FlyingVizsla

I gather ELAAA have over reached themselves trying for non-commercial helicopters and the sub 1,500kg fixed wing GA sector. It is a pity, as there are plenty of single engine recreational GA planes whose owners would like to trade off things like NVR, free rego etc, for owner maintenance, even if it is at an annual cost. Personally I would have started with ultralights, got established within what is accepted and then tried for greater weight and other types and engaged some people who know how to word manuals and administrative instruments. Still hoping they get up for the lower end of GA's sake.

We built a RANS S7. It goes together like a big Meccano set, good instructions, parts packaged & labelled. The challenges are fabric covering and painting. Seating is one behind the other. Can be configured to fly by either person (we are both pilots). Will be more expensive as the US & AUD $ drift apart. It took 6 years to build, but that was because he was working away, his first wife had cancer and months of travel for treatment, she died, he started chasing women and it took him 18 months to snare me and add my aircraft to his fleet. With just the two of us, both working, it might have been 2 years. Both of us have building experience and have owned other aircraft and he had a large shed a couple of blocks from the airport. We put it on the back of the truck (wings folded) to get it to the strip. That's another thing to consider - moving from build site to airstrip, if it isn't easily dismantled. Let us know how you go. Sue

Nahh! They all go into hibernation in winter down south, and besides the Southerners have an extra hour of sunshine each day to fly over summer. The numbers might even out, there was a distinct pattern to the number of registrations / memberships in each month (renewals are where these hours are reported). There has been a rise in members since I last logged on and looked.

The ABC story. Ashby investigated for flying Pauline Hanson without proper pilot's licence

Was talking to a hangar owner yesterday. He said she had come to a compromise with the previous caretaker and he had returned. The conversation was a bit vague, but he said he was one of four caretakers and she had finally relented and agreed to let him build a hangar, live there, and build his plane. He sounds like a resourceful guy who knows how to do things on the cheap and was helping out the other hangar owner who was getting his hangar live-able and solar. He said the airstrip (leasehold) is for sale. The conversation was a bit convoluted and long, so it might not all be Gospel.

From Old Man Emu :- AIRFIELD CARETAKER REQUIRED. Airfield Caretaker Required at Dunwich, North Stradbroke Island, QLD Requirements: Need to be on a Pension, small amount paid fortnightly accordingly. Aviation knowledge preferred. General maintenance skills required. Able to use a tractor & ride on mower to maintain airstrip. A couple is preferred with own accommodation, ie: caravan. No power. Run on generator & solar power. Ph: 0410 558 334.

We both fly; I have more hours than him. Guess that's why he wants to do all the flying now. As for driving, again I have more miles on the road, and with less accidents. That's why he keeps telling me how to do it, and insists on doing the driving. As he keeps saying "I taught you all I know .... and you still know nothing .... " Gotta luv him.

Agreed FT - the figures are quite weird. Looking at 2013 95-10s = a landing every 7.5 minutes! Perhaps most of them were overweight old pilots bouncing their Wheeler Scouts down the runway? I suspect there has been many a slip up with data input, by admin, by pilots and others; and there hasn't been the resources to track them down and correct. A quick analysis of outliers should bring up most anomalies, but you have to love figures, not everyone does.

Try this Australian Aircraft Activity They are a little slow getting the reports out - 2015 is here. RAAus provides the information you supply to them. Unfortunately they can't go back and add hours that were missed (for example) in 2009, so those go in when we updated, in 2016. I'm looking forward to reading 2016, 2017. The Dept are terribly slow asking GA for their figures, I got my request for the previous years in September 2015 (for Jan-Dec 2014), June, July and probably won't see 2017's form for another 5-8 months! Then they have to chase up non-returns, collate, analyse and publish.

I suspect part of the explanation for increased hours is that we now have the ability to correct the hours flown on our aircraft through the website. When data was lost in the "great server collapse" and failure to back-up some years ago, two of our aircraft had their hours "estimated". He used to pay by phone and got caught on the hop with the question of "how many hours flown, landings, etc" so under reporting compounded. The total hours got updated, but not much thought went into total landings. The other thing I didn't agree with, was the decision to report only pilots as members. Suddenly RAA appeared to have lost 10% of membership. The total membership is about 10,000 (still), but they talk about 9,000. As for scholarships $77K going back into flying schools, aircraft hire etc from member donations to get more people into recreational flying is a good thing.

From the ABC Friend witnesses fatal plane crash on farm

This from the National President of the AWPA - Australian Women Pilots' Association:- ... National Vice President Sandra Southwell has passed away. The family of Sandra has confirmed the following details; Sandra passed away yesterday, Saturday 20th January, 2018 after being involved in an aircraft accident. Our condolences go to Sandra’s partner of 25 years Barry Bransden. Sad news indeed.

