of the aircraft are donors, there to provide parts to allied countries who are still flying some of the fabulous ancient birds. It reminded me very much of Ishiguru's story of the orphans who are cloned for their organs, until I was made to remember that these aircraft had had full and exotic lives.<br />
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With that, I visited the gift shop, threw back the roof of the Stang again, and went to admire the boneyard from the road. With the sun setting on rows and rows and rows of C130s, backdropped by the cactus-y mountain, I felt perfectly content. And very much ready to eat a whole plate of Quesadillas.<br />
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<br />girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-85921402999654117802013-07-31T19:30:00.000-07:002013-07-31T19:30:01.224-07:00A Yankee Life for Me...Sedona was nothing short of fabulous.<br />
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The whole town is orange with the glow of the mountains, and nestled in every nook and cranny is an arty little shop. Kevin, a man of Christian faith, drove me up a mountain to see the most magnificent and unusual church. It was truly mind blowing to see, and perched up there on a mountain peak, looking down into a canyon, I momentarily wished I felt faith in something greater than the mere random hotpotch that I consider life to be. <br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-align: center;">We lunched at The Hideaway, an Italian cafe overlooking the canyons, where once more I became overwhelmed by the choice available in American restaurants - fourteen different salad dressings; twelve different sodas!</span><br />
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Having rented the car for only two hours, we headed back to Sedona airport - and the cowboys, Jason and Jay - constantly looking up at the towering clouds and congratulating ourselves, in that way all pilots do, for not going. I recited the ole, 'it's better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here' adage to Kevin, who claimed not to have heard it before (but he might have been being polite!)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sedona airport - scarily perched on a mountain<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">
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Having refuelled at Sedona (the FBO filled her up for us. Did I mention I love America?) we were ready to depart pretty much straight away. With Sedona being a CTAF, we taxied out without any holdup. Upon the taxi call, Kevin said, "Cessna N5068E, holding short runway 21, any traffic on base or final, please make yourself known," which I thought was brilliant. I'd never thought to ask any traffic at a CTAF to speak up, and appreciated immediately how much safer Kevin's method was, than mine, of just looking for traffic.</div>
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After take off, we climbed straight into the burbly. We were hot, high (density altitude pushing 7500ft) and turbulent, but able to climb quickly and ascend past the worst. The journey back was spectacular; my words fail in doing justice to the magnificence of the scenery, and I'm afraid my photos aren't even close in illustrating how stunning the area is. We flew to Mount Superstition (there's a legend about gold on the top) and then home, towards Chandler, all the while chatting and comparing the difference in terminology between flying here and back in Australia.<br />
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Upon our return, I mentioned to Kevin that I would like to fly some circuits (or 'shoot some laps') to acquaint myself with Mr Floaty the 172, so he called inbound for circuits. Kevin was utterly convinced he could teach me to land the 172 without any float, and convinced me to pull to idle on base and apply absolutely no power unless necessary. Blow me down, it worked. I flew four very successful (although far from perfect) circuits, with the pesky Cessna behaving like a mild-manner Cherokee on every landing.<br />
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As we flew the final circuit, I said, "call the tower and request a glide approach. Let's see if I can land Mr Floaty from downwind!" Kevin declared a glide approach doesn't need tower approval in the US, so I pulled back to idle and made for the field. "Whatcha doing?!" asked Kevin, slightly ruffled. "A glide approach," I declared. "Ohhhh. That's not a glide approach! That's a short approach! That requires tower approval!"<br />
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There, right on base, was a fabulous example of an aeronautical language barrier! As I'd pretty much started, Kevin let me fly the approach, which ended in a successful landing, and I taxied back, triumphant. Not only had I had one of the most splendid days of the year, but I'd landed a 172, repeatedly, without any float. To say I was stoked would be an understatement.<br />
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After a long chat with Kevin, Jason (the school owner) and a very sardonic LAME, I asked for my bill, with baited breath. We'd flown nearly four hours, which in Australia, with an instructor, would exceed $1,200. When Jason printed out my account, I nearly fainted. $560!!!<br />
