pmccarthy

If it is a matter of funding there are two ways to go. First is to mount a public campaign about all those crashes and deaths and the risk to the Genral public of a machine falling on their heads, which would get some political attention but would be a disaster for our hobby/business. Or we increase the RAAus fees by enough to cover proper investigation and legal advice. I reckon the cost of one hours flying (true cost including ownership) per year per member should do it.

On the old days air safety was so important that we got all the necessary documentation for free. Updates would arrive in the mail every week, flight service units were there to help, there were no landing charges. Maybe the decision makers could still remember the war and the importance of aviation. Now, at the RAAus level, we are expendable and politically invisible.

For anyone who tries to donate, you need to join the crowd sourcing website with a password and you need to have an Amazon account. It defeated me this time, I will try again later.

There is a t shirt popular in the US that is simply marked ROOTS in big letters. Now also in Oz. My wife has one and I've been threatening to get one that says DOESN'T.

I have the old DCA one and I wish I had thought of relabelling and RAAus column because they require an annual total and I have to go back and add them up separately.

A lovely picture but what drives the propellor?

Other than ground calls, the only calls required in VFR outside controlled airspace are the ten mile inbound, joining circuit, turning base and turning final. No departure call. We are strongly discouraged from cluttering the airwaves with any other calls, though of course there times when they are needed and that is left to the judgement of the pilot. Now a hundred people will tell me I'm wrong.

For me, with good advanced lodgement, the delay was from March 16 to April 4. Not bad, except it ruled out Natfly.

I jus got my renewal by email. Yippee! My file is in order and all is right with the world. My thanks to the renewal team, I hope the backlog goes away soon.

Flyhi Thanks for pointing us to the update. It is a bit alarming. There are three categories of delay, all of them requiring further information. There is not a category that says we are a bit slow but your rego will come through without a request for further info. Or am I missing something?

I sent paperwork photos etc a month ahead, have been grounded last two weeks. Missed Temora. Not happy. I phoned Leanne and was told that my file is in a pile on a desk. I didn't get any idea of how much longer it will be. This is my third grounding. First was for no CofA on file, second was for no weight and balance on file. I am wondering what else might be missing. I sent in the photos but sent only one side of the plane, have since read that others have been knocked back for not photographing both sides.

To explain that comment further, when I was learning to fly a Drifter I accepted that the fan might stop and flew accordingly, but a modern factory built LSA if properly maintained ahold be just as reliable as a GA aircraft.

Why is it ok in RAAus to have forced landings? There seems to be a lot of it about. I don't think GA pilots have much experience of forced landings.

I just got a letter from RAAus reminding me that my rego expired two weeks ago. Talk about rubbing salt into the wound! I rang Leanne, she says the letters are computer generated and come out even if the delay is caused by them. My renewal is somewhere in a pile on a desk.

HITC I didn't mean control flutter, just that LSAs are less stable than heavier aircraft. Going from my 550kg LSA to a Piper Archer is like going from the Archer to a WW2 Harvard (for example, from experience). Heavier aircraft don't move about so much and I think are easier to fly and more predictable. Landing an Archer just requires pulling the throttle, holding off, letting the speed wash off and is settles gently. Try that in my Texan and it falls suddenly out of the sky from a few feet up, you have to fly it onto the ground with some power on. The power is also needed to keep enough airflow over the rudder. I suspect that in a forced landing I would do a much better job in the Archer. I suspect that I would be much more likely to stall/spin an LSA than a GA aircraft under the pressure of turning final for a forced landing, maybe trying to stretch the glide.

Some of the recent posters seem to be quite confident about making forced landings, but I think it may be misplaced confidence. That thinking could lead to flying with known defects, stretching fuel, flying in marginal VMC etc.

I did my training here +40 years ago with Duncan McDougall. CFI was Dudley Hart. I will try to fly in for this.

The incidents may be initiated by a mechanical fault in many cases , but there is a loss of control (stall/spin often) at relatively low level, or failure to successfully complete a forced landing. Slow/ light aircraft go from flying to fluttering more readily than GA aircraft around the stall speed, because wind gusts are proportionately more important and because they lack inertia. Back in the early 1930s here was grave concern about the higher landing speeds of streamlined monoplanes. Everyone was surprised that the accident rate went down.

I agree the problem is crashes in open paddocks not over tiger country. Many of he pilots are experienced. So it comes down to maintenance, or something about the unpredictability of lightweight aircraft handling.

I reckon the risks are about the same whether I fly over Bass Strait, high country or outback rolling sand dunes. It is a bit less risky flying over farmland but there are a lot of hidden traps even there, which is why so many fatals occur in flat open paddocks. A high standard of maintenance for my 912 and aircraft is the insurance, rather than kidding myself that I can make a successful forced landing. A precautionary landing is different, given the opportunity to inspect the proposed landing ground. Maybe this is GA thinking - but if I always had to have a good field within gliding range I wouldn't get far.

I find RA flying more challenging than GA, mainly because of the lower landing speed, lack of inertia and hence susceptibility to gusts. But I find the RA flyers seem more confident of surviving a forced landing, confidence that I think is misplaced. In GA I always felt that my chances of surviving a sudden engine failure were probably only 50% because of all the nasty things down on the ground like power lines, trees, rocks, water that I might not be able to avoid. RA conversations suggest that pilots generally believe they will manage an engine or systems failure quite well, and so I think they are more tolerant of maintenance issues that could lead to failure.

My rego renewal is now a week overdue despite sending cheque,photos and form in a month ago. I have cancelled plans for Temora and will be doing something else over Easter.

On a trip my return line delivers a significant quantity to the right tank when left is selected. At the least, it must be relieving load on the fuel pump.

Classic Wings. The way they bring those crashed warbirds back to life fascinates me. And the photography is amazing.

Thanks for this thread. I was taught more than 40 years ago to establish a positive rate of climb and then, not below 300 feet, flaps up and pump off. I have always flown low- wing. I have tended in recent years to leave the pump on a bit longer until I can see a place for a forced landing within range, so it depends on terrain and trees. It helps greatly to have a pressure gauge when you switch it off to see that the pressure is still there. In the Texan the pressure just drops about 10% but still in the middle of the gauge.

I reckon a plastic fantastic (ok, like mine) will depreciate $20,000 from new in 200 hours based on what people will pay, not what they ask in adverts. That is $100 an hour and is the biggest cost. Who is getting that money? I think it just evaporates.

Maintenance might be only $1000 per year, if you do a lot yourself, say $10 per hour. The LAME gets most of that and well deserved.

Insurance $35 per hour on the same basis. Given the number of prangs, they probably need that.

Fuel $25-30 per hour for Mogas. Other bits and pieces include maps, headsets, pies at the aero club.

Don't land at places that require landing fees.

All in all, I can't see anyone making much money out of it.