naremman

Could the resignations, or lack of membership renewal, at the grass level be a consideration? This week three mature aviators were sharing a coffee at the back of a maintenance hangar, and between them had in excess of 140 years aviation involvement and ownership interests in seven aircraft. In the last few weeks all three had decided not to renew their RAA membership. All have a joint RAA?/GA interest, but by choice will be active within GA. Recruitment of members for any organization usually presents its challenges, but failure to take heed of retention of your members can expose of any organizations deficiencies PDQ.

Ayavner, a belated, well deserved commendation for your first "Earth Angel" role. That you enjoyed the experience is clearly evident, and your comments are great advocacy for what Angel Flight can achieve. It is great that we can use our aviation related skills in such a beneficial and positive manner. The people we deal with still have to travel down the road, but having someone to stand either alongside, or behind them certainly is comforting. With the insight that you have gained I hope, that it in a small way provides some motivation as you progress with your flying to be one day piloting an Angel Flight. Once again, well done mate.

They can do it in the horizontal plane too Kaz. Got conned into taking a C150 streamer cutting at ALACs a few years ago. The placard said OK to 4.4g but the door had a habit of popping a fair way before that. Was certainly aware of the burble going down the fuse and over the tailplane. Any certified aircraft has had to be demonstrated with all anticipated outcomes.The test pilots have done all the hard work. Keep your head and fly the aircraft. After 37 tears flying an Airtourer I don't have any concerns re the canopy. 30% of the lift comes from the canopy according to the good late Dr Millicer, and the only position that it wants to adopt in flight is very firmly closed. It can only be opened sub 70 Knots, and then with difficulty, with farmer type biceps an added advantage.

If I can attain that level of maturity, and nearly have my second pint of Liffey water knocked over by five minutes past midday, now who would I be to complain. Not a pair of spectacles, or hearing aids in sight, and reckon it is not a bad yarn his mate is spinning. Have a Joyous and Blessed Christmas everyone, and may 2013 be a happy, healthy and rewarding year.

Farmers are also very proficient with green rubber rings and sharp knives Pud, as any wether, steer, barrow or gelding could attest!!

Yours is a sound line of thought Compulsion. What appears comparatively simple does not always turn out to be always so simple. The nett result that would be acceptable would be that whatever the eventuallity, survival takes precedence. If you are still around to survey a bingled aircraft, and or filling out a ream of paperwork following the transgression of the rules, at least you are alive to complain!! There is the advice that you should not teach your partner/kids to drive, and the same would be prudent in the flying sphere. My late first wife gained a Restricted PPL three years after we were married, and following a return crossing of the Nullarbor. Our cockpit relationship was not always as harmonious as away from an aircraft. Best resolved by; she flew, I navigated. Probably one of the few times I could tell her where to go!! Medical incapacity does not seem to feature all that prominently in aircraft incidents/accidents. Though being the one in a 1 in a 1,000,000 occurrence is little comfort. I one incident that I am aware of happened to some flying friends about thirty years ago. The husband had purchased the aircraft, and the wife initially was a very reluctant flyer. She indicated that if she was to fly more frequently she wanted to be more familiar, and even capable of controlling the aircraft. She was also hoping that a bit of flying time would make her more comfortable as a passenger. I forget how many hours were flown, but it was done through an aero club with an instructor. She was able to fly reasonably well, and to configure the aircraft for approach, get it close to the runway and close the throttle. The aim was to get the aircraft to position where it was likely to be survivable, but accepting that the aircraft was probably going to get bent. In an Airtourer this put the odds at not a bad price. As fate would have it, not long after this learning experience the couple were flying over Katoomba, when the husband had a few coronary arteries function not as effectively as they should. Luckily the wife, an experienced nurse, was able to understand the medical implications, and was able to put her recent training to good effect. The husband recovered sufficiently to complete the landing safely. One book I enjoyed reading in this field was by the renown English author Brian Lecomber called "Talk Down". In the ambulance field it is acknowledged that a small, yet appropriate action by a First responder early on is quite often more effective that waiting a good while for the whole cavalry to turn up.

