Microlight menace!?

[Cali]

I had my say too.

To say you don't understand my sense of humour and then through two more punches in one post is not on (rk)

Wart check out the NO topick in avcom there's some more for you.

[RV Sometime]

I don't blame anybody for being mad after reading that nonsense & sent Wart a pm in that regard.

I am sick of the us & them bull.

I have had exactly one time when I was alarmed & that was when a paraglider broadcast near circus to his mate that he had just run out of fuel & it sounded like he was joking about it. That was before the split to this forum & Zoo tackled the incident admirably.

By comparison, I can point many fingers in blik drivers directions & during a very recent sortie close to Panorama, had a 210 driver cut into the ctr to beat me to Rand & during the same flight & a 172 driver coming out of Rand toward me at 7500 feet. I had just returned from East London & abeam Bass lake heard some ml guys who were operating out of the field east of Bass Lake communicating effectively & having fun.

I have heard Zoo & co having responsible fun too.

I have also been at Rand when some MAD ml guys who probably are on the forum have flown in early on a sat morning for brekkies. Mad cos it was winter & I was freezing on the ground. I had my radio on during the pre flight & could not fault the airmanship displayed at all.

Ace & I have shared the skies down at Port Alfred in my blik last year, & wow, shock & horror, he flies a blik like a veteran.

I could go on but don't need to.

Sadly, it's all so damned inflammatory & unnecessary.

Regards

RV

PS I am flying down to Kimberly this morning & back. I am expecting it to be bliksems cold & windy.

[Tumbleweed]

Posted this response, only my views and not only directed at the bliks, but too us all.

" I and I'm sure many more microlighters, gain knowlege and exposure from avcom. (The jokes and pics are not too shi%&tty either)

Regular threads cover radio work and joining procedures, but how often does common courtesy i.e. airmanship and local strip etiquette overide air law?.

Should all general aviation remain under 7000ft a.g.l. under JHB TMA?

Should everyone apply correct joining procedures to the circuit and not announce 'long finals' coz he heard a microlight announce 'downwind'?

Should an elborate radio call announcing 'taxi to holding point' not also imply 'take your bullsh%$t acrobatic cowboy tricks out of the circuit'?

Could some of the elaborate pre-flight checks not be done at the hangar instead of hogging the holding point for 10 min when several trikes are doing circuits and landings?

And does this create the 'zooting over the veld' straight onto the strip with the' rolling 11' call?

Could some 'back tracking' include a bit of haste and not cause the circuit to elaborate over built up areas for same microlights?

Could we elaborate more on the "operating at 7000ft in the ( ) area" when flying at 140 m/ph and perhaps include a flight direction?

I think the fact that microlights fly earlier and later in the day alienates us from some much needed social interaction, where most of these issues would be covered over a castle.

This forum partly substitutes that, but lets encourage interaction and stupid questions and include more corrective response with less arrogance coz that might just discourage the 'embarrassed' radio call which could influence you.

The many 'views' on radio threads compared to the responses surely indicate that many are too scared of making an arse out of themselves.

The high milers should realise that the most of us 'appies' take your actions as the trend. Maybe some great flying techniques do not make up for slap procedure."

This is 'Blue Bull' territory.

[Big-D]

[gertcoetzee]

Ah, in my neverending quest to put names to all these nicknames I think I have made another connection. The following bullsh*t could only have been posted by the one (and thankfully) only Duif David Levy...

I think I met "Totterkop" once, ummh sorry Rotorkop, he is a cross dresser with a particular love for farm animals. The reason he makes such a big deal about Standard 6 is because those were the best 5 years in his life. Us mere mortals can only strive to fully grasp his exceptional sense of humour. Yip, old Airfwolf (Tottercop) is out there guys - Do take care

[Big-D]

"David H Levy is one of the most successful comet discoverers in history. He has discovered 21 comets, 8 of them using his own backyard telescopes"

Yip, you got my number Gert. I am busted. David H Levy at your service

Hope the weather is better in your neck of the woods then here - Wind sure is blowing

[Big-D]

He has discovered 21 comets

Eish Gert, better make that 22! - I just found another one.

Was thinking of calling it the Coetzee-Levy 1 :D :D :D

[The Agent]

I suggest that we should ignore him flat.

Maybe he will talk to himself cause I wont ever again.

[RV Sometime]

Delta VV wrote

Should all general aviation remain under 7000ft a.g.l. under JHB TMA?

Am I showing my ignorance here. I do not think that there is any differentiation between the ml requirements & the blik requirements wrt seps under the jhb tma.

