Whitsundays

Arriving in Airlie Beach on the 20th December . The management of the Shute Harbour Airport were kind enough to let me use a garage hanger of one of the houses for sale at the Wave Residential Airport. Over the next week I flew over the Whitsundays and enjoyed the flights . These are a few screen shots of the video.

Unloading the chopper into the garage

Snuggled into its new home

Ready for the first flight

landed Whithaven Beach

Welcome Svenja Winters

Whitehaven Approach

Hazelwood Island

Daydream Island

Dash shot Hamilton Island

Rear view Whitehaven Beach

South Mole Island

Hayman Island

Hill inlet higher tide

Wave Aviation Village Estate

A video put together of Wave Aviation Village Estate


GREAT BARRIER REEF

A 25mile flight over water looking at nothing but water for a good half hr  seemed a little nervy, with no where to land even when you get their. Then followed by the same back. We worth the trip thou very beautiful

Bottom centre is Reef World where the big boats dock

                                                                                               Bait Reef

Heart Reef

Tail shot of Heart Reef

Rainbow Beach

 Rainbow Beach township looking out to Double Island Point

Double Island Point

Sand cliffs looking back to Rainbow Beach

Tourist bus viewing point of the sand cliffs

Fraser Island Hervey Bay

Take a fly around Fraser Island with me

Flying over the Maheno Wreck produced some stunning screen grabs from the videos. I visited the Maheno some 18yrs ago and their was a lot more left than now. It won't be to long before the wreck is just bits of rusted metal

This wreck was on the western side of the island and looks as thou it has been their for a long time too

The marina at Hervey Bay

Point Vernon looking over Hervey Bay
and out to Fraser Island. The island had around 1/3 of the northern end on fire and you can see the smoke drifting from left to right on this picture.

This shot shows the fire front making its way towards the coast 

Byron Bay

A flight around Byron Bay

              A few land shots 

 

FINALLY A DEPARTURE

All seemed ready to go , so a departure date was set for 15th October 2013. Fully loaded the destination was Byron Bay. A 12 hour drive up the cost overnight arriving at Byron in the morning. Well that's what I planned, what happened was a little different. At 1am in the morning just outside of Nambucca Heads the gearbox in the Chev truck exploded. Their i was sitting on the side of the road in a very ordinary position.

Truck loaded and heading to Coff Harbour to have the gearbox rebuilt

Thanks to Kara Kar horse float factory for their help to transport the rig back to their factory

Nambucca Heads

A few free joy flights for the guys who helped out

Many thanks go out to the owner Craig and his staff at Kara Kar for their hospitality in putting me up while the truck was being fixed

Gearbox fixed 1 week later leaving Kara Kar for Byron

The guilty part, broken input shaft

AUV DRONE VIDEO'S

Byron Bay Lighthouse

Filmed from Drone over the lighthouse

Nowra Show 2013

After obtaining permission I sent the drone up with the fireworks. She got shot at a few times but it only knocked it a bit  .... enjoy...

This video was taken at the show and used as a display

Drone Pictures

I have been looking at ways to achieve low level video and after some research

these drones are capable of carring a go-pro camera with ease. 

Drone 1

 Drone 1 was the first test (crash test dummy)

This one crashed many times till I got the hang of it.

A great little unit but a little small

Drone2

Along came the second (a bit of builder design)

tests so far have been very impressive in capturing low level videoing

This drone being larger has more stability in the air and light winds

Drone No3
 Ok Drone No2 had some problems(ie made from wood)
So along came No3 aluminium frame same running gear, but it needed upgrading.
auto pilot,gps nav, return to home and auto land
The upgrades will be fitted soon and a video posted

Drone 4
The aluminium drone 3 was to heavy so Drone 4

 

carbon fibre full auto pilot YS-X6

Drone 5
After stabilisation problems with videoing, drone 4 has been put on the back burner.
So along came the new design.
This Drone is giving me very stable footage.

A few pics of the helicopter build

In late 2006 I purchased these boxes of goodies."Wow" did I have a big job on my hands. Building a helicopter was one of the hardest things I have done

powdercoated frame and tail boom

fitting the body

dash fit out

nearly completed dash

getting close

transported to storage

out of storage and into the workshop to fitout the blades,
landing gear changed with longer skids for landing stability

out with the old style chain and oil bath

in with the upgraded cog drive system

out with the engine and over to the states for Andrew Burrs upgraded
bigger hp engine

my engine on Andrew's dyno in the states
all going fine with two hrs loaded run time

first startup with blades on and ground running

first hover

returned after first forward flight

flying over seven mile beach

first extended flight to Ailbion Park Airport Wollongong

cargo pod fitted

calibration of instruments at Bankstown Airport