Cficare, you are well entitled to your opinion, and every organization should be prepared for some scrutiny of its ideals and operations, with no exemption granted for Angel Flight. I have four ladies in my parish, who in the process of dealing with the diagnosis and treatment for cancer, have had the benefit of 40 Angel Flights since July last year, who would most probably wish to offer a strongly worded contrary perspective to the one you hold. Angel Flight can not be seen to be a medical service. CASA was very clear on this issue before Angel Flight got the OK in Australia. If medical treatment is required on a flight, that is outside the boundaries for Angel Flight. Flights for non-emergency passengers to faciltate them attending appointments or treatment is entirely the scope. I hold Advanced Ambulance Care qualifications with St John Ambulance WA, but am precluded from using those skills whilst acting in the capacity as an Angel Flight pilot. A quick check on the Angel Flight website, and viewing the pilot profiles would show that the vast majority of pilots are very well credentialed to conduct the flights. Holding a PPL does not limit the aquisition of sound, or even advanced flying skills. It is possible that a low time CPL may not be able to demonstrate any more capability than a PPL with a few years experience, and an attitude to safety tempered by a few years of maturity. (Sorry if I have offended any newly minted CPLs) No pilot is ever likely to get any financial gain by joining Angel Flight. My first few flights in 2004 were entirely out of my own pocket, but the introduction of fuel for the flights being covered, and the waiving of landing fees was certainly warmly welcomed. Angel Flight pilots are volunteers, and that they are not paid is not because they are worthless, but because they are PRICELESS! The reality is that the provision of an adequate level of health care in regional and remote Australia is under extreme pressure. St John WA figures for country WA are up 23.8% on the preceeding year, RFDS Western Ops are up 13%. WA Country Health has identified that it is short by 70 Doctors in their patch. Angel Flight on its own will not dramatically reduce these figures, but so far in excess of 13,500 flights have been made as a genuine and generous contribution to make the life of those in the bush a bit better. Why am I an Angel Flight pilot. I lost my first wife to breast cancer after a five year battle. We received some great support from our community, and to me Angel Flight is a fantastic opportunity to contribute something back to my community to ackowledge the efforts made to assist us. I have experienced transporting people back to the bush post chemo by both car and aircraft. My opinion is irrelevant. But I certainly have taken note of the feedback from those who I have transported. Ayavner, well done for joining the ranks of the "Earth Angels". That role is vital to the whole operation of Angel Flight. We pilots get the easy job of flying. Tackling the freeways holds far more fears for me than taking flight!! Now Cficare, would you care to detail just what these BIG reservations are that you have?

You certainly are correct David, with a number of milestones occurring for the Airtourer. 60 years since Henry Millicer's Airtourer design won the Royal Aero Club's (UK) competition for design with the potential as a Tiger Moth replacement. We have seen the 50th Anniversary of the wooden VH-FMM (Foxtrot Mickey Mouse) pass, likewise the first flight of the metal Airtourer under the Victa guise, and next year the Airtourer Association will recognise 50 years since the first production Airtourer flew. It will also mark 35 years since the formation of the Airtourer Association, which has been integral to see about 90 Airtourers still on the Australian register. Last weekend, after a 23 year absence from competitive flying, the Airtourer and I were successful in wining the Spot Landing competition at the WA Light Aircraft Championships. Both aircraft and pilot are well into the "mature category", so there were a few bemused onlookers seeing a 48 year old aircraft lob into the spot on without fail. Both of my air judges happened to be less than half the age of the aircraft, and in one instance the Victa was older than both the instructors parents!! Glad to hear that you got some time in IOO. A Pitts certainly was a hot machine in the 1970's, and to those aerobatic pilots of that time who had to choose between a Tiger, Chippie, Victa or Fuji, forever trading height for airspeed, the sight of a Pitts aerobatting just used to make us drool!

Just goes to tell that for every circumstance there is a good story. Now I am a bit wiser. Thought the bloke on Perth Radar was the ultimate professional, but could not help my own mirth.