I have always been under the impression that when travelling north from 270 to 090 you can be at either 6500 or at 7500 & when travelling south between 090 & 270, you can be at 6500 or 7000. This applies to sra west or east.

If you are operating lower than that it is discretionary.

The jhb gf is discretionary as well as the helicopter gf.

Have I got it wrong. I'm very interested cos I will be doing the same kind of flying you guys do before the end of the year.

Regards

RV

The tma ceiling is 7600.

[The Agent]

Hi Big D the one I reffered to was as you mentioned Totterkop.

[Big-D]

I agree. Tottercop (Rotor Kop) is not worth getting upset about.

[justin.schoeman]

Delta VV wrote

Should all general aviation remain under 7000ft a.g.l. under JHB TMA?

Am I showing my ignorance here. I do not think that there is any differentiation between the ml requirements & the blik requirements wrt seps under the jhb tma.

I have always been under the impression that when travelling north from 270 to 090 you can be at either 6500 or at 7500 & when travelling south between 090 & 270, you can be at 6500 or 7000. This applies to sra west or east.

The rule is:
Generaly Northerly (270-90): 7500ft
Generaly Southerly: 7000ft

If you cannot, or do not wish to comply, then 6500ft or below.

This applies to _all_ a/c below the TMA.

Of course, you could always ask Jhb for permission to enter the TMA, but I somehow doubt you would get it ...

-justin

[Tumbleweed]

Thanks, and correct to all, particularly the bit 'applies to all general aircraft'.

[RV Sometime]

Hi Demon

It was an interesting trip.

I departed rand at 07h45 local with 250 kg of commodity for an orphanage in kimberly.

Wx was bad, could see the silver ball, tower could see the power station, vmc minima, bases at 1500. Wind was 25 gusting 30 from 120.

It started with a bird strike whilst taxiing to rwy 11. I notified the tower & shut down at the holding point to check the prop etc.

Upon lining up & waiting the asi was already indicating 25 to 40 mph

I met up with the other aerie in the gf, we climbed out to fl105 & headed for Kimberly. The gps speed going down averaged 160 kts, sometimes up to 175 :D :D :D

After offloading the cargo, I was instructed to move to accommodate the heavy scheduled traffic.

I turned on the master, checked systems & did the starting routine. As the prop started swinging, the panel died & the main solenoid mounted next to the battery box was jumping in and out. There was no sparky available, but after phoning a local pilot mate, I organised a multimeter. I traced the fault to a bad connection on the solenoid.

The flight back was hairy. I climbed to fl115 but within 75 nm encountered clouds. At first I could weave my way around them but the shadows on the ground started indicating 5 /8 so I called for fl095. I was then between 2 layers, the higher layer 7/8 & the lower layer 3/8. Descent under the tma was interesting cos although there were plenty of holes, they were not far apart enough for a normal vfr descent so I had to spiral down. At 7500 it was bumpy & viz was vmc. In the gf, I called rand to find out field conditions cos I was worried about getting in & I was considering a precautionary at Solitude. They told me it was vmc minima so I pressed on. The landing was beautiful, I could almost exit at the first taxiway, ml short field landing stuff. :D :D :D During taxi, I saw up to 45 mph on the asi

Yup, not ml or ultralight weather.

You guys must be frustrated with the lousy weather we have had lately.

Regards

RV

[skybound®]

I have just seen a topic on Avcom general titled Microlight Menace.
http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB2/viewtopic ... highlight=
This is the exact reason I started the microlight forum
I suggest any guys who use avcom look at the topic and make rational responses. Be calm and objective
wart, skybound, kb and i have posted responses so far

Demon Sir, this time I have to respectfully disagree. When asking about the forum split, the answers receieved was that MLers have different issues etc.

Creation of this forum does in my mind create a split in the community adding more fuel to the 'us and them' fire.

I think to a degree MLers have to accept that years ago, they did fly without radios, pliot licences etc, and have picked up a bad name owing to that. It is going to take some time to remove the cowboy stigma.

One way in which we tackled it in our neck of the world is that we sorted out our own and ensured that all MLers towed the line, with decent comms and 'radiomanship'.

It did pay off.

At one of our quarterly ATNS meetings, where all airspace users are represented (All schools, clubs, paragliders, fixed wing gliders, ML etc), one of our biggest crticisers, a large fixed wing power school, came out and complimented the MLers as he believed they were the most professional bunch on the radio out of all the users, and that others could learn from us.

So what I am trying to say, is accept where we are and do something positive to help change the other users perceptions. (Remember perception does not equal reality)