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There and then, and not for the last time, I declared I am not going back to Australia. At those prices, I could afford to rent a Bonanza - or maybe even, dream of dreams, afford to own one. I drove home (on the right side of the road, all the way) to a musical rendition of It's a Yankee Life for Me...<br />
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<br />girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-27383360973772426562013-07-26T08:56:00.000-07:002013-07-26T08:57:43.113-07:00Keep Right and Keep your Feet off the Brakes<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The plan was: fly the Grand Canyon; simple
as that. After a quick google, I found a school I liked the vibe of, and went
ahead and booked an aircraft and instructor for the whole day. Shortly after
that, I found a hotel promising to be the American Experience after which I was
hankering. Arizona, for me, had always been on the horizon. Something about red
earth, and cacti and cities surrounded by mountains – not to mention the
hometown of one of my favourite novelists, Barbara Kingsolver – had drawn me to
Arizona on this trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">After LA, a city to which I think I would
struggle to belong, it was fantastic to see a horizon again. As I landed in
Phoenix, I was amazed by how flat it was, although flanked by mountains. As I
wheeled my luggage out of the terminal, I was hit by a ghastly heat. I’d be
told Arizona was a dry heat, like Adelaide, but it felt as muggy as Queensland.
My taxi driver was from Yemen (like Sydney, American cities seem to have exotic
drivers from all over the world) who had moved here eight years ago and was
converting his engineering degree. After a short history of Yemen, he assured
me that my hotel, Hotel Valley Ho, was the funkiest in the state. And boy, he
was not wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Permit me to gush for a moment: staying at
the Valley Ho is like stepping into the past (the 50s and the 70s) and into the
future (space age) simultaneously. The colour scheme is bright blue and orange
and my bedroom had a bath tub right in the middle. I was in motel heaven,
tempted not to leave at all. Ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Amazing Ho</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Ahh, but then, of course, I had an aircraft
booked. I realized that the airport from which I was flying was in Chandler,
and I was staying in Scottsdale (which had its own airport, barely a mile a way.
It was time to face my demons; time to hire a car. Having already spent over
$300 on cabs, the writing was on the wall. Time to embrace my fear of driving
on the other side of the road. Judy, the concierge of great fabulousness at the
Ho, organized a car for me, and arranged for the company to come and pick me
up. A young gentleman by the name of Nate drove me into town, all the while
seeming very entertained by my growing hysteria about changing sides (of the
road). “Oh! I would have turned that way, into the oncoming traffic!” I kept
declaring, until I decided to shut up, lest he decline me the car. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">El Presidente</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">When we arrived at the ‘rental center’,
Nate showed me the cars and said I could have my pick. No convertibles. I
requested a small car, and the smallest he could find was a Chevvy Cruse, which
was large enough for me to lie down in. I immediately christened it El
Presidente, as it looked like a corporate CEO’s wagon. And off I went, keeping
more to the right than I had ever done in my life. I missed the mall entirely,
forgetting that a right turn is like our left turn, by which I mean you don’t
have to cross the traffic. I ended up in the Walmart parking lot and decided to
go inside and see if it was true what they say about Walmart. And indeed it
was. It’s massive, it’s cheap (I bought a curling iron for $5) and it’s full of
badly dressed ‘wide’ people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">To the mantra of ‘keep right’, I made it
back to the Ho, where I had a phone call from my instructor from Chandler, Mr
Kevin Benhke. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I liked Kevin instantly. Over the phone he
told me not to set my heart on the Canyon; there were embedded storm cells
forecast, due to this hot, muggy weather, and it wasn’t looking good. He
reassured me that he had a fab day planned, whether we made it to the canyon or
not, and that he’d be looking forward to this for ages. With Kevin’s passion
for aviation apparent over the phone, I felt certain I would have a fab day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But first, of course, I had to get there. I
fired up El Presidente, drove the wrong way round the carpark and then managed
to get myself on the correct side of the highway heading south. Driving at
35mph and ignoring the beeps behind me (oh, the LEFT lane is the fast lane!) I
made it to Chandler in a little over 30 mins. Kevin was there to greet me, as
