Qantas Founders Museum Super Constellation Project

(photo from @qfom Twitter account). The Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach, Queensland is a place that will always be close to my heart. I flew up there from Melbourne over 3 days in 2017 in one of my first ‘big’ trips in the Cirrus SR20. I had two nights in Longreach and made the most […]

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IFR Night Flight Moorabbin Airport to Latrobe Valley

Nearing the end of my Instrument Rating training, one of the last trips we flew was an IFR night flight from Moorabbin Airport to Latrobe Valley. The flight allowed me to practise a few things, including night take-off and landing practise, and night circling around a CTAF airfield. Plus I also got to try a position report, […]

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VFR Flight Following in the Cirrus SR20

If you’ve ever wondered how to request VFR flight following from Air Traffic Control, here’s a video from a recent flight of mine from Bendigo to Moorabbin Airport. The airspace around Ballarat Airport (one of my waypoints) was pretty congested on this day. I’d heard on the radio and read in the NOTAMs that there would be […]

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Cirrus SR20 Moorabbin to Bendigo | traffic avoidance, autopilot & GPS

About the flight I wanted to make the most of a beautiful clear day in Victoria for my first solo flight in the Cirrus SR20. The video below shows my departure from Moorabbin Airport, tracking to Sugarloaf Reservoir where I had to overtake a slower Cessna up the VFR lane to Kilmore, then tracking direct to Bendigo. I used […]

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Cirrus IFR cloudsurfing in the SR20

During my Cirrus certification I had an opportunity to fly the Cirrus IFR between Moorabbin and Avalon. On this training flight the low clouds meant we chose to navigate some of the flight in IFR. This was only my second time in ‘real’ IMC whilst sitting in the cockpit. Conditions were perfect. A low but very […]

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Biggin Hill Airport flying over Kent with The Flying Reporter

On a recent trip to the UK I got in contact with Jon, a fellow pilot and owner of the YouTube Channel ‘The Flying Reporter‘ to organise a private flight out of Biggin Hill Airport. Jon flies Piper Cherokees and is often posting footage over the county of Kent, which is where I grew up. So I contacted Jon […]

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VFR on top – flying above the clouds

Flying ‘VFR On Top’ is when you’re flying under the Visual Flight Rules (VFR) but on top of the cloud layer. I’m not a big fan of this (as you will see in the video below). When the cloud started closing in on me up ahead, I had no choice but to divert off my track and […]

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Aborted takeoff – another plane on the runway?

At Latrobe Valley Airport, Australia, the other day I was lining up my Piper Cherokee ready for takeoff after another aircraft had just landed. Latrobe Valley has an interesting layout in that at one end of the runway sometimes you can’t see the other, as shown here in the extract from ERSA:     After starting my takeoff […]

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Bad landing and a go around – Moorabbin to Latrobe Valley

The winds were variable at 4 Knots, no turbulence to speak of, and the circuit wasn’t all that busy. But despite everything acting in my favour I still managed to bounce a landing at Latrobe Valley Airport today forcing me to take the only viable option and go around. After a circuit back around the airfield the second attempt […]

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Radio problems in cockpit – flying without a radio

On what started out as a fairly normal flight from Tooradin Airport to Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne’s South, my radio suddenly started to produce a loud and constant static noise. After departing the airport and established in the cruise I started on some troubleshooting checks to determine the problem. Follow along in this video to work out […]

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