FlyingVizsla

Welcome FlyingMike, Hope to meet you at a fly-in one day too. Hope we can get you back more than 'sporadically' - do you have any particular interests?

 

Regards

 

Sue

 

 

 

Pmccarthy is right to say that going for a fly will lift your spirits, if you're feeling a bit down.

 

Clinical Depression is completely different from 'feeling a bit down'. It is the worst condition, because the sufferer cannot see any way out, the fight is gone from them, the suicidal convince themselves that the world and society will be improved without them. If you break an arm, get the flu, have appendicitis; you can see your way to a future when it is fixed and you're back playing footy. Depression robs you of that. It is a deep dark hole. They don't want to burden people they love with their waste of a life, they can't understand that they are loved, valued and would be tremendously missed. They are willing to take a big risk on what is on the other side of death, usually convinced it is oblivion, an end of pain, and end to being a burden.

 

While it seems this is a modern disease, I have been reading a number of family histories and recognising depression in Australian pioneering families. There are some harrowing stories from my local area. The local paper was open about saying it was suicide, even publishing the note left, or describing the circumstances in minute, sensational detail. Now it isn't published for fear of copy-cat tendencies.

 

As fellow fliers, friends, parents etc, we should be looking out for each other. Tell them you appreciate them, tell them you care, tell them you couldn't bear to not have them around. Don't be afraid to give them a hug.

 

I felt down one day, and I went for a fly along the river at Longreach, followed the tourist boat, turned to watch the sun setting (I had NVFR) and the twilight settling into the fairy lights on the ground, the stars coming out one by one, and thought how wonderful it was to be alive. God was in his Universe, problems at work, the loss of a friend, too much to do; all melted away as I took a deep breath.

 

It's raining - the NBN Satellite can't handle rain or clouds - so this will have to wait till the morning, when it gets working again.... Ah Progress!

 

 

Latest court appearance. Ridiculous how this can drag on for so long.Ultralight crash survivor cries poor after four-year legal 'saga'

It dragged on so long because he didn't turn up to court and warrants were issued but as it was minor and he remained interstate, it just continued on, and on (he wasn't extradited). I guess he hoped Tassie would just give up trying. Unfortunately for him, the event was "newsworthy" and continued to be reported every time he didn't front court. Now he finally fronts court with his new lawyer & says he's not prepared ..... So now he has another date to keep ..... May 2017.

 

 

RAA have trained investigators who assist the Police. In some instances (admittedly rare) RAA issues a notice regarding structural/operational issues, worded so as to avoid compromising the on-going investigation by the Coroner. An example of this is 4 March 2016 email to members:-

 

"Open and Transparent Communication

 

 

 

RAAus is committed to providing members with timely and relevant feedback on a range of issues. The note below pertains to a recent fatal accident. Where we can, we will provide members with information as soon as possible to provide assurance and address any safety concerns that may be apparent. Timing of this advice may change from time to time given the available information and circumstances. Our prime goal is to keep members informed and it is important to remember that any advice issued at this early stage is preliminary in nature and is subject to change as investigations continue.

 

 

 

Accident at Katoomba Airport 27 February 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAAus is saddened to advise members of the death of Mr Rod Hay. Mr Hay died in an accident at Katoomba Airport on 27 February 2016 involving Jabiru 55-3692.

 

 

 

The damage to nearby trees in conjunction with the extensive damage to the propeller and lack of visible external damage to the engine indicates the engine appeared to be operating at impact. To fully examine the engine, RAAus is conducting a supervised engine tear down with officials from ATSB and Jabiru.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The control systems of the aircraft were all confirmed as connected to key points after impact and all damage is consistent with impact damage.

 

At present our preliminary assessment of the evidence appears to support a possible loss of control with the cause as yet undetermined. RAAus will continue to work with authorities on the investigation and advise members again once we have more information."

