Nancy is fantastic. I know her, she’s now 93. She was Australia’s first commercial pilot and had to fly in very primitive conditions at an extremely male dominated time in male dominated outback Australia.

Chipmunk gain!

Excellent! (For Oz). Do you know where it will be based? We do have a few flying Chipmunks here already.

1958Biggles, feel free to ask me about flying in Australia. Remember that we are in Summer right now, unlike the UK and USA.

We do have generally good weather all year round, but April/May/June is a good time to fly here. It won’t be nearly as hot as it is now but we still have clear blue skies, good flying weather, low terrain, vast distances, good scenery, and little traffic.

Your pound is worth a fortune here, so you could either hire and older aircraft and save some money, or pay a bit more and get a newer aircraft with modern avionics. $100 Aussie dollars is 39 pounds. $200 is 78 pounds, $300 is 118 pounds. That will give you an idea when you look at the websites for aircraft hire rates.

I haven’t flown in the USA but know plenty of people who have, and their flying is probably a bit cheaper again. I think it would be good to fly there, but if you want somewhere on the other side of the world Australia would be a good place. I can’t give you any advice on SA!

As for having a holiday, we have lots of good things to see and do – especially if you have a flying holiday. We have airstrips at almost deserted white sandy beaches (eg Moruya NSW), you could fly to Ayers Rock or along the coast heading up to the Great Barrier Reef.

That’s the good part. Now for the disadvantages. We have a bureacratic regulator can make flying here much harder than in places like the USA. We do have ICAO airspace but some of it is not standard, so you would have to be aware of some differences. We have way too much restricted military airspace, unlike the UK and the USA. We regulations which are generally more prescriptive than the USA.

However, if you have a UK medical that can be used here, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.

Since September 11 we’ve had do to federal security checks and this can take some time, so if you do decide you want to come here I’d suggest getting that underway as soon as you can. You can’t fly solo until you have the security clearance.

Feel free to email me or ask questions. Here are some links to have a look at.

Flying schools:
Airborne Aviation, Camden (Sydney)
(This one is one of the expensive ones with new aircraft)
http://www.airborne-aviation.com.au/aircraft/

The same site has good information for visiting foreign pilots see:
http://www.airborne-aviation.com.au/aircraft/international.html

Curtis Aviation, Camden (Sydney)
http://www.curtisaviation.com.au/index.asp

Schofields Flying Club, Bankstown (Sydney) – they ask money for membership.
http://www.schofields-flying-club.com.au/

General Flying Services, Sydney and Melbourne
http://www.generalflyingservices.com.au/

Johnston Aviation Services, Port Macquarie (nice part of the coast between Sydney and Brisbane … and they do provide student accommodation and good training)
http://www.johnstonaviation.com.au/

There are plenty of other schools around, some cheaper. I’ve just listed a few. Of course there are schools all over the place – I’ve mainly put schools near Sydney.

Civil Aviation Safety Authority:
CASA information on the security check:
http://www.casa.gov.au/fcl/licence/index.htm

CASA information for foreign pilots:
http://www.casa.gov.au/fcl/overbr.htm

Best of luck!

Yak 11, I’m based in Australia and I’ve got quite a few hours in Citabrias. Mainly 7GCBC but also one 7ECA. They are nice fun things. Not a “serious” tailwheel aircraft in that you can still see where you are going and they are relatively easy to handle on the ground.

They feel like a “real” aeroplane, with a stick, and the throttle on the left so it feels pretty natural to fly. They are simple things, with a push button start and toggle switches.

You can aerobat them, in fact I did my intial aeros training in them, but they are basic. They are very heavy in roll. I had to grab the cage with one hand for leverage and throw the stick across – not exactly a roll with finesse! Loops are generally 3G egg shaped ones. They stall turn well, but they don’t have a lot of power so you have to kick them around pretty much as soon as you get vertical. Spins and recoveries are simple enough, but it the spin feels a bit “wobbly” not smooth like a Pitts.

They are good though. They sideslip very well on final if you need to lose height. The 7GCBCs have flaps, the ECAs don’t.

Iv’e flown one Decathlon and they feel similar. They have inverted fuel and oil unlike the Citabria.