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July 2019 Enhancing pilot – Expect the unexpected In 2019, CASA’s Aviation Safety Advisors (ASAs) will run a new series of AvSafety seminars—Enhancing pilot skills—Expect the unexpected. This seminar will explore three key safety topics: preflight planning aeronautical decision making checklists. The seminar will discuss how sound planning practices can prepare pilots for unexpected events and assist decision making in all phases of flight. The seminar will review the resources available and provide practical hints and tips to help pilots operate safely and efficiently. The information is designed to enhance and refresh pilot’s knowledge at all levels. Using practical examples, the seminar will also explore the role of checklists and highlight the importance of a disciplined approach to their use. The seminars are an ideal opportunity for you to interact with your ASA, discuss local issues and ask questions of the regulator. Register now via Eventbrite. Attendance is free. Locations and dates are as follows: [TABLE] [TR] [TH]Location[/TH] [TH]Date[/TH] [TH]Registration[/TH] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Griffith[/TD] [TD]Tuesday 2 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Griffith[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Gatton[/TD] [TD]Tuesday 2 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Gatton[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Toowoomba[/TD] [TD]Wednesday 3 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Toowoomba[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Wagga[/TD] [TD]Wednesday 3 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Wagga[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Maitland – Yorke Peninsula[/TD] [TD]Sunday 7 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Maitland – Yorke Peninsula[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Wangaratta[/TD] [TD]Tuesday 9 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Wangaratta[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Sunshine Coast[/TD] [TD]Tuesday 9 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Sunshine Coast[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Albury[/TD] [TD]Thursday 11 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Albury[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Merimbula[/TD] [TD]Tuesday 16 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Merimbula[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Moruya[/TD] [TD]Wednesday 17 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Moruya[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Taree[/TD] [TD]Sunday 21 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Taree[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Devonport[/TD] [TD]Tuesday 23 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Devonport[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Goondiwindi[/TD] [TD]Wednesday 24 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Goondiwindi[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Gawler[/TD] [TD]Thursday 25 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Gawler[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Moree[/TD] [TD]Thursday 25 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Moree[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Hobart[/TD] [TD]Thursday 25 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Hobart[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Esperance[/TD] [TD]Friday 26 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Esperance[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Parkes[/TD] [TD]Tuesday 30 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Parkes[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Cowra[/TD] [TD]Wednesday 31 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Cowra[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] The presentation includes references to the CASA website. Please feel free to bring your tablet or smartphone to follow the information live. New Engineering knowledge development—awareness through education If you work in airworthiness and aircraft engineering, we want to keep you up to date with changes, advances and the high level of safety knowledge you require. This is a complex discipline, so if you’re an engineer, operator, trainer, HAAMC or CAMO, we want to help you have access to the latest best practice, information and resources. You’ll also have the opportunity to interact with CASA and ask us questions. Some of the topics that this series of seminars will focus on are: Part 66 privileges, interpretation and discussion GA maintenance proposal update regulation review update. Your Aviation Safety Advisor will be available to discuss Part 66 license questions and issues both during and after the presentation if required. Register now via Eventbrite. Locations and dates are as follows: [TABLE] [TR] [TH]Location[/TH] [TH]Date[/TH] [TH]Registration[/TH] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Albury[/TD] [TD]Wednesday 10 July[/TD] [TD]Register for Albury[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] A list of all seminars and more information is available on the CASA website. Help make the skies safe for all, attend a CASA AvSafety seminar in 2019.

Thanks guys, I just had to vent as I lost it when I checked my emails this morning and still no replies to my update requests made nearly a week ago from any of the developers. But still, the question is the problem

Please let me vent.......................................... I am absolutely F'n sick and tired of people in the forum software industry...I have been trying to get 3 functions developed for the site on the XF platform, spent around $1,400 USD (about $2,000 AUD) and NOT ONE OF THEM HAS BEEN DEVELOPED AND DELIVERED. A waste of money to get a Classifieds system, a Google Earth Airstrips and Clubs/Schools maps and a Facebook/forum integration system. There are many more addons I need developed like a Clubs section, a Suppliers section, a Help Desk system and more but I am getting ripped off losing money every step of the way...F'n TURDS...BASTARDS....I am sick of it, this whole bloody software industry I am so close to just closing the site and going to Facebook which is free What is even more frustrating is that IPS that I tried has a Classifieds system, Clubs section, a Suppliers section and a bloody good on-hand developer in @Ahmed Zayed that did anything I needed, properly and cheap but IPS is so bloody resource hungry and lacks much of the Admin tools that XF has and is more complicated for the end user to use Do we just go to Facebook but then that is so bloody limited with what you can provide I don't want to stuff people around and go to IPS and that also has issues but has everything I don't want to stay with XF and lose thousands of dollars trying to give what I really want to give This world is getting worse and worse with young people's arrogant attitudes and the biggest driver of a person now is PURE GREED

Yes, I am aware opf that and it is getting looked at

Sorry TP, I don't follow?????