was Jason, the owner of Wings 270, a fabulous little school with the atmosphere
of a club.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3-f4fcevPJg/UfKVHXcvteI/AAAAAAAAASI/ZMXdnF5nrmM/s1600/P1011297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3-f4fcevPJg/UfKVHXcvteI/AAAAAAAAASI/ZMXdnF5nrmM/s640/P1011297.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fabulous Kevin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Kevin is an independent instructor
(something I’m pretty sure we don’t have in Oz) who works from Wings 270,
splitting the instructor fee with Jason. He is also that very very rare breed
of instructor – a career instructor, one with no intention of going to the
airlines (for which he would take a pay cut, at a regional level!!) Although
currently working part time in his day job as a banker, Kevin is not long off
being able to work from his own company, Genesis Fliers, full time. All I can
say is, if I could pack him up and take him back to Australia, I would. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Our bird for the day was a 172, a machine
with which I have never had an affinity. Next to the 172 was a lovely old
Cherry 140, with the “Hershey Bar” wings, but sadly she was too old to climb to
the height we required for the canyon. Despite Kevin’s prayer the night before
for the storms cells to go away, and my Dance of the CAVOK, the clouds were
building up. After a thorough walkaround, we departed Chandler, with Kevin
taking care of the radio, and me flying. “Feet off the brakes” became Kevin’s
mantra as I taxied the 172 for what seemed like miles to the run up bay. I
laughed, as I was reminded of The Coach, and how he used to touch the brake
pads after my taxi back to Curtis and get very cross if they were hot. It’s my
worst habit, and Kevin was utterly determined to ‘brake’ it. I explained it
came from my castoring nose wheel days, but he was having none of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LOs-Zn-wrlo/UfKVsyiqZgI/AAAAAAAAASQ/hvt7_3kWqdg/s1600/P1011245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LOs-Zn-wrlo/UfKVsyiqZgI/AAAAAAAAASQ/hvt7_3kWqdg/s640/P1011245.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">C172P 68E</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As we took off, I was pleased to see the
172 climbed really well. We navigated Phoenix’s control zone, tracking directly
over Sky Harbor International Airport (I love it how they let us track over
giant airports!) and set a course for Sedona. One of my objectives was to land
at a high altitude airport, and when I heard from Robbs that Sedona was my
kinda town (arty farty) I was delighted to be going. Kevin assured me landing
there would be an experience, and he certainly wasn’t lying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9TWN0gjI1Fg/UfKWv3Q4-aI/AAAAAAAAASg/yW6d-uACM6s/s1600/P1011258.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9TWN0gjI1Fg/UfKWv3Q4-aI/AAAAAAAAASg/yW6d-uACM6s/s640/P1011258.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">overhead Sky Harbor</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Although long (over 3000ft) the runway is
perched on the top of the mountain. With the temperature already soaring,
despite it being early morning, the density altitude for the strip was 7200ft!
Due to the hillocks on final, we had to make a high approach and then slip off
the height (something I’d never done in a 172, but as SideSlippin Queen, I was
in my element!) and we still landed three quarters of the way down the runway
(although that was largely due to my ballooning the stupid floaty Cessna).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-khySbP-VshI/UfKYsx4AVxI/AAAAAAAAASw/WF7EcCWszjY/s1600/P1011264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-khySbP-VshI/UfKYsx4AVxI/AAAAAAAAASw/WF7EcCWszjY/s640/P1011264.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful red Sedona</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">We taxied to the FBO, and as Kevin tied
down, I stood there, mouth open, in awe of the beauty of Sedona, perched high
in the sky and surrounded by fabulously shaped bright orange mountains. We went
inside to check the wx, met the wonderful FBO staff – Cowboy J and Jason, who
kept me very entertained – and refuelled the aircraft. Upon checking the weather,
Kevin prepared me for the fact that we probably wouldn’t make it, and we made a
plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The plan was, take off, climb out up to
10,500 and see if we could get over the clouds. Going under wasn’t an option as
the terrain was high and the cloud bases low. Kevin discussed the possibility
of scud running, but I said I was dead set against, and he looked mightly
relieved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bvwuWd5_MKA/UfKZJbaU6HI/AAAAAAAAAS4/zJc0SIx70KA/s1600/1063807_615761488457912_969779892_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bvwuWd5_MKA/UfKZJbaU6HI/AAAAAAAAAS4/zJc0SIx70KA/s400/1063807_615761488457912_969779892_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As we took off from Sedona, I commented I
wouldn’t want to land here on a windy day, and Kevin told me about the time he
did, and how frightful it was, whilst we began the almighty climb to 10,500ft.
