Flying Over Melbourne While Medically Grounded

Flying Over Melbourne While Medically Grounded

It’s been a while. Yes, I am still medically 
grounded at the moment. I cannot fly this aircraft as pilot in command, but I am going to go for 
a flight in Echo Yankee Zulu today nonetheless. And I thought because it’s been so long, it’s 
been so long since we’ve done this together, I thought I’d bring you along with me. Hello, 
ladybug. Go, go, go. Hi. Now, if you are new here, just very quickly, hello. My name is Stef. 
I’m a pilot here in Australia. And yes, I am currently medically grounded because of 
a brain operation I had just over a year and a half ago. But if you aren’t new here, 
you would know that in a recent video, I did say that I did send an update to CASA with 
some more information on my medical situation, basically putting in an appeal to ask them if I 
can fly again. Now, I did get an update from them, but kind of the update is there’s no update. 
Basically, they said, “Your medical application has been assessed as needing further 
interpretation by one of our senior medical officers.” So, as I stand at the moment, 
the application is still with the regulator. I’m still waiting to hear back from them. But I can 
still fly, obviously, as long as I’m not flying as pilot in command. So, as long as I had have 
basically a certified flying instructor with me, which is exactly what I’m doing today, so I can 
get up in the air, I can get a bit of practice in, and hopefully when the medical does come through 
again and I can fly as pilot in command again, I’m just not as rusty as had I not have waited or 
had I not have flown and waited this whole period. So, it was actually my friend Steven who sent 
me a message yesterday and he suggested that we should maybe take Echo Yankee Zulu out. And even 
though I have flown Echo Yankee Zulu twice before, this will be the first flight that I do in Echo 
Yankee Zulu that I’m going to be filming and sharing on YouTube since I had my brain surgery. 
And even though I’m not pilot in command, it’s still a big deal for me because I love making 
these general aviation videos for you. And to be honest, I really miss making them as well. So, I’m 
really looking forward to sharing this video with you. However, there is one little caveat that I 
want to throw in there. It is super windy today. It’s going to be interesting on a day like today 
when I’m obviously a little bit rusty even though I’ve got a qualified flying instructor sitting 
next to me. Interesting to see how I actually go. So me in Echo Yankee Zulu and Steven in 
Kilo Juliet November taxied out to depart together with the third aircraft planning to 
meet up with us once we were airborne. Put a bit of air on as well Shannon just to go. 
She’s a bit thirsty. Cool it down a Yeah, it’s warm inside here. Because Shannon, 
who’s sitting in the right seat here, is a certified flying instructor, I could use 
this as an actual hands-on training flight. So, I was using this opportunity to not only 
practice my flying skills. All right. Thanks, Stephen. I’m good to go with you. Right on. But 
also to go through some of those skills that I probably got a bit rusty on having not flown for 
a while. Things like how I do my checklists and pre-flight briefings on the ground. Any issues 
on the runway? Anything irregular? I’ll close the throttle, stop on the runway. Um, even if we’re 
airborne and there’s runway ahead, um, I will land basically on the remaining runway. Otherwise, 
it’s 500 ft straight ahead or above 500. I’ll go for caps. Sounds good to me. You guys, yep, 
I’m good to go. Let me know when you got power down for the option. 40% on the brakes. 
I got power. Okay, brakes release. Go. Oh, come on. Eye, don’t let 
him get away. She’s heavy. Flip’s coming up. carry. You’re still good. Yeah, just drop me behind a 
little bit, but I’ll catch you up. Don’t worry. If you need to full power, just let me know. 
I reckon you’ll get him straight. Yeah. No, I’ll I’ll catch you up. Don’t worry. Just in 
the turns, the perception shifts so much. Yeah, I didn’t accelerate enough around the outside of 
that turn as well. I think I was just ling behind, so I was on the same probably power as him. Yeah, 
but he’s got a tighter turn circle, so I don’t think I got beautifully spaced. Yeah, that’s a 
bit better now. Level off. Copy. And right heading towards Frankston. Okay. Okay. I’m going to blame 
the um the conditions a little bit as well. I think last time we did it, it was just We got so 
lucky though. Yeah, we did. Just for my reference, what kind of power are you holding when you’re 
uh straight level? About 70% at the moment. Yeah, good. That’s where I’m at, too. Thank you. Just 
left the Moraban controller on 2,500 and aiming for Frankston. Hello. Hello. We’re over Frankston 
at the moment at 2 and a half. Do you want to go at two until you find us? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I’ll 
do that. All right, let’s go into a right turn. The sun’s probably going to be a [ __ ] for you 
though. Uh, all good. You do you and I’ll follow you around. Uh, got your visual. I’ll um turn to 
intercept right now. Yeah, you might see me now. Have you got him? I have He’s just off your wing a 
little bit low. Excellent. Thank you. This will never not be cool. Oh, it’s so much fun, 
isn’t it? It’s so much fun. Canon, can you just undo the wing nut and swivel that round so it’s 