We have that https://www.recreationalflying.com/forums/aircraft-building-and-design-discussion.57/

CEO and Director of Aviation Safety I am reasonably confident that if you ask anyone in CASA to describe my leadership style the answer will be something like “he likes to set goals and make sure they are met”. Under my leadership if CASA says a project will be completed within a certain time frame to agreed outcomes, the odds are very good that it will be completed. Of course, circumstances can change and plans sometimes need to be altered for sound reasons, but I have to be convinced by facts and evidence before I will approve slippages. Sometimes though events and factors outside the control of CASA can influence outcomes. I am committed to demonstrating that CASA can and will meet deadlines and deliver quality outcomes. In 2018 we had a deadline to complete the six new operational regulatory parts and a deadline for Part 142/142 transition and we delivered on both. Given CASA’s record in regulatory development in the past, these were major achievements. My next regulatory development goal is to complete the remaining parts before the end of this year and work is well underway. In the area of service delivery, I get regular and detailed reports on how CASA is performing. These reports show how our client services centre is running – the number of applications lodged, the number closed and other details on licences, medicals and permissions. While the number of open jobs at any one time is still higher than we would like, the trend line of applications that have been processed on time is heading in the right direction. I am also focussed on other key areas such as consistency and making compliance with requirements easier and clearer. A major project is underway which is looking at regulatory services and surveillance, with the goal of improving consistency and standardisation across CASA, across offices and across teams through the development of a new operating model. Already there have been improvements made to our key manuals and further improvements will be rolled out progressively over this year and next. The aviation community can be confident that I will continue to strive for the best possible regulatory and service outcomes for the aviation community. Under my leadership we will not stand still, and we will meet our commitments. Best wishes Shane Carmody Other CASA announcements Non-controlled airspace course online Pilots wanting to learn about radio procedures in non-controlled airspace can now use a CASA online course. The eLearning course covers the background of radio procedures in non-controlled airspace, an overview of key changes, appropriate communications and use of radio, differences in visual flight rules and instrument flight rules language and where to go for more information. There is detailed information on radio frequencies used at non-controlled aerodromes. In the vicinity of unchartered aerodromes pilots have the discretion to use the most appropriate frequency for safe operations. It is recommended pilots use the area VHF, but they may use the MULTICOM 126.7 MHz. The eLearning looks at the importance of ‘alerted’ see and avoid, gives examples of correct and incorrect radio broadcasts and sets out when radio broadcasts must be made. The training takes only 15 minutes to complete and is available by logging into CASA’s AviationWorx and selecting the class G airspace radio procedures course. Find the radio procedures eLearning in AviationWorx. Go to other non-controlled airspace education resources. Behind airspace infringements The top five factors that contribute to airspace infringements have been identified and prioritised from information collected by surveying pilots who have been involved in airspace infringements. They are pilot distraction, misreading charts, high workload in the cockpit, unexpected air traffic control instructions and incorrect use of equipment. All pilots that enter either civil or military airspace without a clearance are asked to complete an online survey form. Pilot distraction or inattention is the number one factor contributing to airspace infringements. Survey results indicate this is not due to inexperience as the average flying experience for a pilot involved in an airspace infringement is 3052 hours. Most were private flights and 52 per cent of pilots surveyed belonged to an aero club or flying school. Most respondents said they flew only occasionally in the area in where they had the infringement, and the majority were trying to remain outside of controlled airspace. This is consistent with misreading charts being one of the key factors behind airspace infringements. Read more about the airspace infringements survey results. Get airspace infringements resources. Passenger comfort device advice CASA has recently published detailed guidance on cabin safety issues relating to passenger comfort devices. Passenger comfort devices include baby hammocks, knee defenders and leg hammocks. While these devices may not contravene safety regulations, they can pose cabin safety hazards. CASA recommends air operators identify devices that passengers may seek to use and conduct a risk assessment. Cabin safety procedures and training should be developed that set out crew responsibilities in relation to passenger comfort devices. Issues to be covered include when devices can and cannot be used, ensuring emergency equipment is not restricted, verification that excessive loads will not be placed on seats or floor structures, safety risks for other passengers, interference with seat belts and appropriate stowage during take-off, landings or turbulence. The way information about comfort devices will be communicated to passengers also needs to be determined. Find out about the management of passenger comfort devices. Strong response to drone proposals There was a strong response to the consultation undertaken on proposed drone accreditation and registration. More than 2850 people and organisations submitted comments on the proposed requirements, which are scheduled to be phased in during late 2019 and 2020. All recreational drones weighing more than 250 grams would be covered by the registration and accreditation requirements, unless they were model aircraft operated at CASA-approved model airfields. To gain accreditation people will