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Night Moves - FLYING at night is a terrific idea as it allows greater flexibility by extending one’s flying day into the evening as well as the added pleasure of looking down at the lights of the Melbourne "fairy land"...
Safety Standards – Slipping or Sliding? - FOR more than 100 years pilot training in Australia has been considered amongst the best in the world, with thousands of students graduating local programs ...
Making a Small Fortune in Aviation - - How do you make a small fortune in aviation? Start with a big one!
Well may you laugh at that hoary old chestnut, but ignoring the proverb has sent, is sending and will send many flying schools to financial failure...
Tall Tails: A Bumpy Ride - The airway from Guam in the Central Pacific to Manila in the Philippines is called Green 67. At Longitude 123 degrees east, 80 miles from Manila, the route...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.39) PART II (p.40-p.82) |
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Juggling Act: the life and times of married airline pilots - PILOTS married to other pilots are a rare breed, but they do exist. What special circumstances, if any, do these ‘pilot partners’ face? How do professional airline pilots...
Legal: Now for something different - A casual glance at a newspaper will reveal that Governments, academics and the chattering classes are absorbed by countless problems although the top eight sticky issues appear...
Rest in Pitts - My first memory is of flying. I was sitting on my father’s lap and looking out the window. I was eighteen months old and we were apparently en route to Hobart...
Flying the Tiger Moth - Flying the Tiger Moth is a dream for many aviators. Paul Reynolds recently went one step further and attained an endorsement on the grand old warbird. Here he shares the experience...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.39) PART II (p.40-p.80) |
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Female Pilots: Aussie Women Flying High II - General Aviation is often treated with disrespect by people who consider airline and military flying as the ultimate in a pilot’s career. But while GA is merely a ...
Never Too Young - It is funny how we are quick to forget we were all young once. What was our first introduction to the aviation industry? Why was it that we wanted to learn to fly or be ...
Regional Focus: NSW: Regional Innovation - AS Australia’s most populous state, it’s not surprising that NSW is home to many innovative companies supplying the domestic defence and civilian aviation...
Flight Test: Twinned Pleasures - Every now and then you're given an opportunity to experience something that turns out to be a surprise. Not that I'm against surprises but in this world of global uncertainty...
Used Craft: Aerospatiale-Socata TB20GT Trinidad - Since the early 1980s, Socata has been steadily carving out market share in the piston-single arena. In 1986, when Cessna stopped building piston singles, and...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.37) PART II (p.38-p.82) |
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Flight Files: PIPER MERIDIAN - New Piper’s impressive single-engine Meridian was primarily designed as an entry-level turbine for Piper owners stepping up from the Mirage. Indeed, the resemblance between...
Aussie Women Flying High - According to CASA statistics there were 316 Australian female ATPL holders last year, with several earning a crust at the sharp end of state-of-the art hardware...
A Will of the Wisp - On the 23rd June 2010, a decision of Justice Lyons was delivered in the Supreme Court of Queensland on spray drift from an agriculture aircraft. The case was cited ...
Queen’s Land Reigning Supreme - After almost a decade of unprecedented industry growth, Queensland has swiftly emerged as a crucial aviation and aerospace hub for the Asia Pacific region. Boasting a long and...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.45) PART II (p.46-p.82) |
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Losing my Currency - Over the last eight months I found myself up to my neck in everything other than my passion for aviation. I'm not sure how it happened but work seemed to raise its ugly head...
The 1969 London to Sydney Air Race - I will always remember that night as one of the loneliest I had ever experienced. There was a full silver moon shinning on the Indian Ocean and off to the left I could just make out the rugged coastline of Iran...
Royal Flyers - AUSTRALIA’S Royal Aero Club movement boasts a rich history dating almost 100 years. Aviator takes a stroll down memory lane and discovers why the clubs remain an invaluable jewel in Australian aviation...
PITTS S-2B - There’s something magical about a Pitts Special. The biplane’s sleek, racy lines. The 260 horses under the hood. And the aura of knowing that this aircraft is one of the true...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.37) PART II (p.38-p.82) |
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Just Can’t Get Enough - What is it about pilots that they just can't seem to get enough of aviation? Why is it that pilots have the insatiable appetite of a tape worm combined with a great ...
FINANCE: Act NOW to reduce your Tax - Ten days ago I sat down and began the process of mapping out a range of strategies (general and aviation focused) to help you reduce your tax bill. The outcome of this ...