 

 

There have been other "advice" released, but not publicly linked to a particular accident. RAA has to tread a fine line between disseminating their own opinion quickly, which may compromise the on-going investigation, and keeping it to themselves until the Coroner's report is finalised, given it may not be made public. RAA have been trying to tread this fine line, and I give them thanks for doing as much as they have so far. Reading the "occurence reports" is an education, there is a fair bit to learn there. Log onto RAA - safety & read.

 

 

 

Old timer just starting in this great flying category.Cheers

Lots of us Old Timers here. I'm not admitting to Old - but I married one! Never too late to start. At my Aero Club our oldest student was 69 and went on to enjoy flying into his 70's

Have you decided what you want to fly? Plenty to learn here - a great discussion, lots of Resources (like plain English translations of the Weather), Tutorials (very helpful for the theory side of things) photos, free Classifieds, and a great bunch of fellow aviation enthusiasts.

 

 

Sue

 

 

Turco also frizzes up brushes - use natural bristle - the synthetic ones look like an exceptionally Bad Hair day. Mark, I have some if you want to try it. Will have to check if it is in Springsure or on farm.

 

 

I used Turco 5351 from Aerospace Materials Tullamarine, better known as the Yellow Peril. It is formulated to take Cessna paint off Cessna aluminium. Did a better job than the various hardware paint strippers, but very expensive, and must be shipped as dangerous goods. It turned up in its own lockable mesh cabinet sitting up like the queen. I had used it before when I worked for a LAME. Expensive, but it worked on very old paint and Denis Behan's experimental paint mix over the top of the original. Lifted the lot & washed off.

 

Sue

 

 

Welcome BFU,

 

Lots of reading and interesting things on here! Have a look at the Resources and Tutorials too as there are lots of gems to be uncovered. Classifieds are free. Pilot shop has some bargains and always competitive prices - the site owner uses the profits to support the site. RecFly is more than just a forum.

 

Tell us about your flying exploits.

 

 

Sue

 

 

Afternoon FolksI'm a student recreational pilot. I live in a small regional estate that was subdivided into 11 lots. The development included a private airstrip with easement rights for the building of a hanger. This estate has a number of easements including cattle yards and access rd.

I am wondering if anyone has experience dealing with a neighbor trying to have a easement removed or is a pilot with legal knowledge

 

Regards

Sparksdusty, I am not familiar with NSW, however the general advice I can give relates to Qld. You need to get a copy of the Title for the land or a cadastral map (shows land boundaries) which shows the easements. Easements are created for a purpose and you should be able to discover what the conditions are either as a note to the map, Title or registered with your equivalent of Dept of Lands. If your land is leasehold - owned by the State and leased long-term to an occupier for a purpose (eg Grazing Homestead Lease, Special Lease) there are terms and conditions attached. You need to contact your Dept of Lands for a survey map, then search for the relevant easements or leases and their conditions. An easement usually has an "owner". Then ask for advice from a Lands Officer regarding your rights and objection processes.

I have worked on Council doing development applications, and these kind of problems are why Councils now insist that access to other blocks be surrendered by the Developer, and gazetted as a Road (owned by the State and maintained by the Council), then there are no disputes regarding access. I had one that turned nasty when the owner welded the gate shut so his neighbours couldn't traverse his land to enter theirs as they had done for years. Then followed fence cutting, post flattening, ditch digging, yard burning, concrete pouring, car crushing, screaming matches etc. All over a couple of km of track. Don't let it get that far.

 

 

Welcome Pete,

 

I know Proston, from the 1970/80's. Sidcup Castle, Boondoomba Dam (I worked for Water Resources then), a nice red-headed lad from a property just out of Proston who went to the Booie dances ... memories of my younger years ...

 

Are you hoping to have the Sav finished in a couple of months - or just get back into flying?

 

Plenty of Sav builders here with heaps of help and support.

 

Sue

 

 

Ive Done Kev and Carol MCNalley's rotax course twice now and it leaves anything RAAus is doing in its wake.... I think RAAus is taking a lot of steps in the right direction, but, God only knows why RAA hasn't endorsed them and a few similarly qualified guru's to travel and train everyone to at least a level 1...