AUF magazine April 1991 lists 10-0780 as a Pioneer Flightstar whose rego had expired 28/7/1990. Presumably it was reinstated to the Register after that. Tim & Leanne run the Emerald Motel Apartments. Tim was well liked. There are many scenarios - perhaps he was doing solo practice or maybe Navs to finish with his Xcountry? Might have been a medical or structural failure - we don't know yet. The fact that his instructor went looking for him after a 6am take-off suggests pre-licence solo under supervision. Meanwhile there is an instructor who is going to be badly shaken. No one wants to lose a student, or fellow flier. Condolences to all.

RIP, Probably know him. There is an airstrip about 15km from Emerald on the Springsure road, a crop duster outfit, also it is a direct route from Emerald Airport to Springsure strip. I built that section of the road a few years ago. There is a side track, railway, 2 lane bitumen road with wide shoulders, pretty straight, flat open paddocks. Not in Springsure at present, but no doubt will hear soon.

The local newspaper report FOOTAGE: Man tells of moment plane came down

He's in the Maryborough (Qld) hospital with a deep gash to the leg and a piece out of his ankle. He's older than 68, so that would be partly why they made him do an overnighter. He is a forumite here, but hasn't contributed for a while. Leg injuries would go with the territory with the Airbike; as you fly with legs & feet outside. He ended up in the backyard of the house across the road directly off the end of the Pacific Haven airstrip (9 Marina Drive, Pacific Haven). Otherwise he probably would have landed on the garden or just flown away. There's a picture of that Airbike here Taildragger Heaven He's in the picture in post #66. He was buying another plane, so sounds like he'll be back. Get Well Soon!

The Clear Prop shop (profits run this site) has a log book. If you ask, Ian may give you a view of the pages. Aircraft Maintenance Log Book We use the RANS log and RAAus logs and adapted sheets, particularly as an addendum to the Build Logs.

Welcome Angela, Have you joined the Australian Women Pilots' Association? They currently have scholarships and awards - most close end of Jan. Each one has conditions - some are open to non-members and men. Sue

Childers Qld also have a Fly-in Breakfast on Sunday 3rd Dec 2017 hosted by the Isis Flying Club, with some cars from the local Car Club on display. $10 breakfast. Isis Flying Club

Welcome Sarah! The Australian Women Pilots' Association has scholarships, awards etc that might interest you. They are open to Members & in some cases non-members and men. Applications are now open - the closing date for most is 31 January. See the website for eligibility and conditions. They are awarded at the AGM usually held in April. Australian Women Pilots` Association

Bull, your post is still there - you must have started typing within the quote (it shows up like [ / QUOTE ] ), so you have to click on 'click to expand ...' in the blue .. I read it - 60 people, 30 planes ... that the one?

Bernie, you get the new posts when you hit the button "New". "Search" is a separate box where you put in word(s) to search for. People use it for a number of reasons - to find all the posts on a subject eg "climbing turn stall" before starting a new thread to ask the same question, to look up the history of an aircraft, find similar accidents (C.210 inflight break-ups), go back to an interesting thread posted some 1-2 years ago that emerged in thread drift etc. I use it frequently, but as the site is getting bigger, that amusing / informative post gets harder to find.

I prefer 'Everywhere' as I have usually exhausted a single forum title scan before I search. I would also like to search on a date range (between this and that), or "older than". The only option is "newer than". I find some things I am looking for are not in the forum I expected (or remembered them) to be in. Eg trying to find an old accident which might be in Warbirds or General rather than in Accidents where it should belong, or just because of thread drift.

The desire for a weight increase has been on the books for over 20 years. To quote the President's Report (Doug Muir) from 1997 in the AUF Journal Sept Vol 7(9) p.10 - "Some of the main outcomes we are working towards are the introduction of the experimental category, a revised primary and a new intermediate category and an increase in weight to 750kg, 45 knot stall, while retaining the privileges we currently enjoy." He hoped that "manufacturers would be able to produce a new generation of aircraft for the Australian market.". ".. and give us access to much more of the home building market ..". 1997 had a number of letters and articles on 750kg, both for & against and neutral. Letters to the Editor were pretty robust in those days. Nothing new ... just moved on-line ...

ELAAA - the alternative to RAA - intend to cover recreational helicopters, when they get approval from CASA. Might be worth contacting them, they have a facebook presence. They are going for 760kg and ultimately 1,500 kg to take in the RPL market.