I was able to find a place where you can get rides and maybe even get
checked out, but it's small and the selection of aircraft is not very wide.
It's Hoxton Park, some 35 km west of Sydney. It's actually a cool little
airport, would be quiet except the helo students in Robbie's use it for
practice, and they make an awful racket hovering up and down and up and down
the field. Even with the doors of the hangar shut, it was hard to make
myself heard for the little 1st Annual Oz BD-5 Expo we had organized.

But let's see... they have Jabiru's for rent, two-seaters in a class
equivalent to LSA's. They also have some Cessna spam cans, and you can get a
joy ride in an Extra 300 if you like. But it's all local joyride stuff,
nothing seriously available for long x-c.

They did have a couple of extremely cool British aircraft I had never seen
before, except in pictures, with cabins like helicopters and a center ducted
fan setup. You can see the pics at:

http://www.bd5.com/OzExpo06/ulthm1.htm

Apparently the factory closed, and the insurance company that bought the
rights has been madly trying to buy these because otherwise British law
requires them to maintain parts inventory. The owner will not sell, and
wants to buy more of the ones left out there. I forget the name of the
plane, maybe someone can refresh my memory....

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
...
Roy Smith wrote:
I'm toying with the idea of a trip to Australia for a few weeks. What's
involved in renting a plane there with a US pilot's license? Is it
possible?

I applied in advance last year and got a letter of authorization to fly
around the outback. I had to do essentially a BFR when I got there.

However, it's impossible now I hear. To go into any field that has
any sort of scheduled service (even once a week commuter service), you
need a security card which is impossible to practically obtain.


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