68volksy

Welcome Bucky!

Another motorcyclist died coming up the Clyde on the weekend and the media could hardly bother wasting their breath in reporting it...

Why on earth did you guys all bother with that going through CASA stuff? Isn't the whole point of RA-Aus to be able to fly an aircraft with an utter disregard to whether you're fit and able? Crikey there's hundreds of guys in those situations who took the easy route and went and got their RA ticket...

If you have conditions that require special attention or considerations then flying as pilot in charge of anything is most likely not for you!

Welcome to the area Tomo! Feel free to drop in to see us sometime at Goulburn. There's always a few happy aviators coming and going, eating Teraya's bikkies and drinking her tea in the Goulburn Aviation "observation lounge". She also puts on a BBQ first Saturday of every month about midday - all are welcome!

Does anyone know where the RA-Aus medical requirements are documented? There's a niggling little thought in my mind that they require the holder of a Pilot Certificate to be fit to drive a motor vehicle also? Just wondering if the legislation also infers that they need to be able to pass a drivers licence medical? Personally I wouldn't be surprised to see the RA-Aus requirements change as if a person is not fit to drive a motor vehicle then they're not really fit to take control of an aircraft are they? It just seems to be a rather obvious loophole with extremely severe consequences... Edit: Just found this document on the old RA-Aus website http://flysafe.raa.asn.au/students/AFTDrive.pdf

Big savings to be had over PPL. The endorsements are found in Civil Aviation Legislation Amendment Regulation 2013 (No. 1): 61.485 Kinds of recreational pilot licence endorsements The following are recreational pilot licence endorsements: (a) a controlled aerodrome endorsement; (b) a controlled airspace endorsement; © a flight radio endorsement; (d) a recreational navigation endorsement. You can get one or all of the endorsements. Cross-country endorsement is 5 hours same as RA-Aus. I know a school at Bankstown is already looking to put online a GA registered Jabiru, Tecnam or Sportstar to take full advantage of the RPL. Anyone with a GA licence will simply be able to "fall back" to the RPL at any time without undergoing any additional training or tests. For many an hour or two in a Sportstar will be enough and they'll be off and flying!

Maybe we should cut this whole discussion straight to the point: Hands up who has a known serious heart, physical or psychological condition and still flies their aircraft?

From where I sit RA-Aus were the ones who saw a sneaky little way to push into the GA spectrum whilst ignoring the 100 years of aviation knowledge that developed CASA and all the legislative requirements that now exist. CASA pushing RA-Aus back towards the people it was created to cater for can be only a good thing. The HGFA never tried to invent superlight carbon-fibre machines to fit through a loophole in an attempt to sabotage the GA market. If all RA-Aus has to cater for is a few hundred rag-n-tube pilots then I think they'll find life a lot easier to manage. Leave the development and maintenance of all the complicated training and safety management systems to CASA and those that wish to fly under her umbrella. Let those that fly purely for fun who are more than happy to stay out of the way of the heavy machines and the general public enjoy themselves!

Sounds like the maintenance could be a bit lax. It's a very big problem in RA training in my view and can happen when the people maintaining the aircraft are the same people hiring and training in the aircraft. If these kind of issues happened in a GA school the CFI would generally be tearing the LAME a new one but in an RA school where they are often the same person this doesn't happen. I'd be watching the instructors approach to maintenance and if you get the feeling they're blowing smoke up your skirt then change schools. If you'd like more information from them on the issues then ask. They should be going to great lengths to talk to you about any issues, explain properly how they occurred and what they'll do to make sure it doesn't happen again or explain why it is not a concern. If you're not comfortable with the aircraft then do not fly it!

They are a good bunch of controllers down there. Not a big bunch of them so it's easy to get to know them all by name. Try to avoid flying in between 7:30am and 9am or 5pm and 7pm (when most of the heavies are coming and going) and they'll have plenty of time to help.

