FlyingVizsla

It was voted on by the members and changed. This is not the first time the AUF has been a limited company. They were decades ago, but decided to change back. I would have to trawl though my magazines to find the saga, but I don't think they bothered involving membership back then. As an Incorporated Association (what it has been for most of it's history) it has to be Incorporated in a particular State and subject to that State's rules. I vaguely remember them being incorporated in Vic or NSW, but as a general rule of thumb, National organisations were Incorporated in the ACT, where they have been for years. There was a lot of discussion on the pros & cons on this forum when it was happening. There were rules about where the Secretary could live (had to be in the ACT) and reporting - audits etc. So some positions were designated to be held by employees rather than Board members to comply. The reporting was a bit of a joke. The Company structure is National, so you don't have to be based in any particular State. For members, little has changed. We still have Board members - although fewer and with more legislated responsibility - we are still members, but limited by guarantee (I think that's $1 each), we are still flying, the failed audits and forced groundings are behind us, for those who "just want to fly" the weather is more of an issue than RAA being a not-for-profit company.

I'm still waiting for my Sport Pilot. Mr FV got his and he's still monopolising it, but from the "language" emanating from behind the glossy pages, I would say its a bit contentious. I emailed our Club's contact details etc twice and we are still not in there. Asked about advertising our 30th anniversary celebrations, and that is still hanging in the air. Pace are essentially a travel magazine publisher.

I just heard this morning, on the ABC Wide Bay News Radio that a helicopter pilot has been fined $500 for landing without permission. The story said that no aircraft is allowed to land on Fraser Island, that the beach landing area is for the commercial operator who has permission. The helicopter landed there and it sounded like he compromised the ALA for the commercial flight that was due in shortly. I was in the car at the time, so I only got the gist of the story, so don't know if this was today or earlier. The emphasis was that private aircraft cannot land on Fraser. I have been looking for the Digital version on the ABC but couldn't find it, yet. From FlightRadar24 Fraser Island is popular, a lot just fly around the shoreline. I know people who fly there. Any one else heard this one?

We already have lots of pads of A3 graph paper. What he wants to do is convert the data (x,y co-ordinates) into a life-size drawing on graph paper. He wants to take data like this Data file, and plot it like the Graph file. He is not trying to make a tracing of an existing aircraft. I have explained how much work (plotting x,y & joining the dots) this will be, but he is adamant that this is what he wants to do, he only needs a long roll of pre-printed graph paper .... then a huge table to work on .... Fortunately he has a lovely wife who puts up with him I tried the drafting suppliers. Found a 20 yard roll of Fade Out Graph Paper (the blue lines don't show up on a photocopy and can be eliminated from scans) but at over $10/metre I am reluctant to get the amount he wants. Tried Officeworks, the dressmaking stores, etc. I have an A3 light table, and could use tracing rolls with an A3 graph sheet between. Cumbersome, but I doubt he will accept that. Just thought someone out there might have a supplier of pre-printed graph paper in rolls. Data.PDF Graph.PDF

Mr FV wants to graph an aerofoil, life-size, so he is after some graph paper that will stretch that far, so he can plot the x,y co-ordinates and lay it out for wing construction, design etc. I tried a quick search for Graph Paper Rolls and came up with little in Australia. Thinking like a Plotter roll (or smaller), but with pre-printed grid. Any ideas on where we can get some? I see that Birch makes a dressmaker's graph paper in rolls. Anyone used that or any other suggestions? Mr FV is not computer savvy and has resisted my suggestions of an Excel chart (I did one for him previously) printed on A3 and pasted. He is using x,y plots published in various Aircraft design and Aerofoil design books. He doesn't want to paste A3 graph sheets together either. TIA.

More on this accident including pictures & video Koo Wee Rup airfield: man dead in aircraft crash (news.com.au) The presenter said it may have been caused when his helmet came loose. RIP

ABC news reporting a fatality at 7am Man dies after aircraft crash in Koo Wee Rup, south-east of Melbourne - ABC News

At least this guy has an aviation background and won't need to spend a year learning about ultralights, CASA regs, etc. Hopefully he is a good manager. Remember our last CEO came from the RSPCA. A previous CEO was ex-military. We have come a long way from when it was run by volunteers in their spare time.

And check Spam. My ISP has started sending bulk mail out emails to the Spam folder on their servers. Means I have to log into my email through the web to access that Spam folder, which is different to the spam folder on my Email client which tosses things to Spam too. Really annoying at the ISP level, because they are Spamming things I regularly read and sending junk like Fishpond and Phishing scams through. I am slowly re-educating it.

Last 2 months, our little club has fielded 4 requests for hangars and more requests for people wanting to fly (we don't have a school, just 18 hangars and 35 members). That's more than we got all last year.

Insurance is going up all over the place due to high exposure to risk and covering past disasters (fire, flood, cyclone) and rising costs. RAA includes insurance for all Pilot members as part of the fee (Non-flying and Associate members don't have it). It will go up as all other insurance did, and because the members have been asking for an increase in coverage. But the membership isn't going up, just yet, which is a good thing.

606 ballot papers, each allowed to vote for up to 2 candidates (2x606 = 1,212 potential votes) 1,159 votes cast; (1212 - 1159) = 53 voters opted to vote for ONE only. After the first "Meet the Candidates" I was sorely tempted to only vote for one. However I decided I had to cast a vote for the better of the other three.

Where did you find the Invalid vote count? As far as I can see, 606 valid votes were received (down on last election) and 53 people chose to vote for one person only, making a total of 1159 votes cast (you could vote for up to two). Normally they would declare the number of invalid votes with the results.