Patrick Normoyle

RAA are still taking details for the static display as are Airshows down under, check both web sites, if you have any issues, call me 040 893 1040. And yes, I'll be flying over in my Fisher Mk1 on the 18th, overnighting at Little River airfield and then flying in to Avalon Main on the 20th. I should get to little river non stop in 5 hours but I have allowed a day an a half for weather etc.

My condolences tot the family and friends of he pilot. Another of our brethren have made their final last flight and will be missed by those who knew him and those like him. Our love for this wonderful type of aviation does come with risks, as do most adventure sports, I'm sure all our pilots will do their utmost to ensure these risks are minimised and mitigated where possible. Safe flying everyone !

My Fisher Mk1 and I shall be attending the Avalon Air Show, while my aircraft rests after the journey from Adelaide, I will be working in the Avalon Tower while I am there. If anyone is either flying in or visiting send me a message or call the mobile and I'll try to catch up to share stories, a love of aviation and rub shoulders with other true pioneers of aviation. Number 0408931040, I will be staying on-site, and be there from the 20th Feb till Tuesday 6th March. I'm keen to catch up with any and all RAA types, especially any Drifter or Fisher Mk1 types. Patrick

5.1 All operations are restricted to day VFR fixed-wing aeroplanes of 5700KG MTOW or less. YAVE is only available from Wednesday 27th Feb until Sunday 3rd Mar inclusive

Very good, LMBFAO ( laughing my big fat arse off )

Sometimes, but they can still hit you with fine points based on their limited knowledge and its up to you to sort it out, a pain in te butt. I prefer to cover all bases and limit my exposure to the SYSTEM.

http://airservicesaustralia.com/aip/current/sup/s13-h01.pdf page 3 of 23, says from wednesday 27th till Sunday 3rd for Avalon East.

P.A. I think it is from the 27th as per the AIP SUP but I will be there from the 19th for work in the tower for the trade side of things, but I've got a contact and some grass to die down onto at Little River.

Sounds about right.

http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_assets/main/download/caaps/ops/233_1.pdf this is the link to CASA CAAP 233.1, a lot to read through and find your own answers.

CASA field inspector seem to have a different view on this you may find !

You dont need the VFG but you do need ERSA, but you can just take the sections that you need, I take photocopies of the airfields that I intend on visiting and those of my alternates, plus any airfields enroute that I may need to divert to due weather ( low cloud ) or for other reasons. Then there are the maps that provide full route coverage of the flight and any alternates. Everything you carry must be current. You also need your flight plan and fuel burn / requirements in printed format. You can have an electronic flight book that has all of these but you must still have the paper copies available. I got ramped checked at the Montoya fly-in and I had it all with the exception of my printed flight plan and fuel management stuff as it flew out the door ( had the doors off for this flight in the Skyfox ) but I had everything else, and CASA were happy with my explanation for the missing items. You must have the aircraft rego as required and your current pilot certificate. This is my take on the regs.

Very interesting video, from an ATC point of view, I noticed the ATC gave the A380 a landing clearance and then gave another aircraft a takeoff clearance from a crossing runway, you can even see the other aircraft getting airborne from the left to right. You don't see that in Australia.

Thanks all, Ias I will be working at Avalon Tower for the airshow, I'll be there from the 20th feb till 6th March, well before Avalon East opens and after it closes, I can't park at Avalon Main so I need a staging airfield near by, I have spoken to the great folks at Lethbridge, but was hoping for an airfield closer ?

I am hoping someone on here has a contact for the Little River airfield north of Avalon, I am flying from Adelaide to attend the Avalon Airshow in Feb 2013. I will be there early as I am working in the tower. I need somewhere close to leave the Fisher Mk 1. Any help or suggestions would be great !

So true Doug, and what an unusual code to have in there, was he anticipating something ?

Quiet for some, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, so no rest for the poor government employee.

