A subscriber has sent me this link to a video of the Spanish Air Force Aerobatic Team, Patrulla Aguila, making a very impressive formation landing.
Patrulla Aguila is Spanish for ‘Eagle Patrol’ and they fly CASA (not that one!) C-101 Aviojets, using a trademark yellow smoke during their display – they are believed to be the only aerobatic team in the world using yellow smoke. Yellow and red are – as everyone will know – the colours of the national flag of Spain.
Another interesting video of a Foxbat flight over an unusual place: Vladivostok.
I guess like most people, I tend to think of Russia as somewhere ‘over near Europe’ and in many ways, it is. However, Vladivostok is actually closer to Darwin than it is to Moscow! Point yourself due north from Darwin and keep going for about 3,330 nautical miles (roughly 6,200 kilometres) and there you’ll find Vladivostok. Russia is a BIG place.
Now, not a lot of people know this (as Michael Caine says) but actor Yul Brynner was born in Vladivostok in 1920. Brynner became famous for his roles in films like The Magnificent Seven, Westworld, The 10 Commandments and The King and I.
Otherwise, Vladivostok is a relatively small (population circa 570,000) industrial and fishing city close to the North Korean border.
Lonely Planet describes it thus: “At first look, Vladivostok is something like Russia’s San Francisco – a real stunner, with pointed mountains springing up above a network of bays, most strikingly the crooked dock-lined Golden Horn Bay (named for its likeness to Istanbul’s). Closer up, it can be a little grey, with Soviet housing blocks squeezed between new condos and century-old mansions. But it’s a great place to kick off or finish a trans-Siberian trip – however, be warned: leg muscles not used to the ups and downs of hilly streets will get more sore than a butt on the Trans-Siberian.
Big changes arrived in Vladivostok thanks to the 2012 Asian Pacific Economic Conference (APEC), with billions spent on infrastructure. Timing wise, June can often be grey and wet, while September and October are the nicest, sunniest months (another thing Vladivostok has in common with San Francisco). Vladivostok’s City Day is 2 July, or the closest Saturday to it.”
I bet you didn’t expect a geography and entertainment lesson!
You can see the video either by clicking the photo above or via this link: Foxbat Flight of Vladivostok.
With less than a week to go, our Foxy ladies from Caboolture are within 10% of reaching their goal of raising $2000 for the Cancer Council of Australia.
Maybe you can help them over the line by making a donation?
Click here to take you to their site, where you can make a donation: Foxy Ladies Flying the Baton
Every little bit counts!
Next up in my series about flying training facilities is SkySports Flying School, based at White Gum Farm, near York in Western Australia.
The school was originally started in 1997 at Wyalkatchem for hang glider pilot training, soon adding powered hang-glider training to their repertoire. These aircraft are variously called ‘trikes’, ‘weight-shift’ or ‘microlights’ in Australia. The school moved to White Gum Farm (YWGM) in 2005, where they initially operated from a farm shed/hangar for a while. In 2006 the second hangar – H2 – was built and now hangars H3, H4 and H5 house a variety of trikes and 3-axis aircraft.
SkySports CFI at White Gum is Gordon Marshall, a very experienced trike and 3-axis instructor, although he says nowadays he seems to spend most of his time instructing in the Foxbat! In addition to Gordon, there are several (mainly) part-time instructors.
White Gum hosted the first ‘WestFly‘ event several years ago – the weather was fantastic and there was a great turnout of aircraft. However, the weather turned bad for the last couple of events and fly-in arrivals were very limited, so Gordon has decided to ‘rest’ WestFly for a short while. However, he’s planning a big event next year (2016) when the nearby ‘Fly Inn’ function centre opens.
The facilities at White Gum will continue to grow as its reputation spreads – the relaxed and friendly atmosphere, on-site accommodation and selection of runways has begun to attract visitors and flying students from far and wide. Best times to fly are probably spring and autumn – summers can get very hot!
An interesting side-point: White Gum Farm, including the airstrips, is owned by Gary Sargeant, an accomplished radio/avionics engineer, who is also a trike pilot. Driven by the relatively high cockpit noise in trikes, Gary designed a new wireless, active noise reduction (ANR) headset for radio (and intercom) communications in noisy environments. This was developed, tested (mainly by Gordon) and re-designed over several years. The result 
is the EQ-1 ANR wireless headset which can be used both in open and closed cockpit aircraft. I have used both the original version of the EQ-1 headset as well as the latest EQ-link in Foxbats and I must say they are one of the most comfortable headsets I have worn. My wife and I joined a group if fliers who did a 10-day round trip from Melbourne to Lake Eyre a couple of years ago, using the EQ headsets. They performed faultlessly and over 21 hours of flying, did not need re-charging, although we had less than an hour’s battery left when we got home. The ANR function works well and the lack of a wire connection with the aircraft makes them very convenient.
