I went for my first flight of night circuits on Friday. Went better than I expected. Strangely enough I found taxiing on the ground more challenging that flying.

It is impossible to judge how distant a light source is at night. Your mind gets fooled into thinking that large bright lights are near and dull pinpricks of light are distant. When you encounter a very small dim light close to you your brain plays all sorts of tricks.

The best demonstration came when we were taxiing back to the tie down spot. We could hear over the radio a large twin preparing for an IFR departure. As we turned down the final taxiway we saw an aircraft dead ahead coming from the opposite direction. He appeared to be quite close so we moved to one side of the taxiway to allow him to pass. Everybody on board the aircraft thought this was the large twin taxiing past us. When it was abeam out position it became clear that it was only a small Cessna 152. With limited visual information available, we saw what we expected to see.

Now there's something you don't see every day in Darwin.

What a country I live in - where the leader of the nation, John Howard, can go for a jog on his birthday, and people can just run up and give him a big old hug. It doesn't even matter if you are armed.

"(I was) just thinking, more like 'Happy Birthday Johnny'," he said, laughing off the incident.

Battaglia said he hadn't realised he was carrying the screwdriver when he approached Mr Howard.

"I was like, twirling it on my finger, and I just looked down and gone 'uh-oh, whoops'. Can't believe I didn't get killed,"

That's cos it's Straya, mate. No wuckers.

When this kiwi said he had nothing to wear, he really meant it.

Better late than never, in case you missed it;



Update

The wheel is believed to have hit a Ford Falcon parked at the Amberley RAAF Base, west of Brisbane.

How unlucky would you be?

Not sure what happened there - I think Blogger wiped out my posts - back up and running now though.

Sent to me by Tedge, Cats that look like Hitler. Or a Kitler, if you will.

From the FAQ;

What is a Kitler?
Most cats possess that typically feline facial expression that implies a secret longing for world domination. All cats want to rule the world, that's part of the nature of the species, but to be a genuine Kitler there has to be some other similarity with the notorious German dictator. We're looking for that tiny, unfashionable moustache. Or does it even has the flock-of-seagulls hairdo? An evil glint in its eye?

And who said the Dutch don't have a sense of humour?

Good Mistakes.

We all make mistakes - you don't get a choice as to what mistakes you make, because you don't know they are mistakes until after the fact, and if you knew before you made them that they were mistakes then you wouldn't have made them in the first place.

Got that?

I made a good mistake today. I was looking for a place to temporarily park my venerable C152 at Wollongong aerodrome. I spotted a likely looking spot and trundled over towards it, as only a C152 can trundle. A man appeared next to my intended resting place, crossing his arms and pointing at the ground. Misinterpreting this as a sign that I should park there, I proceeded to do just that. More nimble minded readers will spot the symbology described not to signify welcome, but no trespassing. Which indeed it was. Recent heavy rains had left the grassy area boggy. The Cessna treaded lightly over the ground for a few metres then sunk ignominiously and refused to budge. The man and I studied the situation briefly then pushed the bird backwards and back onto terra decidedly more firma. Fortunately only the nose wheel had sunk in, and only as far as the axle. Any deeper and a prop strike would have been imminent. He then very helpfully directed me onto a nice dry patch of lawn, where I shut down and thanked my lucky stars.

This is what I categorise as a good mistake. If I have to make a mistake in the future, I hope it's like this one. It was good because there was no damage done and I learnt something from the experience.

If you are going to go off road with an aeroplane, walk the ground first to determine it's suitability as a parking space.

I was down at Wollongong (Albion Park, actually) aerodrome today and I got to thinking about airport noise, something which this aerodrome has had problems with over recent years. We're talking about people building houses right next to an aerodrome which was built in 1942, then complaining about the aircraft noise. I also recognise they have some legitimate gripes. Cessnas you can handle. Dakotas and Catalinas are a bit much. Ironically the aerodrome was built to handle heavy World War Two era aircraft, not light singles.

I think part of the problem is they have someone to complain TO. They think if they hear an aeroplane, then that means they should ring the number for aircraft noise complaints. They don't realise the number is for EXCESSIVE aircraft noise, not normal, regular aircraft noise. If you lived near the beach and the sound of the surf kept you awake at night, who are you going to complain to? Neptune?

I personally know that some unscrupulous real estate agents are part of the problem. They have ADVISED owners to regularly complain about aircraft noise, to try to get the aerodrome shut down to raise real estate values.

I also know of other real estate agents who, when asked the question,
"what about the airport next door?"
replied,
"don't worry, they're closing it down next month."

Have a read of this, and tell me what you think the improper activity was.

THE PRIVATE PILOT AND A PILOT RATED PASSENGER WERE GOING TO PRACTICE SIMULATED INSTRUMENT FLIGHT. WITNESSES OBSERVED THE AIRPLANE'S RIGHT WING FAIL IN A DIVE AND CRASH. EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE AND BODIES REVEALED THAT BOTH OCCUPANTS WERE PARTIALLY CLOTHED AND THE FRONT RIGHT SEAT WAS IN THE FULL AFT RECLINING POSITION. NEITHER BODY SHOWED EVIDENCE OF SEATBELTS OR SHOULDER HARNESSES BEING WORN. EXAMINATION OF THE INDIVIDUALS' CLOTHING REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF RIPPING OR DISTRESS TO THE ZIPPERS AND BELTS.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S IMPROPER INFLIGHT DECISION TO DIVERT HER ATTENTION TO OTHER ACTIVITIES NOT RELATED TO THE CONDUCT OF THE FLIGHT. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE EXCEEDING OF THE DESIGN LIMITS OF THE AIRPLANE LEADING TO A WING FAILURE

Moral - if you want to join the mile high club, make sure you aren't the PILOT!

*nods to http://kristopherjohnson.blogspot.com/

A couple of weeks ago I flew to Mudgee with my mate Jacques. He flew out and I flew back. We left early in the morning and the temperature was quite low. We primed the engine well. While we were preflighting (preflying? preflown?) the aircraft I heard an all too familiar sound on winter mornings at the aerodrome.

chirp-chirp-chchchchchchchchc...chirp-chirp-chchchchchchchchc...

A 152 driver was attempting to start his engine. By cranking the starter over and over and over again.

I was going to post some tips for novice aviators on starting engines on cold mornings, a skill I seem to have acquired somewhere and have accepted without question, lest it slip through my fingers and disappear completely. I was going to post some tips, until I found this, and I really have nothing to add. Budding aviators, read it.