need to do an online education course – watching a video and answering a quiz on the relevant drone rules. People who already hold a drone licence will not have to do the accreditation course. There will be a modest fee for registration of $20 or less for recreational drone flyers, with a higher fee applying to commercial drone operators. The exact fee levels have not yet been finalised. Find the responses to the drone accreditation and registration proposals. Development continues on Plain English guide to new regs Work is continuing on the development of a plain English guide to the new Part 91 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations. Extracts from the guide to the new general operating and flight rules have been made available for comment over the last few months to gauge if the extracts are easy-to-read and understand, retain the true meaning of the regulations and strike the right balance between technical accuracy and simple writing. Feedback received so far has indicated overwhelming support for development of such plain English guides to enhance understanding of all regulations. Work is now underway on improving and enhancing the current document based on comments received. The intention is to provide an advance draft of the guide by mid-2019, followed by the completion of the document in early 2020. Further consideration will be given to developing similar guides for other regulations that require widespread understanding by large audiences and impact on multiple sectors of the aviation industry. Go to the Part 91 extracts and provide feedback by Friday 31 May 2019. Have your say on airspace consultations A number of airspace consultations are currently open for comment. The consultations include a review of the airspace within 35 nautical miles of Hobart Airport, which is the first airspace review to be conducted using CASA’s Consultation Hub. The review is open until Friday 31 May 2019. Two airspace change proposals on Lowering Class E airspace for continental Australia and Class E airspace trial – Ayers Rock Aerodrome are also open for comment until 23 June 2019. Have your say now on the proposed Preliminary Airspace Review Hobart 2019, the Airspace change proposals Lowering Class E airspace for continental Australia and Class E airspace trial – Ayers Rock Aerodrome. In brief Candidates applying for a recreational pilot licence are being reminded they must pass either the recreational pilot licence (aeroplane) or recreational pilot licence (helicopter) exam. After 30 June 2019, CASA records must show a pass in these exams for a recreational pilot licence application to be processed. Passes for the old basic aeronautical knowledge exams will not satisfy the requirements for the issue of a recreational pilot licence. A special airworthiness information bulletin has been issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration about an airworthiness concern for all helicopters that have specific Goodrich Rescue Hoists installed. The bulletin contains inspection procedures to ensure the carrier retainer spring of the hoist is fully engaged. Comment on proposed amendments to standards for instrument flight procedure design. Amendments to the Part 173 manual of standards would permanently set in place a longstanding temporary exemption arrangement relating to instrument flight procedure publishing standards and clarify the requirements for calculating visibility minima. Comment by 2 June 2019. Safety seminars for pilots Pilots in five regional locations around Australia are invited to attend an AvSafety seminar in June 2019. The seminars will help pilots develop skills in three key areas – communication, situational awareness and threat and error management. A practical scenario will be used to explain the concepts of threat and error management. Pilots will work through relevant defensive flying behaviours aimed at addressing human factors challenges encountered in single pilot operations. Pilots will be given special cards with key information on communication, situational awareness and threat and error management. The cards can be kept in a new AvSafety resource folder to build a library of critical safety information. Cards and folders are only available to people who attend AvSafety seminars. In June 2019 seminars are being held at: Bathurst Colac Hamilton Orange Tooradin. Don’t miss out by booking a pilot seminar now. Engineering seminar CASA is holding an engineering safety seminar at Bankstown on 26 June 2019. The seminar will cover a range of topics including leadership and mentoring for aviation maintenance engineers, specialist maintenance certification, Flight Safety Australia maintenance articles and a regulation review update. Engineers, heads of airworthiness and maintenance, other people from airworthiness organisations and maintenance training personnel will all benefit from attending the seminar. This is a great professional development opportunity, allowing people to talk with CASA maintenance experts and ask questions. Book a place now at an engineering seminar. Flight instructor workshops Flight instructor safety workshops are being held in Cairns and Townsville in June 2019. The workshops include case studies, discussion topics and group exercises. Some of the topics covered will be maintaining good situational awareness in the training environment, anticipating student actions, understanding Part 61 requirements, use of GPS in the instructional environment, online resources for instructors and students and maximising the benefit of flight reviews. CASA’s aviation safety advisers will run the free workshops, which will include time for questions and feedback. The Cairns workshop is being held on Tuesday 11 June 2019 and Townsville on Thursday 13 June 2019. Book your place now for the flight instructor workshops. Safeskies safety managers forum A safety managers forum is being held in Canberra on 16 October 2019. The forum will feature CASA and industry specialist speakers and is being run in conjunction with the Safeskies conference. This interactive forum will allow safety managers to discuss the range of issues they face in day-to-day operations, consider solutions and develop a network of safety managers across Australia. Registrations for the safety managers forum will open soon. Register now for the Safeskies conference.

