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The official statistics from The Old Station Air Show 2025! This year, we were absolutely blown away by the community support from near and far. We had people travelling from as far as Melbourne and Adelaide to attend this event, with a few making the trip all the way from New Zealand. The turnout was nothing short of phenomenal, and The Old Station Flying Club is over the moon with how the weekend went. Here’s what the weekend looked like by the numbers: Approx 11,000 gate entries 1,150 camp sites - with over 500 campers rolling in before lunch time on the Thursday 252 aircraft 55 bikes 32 cars 40 trucks 34 tractors in the tractor pull An outstanding showing of heritage machinery This event would not have been possible without the support of our volunteers, with 430 amazing volunteers pulling together to make this event happen! We’re still finalising a few things behind the scenes, so while we can’t share how much money was raised yet, rest assured — that announcement will come at our official presentation event soon.

Hi gents. Im Nevan and own the Aircam at Old Station. The aircaft was built in the USA in 2000 then spent a few years in Costa Rico before going to Mexico. It appears the plans to use it for banner towing came to nilch and it spent 10 years in storage there. It then went back to the USA in 2019 and was rebuilt at the Lockwood Factory which included adding the Dynon EFIS. It finally arrived in Melbourne in Jan25 and was re-assembled in Tyabb. Total time as of today is only 500hrs. There are two other Aircams in Australia, both of them on floats in Mt Isa and Melbourne, and two kits under construction in Temora and Adelaide. Im idly bouncing my way back to Perth, probably over the top end. Its a great aircraft on floats but all the salt water in WA turns love into a labour - so wheels it is. I cruise along at 70mph and 20 lph (total) - so low and slow and enjoy the world slipping by. Takeoff is 3secs and about 30m so its a thrill to fly and asymmetrics are a non event. Thanks for taking an interest.

I went solo again this afternoon. I have soloed twice before but due to long breaks in my training I had to start again plus I am training in a Texan now and tecnams before. It was a great feeling to get to solo again. I only have 4 hours to go and I will finally get my RPC.

I was one of six Bathurst Soaring Club members in four aircraft (C182, Maule M4, Hornet Cub & Corby Starlet), who enjoyed an 808nm five day trip around NSW (& briefly VIC) last week. Day 1 Bathurst – Temora (fuel, brunch). Temora – Hay (fuel). Hay – Mungo Lodge Day 2 Guided tour around the (dry) lake & its World Heritage features. Day 3 Mungo Lodge – Swan Hill (fuel, lunch) Visited the Catalina Museum, Lake Boga. Day 4 Swan Hill – Tocumwal (fuel, lunch) Visited the Aviation Museum & the Gliding Club hangar (one of the original, huge WW2 hangars, which accommodated B24 Liberators) Swan Hill – Temora (fuel) Day 5 Temora – Bathurst. Cancelled planned visit to the Temora Museum, due encroaching weather at Bathurst. All together a most enjoyable trip. Both aviation Museums are well worth the visit and comprehensively detail the importance of these aerodromes / lake during WW2.

Sorry for the long breaks folks, and thanks for your responses. The six year halt on progress was due to a complete change in life direction after I was offered a position I couldn't refuse, to establish and head up a new helicopter operation in PNG, a place in which I had always wanted to fly and due to other commitments, never had the opportunity previously. It also very conveniently bridged the whole covid thing, for me. It turned out to be a fabulous adventure, purchasing an Airbus AS350B3 out of Nevada, having it converted from air ambulance to utility format, shipping to Australia, re-assembling and re-certifying/registering it in Australia, flying it up to Port Moresby via Cape York, crossing the Torres Strait, then along the south coast of PNG. Certifying it again in PNG and working with the CASA there for the next two years was another whole new experience and operations in the Highlands proved to be all they are infamous for. Overall a fascinating experience that is worthy of a book! The owners have now sold that operation and we have moved onto other ventures there in remote area construction and export of produce, both of which are likely to result in the need for another helicopter, this time for private operations and most likely will be an R66 - but that is still in the planning stage at the moment. Meanwhile, my shout out a couple of months ago was going to be an attempt to see if there was anyone interested in finishing off the DooMaw build because I have had so little time for it, and on top of that have bought a house in FNQ so a big move of machine shop, workshop and household is underway. As it turned out I loaded DooMaw in a trailer and took it up there first to get that problem solved for now, so the build is in abeyance once again. But if anyone is inspired please do let me know. Otherwise, who knows, I may get around to working on it again at some stage, or find someone in FNQ who might be interested in helping out or taking it over. Either way I'm looking forward to a long overdue change of pace and scenery! Will let you all know as we progress.

