Chocolate

ring three weeks after DAME submission if you havent heard anything. your case will possibly go to the friday doctors committee review thingie whose name i cant remember. if it goes there ring each week to enquire politiely about what hoops they are intending for your to jump through. follow up with an email..best to keep a record of proceedings. friday conflab committee decisions to letter to you can take some time if you dont keep checking progress and getting your file taken from the bottom of the pile to the top of the pile. if all this fails and you havent made progress in eight weeks... think about contacting your local mp to help you out.

be prepared to be polite and persistent and KEEP RECORDS of all of your interactions with Avmed.

Yep. Didn't want to risk it with so much low cloud on the range between me and Evans. Weather still like it this morning.

Where I have seen departments lose their regulatory functions by splitting to a new dept, the regulatory mob go over the top with prosecutions in a very short time in my experience. this seems to be the case due to completely losing touch with the industry they are regulating as they get completely caught up in 'process' and lose touch with the outcomes of their actions. just saying thats my experience of 27 yrs public servant. they bite the hand that's feeding them, who then bite and snarl back and so on. So although being a lawmaker, as well as the police for those laws,is dangerous territory we are talking about people...they are better off being in near vicinity in the one organisation and somewhat moderating each others excesses, IMHO.

In regards the act specifically saying they can be sued, I worked for two depts that specifically had individuals /dept could not be sued. The multiple CEOs of bth in 27yrs were just as driven by avoiding being sued /blamed / paying out restitution as casa in my small amt of experience with casa.

The part of the industry I have an interest in is the small business end. .the less than 5 employees, one or two aircraft AOC. The current set up is a ludicrous amount of over regulation. And the time wasting ongoing compliance is a small business killer. Income for Recreational pilots owners to help cover costs is just seen as a complete no go area, which makes no sense to me. Lots of recreational pursuits have small business operators as part of the scene..why not rec or general aviation.

One pax joy flights, the mustering the properties next door stock, nearby property waters checks, the half hour photo jobs......do they really need the production of aoc, ops manual, chief pilot, damp, safety mgt system, exposition (whatever that is), haamc, fatigue mgt plan, all to be reviewed by casa at $165 an hour (min outlay $10,000 and add another $10000 -$15000 if you get someone else to write them).

All sorts of dodgy behind the scenes stuff is being done due to ths over regulation.

A transparent risk management approach and some firm limiting parameters around common tasks would go a long way to reviving a vibrant recreational and gen aviation small business aviation industry IMHO.

The casa project discussion paper on cutting the red tape for joy flight s was a great start in the right direction. Currently its shelved for god only knows how many years. No timeline able to be given from talking to the project mgr. (who sounded harried and overloaded with wrk. My sympathies to him).

Look at any gen aviation business ...they mostly started with one person and one aircraft / enginerr and worked a second job slowly building the business. That is currently not possible IMHO. Shame about that.

Submission from me to the enquiry? The tealeaf reading cynical ex public servant in me says its all about cost cutting the salary bill at casa / atsb. Lots of re structuring ie loss if high end big salary jobs in the offing.

Right on all counts Chocolate.The quaint, inappropriate and extremely confusing and frustrating language would never get past the drafting people if there was a Department of Civil Aviation rather than this body which can make up its own rules and is only as good as its Minister who these days has to manage road, rail and shipping transport as well, and in these three modes freight, passenger and service, bringing in buses and coaches which are just as complicated as aircraft in administration.

That's an unworkable workload for a Minister, but wait there's more:

 

He also has Infrastructure, and that opens up an equally big can of worms, and many would say, a more important role.

 

And we're still not there:

 

He is also responsible for Regional Development which has him administering Australia's 565 local governing bodies, our local councils.

 

So is it any surprise that this Minister, regardless of Party will never be able to speak with any detailed authority, achieve any forward motion, or control the czars doing their own individual thing.

In answer to the thread question...yes casa with its current regulations is a giant liability to the survival, sustainability and growth of general aviation. The statistics on pilot age and aircraft age in the last ten years tell the sad story of what red tape regulation will do to an industry. Excessive and nit picky red tape is enshrined in the regulations / caaps. Do I think warren truss will do a Campbell Newman style clean out...no. As a former long term public servant in another area of government also rife with over regulation even I find the regs and advisory material appallingly written and dreadfully contradictory, and I m used to reading that stuff!