Hi, I am very busy with populating the Flying Tutorials and many other development components of the site and was hoping someone would like to volunteer to help out by populating the On This Day section of the site. All you would need to do is pick a couple of interesting entries from a list I provide and paste the content into the On This Day section for each day...it isn't hard to do but just takes a little bit of your spare time to help out. I need to get started on the Clubs and Schools section, more Resources entries for everyone and the new Groups section...there is so much still to do Please let me know if you can help...thanks

That's really great to hear...Please just keep posting about your flying endeavors and get as many others to join in

I hope not too many of you were plagued with the massive Optus outage yesterday then went on from about lunch time till the middle of the night...I know I was, I couldn't do a darn thing

This site is considered a large one in the forum software industry, not a huge one but still a large one and has been going for some 18 years. It is my passion and for most of it I have spent every waking hour trying to make it better for every one and to maintain its initial objectives. In a software forum that I frequent for help and advice, I was asked for my story of the Recreational Flying site by the management of IPS software for them to add to their own site but now that we are back with XF I didn't think it was appropriate so I just posted it in the general forums of that site for Forum Administrators as I was also asked there why I went back to XF. I am reproducing that post here in the hope that it helps the users of this site understand the reasoning for this site's existence, its objectives and the history this site has seen. My apologies for its length but it may also explain why I believe we need a single repository of everything in recreational aviation to help each other and keep us all safe...hope it helps: Well, I suppose I should put this whole story to bed, but it may be a long story which I hope may help other site owners to learn from my experience, although as we know not all sites are the same. I started Recreational Flying some 18 years ago as many pilots were killing themselves from stupid mistakes and there wasn’t any opportunity for them to learn from each other’s experiences. So, my thought was to try and replicate the flying club clubrooms as an Australia wide clubroom for pilots to learn from each other…Increase their flying skills, learn about proper aircraft maintenance and to be safer in the air. I tried to create an overall single repository of information to help pilots in one single location. It worked, in fact it worked so well that the site grew faster than I could keep up. Being a VB developer and ICT Project Manager I developed my first site myself using of all things a JET backend. I thought that if I got 30 or so pilots and I was able to save at least 1 life it would be a success. But within a couple of months the growth was too much so for speed I went for a COTS product called MegaBB (if my memory serves me). Within a year or so my site outgrew that as pilots from all around Australia were hearing about my site, at the time called Ultralight.net. I then moved to another more featured COTS solution which for the life of me I can’t recall its name (I think it had 2 words both starting with S) but again my user base was growing so fast and needed “more” than just forums. At this point there had been an unprecedented 65% drop in fatal recreational aviation accidents with many pilots crediting the reduction in the ability to at any time of the day or night, and from any location, learn from each other’s flying experiences, good and bad. At this point I needed more from my site, users were demanding more, so it was time to get serious. I moved over to VB v3 and threw all kinds of addons in and the users were lapping it up. I developed myself and paid other developers to create very specific addons, pages, features and functions to build the site up into one hell of an extreme comprehensive single repository of everything to do with recreational aviation. There were all the standard features like forums, gallery etc but also aircraft registration lookups, a weather converter into plain English, an aviation news reader mined the internet on anything to do with recreational aviation etc etc etc. The site had and was costing me thousands and thousands of dollars so the wife said “NO MORE MONEY”…doh? So, as I was now contracting as a PMO Director I had my own private company which I used to set up an online Pilot Supplies shop on the side of my site. For this I used CS-Cart after trying different forum integrated cart addons which were all big problems. I only put small margins on products to offset the costs of my aviation site now called Recreational Flying. The shop is by no means any kind of commercial interest and the time it takes to administer the shop is completely not worth it as there is no personal gain, but it pays for the hosting costs. Vbulletin v4 came out so I upgraded to that however some of my extra site features were dropped due them not being ported to VB v4 by their developers. Remember VBClassifieds and VBGallery? The biggest and greatest addon I used in VB was VBCMS and VBDynamics…they were great addons especially Dynamics as I could create many different instances of it for many different features of my site for pilots. Everything started to go downhill from here as Dynamics had too many issues under VB v4 plus the same for many other addons. I got ripped off a lot of money by developers, but I stayed with VB as long as I could. Then the whole VB v5 fiasco, which I didn’t go to, was the end of the line of vb for me. So, at this stage I had a very troublesome site with less features and functions for the users than before. The question here is if I had just remained default with VB v4 then perhaps I wouldn’t have had so many headaches however if I had not turbo charged my site with so many extras, functions and features for my users would my site had been so successful? Along came Xenforo. WOW, this promised to be something phenomenal and I was in right at the get go. I migrated over to XF even in BETA stage as it was looking so promising with all the posts and talk of what developers were working on and remember this was even before XF’s formal release. Before I go any further, I must stress one extremely important consideration. The average age of my userbase is in the low 60s. At this age people often buy a caravan and travel around or they buy a light aircraft and fly around. Many people of this age were not really introduced to technology so using a site can be very hard and confusing. Even though there are buttons saying Create Thread or Create Post I still continually