seb7701

Agreed. I haven done the RAA thing and am now staring down the barrel of a conversion to PPL in not many hours. RAA for sure!

Congrats! Always thought they were my favourite of the RV's, so very jealous!

Yes, but that means that the information regarding other incidents won't be as guarded and will be more easily accessible. Police may still investigate in the instance of serious injury, but not always. As such, that's where RAA member notifications would come in and perhaps RAA assistance may be provided (if willing by subject member) should causal factor be elusive enough to need a second opinion. Just my thoughts...

A this stage, I would suggest application to the state coroner by the RAA would be the best option (if we could get anyone there to do it...) The two sources of accident information regarding the actual 'logistics' of an incident are covered by the forensic crash unit (in Qld) or equivalent, then passed to the state coroner for inclusion in the final report by the coroner. This will include the essentials of aircraft, pilot and environmental factors. Therefore, rather than try and conduct a right to information search on the relevant state police agency, request a copy of the report from the coroner, which will include the whole lot, including the police report or any other relevant info. Information published on the Qld Coroner's website indicates that disclosure can be made for appropriate purposes, which I would like to think an official request by RAA might be. Either way, I would think proper representation by RAA should achieve something, given that inquests are made public anyway. We just need a access to findings which don't result in an inquest too. http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/courts/coroners-court/access-to-coronial-documents The above link refers to access to coroners reports as I mentioned. The good news is that there is two main sources of factual info- police and coroner. Sounds like a good starting job for the new RAA safety officer....

Thanks Riley- good point. Given the $29 outlay, I just ordered the cheapy on eBay to do a ground calibration exercise, but depending on the outcome, will then see whether an upgrade is needed. A tiny tack in the cockpit would e handy though....

Ah - have heard of the tiny tachs - might be worth a look!

Thanks Maj - just trying to decipher some under-performance and thought I'd start by checking the RPM etc as that Westach is a bugger of a thing. Even thinking of trying one of these for diagnostic purposes. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Go-Kart-Engine-Hour-Tacho-Meter-Yamaha-Rotax-Comer-/130935171904?pt=AU_Go_Kart_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e7c582b40

Hi all. Can anyone shed light on whether there is a great difference in the accuracy of an old style 'Westach' type needle tachos vs rotax 'clock style' item. Have been flying a 503 powered craft with the former which is rather hard to read and wondered whether the accuracy is ok or whether it is just the small scale of the display which is the problem.

Very jealous Tex...

It's not a matter of biting. My issue was with the ill-informed criticism of the investigation processes. As for other 'worthwhile investigations', they are ALL worthwhile, particularly if your loved ones are involved. If you are suggesting that because there were only two inquests into several fatalities that investigations are not being thoroughly completed, you might want to take a look at the Coroner's Act for the relevant jurisdiction. An inquest is not required if a matter is sufficiently investigated to a coroner's / family member's satisfaction. There are plenty of lessons to be learned simply from coroner's findings without an inquest. I certainly concur with the suggestion hat RAA needs to source the findings once released and highlight things we could do better to help the prevention of reoccurrences.

Spoken like a true example of someone with 'all the gear and no idea...'. I think you will find that investigating organisations require a certain level of expertise when it comes to incident investigation and do not simple throw the crayons to the nearest persons and ask them to do something believable with them. Such comments certainly don't do justice to the vast expertise contained within the ranks of many of our RAA members either. Coroners, whilst I can see what you may be thinking, do have a level of understanding either from experience or from explanations contained within a report, in order to formulate a finding and/or recommendations I suggest you read some coroners findings and familiarise yourself with the process and see if you find any examples where the family members were left longing for a level of expertise in the report. Just my 2 cents....

Welcome mate - yep, great feel to the place here!

G'day Adam - what are you flying these days? I am still occasionally eyeing off that red thing....

Oh hell yeah - signed!

Helmet in a closed cockpit, without airflow, is a very pertinent point! As I think I mentioned, I don't think anyone is suggesting mandatory wearing of lids, as this is purely a 'Do you reckon it might be a good idea' kind of question.

