kgwilson

Fuel consumption compared with performance has always been the bugbear of all small turbines & I don't think that issue has really been addressed.

As I mentioned on another thread, RA in NZ have had access to CTR for over 20 years with no apparent issues. When I was GA these lighties used to fly in to Hamilton International to get Avgas from the club bowser. RA NZ just has a CTR endorsement on the Pilot Cert & the aircraft must be fitted with a transponder. Couldn't be simpler. And NZ has more aircraft per head of population and a lot of CTR in close proximity to one another. The only problem here is CASA bureaucracy.

Great stuff, they have even managed to camouflage the windscreen.

Very sad. It was a magnificent example of Aviation Engineering excellence.

Maybe they had pilots avoiding paying fees. The $5.00 fee at our aerodrome via the honesty box is avoided by some. It costs us hangar owners around 50k a year to maintain our aerodrome & that is with volunteer labour. Now details of RA aircraft are provided to Avdata so that shouldn't happen. The approach of posting such obscene fees though does not bode well with anyone in my opinion. All it will do is give the Aerodrome a bad name and it will become a pariah of Aerodromes not just from the RA side but GA as well.

I have a PPL so could go there anyway. BUT I do not have a transponder. I didn't install one as I thought (wrongly) that technology would have overtaken this WW2 invention by now & I was keeping weight & cost down. CASA is the problem, 100%. When I came here in 2005 I was totally oblivious to the poor relationship between the Aviation sector and the regulator. RA in NZ have had access to CTR for at least 20 years. There is a CTR endorsement to the RA Pilot certificate for access and the aircraft must be fitted with a transponder. There are more aircraft per head of population in NZ than Australia and a lot of controlled airspace in a small area, far more compact than here. The system is logical and simple and I do not know of any problems at all. Back in the early 2000s we had lots of RA aircraft flying in from airstrips all around Hamilton & the Waikato to fill up with Avgas from the aero club bowser. Even then there were half a dozen 737 flights a day & 2 internationals plus other propellor RPT, GA & Commercial traffic. Add to this a British based flight training school, CTC with 40 Diamonds & the aero clubs 4 training aircraft & it was pretty busy. I knew all the controllers personally as the tower was 25 metres from the clubhouse & they used to have a beer at the club bar. Back then control was all with tickets & racks with binoculars for visuals. it worked. Ballina needs a tower, inland and seaward victor lanes should be established, RA need access to CTR and all this kerfuffle would be history. There is a good precedent. Just look over the ditch.

Neither of the aircraft in this incident heard the others broadcast. The Jabiru didn't hear the second broadcast after VGP had passed the OPESO waypoint either. CA/GRS heard the 40 mile inbound from VGP and provided traffic information. The Jabiru apparently did not provide intentions, just that they were 4 miles East of Lismore & descending. Presumably they were outside the Ballina 10NM MBZ at the time so were not at the time mandated to make a call. With Ballina, Lismore, & Casino all sharing 124.2 there is constant busy radio and you have to listen carefully all the time. We had CASA visit us at South Grafton & our opinion and full concensus was to give Ballina its own frequency. Casa has an issue with this due to the overlapping ILS systems. Casino is to get its own frequency in July but this won't help much. As mentioned earlier a tower is the only viable option in my opinion. Once control is established and designated Victor lanes in place this sort of problem will be dramatically diminished.

So what was dishonest? Did they fiddle the number of votes or was it the process, so perhaps some technical issue that was not carried out to the letter?

Well my attendance at Fly'n for fun has been cancelled, by the weather as I suspected. Today the Clarence river is at major flood height, the runway is under water and the whole aerodrome completely waterlogged and boggy. No water in the hangar this time though. It will probably be another 2 weeks before I will be able to venture out again. This time I put the plane on axle stands, removed the front wheel and put 2 plastic rubbish bags on each wheel right up to the bottom of the fuselage. I have just completed a 100 hourly combined with an annual but won't even be able to test fly for a couple of weeks.

South Grafton (YSGR) is 7NM from Grafton (YGFN) & there is not a lot of RPT traffic. When I am flying and hear the Rex broadcast their 25NM inbound on CTAF I respond with standard info (callsign, location, altitude & intentions) every time. I don't carry a transponder. I always get a courteous reply & if flightpaths are relatively close I will turn away & advise the new heading. Same thing with the Westpac helicopter that often is transiting to/from Grafton Base Hospital. Good concise communication is simple & appreciated by all. Ballina is pretty busy but the CA/GRS should be keeping tabs on everything going on. I have not read the full report but the last time I was there it was busy. There was flight training, private RA & GA commercial and RPT. It was hard to get a call in as the CA/GRS kept rabbiting on the whole time & even asking questions which they are not supposed to do. Ballina is busier by far than Coffs but does not have ATC. Building a tower & setting up the system might be expensive but IMO that is the answer. They can easily create a low level Victor lane either seaward or inland for transiting traffic.

Cool camera. Great gyro stabilisation.

Security controlled means different things at different places. Maybe they have a security company doing drive bys every now & then. That's why there is no underwing camping this time. There is a designated camping area outside the so called security area which (probably where the RVs were at Airventure 2019) is only notional as there isn't a fence anyway. At the last Airventure there was underwing camping & we wandered all over the place. The silly part about it was the showers were outside the security area so we had a good hundred metres or more to walk. Then, on the Sunday night I got a taxi back from town at about 9pm & it was pitch black. I got dropped off at the terminal which was closed & locked up & I walked back past the hangars across the tarmac to my tent & plane. I refuse to get an ASIC. It was originally a kneejerk reaction to 911, now it has spawned an entire industry for no benefit to anyone except that industry. I don't fly into many airports that require one but when I do I usually have not been accosted. That includes Coffs & Ballina. I did get asked at Ballina once & what can they do. I was already there but I was told I couldn't go in to the cafe. I just said OK & went in to the cafe anyway.

