(PCAS) is an aircraft collision avoidance system similar in function to TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System). TCAS is the industry standard for commercial collision avoidance systems but PCAS is gaining recognition as an effective means of collision avoidance for general aviation and is in use the world over by independent pilots in personally owned or rented light aircraft as well as by flight schools and flying clubs.
These devices detect transponder equiped aircraft within a certain scaleable range 1NM – 5NM and relative altitude 500ft – 2500ft with ascending descending indicator. The units can be connected to intercom system to give audible alerts in addition. As small as a pack of cards can be installed on the dash with velcro and can either run from AA bateries or connected to the 12 volt system.
Downunder Pilot shop have a basic model available from $670
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Southern Microlight Club
Articles
Articles
The pilot’s new best friend is not some new iteration of a Garmin GPS with moving map, or a satellite XM real-time weather storm scope, an automatic flight log, super chart, EZ flight planning tool, pocket checklist, or in-flight entertainment system. It’s actually all of them and more wrapped into one convenient and seemingly ubiquitous device… the iPhone.
Electronic Flight Bag for Iphone by Sean Scott
Portable Collision Avoidance System
Learning to Fly by Steve Bell
As a person with no previous flying experience or knowledge I am perhaps finally qualified to advise on something, and that would be to give newcomers an insight to what is involved in getting into the sport.
Where it all starts is for you to go along and have a TIF, that is a “trial instructional flight” where you go for a flight with a qualified instructor and you get to experience what its like to fly in one of these machines.
An observation put to me recently was that weather conditions can often be very settled for a few days in succession at or around the time of the full moon and that if you are going to set a date for a cross country trip your chances of getting good flying weather are much better at or around this time each month.
And wouldn’t you know it!, in this past week we have had 6 consecutive of high pressure and relatively calm conditions which just happened to coincide with the full moon on 26th July. Spooky huh!
Sheer Lunacy by Steve Bell
Buying a Trike - What are the Options
New? second hand? which engine? what wing? which trike base? How much $? what do I get for the extra bucks? what are the differences? What do I look for? how do I work out what’s best for me?
The aim of this article is to help you understand the differences and to enable you to make decisions on buying your first trike. Now I don’t want to come across as a sales person for airborne so I’m firstly going to tell you this. As far as I know we have just one trike manufacturer in Australia (Airborne) and as a consequence there are more Airborne trike’s here than anything else.
While it's standard practice to tie wire exhaust springs to protect the prop in the event that a spring breaks. An additional idea that many Pilots have been adopting is to apply a bead of silastic along the spring which further assists by absorbing and reducing vibration which is thought to be a contributing cause of the springs breaking.
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Trike Tip - Protecting your Prop
On a Wing and a Chair
You might think that maybe a pilot who became a quadriplegic might try to find a way to fly again but how about someone who wasn't a pilot beforehand.
In a motorcycle accident David Jacka broke the fifth vertebrae in his neck which left him as a C5/6 complete quadriplegic, with limited arm function, unable to move anything from his armpits down, with no finger function and unable to regulate his body temperature.
On a Wing and a Chair
With a high pressure centred over Victoria and a nice sunny day forecast Ken and I thought to ourselves lets go flying. And so it was at 7am on a fresh August morning that we took off from Latrobe Valley heading for Dixons Creek as our first stop-over on our way through to Yarrawonga. As usual the Latrobe Valley has lots of foggy areas and heaps of moisture in the morning air.
Carburetor Icing by Steve Bell
Grand final day had Mick and I at the aerodrome by 6am readying the trikes for a quick trip to Porepunkah and back. The trip would consist of Mick (Outback Cruze), Terry (ST3) and myself (SST) departing from West Sale (WSL) and heading up the Licola valley past Mount Skene to the open valleys of Mansfield, then along the King valley to Whitfield, then east to Lake Buffalo and over the majestic Mount Buffalo and into Porepunkah.
West Sale to Porepunkah and back by trike
by Alf Jessup
Click on the link below to view a very informative Webinar on 2 stroke engines. Topics covered include Carburetor Jets, Propellor, exhaust and drag loading and how all these items interact. The main causes of engine failure and how to avoid them.
Presented by: Brian Carpenter of Rainbow Aviation
2 Stroke engine Webinar
Is your engine about to fail?
A decision was made late Saturday afternoon the 12th of February 2011 to conduct a sortie to Marlo from West Sale and back on the Sunday if the forecast stood up to what it was meant to be.
Mick Ludbey, John Brent and myself were confirmed starters for the 80nm each way trip from West Sale to the east over the beautiful Gippsland lakes region then to follow the coast from lakes Entrance the remaining 29nm to Orbost aerodrome located on the coast at Marlo.
Adventure Flight WSL to Marlo
by Alf Jessup
Links & Resource Documents from Kev McNally's Maintenance Seminar