The first 7,500 were easy, but then the 172 started to tire, and by 8,500 we
were barely getting 200fpm. The clouds were rising faster than we could climb
and by the time we made it to 10,5000ft it was clear we weren’t going to make
it. When Kevin picked up Flagstaff’s ATIS and we heard lightening on the forecast,
we made up our minds to land and have lunch at Sedona instead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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With the wind having swung, we took the
southern end to land and were greeted by a rather high hillock on final,
necessitating another big slip, and another half-way-down-the-strip landing. We
tied up, rented a car (a pilot’s special, $10 per hour. I love America) and
drove into town to explore....</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
...to be continued....</div>
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-61642735362653961422013-07-24T15:33:00.000-07:002013-07-24T15:33:08.621-07:00Home<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Home<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I have long held a theory that people have
a country to which they instinctively belong. For many unfortunates, that’s not
necessarily the country they’re born in, or even the one in which they end up
residing. Rather like those who feel they were born in the wrong gender, I have
always felt I was born in the wrong country (not to mention the wrong time
period!) Growing up, I felt little affinity with Wales, and spent my entire
youth with a sense of not belonging (although, what youth doesn’t?!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">When I was sixteen, my ‘very serious’
boyfriend emigrated to the United States, and his father kindly bought me a
ticket to visit, to ease our poor, pining souls. The moment I landed in Philly,
I knew I was home. Despite living in many locations, I’ve spent my life trying
to get back to America. I lived for a year in Missoula, Montana; spent a whole
summer working in Wildwood, New Jersey; enjoyed my 29<sup>th</sup> birthday in
New York; house-swapped in San Francisco and flew across Michigan upon
acquiring my pilots licence. Yet circumstances have always forbidden me to live
here. Try as I might, it never happens. So, I have to content myself with
holidays over here every few years. This year, I have the ultimate excuse: the
EAA’s AirVenture, the greatest air show on earth!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love so much about America – the
hospitality, the lovely warm people, the natural optimistic can-do attitude,
the food – but most of all, I love the American attitude towards general
aviation. It’s the exact opposite to our ‘service with a snarl, VFR pilots are
a nuisance, user pays – sometimes even for touch and goes! – ridiculously
priced, tall poppy’ industry.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The last time I visited, I was smitten by
the FBOs. The idea that every airport has a facility dedicated to aiding
pilots, with fuel, with drinks, with booking a car, was unfathomable to me,
coming from Australia. I’ve landed at so many airports where there is nary a
soul to be seen, where I’ve tied down my aircraft next to those with grass
growing over the wheels, and returned days later to no change or movement in
anything. Don’t get me wrong, we in Australia have a fabulous community of
pilots, and when I flew solo across Oz on my Biggus Trippus, I met some
incredible people. However, I’ve dedicated many words in detailing what’s wrong
with Australia’s aviation industry here, on the blog; in the mag I have a
strong ‘anti-whingeing policy’ which I stand by; we ALL know we’re lacking in
the service industry and whining about it does not change things. That doesn’t
mean, though, that I can’t celebrate what’s so damn wonderful about flying in
America.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Having had a fabulous flight over with Air
New Zealand (I flew their new, modernized premium economy, which was tip-top) I
spent a few days in LA. Someone, somewhere, had mentioned there’s a special VFR
lane through LA, which takes you right over the top of LAX. After a little
research, I found a flying club in Long Beach who were happy to hire me and
aircraft and instructor for the trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Long Beach Flying Club is a charming
club/flying school located at the fab regional airport, half an hour south of
LA (or $110 in a cab, damn that traffic!) They have a massive fleet of training
aircraft, Warriors and Cessnas, etc. Having turned up early, as is my curse, I