Well regardless of what he was telling the papers last nights news stated that the lessee came up with the money and that he and Council have signed the sale contract. The lessee's flying school has lost its GA training privileges. The other school that used to be 5 days a week in Goulburn might keep plugging away with 1 day a week but they're certainly feeling the strain of the hostile environment. So unless you're a skydiver or want to pay a minimum of $2,400 to open your hanger doors it looks like it's all over for Goulburn.

You contacted the flying school? The school put a big colour copy of them in the Aero Club building also but that's a little hard to photocopy... I've got some copies that the school hands out. The PDF files are pretty big but if you could get me an email address i'll get them to you. Otherwise email [email protected] and i'm sure they'd be happy to send a copy out. Every school has different boundaries in their AOC. I think it's more to do with them telling CASA "This is as far as we will let student pilots go". It's also why the instructors make the "we're 5 mile south of xxx airfield conducting aerial work above 4500 for next 10 minutes" radio calls.

Current lessee has the option to buy it for $2.5 million. Every other offer up until that one was around the $1mill to $1.5mill mark. You could build the entire facility for around $1.2 million so that seems to be a fair price to me. We've been trying to put forward the idea of Council leasing it to a non-profit for 5 years with another 5 year option to start with. Give the non-profit a very strict mandate in the lease agreement of what it can do (maintenance only etc.) to remove a lot of the possibility of things getting political. Basically leave the non-profit with "which contractor do we choose to do the mowing?" and "when does the runway need resurfacing?" as its only decisions. This seems to have most people's support in some form although there are a lot that still want to control the whole thing themselves.

No contract was signed - the lessee simply was given an option to buy the airport. Rumour has it no money was paid for this option but rather he gave them a mortgage over his hanger site. Fees for the flying school have been $20 per "full stop". Landing fees for everyone else differ according to how friendly you are with the lessee. All the land access fees (roughly $125,000 worth per annum) that he charged to the hanger owners have not been paid as it seems he has no legal right to charge them. Neither has anyone paid the "sewer access" charges that he levied.

And you all probably though this saga was over! Well after two years the option to purchase the airport is to expire on Monday the 2nd of September. Many of the agreed works have not been completed - many have not even been started... The lessee has now asked Council for an extension of time. Two years ago he did not have the money (or did not want to pay) to purchase the airport and now (this is the really funny part!) two years later he does not have the funds (or want to pay) for the airport!!

I keep preaching "Fly the aircraft you actually want to fly". If you just simply want to get in the air fly RA but if you want to take passengers, fly in controlled airspace or fly heavier machines then go GA all the way. Then once you've truly mastered the one aircraft you can move on to another aircraft. Another great option coming up is the GA RPL which has similar hours and medical requirements to RA, allows for controlled airspace and heavier aircraft but limits you to one passenger. Best of both worlds unless you're keen to maintain your own aircraft in my view. I'm hoping we'll see a lot of Schools stepping up to the mark with GA registered Jabs and Tecnams and a resurgence in popularity of the $30,000 Cessna 150's and Piper 140's. I know for me the RPL with cross country endorsement would be perfect. No interest in maintaining my own aircraft and limited need for controlled airspace (although i'd probably add it anyway).

I think that's all very harsh. The airport has been great to the flying school. The Club guys are a great bunch who are dealing with the situation as best they can. Getting a clubhouse for free can't be sneezed at - let alone the Gate 3 facility free of charge. There are always pilots coming and going from the Gate 3 facility and since the school's put in tea and coffee facilities they're hanging around a lot more. Plus there's students coming and going 7 days a week who are always a happy lot. Downside is paying for parking and waiting to be let in by the bouncer but i see no reason why more people aren't hanging around on a regular basis. If more people hung around then I think there's more chance of some more being done to accommodate them. Mind you coming from Goulburn where the school was paying $16,000 per annum for two aircraft, the public loo has been locked for two years and the place has turned into a ghost town could have some influence on my feelings about Canberra...

