Ian

What is the Goulburn council court case?

I'd heard rumours of his excellent treatment of aviators and other people. Given the fact that he never achieved the requirements for the transfer of title it seems odd that it was transferred. But that probably just local Government. Does Goulburn remain the best option for Canberra fliers? Is there any intention of Canberra airport, or anywhere else to cater to general aviation at all? Is anyone who was involved with the Williamsdale site left around?

I actually met a pilot in Cowra who was adamant about chem trails. When I laughed and told he he was a fruitcake he told me all about the UN conspiracy to take over the world. His conversation revolved around Chemtrails Covid Vaccines A UN conspiracy to take control of all Governments My view is Politicians are occasionally corrupt but it about money. Public servants and bureacrats are often individually smart but collectively stupid.

Hopefully Goulburn council or the Government buys it back at the same price they sold it for.

For those of you who want to fill more than a jerry can. A 200L drum attached to a boat might provide a handy alternative. You can't fill more than a 25L container however there's an exemption for boats.

Everywhere has challenges which pilots need to remain aware, many incidents and accidents occur due to far more mundane things. But before this you need somewhere to take off an land from. Sydney at one point had many more aerodromes, however real-estate developers had other ideas. The current owner of the Goulburn airport may had hoped that the high speed train was going to be routed through this area at some point allowing a significant profit. This never occurred

The Goulburn airport owner wants to sell the airport. I'm not sure if this has been the happiest of relationships and has been as conducive to GA as the sale of Canberra airport to Terry Snow. https://the-riotact.com/goulburn-airport-owner-wants-to-cash-in-properties-and-retire/742379 The historic Currandooley private airstrip which once had 3 operational strips during and after WW2 is soon to be glazed over with solar panels https://www.blindcreeksolarfarm.com.au/ Any thoughts about where to hangar aircraft in the region would be welcome. I'm still amazed that the national capital only has a single airport within about 100km.

The whole paper based licence system is archaic, and having instructors tack rating on the back just dumb. One step removed from stone tablets.

As I've stated, I don't mind obtaining and carrying one if they create something useful. A smartcard that works as a long term credential containing photo id Your licence with ratings etc Provides access to all airports instead of the stupid pin codes. It should be cheap or near zero cost and last for more than two years. I've worked in industries with many processes of differing efficacy over the years. I am willing to put up with processes that work to control dubious risks if they're lightweight, however heavyweight processes which don't actually work at all are a different matter. ASIC in it's current form is just that. Either make it useful or ax it. I'd encourage everyone to knock on their local members door with an ASIC to explain why they are shit.

There is a risk. Airplanes have been used as weapon by terrorists. As a control, whether strong identity checks around airports actually mitigates this risk is up for debate. It does have some appeal. With strong identity checks and other processes you can minimise interactions between high risk individuals and groups and your critical infrastructure. What I'm saying is, in it's current form the ASIC card is pretty much worthless, it doesn't provide a strong identity check, is costly, burdensome and the other processes are missing. I suspect that the main driver for the ASIC card was simply customs, border protection and drugs at major international airports. The rest is just collateral damage.

Actually a birth certificate in an of itself is not veracious. It is easy to manufacture one. It is the fact that it can be referenced against an existing Government database which provides the strong binding to an identity. But that is a slow and cumbersome process. Similarly an expired ASIC card can be used to verify someone's identity, it just depends upon what you're trying to achieve and the level of assurance you require. However a smartcard, through cryptographic operations can be veracious through real time cryptographic operations. That is a claim relating to identity can be verified in real time by anyone with a device such as a mobile phone. An ASIC card is a dumbcard, it has a couple of holograms that can be cloned, is issued by groups which don't have great physical or electronic security. There are multiple levels though which the process could be compromised either electronically or through social engineering. I think that in a risk assessment it would be probable that one of these issuing authorities has already been compromised or will be compromised and the identity documents exfiltrated.

ASIC cards as they current stand don't provide the benefits they're meant to. They are simply expensive security theatre. To make them useful Make them a good credential such as a smartcard not a dumbcard with a photo on it. Make it cheap. A Tesla "key" is about $25, a replacement bank smartcard is free, so a 10 year card should be less than $100 Centralise supply and make it a Government service. Not outsourced to well meaning but clueless subcontractors. Because the costs have been externalised by the Government there is zero economic incentive to fix them. Make them cheaper and longer lasting. For example a Government security clearance can be valid for 10 years, why not ASICs? Resource security checks on all relevant airports Resource a phone based app with NFC for checking card so cheap forgeries are easily detectable. Escort all non card holders at all times. This includes foreign air-staff. Incorporate your qualifications and checks such as flying credentials and medicals onto the card and ditch the current paper based system. There is a non-zero risk associated with aircraft and terrorism which increases with the size of the aircraft. However this risk should be viewed in the context of other systems which can be weaponised such as fuel tankers, water supplies etc. What we have now is a chancre.

This is it in a nutshell. How effective are medical checks and what risk do they mitigate. Reviews of pilot incapacitation during flight show that the most likely reasons are food poisoning, illness and diabetes. You see the occasional stroke, heart attacks etc but they're rare. Even if you argue that these occur after medicals have culled the weak. The rates in Australia UK and US appear to be about the same so medicals don't actually appear to do much and they're inconvenient as buggery.

Out of curiosity what are the current fees into Coffs? Generally your gut feeling about security is correct. When the security measures appear to be out of proportion, they probably are.

Security is not a bad thing however it needs to actually add value, the current system does not. I'd be happier if the ASIC card was a 5 year entity with self reporting at the same price. I could see greater utility if ASIC cards were a contactless smartcards with a cryptographically attested photo, fingerprint, iris etc which can be read by an electronic device such as a phone. At least then forging would be difficult, and by the way this should be the job of the Federal Government not private firms. A card like this could actually ensure that air-side access auditable and relied on the credential. The current cards can be forged a on low cost printer and the holographic stickers can be bought. Currently most airports are secured by a pin code which is written inside the gate, it rarely if ever changes.