Probably cost. It is very expensive to have people travel and present, particularly as RAA members are very widely spread. They also lead busy lives, so lobbing in to a Regional town for a Saturday course will not pick up all those who want to do it. Membership fees would have to go up to cover it. Then members in the far flung areas will complain they are subsidising the people in larger centres, or that the cost for them in travel, accommodation, time away from work / family unfairly discriminates against them, especially if it was compulsory. I can hear the "not applicable to my aircraft" brigade declaring it a waste of time too.

I have some experience with Scouts. All leaders have to complete modules of on-line learning followed with practicals and then face to face training weekends with an accredited Scouts Australia trainer. We would have about 90 leaders in our Region; getting 10 of them together in one place is a major undertaking. For the most part, the trainers are volunteers, and the venue belongs to Scouts, the food is provided by participants, but there are still costs for the trainer's travel (usually from the capital), accommodation, incidentals etc which makes it very expensive when we have an average attendance of 3 to 4 for a training weekend.

 

 

RecFlying is my first tab and I am on every day. Love reading about everything and contributing where I can. I have discovered some other forums for other topics I am interested in, but none comes close to RecFly. That's why I am a first class member - I use it and support it. My fav is the building & design blogs. I have introduced others to RF and they find what is useful to them - tutorials, media, resources, but most come back for the forum. Nice to see more overseas users. Thanks Ian

 

 

I am reading Michael Molkentin "Fire in the Sky; The Australian Flying Corps in the First World War" about 400 pages, well researched. From the first cadets in a Bristol Boxkite who only got to solo (such was the disorganisation and disinterest in Aust) before being sent back from whence they came, to the frenetic pace interspersed with days of leisure and thence to the developing seriousness of war as aircraft turned to a weapon, not just eyes in the sky.

 

The larrikin Aussies shot up anything they saw, like Arabs with their goats and camels. They had to be reminded that when the engine quit they would need these guys on their side. Engineers / maintainers outnumbered pilots by about 22 to 1, but pilots died frequently - a lot lost in training.

 

An interesting read. Next up is "Outback Airman" - Harry Purvis with Joan Priest - picked up at a travelling book exchange.

 

 

The L1 training got participants to read AC43, the Tech manual etc. Too many of us just assume we know what's in there. Multi-choice questions to see if you did read it. That's a step in the right direction. It affordable and easy to do for anyone with an internet connection.

 

ELAAA are proposing a face to face course to teach practical skills, which has to be renewed. That has a cost involved, for the course and for your travel, accommodation etc. Keith, being a director of ELAAA, may be able to tell us how it all works. I understand they have already run a couple of Maintainer courses at Emerald & Innisfail Qld, a Human Factors course at Emu Park Qld and Safety for Pilots and one for Partners & family.

 

So you can now choose (when ELAAA finally get approved) between two approaches to L1 etc.

 

 

Keith,

 

No-one takes your pilot licence / certificate off you; but you can't use it if you have not done a BFR every 2 years, retained your car medical equivalent, passed it annually if over 75.

 

As for Uni degrees, no one takes it off you, but most professions require you to do further recurrent training; I had to record 100hrs over a year to continue practising, doctors, dentists, engineers, accountants, etc all do this.

 

Tradies - they have to keep licences up to date with continuing training - eg Gas certificates. Mechanics do car makers' courses.

 

Diplomas, certificates, first aid, CPR - have recurrent training. A qualification you got a couple of decades ago is not worth anything if you have not kept up the recurrent training to maintain and update your skills. Ask a LAME what recurrent training they do. I suspect ELAAA also requires recurrent training for aircraft maintenance too, and require BFRs.

 

I doubt this is driven by ego - more like making the world a safer place & providing customers with better service.

 

 

Hi Sue, with change of date does that mean the quarterly breakfast is now on the 11th Feb? Normally first weekend Feb/May/Aug/Nov.Cheers Mike

Brett organises it, so I suspect it has been skipped in favour of the 18/19 March Bush Fly-In. Nothing organised for February. Suggest asking BJFly in case I missed the invite.