Anyone who says that 'helmet laws suck' usually prattles on with the whole 'I've been riding all my life' crap- the comments go hand in hand. The fact is and I will insert the IMHO disclaimer here, we unfortunately DO need to protect people from themselves, because I have better things to spend my tax dollars on than the Medicare expenses involved in keeping some dill on life support who would have rathered have the wind in his or her hair, than to wear a helme which would have protected them from the OTHER dill who ran a stop/giveaway sign and took them out and turned them into a vegetable from a head injury. As for built up areas only, yeah, sure the chances are greater and more likely with other traffic around, but I can rattle of the stacks I have knowledge of in country areas from 'roos and other causes which, in the most recent case, resulted from a fatality. I am not suggesting compulsory wearing of lids in aircraft, but I would not dream of bagging out someone who wishes to. I also just remembered the XXXX Pitts special which went down at Gatton some years ago- vertical climb, radio popped out and nailed the pilot in the forehead and knocked him out I think? As for the "harden the f----" up comment for someone wanting to protect themselves, go read some accident reports from piper cubs and pay some attention to the cross braces and pilot's heads. Withc comments like that I am guess you picked on the kids who wore shin pads at soccer at school.....nice....

I share your thoughts on the safety aspect of helmets Biggles - have often thought if it is good enough in a drifter, then why not in a Tecnam? 'Tis a hard one, as one wonders just how many times a fatality has occurred where a head injury was the only 'deciding' factor in the survivability aspect. I am thinking it is not that often, although if I found evidence to the contrary, I would be easily convinced into strapping on a Gentex of some sort.

Thanks Yenn - would be interested to hear how that goes. Just got word back that the pa18-50 would still need an adapter to use with my phone, which is another 100, otherwise the lesser $299 model is fine, which makes you wonder how much handset+ anr conversion would cost. The shame is that after trying DC's and the rec flying headset recently, I prefer the rec flying set, but noticed slightly longer delay in the voice activation, compared to the DC's for some reason. (In the same a/c) Decisions decisions....

Despite having thrown the query 'out there' to you all a while back re ANR headsets, I still haven't got around to grabbing myself a headset. Despite liking the PA18-50 ANR set, I was surprised to be reading a mag last night and saw the ANR5000 made by the same company with the same features for $299 rather than the $425 of the PA18-50. Even more interestingly, when I queried the suppliers, the only stated difference was that the 5000 is made in China whilst the 18-50 is made in South Korea. Is it just me or is this simply a suggestion that the Chinese model will simply fall apart sooner? I was sure that many of the quality sets are made in China now anyway!

Spoken like a true ozzie bloody sceptic! Chinese engine? Not in my view - Oz designed/owned makes it an Oz engine to me, as opposed to being Chinese owned/designed. I would think they can produce to whatever specs are required when someone is paying them to do so. The reason for Chinese manufacturing doesn't bare explanation and you never know - might even only be temporary. If the engine is produced to the correct specifications, it would be a carefully considered case as to how much $$ I would sacrifice just for the sake of buying Australian manufactured. Like most, I buy locally where I can, but have my financial limits like everyone, where the line must be drawn and I sure as hell won't be choosing Aust made over reliability. I for one am fascinated and delighted to hear of this endeavour and will not be casting any criticisms until I have miraculously designed and built an engine for consideration too!

There was no more discouraging experience than my recent flight in a C150, in particularly due to the lack of climb performance! I must have been spoiled with these ultralight thingys!

Great mag - current issue has various articles on Jab engines. Not overly positive the way I read it....

For the price of a skycatcher, but I am guessing a Tecnam would be on the cards too and for similar money and if you then compared a Jab to a Tecnam, well....let just say that there wouldn't be much indecision on my part.....

All depends on the plane, and saying that, I'm not trying to state the obvious. I learnt in a drifter, then flew in a few jabs, a few navs in a pioneer Hawk 200 low wing and now regularly in a Tecnam. The fact is, some are quite simply easier to land than others and where the wings were located didn't really matter, as you should be looking ahead at landing time and can to a fair degree feel your way during the flare to a nice touchdown. (This is probably a horrible way to illustrate things, but I can only speak for myself in this case) As for the stick changing from right to left handed, now you've found my kryptonite.... The fact that a/c like tecnams have a centre throttle and a left hand throttle make things infinitely easier, as you can fly the way you are used to, and gradually get used to a left stick right throttle along the way!

Thanks Neil and Boingk- really would be a dream project but so far I am keen to look at one day importing from NZ, but the USA, where all the cessna's are sounds like a nightmare. Corrosion does sound like an issue too- all very good points...