Love the sound effects.

When RAA was run as an Incorporated Association it was a mess. Local representatives pushed their own personal agendas to the detriment of the organisation as a whole. Many had been on the committee for years and achieved basically nothing. Financial management was poor, processes and procedures had not kept up with modern business practice, people were in positions they were not fully qualified for, the list of issues goes on. In the end the Aircraft registration problem raised its head and CASA stepped in to make sure it got resolved. At least now it is more professionally run. Any member can run for a directorship and anyone can make a submission on any issue, anyone can attend the AGM and raise their issue. No organisation is perfect but as far as I am concerned the organisation is in much better shape than it was when it was an Incorporated Association. RA-Aus is now a respected Aviation Organisation that the rest of the industry takes notice of. The submissions on members behalf when Airservices proposed the now shelved reduction of Class E airspace were both highly relevant and powerful, probably the mot hard hitting of all submissions made from any Aviation industry organisation.

It is the obvious answer to allowing heavier aircraft into the RA category. It was a value originally set to keep RA aircraft in the (ultra) light grouping. Since then of course 2 major things have happened. Technology and materials have advanced dramatically so that many so called Ultralight aircraft now outperform traditional General Aviation single engine aircraft. CASA has decided (without actually publishing it or telling anyone) that it would like to hand over the administration of private light aircraft to RAA so it can concentrate on commercial aviation. I support the move. It will mean an easier route to getting access to CTR even if it requires fitting of a transponder. This has been in place in NZ for 20 years now. The issue of LAME maintenance needs to be resolved as well but GA experimental and RA Amateur built are essentially the same.

I saw the video of that. He either had complete 100% confidence of his ability to ensure directional control or he is a complete 100% adrenaline freak nutter.

Thanks Lyle. It is just a waiting game at the moment. My 100 hourly & annual should be finished today so an hour or so flying & I'll be set to go.

The CVR has been recovered & it is apparently "relatively intact". They are still looking for the FDR. They had to pump water out of the crater the aircraft made as the weather has been terrible since the crash. They have found bank cards, IDs, wallets & some human remains.

I booked my tickets some time ago but the weather on the coast is looking like I may not get over the range. Time will tell.

Ditto

The SBS Doco of 2011 highlighted a number of quality issues with sub contractor suppliers, one of which was supplying the main fuselage ribs that were sub standard for this model 737. When they visited the manufacturing plant they found that the expensive CNC machines were out of service in need of repair and the parts were being fabricated by hand. The ribs had to be modified at the Boeing assembly plant so they would fit. There were 3 instances when these model 737s had crashed during bad landings and over ran the runway and the fuselage broke into several pieces. Luckily all passengers & crew survived. In earlier deliberate crash testing the fuselages had remained intact. If there had been a failure in the integrity of the fuselage framework there would likely have been instant decompression which could have severed control systems causing the aircraft to do what it did. Complete speculation but a possibility.

Their service and delivery is quick but their cost for freight to me straight up the Pacific highway at $40.00 compared to $13.00 from Flightstore was the difference.

There are a number of on-line resellers. Check the price including freight. I recently bought a case of 12 quarts of W100 plus and the cheapest on line price was not the best price when freight was added. I paid a little more and freight cost was $13.00. The cheaper priced oil had a freight cost of $34.00. I purchased through Flightstore. I used to purchase direct from Shell when they were at Archerfield & the price was much cheaper. When the Airport was sold to commercial interests, Shell was replaced by another retailer & the price skyrocketed. Check the local Airports to find out the price from there

I had my first flight yesterday after retrieving my aircraft from the flood. I just had wheels and brakes to sort out as nothing got in the engine or fuselage. The engine started first go but then ran rough at low RPM. I got it warmed up & shut down. The battery wouldn't turn it over again. An hour on the charger was all it needed but then turning the prop by hand I felt a grinding sensation. Off with the cowl to discover it was surface rust on the flywheel magnets. I didn't get this when turning the prop before the first start so it must have been heat expansion that did it. The gap is only 0.01". Sitting above water in a hangar for a week at 100% humidity must have done it. Anyway some 600 grit wet & dry, a spray of inox & wipe off & I was all set. With the engine still warm the start was instant but Mag 1 had at least one plug missing but it came on with more rpm. Runup & takeoff was good so I ran at full power (3300 rpm) for about 5 minutes up the river to Yamba then settled back to 2800 & it was running very sweetly. The scattered cloud was at a tad over 1500' & the thermals creating them were small and punchy so it made for a rough ride. There was surface water everywhere. I turned South at the Yamba breakwall & headed towards home. Smooth as a baby's bum, it was hands off flying to Corindi where I did a couple of circuits & got the wife out on the driveway. I dropped down to 500 feet & did a high speed run to Woolgooga following the beach and round the headlands. I returned to Corindi & made a full power climbing pass over the house & back to South Grafton. I had to land on the seal as the grass is still too wet & the taxi back to the hangar meant going through a water course. I have not yet reinstalled the spats or undercarriage fairing & the underside got a good splattering of mud from the trek to/from the sealed taxiway. The idle mag check had everything back to normal. That is the last flight with the current plugs anyway. I have a 100 hourly and Annual to do next week.

Nothing, as it is just part of the front deck which I have painted matt black to stop reflection on the bubble canopy. I have a bit of velcro there to hold my spot tracker.