Head in the clouds

......One other query,. . . does your Civil Aviation Authority ( then DCA ) still have the dreaded "Form 225" ?? As I remember Dave Squirrell 225'd Katherine Flight Service for insisting that HE was lost around that time too !!!! It was quite rare in them thar days for a pilot to "225" a ground station, in fact it might have been unique - what a character......Phil.

Everything's changed now of course, there's not even been a flight service, in the old sense, for many years. Pests though they were they could be handy on odd occasions in the remotest areas, if you could get comms with them, HF being what it was and all that... but not always useful -

 

I wish I'd known about DS's 225 thing back then, flight service caused one of my greatest embarrassments which took months to clear up and finally get the blame placed where it belonged. Some keen fishermen chartered me to take them helifishing into a very remote river gorge (Berkley River in the Kimberley). We left at first light and I set my SARtime with Perth FS as 0900. After departing Kununurra we usually couldn't get comms again until on the way back near Wyndham.

 

During the day we used to fish a number of locations down the river starting at the top gorge and ending up at the mouth, we'd leave there about 4pm and be back in comms by 5pm local. And often we'd fish a tributary or two so we'd give fairly general info about the destination. We'd landed deep within the upper narrow gorge and it was a great fishing day so we were still there at around 9am when a small airliner (F27) buzzed the gorge at low level. It was unusual but I didn't pay much attention, the pilots sometimes did that sort of thing to give their pax a few jollies.

 

Ten minutes later an F28 also started doing low and slow passes up and down the gorge and orbiting.... alarm bells went off in my head and I started running to the machine, it was a good kilometer away in very hot and rocky terrain involving several climbs and descents. By the time I got there about fifteen minutes later we had two light twin aircraft had also joined the fray. I was so exhausted I couldn't even talk on the radio for heavy breathing, so the first thing the 'searchers' thought was that I was on my last breath from crash injuries or something, so next thing that's what was relayed to Perth.

 

Eventually I was able to explain that all was well and my SARtime was relayed to Perth - 0900.

 

Western Australia, vast though it is, is very lightly populated in the north and everyone knows everyone else so over the next few weeks I became the laughing stock of the aviation community and my competitors had a field day. Although my pax were able to confirm my SARtime request of 0900 Perth FS insisted it had been 0000 which was 8am so they had called for half an hour then set a search in motion. The F27 was the ANSETT RPT between Darwin, Kununurra and Broome and the F28 was the Darwin, Port Headland to Perth flight. The two twins were specially chartered for the search and they'd also just diverted a QANTAS BAe146 when contact was established. The cost of all that, as you might imagine, was enormous, let alone the diversions of the first two for non-scheduled re-fuelling.

 

It was fully two months before I was able to convince DoA/DCA/CAA/CASA (Dept of name changes) that the damage to my business was so bad that I needed an investigation and they eventually admitted, in a very terse note, that the recordings had been pulled at the time and it was confirmed that my SARtime was correct and the FS bloke's handwriting was so bad that when the shift changed the next fella thought it said 0000 when it was actually 0900.

 

So I had as little to do with FS as possible after that.

 

 

...... Try using shielded wire from the ignition modules to the switches. The shield should be grounded at both ends....

Yes, and the switch body must be grounded as well. If the switch is mounted on a metal panel that is properly grounded then there's no problem but if the switch is mounted on an electrically isolated panel (vibration mounts maybe), or a plastic panel then the switch body needs its own ground wire.

 

 

This was sent to me recently by a friend who lives near Byron Bay and who knows of my interest in the Evans Head Airfield, it starts out sounding very good but read on...

 

Evans Head aerodrome sold

 

Chris Dobney

 

Richmond Valley Council yesterday completed the long-expected sale of a large tract of Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome to the Airpark Consortium, led by ‘keen aviator’ Peter Lynch.

 

The council has not disclosed a price for the sale, which was confirmed by GM John Walker yesterday.