get asked how to create a post. I get many users saying my site doesn’t work as they get timed out after 15mins even though they are just trying to type a three-line post (it is now 30min time out). Every few days I get an email from a registered user simply saying “Your site doesn’t work”…then we have to go through a long process to resolve the issue like their caps are on trying to put their password in. The one thing the spurred me on was the fact that I was continually getting emails from users saying they would have been killed if not for something they had read on my site…my site was saving lives, it was working. These are extremely important considerations in what follows. The one thing that I found was great with XF was that it was so simple, not just for users but for an Admin to create anything by in many cases simple HTML. The Search function was brilliant so to was the Admin Control Panel, the Template system and most importantly the speed of it. Addons started coming thick and fast and soon some very big addons that I could use. Bob’s great Showcase, Chris’s Media addon and many others. Sure, my XF site started from scratch again with just forums but it wasn’t long before I was building the site back up to its previous glory. Then, it all started falling apart again. The addons were starting to show their true colours with some very good ones and some very bad ones so you didn’t know who to trust other than by wasting money on the bad ones just to find out. The next thing was the VB/XF Court Case. Everything seem to stop, and I was again left with a troublesome and very much incomplete site. Users were starting to baulk saying when are the Classifieds coming back, when is this or that going to be added to the site. I didn’t know what to do other than sit on my hands and become very frustrated and let down by XF. No coms, no advice, no information…do I spend thousands of dollars on a platform that will not eventuate, do I go back to the problems of VB, do I do this or that. The legal issues went on and on and I became very bitter, so much so that I began to hate even looking at my site. I was going to close it so many times but thinking of the lives it was saving I just couldn’t do it. Also, at this time the Light Aircraft Governing Body here in Australia tried everything the could to close me down. Many legal actions against me for the site having posts by users the body didn’t like, they didn’t like the fact that I was giving the industry a voice. They even disallowed my membership, which you must legally have to fly a light aircraft, saying I was “Bringing the Industry into disrepute” by allowing pilots a voice by allowing them to post. The site survived through all the XF/VB legal action, my own legal troubles against me however the site had stagnated. It was getting over 4,000 unique visitors per day, over 600 registered users logging in per day but there was no growth, so I had to do something. With the XF/VB case over I desperately tried to get the site back to its powerful single repository of everything in recreational aviation with addons, features and functionality. The problem of quality yet again rose it ugly head and a lot of money was wasted with no immediate positive outcomes. I kept waiting for XF to grow to the phenomenon that I knew it could grow to but that wasn’t happening. Sure, there was a Resources addon which I believe was driven by XF’s own needs and then XF purchased/took over Chris’s Media addon (which I already had) but it stopped there. XF’s focus, I felt, was purely on a forum solution only solution and developers. I had already felt the wrath of bad developers and had been taken for a ride so many times by them, addon I even paid to be developed were not developed to my specs and were released to the public leaving me without exactly what I paid for but allowed developers to make money off my money. There were developers like 2 shoes with Classifieds (very buggy), Michael with the shop (very buggy and ripped people off on VB then left, moved to XF and ripped people off and left) and many many others. BUT I MUST SAY THERE ARE ALSO SOME VERY GOOD DEVELOPERS LIKE BOB etc. At this time my site had been stagnant for some time and there were many users popping up that seemed heel bent on causing trouble. Armed with a hefty amount of keyboard courage and alpha male attitudes they trolled the site antagonising other users driving many people away or simply scared them out of posting. I took a hard-line approach to drive these troublemakers away however it is very much a “Damned if you do, and Damned if you don’t” scenario. My site became divided plus I couldn’t satisfy my userbase with all the features they once had. Now in comes Facebook. A couple of users from my site started a Facebook Group and with my userbase being of the older generation found Facebook much more convenient as they used Facebook to stay in touch with family and friends anyway. This Facebook Group grew and grew rapidly. I noticed my site’s stats began to drop and saw many of the prolific posters on my site were no longer visiting my site but were posting in the Facebook Group. I have found that users are also divided and that there is still a small amount of those that don’t like Facebook, but they are in the minority. Now in comes all the hype of XF v2. I am stuck between a rock and a hard post, what do I do. I chose to wait for XF2…wrong move. I waited, and waited, and waited and in the end XF v2 was simply all about developers and very little, very little at all for end users. Gone also was the simplicity of XF v1 where you could do just about anything with just a little knowledge of HTML and CSS. When XF v2 was finally released it seemed all the addon developers ran for the life and only little whoopy do addons were created however there was some little core components that were very nice to have. I felt I now had no choice but to go to XF v2 and wait for those addons that I needed to come back…but again I was wrong. Again I had to wait and wait and wait only to see that the addons were not going to eventuate…what was I to do…My site was dying, the Facebook Group was screaming ahead, I hated my site because I was frustrated and after 15 years of putting everything I had into it to help others had nowhere to go but down. Site stats were now under half of what the site once was, I couldn’t do what I wanted to do due to the complexity of XF v2 unless I embarked on a massive learning curve, and at 60 years of age perhaps I was beyond that now. Now in comes IPS. Everything indicated that it promised to be a quick saviour with all that it offered and integrated to boot, WOW. So, I purchased the complete package of all IPS had to offer plus many very well built and looking addons like Classifieds, Suppliers, Clubs, Databases and Pages for anything I wanted to