Painted Hills, also Kings Canyon & Gosses Bluff.

What an awesome long weekend (Friday to Sunday). Great organisation, staff, ground staff directing aircraft by SAAA, clear inbound and in circuit comms supported by the ground support. On arrival I joined overhead and number 2 to the Trojan. Great food and airshow. Caught up with many forum members and old mates. The amenities were added close to the aircraft so no need for long walk to showers each day. The airshow is great with the hills close behind as a back drop. Images to follow.

Nice fly out to the coast to see if the water clarity is good enough to dive tomorrow and chase some Barra. Over cast and low cloud but nice. One other training Tecnam in the air as well. So not too busy🙃😊

Old Station camp RANS birds flocking together in YGLA Returning to YKCY

These panning shots from the hill (posted on YouTube) show the scale of the event.

Another enjoyable Old Station. Had a great time as first officer in my friend's beautifully restored 1964 Cessna 182. Was good to meet Blueadventures, KRaviator and Corvairkr from the Forum.

Having removed/replaced wings on Foxbats a few times, and generally on my own, I worked out where the CofG of the wing is, and using triangulated ratchet straps, can lift the wing with an engine hoist. Obviously the tank needs to be drained first, but I usually leave the flatiron on (just pull one of the carden ring bolts), and with carefully estimating the weight with the hoist, all the bolts come out fairly easily. I usually stick a bit of masking tape at the balance point (1675mm from flap edge, and 380mm forward from the flap shroud edge), and usually tape or clamp the flaperon level.

Here is some remarkable history on the aviation career of Captain William "Billy" Johns. Trained at Archerfield for PPL in 1950. Flew Tiger Moth, DHC-1 Chipmunk, Auster Autocar, Percival Proctor, Wackett and Miles, Grumman, Beagle 206 Basset and Thorp T-18. Moved to Goroka, PNG in 1955 with TAL flying DH-84 Dragon, Beehcraft Baron and Beech 95 Travelair. In 1956, he moved to Mandated Air lines (MAL) then to its successors Ansett-MAL, Ansett Airlines of PNG then to Air Niugini which launched on November 1 1973. Aircarft flown in his initial airlines roles until 1985 were:- Piaggio P-166, DC3 Dakota, DHC-4 Caribou, then with Air Niugini, Fokker F-27, Fokker F-28, Boeing 707. Johns moved to Tonga with Friendly Islands Airways in 1985 until 1988 when he moved to Queensland with Flight West for seven years. Then he returned to PNG in 1995, working with Milne Bay Airlines for three years flying the DHC Dash-8 Turboprop. Over his 47 year aviation career, Captain Johns amassed a total of 31,055 flying hours and spent a total of 33 years flying in Papua-New Guinea. (Credit to Garry Honour of Armidale NSW for much info on Captain W. Johns who passed away in Brisbane, aged 84 years).

I thought it was someone’s leftover casserole. Can’t see any mushrooms though.

Why would anyone want to buy an engine that won’t last long 🤔

At Birdsville now. But we’ve been to Coober Pedy, Cadney Homestead, Curtin Dprings, Ayers Rock and Alice Springs since we left William Creek.

