FlyingVizsla

Seems the airpark is back on. Here's the video I got through AOPA. I know the site, there's nothing much there, only the two hangars, a house and what remains of a runway unused for years. The video says they expect 40% of houses will be plane owners. That frightens me; 60% may be complaining about aircraft taking up the road, and kids riding on the strip. The gym, cafe & tennis courts are a bit pie in the sky for the small population. The Council previously restricted aircraft to ultralight (under 600kg) only. Can only wish them luck, where previous owners have tried this since about 2007.

I am always looking for a "shrug" "I give up!" exasperation emoji but never find one, even on other sites & phone. I'm happy to see progress. 🙂

Here's more pictures - Man's incredible act after plane obliterated in horrific crash 7NEWS.COM.AU The man issued a mayday call to Hervey Bay Airport before crashing on a private property. The Fraser Coast Chronicle (the local paper) has an article, but it is behind a paywall.

As a teenager, he is more likely to have video going to record the solo for the social media feed and to critique the experience. If so, ATSB will have some more to work with.

As a Cessna owner, I remember an AD (years ago) about seat pins after several accidents and near misses. The issue should have been "fixed", but it is a mechanism that is simple and easy to use. You pull the pin, roll the seat forward and release the pin and wiggle to let the pin align with the seat rail holes. Being short, the seat was full forward for me and I had Seat on my checklist to ensure the pin had engaged. I still think it was something with the aircraft. I feel for the Instructor, LAME, Flying School, family and others who will be under scrutiny and are asking themselves if they should have done more.

ATSB providing technical support to RAAus https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2024/report/ae-2024-001

That's what I was saying. The report makes out he had never flown solo before and had very little flying experience. It looks like he had more than the usual PPL soloist. I don't know all the background to this, so I am only speculating that this was a highly motivated lad who (possibly) came from a flying background, who was aiming for a career as a pilot, was moving through RPC, to PPL to CPL as quickly as able. At least ATSB will be thorough and we will get some answers.

The report is incorrect in some respects. He would not have been going solo for his RPC in a VH plane. I suspect he did his RPC because he could start earlier and was then transitioning to VH & PPL and would have had flights with his instructor in the C172. He would have lots more flying experience in ultralights. My money is on a catastrophic failure, like the seat rolling back just when turning base (instinct is to pull on the yoke as it rolls back) and then into a nose high stall. Something like that. So sad for the young man.

This has more information Camden news: Teenage pilot dies in light plane crash south-west of Sydney WWW.9NEWS.COM.AU A teenage pilot has died in a plane crash south-west of Sydney.

Channel 7 saying one has died. One suspected dead in plane crash near Sydney 7NEWS.COM.AU Emergency services are responding. Channel 9 says it is a Cessna from a local flying school. https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/light-plane-crashes-south-west-of-sydney/ar-BB1hap1T Mr FV is doubtful it is a Cessna and want to know what the crop is. Seems strange that it ended up in such a mess in a clear paddock.? All the wreckage together and a short straight scar on the land. RIP

The son put our plane on Facebook Market Place and referred all enquiries to us. We weren't ready to sell, but heaps of enquiries. It hasn't sold. Be wary of the guy who wants to buy without inspection for full price - not sure what the scam is, but spending $10s of thousands on the basis of two pictures is suss. Ask a few questions, if you're not in a rush, relegate the "tyre kickers" to a date suitable to you. Ours was a RAAus taildragger - yet we got "going to learn soon..." No tailwheel endorsement, Helicopter pilot, "my brother is good on the tools (reseller), the guy who rings regularly to check that it hasn't been sold and to offer even less than last time and trying to do "deals" - we know he is a reseller. Even people who have no interest in flying but think they could make $$ out of parting out or tarting up. Mr FV was livid when his old car he sold to an "enthusiast" was on FB within the week for $10k more. Our best outcome was through the Classies on this forum. Someone saw the Sonerai and mentioned it on a group dedicated to that make and it had 3 firm buyers, but one got in ahead with a larger offer, paid then picked up. So steer clear of generalised selling platforms - Gumtree, FB etc.

You can track Santa on Flight Radar 24.

The news from the RAAus AGM This Resolution was WITHDRAWN by the Board due to the concern by the Board in relation to the validity of some of the proxy forms received in a manner that was not fair and reasonable or consistent with the prescribed proxy form approved by the Board in accordance with the Company’s Constitution as issued by the Company with the AGM Notice of Meeting and in the interests of giving all Members the opportunity to vote. Perhaps the "Reform" group were collecting Proxy votes like a petition. Only someone at the meeting would know, if they saw them. It also appears a knee-jerk reaction to then call for the "sacking" of the Chair. This motion was found to be Not Valid. I could not find any "No Confidence" provision in the RAAus Constitution. He is nominated by the Board and elected by the members. I would be very disappointed if I was not allowed a vote on dismissing a Board member, particularly one who had been returned with a majority of votes, and not found guilty of doing anything wrong.

