Paul's adventures flying around Tasmania in Ruby the Foxbat

Learning to Fly

In May 2017, Paula asked me what I wanted for my 62 birthday … I said that I would like to have some flying lessons.

I found Eugene Reid at Freedom Flight in George Town, northern Tasmania and he taught me how to fly in his Jabiru 120.

If I’m honest, I was initially sceprical that such a small plane would get us both off the ground safely…but the truth is that my trial lesson was an absolute blast!

Once I went solo in his Jabiru 120, I figured that I would be sure to get my licence eventually.  So the question became what was I going to do with my pilot licence? 

The obvious answer was I was going to fly – so I was going to need:

  • an aeroplane
  • and a hangar at and airfield where I could store it and from which I could fly it.

The problem was that there simply were no good options anywhere near where I live in Southern Tassie.

Eugene Reid and the Jabiru 120 in which I began my flying lessons

Then I thought:  could I build a strip and fly from my small farm?  The answer was yes, but only if I bought a STOL (short take off and landing) aeroplane.

Eugene introduced me to Robert Van Norden who was flying a Foxbat out of Devonport at the time…and he took me up for a flight to show me what she was like.

The answer was, she was to die for:  great performance, fairly roomy for a pilot and one passenger, quick enough for touring (95Kts cruise) and capable of T/O and Landing in 100m.  Foxbats also have great visibility almost as good as a helicopter…

 

Robert's Valor (an American Foxbat)

Finding Ruby

Ruby (when she was young) on a trip with Norm

So, I went to the second hand aviation market and, as luck would have it, Norm Hite had decided to upgrade to a new Vixxen (he later changed his mind and went with a new Foxbat instead…) and put his FPNA Valor up for sale.

The Valor is a slightly modified version of the early Aeroprakt Foxbat built by FPNA in the USA with an increased MTOW – and, oddly enough, identical to the Foxbat (also officially a Valor) in which Robert had introduced me to STOL flying.  In fact, his was the form in which Foxbats were initially introduced to Australia.

So, I bought her – on the basis that Norm would fly her across Bass Strait to Tasmania.

In the accompanying photo, Ruby is wearing her delivery 15×6.00-6 tyres and spats.  By the time I bought her, Norm had removed the spats (which now sit under my house as they had long sat under Norm’s) and had put larger 6.00-6 tyres on the main gear.

Since then, I’ve increased the size of the main gear tyres yet again to 8.00-6 Carlisle Turfglide “Tundra” tyres.

Then, it was just a case of waiting for “perfect” weather to make the crossing of Bass Strait so that I could complete my pilot training in my own aeroplane…

…but Norm called me and suggested I might enjoy joining him on the trip across the water (oh yes!)…

…so I drove to Georgetown, then I flew Eugene’s Jabiru to Devonport, caught a QANTAS flight from there to Melbourne and a bus down to Geelong where Norm picked me up, gave me dinner and a bed for the night and, next morning, straight after breakfast, we climbed into Ruby for a three and a half hour flight to Georgetown.

Flying Ruby from the Bellarine Peninsula via Wilsons Promentory and Flinders Island to Tasmania

Norm is the Pilot in Charge
We took this route to be almost always within gliding distance of some speck of land
Tracking west across southern Victoria early on a November morning
Approaching Flinders Island
I'm the co-pilot, taking a turn at the controls...You can see I'm wearing a life-vest
Approaching Tasmania
Approaching one of the "safety" specks of land enroute
As we get to George Town - you can see Low Head top-left - Eugene and a student meet us

Learning to Fly Ruby

It is, of course, cheaper to learn to fly in your own aeroplane – you don’t need to pay for the aircraft hire fee – but there turned out to be some downside too.  Flying Ruby was surprisingly different to the Jabiru 120 had flown so far. 

Firstly, she is controlled through a standard GA (general aviation) yoke using the left hand on the yoke, right hand on the throttle.  The Jabiru is flown with the left hand on the throttle and the right on a central joystick.  You’d be surprised what a difference that makes to a beginner!

Secondly, as a STOL aircraft, she she has a much lower wing loading so generates more lift, and climbs at a much sharper angle and she lands much more slowly too.  She is also much more affected by turbulance.

The upshot was that it took me longer to gain my licence than I had expected.  Not entirely a bad thing though.  not only has that made me a better pilot, but it gave me the time I needed to get Windrush International Airport – Ruby’s eventual nest – ready for her.

From a basic Pilot Certificate to a licence to explore by air

Once I got my licence, Eugene began teaching me more of the advanced techniques I’d need for the kind of bush strips I’d be using.

We made a couple of navigation flights down to my property from George Town “dual” then, excitement+++, I flew Ruby solo down to her own nest.

Flying various routes from Windrush International to George Town and back (for dual navigation training) then formed parts of the solo navigation exercises as I competed my cross-country endorsement.

Since then, I’ve made some videos of my flying experiences starting here at Windrush International Airport 🙂 in the Huon Valley.

You can check some these out on my YouTube channel.

the story in sound and vision

A couple of years ago, our local council hired a video producer  to make some publicity videos of people in the Huon Valley who were doing interesting things.
They made this video about me – and Ruby the Foxbat.