As part of my Commercial Pilot training, I decided to use a beautiful sunny and windless day to build some more command hours. I’d been flying to some familiar places recently, the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, places which I knew well and could almost get to without referring to a map (disclaimer: not that I ever […]
Aerobatics, a pilot’s eye view, head mounted GoPro
I thought I’d give head mounting my GoPro a trial today for an aerobatic practise flight. I’m not all that happy with the result to be honest. Either I mounted the camera incorrectly (most likely explanation) or head mounting isn’t the best view for aerobatic flight. Either way, the resulting view isn’t as good as […]
Formation flying with the Red Baron Pitts
I got a taste of fomation flying today as we flew out to the training area alongside the school’s Pitts special that was taking a customer out for a joy flight. Matt (my instructor) handled the formation take-off and climb-out then handed over and had me follow Chris in the Pitts as we climbed from […]
Aerobatics Consolidation Lesson – my 4 big mistakes
According to the schedule I’m now 2 lessons away from being able to fly a checkride for my Advanced Aircraft Control (AAC) aerobatic endorsement with Red Baron. However it’s been almost 3 months since my last aerobatic flight and I was feeling a little rusty to say the least, so my instructor Matt and I […]
Bankstown – Maitland VOR – Williamstown VFR Lane – Taree – Williamstown CTR – Bankstown
This flight marked a few aviation milestones for me. Firstly, just before I entered the Southbound VFR lane at Brooklyn Bridge I logged my 100th hour as a pilot. Secondly it was my longest ever flight at 3.8 hours. And finally, it was the furthest North I’d flown myself as I made it up to […]
Light plane crashes after departing Bankstown Airport
A light plane crashed this morning after commencing a flight from Bankstown Airport. The aircraft was reported to have departed YSBK around 8am this morning before the pilot ran into trouble and turned back towards the airport. The transcript of the pilot and ATC went as follows according to an archive recording on liveatc.net: PILOT: […]
Cessna 152 crashes on landing at Bankstown Airport
A Cessna 152 crashed on landing on 29R at Sydney’s Bankstown Airport (YSBK) yesterday. The 152 was piloted by a student pilot on a solo flight. Details are sill not available, but the aircraft’s nose wheel assembly appeared to collapse on landing at the threshold of 29R which caused the nose to contact the ground […]