Matt

Shepparton - on Saturday's for lunch. Kyneton - no specific lunch arrangements, but plenty of friendly folk around most weekends :thumb_up:, some willing to run visitors into town for lunch or pickup bakery treats. Lethbridge - have a BBQ on a particular day of each month...can't quite remember which day though...but Brent did and beat me to it. Ballarat - another bunch of friendly folks. Tooradin - nice seafood restaraunt & cafe at the airfield...again Brent beat me to it.. Most importantly - let us (the forum) know when and where you're going, you never know who might tag along or meet you at your destination.

weather!!!!!! Kaz and I drove through cloud to get to Kyneton to be greeted by cloud on the ground. Optimistically we prepared the aircraft and waited...and waited...and waited...after a few hours of coffee and chatting with some of the other grounded locals we headed in to town for lunch. During lunch the cloud turned into solid rain for about 15 minutes and then cleared to blue skies...above the airfield...still cloud on the ground all around. By then it was mid afternoon and time to pack it in and head home. Thanks for posting the photos Geoff, makes me even more depressed that I couldn't get in the air and to Hopetoun today As mentioned at the top of the post... weather!!!!!! Hope all those that made it had a great time, the weather looked great and the turnout looks impressive as well. PS> Congratulations Ben on a job well done! :thumb_up: PPS> While we had no flying, at least the CT4 is in one piece...sorry to hear about the Cheetah Slarti, hope it won't take too long and too much to repair her. Glad to hear that you and your old man walked away with a story to tell.

So, I gotta ask - what did an extra 55KG of ballast hanging underneath feel like???

100ft, roughly 30m, call it 3 wingspans. Now, where does that 100ft start and end? Centre of fuselage? Wingtip to Wingtip? I'm with Brent, the CASA rule makes a lot more sense.

Yep, it is legal. Doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best thing to be doing - a good approach is to fly to the conditions, not just within the rules.

Brent - where's the current reference for distance for RA-Aus? I knew there used to be one years back under AUF but can't find any reference to it in the Ops manual.

Understand Captain's point about the actual amount of light available, but legally speaking, last light is last light as per the prescribed time for that day and if you land before it but it's "dark", you are still compliant with the regulations.

We need something better to do on a Thursday night AirSick

Hi Marius, ER 55.1.1 relates operations in controlled airspace (Vertical Separation in the Australian FIR) for aircraft operating between FL290 and FL410. Beyond that I don't believe there are any separation / proximity requirements other than in the circuit area for landing, takeoff etc. Reference AirSick's post about vertical separation, the hemisperical altitudes are prescribed to minimise aircraft heading in opposite directions running into each other. Nothing to say you can't fly at the same altitude as someone else heading in exactly the same direction. And before anyone gets in about formation, a formation flight is defined as "more than one aircraft operating as a single aircraft for navigation and communication purposes"...or something similar. Doing similar but navigating and communicating independantly is known as "in company"...or "same day, same way" ;) Cheers, Matt.

Hi Marius, 1. AIP is available online at the Airservices website http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/publications/aip.asp?pg=10 2. From memory, there is actually no defined distance regarding aircraft proximity. There are references to "not so close as to cause danger to another aircraft" or similar, but no specific distance defined. Will go investigate to see if my memory is correct. Found it, as per CAR 1988 - 163 Operating near other aircraft (1) The pilot in command of an aircraft must not fly the aircraft so close to another aircraft as to create a collision hazard. Penalty: 50 penalty units. (2) The pilot in command of an aircraft must not operate the aircraft on the ground in such a manner as to create a hazard to itself or to another aircraft. Penalty: 50 penalty units. (3) An offence against subregulation (1) or (2) is an offence of strict liability. Cheers, Matt.

Great story AS, reminds me of the regular trips we used to do across to Moruya and back when we were based in Canberra. Looks like it was a typical crisp and clear Canberra winters day.

