Due to a number of posts I’ve recently made in the Downwind forum some of you will have been aware that I was planning on heading to Adelaide for the kids school holidays. There’s nothing quite like visiting my sister and her family while indulging in my passion for flying.

Last weekend I sat down with a bunch of new maps worked out my flight plan which took me from Moorabbin (YMMB),Point Ormond (PTOM),Werribee (YWBE), Ballarat (YBLT), Horsham (YHSM), Bordertown (YBOR) and finally to Murray Bridge (YMBD).

I completed my check flight at Moorabbin Flying Services with Nick (great guy) in LFP (Arrow) and was really looking forward to the whole experience. I even dreamed of possibly heading up to Wilpena Pound and William Creek while I was over in South Australia.

I’d planned on flying on Thursday, 2nd July but found that when I checked long range forecasts on Monday that it looked like we were in for a week of hellishly bad weather. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a low pressure system as big as the one that was bearing down on my proposed flight path.

It looked like I’d have to leave immediately to make the weather window prior to the cold fronts, toughs and other nasties were going to hit. So about 1pm on Monday I found myself in the interesting predicament of juggling discussions with my sister for accommodation, a niece that was going to travel with me (who also suffers from motion sickness – oh great!), re-booking the plane, calling Murray Bridge to make sure everything was OK at the destination and finally re-checking the weather for the whole route. I then worked out that I’d only be about 45 minutes before last light.....

In the middle of all of this Roselyn (my wife) not unreasonably asked me for help in deciding what direction that the rest of the family should take as they were travelling by road. I could feel my tension rise and the pressure to get wheels up immediately build. It was not a nice feeling.

I stopped for a minute and thought about all of the things I would be juggling while I flew an Arrow that I’d only had about 12 hours in. I’d only need my niece to start throwing up in the growing turbulent air to make the trip miserable for all of us. Worse yet, how about if the wind moved so that it was right on the nose and slow the aircraft up and I ended up trying to land in the dark.

I’ve found that in aviation it’s rare that pressure builds instantly from my limited experience it’s more of a cascading effect, one little thing leading to another. Pushing to leave on Monday when I wasn’t really prepared is a prime example.

Whenever you feel under pressure can I recommend you just top for a minute and think about what you’re doing and the possible ramifications. In my case I decided it just wasn’t all worth it, flying as a PPL pilot is supposed to be fun, not highly pressured. I cancelled the plane, niece, flight plan, sister, Murray Bridge refueler and everything else that was necessary for the flight and sat down with my wife over a cup of coffee and worked out the road trip.

The flight to Murray Bridge will happen but just not this week. The weather conspired against us and one of the great things about being a PPL pilot is that you don't have to go, you choose to go. Once the decision was made not to go I felt a huge amount of pressure release and life was once again looking much better.

I’d much rather live to fly another day then to become a statistic in the next CASA magazine where pilots shake their heads at the insanity of the flight preparation and the decision to go. I keep on saying it, pilots have the most fun in one of the most unforgiving of environments. Let’s all keep on enjoying ourselves into the long, long future.

Aircraft: LFP
Airfield: YMMB, YWBE, YBLT, YHSM, YBOR, YMBD
Company: Moorabbin Flying Service
(Help Downwind keep expand the airfield directory - click here to add an airfield.)

This is a great video of a guy who does a wheels up landing of a plane absolutely perfectly. What's incredible is that despite the speed of the twin engine plane and the pressure of the situation he's remembered to feather the props and absolutely nail it down the centre line. The best part is that the pilot and the passengers all walked away with no apparent injuries.

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I recently saw this video at a conference in the USA and I nearly split my sides with laughing! I highly recommend that you take the 2 minutes to view this comedian talking about the wonders of the modern age and in particular flying.

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There was a comment in my wife Roselyn’s post about what is the procedure for orbiting the Melbourne CBD and how long did it take for a loop around Port Phillip Bay. These are all good questions.....so hopefully here are equally good answers.