Flying South of Jandakot yesterday I heard Perth Radar giving a traffic advisory to one aircraft of the location of Papa Oscar Oscar! There is one pilot who could correctly say that "he was in the POO"!! Given that the venerable C185 originally went under a different rego, somebody presumably with a good sense of humour sought to change it.

One advantage that VH registered aircraft have is that sometimes the three allocated registration letters give some scope for a reference to that aircraft. The Cessna 172D that I gained my Restricted PPL on was registered VH-CBH. That is a registration that no WA grain grower will forget, as the farmer owned Co-Operative Bulk Handling is always refered to as CBH. The CB was derived from Cheyne's Beach Whaling, the last functioning whaling station in Australia, until its closure in 1978. CBH was initially fitted out with floats, and venturing out into the Southern Ocean whale spotting behind a single Continental 0-300A is probably not worth thinking too much about!! When I was learning on it, CBH was never going to win a beauty contest, but it flew well and I was the last student to gain a RPPL on it after its time at the Narrogin Flying Club. When I fronted for my Navs CBH was gone, replaced by a brand spanking new Cessna 172M, VH-IRC. I completed my Navs and all bar the last Nav and Flight Test for a Class 4 Instrument Rating in this aircraft, and if I had to choose an aircraft that I was least enamoured off, IRC would be the prime candidate. Ironically there was a C 172 registered VH-IRK in WA, and I sure hope their aircraft was a little less IRC-some than IRC. Just as I was completing my Navs I made unquestiongly the best flying decision I have made and acquired a Victa Airtourer, VH-MOC. The term "Moscali" was coined very early on, and has continued. Earlier this year I took the 90 year old gentleman from whom I had purchased "Moscali" 37 years earlier for a fly, or more correctly he took me for a fly. He was rapt to be back in "his" old aircraft, but he could not relate to the "Moscali" term at all!! He has, never the less, booked his flight for April 2014 when MOC turns 50. By the early 1980's when we thought we had just about outgrown the two seats of the Airtourer, an opportunity came up for a quarter share in a Cessna 172M locally. Beauty. We could rationize keeping the Airtourer, and having access to the four seats in the 172. It was the same vintage as IRC, but fortunately seemed to fly a lot sweeter. Not having to lug around one of those clunky, ancient HF sets was a bonus. The only sticking point was the registration. VH-KIA. My Flying Instructor was an ex-Army pilot, with a tour of Vietnam flying Porters. Writing the script was easy: "KIA, Killed in Action." Needless to say, the anticipated retort from Doug did not disapoint. KIA has remained KIA, though we try hard not to draw attention to it when the old girl gets an Angel Flight! It was nice of a Korean car manufacurer to join in as well!! At the time when I was learning to learning to fly, the Department of Civil Aviation had a Beech V35 traversing WA that went under the rego of VH-CAD. Now most of the Examiners of Airmen at that time were good blokes, but I imagine that there were a few aspiring pilots who had a Flight Test go awry who were not humoured by the Examiners departure in CAD. I laughed the first time I saw a Pawnee hoiking up a glider with VH-TUG painted on the fuse. Who else but the irrepressible Dick Smith would fly a helicopter solo around the world with VH-DIK? When Rob Poynton was building his Pitts Special in the mid 1970's he had reserved VH-IOO as the rego. Rob reasoned that the rego would be the same either inverted or right way up. Doug Dawson was threating to invoke some connections in the Department to have VH-LOO issued instead! Cliff Tait in his book "Water Under my Wings" relates an ardous and challenging long distance ferry of a Fletcher ag aircraft with the rego of ZK-DIM. "DIM by name, and dim by nature" was Cliff's comment. No doubt there will be no shortage of good stories on aircraft regos.

In the ambulance environment gel pens work well for those of use still working with paper rather than iPads. We can write obs on nitrile gloves quite easily, without tearing them, and the ink does not readily smudge. Quite appropriately, we find the Pilot G-2 gel ink pen works well, and Mitsubishi make a good one too. Available at Officeworks, and for so a quite reasonable price.

I can remember early on in my Ambulance Officer training a Paramedic Trainer strongly advising us to make sure we got the correct pronuciation for cervical and cervical right, lest one mightily embarrass thyself!