A couple of months ago I quipped about a tree falling and crushing a runway marker on my strip… And received some very amusing responses. 🤣 But now I have another aviation incident to report. Or, in truth probably not report… So I got stung by a scorpion in my aircraft. I wasn’t actually flying at the time but was at an out field to refuel. After getting back in and starting up I felt sharp sting in my lower back under my shirt. But since I was strapped in, I couldn’t move freely to investigate. I assumed it was a wasp or a horsefly and thought nothing more of it. Uneventful flight home but putting the aircraft back in the hangar found a scorpion under the pilot seat. Chucked it out. I have no doubt the scorpion originated from my own hangar. I have seen them around the hangar and regularly spray for them and other vermin. But now ten days later I have a big reddened blotch on my lower back which is still a bit sore to touch at the sting site. im not sure what lessons can be learned from this experience. Should preflight checklist include a detailed inspection of every nook and cranny of the aircraft including within seat covers? Is that practical? I spray in and around my hangar and around the undercarriage of the aircraft to discourage passengers boarding… Should I have flown home after an assumed insect sting? I know some people suffer can anaphylactic reactions, but I don’t. Anyway, who is to say how long a reaction will take to have effect? Do you wait two hours, four hours, six hours? Losing the light would be a greater risk than some possible effect of an insect nip. Will this stop me flying? Absolutely not. I’ll keep spraying the hangar and have a good look in the cockpit and brush down my seat before a flight, but hey this is the Top End… Alan

Nev, I wish you’d come up to my place in the Top End and explain to all the thousands of scorpions that they don’t belong here and should bugger off to the desert instead! And if you can draw away the King Browns too, like the pied piper, it’d be much appreciated…🤣 Alan

I am making a educated guess based on 30 plus years experience in the radio communications sales and repair industry. Having worked on the particular brand of that radio for almost as long as they have been around which by the way is getting close to that time line. I ALWAYS get a radio check before every flight. Usually while taxiing out to the strip during warmup. The radio box of bits is just electronics and they can and will fail. You usually only find out some time later after it fails when it becomes obvious there is a issue. The trees issue has always been there since the airfield was made. Discussions with the Council to remove them has been made many times over the 30+ years the airfield has been there but the club was not allowed to remove them as it is not on the lease of the airfield but it is still on the agenda to be rectified and is still being pursued. Hopefully this report may allow a bigger stick to be used to get it done. It was NOT the club stopping this. The dual runway issue as I said has been a long term bone of contention until this hit over the head with a big rock. This has been more firmly addressed since (read the current ERSA)... BUT even so there are still issues with dickheads and pilots who should not be pilots ( who also NEVER read the ERSA). In any club or association no matter what pursuit you do there is always about 5 or 10% of members who are either too stupid to comply or just dont give a rats arse about airmanship or courstesy or even safety. This is also trying to be addressed a lot more firmly but this also has issues of some people wishing to threaten certain types of legal action so its wonderful to sit back and be a opionator of how and what should be done but there are a lot more factors involved to actually get things done and make a difference. Human Factors has a whole new subject in it that is never spoken about but is very real.

a couple more fresh ones went to the U.S.

Eprop are doing special design work to complete their project for making their incredible propellors. They are doing 2 blade full carbon props for all aviation engines other than Rotax. Here is a email I got from Anne at Eprop who is the boss. Let me know if you have any parts that can be used for this scanning and I can organise getting them to France. The upshot would be a far better prop for your Jab and I am sure we could come with a special deal for anyone willing to help with getting these parts Hello Mark, Since you're from the land of Jabiru engines, let me ask you this. Do you know anyone who would give away out of order Jabiru 2.2 and 3.3 parts? What we are interested in : out of order crankshaft, connecting rod and piston. We'll pay for shipping from Australia to France, of course. In Europe, there are very few Jabiru engines. These parts can differ according to the models (and sub-models) of each type of engine, and these differences influence the resonances generated and the consequences on the propellers. The aim is to scan the parts and integrate this data into our LUKY software For the various Lycoming and Continental versions, we found parts in Europe. An Italian mechanic has offered us 3 engines just because he appreciates our work and research - which is cool ! Thank you !