 

He told local media the sale came with conditions and the Airpark ‘would act as an economic and social stimulus not only for Evans Head, but for the entire Richmond Valley’.

 

He added the heritage value of the former WWII training ground ‘will not be compromised’.

 

‘Part of the sale process includes recognising the heritage agreement, making sure that money is invested in the museum, preserving many elements of the airport,’ he told ABC radio this morning.

 

The consortium recently scored a centrepiece display for its Airpark Heritage Centre in the form of a retired F-111.

 

The Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome Committee (EHMAC) is supportive of aviation use of the iconic site. The veterans who served there have always wanted it kept as a ‘working airfield’, a ‘living memorial’ to their fallen comrades.

 

But the sale also paves the way for a second sale of a packet of land to RSL Lifecare for the construction of a retirement village, which was approved by the Joint Regional Planning Panel in March this year.

 

The second, much more controversial sale, is vociferously opposed by many members of the community.

 

The land was previously transferred from the federal government to the council with significant strings attached, some of which some fear have been cut in the rush to establish the retirement village.

 

Local aviation enthusiasts have said that building housing so close to the runway could cause serious problems with noise abatement and could ultimately spell the end of aviation at the aerodrome.

 

EHMAC president Richard Gates told Echonetdaily this morning, ‘our greatest concern is that the purchaser of the aerodrome has given in to conditions of sale that will compromise aviation function in the long term, for example acquiesced to conditions regarding noise to accommodate the inappropriately located RSL LifeCare proposal.’

 

A sticking point in the negotiations has been allowing RSL Lifecare to sell 24 additional blocks of land for private residences adjacent to the airport.

 

‘The Office of Airspace Regulation refused to approve a Fly Neighbourly Advice for the Aerodrome because residential areas were already too close. The community was never consulted about the noise mechanism Richmond Valley Council now has in place to look after the RSL LifeCare proposal, a proposal which is costing ratepayers many millions of dollars,’ Mr Gates told Echonetdaily.

 

‘We also have some concern about existing users and owners of hangars on the site. We hope the sale of the land will not lead to their being forced off. They must be accommodated in any sale deal and the airfield must remain open for public use.

 

‘It is disappointing that the conditions of the sale and the sale price have been kept from the public. This is after all public property and why shouldn’t ratepayers be entitled to know what price the aerodrome was sold for? he queried.

 

Greens MP David Shoebridge told the JRPP meeting in March, ‘if this development is approved, it is almost certain that pressure from future residents will see the council moving to restrict flights at the aerodrome, or even see it closed’.

 

‘The cost to local ratepayers of cleaning up contamination [at the site] is estimated to be over $4 million. This amounts to a multimillion-dollar gift to the developer,’ he told the panel.

 

A council watcher told Echonetdaily the cost to ratepayers could be as high as $12 to $15 million, including forgone income and subsidy for the land sale.

 

 

I've really enjoyed the ones I've attended, great locals, lovely little town, scenic flying, nice beaches.... And there's been a tremendous amount of effort gone into trying to save the historical airfield from the developers and the local Council's determination to sell it off so a show of support would be invaluable.

 

Hope to see you all there, Alan

 

 

I'm also sorry to hear the news about Barry, he was a very good friend to me. His heart surgery was related to a crash he had in a gyro as I understood it. He turned downwind and lost rotor rpm and went down in his backyard. While in hospital they discovered a massive annurism on the aorta very close to rupturing so he had emergency surgery. The condition may have been pre-existing, in which case the crash saved his life...

 

I met him in '83 through Geneer and Volkspower and then helped him build his KR2 and I flew my planes out of his strip and hangared there. He was truly one of life's gentlemen. I moved to Qld in '86 but met Barry again at fly-ins over the next 2-3 yrs then lost touch as well.

 

Hope you catch up with some more Moorabbin pals via the pprune site Phil.

