Gravity Wave Detection Club

I've been learning to fly, light planes! Effects Of Controls ( ie. what does what ) and Straight And Level. Done two hours so far and I've haven't crashed. :-)

A nice picture Rod. :-)

Cheers, Mike.

Logic would suggest captain that we give the crew some shore-leave.

Exhilarating experience, isn't it? (I've got about 5 minutes with the stick in the back seat of a T-33, getting to try the straight-n-level bit and a couple turns, lots of years ago)

I'm actually working on designing something about the size of the Sky Baby (it's pictured about midway down that page), that uses rocket-assist for taking off vertically (possibly hydrogen peroxide) and, possibly also for landing vertically. It will have a paraglider that can be deployed for landings – no runway necessary – (or deployed in emergencies) as well as a standard reserve 'chute ... I may have to move out to the Mojave, but that's okay - if it ends up getting certified (or somehow ends up weighing less than 250 pounds), it's a quick jaunt to the beach and back ...

Thanks! It by a early 20th century Canadian artist Tom Thomson
Jack Pine on my profile page is by Tom

I try to paint and Tom Thomson I admire greatly..:-)

Thanks muchly. I'm working on the Smart and the Safe and when the terror subsides I'll get to the Fun! Ah, that Cessna is a real smooth Cadillac! Terrific downwards visibility and tremendous positive stability. I'm training in low wing Piper Warriors and Archers [ PA28 ], and I have a vague plan of getting certified on other types like the Cessna one day. The whole industry revolves around this 'What goes up, must come down' principle, talk about obsessed ...... :-) :-)

I am also learning why pilots talk with their hands! You can't describe manouevres and such otherwise. Not to mention a blizzard of acronymns.

The civil aviation authority DownUnda is a pretty strict lot, which is great. The instructors at the Lilydale Flying School I'm at are very friendly and helpful, but politely pull no punches in detecting error or poor airmanship. Outstanding viewpoint, as this type of piloting doesn't suit the bold or the proud. I'm aiming to be NOT corrected on the SAME thing TWICE .... :-)

Their only serious incident in living memory was a forced landing by someone who stole one of their planes at night! Can't blame them for that. Actually it's the same place my now elderly father got his private pilot's license in the 1970's - so that was my first exposure going up with him. I remember the cows being very small! :-)

I've just backseated on a flight to one of the much busier airports around Melbourne ( Moorabbin ) - talk about traffic. We visited the flight shop there and got some gear and books. There's also the school that Qantas uses for it's pilot intake. I hope to wangle some time simply observing matters in their control tower some day - but I need some security clearances and other pffaffle before I can approach that.

So this weekend there is no flying lessons scheduled, for various unrelated reasons, but I'm going to turn up for a few hours anyway. I'll hone my pre-flight walkarounds and in-cockpit checks - practice, practice, practice. I also want to track down the engineer who does all the repair and maintenance and tee up a day when he's stripping something down so I can get some hands on. This I think will help a good deal for theory and practice, and the engineer will get some medicinal alcohol to boot. :-)

Cheers, Mike.