Aircam VH-ZEK came across from Perth to attend….A long way to fly at 75kts

This could be interesting 117hp and 200hp 4 cyclinder

Expanded PNG coverage to include devastation of Rabaul, East New Britain by volcanic eruptions in September-October 1994. Airlink was an airline based in Madang with scheduled and charter operations through hubs at Wewak, Mount Hagen, Kavieng and Rabaul from about 1990. Airlink lost four aircraft in the 1994 Rabaul volcanic eruptions which covered the town and surroundings with ash and pumice up to seven metres in depth. The company ceased operations in August 2007 after suffering the additional losses of two aircraft - firstly an Embraer EMB-110-P1 Bandeirante (Pioneer) in March in West New Britain with the loss of both pilots then in April Airlink lost a Cessna 404 Titan at Goroka airport without loss of life. Prior to this, in 1999, Airlink had lost a Britten Norman Islander also in West New Britain, killing all on board and another Embraer Bandeirante near Goroka. However, Airlink could have been proud of their legacy with regards to the Rabaul eruptions as their personnel responded magnificently to the situation by the transport of supplies and equipment to the Rabaul refugees from Tokua airfield with the assistance of Heli Niugini helicopter support. Airlink pilots involved were Bill Kerr, Brad Marsh, Michael Knight and Chief Pilot Rod Marsland. Attached are photos from the time recording the events. I would love to go back to Rabaul now as I knew it in the 1970s well before it got smashed when I worked on the Panguna copper-gold mine on Bougainville and took R & R in Rabaul, staying at the Travelodge and Hotel Allen in Mango Avenue there. Who said nostalgia isn't what it used to be?

I was a friend and client of "Snow" Richards of Toowoomba, owner of Orchid Beach Resort and UnionAir and IslandAir air charter services in the 1970s and mid-1980s. I used to fly into Orchid Beach airstrip then with Snow or his aviator son, Steve Richards, or Arthur Morris, their senior pilot and had many enjoyable times there. The old resort was demolished in the early 2000s after beach erosion made it unsafe. As a client, I employed Snow's charter aircraft for weekly return crew changes on the Oaky Creek and Clermont coal mine projects in Central Queensland out of Eagle Farm airport, Brisbane. Aircraft types used were Piper Navajo Chieftain, Beech Queenair, Britten Norman Islander and Trislander, refuelling at either Thangool or Emerald. Steve mainly was the pilot but Arthur Morris also piloted many flights. As for Snow Richards, I recall an incident at Archerfield airport in the early 1980s with Snow doing a perfect "wheels up" landing on the grass strip in a Beech Baron with the two-blade props perfectly levelled in line with the wings using the starter motors so as to avoid damaging them upon touchdown. Funny thing was, Snow's son Steve asked his father that night how his day had been and Snow replied "Oh, the usual". Steve replied "You lying old bugger, I was flying the Channel Nine News helicopter over Archerfield and we got the whole incident on video tape". I have attached some photos of the Orchid Beach airstrip.

Got the Nynja back in the air today after the 600kg upgrade. The cloud base was down to about 1400 feet in places so needed to stay low. Fly again tomorrow. Also getting there with upgrade to ‘Spirit of Kittyhawk’ for Ben, just waiting on a few parts from Flylight in UK.

Many places have automated response units which is a good way to check if your radio is working. That is if the airwaves are not busy. The one at Grafton will respond if there has been no other received calls in the previous 5 minutes. Also if you are hearing radio calls you at least know the receiver is working. There is no harm in asking for a radio check if other aircraft are in the vicinity.

Midair collision involving Jabiru J430, VH-EDJ, and Piper PA-25-235, VH-SPA, Caboolture Airfield, Queensland, on 28 July 2023 | ATSB WWW.ATSB.GOV.AU

Just a reminder, do not remove oxide from electrical contract surfaces with carborundum (emery) it attaches small quantities to the surface and will oxidise with electrical current.

In the 1970's when we first used computers in industry for control we would get many failures, almost always on computer board connections, we would always carry an ink rubber to remove oxides, more often happening in we weather. We were told by plug manufacturers that 30,000 psi connection pressure was needed to prevent high resistance connections. I believe that earth connections should be checked regularly, particularly after a wet period like the east coast is experiencing

I remember being on a flight years ago, Ansett possibly, when the hostie came on the PA immediately after landing and said "The first person to stand up will be required to stay and help clean the aircraft."