explored the aerodrome, and found a café overlooking the rwy. Heaven!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cOfuCap5c3o/UfBUhAGIw4I/AAAAAAAAAQ8/tMx8-kxhVoo/s1600/1072062_10151803946680522_1037228589_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cOfuCap5c3o/UfBUhAGIw4I/AAAAAAAAAQ8/tMx8-kxhVoo/s640/1072062_10151803946680522_1037228589_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to Fly, LA Style<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span>When I arrived at the club, and was
introduced to my instructor, Brian, I was informed that the weather was too
rubbish to let us out. Used to being thwarted by the evil weather gods, I
wasn’t entirely surprised and repaired to the ‘washroom’ to commence the Dance
of the CAVOK. An hour later, the clouds lifted, and we were off, with me flying,
and Brian doing all of the radio work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zi8qCqSacxw/UfBUwauSNfI/AAAAAAAAARE/xkW8q5kSgAQ/s1600/P1011216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zi8qCqSacxw/UfBUwauSNfI/AAAAAAAAARE/xkW8q5kSgAQ/s640/P1011216.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Instructor Brian, who was calm, patient and fabulous</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Long Beach, normally a thriving airport of
both RPT and GA, was quiet due to the cloud, but I’m still thankful Brian
covered the radio; the calls seemed so long and complicated. Otherwise, all was
familiar inside the little Cherokee as we took off on the giant runway and
pointed north for LA. The VFR Special Rules requires no submitting of a flight
plan, and although the radio work seemed heavy during the LAX portion, for the
latter part of the flight, the radio was eerily quiet, with only one other
pilot flying the route. The route is reminiscent of our Vic One, with a harbour
scenic (apart from the scenic requires a flight plan). The scattered cloud
allowed us to climb to 4500ft and we tracked directly over the top of LAX,
which was incredible, before heading up the coast to Santa Monica. Overhead
Malibu, where the celebs live, we descended to 1800ft and tracked Hollywood and
then downtown LA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OrgsFDIi4PY/UfBVOTt1jmI/AAAAAAAAARM/tIQWcO3OUaQ/s1600/P1011229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OrgsFDIi4PY/UfBVOTt1jmI/AAAAAAAAARM/tIQWcO3OUaQ/s320/P1011229.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nREpWf13tWc/UfBVT_bG44I/AAAAAAAAARU/yVPYUT7lyWM/s1600/1073298_10151803947370522_773696795_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nREpWf13tWc/UfBVT_bG44I/AAAAAAAAARU/yVPYUT7lyWM/s640/1073298_10151803947370522_773696795_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">overhead LAX</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It’s only from the air that I had any sense
of the enormity of LA. It truly is a gigantic, sprawling city, and denser than
any I’ve ever seen from a light aircraft. In the case of an engine failure, we
may as well have been over mountains, or water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ocf4zksnuwI/UfBVluaeesI/AAAAAAAAARg/L9KPq9hs5aU/s1600/P1011227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ocf4zksnuwI/UfBVluaeesI/AAAAAAAAARg/L9KPq9hs5aU/s640/P1011227.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downtown LA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we headed back towards LGB, the weather
gods decided to play one of their amusing tricks and cause the cloud to gather
right over the airport. Luckily for me, all instructors in the USA are
instrument rated and despite the crudity of our aircraft (no GPS!) Long Beach
is equipped with an ILS. To my complete awe (there are very few ILS approaches
near us, and as a consequence, I’ve never experienced an ILS) we popped out
from the cloud with the rwy right in front of us, with Brian using only the
CDI! At 800ft, he handed the controls back to me, and I landed on the numbers
on the giant runway. It was such an exhilarating experience, and once again I
wished I had an instrument rating, and vowed to make the time to go and see Lyn
in Cowra upon my return.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pf5HgRt2sSI/UfBV5_JSRhI/AAAAAAAAARk/--E093l7JNM/s1600/P1011233.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pf5HgRt2sSI/UfBV5_JSRhI/AAAAAAAAARk/--E093l7JNM/s640/P1011233.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Them there pesky clouds</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And then, upon learning instructors at LBFC
earn over $50ph hour, I couldn’t help but think, maybe I CAN find a way to live
