Comments 1 to 18 of 18
Glider winch launch
Glider strip only, no aerotow, winch launch only: The old V8 powered contraption will slingshot you up to 1000ft AGL in 40 sec, completely exhilarating!
YHOX closed
And the first thing they did is bulldoze the runway :/
as remote as it gets
Flew there with Par Avion www.paravion.com.au on a Islander
PAr Avion
The GA field for Hobart, just next to the International airport - so close they use the same tower.
Left Cambridge for a tour with Par Avion, www.paravion.com.au - to Melaleuca, a remote strip near Bathurst Harbour. It was just fantastic, this is really what flying is all about.
The longest wait ever
Not my favorite place...
Must have been due to rush hour with all the transpacific flights landing pretty much at the same time, after a very long flight from Sydney, took over an hour to go thru immigration, almost missed connecting flight to ATL... how stressful and frustrating.
Another time on the way back to Sydney from Atlanta, flying with UA via O'Hare, the connection was missed due to weather delays. Stuck there for 24 hours, UA wouldn't give me my luggage back (so I had to wear the same stinky clothes for 48hrs), only got a lousy hotel room, no compensation or apology. Compare that to SQ when in a similar ordeal I was given a pack with some clothes and toiletry, plus about US$100 cash equivalent.... Shall I also mention that I was flying business on UA and economy on SQ when this occured. I understand the operational constraints, no worries there, but when it comes to customer service UA, DL and AA have a lot to learn from asian carriers like SQ, CX or TG.
Oh well other than that I never been to LA before so I went to see the Getty museum, quite interesting really.
The reason why I want a PPL
Or at least something to look forward to !
Every year Phillip Island is home to the Australian Moto Grand Prix. In October 2004 I rode there with a mate all the way down from Sydney to attend the Grand Prix and witness Valentino Rossi historic win on the Yamaha, claiming back-to-back championships on two differents bikes (he won the 2003 championship on a Honda).
It's a very scenic but also a very long way from Sydney (we got there via Princes Hwy, and back via the Great Alpine Road which caused some overenthusiastic riding and subsequently claimed the life of a soft-compound rear tyre).
I sold my bike 2 years ago and when I resumed flying, I made it an objective to get my PPL in time for the 2007 MotoGP in order to fly there (safely). I am not flying often enough to reach that objective though.
Still, am going this year, flying commercial via Melbourne, and will fly there as a PPL pilot in 2008 (hopefully)
Delta
It was my homebase from 1997 to 2000. This airport is a model of efficiency with all its concourses linked by underground rail, everything goes fairly smoothly when you consider the huge number of passengers and rotations.
I flew in and out from Hartsfield more than anywhere else, and racked up zillions of frequent flyers miles with Delta Airlines in the process. As I remember it, Delta is your typical American carrier. Unless you fly business, you feel like cattle. Compared to Singapore Airlines, service really sucks.
Other than that it feel pretty safe and is usually on time.
Terminal 1
I dont know what drugs were being used at the time by the architect that imagined that soviet-style concrete monstrosity. Not only is it ugly, but the baggage claim is an embarrassment with people walking on one another. When you think it's the first impression that so many holidaymakers are getting of France...
Other than for the bits that collapse on people underneath, T2 is somewhat more practical.
Well I am from the south of France, and we don't like Paris there, so maybe I have a bias.
Home
This place is dear to my heart because this is where I grew up, and most of my family still live here....
About 25 years ago my father had a little 20ft sailboat which was berthed at Port-Saint-Laurent (the marina you can see just west of the airport on the satellite picture). I remember once we were sailing and the Concorde just flew overhead on short final (it used to come every year in May for the Cannes festival and Monaco GP, one year there were five of them parked on the tarmac). I still remember this magic roar ! Simply out of this world !
I subsequently saw Concorde take off or land in CDG, LHR and JFK, but nothing beat that memory. I always wanted to fly on Concorde but unfortunately that will never happens, however I feel privileged for having seen (and heard) it in flight.
I listed Bankstown at my home airport but I could have liste
I live fairly close by, walking down the street to the beach I can see the main runway 34L which is reclaimed on Botany Bay, I drive next to it every morning going to work (actually, in the airport tunnel under the runways) and my job is so close to the airport that the building is shaking when heavies e.g 747 are on very short final on runway 25 - so close you can almost touch the aircraft !
We get to see some interesting aircrafts land there now and then. Indeed there were quite a few of us to watch the A380 land here for the first time almost two years ago.
Flying around volcanoes
We did a scenic flight in a C172 out of Taupo, over the huge Lake Taupo (itself filling the caldera of a massive volcano that erupted last 1,800 years ago, and there are some theories that the Ice Age would have been caused by the ashes from its largest explosion 26,500 years ago), then down to Ruapehu, a 9000ft volcano which is still active. A unique experience and a must-see for anyone visiting New-Zealand north island.
Where I caught the flying bug
I was leaving in nearby Marietta at the time and this is where I took my first flying lessons back in 2000 in a C152. Nothing memorable about the place itself though.
I moved to Australia by the end of the same year, and didn't resume flying lessons until 2005.
Viva The Whitsundays
Landed here on a short (maybe 15 minutes) shuttle flight in a Cherokee 6, from Hamilton Island where we just arrived from Sydney. Absolutely fantastic views of the Whitsundays Islands :-)
The grass runway is located between two big hills so you basically can't see the circuit on the downwind leg (which is itself above water) and keeping the runway centerline is not just an option here...
Oh I almost forgot the subsequent sailing around the Whitsundays was awesome too !
Simply the best
Arguably the best international airport in the world, ahead of Hong Kong then Sydney.
And I dare say home to the best airline in the world as well (SQ), which I believe is no coincidence !
Careful here - no dead side
The southern side of Camden is dedicated to gliders, so gotta be careful in joining the circuit here - circuit always on the northern side of the field, and there is no dead side to the circuit.
Skyfox Gazelle
had a TIF on a Gazelle ultralight there. How slow compared to the Warrior, but also how easy to fly. Flying at fairly low level above the beach, awesome :-)
where I have done my first solo flight
I am a student pilot at Schofields Flying Club based there
(no subject)
🔗 Tue, 09 Mar 2021
— @Yannick at Strowan, Australia
Immaculate private airfield, when driving past runway looks good enough to land a private jet.