FlyingVizsla

Welcome to the forum. There would be a few cobwebs, but planes have also inched up a notch too. Not to mention all the legislation ... What type of aircraft are you pedalling? What did you do 40 years ago - Cessna? Piper? That era you had to do a minimum of 15 hours a year to keep the PPL and I knew a few who for one reason or another, let that slide and ended up giving it away. Then that was removed and you only had to do a BFR to fly. There were a few in the 1990's who came back to it. It never leaves you! Sue

Hi Lyle! Yes, I still have INC, but we fly the RANS S7 more often, cleaning up the GA Lightwing for sale (you can only have sooooo many planes), working on the Karasport, and cleaning up the other "projects" in the shedssss. 400 years of work ahead of us .. Scout, Turbulent, Sonerai (half built project his son bought), various engines ..... I would like to build a plane before I get too old to fly it.

Love the C152! Been flying one since 1995. Please let us know how the Solo goes, and I am hoping the weather holds - nothing worse than expending all that nervous energy only to have it put off. Good luck Darren. Sue

Hi Storm, don't need to be a pilot to enjoy flying! We enjoy the discussion on engines and new technologies. Sounds like you are already enjoying what's on offer. Sue

Mr FV & I live simply and don't use products that kill everything. The next generation does and constantly have the "sniffles", feeling crook etc. Father & son worked at the same place for 18 years; dad retired with nearly all his sick leave unused (paid out at end of work, so no incentive to use or lose) and son had used all his and some. Not conclusive proof considering the different work ethic between the generations, but observation of how sick they are in a sterile environment. They don't fly - so maybe that's it! I did a Uni course on Soils - amazing how many billions of bacteria live in a teaspoon of soil, yet we are quite happy to eat food that grew in it, ate it or sat on it.

We are long term AOPA members, and we have not seen that letter - did they consult us? From my limited view of AOPA, it seems Ben is at war with RAA. The membership numbers were a surprise as I understand they were hovering about 2,300, suddenly they have 3,600? If you are worried about RAA being run by a few - AOPA is all about Ben, not "the Board" or members. No doubt he has a lot of enthusiasm and a strong agenda. Unfortunately the website he ran, that RAA used for Classifieds, was a dead duck, with complaints of sold aircraft still listed years later, scams taking money still up long after users identified them, and no response from the Owner (see posts on RecFly). RAA cancelled the relationship. Why have a go at their ex-magazine editor? It sounds like sour grapes. I am somewhat disturbed by the recent Letters coming out of AOPA. Particularly the ones to RAA. Why are we still members? We understand the swings and round-abouts of AOPA, and while they are not representing our interests at this time, they are supporting the general pilot community in some way. I hope in the future they will drop the combative attitude and try to represent ALL pilots and aircraft owners.

Why we no longer have Tail Draggers:- On another (non-aviation) forum, someone posted this to explain why : Piper Aircraft being successfully sued for product negligence for producing taildraggers. From memory the pilot and airport manager had problems, and the pilot taxied for takeoff but the airport manager stepped in front of the airplane to stop him, and was killed by the propeller - the pilot cannot see directly in front until sufficient power is applied and the tail comes up. Hence the pilot could not see the idiot in front of him until far too late. The case essentially killed light planes in the US for a decade. When protective laws were passed all the light airplanes were subsequently tricycle geared. Any other Urban Myths to debunk?

I was quite happy to pay an Annual Fee at the airports I used, and a casual fee at those I didn't visit that much. Councils have difficulty with "donations" where there's no fee stipulated for RAA and it tends to be coded to something Miscellaneous and news of your honesty may not make it back to the airport management. As for giving false call signs - has happened to me - someone was flying in/out of Archerfield Mon/Fri using my call sign. I explained to Avdata that it wasn't me, no doubt they caught up with them. I hired my plane to a grazier with fuel card, and I started to get fuel bills, en-route & landing fees - fortunately the re-fueller put the aircraft rego on the bill and it turned out he "lent" my card to his charter operator son. A member of our club regularly did the same thing, but being local they tracked him down and banned him from landing there without prior notification. CCTV & recordings have changed the ability to cheat. As for the costs of running an airport - our little grass strip at Childers costs the Club about $700 in fuel, plus the value of a ride-on, paint and volunteer hours. The Council puts in about $5,000 a year and gets about $110 in lease fees, nil landing. Less than a third of the Club members pay rates there. In Springsure the Council sold the footy field to the Footy Club, the other sports pay rental, including the Show Society on the Showgrounds.

