Maralinga is a 3,000 sq km section of desert in South Australia where the British Government tested atomic weapons in the 1950s. In the 1990s, the Australian government completed a successful decontamination of the site. Though my main work was based in Canberra, I needed to visit the Maralinga site about four times a year. …
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International
A severe, multi-day case of “get-there-itis”
This summer I used the pause between the second and third waves of Covid to do some international flying. My plan was to fly from my native Slovakia via Czechia to Peenemünde (the test facility for V-1 and V-2 rockets in WWII) in northern Germany. This got cancelled due to a stormy front coming from the North …
Friday Photo: a patchwork quilt
The view: Flying over fields in Victoria, Australia, after heavy rains The pilot: Neil Sidwell The airplane: ICP Savannah The mission: My first flight over regional Victoria after lifting of COVID restrictions The memory: Yellow canola, brown ploughed fields, green grass, and dark green wooded hills in the background melding into a patchwork quilt. Want …
From Venezuela to Alaska and back
It all started in May 1998, after we installed factory rebuilt engines in our 1976 Piper Seneca II, YV-850P, with 3,000 hours total time. We also added long range fuel tanks, GAMI injectors, Black Magic automatic waste gates, a JPI engine monitor, a Garmin 150 GPS coupled to an STEC-55 autopilot, LoPresti speed mods, and …
SportStar-ing it around Australia
My first flight was in a Cessna 152, on my eldest brother’s 10th birthday. He got to go on a flight as a present and, seeing my long face, the pilot took pity and took me for flight. I was about 7 years old, but I still remember with awe seeing my fox terrier dog …
Friday Photo: Le Bourget Lake
The view: Le Bourget Lake, located in the French Alps The pilot: Phillippe Platek The airplane: Cessna 152 (F-GDIK) The mission: A recreational flight from Annecy (LFLP) to Chambery (LFLB) The memory: From snowy peaks to calm water, all in one shot. Want to share your “Friday Photo?” Send your photo and description (using the format above) to: [email protected] …
A close call on the water in the Bahamas
Rotating ten feet off the water, there was an ominous and very audible bang from the rear of the aircraft. Immediately the seaplane skewed 45 degrees into the east wind, heading us at 80mph toward a frightening scene. Extrasensory perception becomes a gift to seasoned pilots: the slightest noise, even above the drone of an …
Fire, fire, fire
“To err is human, but to persevere in error is only the act of a fool.” —Cicero I had qualified as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force in 1966, completed the flight instructor’s course a few months earlier, and just upgraded to QFI Cat B a few days ago. In other words, I …
Hand flying across Canada
2020 was an epic flying year for my son Daniel, his friend Theo, and me as we had the opportunity to fly our new plane across the country, to its new home in Nova Scotia from its previous home in Kamloops, British Columbia. New airplane? Cross-country trip? Let’s go! The idea for a new plane …
Aerobatics in a 1946 Auster—and a lesson learned
Some years ago, having left England for my French retirement, I imported an Auster from the UK with a view to displaying her at regional southwest events over the summer months. After several years of displaying in the UK a Nanchang CJ6, a superb radial engine plane that was used by the People’s Republic of …