A retired British Airways Captain died when his RV6 crashed following a mid-air collision near Shoreham Airport, in the UK.
The occupants of the other aircraft, a Diamond DA40, managed to land safely after the incident.
Full details from the Daily Mail.
Thanks to Martin Hone for the link.
Two men died yesterday in the crash of a Petrel amphibious ultralight at Lake Jindabyne.
They were Richard Holgate, of Canberra, and Peter Frith of Queensland.
Richard Holgate, a well-respected businessman from Canberra was also a flying instructor at Polo Flat airfield. It is believed that he was trialling the aircraft with the intention of buying it when the accident occurred. He leaves a wife and three young children.
The second man to die was Peter Frith, of Allora in Queensland. Peter was well known in aviation circles in SE Queensland. Peter recently completed a level 2 course run by the RAAUS at Clifton, and had just become the agent for the Petrel as the course was being run.
Our sympathies go out to the families of both these men.
It’s been said before, and here it is again: “a great time was had by all”.
Indeed it was. The weather smiled upon all those who chose to attend the fly-in; threatened thunderstorms were kind enough to wait until evening before appearing, so we were treated to a beautiful late Autumn day.
This year Gatton (YGAS) had a radio advisory setup manned (or should it be personned?) by none other than Sandra Johnson, secretary of the YGAS body corporate committee. Sandra advised those entering the CTAF of duty runway, circuit direction, etc. If it was obvious the ‘incoming’ were aware of conditions, she left them to their devices. The result was a safe, orderly flow of traffic into and from the Airpark.
Ground Marshals Col & Phil were successful in getting the arrivals parked quickly and safely.
Total aircraft arrivals were 54, down a little on last year, but, the Old Station Fly-in was on the same day, so not unexpected.
There were several pilots who came from interstate, including Russell Arthur who came all the way from Mangalore, Vic, in his RV4. And he did it in only 4 hours … are you Drifter pilots taking note? Russell won the prize for longest distance travelled to the fly-in.
Martin Hone gives Russell Arthur the Longest Distance Award
Also attending were several gyrocopters from Tamworth. Great to see you here, guys!
Sunday afternoon at the Airpark
As the crowd thinned, and the weather continued to bless us, several of the Airparks’ residents took to the air later in the day; it was just too nice a day to waste on the ground.
If you’re not yet a pilot, and still looking up enviously at those who are, when are you going to give it a blast? Come and join us!
Safe flying ’til next time.
*photos courtesy of Martin Hone
Now here’s something you don’t see every day. Not in Oz, anyhow.
Seems a young lady was enroute to Florida from NYC to see her Mum & Dad. (That’s Mom & Dad for any American readers). And then she sees the Space Shuttle Endeavour pop up through the clouds.
Space Shuttle Endeavour launch
You can or see her original post here
And another photo:
Pic # 2 of Shuttle launch
Not exactly Ultralight news, but I bet you found it interesting.
Click on a photo to enlarge it.
Cheers.
Guys, here’s something you don’t see every day … Flying Tigers on skis!
Does it make you want to move to someplace cold?
Thanks to Martin Hone for the link.
Just a few photos of the sights around Temora during Natfly.
The new Carbon Cub was there; nice aircraft although priced a little higher than your average Jabiru.
The lovely Carbon Cub
Still, it brings to mind images of the Alaska wilderness, cold streams with remote sandbanks. Would be nice, wouldn’t it?
Or what about the Avocet, from Mike Sharples. Not content with having built 17 Jabirus, he sets out to build something a little different.
The Avocet cargo doors
And different it is! Mike’s idea was to be able to carry a small motorcycle or scooter around for those occasions when he flew into a country airstrip. Some places you can’t even get a taxi, and who wants to walk to town? Yep, that’s one solution to the problem.
Mike & Son Nick with the Avocet
As well as the innovation of having such a big cargo area, Mike wanted the aircraft to be buildable from readily-available parts. So the wings, wheels, undercarriage, engine (with Rotec heads) are all Jabiru. Fuselage is designed and built by Mike.
Mike estimates that the aircraft kit could sell for around $30k for the fuse, $40k for the remaining Jab parts. Early days yet, this one is worth watching.
Lots of autogyros to see; seems they’ve become a bit more sophisticated since James Bond flew one.
The Gyro Lineup
I could even imagine me flying one!
Well, it’s taken me awhile to get around to posting about it, (where did I ever get the time to work before I retired?), but here goes.
This year’s Natfly was, once again, interesting. Some new aeroplanes I hadn’t seen before and an interesting “Meet the Members” (MTM) session.
Gordon Marshall was concerned about the level of drug and alcohol abuse he’s encountered around the traps. Maybe I mix in the wrong circles, but, somehow it seems to have missed my attention. If it’s as bad as he seems to think, then perhaps we should all be more alert.
The essence of the MTM session seems to have been centred around the issue of secrecy that the board seems keen to impose. Apparently, the board believes that anything discussed at board meetings should remain confidential. That is, board members and visiting ordinary members should hold as confidential, and not disseminate to any other party, such information as is discussed at that meeting.
One could be forgiven for asking “How does a member, when considering which candidate to vote for, assess whether or not a particular board member is ‘up to scratch’”, if he/she is unaware of the issues discussed, or of how the candidate voted on certain issues. Surely, full openness is essential for the Association to properly represent the interests of the members. I’m also prompted to ask, “Is such secrecy legal”? Actually, I doubt it.
The CEO was asked by one of the members (forgive me if I don’t get the wording precisely as put to him), “Has the CEO ever demanded of a currently sitting board member, words to the effect of: ‘You will resign or face legal action’”? Interesting question; one can only wonder what set of circumstances may have prompted it. Irrelevant perhaps, as his response was “No, I can’t recall ever having said anything like that”. That’s a relief, isn’t it? Otherwise one might be tempted to surmise there’s some ugly politics happening at board level.
In other interesting news, one of the NSW board members announced to those present that she had resigned from the RAAUS board, effective Monday 26th April. Very sad to see her go; I know she has worked tirelessly towards making the Temora Natfly events the success they’ve been.
I was particularly impressed by the dogged determination of attending members Don Ramsay and David Isaac to get answers to some very pertinent questions on the secrecy issue. Getting answers to some of the questions seemed a lot like trying to lift a 10kg lump of iron with a pocket magnet. I was very encouraged to hear, after the meeting, that both gentlemen are standing for election to the board at the next election. NSW members note: these are the guys to vote for!!
Lots more I can say, buy I have a busy Saturday to take care of. Will do another post shortly with piccies of aeroplanes, and perhaps some interesting input from some other members.
Safe flying.
You always take it easy when taxiing, right? Of course you do. So do the Heavies … usually.
Here’s a clip from April 11, 2011 at 8:25PM local time, showing exactly why we take it easy while taxiing.
Ouch! A380 hits a smaller aircraft.
Here’s a video which should remind you what started it all.
At last, someone’s invented a fully robotic “bird”. Aside from simply the technical achievement, think of what it will do for survellience operations. Oh, wait a minute…
For more info, Click here
Thanks Mal Joyner for the link
How’s this for an out-of-control barbie?