create (like my old VBDynamics). I migrated over to IPS as quick as I could (bad move) but I felt pressured into doing something quickly before my site dived any further. I didn’t take the age group of my user base into consideration and their less acceptance of change but also IPS was more complicated to the user simply because of the great number of features and functionality that it has…it has so much. After a couple of weeks, I found my stats were dropping fast with registered users not even logging in to site…I panicked and quickly went back to XF, wiped the sweat from my brow and started some soul searching. Was I wrong in trying to go back to the success of yesterday by having an all in all comprehensive single repository of everything to do in recreational aviation for my users to help each other? Or, is the time of my site now gone and everything is now Facebook as that Facebook Group was still growing with many users that had over the years before left my site? Determined that I can still help other pilots, help to keep them safe, help them to learn by other pilot’s experiences and in well and properly maintained aircraft I decided to give IPS another try, after all I think I panicked. I engaged a fantastic IPS developer to help me to change the IPS look and feel to XF as much as possible to minimise the “change” to users. I embarked on a big communication program to the site users, took my time getting IPS right, even having IPS example setup for the users to try and advise. The stupid thing is only a couple of users even looked at IPS site. I created videos on the XF now to the IPS change to help show and educate users on the benefits of IPS and much more. When I felt it was ready, I migrated again across to IPS and this time I was at the end anyway so it was a do or die scenario and I promised myself I would give it 6 months. I must say here that one big contributing factor in my decision making was that the XF forums had become so extremely toxic with opinionated trolls who seemed to know more about my site by a couple of lines in a post than I did…it is so toxic that even one moderator I wouldn’t pea on him if he was on fire Anyway, I began with just the same components of XF i.e. Forums, Media (Gallery), Resources (Downloads) etc for a couple of weeks. I then began to turn on some of the other great features and after a few months my site stats were back to what they previously were however still over 50% less than what they were years ago. Over this time users were telling me in private conversations how much they liked the extra features of the site and a poll, even with a small amount of respondents said they preferred IPS to XF, I was also taking note of other stats like users that found the site more complicated. I turned some of the IPS things off like parts of What’s New, the Search function was one area they did complain about as the usage of Search dropped dramatically and many other things. The site still wasn’t growing again though. During the 6 months I thought to expand the site Internationally after all flying a plane is the same in every country. I moved servers to the US LA location and up spec’d the server to counteract some of the latency. This failure for two reasons, one that my site was predominately Australian based users (85%) which deterred the international population and two, even though my new server was extremely powerful IPS still suffered to the existing Australian userbase. The interesting thing is my “Off Topic” XF v2 site didn’t suffer that much. Through server stats I found IPS very resource hungry. I tried to get the server optimised by approaching two IPS server gurus however they declined. After 6 months of IPS use I found many weaknesses in the Admin side of site management which became very frustrating every time you went to do something at the level of my knowledge. Things that I could do so easily in XF I couldn’t do in IPS. I accidentally deleted a whole forum by simply trying to delete all guest posts in that forum (IPS named Guests differently). This was the straw that broke the camels back and at this time BOB had finally released his great Showcase and Articles addons. I then started to look at how I could create what I needed in XF by thinking outside the box. I found that I could create a “On this day in Aviation” section using Andy’s Calendar addon, I could create a better menu system that could single out components of Resources into separate sections like a Clubs and Schools section (this was a big impact to me which previously couldn’t be done) and create a powerful Classifieds section by using mostly core functions with a little extra development. As a final solution I would also pay to get developed all the extra functionality and features that I need to hopefully get aviators back to having and using a comprehensive repository of all the information they need in a single location so they don’t miss some little thing that may save their life. So, that’s my story of my site, it has some half a million posts, 11,000 registered users although that would be around 25,000 if I didn’t cull old users over the last 18 years. Some issues that I need to consider: Facebook is toxic to forum sites and will destroy them unless forum software developers realise that a forum site needs to offer more than a Facebook Group by creating so much more functionality for a site’s users, a “whole web site” like IPS offers and not just a “forum” site (note some subjects are ok in just forums but others are not) The toxic environment at XF needs to be fixed. I am not thick skinned, but no one should be subjected to being attacked for having a different opinion than others and no one knows more about a site than the owner of that site, drop the keyboard courage and alpha male attitudes and HELP each other, that’s why it is called a community Addons are evil but in some cases a necessary evil. You can get robbed, you can get crap addons, and you can as in most cases be left high and dry with a damaged site. Greed has to go, and we have to start helping each other because you never know what damage you are doing to a persons site with your addon an in my case it can cost people their lives by not having a good working resource available to them IPS and XF both have some fantastic advantages and it is very very hard to choose between the two so think about if your site is successful what will the users want and what will protect your site from the vulture of Facebook Sorry for this being so long and I could even add much more to help others, if my story has helped anyone and yes, I have made some mistakes but I have made some good decisions after all I had an incredible site that helped thousands and I wish I could find the answer to get back to that, but thank you for reading it and I wish you and your site great success