G'day Andre, What, a journalist and from Dansk, and still standing up? Now that really does set you apart!! If you make it to Australia you will really enjoy the contrast from your home country flying wise. My daughter had a exceeding enjoyable year in Denmark on Rotary Exchange a few years ago based around Greve. Here is hoping that you will be able to occupy some of our airspace soon.

The one I laugh at is a pre flight I did on the second flight as part of my Chipmunk endorsement. The first flight in the late morning had included the upper air work with stalls and about six spins, and concluded with a couple of circuits. Just before shut down there was a dead cut on one of the mags when I checked the mags! As I went to investigate my Instructor indicated to leave checking it out until after lunch, as we were likely to be late for lunch at his home, and his lovely Irish born wife was not noted for her tolerance for latecomers. Following lunch we returned to the airfield and I commenced a pre flight of the Chippie. On opening the side cowl I was a bit surprised to see a horse shoe magnet firmly latched onto an engine mount. Well, that explaines the dead cut on the magneto!! I just wonder how much of the previous flight it had been in the bottom end of the cowl, and was pretty lucky that it had found a good bit of metal to secure itself to. A wander over to the Tiger Moth supplied us with the two screws to secure the magnet to the magneto, and we then spent a fair proportion of the afternoon testing out the structural strength of the Chippie's undercarriage, until I aquired some degree of mastery of three pointing the old girl. Not even some of my attempts at landing dislodged the magnet again!!

G'day Pud. It would seem that our paths are not destined to cross!! We had our Lions District Governor in town yesterday which wiped out Saturday, and I had to provide ambulance cover for this morning which meant it was was Sunday pm before I hit Whitegum, and things were winding down. Still there were enough people to still have a chat to. That aircraft with the Mercedes engine forward of the firewall was pretty impessive. For a unit like that to be pumping out the same power as a Cont 0-200 at a fraction of the weight was notable. My comment of: "you may well have a Mercedes engine, but I have a Rolls Royce engine in mine" was at least met with good humour. The pilotless surveilance aircraft certainly were fascinating. Just goes to show how far technology has progressed. Initially met the wife of the builder of the pictured Wasp. Like me she is a St John Vollie AO. She was also not slow in commenting that aircraft nearly had a DIVORCE as one of its outcomes. Still she is proud of Mark to accomplish a remarkably high standard aircraft. In meeting Mark, I wished him well in equaling in airborne hours in the time that it had taken it to build. He admitted that was probably going to be a considerable challenge. Looking at the Wasp I was reminded of the Saab Safari outline. Well done to the organizers of Westfly. Fly ins have really dropped off over recent years in WA, and it is great to see an event like this where we have the opportunity to meet like minded avaitors, and see the developments of the past few years. I remain committed to providing something with a historical component!!

G'day Pud, Brings back memories when the Narrogin Flying Club was in its apex during the 1970's. It boasted three instructors, and had a fleet of 4 x PA28s, C150, C172, plus a Tiger and Chippie tucked away at the back of the hangar. They operated about at about 20 satellite airstrips, and trained many country pilots. Many keen and aspiring pilots got their first job instructing with NFC launching of from Narrogin for a four or five day excursion to distant country towns. I learnt with NFC when it used to visit Bruce Rock for two days every fortnight. NFC was well served by two great CFIs, in John Douglas and Doug Dawson, when it expanded so quickly. Sadly NFC is but a shadow of what it once was. I noticed that the Peter Martinovich designed hangar is still proudly standing. Peter was an engineer with the then WA Govt Railways, and when the decission was made to construct a new hangar, Peter offered to do the design. Obviously influenced by his railway background, it was certain to stand up to every known and anticipated hazard. Ironically the cocky inspired original hangar is still standing as well!! Peter's latest known achievement was the engineering oversight of the Perth/Mandurah passenger railway. Great images of the RFDS PC-12, and you omitted to mention the St John Ambulance presence, staffed with two volunteer ambulance officers for the transfer. Provision of an acceptable standard of health in the WA bush would be severely diminshed without the great work done by RFDS and St John. Hope to get to Whitegum for the Sunday Pud. Pity that the country is suffering so badly with such a harsh winter.