Qld's Office of Fair Trading wasn't interested in the workings of Clubs, such that clubs I was a member of complained to them that someone was depleting the funds, not seeking approval, misappropriating assets, ignoring the Constitution etc, etc and they said "see a solicitor". The only issue they took interest in was an accusation that an office bearer was a undischarged bankrupt (he wasn't). The Legislation has changed, to put more responsibility on Clubs to settle disputes. The threshold for auditing has also been raised to about $200k. I'ld like a dollar for every time someone said "The Auditor will pick that up" meaning the President buying the mower for the Club from his bro-in-law; in reality the Auditor is matching invoice with cheque, with bank statement only. The Club has to sort out How, Who, Where, What.

I spent most of my career in outback Western Qld where the airstrip is beside the town. I could walk or ride the push bike the 1km or less to the strip. Then we moved. Now we have the makings of an airstrip on the property, but haven't used it. Our planes are hangared just over an hour's drive from home. It means a fly is a considered excursion, needing to pack everything needed. Not as much fun.

Early AUF Regos From the AUF magazine Issue #47 p.19 August 1990. Ultralight Aircraft Registration Markings (snip) Ultralight aircraft registration markings are arabic numerals and hyphen, e.g., prefix 55 and registered number separated by hyphen - 55-1234 or the registered numbers only for CAO 95.10 aircraft - 1234 for 10-1234. (snip) except that leading zeros of registered numbers are not required, e.g., 10-0125 is 125, 55-0145 is 55-145 (snip). _______ So early AUF planes may display 123 (which is 10-0123) or 55-123 (which is 55-0123) Shows a bit of short sightedness in that other categories came in and the 10- had to be prefixed for clarity. The argument was that 95.10's didn't have the space for lots of numbers.

From the Lightwing database: Manufacture #055 A.U.F Registration #25 377 Date: 14 June 1990 Area: Coonalpyn, SA. So it lasted 23 years and started in South Australia

From the RAAus register - 25-0377 Lightwing GA-55, serial Ga55-055, rego cancelled 18 Oct 2013. I'll have a look through my records to see if it comes up. A bit busy this time of year, so it might take time...

Found this list - you can pick the terms that best suit. Excellent: Like New Pristine Immaculate Optimal Perfect Very Good: Well-maintained Excellent Condition Minimal Wear Near Mint High Performance Good: Good Condition Regularly Maintained Moderate Wear Reliable Fully Operational Fair: Fair Condition Some Wear Functional Usable Adequate Performance Poor: Poor Condition Signs of Wear Requires Attention Operational with Limitations Below Average Performance Needs Repair: Needs Repairs Defective Not Fully Functional Requires Maintenance Subpar Performance Non-Operational: Non-Operational Out of Order Inoperative Requires Major Repairs Not Functional Scrap: Scrap Condition Salvage Only Beyond Repair Unusable Condemned

If you consider a car Excellent - brand new Serviceable - some wear on tyres, oil filter near changing etc Minor defects - window winder dead, battery flat, upholstery torn Major defect - engine unreliable Inoperable but repairable - needs new engine, lights, tyres Irrepairable - uneconomical to repair, or parts not available, destined for the scrap yard There will be other states in between Excellent and Irrepairable depending on what it is and if there are things like air/road-worthy

Excellent Serviceable Minor defects Major defect Inoperable but repairable Irrepairable

You want a list like:- Excellent / new condition Serviceable Worn, useable Some defects/snags, mostly operable Peripheral functions operable, main function inoperable Inoperable but repairable Irrepairable, scrap ? If so, we can work on this.

Most Clubs just adopt the Model Rules for incorporation. Some go on to ignore them, some change them to suit, the majority work within them. Our club ignored them from the start. The President decided who could vote, if you disagreed with him you didn't have a vote, such that the Secretary, Treasurer and most hangar owners couldn't vote. The Quorum is set as Executive plus one, with only two people holding all positions they only needed one more, so enrolled his wife, with an unwritten proxy this being 2 votes to 1 and passing anything he liked. Things have improved in the last 15 years, and the Quorum is now 9 Fortunately RAAus can't get away with too much as there are people who take an interest and they are subject to the Corporations Act. But I still think they could lift their game with regard to communicating decisions and issues to the membership.

Hughes are still in business; we recently got parts for our Lightwing GA. They are more a general engineering works. Not making aircraft anymore AFAIK. AUF was short sighted and thought 999 planes would be the maximum. There were mistakes made early on. AUF issued the same number for 10- and 19- etc. Our Karasport was one that had to change the 10-number because there was a 19-same number (or whatever). Our Lightwing has 55-646, it should have a zero there now.

That's fine at the Flying Club where at least a third of members attend in person and nearly all live within an hour's drive. If there is something brewing they can turn up, listen to the motion from the floor and vote. Even then, our Constitution allows members to appoint a proxy to vote for them, no specific instruction needed. Usually a mate "you know how I feel on things." RAAus is a national organisation. I would be very cheesed off if I lived in WA and a handful of blokes in Canberra, who could get to the meeting, made decisions that impacted me. Less than 10% bother to vote in elections. Far fewer attend meetings. Even with video links, the date/time may be inconvenient. I missed the AGM because we were away. I registered for the resumed AGM but was admitted only to hear the last 30 seconds - which I consider poor form. The registrations closed the day before, I logged on 10+ minutes before and they were still unable to process the number of registered members in time. Something I will be taking up with them.