Feb 11 is a BYO breakfast (cooking facilities provided) from 7:30am, with meeting at 9am. Don't worry if you can't bring anything as we usually have lots to spare.

 

 

Merimbula to Collarenebri - that's a big commute! About 530NM. So long as you equally share costs (you don't get paid to fly them) it isn't a charter. However if you advertise that you are offering seats - that's a different ball game. Equally sharing costs means four people share a quarter of the costs each, including the pilot paying his quarter. Problems arise when one passenger pays for another eg a case where the boss paid for himself & his secretary - was determined not to be shared costs.

 

 

Childers Club has changed the meeting date to 11 Feb at 9am with social flying beforehand - if anyone would like to attend. Meeting on 4th Feb 2017 has been cancelled, but there's usually people around.

 

 

I knew Denis - he painted my aircraft (the green & gold trim, over the existing white) and was always thrilled to see me when I stopped off for fuel at Roma. It was an experimental mix which people said "would never last". but last it did. I worked with Laurie Curley "LPC" at Longreach (LAME) and was the last to see him alive as he departed to Roma to meet Denis to work on a Heron. He crashed short of Roma AP killing himself and passenger. LPC was hit on the head by a propeller and while the injury healed his thought processes were never the same. I had heard Denis met with foul play, but didn't know the circumstances. The brain is a delicate instrument.

 

 

All true Sue, but I think some people are being a bit tough on our organisation. Multiple choice exams are pretty much the only viable way to assess large numbers of people, particularly across a whole continent. Examiners do their best but I can tell you that setting these tests is a devilishly hard task, especially with a technical subject such as this. Even large professional organisations, with all their resources and experience, can let mistakes slip through. This L1 exam wasn't perfect, but it's a pretty good start for a small organisation like ours. It's up to us to support our people and suggest improvements.

In this case he disagreed with what the documentation said, so he put what he thought rather than what the study material said. If it was a "write an essay on this" type of question he could argue his case with convincing evidence. I think he did well for a year 6 education, but lots of experience. I certainly agree that writing question and answers is much harder than people realise (like writing children's books). I have printed out all the material for the W&B course and he has been reading that. I haven't bothered doing the L1 because I don't have an RAA plane in my name. I am having too much fun doing short Uni courses through Future Learn - free and lots of subjects - doing "Why Do We Age? The Molecular Mechanisms of Ageing", Did "World War I in 100 Stories" - looked at the Flying Corps, and "Liver Diseases"

 

 

Mr FV did his L1 and passed well. Got the Qns he got wrong: - one he missed the word "after" and gave the "during" answer, another he picked the first answer before he finished reading the Qn or the rest of the options, another he disagreed with the study material - one should always give the examiner what he wants. Multi choice exams are not the place to pick an argument. He passed first time, so didn't bother re-sitting to get higher.

 

Now reading the clobber for the W&B.

 

 

It's not unusual - I had a "restraint of trade" clause in my contract which meant I could not work for any of my employer's clients for a period of 12 months to 2 years. That was to stop them poaching staff and also to protect corporate knowledge. Enforcing that could be costly to my employer. Similarly, if RAA put the clause in employment contracts, then if one jumped ship to work for CASA or SAAA or ELAAA or HGF etc there really isn't much RAA can do (economically) to redress the situation. CASA might honour such an agreement and not interview someone, but then they or the candidate might decide the skill set / career is worth the risk.

 

As for keeping up your skills - most professions do it all the time as a requirement. Engineers, pharmacists, accountants, nurses, etc etc have to do a certain amount of recurrent training, new training, professional development and document this for review each year. Ask Col Jones about what Engineers are required to do. For people who aren't used to this it seems an impost, but it is required to keep up with advances in technology, legislation, issues, areas of weakness and existing and new skills. Pilots do AFRs, circuits, read the updates from CASA, RAA, etc.