 

BTW, I know exactly 'where you were' near Katherine. I've been around those dunes many a time, spent 13yrs flying helis in the Kimberley and NT, with frequent trips into the Tanami and Great Sandy....

 

Cheers, Alan

 

 

G'day Phil,

 

I used to fly from Casey field in the early 1980s and remember a very pleasant fellow there, the Keith you mention I think. And Pakenham, also now 'redeveloped'. And had a friend Barry Coutts who had a strip in Koo Wee Rup just south of there. Cheers, Alan

 

 

Hi JimG, you are correct when you say that the Tyro is very pitch sensitive so I extended mine and put a 'goose neck' in it to position it closer to me.Looks a bit odd but worked very well.

Alan.[ATTACH=full]19890[/ATTACH]

Good solution Alan. Helicopter cyclics (joystick equivalent) are very sensitive too and most folks adjust their seating so that they can rest their right wrist on their leg to provide extra stability. I got really used to that and now I far prefer aircraft with sensitive controls so I'm going for an all-flying elevator on OzMoz to be sure of it. So Jim, don't be worried about the sensitivity, as long as you're expecting it it won't worry you.

 

Nice looking Tyro in the photo Alan!

 

Cheers, Al

 

 

Hi HH, it's an own design, yes retractable, mainly just to get the net drag line up a bit in cruise, since I have a high thrustline to manage as well. The ethos is the shortage of hangarage and constant threat of airfield closures so it folds into dimensions to fit into a shipping container as a portable hangar. Although I've built a container-sized trailer to make it even easier to shift around than a container would be. Cheers, Al

 

 

Yes, lots of fun catching up with a friend and former student 25 years on. Looking forward to going flying together again. Cheers, Al

 

 

Hi Holty, sorry to hear of your tribulations, hopefully things will be looking up for you again soon.

 

I'm also a relative beginner at blogs, and they're all different. If you click on the down arrow of your monicker at top right of the screen a box will drop down, then click on 'contact details', a new page will open where you can change your email address.

 

Cheers,

 

Alan

 

 

Thanks Doug, but look what I've come home to, RAAus doesn't look too healthy... hope it all gets fixed before I'm ready to test-fly the Moz. Erm, well before that actually, for all the poor folks who're grounded now. What a mess. I'm due for a BFR does it mean my licence/certificate can't be renewed either? I'm still catching up on all the news about this.

 

 

Cheers Alan , I've been following your build on HBA , good work.JimG

 

(current Drifter instructor......luv it.!)

Hi Jim, Thanks for your kind words. And I must get around to finishing the Aussie, Aussie, Aussie list there! How's the free air cowl for the 503 coming on? And the Tyro? Cheers, Al

 

 

Hi Dazza, that sounds likely, the timing's right. Don't hold it against me, you're one of the ones that survived... (cant make smilies work on tablet, so imagine a chuckle). I've been out of rec flying so long it looks like I have a lot to learn about the state of affairs at RAAus. Good to catch up with a GCer, I'll PM you when I work this site out, cheers, Al

 

 

G'day folks. I've been a member here for a while but flat out building my project and running my build log on HBA so I haven't had time to join the conversations here yet. It's time to put that to rights.

 

I live on the Gold Coast and am a GCSFC member and RAAus and all that.

 

I started flying in hanggliders in the 1970s then did some soaring in early 80s, went on to build and fly quite a number of ultralights, bought the first certified Drifter (sister to the Pink Panther) and instructed until 1989.

 

Went Commercial in helicopters for the next 13yrs in the Kimberley and NT then came back to Qld. Had a C172 until three years ago and now building a folding wing two seat s-b-s pusher retractable dragger called AussieMozzie or OzMoz for short. Should be done around Easter 2013, I'll post a few pics on another thread here. Here's a link to the build log if anyone wants to have a look - http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/hangar-flying/13346-aussiemozzie-11.html#post143042

 

Looking forward to chatting with you all, Cheers, Alan