As always I first start off any flight plan by drawing all over my maps. The nice thing about this one is that it’s only on the VTC so taking any other maps are just precautionary. My flight plan went from Moorabbin (YMMB), the CBD, Point Cook (YMPC), Avalon (YMAV), Barwon Heads (YBRS), Queenscliff (YQCF), Portsea (YPTS), Carrum and back to Moorabbin. Essentially, it’s a great big loop around Port Phillip Bay.

After taking off from Moorabbin and head towards Albert Park Lake change your transponder to 0100 and then dial up Essendon Tower on 125.1. Essendon will be expecting your call from your submitted flight plan and also because your transponder is popping you up on their radar.

The radio call goes something like this, “Essendon Tower, Hotel Alpha Bravo, Arrow is Albert Park one thousand five hundred, request airways clearance for right hand orbit of the Melbourne CBD.” They will either give you airways clearance or tell you to stay outside of controlled airspace. Make sure that you do the call when you are just about at Albert Park. I always do a right hand orbit so that my passengers can enjoy the view out their window.

Assuming you have received clearance then you can enjoy the orbit and then continue onto YMPC. When leaving controlled airspace Essendon will give you permission to change frequencies and you’ll need to reset your transponder to 1200. You’ll have to be reasonably fast here on the radio because you’ll need to do a radio call to Point Cook CTAF to let them know that you will be overflying.

Once past Point Cook you need to head to Werribee South as it’s an entry point for Avalon controlled airspace. This is very soon after Point Cook so once again you’ll have to swap stations pretty quickly to 120.1 (Avalon Tower) to request an airways clearance.

The radio call for Avalon is, “Avalon Tower, Hotel Alpha Bravo Arrow is Werribee South one thousand five hundred request airways clearance.” Remember that the air traffic controller will need time to look up your flight plan so you may want to make your call just before Werribee South (not a long way before as you will be at Point Cook!).

Unless you like a lot of paper work do not go into Avalon airspace without a clearance. I ended up doing a quarter of an orbit to keep out of controlled airspace before I received my airways clearance. Avalon tower will also provide you with a new transponder code to squawk.

In my case Avalon Tower asked me to report overhead and they then vectored me along my flight plan to Barwon Heads.  Avalon Tower will give you permission to change frequencies when leaving controlled airspace and you will need to reset your transponder back to 1200.

You will need to make sure that you are listening to 119.1 for the Queenscliff/Barwon Heads area and do a CTAF call to let other aircraft know your intentions. The rest of the flight is a walk in the park as you sit back, relax and enjoy Port Phillip heads and follow the coast around to Carrum.

I personally like to listen the ATIS about 5 minutes before Carrum and then swap frequencies to 123.0 (35L) so that I can listen to the traffic. If there is a change in the ATIS then the tower will broadcast the relevant updated information on 123.0.

I like listening to 123.0 so that I can settle my situational awareness  with all of the other aircraft in the area. Entry points are a great idea but can be dangerous congestion areas so I prefer just to let everyone else go ahead of me so that there is a reduced risk of a collision.

Just on the Carrum entry point make sure that you do your broadcast at Patterson Creak NOT Frankston or anywhere else. If you say that you’re at Carrum then be at Carrum because other aircraft will get pretty confused if you say you’re at somewhere that you’re not. I know that last time I did!

I think that this pretty well wraps up the whole flight plan. I hope that I haven’t left anything out, let me know if I have.

Aircraft directory: HAB
Airfield directory: YMMB, YMPC, YMAV, YBRS, YQCF, YPTS

The other day I was sitting at my desk working away and I couldn’t help but glance outside at an absolutely perfect clear blue sky. About every few minutes I could hear the buzz of a plane doing circuits out a Moorabbin (YMMB) and it drove me crazy just wanting to get up in the air!

At about 11am I looked across at Roselyn and said, “I’m done for the day, let’s go for a fly.” It didn’t take her long to agree to an orbit around Melbourne CBD followed by a flight around Port Phillip Bay.

I called up the aero club, booked HAB (an Arrow) in about one hours time while Roselyn called a friend up to ask if she would like to come with us. We all met at the club and after pre-flight checks climbed aboard and it wasn’t long before we were winging our way towards the CBD.