EQ now has a Facebook page: click here to visit
After distribution to ‘official’ visitors, I have a limited number of free entry tickets for the Avalon Airshow Trade days – Tuesday 24 February-Thursday 26 February plus a few for the Friday morning, 27 February. Please note – Friday Trade attendees must depart the show before 1400 when the public show begins.
Each ticket allows entry for one person on one day. Minimum age limit is 16 and visitors should be dressed in ‘casual business’ attire, whatever that means.
Gates are open 0800-1700 Tuesday-Thursday and 0800-1400 on Friday.
Please contact me as soon as possible if you want tickets – maximum two per request. First come, first served.
PS – the dates shown on the photo are for the public days!
Interesting little video from the UK from an A22L Foxbat owner landing on a short farm strip after a sensible decision to go round.
Trippy little captions!
Click on the picture to go to the YouTube page
Now, I’m usually a very positive person, generally looking for the upside to most problems but occasionally I reach the end of my tether…what follows is not a whinge – just a warning to would-be aircraft shippers.
As regular readers will recall, last year I bought an aircraft from the USA – an Interstate Cadet – and shipped it to Australia. I used a company called International Aircraft Services LLC, based at Hayward Executive Airport in California, to disassemble the aircraft and pack it into a container and arrange shipping to me. They did this well, even helping to fix a problem with one of the seats, which was broken during the ferry flight from Idaho.
But there was one important exception. They didn’t shut the upward opening pilot door properly and during the travel, somewhere between Hayward and Melbourne, the door came open and, aided by its gas strut, the door contacted the side of the container, which damaged the bottom edge.
No problem – I thought. I’ll claim on the insurance for the A$1,500 or so it cost to fix – I’d already paid International Aircraft Services for the insurance, which was a specified item on their invoice.
To cut a long long story short, I have been unable to get any insurance money to cover the cost of fixing the door. Not because the insurance company refused the claim but because International Aircraft Services will not tell me who the insurance cover is through and how to make a claim. They do not return my calls and emails (over two dozen documented at the last count) asking for the details of how to make a claim. The person I dealt with is Ed Therrien, who I believe is either the owner or a senior person in the company.
So, if you’re thinking of shipping anything via International Aircraft Services, particularly an aeroplane, learn from my expensive experience – get the insurance details in writing before going ahead. Or don’t use International Aircraft Services.
UPDATE – in mid-December 2014, after emailing International Aircraft Services of my intention to post this blog article, they asked me to send them my bank details for a payment – which I did. They said they would make a wire transfer – which after over 7 weeks they still haven’t. Cynical or what?
A while back I posted an item about acrophobia – a fear of heights – which seems to affect pilots proportionately more than other people.
It received a high number of hits and in response a friend sent me this video – about repairing the statue of Christ the Redeemer, which stands on the hill overlooking Rio de Janeiro.
Click on the picture to link to the video. Enjoy it!
Neville Partridge of Neva-part Aviation Welding in Scone, New South Wales, arrived at Tyabb the other day to collect some parts to repair a damaged Foxbat. As you can see from the photo, it was quite a substantial pile of spares – including a flaperon, wingtip, complete tailplane & elevator, a wing lift strut, rear fuselage section with fin & rudder, firewall, complete nose leg and a set of new engine cowlings, to name but a few. Click on the photo for a bigger view.
Neville was sure it would all fit into his Cessna 185 Skywagon – not for nothing, it seems, called the ‘ute of the air’. More like a truck, I think…He’d brought plenty of foam rubber, felt packing and tape with him and we set about wrapping and loading.
In less than an hour, it was all stowed and strapped down – there was even room to put in all the spare foam packing and Neville’s (precautionary) overnight bag. Not much room for passengers though!
From Tyabb back to Scone took Neville about 3 hours – beats a 12-13 hour drive for sure. Interestingly, the total amount of fuel Neville used for the round trip was probably less than to bring a vehicle & trailer or a flat-bed truck to do the job.
The Cessna 185 Skywagon is renowned for its load carrying capacity and ability to operate out of small bush strips. In this case, neither capability was called upon but I was, and am, amazed at the volume of what you can pack into one of these planes if you really need to.
MSFC A22LS Foxbat
Captain Sam at Mindanao Saga Flying Club (MSFC) has sent me some pictures of their newly decorated Foxbats – click the picture to take you to the Foxbat Pilot gallery where you can see more.
The decorations are decal-based and I’m sure you’ll agree, look very snazzy! Just shows what you can do with a bit of imagination…
Anyone got any photos of Foxbats with interesting paint and decals schemes?