For all First Class Members (and Moderators) you can now create your very own web address to your profile page. For example I have created a web address to my very own profile as in [iCODE]https://www.recreationalflying.com/ibaker[/iCODE] You can create your very own "vanity URL" to your own profile page by using [iCODE]https://www.recreationalflying.com/your_vanity_name[/iCODE] using a vanity name you want in the link like your username or real name or funny name or ??? what ever you like. This is the beginning of createding a complete, comprehensive and powerful personal aviation home page for yourself. I will be adding some great features that you can use on your profile page very soon although currently it has your own conversations, list of posts you have made, media items you have added, resources you have added, your own banner across the top of your profile page and more. The objective is to provide you with a Facebook page type of experience on the site. Your aviation interests and interactions are in a hub of aviation with other like minded individuals keeping it all together. To access/create your own web address simply click on Vanity URL in the drop down box when you click on your avatar at the top of the main menu column. Just one thing though, if you use a vanity name that is already in use by the site like forums or media or resources etc, it will clash with the site's own addresses so best to stay away from these...hope you make use of it and enjoy your own web address link to your profile page

Events can be made private to the club members only or can be made public i.e. open to all site visitors, users and guests. The reason why I haven't turned the clubs section on yet or the Event system is for this very reason. Currently they are two systems and I need to develop a way to have the Groups calendar and the general events calendar integrated. The Media component has been integrated with the Media section of the site already.