I have to take exception to that statement. Canberra Airport is possibly one of the nicest and most positive aviation environments around. The airport provides the GA pilots and aircraft owners with a great building free of charge. The building has toilets, whiteboard, plenty of seating and a great big verandah area where you can sit and watch the world go by. They also allow for the flying school to provide free tea, coffee and biscuits to pilots arriving and departing in the building. The aero club also gets access to another building away from the airport free of charge. The Aero Club is very active and always looking for new members. The only downsides are the only parking for aircraft is outdoors and there is a secure gate where you have to wait a few minutes for an airport worker to let you through. I do feel for the maintenance businesses that needed to move due to the high rent being charged though. A flying school was able to adapt to the situation but those businesses could not. It's just over $2,000 per annum to park an aircraft outside which covers both landing and parking fees though.

I feel that everyone is saying that price isn't everything but inferring quite strongly that you get more if you pay more. Can I put out there that price should indeed be immediately removed from any and all calculations. Expensive does not equal better! In my experience if someone loves RA and is instructing for love rather than money it will break their heart to see people turned away because of cost. It's a recreational activity after all.

I think it's wise to spend time doing your certificate. And to choose very carefully your instructor. Whilst any instructor can teach you how to fly there are not many that can teach you how to be a "pilot". For me a pilot does more than simply fiddle with the levers up front of the plane. They'll have a "safety-first" attitude and truly feel the full weight of responsibility for the lives they're taking into their hands. They'll understand the importance of keeping proper records and appreciate and respect the lives that were lost in developing the legislation and guidelines within which they operate. It might then sound counter-intuitive but the cheaper guy working only a couple of days a week I think will be substantially more likely to instill within you this approach. If he's doing it for love and was smart enough to realise that it's hard to make a decent living out of RA instructing and keeps another job then he's your man. For him it's more likely to be about creating a good pilot rather than how many dollars he can make out of it. Your progress may be slower but you'll appreciate the extra time it took down the line when you start to see the quality of pilot those who rushed through their course have become. Definitely take your time. Enjoy yourself. Your training should be fun and rewarding. One extra thing to ask about is the maintenance records of the aircraft and who performs the maintenance. It's an oft forgotten thing but the good school will have the details handy and be more than willing to offer them. A school not long back which had been very busy recently had their entire fleet of 5 aircraft grounded as un-airworthy during a CASA inspection. Avoid the "one week to certificate" courses as all you can't develop the proper awareness for your surroundings in one week. You might be better able to play with the controls but that's such a small part of taking a machine into the air. You'll not be able to experience the vast differences in aircraft performance from a hot, humid summers day to a cold and icy winters day. A good instructor will also want to see you make the call about whether or not to fly on any one day. This call can be harder for some to make than others (especially if new and keen) but a good instructor will persist until the student one day says "It doesn't look good today". My 2c worth anyway.

Rudder? Rud...der? Like on boats right? Aircraft have these too? 68volksy - proud Piper Warrior pilot...

Condog - more on your son's ambitions. If he is definitely looking to progress to ATPL then i'd highly suggest him giving up his current training. It sounds harsh but that is no longer the path to ATPL flying. If he's keen about the airlines then the only way in nowadays is the cadetship pathway through any of the major airlines cadetship programs. To progress through the GA pathway is pretty much pointless nowadays. Even if he gets through and gets all the hours up in 10-15 years he will still be up against the kids who've been taught the "company way" from when they first touched a control yoke. This would only apply to the ATPL option though - if he's interest in general commercial flying/charter/training etc. then he's on his way. Just so long as he's not expecting a big pay-cheque! Sorry to sound harsh but I'm all for the tough-love approach with this stuff lately...

Seems a little steep for a 152 but that depends on where he's flying I suppose. Just for comparison Canberra is $290 dual and Goulburn is $250 dual both in Piper Warriors with no charge for briefings. All the instructors are Grade 2 or above.

You will get the RPL in place of your GFPT from my understanding. If you've then got a current medical and recency you'll be right to fly at any time up to 25 miles. The major change in all of this from my view is that it's now a "licence" so you can fly an aircraft whenever you desire. With GFPT all flights had to be signed out by a flying instructor. Similar structure to RA then in adding navigation endorsement. But as mentioned by coljones Teraya is certainly the best person to talk to about this. She is also running seminars around the country over the next few months specifically on the changes. Great summary by the way coljones!