What a great contribution from your community to two deserving causes Tomo. Country people are always incredibly generous to those that look after them, and that support usually comes from people at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. Have just returned from two fantastic weeks providing ambulance relief with St John Ambulance in Kununurra, and one thing that was clearly evident was the support and appreciation that is extended to St John and RFDS in particular. Goodonya Tomo, and those in your community, and well done to post the good news for a wider appreciation.

My weekend experience can provide a flip side. Was tasked with flying our Lions District Governor and his wife the 270 Nm from his home at Boyup Brook to Esperance and return in our C172. Saturday's outward flight was in glorius weather, with a 30 Knot tailwind at 7500'. Being aware that a front was about to come through I cautioned them I could not promise them the same conditions for the return journey. The forecast on Sunday stopped just short of including the kitchen sink. We turned it into a 500' AGL excercise and managed to keep the headwind to about 15 Knots. Forecast winds at 3000' were 320/40. Just about two thirds of the flight was concluded before the front made a diversion to Katanning and having the wheels in contact with terra firma look like an appealing option. A two hour wait for the front to pass and return to VFR conditions. We got underway and got to within 15 Nm of Boyup Brook to find the destination socked in that fine misty rain, into which no sane VFR pilot should ever venture. 180'd and back to Kojonup, from whence the DG and wife summoned road transport. They had just experienced both the benefits and pitfalls of travel by light aircraft on consecuitive days!! Managed to work the remaining 120 Nm home, and got the 172 into the hangar before 12 beautiful mm of rain fell on our droughted Wheatbelt farm. Today has sunshine in abundance, the countryside fresh after the rain, and close to dead calm. Was it really only a day earlier that severe wind, runways that would not obligingly line up with the wind, low cloud and rain give me such a five hour workout?

Perth has hosted this event quite successfully and safely on four ocassions. Perth Water has proven to be ideal, and being able to use Langley park as the aerodrome, having it adjacent to the course has been a big benefit. The WA govt seems to have been happy with the benefits that this event has brought to Perth, and I imagine would be happy to continue. Once again, Perth's geographic isolation does not work in its favour. In the local media there was a comment attributable to the organizers that they want to introduce a pay for attendance issue. This would be nearly impossible with the Perth site. I have attended and enjoyed two of the events. There seems to be fair amount of waiting around interspersed with some spectacular flying. The skill level of the pilots is such that there seems to be a sameness throughout the event, and have observed spectators leave after the heats because there were no bingles!! We have observed what has ocurred with Formula 1 racing. Do we need any activity where the promoter takes the benefits and the venue provider accepts the risks?

I accomplished a joint GA and RAA AFR on Monday too. With Angel Flight reminders my AFR expired on July 31, and balancing ambulance and farming commitments, I had scheduled a joint PPL and RAA AFR with Poteroo in Albany on July 30 in a J160. The day commenced nice and fine with a stiff Northerly wind. I fueled up the Airtourer and pointed her towards Albany, anticpating hopefully a 20 Knot tailwind. The GPS said 40 Kts of tailwind, with the bonus of track being heading. Does it get any better? What should have been a two hour trip was accomplished in 1 hour 21 mins. Walking into the flying school office I was welcolmed with: "what are you doing here, have you looked at the windsock?" My responce of: "what, it is nor horizontal, yet" did very little to enhance my cause. Poteroo firmly intoned he would not even pull the Jabiru out of the hangar. I was happy enough to defer to Poteroo's great wisdom and experience. The CFI stated she was not happy to pull her C150 out of the hangar. Would I consider doing the AFR in the Airtourer? Nett result. A very pleasant flight in the Airtourer, where the CFI did more more flying in the Airtourer than I, and she was happy to sign me out to commit aviation for another two years. My flight with Poteroo in a Jab will have to wait another two years, good health on Ralph's part and mine willing. After doing an AFR with Poteroo in his C170 in 2004, a flight in a Jab may well be a bit of an anti-climax. After enjoying the whistling tailwind down, the prospect of the return trip was the flip side. Turning it into a 500 AGL trip was a good excercise with WAC on the knee, and with with less than 25 Kts headwind I knew that I was going to win. 81 mins going down, 145 return. It will be one Log Book entry that I will probably not forget.