pointing at Steven for me? Beautiful. Thank you. You remember that time I took Echo Yankee Zulu 
over to East Teeour or that trip I did in Assirus around Europe? Well, whenever I’m doing those 
trips and I need data on my phone, I’m always using an eSIM from a company called Hollifly. If 
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Don’t forget that code steff 747 for your discount. And thanks to Hollifly for sponsoring 
this video. All right, back to the flight in EYZ. Uh just going to do a fuel tank switch as 
well at the most inopportune time. But you want me to do it? No, I got it. The one thing 
you do miss flying formation is not looking at this the scenery. Yeah. Because all I’ve been 
looking at for the last 20 minutes is uh the side of Steven’s head. I can paint you a visual 
picture of the scenery if you’d like. Yeah. Yeah. Describe it to me. We’ve got undulating 
coastline. Oh, undulating. I love it. Water, sand, the works. Oh, sounds amazing. 
picture. For the next 20 minutes or so, we practiced changing positions in formation. 
All right. So, you’re going to go on right, I’ll go echelon left. Yeah. We took turns to 
take the lead and we tried to get some good air-to-air footage of each other. And thanks to 
Callum, who was sitting in the back seat of EY, who did actually capture some of the video 
footage that you’re watching today. Yeah, no one’s flying at all. It looks like it’s very 
empty here. Yeah, this is a perfect time at night to fly. All the flying schools go home and no 
one wants to fly in the best part of the day. But then it was time to practice our breakaway 
maneuvers. Now, this is what you can do if you are in formation, but you need to get out of 
the formation quickly for whatever reason. It’s basically a firm pitch up and then roll away 
from the formation to get yourself clear of any potential hazards or danger. You happy for 
us to go, Steph? Uh, just give me five or 10 seconds just to get a bit closer. It’s a really 
important maneuver to keep practicing, but it’s also just a lot of fun to fly. Okay, I’m good 
when you up. Okay, I’m breaking to the right now. I’m going to form up a little bit closer to you 
on the left before you do yours. I’ll slow down a bit. All right, break to the right whenever you’re 
ready. Cool. Break. Break. Nice. Nice. All right, you guys ready? I’m not going to do anything 
aggressive. I’m not going to do Stephen. I’ve got counting down. So, three, two, 
one, break. Got my spot to get nice. Are you going to go do a city orbit step? Are you 
all right if we do that? Yeah. Yeah, we’re all good. Yeah, we’re going to go and do that. Have 
you guys done a city orbit formation before? Yeah, that’ll be. It’s great fun actually. If you’re the 
aircraft on the outside and you got another plane below you and then the city behind it. Yeah, 
it’s something else. Good footage there. Yeah, it’s great fun. Estimate tower Sirius Echo 
Yankee Zulu is approaching Albert Park Lake from the south. Received information echo. 
Request clearance for one city orbit. Echo Yankee Zulu. Roger. Traffic overhead the MCG 
this time is a Cessna 172 making a right city orbit at 2,000 ft. Cleared one right city 
orbit by the Balty Bridge, 1500. Cleared one right city orbit by the Balty Bridge, 1500 and 
looking for traffic. Oh yeah, just on the wing. Good call, Shannon. I’m glad we did this. 
I was going to bug out at one point. I know you were. Yeah. Yeah. See, you just 
have to listen to me. That’s That’s what we’ve orchestrated for this whole event. 
I don’t think that’s what we’ve learned. As I maneuvered the aircraft onto short final for 
landing, I did note that the wind was going to make this one a slightly trickier than normal 
landing. Yankee Zo roll through approved from left clear to land with a roll through echo 
Yankee Zoo. In fact, on the airport weather that we’d heard a few moments before winding 
between 21° and 290 degrees at 1 12 knots, maximum crosswind of 15 knots, occasional tailwind 
of 2 knots. We were told that there was going to be a bit of a crosswind and a slight tailwind on 
this landing, too. So, as I flared the aircraft, ready for the touchdown, and it’s slightly out 
of shot here, but Shannon’s right hand did move slightly forward, ready to grab the controls 
just in case I did do something stupid. Oh, I saw your hand go. I’m so sorry. It’s supposed to 
have it. It’s so fine. Some things don’t turn off. I I legit think that’s the first time you’ve done 
that to me. But it’s fine. I accept it. I’m really lucky to have friends who remind me that even 
though I still can’t do flights like this myself, it’s PTSD. It’s not for you. Reply instead of 
sitting at home feeling frustrated about this time when I am grounded. Okay. Again, it comes 
back to you just have to listen. So the next time my friends tell me to get off my butt, 
stop feeling sorry for myself, and come to the airport for a flight was definitely a good 
idea, though. Yeah, that was a good call. That was a good call. I’ll give you that one. That’s 
fair. I think I really will listen to them.

Even though I’m still grounded and can’t fly, my friends suggested we take a few aircraft and get up in the air again. This is the first time I’ve filmed a flight in EYZ since my operation, enjoy flying along with us in three aircraft as we enjoy an evening flying around Melbourne. I also had a brief update on my medical which I share in this video.

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