Thanks @Old Koreelah it is already built except for some more minor enhancements like having a booking system included in the Group calendar that can be used to book club aircraft or for schools a complete training session booking system and linked to a Google calendar etc, I would also like to have the ability to link the forum entries in a Club/School to a Facebook Group and vice-a-versa (2 way)...the development of this is already half completed. As no one, apart from yourself, has helped me in deciding the best way to go I think I will use both. A Clubs and Schools section in Resources that has an extra field where the user can add the link to their Group here on Recreational Flying

It's coming very very soon. The developer I got to do the final bits has been busy and got back on to it today so very very soon

Instruments Drones MOS made The Manual of Standards for Part 101 Unmanned Aircraft and Rockets – commonly known as drones – was made 9 April 2019. It details the safety and regulatory oversight of remotely piloted aircraft, including training and competency standards for remote pilot licences, and standing approvals for certain kinds of operations near aerodromes and beyond visual line of sight provided they meet conditions and requirements prescribed by the MOS. Definitions for flight operations regulations made Definitions to support the suite of Flight Operations Regulations (Part 91, 119, 121, 133, 135, 138) have been made. View the associated amendment regulation on the Federal Register of Legislation website. Consultations Changes to air traffic control standards for parallel runway operations Consultation on a proposal to change air traffic control (ATC) standards for parallel runway operations (including those in use at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) aerodrome, and in the near future, Brisbane aerodrome, closed on 1 May 2019. We are now reviewing the feedback. Update to aeroplane flight simulator standards – Part 60 MOS Consultation on a proposal to amend the Part 60 MOS to directly reference the latest ICAO, FAA and EASA standards for flight simulators closed on 10 April 2019. We have completed analysis – which was largely positive – and are developing a detailed response to constructive input received during the consultation period. Resources New eLearning course on Class G airspace radio procedures We have published a new eLearning course designed to help pilots operate safely in non-controlled airspace. The Class G Airspace Radio Procedures module is available through AviationWorx on the CASA website. Also see the related resource booklet, Be heard, be seen, be safe, available in hard copy via the CASA Online Store, or viewed on the CASA website.

There are several ways we can have Clubs, Schools and Clubs/Schools on the site for everyone and I am unsure which way would be the cleanest yet most functional for everyone. I believe we need to meet 2 functions in Clubs and Schools: 1. Enable a Club or School to create a presence here on Recreational Flying 2. Be able to provide a list of ALL Clubs and Schools for users and perspective students to be able to look up and find out about each one Firstly we will have Groups (yet to be turned on) and this can have categories for Clubs, Schools and General Groups(for aircraft types, etc). It can function as a presence for the club or school here on Recreational Flying and is quite powerful in that each one can have their own Forum, Gallery, Event Calendar etc: Owners/Admins of the Group can set its permissions as Public, Private, Invite Only etc. The issue in just using the Groups function for Clubs and Schools is that not all Clubs and Schools will want a presence here or even be bothered to maintain their Group features The second option is to provide a list of ALL Clubs and Schools in the Resource section of the site. This would simply be a listing of them all with basic information on each one: I would enter the information that I can find about each one however that information could go out of date in due course without a representative of the Club or School here to maintain their entry So, either way maintaining the accuracy of the information is a hard one. I wonder about having just either one as each one has different benefits but is using both with say a link in the Resource List one to their Group one would be the way to go or is that too much to have and perhaps may be a little confusing to a user who is looking for Clubs or Schools, finds one of the options here on Recreational Flying and doesn't know about the other. What do you think???

Blogs are coming back very soon...there is so much to turn on but I want to do it one at a time, get it working perfectly right before I turn the next feature on etc etc etc

For everyone, especially @BirdDog and @FlyingVizsla and @Downunder please note that the error you received when changing your Alert preferences has now been fixed. It was caused by some extra code that I had placed in there which I have now removed and will need to check what I was doing wrong but all fixed now...sorry about that

The Alerts error that some are experiencing is not happening for me so I have to look further into it for you

Sorry, please bare with me...I have moved back home from Sydney and are building a new PC...will be back and focused on the site again real soon

In regards to not staying logged in, try clearing all cookies from Recreational Flying in your browser

Hi @BirdDog can you advise more detail on what you were doing to get that error...thanks

Hi Bernie, as Red says but are you not seeing that "Filters" drop down link at all and if not what version of Windows and Browser are you using?

hi @FlyingVizsla are you referring to the weekly Sunday email or to All as in "Receive news and update emails"...also can you advise what the entire error message is...thanks