Jeez, you just completely contradicted yourself within 2 posts

The flap handle is too close to the seat when using full flap. Also there are only 2 setting on the std savannah for flap. I changed the geometry on mine by making a new bracket using the same parts just the angle so you can get the mechanical advantage back. I also added a extra flap position. I basically never used full flap on the sav as I think its too agressive, On mine I just mainly used the first and second stage and never used the third stage for full flap This is the updated with extra position

I got told tonight that after this week 24 reg owners will be able to register AC with 912 over 15 yrs And can be used for training by the owner. I assume this means no annual marap. Supposed to be info coming out next week.

I used to fly in a Beech Baron from POM to Safia airstrip near the Musa River and Wanigela on the coast, sometimes to Tufi to refuel. The flight path took us through the Pakia Gap in the Owen Stanley Range, not the Kokoda Gap as in this post. This was in the period 1970 - 1972 in support of crew changes for Geophoto Resources Consultants exploration fly-camps with a base camp at Safia airstrip. The stream sediment sampling was carried out with the helicopter support by Helitrans of Lae with a Bell 47G-3B-2 chopper flown by Captain "Chas" Keith, a former Senior Captain with TAA in PNG mainly on Fokker Friendship F27 aircraft on the Moresby-Goroka-Mount Hagen route. Prior to that, Captain Chas was a crop duster pilot in a Pawnee in the Riverina of NSW. Unfortunately, Chas vanished on Mount Bellenden Ker in FNQ in about 1973 whilst undertaking a high-altitude test of a Bell Jet Ranger of Helitrans out of their new Cairns base as part of a Telecom transmission tower installation on the mountain. No trace was ever found of the crash site owing to the dense rainforest on the range. I have attached a photo of the Helitrans Bell 47G-3B-2 (call sign VH-PDX) that Chas Keith flew and I was a passenger in many times in PNG pictured on the ground at a helipad at Mount Hagen airport in 1971.

Slower planes need to consider wind direction more as when gliding into wind the distance covered / height loss gets a lot worse. To improve your performance ( groundspeed) increase airspeed under these circumstances and certainly do not try to stretch the glide. Aim to land a bit further in till assured of making it. To check how this works, work out a few examples on Paper. Also it's good practice to avoid getting dewnwind very far and don't turn your back on the field . You most likely will not know your actual height over the field, either or whether it's a good surface Look for where animals have been fed with hay. Realise you don't HAVE to have a straight runway A gradual curve is OK.. Lots to consider. the more prepared mentally you are, the better the result. Avoid flying over a lot of what you can't land on in single engined planes and look after your engine and fuel system. Nev

I recently purchased a gen 4 3300 however it now requires a new crankshaft. The engine only has 37 hours total time. I requested an exchange engine but was turned down so it will be torn down to correct the issue, very disappointed in Jabiru over this. I will incur a lot of expense and down time because of this, if this was Lycoming, Continental, or Rotax it would be exchanged. I can install it myself, I've been maintaining aircraft for 52 years. Even with this I am impressed with the 230D aircraft. On another subject: I believe the new E-PROPS propeller being developed would be a game changer on a Jabiru. I was able to perform an analysis on Flight Design with an E-PROPS propeller which resulted in it being approved for all FD aircraft in the US. The performance increase is substantial for cruise speed, rate of climb, vibration, etc. The other important aspect is it has a very low moment of inertia which is less than half of that on the fiberglass prop for the 230D. This significantly reduces the gyroscopic forces on the crankshaft. The E-PROPS propeller and spinner only weighs about 5 lbs. If Jabiru doesn’t approve the use of it within a reasonable time I will convert to experimental and document the analysis like I did with Flight Design.

He was a A380 check captain..and of course we know how reliable the radios used in Jabs are. There are plenty of threads about them

Yeah, I figure since the Carmo is made for aircraft it's fully above ground electrically. The Ducati one obviously is for motorbikes which use the frame for negative ground.