Try Aeroclub.com.au Aviation Events, Aviation Directories, Aviation Community That site is kind-of on auto pilot; the website owner is near impossible to contact (we have been trying for years to get our defunct Flying Club removed) and it relies on people listing their own events. You can get emails, weekly, fortnightly, monthly; or just check. Some events were set up "ages ago" as a recurring event, and now don't happen, so you have to check with organisers. This site - Recreational Flying - also relies on people listing their events. I did volunteer to keep the Events up to date, but then we moved and couldn't get enough internet to get Google Maps up, with about 1kb/s most sites bombed or thought I was a mobile phone. So had to "retire". If you know something is on - please list it on RecFly. You don't have to be the owner of the Event. Sue

Been following the race - started today. Outback Air Race 2018 | Supporting the Royal Flying Doctor Service Following progress on the Live Track Outback Air Race - Live Track Thanks to AvPlan EFB | Outback Air Race 2018 Big dinner in Bundaberg tonight. Go Team Skippy! Several RAA aircraft too. Love the team names .. VH-WWW flew past us - Triple Whisky "On the Rocks"

We went - was surprised at the number of people there, given the people we talked to said they hadn't heard of it before we told them. A lot came for the car & bike show, and that was big. Many stalls, clothes, food, pipe band, fund raisers for Angel Flight, RFDS, the Aviation Museum open - all free. Mr FV complained that he couldn't get close to the planes, but with joy flights in & out, so many wandering with kids, dogs, food etc they had to rope it off. We got out when it got quieter. A great day running into old flying friends.

The magazine (incl printing) is a separate contract. The $16k reduction in printing is the office - not printing reams of paper to tell you your Membership/Rego will lapse soon, in a month, in a few days, Thanks - here's your receipt & card. Postage should be down too, as we get most of that by email. As should wages as we don't employ someone to print, fold and envelope it. The building (the biggest asset) is subject to the Canberra real estate market and has had its ups & downs in value. Insurance for pilots & the organisation has only one direction - UP. 2012 annual report had 9411 members, I know they are over 10,000 now. They have muddied the waters a bit by not counting Non-Flying members (only Pilot Certificate holders) so when they quote membership numbers I am not sure which cohort they are referring to. I am also looking forward to the Annual Report.

On this site under Airstrips In the AOPA Airfield Directory In the Country Airflields - you'll have to google that one - one directory per State? Things you have to consider - by publishing you have declared to Council, neighbours, public that you have an active strip. Make sure your insurance and approvals are in place. Best to state "Prior Permission Required" so you have some control.

I would be interested in what they have to say. Women are very under represented in RAA. There has been a history of treating female Board members badly. So there's some easy pickings - get them up from 2% - encourage girls, women, wives, sisters, mothers to learn. The first step toward a career for girls, freedom and travel for women. Some really lovely planes out there. In the 1990s some blokes whinged to me about women learning to fly - I said to them "Do you want a girlfriend who is keen for you to keep flying, or one that tells you to sell the plane and stay home more?"

I have to disagree there - and I have been following the finances closely for many years. 2012 The RAA total assets = $1,080,529 of which the building value was $1,017,500 There was $1,782,494 in the bank. I remember the furore over purchasing a building when some thought renting was adequate. I recall the questions asked about the mounting nest egg and why they needed to keep raising memberships to squirrel away coin - for what purpose? Then finding out they had it on low interest and the Treasurer, apart from not realising they had made a LOSS for the year, had no idea that the surplus could be earning lots more in term deposits. It was later invested and earned RAA members 12.5%. Then the reluctance to spend any money came back to bite HARD. CASA stopped RAA renewing aircraft (loss of revenue), made them pay for consultants to vet everything etc. The Executive of the day had ignored Audit after Audit. Members called a Special Meeting. Criticism of the Old RAA has some justification. I don't want to go back there again. The tendency has been to vote for a bloke who "flies my type of plane". But we need people with business, accounting, legal knowledge as well. The "old" RAA was mostly Flying School owners and CFIs. It didn't work. I have not made up my mind yet, I tend to do a lot of homework before you get my vote. The candidates are well spread geographically from WA to Nth Qld. There's quite a lot of claimed experience and expertise. Consider carefully, and Vote.

