bilby54

I use the 5" unit due to panel space and it works really well for my purposes. It depends on what you want a gps to do for you. If flying in control zones it maybe better to get a dedicated aviation gps. Aas for the ipad, I tend to think that they are the flavour of the month at the moment. Really good for flight planning but they are just to big for most small aircraft and can cause a lot of distractions.

Thanks Dazza. Are you Spring Gully or Fairview?

Most drivers license are 5 or 10 years so why not rego? The aircraft is still the same at the end of the period???

Hi Dazza, A bit off topic but are wing sails still available through Spectrum or is there another source?

Hey XAIR, you may have misunderstood what I was trying to say here. As an RAA pilot, you do not have to carry a medical unless you are an instructor or are required to for medical reasons. RAA aircraft are not issued with Maintenance Releases which is why we need to have those little stickers displayed saying that people fly in these aircraft at their own risk. If you are checked at a fly in such as Natfly then it would be fairly reasonable of the inspector to assume that you have flown from somewhere else to attend and they are really asking if you have done sufficient flight planning according to the rules to safely conduct the flight. My reference to what the MTOW was tongue in cheek as it has always been a standing joke that the aircraft is not ready to fly unless the paperwork equals the take off weight - a joke so lets keep it that way hey!!! I applaud your attitude but it is fully within the inspectors right to ask if you have done a weight and balance or other planning which is not in your list

No problems! I did my PPL at Alice Springs in two weeks more than a few weeks ago:smile: but more importantly, I do RAA certificates in around the same time. As for theory, most of my students travel very long distances so I usually help out with lessons during the day at no extra cost. 3 hours per day is my max per student plus theory - biggest problem with cost is the GST and accomodation

C'mon guys, lighten up a bit! PN put it very well in advising to treat a ramp check as a learning experience. Flight planning is not about running around to see if the plane has a rego sticker or the flight manual is stowed, that is part of normal, daily operations. Flight planning is exactly that - planning. If you have an open cockpit aircraft then plan ways to manage the flight and yes, I flew long trips in Drifters. The weather at best is only good for half a day so if you can prove to CASA that you have checked the weather and have made notes pertinent to your operation then all is good. Same for fuel and same for alternate landing sites. Remember the 6P rule and lets keep the personals out of it hey!!

And your MTOW is how much?? These refer specifically to a VH registered aircraft which is where the regulations fall down. How is it that ag pilots can get away with a Gregory's street directory in a professional capacity and we have to carry more crap than can be carried on a shovel? If you can prove that you plan to fly safely then the problem will not exist. If you want follow the rules then we do not have a licence (Certificate), do not require to carry a medical, do not require a maintenance release or a manifest of passengers so if you can get hold of the copy of the Flight Manual that is being used to prop up the passenger seat then you are legal for RAA

Turbz can you point me to where it in the report you are referring please. Seems that as of now the Ibis are being registered 19 category which is both strange and having a Yosemite Sam effect on some owners

Hey Turbz, how do we train against stupidity? It is not confined to RAA either as I have done a few conversions over the years and there is a trend in GA training as well. The last few accidents I attended smacked of pilot error but hang on.... all of them could fly a plane, were trained, tested and had a license of some sort to prove it. Just ask all of their dumbfounded mates and family who will tell you that they were great blokes and safe pilots. Training of any sort does not make an unsafe pilot and god knows there are some shockers that have flown around for years without killing themselves, cannot fly straight and level, cannot find a CAO in two grabs so I am not convinced that discovering someone's training records is the answer. All RAA schools are audited. What gets me everytime is that in Queensland at least, it requires a learner driver to have 100 hours instruction time with mum and dad without any curriculum but you can get pilot certificate with 20 hours of itemised instuction. Who has the most accidents, injuries and deaths? Who has the most disproportionate media coverage when an accident occurs?