Great footage Tomo. If the location was between Melbourne and Sydney every man and his dog would have seen it, We visited that area after the Airtourer Association did the Simpson Deset crossing with 18 Airtourers going Birdsville to the Alice in formation in 1984, sans GPS. We were captivated by the Olgas. Cultural sensitivity was not an issue then in climbing Uluru, and after cursing our rate of climb in a 100 hp Airtourer, we realized that our ascent was pretty feeble on foot compared to what miserable rate of climb that our aircraft achieved. One of the highlights was landing on the original airstrip, just before it was closed. An approach parallel to the rock face, and having a stabilized approach at 65 Knots suddenly jump to 80, and then in the next instant have just the makers name evident was memorable. Harold Affleck recounts some interesting experiences on that airstrip. You wuz half way to WA Tomo and you did not keep going. Shame Tomo. shame. If I can have Pittsworth and Toowoomba in my Log Book there is no reason for you to not to aspire to have some WA entries as well!! As for your appoach into Yulara, Bushies nail the threshold!! Airline jocks and aspiring airline jocks make contact 1500' down the track!!

Hang on guys. If we are seeking perfection the internal combustion engine is a long way off the mark. Most of us are operating aero engines in an environment that the aero engine designer did not anticipate. Did de Havilland consider that engine components 60 years of age would be trying to drag a Tiger Moth the sky around fuelled with Avgas 100? Did the Continental engineer think that the 0-2o0A engine designed for 80/87 Octane would have to cope with 8 times the lead in 100 Octane, or thatt he same engine tonking away in a C150 could propell a Cosmic Wind around Reno? How come a engine as renown as the Merlin could be a "firecracker" in a Spitfire, and the epitome of reliability in a Lancaster? There are so many variable conditons that an aero engine can be exposed to. The bloke flying the aircraft can have a significant influence on how an aero engine fares. Owner pilots can display either the best or worst influence in their engines. Aircraft flown by multiple pilots can have the most careful pilot wearing the consequences of the least proficient. I have met 20,000 hour pilots that have not had a hiccup out of an engine, and know of one that has had two engines quit on take-off before having 500 hours logged. In Australia we often subject our engine to the extremes in operation. What is a good operator in the USA or Europe can be found out in an Australian Summer. The greatest number of hours I have spent behind any one engine is a Rolls Royce 0-200A. In the European theatre oil warming is a consideration, in Australian Summers oil cooling and CHT redlines are of prominence. When we lost access to 80/87 around 1980, my LAME installed an EGT and advised me to run the engine "hot and hard". As a farmer I was always inclined to "baby" machinery, so the advice was not easy to folllow initially, but so far that engine has looked after me, and I hope to sit behind it for a few years more doing exactly the same. My only experience of a Jab engine was the J160 that I did a PPL to RAA conversion on. It had 700 hours on it since new, run as smooth as, and what was the advice? Basically, "hot and hard". Bit difficult with no control over mixture. My daughter learnt on a J160, and whilst she did not have a squeak out of it, before and after her training it run the littany of Jab ailings. If you want predictability in life, flying light aircraft is not for you. As good as the engines are today, there are no guarantees. If you are worried about risk in aviaton, just carefully consider the drive to the airstrip!!

Some of the images displayed on Google must be pretty dated. If I zero in on my home it shows the one way strip in front of my home in a paddock of Canola. The last time that we has planted Canola in that paddock was 2003. Given that some strips without proper attention can be markedly differerent in a short period of time, I would be vary of launching off into a strip without verifying its condition. Last year we received an unseasonable 5 inches of rain in a week in December, and had a RFDS PC-12 land on our town airstrip with 6" scours on it, luckily without incident, because the responsible (??) entity were deficient in their inspection regime. Google is a useful research tool, but is far from fallible in determining that the strip you want to lob into meets your needs.