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Old 8th Feb 2010, 14:16
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Tiger35
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Brisbane
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The Mirage has been there since my last visit in the 1990's. I've got photos of it there in about 1993, but not on this computer.

It won't fly again and the engine is unlikely to be run again because of the high chance of a fire in the burner can from an "over-rich" start, a regular occurrence in RAAF ops, hence the rubbish bin full of water on standby at every start.

The kero smell was probably someone washing some grease or oil stains off with kero, or an enthusiastic curator keen to keep the punters hopeful.

Why would you want to fly a complex military aircraft that was designed with an ejection seat, a drag chute and was required to be operated off an ATC manned and protected airfield with a crash barrier and full fire service......from a small civilian airfield with no facilities and no restrictions on which Tom, Dick or Harry could just cut you off in the circuit at 90kts when you are still slowing down to 210kts at high alpha on final?

The L39 flies at speeds similar enough to normal aircraft speeds in the circuit to be safe.

The Mirage doesn't start flying until way faster than normal aircraft and it stops flying while still well above normal aircraft speeds.

I'd love to see one fly again too, but it won't happen.
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