FOD: A DANGEROUS FOE - How could a small metal strip destroy the future of supersonic flight and claim 109 lives? Derek Royal looks at the Concorde’s demise and the danger of not taking FOD (foreign object...
LEGAL: A Winter's Tale - With all due respect to William Shakespeare, the following is a comparison between the laws of aviation as they apply in Australia and in Europe, during winter...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.39) PART II (p.40-p.82) |
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A day in the life of ... A CFI - NOT too many pilots enter aviation with ambitions of becoming career flying instructors. Most dream of flying the left-hand seat of a state-of-the-art Boeing or Airbus and earning...
The Cost of Flying - Aviation is an expensive business and for private pilots like myself the cost of flying is in the vicinity of $200 per hour. In the vast majority of cases, this is $200 post tax which means that ...
Power to the Parachute - The recreational category could set a benchmark for human relations around the world. It has no prejudices. It doesn’t matter if you are fast or slow, fabric or metal...
Tall Tails of the South Pacific - With more than 23,500 flying hours, John Laming is an exceptionally experienced pilot, however it hadn’t always been plain sailing particularly flying Avro Lincolns...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.39) PART II (p.40-p.80) |
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Crazy Flying - I'm never ceased to be amazed at the insanity of some pilots. We've all met them. They're the ones at the pub that brag about their piloting prowess when in reality they're ...
Drugs & Alcohol A Dangerous Mix - When it comes to instances of substance abuse, aviation personnel are no different to the rest of the community. Which begs the question: is drug and alcohol testing of safety sensitive personnel a necessity?
Gold Coast Airport - Gold Coast Airport continues to grow as a significant international airport in Australia, now the country’s fifth busiest international port, moving up from its position of number seven ...
Tall Tails: Back in the Day - John Laming was only a teenager when his father moved the family to Australia to take up a job at the Sydney Morning Herald in 1947. Only a few days after arriving in this new country...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.37) PART II (p.38-p.82) |
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Why Don’t More Australians Fly? - The great Australian tradition is the Christmas shut down. The whole of Australia starts to wind down about the middle of December and nods once to the hot summer sun...
Birds Strike Back - Some birds just shouldn’t flock together and when the metal and feather varieties collide, the results can be fatal. Aviator looks at the bird problem faced by airports worldwide...
Medical: Now Cough, Please - Isn’t it great being able to fly? Soaring with the birds is nothing short of miraculous but two words always seem to bring pilots rapidly down to earth – ‘medical due’...
True North - Helicopters and boats. You would be hard pressed to find two more expensive items to combine for tourists. Put the two together though, use them to unwrap the mysteries of the remote Australian...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.23) PART II (p.24-p.53) PART III (p.54-p.80) |
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Continental Connection - There’s a photo of Captain Terry Vickers and Captain Garry Studd sitting at the controls of an A319 airliner. The date is 12th January 2008 and both men look relaxed...
Ditching in water - For me, it was a menacing vibration immediately followed by a disconcerting explosion. Every warning bell and whistle of the Bell 206 simultaneously screams for attention...
On The Wing - I’m writing this on the last day of 2009. The television is busy showing all the highlights and lowlights of 2009 and my trashy womens’ magazines are full of the best and worst dressed...
Year of the Tiger - Valentines Day this year marks the beginning of the Chinese New year and 2010 is the year of the Tiger. So as we say goodbye to the mighty Ox what can we aviation investors ...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.41) PART II (p.42-p.80) |
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Where are all the Leaders? - There is an aspect of aviation that quite frankly just needs to die. Aviation is an industry that was born out of the fires of innovation and yet...
Len Waters: Forgotten Hero - Aboriginal fighter pilot Len Waters flew 95 combat missions against the Japanese during World War II, leading dangerous missions deep inside enemy territory. For his ...
In the Living Museum - Most pilots have heroes. It’s a perfectly human thing to do. Mythical beings that do the unimaginable with an impossible level of ease and grace. The reality is often...
Re-Built - How a guy and his aircraft learned to fly - When you’re 19 years old you think you’re 6 foot four and bulletproof, you can’t see your life changing that much. Unfortunately there are times when...
The Harsh Reality of Helicopters - A friend of mine rang me the other day for a catch up call. He is a lovely modest guy, younger than me by a good ten years, and doing very well in his career...
click here to download pdf: PART I (p.1-p.41) PART II (p.42-p.82) |
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