here. To come on home….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-53651786784851344992013-07-18T00:55:00.001-07:002013-07-18T00:55:33.780-07:00Aeronautical Impotence<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. I
have a confession to make: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it had been six months since my last
in-command flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Six whole months since I washed down a
windscreen, drained fuel from a tank and removed a pitot cover. I had flown on
the top of the Stearman, upside down in an Extra and interstate in a PC12, but
I had not placed my feet on a pair of rudder pedals since December. And it’s
not as if I could blame the weather. We’ve had the finest Autumn I can remember,
with crisp blue days and light winds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was starting
to feel ill.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It started with a general irritability; a
short-tempered grumpiness upon hearing of others’ trips. I promised to book a
flight as soon as possible but plans were scuppered by one thing or another –
work, commitments, a medical renewal. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started to
feel actual physical pain. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everyone else seemed to be flying but me.
Facebook was full of people’s flight journeys and the circuit at Bankstown –
directly above my office - was humming with joyful student activity. The flight
path into Sydney, under which I had deliberately purchased a house, was mocking
me now with its endless noise. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">When I bit the bullet and booked an
aircraft for an entire week, a strange series of events prevented me from
taking it away. </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">Shortly after, due to
an unresolvable altercation, I decided it was time to move on from the
club where I'd been renting.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a
consequence, I found myself aircraft-less.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was during that very barren, PIC-free
time that I learnt something about myself: I was deliberately sabotaging my own
chances to fly. I was making excuses. Something had happened to which I was not
prepared to admit: I had contracted a case of the av-willies. I was suffering
from aeronautical impotence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All month, while editing submissions to the
magazine, reading tales of courage and determination, I realised I had lost
mine. And I was forced to look at why. It took me a few days, but I got there
in the end: somewhere along the line, since I’d become editor, I had become
aware of my mortality. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It hit me like a force; an empty, scared
feeling was sitting in the pit of my stomach. It was fear; the awareness that
every time I take an aircraft into the sky, the only thing between myself and
disaster is my landing. If I don’t land, I will die. It was (and I can’t
believe I only started to feel this now, after five years of flying!) a pivotal
moment. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I knew immediately I needed to get back in
command, but when my headset and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>GPS
were stolen from my car, I saw it as a sign. A sign I should not be flying. I
allowed the av-willies to spook me further, until I was almost impotent with
fear. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then, I had a phone call from a friend.
Would l like to join her in some circuits at Camden? She had an aircraft for
two hours, and was happy to split costs. She even offered to pick me up at my
house and lend me a headset.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c46m1N2dYH4/UeeehtgVQZI/AAAAAAAAAQY/BCGRyKxIrWU/s1600/65026_10151773021030522_772753012_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c46m1N2dYH4/UeeehtgVQZI/AAAAAAAAAQY/BCGRyKxIrWU/s640/65026_10151773021030522_772753012_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone who has had an absence from flying
will know how I felt: excited, trepidatious, a little bit scared. But
strangely, the overriding feeling was one of belonging. As soon as I stepped
into that little Warrior, it felt right; I was right where I was supposed to
be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Needless to say, the flight was magical. My
skills were still there, a testament to my training. I could fly. Of course I
could.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I write this, a few days later, I can
safely say that the antidote to aeronautical impotence is simply to fly.