One of the reasons why I wanted to do an orbit around the CBD was that we would be entering controlled airspace. I actually love being in controlled airspace as I find that it’s like having someone really look after you the whole way. It’s also nice to get some regular practice in dealing with the air traffic controllers so you can continue to make their life easier on future navigations.

What did surprise me was the plane that was in front of us do a call saying that they were at “Albert Park” when in reality they were at Caulfield. I thought that was stretching things just a little too far.

After the orbit around the city we were given our frequency change clearance, headed over towards Point Cook (YMPC) and made our CTAF calls. Surprisingly, there wasn’t very much traffic up so I had a chance to enjoy the view. It was magnificent looking across the bay and I was absolutely convinced that I’d made the right decision to go for a fly.

We headed towards Werribee South which is an entry point for Avalon (YMAV) and some more controlled airspace. See, I’m a glutton for punishment! I requested an airways clearance and there was a little delay in the tower responding which caused me to start an orbit to keep outside controlled airspace. After completing about a quarter of a turn we were given clearance and flew directly over the top of Avalon, reported our position (as requested) and turned due south to Barwon Heads.

Roselyn and our friend were both loving the flight for the view and I was loving it for the flying.....and yes, the view was good as well. We were given permission to change frequencies at Barwon Heads and then flew towards the Port Phillip Heads and on up the bay across stunning coastline.

As we came towards Carrum (it’s an entry point for Moorabbin) I was going to do my inbound radio call to the tower when another plane radioed in that they were at Carrum 1,500 feet just like us. I couldn’t see them anywhere so I headed for an orbit over the bay so that the tower and the other plane could more clearly see us.....and me them!

About 2 minutes later I saw the other plane. It had been behind us and they must have made their Carrum call miles away from the entry point. I decided to give this guy plenty of room as people who make bad radio calls like that may also do other unpredictable things in the air. I slowed HAB right up and after my radio call headed in on 35 left for a long final.

I dropped the landing gear and was rewarded with two green lights....hmmmm.....not good! I waited and the third light still didn’t come on. In the meantime I’m actually now on finals. My passengers were oblivious about the problem and only asked me what was doing after I stomped left then right on the rudder and wobbled the wings. It was a wonderful feeling seeing that third light come on as I was just about to make the decision to do a go around. We landed without further incident and all was good.....and my passengers only found out why I was swinging the plane around when we were on the ground.

It was a great flight and I gained a lot of really good experience in controlled airspace, CTAF calls, dealing with other planes who make strange positional radio calls and finally shaking out some landing gear. So next time you look outside and see a beautiful day why not go for a fly. :-)

Aircraft Directory: HAB
Airfield Directory: YMMB, YMPC, YMAV

We had a great time the other night chatting with Brian Bigg hearing about his views on a wide variety of topics from ASICs to his experience in a DC10 when an engine blew up. It’s great having people like Brian give up their time to share with others for the benefit of the industry.

Out of the discussion it became clear that what the aviation industry really needs is a cohesive voice that can address the needs of pilots to government and the organisations like CASA. It’s only natural that Brian has a particular bent towards AOPA fulfilling this role, which is not necessarily a bad idea! In my opinion as long as the industry continues to remain fragmented with a myriad of smaller organisations that fight and squabble over all sorts of issues then it will be difficult for us to defend ourselves against the imposition of airports closing, ASIC cards, drug testing etc.

Being a relatively new aviator I’m surprised by the level of antagonism and ego that is often expressed to the detriment of pilots and the whole industry. I feel like I’m about to open up a hornet’s nest but I believe there almost needs to be an over-arching Australian Federation of Pilots which can represent the needs of the entiree aviation industry to government authorities. Within the federation there could be individual task forces that champion the specific needs of GA, RAA, aeroclubs etc. I know that this is radical but unless it happens then we will always be subject to legislative action rather than instigators and key players.

The challenge for aviators is:
1. Through the federation convey to government the potential political power that many pilots can express. This would have to be achieved via some very savy PR initiatives that may or may not involve a lot of planes.
2. To get the public on side that we are not some elitist rich group of individuals but that the reason why "Joe Citizen" can fly between cities on a 737 is because that same pilot started to learn to fly on a Cessna or Warrior. Maybe there needs to be a celebration for “Pilot’s day” where the general public is invited to experience flying for greatly reduced costs. That’s just an idea to break down the barriers between pilots and the public.