They must know what happens to sheep.

Thank you for this. The coolant leak could well have been the issue. I've just realised that during the DI before we took off, my wife had taken off the coolant cap (cold) and there was a tiny bit of pressure which led to some spillage. I thought we had cleaned it up but in all likelihood we missed some. Thinking back, the smell was likely coolant. Thanks everyone for your input.

Yeah, that's the whole point Juan Browne is making in the video. It's ALL been covered. Again and again. In fact he quotes from Raytheon's 1990 Mandatory Service Bulletin wherein the company begs pilots NOT to try to fix an open door in flight; to just FLY THE PLANE to a safe landing. He goes out of his way to include shots of a Baron door latch mechanism and to interview a seasoned Beechcraft instructor who says he likes to startle trainees by opening the door in-flight, on purpose, so they're more likely to stay cool if it ever happens to them. That's a bit new. And this latest pointless fatal that Blancolirio analyses happened but a few days ago. Thus his frustration. Covered but not assimilated. The point is, the same - or something similar - can easily happen to any of us who fly. Who can forget the 1972 crash of the Eastern Airlines L-1011 Tristar in Florida killing over 100? Due entirely to the crew's distraction by a single blown bulb in the gear indicator. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

If the failures are being discussed on the Rotax forum, that's probably where you will find opinions on the alternatives. If there are few people here who have failures, no-one is likely to be able to make a comparison. One thing I have heard is that high load isn't good for the Rotax regulators. One of the characteristics of the EarthX batteries is a high initial charging current, which seems like it might overload the regulator.

So far my scratch/own design build has cost me $46,000 ,that engine ,instruments all material, wheels&tyres,brakes,prop, etc , ,some of the costs for raw material that i am seeing is getting ridiculous, 6061 alum has gone through the roof as well as 4130cm, i purchased most of mine before covid so it was ok price , i could never afford now to buy material to start a build especially a kit, i have souced lots of parts as used and then refurbished myself , fusalage is completed and painted, wings just about finished then to test firing engine and sorting ecu mapping, all electrical tested and working (no smoke) then to get Lame to sign off paperwork and hopefully start flying testing by end of year, (my wife asks me what am i ging to do then LOL)

Thank you so much for this crash report, onetrack. It has cleared up a few miosconceptions that have developed over the years since, like the type of helicopter and the crash location. Captain Chas was a dear friend whom I flew with many times in PNG over the period 1970 - 1971. Apart from the many flights we had around the Musa River and Sisiworo River basins out of Safia, Chas also flew the Bell 47G-3B-2 to the top of the nearby Gorupu Mountains at an altitude of 3,078 m AMSL to drop me off for a few days' reconnaissance. Just before I exited the Bell, Captain Chas remarked that, if the engine stalled at that altitude, they would have to fly in an air compressor to restart it. Fond memories indeed of a remarkable aviator and man.

The most common and cheapest 912uls is not on the list. If we take the cheapest on the list and divide by 2000 hours it comes to $27 per hour, good value for a commercial operator. how cheap do you want it? Remember liability insurance and other costs associated with aviation would not be cheap. The good thing for home builders is the good supply of very good used ex flying school engines at very reasonable prices, $5k. The most expensive engine on the list, the 916, which would be very very nice in my RV6a is comparable in price to a new experimental lycoming o-320 160Hp engine. You get what you pay for.

Make it too tough and no one will bother supplying stuff for what you want. Excess Litigation in the USA threatened to send the Big 3 broke at one time, so why would small producers run the risk. This show started of using Lawn mower engines. Jabiru's treatment of Customers is well above the average and relatively cheap for Parts. No ONE sets out to make a part that fails. Having a recall is a good thing. Nev

As I understand it, you can’t have the SK2 and the transponder both transmitting ADSB at the same time. One of them has to be disabled, and if your transponder can send SIL>1 and with higher power, then it doesn’t seem to make sense to use the SK2’s output.