Used t use truck wash then bought proper aircraft wash down product'. .?eco2000 I think it I'd called. Expensive but you don't need much ad t makes a big difference. Couldn't believe how much better it was at keeping the paintwork clean and looking shiny. Use soft gel on the canopy then plexus about every two months.

Tenterfield council.. Ask for mark cooper. Also col Mann of col Mann machinery in tenterfield has his aircraft there and he is always happy to talk aviation, and can give more info than me about the strip conditions etc.

Ye

Is there a strip at Tenterfield? I am planning a flight up through that way and can't find any airstrip in the vicinity.History-minded tourists would find Wallangara interesting. I know of some amazing WWII installations in other areas which are still to be made public.

Heavy duty Defence munitions storage. Lots and lots of them stored there. One of the few mobile phone free places in the country! ..was on the ww2 brisbane line. A very small village now but during the war had thousands of troops stationed there. The strategic high ground I suppose.

Longreach to tenterfield. Lre to charleville is way too much tiger country but a crackn tailwind got me thru that. Hoh but the wind was a gettin stronger and unruly and a bit on the wrong side for the tail rotor and I didn't take enough notice of that fact. another lesson learned. bailed at Mitchell .. It was bad enough to have made me a bit airsickness...kack. Very nice publican Jan collected me for an overnight at he courthouse pub. Fuel at roma then chinchilla. Bloody landing fees set for mining company,s!! The avgas bowser at chinchilla gets in the way of the turning circle a bit but the commercial guys were very accommodating. Quick zip then to home being very careful to avoid Jennings prohibited area...you know when you get tht feelin you are being watched!

I want to change from ipad to mini. Can you easily transfer apps from one to another? Not ashamed to go To a dick smith store and get some smart young un o do it, just need t know if Its possible.

Negative ...made my own very simply mount....works great........

I asked for a cig charger for ipad when at dick smith store and a young fella directed me to a dual Tom Tom charger. One side says 'fast charge' and I use it for ipad. Works a treat..it does fast charge.

Have to say I am not game to plug my ipad into my machine. I will stick to the aera with the ipad as the backup / planning tool.

Murwillumbah...and it's no fees to boot. Casino.

No need to sign up. There is a thread going at the moment about this. Yep there is some really helpful people on there and some pains in the neck types and the odd inflated ego.

Look up bladeslapper website...the forum has done this 'it's cheaper to train overseas' topic regularly over the years.

rdarby.. has the cafe closed at kingaroy?

Thanks for the kingaroy cafe info....great! And the cunnamulla info has inspired me to get out there...just a wee bit hot this week.

Please keep them coming. What about around Mitchell?

Just noticed on their website that this can be done with ozrunways now. It just keeps getting better and better! Pity thr ipad falls over so ready when too hot.

Check out "DNR GPS". Google it. You can download and upload way puts and tracks. In google earth save your pts tracks and then upload to garmin. Dnr GPS covers nearly all GPS models these days.

advice please. are these legal to carry?

"However, I have heard of ultralights being used for agricultural work, so perhaps it is possible if someone has an AOC..."

yes i have heard of it too. aerial mustering, dropping dog baits. they have no AOC, no nav training, no VHF, no PPL, no CPL, no nuthing! and are being paid for the work. (and they have an accident history thats a true worry.) AOC - IMHO really not necessary for the work involved and far too costly for them to get. Nav training - no excuse - should have it IMHO. VHF - no excuse IMHO- to at least tell all the rest of us where and what height! PPL / CPL - not necessary for the type of work involved IMHO but a very uneven playing field a the moment for those that went and did the right thing by the legislation and got the CPL. Being paid?... well the CPL with VH cannot compete on price. It s a bit of a legislative mess really.

on a positive note for the light avgas helicopter industry ....there have been no post impact fires in the Guimbal Cabri G2 that i am aware of, a similar but well designed helicopter with safety v cost the paramount design issue. IMHO its a design fault in the Robinson and a bladder tank will not fix the fault. Guimbal will blitz the Robinson market when they put out a 4 seat version and i hope to be one of their first customers. in the mean time i intend to continue to keep well away from every Robinson as i have done in the past.

Chocolate, each to their own but why don,t you like apple products? greatest things since sliced bread I think.

Much as I don't like apple...buy a mini 3g and ozrunways. Can't beat ozrunways...just keeps getting better and better.