Guest Andys@coffs Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Hi People I need in the coming weeks to visit my daughter in Canberra. Goulburn looks as close as I can reasonably get. Is it RAA friendly? what sort of landing and parking fees will I have to pay per day and to whom do I speak? Is AVGAS Available? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinsm Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Landing fees $20 to J Ferrara. He runs one of the flying schools there . Avgas available either by paying Mr Ferrara or using an aerorefuellers card. His phone number can be obtained from the NAIPS post for YGLB as he is the subject of a notam at the end of the forcast for YGLB. Ultralights not a worry there are a few of us there and both flying schools teach RAA Aus certificates. (YGLB is the home of Slarti, Robinsm, Volksy68 and a number of others on this site. Any queries, contact me by pm and we will sort them out. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68volksy Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Hi Andy, If you're after hanger space or anything for a couple of days let me know and I can chase up Tony Lammara who has hanger space out there also if you'd like. If you need a lift to or from Canberra I generally go from Goulburn to Canberra most Thursdays and would be happy to provide a lift. There's quite a few who come up from Canberra on Saturdays/Sundays also who'd be happy to provide a lift and also a guy with a new J230 out there who's up from Canberra a couple of days a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andys@coffs Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Guys Thanks for the pointers, I'll chase up the flying school guy closer to the time. As for lifts etc, no problems there my daughter has a car and can come and collect my wife and I. As for hangarage, We should only be visiting for a few days or so and as such punkinhead covers and tie downs should suffice and create less of a hassle for the locals and the field looks to be a bit out of town so I pressume there isnt a problem with vandals/theft etc...Jab's are OK, but their locks are more for looks than a quality bit of kit..... Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrism Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 A bit closer to Canberra than Goulburn is....... Have any locals, or others, taken up Dick Smith's open invitation to land at his property at Gundaroo,? It looks less than half as far away from Canberra civic than Goulburn is. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68volksy Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Dick drops into the Goulburn Aviation BBQ's every now and then. Hard life when you've got a Caravan for weekend "fun" flying! He's never extended an invitation that any of us really feel comfortable following up. The school owner Teraya has flown planes out there once or twice but that was purely on business matters... If there's a more bold soul out there they might like to test the waters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J170 Owner Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Landing fees $20 to J Ferrara. He runs one of the flying schools there . Avgas available either by paying Mr Ferrara or using an aerorefuellers card. His phone number can be obtained from the NAIPS post for YGLB as he is the subject of a notam at the end of the forcast for YGLB.Ultralights not a worry there are a few of us there and both flying schools teach RAA Aus certificates. (YGLB is the home of Slarti, Robinsm, Volksy68 and a number of others on this site. Any queries, contact me by pm and we will sort them out. Cheers TWENTY DOLLAR LANDING FEE - TELL HIM HE'S DREAMING. THAT IS TERRIBLE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68volksy Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Ignition's brought up a good option there - if you can do the CTA thing. Canberra's quite friendly and convenient. and any extra cost would be more than covered by fuel savings. They also provide convenient toilets and a nice little demountable building open at all times for GA pilots and passengers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andys@coffs Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Nope....dont do CTA, Im a type 1 insulin dependent diabetic and the hassle involved in getting a medical and an allowance to enter CTA just isnt worth the hassle for the few times I would need it. If Coffs council was a bit more GA friendly and priced the airfield facilties and hangar options more reasonably then it might be worth it, but all they want at the field is RPT and professional training orgs that bring $ into the area.....Us rec flyers are just a risk to be managed away from the field $20 landing fees.....considering what I think I read here about what he paid for the field etc, its going to take an aweful lot of $20 to cover the interest costs..... so that isnt a hassle in my opinion. From memory G is only about 1.5hrs away by road from Cantbra and the road is expressway as I recall isnt it? Is fuel on field from a bowser, or drums? and whereabouts on the sat view is tiedown and fuel? If bowser is it automated? ie does it take carnet cards or CC? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68volksy Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Hi Andy, It's just on an hour from the airport to the North side of Canberra and it's all dual carriageway. Fuel is from a bowser run by Aero Refuellers who I think do Coffs Harbour as well. The bowser uses only an aero refuellers swipe card 24 hours a day. If you don't have a swipe card you need to ring the guy who's trying to buy the airport - there used to be a $50 call-out fee but not sure if that still exists. The tiedown points were only put in a little while ago and the place hasn't been mown for quite a few months so they're pretty hard to find. There is one space i know of that is mown however it blocks the front of our hanger so it would be nice if it wasn't used. If it's your only option let me know and you should simply be able to push the plane back into the hanger for a couple of nights as there is currently a vacant space. Use caution if you want to use the grass strip also as the grass is getting very long. I believe it's now being referred to as "the hay paddock" rather than "runway 08/26... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinsm Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 The grass strip was mowed recently so a little long but usable at the moment. Ring the leasee of the airfeild re fuel call outs etc. The rest of the info from 68volksy is pretty well on the money. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinsm Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 J170, there are political ructions from the users of the airport over this, user access fees, and a number of other issues at the moment. Those of us that pay the avdata exemption fee get it a little better. The pi..ing off part of the whole deal at the moment is he is taking some of the enjoyment of just flying and I feel that this is unforgivable. I fly for fun, not for politics. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andys@coffs Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 .....Those of us that pay the avdata exemption fee get it a little better. ...... What exactly does this mean? I googled Avdata and can see that they have a business model of being the billing agency many airport owners around Australia use. But I can see that RAA registration will be a closed door to them I pressume? So, how does that work for RAA and I pressume once in their database you would be open for all airfields that use Avdata...which appears to be an aweful lot of them (not that that is necessarily a bad thing)? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68volksy Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 The "charging RA-Aus through the Avdata system" debate has been on for quite a while. No-one was really fussed about things when Council owned and ran the airport. People would have paid if anyone had asked but Council's focus for the past 10 years has been to sell the airport rather than run it properly - that's a debate for another day and anyone who has any energy left to do so. The current lessee of the airport is out there a lot of the time and if he felt like it could walk over and demand payment. Teraya's always paid the Avdata fee for her ultralights - I can ask her whether they get charged at other airfields who use Avdata unless robinsm can answer directly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakej Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Ignition's brought up a good option there - if you can do the CTA thing. Canberra's quite friendly and convenient. and any extra cost would be more than covered by fuel savings. They also provide convenient toilets and a nice little demountable building open at all times for GA pilots and passengers. If that's the case then why commute to GLB Jake J:cheezy grin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnarly Gnu Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 So there is no public airstrip at Yass right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinsm Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andys@coffs Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Not listed in anything I have access to, and in any event Google earth doesnt show anything that looks like a airfield at around Yass....It does show some serious electricity infrastructure to the south west though that would make your eyes water in an aircraft....... Even then Yass doesnt appear to be all that much closer to Canberra than Goulburn is, and I pressume the roads arent as good as divided highways etc between the Goulburn and CBR. To be honest Dick Smiths place at Gunderoo is actually the closest airfield and while I'd love to meet the man, given some similarities in beliefs and backgrounds, as well as some diferences as well...... you know a few $m between potential friends ...... I think Id like to do the meeting before the imposing :<) Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68volksy Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Just talked to Teraya about her ultralights and Avdata fees and she says she does get charged at other airfields that use the Avdata system. It's the right thing to do for someone running a business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andys@coffs Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Thanks for that Volksy. Actually its timely as I was up at Lismore on new years day and I note that Avdata are the billing authority for Lismore. Ive emailed Avdata, CCing RAA Ops team asking if AVDATA have access to our registration info. Its seems wrong to me that RAA get a free ride because of some artifical rule and as such GA get to pay our way..... I'll see what they come back with Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Then welcome to the world of being billed for heaps of landings that you didn't do, and having to prove it wasn't you. The cost of getting the money paid is more than the amount, in many cases. so it's not an efficient system. You pay on the weight of the plane ( in principle) though that could be all under 5700Kg , ot something like that. Set by the particular airport They might as well exempt small stuff, and get with it. I'm not suggesting that users should get it for free, though that is what most RAA want to pay. Just that dealing with Avdata is a PITA. It's the system, not the people... Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andys@coffs Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Then welcome to the world of being billed for heaps of landings that you didn't do, and having to prove it wasn't you. The cost of getting the money paid is more than the amount, in many cases. so it's not an efficient system.You pay on the weight of the plane ( in principle) though that could be all under 5700Kg , ot something like that. Set by the particular airport They might as well exempt small stuff, and get with it. I'm not suggesting that users should get it for free, though that is what most RAA want to pay. Just that dealing with Avdata is a PITA. It's the system, not the people... Nev Yep, was well aware of the potential for missuse and the many forum entries here and other places complaining about being billed for something that they didnt do...I accept that hassle because I think it just adds fuel to others distrust of us if we expect a free ride on the back of others. I want others to take me seriously as an aviator and to expect that, where I choose to let others pay for my access at the same time as I bemoan the closing of Airports around Australia seems dissingenuous at best. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 In aviation you will always be looked down on by some who think for some reason they are more 'legitimate, famous in their own lunchroom etc" than someone else. That aspect I see as inevitable and says a bit about SOME of our fellow aviators. There's a lot of ego out there and it is not going to change. What really matters is how well you ( the individual) operate , and what "privileges" are available to you and what price ( money and effort). Bang for your buck. My main concern with the 'Bill by mail" without proper verification in the first place, is the cost and wasted time and angst. just to get a relativelly small amount of money. Ie if you have a tax of say 50 dollars and it costs 20 dollars to get it and sometimes 3 phone calls to sort out one bill over a period of months, there has to be a better way . Surely. It's a bit like having you grocery bill passed on to a 3rd party debt collector and having to sort it out with the debt collector when the info that the thing was based on was ridiculously incorrect and supplied by the grocer. This will still happen even if your old Thruster never leaves the circuit. You will be on a database and you will someday get a bill, possibly for landing at Mascot. Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrism Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Dick drops into the Goulburn Aviation BBQ's every now and then. Hard life when you've got a Caravan for weekend "fun" flying! He's never extended an invitation that any of us really feel comfortable following up. The school owner Teraya has flown planes out there once or twice but that was purely on business matters...If there's a more bold soul out there they might like to test the waters? :cell:OK....I'm happy to be a guinea pig once I have my XC endorsement! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Dick Smith flys a wide variety of flying machines and doesn't pretend to be the best pilot in the world. That can't be all bad. Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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