Perhaps my landings were not as graceful as they could have been, but my
mortality was never in danger. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes, as a multi-national shoe giant declares,
you have to ‘just do it’. I’m so glad I did.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4568828131488729001.post-10722298132393986572013-06-30T02:42:00.000-07:002013-06-30T02:42:34.703-07:00Dear Me<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Dear Kreisha of 2008,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">You are about to fall in love. You don’t
know it yet, but your life will never be the same. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In the next five years, you will cry more
tears, experience more joy and stretch yourself far, far beyond your wildest
imaginings. You will learn things about mechanics, physics and meteorology, the
very thought of which would frighten you now, sitting in a car in your heels
and your lipstick, blindly unaware of your upcoming surprise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Your future lexicon will include words such
as ‘engine nacelle’ ‘viscosity’ and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘nimbostratus’. You will become fluent in ‘acronym’ and will not bat an
eyelid deciphering coded weather forecasts. You will learn to judge the weather
by the number of lines on a terminal forecast, and you will become tuned to
sense the change in pressure that determines whether you can fly or not. BOM
will replace Ebay as your homepage, and weather radar images will become as
familiar to you as the peppery palate of a fine Shiraz.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As you turn onto Birch Street and approach
the flying school, and you begin to understand the meaning of your surprise
birthday present, you feel a blend of fear and excitement churn in your belly.
This feeling, a pre-flight nervousness, will become your companion over the
next five years; you will learn to trust it, listen to it, and be in awe of the
fact that your body seems to know you’re going flying long before your brain
does.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">When you meet the first of what will become
a very long line of instructors, you will, initially, be in awe. This smooth
and confident man will introduce you to your very first aircraft; a tiny toy-like
machine that you cannot believe you will ever fly. He will show you all the
components and you will instantly forget their names. He will strap you in and
make you believe you have control, but that he is always there, behind you,
really doing all the work. While it will most certainly be love at first flight
for you, sadly it will be a while before you find an instructor who makes you
feel this good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This calm and capable man will allow you to
taxi the aircraft, and ask you to hold onto the throttle and yoke as you take
off. It will seem both surreal and perfectly right when you hurtle (as much as
a C150 can hurtle) down the runway and become airborne. Something inside you
moves, and you feel you were born purely for this moment; to fly, to soar, to
become the person you were in your childhood dreams. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The moment you are on the ground, you are
without a single doubt that you must learn to fly. You book a lesson the very
next weekend and begin your mountainous path towards your pilots licence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I can tell you now, it will not be easy. I
would give anything to be able to meet you, Kreisha-of-the-past, and tell you
to breathe deeply, to look for a mentor, to join a flying club. I would
encourage you to pace yourself, take each hurdle one at a time, and meet other
students with whom you can share your experiences. If you are not happy at a
school, with an instructor, leave. There are plenty more birds in the sky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qSCZ_KC7QF0/Uc_9SEuI8EI/AAAAAAAAAP8/zWdTDfKjLyo/s604/2074_59836630521_5546_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qSCZ_KC7QF0/Uc_9SEuI8EI/AAAAAAAAAP8/zWdTDfKjLyo/s320/2074_59836630521_5546_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kreisha, 2008<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Despite the mistakes (ahh, the time you
joined the circuit in the wrong direction; your prop strike; the occasion where
you forgot to untie the tail tie down and the many, many times you’ve sat under
the wing and sobbed) you have matured. You have achieved amazing things. I am
as proud of you as you will be of yourself (when you are me, in five years
time).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I have two final pieces of advice:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Your boundless optimism will see you
through the many times you feel the need to quit. The difference between a
dream and a goal is a date. Don’t give up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And, in 2011, when that particularly
difficult instructor suggests you hold the stick like it’s a penis, open the
aircraft door and push him out!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Blue skies,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Kreisha, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
girl.with.a.stickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17814880412489728660noreply@blogger.com0