I met a family at the airfield in the 1990's with an autistic son who was keen on aircraft. They were on holiday. I offered to take the lad up for his first flight. I only had to show him once and he had it. He had a ball. On the ground he was beaming. I talked to the parents about his ability, but unfortunately, the industry being what is was back then, his route to flying employment would necessitate going into instructing, endless door knocking, charter or station work etc - needing lots of people skills which he didn't have. It was hard to remember to include him in the conversation as he was the first 'full-on' autistic person I had met. No eye contact, didn't speak, random hand movements, seemingly uninterested, but I knew he was chuffed and probably glowed for days after. He may not have grasped what I was saying to his parents; he has the skill, but save your money, he won't get a job at the end of it. If only he had turned up this decade where we are more understanding and there's a pilot "shortage".

Welcome Fred! There's a few old Cessna drivers here, myself included. I fiddled around with C182, C172 and have owned my C152 since 1995. Sue

Autism is a spectrum, from hardly noticeable to quite debilitating and often combined with other "disorders". I married into a family with autism in various quantities. To understand this I did a free Uni course through Future Learn "Understanding Autism" It is worth doing, free, fully on-line with plenty of discussion. I can now recognise it in a few pilot friends too. It shouldn't be much of a barrier to flying, provided you understand your limitations. A lack of empathy and inability to pick up on social cues, means that Instructing probably isn't for those that have that part of the spectrum. Hyperfocusing - concentrating on something to the exclusion of all else, to the point that the phone can ring, meal times fly by, and you don't notice - would preclude flying that requires the ability to change focus quickly. Be aware of "different thinking" that may seem incongruous to 'normal' people - for example - he was worried the house could burn down, so he removed the smoke alarms = problem solved (in his mind). It may not be a problem, but might leave some people a bit perplexed. For some, particular noises or stresses set them off, there isn't one catalyst or one solution. For some it is an advantage, seeming to concentrate on flying and not getting the mind cluttered with all sorts of other things, like current affairs, pension rules, documentaries etc..... You've managed to go solo, so I don't think you will have a problem. The Autistic pilots I know have more trouble understanding how their actions affect others, or can't understand why everyone else doesn't do it how they do it. I think you'll do OK.

The good new story:- Plane crash survivor thanks shocked paramedics who found him walking away from wreckage Plane crash survivor thanks paramedics who were shocked to find him alive

I have just re-read the RAA election nomination pack. The key dates are: Nominations close 6 July 2018, Election statements and materials will be mailed to all members in a hard copy of the August magazine. Voting opens on 1 August 2018 with voting closing on14 September 2018. The successful candidates will be announced in September and take their positions at the November AGM. Some "magazines" with hard copy available by subscription only release the digital version a few weeks after, to encourage subscriptions. Some, like Kitplanes allow me to view the digital about a month before the mag is in the letterbox, EAA has a digital version which is available to me a month before the mag, but to get both, I paid for a spouse subscription ($10) and I read his digital and he reads my magazine a month later. I am a full member. If the new editors are delaying the digital version or not providing one, I shall be very annoyed. I keep checking for it on the RAA and Issuu sites. .

It's not available as a download from RAA or Issuu. Is there election material in there? That would explain getting a hard copy in the letterbox. However, we have not received either of our mags. Brian Begg has also lost the AOPA magazine, so I am wondering if he decided to "retire" or if it was just co-incidence that both magazines went out to tender and someone else got the contracts.

It's going to be rego number, make & model. No name & address, colour of undies and shoe size. Basically it will help answer the question "What is that aircraft?" without giving airport operators and others your details in order to bill or advertise to you.

We've both got ours. It's a card that I rarely have to show to anyone, except at an RAA meeting if I can't remember my membership number. It is useless for ID, so I don't care if it doesn't look like AMEX platinum. Maybe they should have spent more membership funds getting holograms, chips and multi colours from a graphic artist, but I'ld rather save the money and the ego trip and have a bit of plain plastic.

Welcome Nighthawk! Love the C152, I've had one since 1995. Sue

I've been through my PMs - what a trip down memory lane! There's a good number who are no longer with us, deceased, missing in action, or gone very quiet. I can see the need to clean up - there are 2 copies of conversations, then 3, then from about 2011 there's 3 of each individual message, reply etc. making about 9 for each exchange. The clean-up should claw back quite a bit of space.