This is a great example for us, light aircraft pilots, you could use 7500 or even 7700, but the questions you might get from ATC like do you require armed intervention on arrival, or we are directing military aircraft to your location to escort you to a safe location might freak your passenger out even more. You still need to get a clearance to enter the CTR and the code will help with that, but a 7500 is treated with grave caution, you'll be directed to the special parking area and be met be APIS, AFP AND local police. As PIC, you along have to make the call as to what is best, possibly the best way to do it would be to advise ATC you have an unstable passenger and you need to divert to the Airport in the CTR ASAP and request a clearance. As we are all Pilots in Command we have to assess each and every situation on its merits and make judgements accordingly, keep you passenger informed and calm them down as best as possible, maintain control of the aircraft at all times and under Australian law, you can force their compliance with "actions of a reasonable man " eg ( knock them out ) but I'm no lawyer, so do so with absolute caution, never start a fight you can't win.

Rong, sorry but not quite right, we will acknowledge the code and deactivate the alarm on the console ( if fitted), we then follow a checklist of items and it is the Airline company's call as to the level of credibility for a bomb threat and the Department of Transport / dept of defence / CASA / airline /ATC who determine if the 7500 is to be treated as such if that is the only indicator, accidental activation of distress is common on some aircraft types where it can be activated by a hidden foot activated switch. It is very rare and usually in error that a 7500 gets activated. The 7700 is slightly more common and the 7600 is probably a daily occurrence across the country. We strongly recommend mobile phone contact as a measure to be considered in a radio failure, be conversant with both AIP AND ERSA entries for the airport / airspace concerned and remember, AVIATE, navigate and then communicate. The first two will keep you alive and the last one will aid you in getting some help and letting others know to be aware. Be aware there are significant fines for intentional misuse of the distress codes, also, don't rely on them being received, there was in incident 5 years ago in outback NSW, a pilot had a partial power failure of one power bus, he lost VHF radio and one transponder, the other transponder he thought was working but it wasn't, he did the right thing and dialled up 7600 and flew the last 2 1/5 hours without doing anything else. He landed at a busy airport in the middle of a large military exercise , when confronted on the ground, he was angry no one new he had the failure, this airport and the altitude and route he flew were out of radar coverage, the 2nd transponder didn't work and he didn't / hadn't read ERSA / AIP SUP / NOTAM to know what to do and what was available to use. He landed against light signals from the Tower, didn't use his HF radio that did still work and didn't use his mobile phone when he was within range. Like most things in aviation, even down at the lower end of RAA, take the time to think the problem through, know your equipment and the airspace you are in, not a radar tower then 7600 or any other code may well be useless, don't think that you have done all that is required, you may still KILL YOURSELF. The saying goes, there is ALWAYS more than one way to skin a cat..

I'll take one of those too thanks, a turbine drifter would be awesome.

This is not very accurate, we ( ATC's ) use our judgement on a case by case situation, weighing up all factors, there are other indicators that can be used where possible.

Rocketing, After turning onto finals and aligned with the runway we did not see any other planes nor were there any calls of downwind or base. Between 350-400ft we suddenly saw the Jabiru coming straight at us about 20 ft above us and about 30 ft to our left while he was still drifting closer to us trying to align with the runway. Wouldn't the runway now be behind the Jab, if you were lined up on final and he was at your 12 o'clock ( give or take ) for the same runway ?

Damian, My question was based on the possibility that he came from behind, if it was a head-on incident, then both pilots have some fault, see and avoid, especially on final with various runways in use and a varied mix of skilled pilots and various aircraft types. There is a saying in aircraft accident / incident investigations and that is "that there is never just one thing or action that causes an accident". Now the bandwagon is already full, I'm not having a go at Rocketing, but having known there was a questionable pilot in the circuit, it may have been prudent to give this pilot some extra vigilance in seeing to avoid and playing it safer than usual.

And now install a screen protector, cut down an iPad one, that will help..

Was his aircraft faster or slower than your's?