Lets be honest, who actually refers to the printed weather document when in flight?? And I don't mean the big metal drivers. The cockpit converstion would go something like "Hey Sam that cloud over there looks big, I put the weather pages on your seat, can i have alook at them?" "It was really uncomfortable sitting 6" taller as I couldn't see out the front so I shoved em behind the seat" If you are at a fly in and have no intention of taking off because in most cases the bottle of red wine is not finished, you do not have to provide anything other than the aircraft is registered and you can navigate your way to the gents (or ladies) when the time is appropriate. If you fly without proper flight planning then CASA should be the least of your worries

Well, I have asked everyone about here and no one knew of an issue of holding up an inbound dash-8 while doing circuits. We sometimes have a lot of (in a lot of cases unnessecary) radio traffic with -8's but in most cases we all work well with no traffic delays so didn't give it much more thought. Coming back in yesterday from the east, we gave an inbound call before ten miles and got an immediate reply from a -8 waiting on the runway ready to depart and he advised that he would wait until he had us visual.. huh? No amount of convincing that we were tracking well behind him with 5 mins to run would convince him to depart and I think that was a really immature stance to take. I can just imagine the cabin announcement as to why they were waiting! The transponder was working with returns visible and we were maintaining separation so if any -8 skippers can help out with why this is starting to happen then I am all ears.

Hmmm... Pel Air.... says it all

Every aircraft going into a CTAF has to give an inbound call at which time aircraft in the circuit or close by will usually acknowledge and advise their intentions. Roma gets an average of 7 Dash-8 aircraft per day and up to 18 mid week plus King Airs and twins so one stooging around assessing traffic is a bit unrealistic. The Tecnam at Roma that is in my school is also transponder mode C equipped so even if they don't see visually they see electronically. My local operating procedures also cover giving way whenever possible to RPT traffic and 99% appreciate it but 1% barge in like it is their divine right and can be quite arrogant in dealing with us (and ground staff). If the heavy does not know that we are in the circuit by the time he gets there then he should not be flying.

I didn't realise that Peter had gone in. It was most likely his Tecnam and really sorry to hear about it

Aren't mistakes what cause aircraft to crash??

The aircraft is not mine but I have been the care and maintenance man since it was grounded and looking after a 'dead' aircraft has issues for me and the owner. The aircraft is being 're-registered' as it does tick all the boxes as required..... the registration process does not ask for a copy of the approved C of A. To the best of my knowledge there has been no contact from the tech Manager and it would be sort of another legal minefield to deny registration even though it cannot legally fly.

Yes..... but they are still being re-registered with all the requirements for photo's and placards which they had in place anyway..... and of course, the cheque!!

A very recent incident this week was reported really well and acurately by the local paper and they must have provided that same information to other news broadcasts. Not good enough for the television stations who nearly all sent a helicopter to cover the tragic event with one actually landing near the crash site. The pretty little reporter and the crew were all advised by the police that they would be spending the night in a motel with a one way door if they did that again. The aerial activities chased the cattle through the broken fence and now need to be mustered and drafted. I fuly appreciate what Phil is saying as some reports make you cringe and most local papers and radio stations only deal with local events so it would not be to hard for them to get reliable and acurate information.

Hmmmm, sounds like my school Tecnam which is radio and transponder equipped. We always fit in with the Dash-8 traffic and give them priority but I have to say that some of the Q400 drivers get a bit pushy - bigger plane... bigger head I'm sure. I'll ask around and find out if anyone had any problems with them because for my part, they were telling big porkies to the passengers.

I would really, really like to thank everyone for the phone calls but suffice to say that is was not me but two people have not survived this tragic event. Accident site is about 1 mile away and can see the crash site from home.

Interesting point if it can be verified - three years without an audit...... 3 years without any guidance from the regulator then all of a sudden, three or four audits virtually months apart. How long before the one three years previous? Can anyone here clear that up?

Interesting point if it can be verified - three years without an audit...... 3 years without any guidance from the regulator then all of a sudden, three or four audits virtually months apart. How long before the one three years previous? Can anyone here clear that up?

How do you know who is the problem? I am certain that I and everyone else can give their vote to whoever they feel inclined to due to the nature of the society that we live in. Seems very obvious to me that a proxy system does not work. I will withdraw my comments about previous ops managers but prove to me that they had no knowledge of the situation before they left for CASA.