Echuca elevation = 323' Hopetoun elevation = 256' Given the above, as long as the cloud base is at or above 2000', you should be right!...pretty flat out that way, all down hill for us from Kyneton at 1650'

Hi Ozzie...left us in some suspense there didn't you!!!! Do tell about the opportunity, circumstances etc. etc. Cheers, Matt.

Bob, Williamtown is generally not active on weekends so a trip up the coast shouldn't require a clearance, if Willy is active, head from Maitland to Nobby's Point (stay to south and OCTA) then request a clearance to track up the coast (see ERSA for details), they'll give you a clearance at "not above 500'" and you follow the coast all the way up. There's also the VFR lane from Maitland that runs northbound under Willy airspace and doesn't require a clearance...it's actually an awesome trip up that lane. Geoff, for the Bankstown lane, I'd recommend track to Menagle (staying south and outside Camden) then head north to Hoxton and Prospect Reservoir to minimise time over "built up areas" then follow the lane from there. While there is some flying over built up areas required, the purpose of the VFR lane is to provide the best route over those areas for light aircraft. Cheers, Matt.

Absolutely, the Bankstown VFR lanes are actually outside controlled airspace...well if you stay under 2500' at least.

RSVPing - expect 8-10 for lunch from Kyneton...reference Kaz's post above. PS> This is shaping up to be the "biggest mini fly-in" I've been to!

Hi Daryl, we operate out of Kyneton Airfield, generally operate just to the north of Malmsbury when doing aeros - plenty of flat paddocks and line features. Cheers, Matt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9cVMxAYCHI" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlemArm05N8"

Not quite a photo... This is the video from the aero mission...reference Philthy's photo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9cVMxAYCHI"

Remember that the VFG is just that...a "guide", CAR and CAO are law. 1500' or higher may make sense for certain aircraft types that don't glide so well...the CT4 being one of those...which for trivia purposes has the same glide profile as a Mirage...and a brick

Word of warning though with ICAO designators - just because ICAO has designated them, doesn't mean the Airservices TAATS system knows about them. This is the issue we had with the Sportstar, while EVSS is the ICAO designator, TAATS doesn't know about it and won't accept it...well, it didn't 14 months ago at least. I would definitely recommend using the remark field with "Callsign AIRCRAFT TYPE & ####" as you can be sure that even if TAATS knows the ICAO code, most controllers won't - hence the advice to us to use ULAC as aircraft type and callsign designator...makes life easier for all involved. Cheers, Matt.

Hi Ben, I believe Oasis Flight Training (formerly at Point Cook, now at Moorabbin) had a program with one or a couple of the local schools in the Werribee/Hoppers Crossing area where students could learn to fly / obtain their RA-Aus certificate as part of their Y11-12 studies. I'm sure there are others. Cheers, Matt.

As per CAO 95-32 - Exemptions from CAR1988 for Weight Shift & Powered Parachutes: http://www.casa.gov.au/download/orders/cao95/9532.pdf (i) an aeroplane to which paragraph 1.2 applies, or an aeroplane that was wholly assembled by a commercial manufacturer to which paragraph 1.1 applies, must not be flown over a built-up area at a height: (A) that is lower than 1 000 feet above ground level; and (B) from which it cannot glide clear of all dwellings, buildings and persons within the built-up area; (ia) an aeroplane to which paragraph 1.3 applies, or an aeroplane that was assembled from a kit supplied by a commercial manufacturer to which paragraph 1.1 applies, must not be flown over a built-up area: (A) unless CASA or an authorised person has approved it; and (B) at a height lower than 1 000 feet above ground level; and © at a height from which it cannot glide clear of all dwellings, buildings and persons within the built-up area;

Hi Moz, You don't need the prefix numbers (55, 24 etc.) in the rego, just the 4 digits. For aircraft type use ULAC and as you've suggested use the remarks field for callsign. This is what we used to do when operating at Canberra in the Sportstar and was based on advice from Kaz's controller friends at Airservices. Cheers, Matt.

We'll put a copy of the flyer up in the club rooms at Kyneton, there's an interesting array of aircraft at Kyneton that we may be able to tempt out for the day. Cheers, Matt.