These suggestions are not meant in anyway to discredit the current efforts of any existing organisations but only to highlight that what our industry really needs is a single body rather than a multitude.

These were some of the issues that were brought up in the Pilot chatroom but there is one thing that I really enjoyed about Brian and that was his obvious sense of humour! Whether he was describing his experience in a DC10 when one engine blew up or what it was like catching 224 flights in 12 months in Europe....it was all good and enjoyable!

Although it has been stated a number of times I thought that I would reiterate the fact that Brian is the editor of Australian Pilot and I would highly recommend that you get down to your newsagent and buy a copy. It’s a great read and full of fantastic stories about what we all love doing and that’s flying!

Iit well before hand. would like to publicly thank Brian for taking the time and effort to come into the chat room and to share about his own experiences and unique perspective on the aviation industry. In a few weeks time we will be having another special guest and I will make sure that I let you know about it. In the meantime.....don't forget that 9pm each night there is likely to be a number of pilots in Pilot Chat enjoying learning from each other.

On another issue all together, since the chat the other night I’ve investigated running Downwind on a brand new server with a lot more processing power. This should speed up things a lot.....!

I’m now really excited to announce that the entire GA aircraft registry can now be viewed on Downwind via the “Flying Resources” menu. This is a great way for pilots to review an aircraft before flying it and for aircraft owners to update the information about their aircraft for possible hire opportunities.

When you first click on the Aircraft directory link you will see a list of all of the states and the number of aircraft that are registered in that state. You can click on the state name to list the aircraft for that particular area. A search option is a also available that will allow you to enter a particular registration number to directly bring up that aircraft.

Below the states is a list of all aircraft with columns for the Mark (rego number), Model, Manufacturer, Engines, Year of Manufacture, Hire rate and Review. When you click on any of these items it then brings up a page with six tabs that provide all the details about the aircraft. These include: Aircraft details, Avionics, Weights/Fuel, Owner Details, Hiring Rates and reviews

Pilots that have had experience in an aircraft can write a review of their experience and also rate the plane from 1-5 stars. This will help other pilots decide whether an aircraft is worth hiring and whether it is appropriately maintained. There is nothing worse than hiring a plane unseen only to discover that it’s not a very pleasant experience.

What I hope will happen is that both pilots and owners will contribute to the information in the aircraft directory so that the good planes get more business and the bad planes get less. This will only happen if you contribute the knowledge and experience that you’ve had in an aircraft for the benefit of everyone else. So...please consider doing a brief review.

Any aircraft owner can request access to have full control over their aircraft information so that they can keep it up to date. You can also upload photographs of your “pride and joy” to show off the new paint job or updated interior! The more information that you provide the more likely that you are going to be able to hire out your aircraft to pilots that will respect it.

I’ve also now added a “Hiring Tab” where for $95 per year aircraft owners can upload any hiring information about their plane as well as their contact details. When you consider that hiring charges are much, much more than this per hour it’s a bargain for any aircraft owner. It’s also a great way for flying schools and private owners to promote their aircraft for hire and have all the information a potential pilot requires in one spot.

As the Aircraft Directory is a new service I’d really like any constructive feedback on how I could possibly make it better. In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy it and find that it’s really useful as the number of reviews grow.

At 7pm, 10th June Downwind completed an upgrade of its server software. The purpose of the upgrade is to improve both the speed and functionality of the system so that it can perform better than it was previously. I must admit it that I held my breath a few times during the upgrade (especially when I stuffed up) but all looks good now.

There were two main reasons for the upgrade. The first was to improve the performance so that the pages loaded a little quicker and the second reason was that some of the newer software wouldn't run on the older server configuration. Hopefully, if all goes well I will now be able to add the Australian aircraft directory....fingers crossed!

Can you please let me know if you experience any problems as I'm sure that there will be a tweaks that have to be made. In the meantime, I hope that you continue to enjoy Downwind and learning from other great pilots like yourself.