 

 

Welcome Frans! Plenty of action around the Childers airstrip, if you would like to fly in. Meetings 1st Saturday of the month 11am with flying before hand - sometimes a social flight for breakfast or just a scenic. They have a fly-in breakfast about once every 3 months. Usually someone around on week ends, during the week too, Wed morning is a fly-in for smoko at the club hangar. 18/19 March is a fly-in, if you're interested. BJFly has posted info on that somewhere on here.

 

See you 'round.

 

Sue

 

 

So where does Nancy Bird Walton fit in to the story?

1909 First woman to fly (not licenced) Florence Taylor - glider

1927 First woman to get an Australian licence, Millicent Bryant, after the ban on women holding licences in Australia was lifted. Others followed close behind, enough to stage the Ladies Oaks Race that year.

 

From then on, women started setting records through the 1930's

 

Nancy was born 1915. At thirteen she was reading Swoffer's Learning to Fly while working in her father's store at remote Mount George NSW. At 17yrs she took her earnings and went to Sydney determined to get a licence. Charles Kingsford Smith had recently opened his flying school at Mascot and Nancy was one of his first students. September 1933 (after about a month's tuition) she gained her A Licence. She went on to get her B Licence two years later, becoming the youngest female commercial pilot in the British Empire. Her father helped her buy a Gypsy Moth and together with Peggy McKillop (later Kelman), the only other woman with a Commercial, they went barnstorming to earn a living. They covered over 20,000NM in 3 months.

 

Nancy went on to fly a nursing sister around remote areas from Bourke NSW for the Far West Health Scheme. She mortgaged herself to the hilt and ordered a Leopard Moth. It was quite a struggle to find remote properties, places to land, in sparse drought stricken areas, no radio or weather reports, but she did 500 accident free hours. Eventually the Scheme ran out of funds and she moved to Queensland doing 14,000NM in charter and ambulance work. Eventually she sold her plane, paid her debts and was left with what she had when she entered aviation. "She had gained neither fame nor fortune, but she had proven herself by earning a living in the most male dominated field of all."

 

Nancy Bird (Mrs Walton) became famous after the War when "she stepped from the cockpit to the podium and is Australia's First Lady of aviation". She founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association in 1950, was a member of the 99's. She has written books, been conferred with honorary degrees, OBE, Dame of the Knights of Malta, A.O. She did return to flying briefly in 1958, coming 5th in the American Powder Puff Derby.

 

- Information and quotes from Australian Women Pilots, AWPA, 1995 and "My God - It's a Woman" Nancy Walton

 

 

AWPA (Australian Women Pilots' Association) produced a booklet "Australian Women Pilots" ISBN 0959948511 which covers a selection of women - early pilots, record setters, early passengers, War ferry pilots, RAAF, airlines, Air Traffic Control, flying professionals (eg nurses, doctors), gliding, ballooning, Examiner of Airmen, etc. It was first published in 1988 (I think). I have an early edition and one from 1995. A number of the stories are in their own words, and many have passed on since.

 

Lores Bonney learnt to fly in 1931. In her Gypsy Moth 5 January 1932 with only 8 hours 40 mins solo in her log book, she flew 1,000NM Brisbane - Wangaratta solo (a record). 21 August - 27 September 1932 she flew around Australia solo - 37 days, 8,335NM. A month later she she gained her Commercial Licence and was awarded the Qantas Trophy for 1932 for outstanding performance by a Queensland pilot. 12 April - 21 June 1933 Brisbane - London solo 71 days 10,000NM including a crash in Thailand. 1934 she became the first Australian Woman awarded the MBE. She went on to do more record breaking flights, however she was mostly overlooked by the Overseas press who were not interested in Australian achievements, and the Australian press wasn't interested in women's achievements - yet most Australians have heard of Amelia Earhart.

 

According to the booklet Florence Taylor was the first known woman to fly in Australia, in a glider in 1909. Women were not permitted to hold a pilot's licence in Australia at that time, but her husband flew gliders and had one built for her. Apart from the one sentence in the booklet, she is not mentioned, but I did read a little about her in other sources.

 

So many stories and achievements!