Bob Tait's Aviation Theory School in Redcliffe, Queensland | Specialty School

Bob Tait's Aviation Theory School

Locality: Redcliffe, Queensland

Phone: +61 7 3204 0965

Address: Hangar 58 Redcliffe Aerodrome 4020 Redcliffe, QLD, Australia

Website: https://bobtait.com.au

Likes: 12925

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25.01.2022 The view from NASA's ER-2

24.01.2022 Anyone got 12 million spare

24.01.2022 Wind gusts at Kununurra Airport today were so strong they blew a this Seneca into the side of a hangar. Gusts reached up to 119 km/h

21.01.2022 Alice Springs Airport

17.01.2022 Power loss was noted on takeoff, Pilot took it for two circuts around the pattern then landed and taxied to maintenance. Pulled the air filter housing and found a considerable amount of the intake valve.

15.01.2022 Pilot complains that the AH isn't working...

13.01.2022 Update our sim has its certification approval renewed so its ready for hire $75/per hour

09.01.2022 This is my greatest propeller accomplishment, and the cherry on top is who I got to make it for. Jack and his wife Connie are two of the most wonderful people... you will ever meet. Last summer Jack came to our shop and brought me an original WW1 prop and asked me to duplicate it. It was the most unique prop I had seen, the blades were thicker than the hub, the blade cord was so wide I could only fit it into the jaws of the lathe at an angle, and I had to make a pattern off it. This is the part that make me sick to my stomach, what if I damage this original? Just the thought of putting a scratch on it made me sick. It took me a year to do it. Jack has build this Sopwith by hand. He cut down the tree that the spars are made of. It has all original gauges, original leather seat, and original machine gun, original working engine, the cowling was made in England, and I got to make the prop. This is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to work on a project of this caliber, and I can’t believe I got the opportunity. I told Jack I would do my very best and get as identical as possible and he said that will be fine, and if anyone has a problem with it they can talk to me and I’ll set them straight. I still don’t really know how the stars aligned for me to be in this line of work but I’m thankful for it everyday from the very bottom of my heart because of the people I meet through it and the projects I get to be a part of.

05.01.2022 The thing felt like it was a running a little rough when I leveled out at 7,000 feet about 20 miles outside of Minot on my way home but I couldn't really tell. I made a mental note to take a look when I got on the ground in Bismarck and went back to staring out the window. Then the left engine started shaking with a fair amount of drama so I pulled the power back to idle, called air traffic control to tell them I had an engine problem and was returning to Minot then started t...roubleshooting. Checked the magnetos but no change. Switched fuel tanks in case it was a contamination issue, no change. Kept it high to preserve energy and got back to the airport, still with the thing at idle. Approach flaps and gear down (the drill is to keep everything as normal as possible in a single-engine approach and landing) and life was good. About a mile or two from the runway the left engine started shaking violently and I knew I had to shut it down so I reached over to the propeller control to pull it into feather when the cowl shot up (it hinges down, normally), some large dark object went shooting off into space and oil started pouring out and over the wing. So, I pull the prop lever into feather and nothing happens. (The prop relies on oil pressure to feather and that all went away with whatever went flying out the side of the cowling.) This isn't great but I'm still plenty fast with plenty of energy on the airplane and not very far to go so I pulled the mixture to idle cut-off to stop dumping fuel into the engine and got back to the business of landing the airplane. Well, I was glad I hadn't given up my airspeed or altitude too easily because with a windmilling prop, gear down and approach flaps it takes every bit of power the other engine can muster just to stay on the glidepath. Anyhow, the landing was a non-event and I taxied in with the cowling door sticking up, the prop stopped and oil everywhere.