DonRamsay

Dafydd, I have a fair bit of experience with iPads both the full size and the mini (but not the newish "Air"). Operating the iPad on battery only (not connected to 12V power) results in the iPad getting quite hot as the battery discharges during a flight. The heat issue can be exacerbated in a low wing by hot sun and in any aircraft possibly by the device holding the iPad. A very hot iPad will turn itself off and is then unlikely to catch fire. The heating up can be mitigated by exposing it to ventilation and avoiding direct sunlight. However, in my experience, operating the iPad with it plugged in to a 12V supply results in the iPad not getting hot. I don't know for certain the electrical theory on this but my guess is that if the battery is close to fully charged before the flight commences, then the iPad will not accept charge and, because the iPad is being fed at least 2 Amps from the aircraft there is no discharge from the battery. My conclusion - valid or not - is that running the iPad plugged in to the 12V supply practically takes the battery out of the equation. I would welcome my unscientific analysis above being thoroughly questioned and if wrong, corrected. Anyhow, if it got really, really hot, you could always chuck it overboard and hope it doesn't end up parting the skull of a wandering sheep or start a bushfire. Don

Nev, I was pleased to be able to shake your hand as I dashed out the door from the AGM. All these years and it finally happened! Hope to actually get to talk to you next time. :-)

Col, I again understand how you come to these conclusions and, as you know have considerable sympathy with those views. This Board though has had to clean up a mess that has been expertly created over many years. The Ops Manual has been pushed through in the end because it is many years out of date and, e.g., still has references to the AUF. There has been a a level of consultation undertaken that while far from perfect would have been fairly effective. I'm prepared to cut them some slack - this time. We still have the Tech Manual in draft and it will be a much bigger revision than has happened with the Ops Manual. The Tech Manual is similarly way overdue for revision and may not get the widest circulation in draft either. From what I've heard, I think it will be well received. From discussions with a number of Board Members who are part of a Board majority it is clear to me that they are concerned that they are not doing a good enough job of communicating with the members and that the strategy for the future will be more to all our liking and a huge departure from the mushroom treatment we were getting in the past.

Ross, Could you check if Scott is on the Honour Roll of Pioneers? Last time I looked there was such a Board in the Board Room at Fyshwick. And, if he's not there, propose to your fellow Board Members that he should be? Thanks Don

Perhaps answered your own question with "Brave owner to ignore it even of it is advisory".

That was great, thanks.

Where did "compulsory" come from? I only saw "Advisory" as in "Advisory inspection before next flight". So, if the problem had been reported to Darren and he did nothing with the information you'd all be OK with that? Or would people get the trots when they fall out of the sky and find out the Tech Manager knew about the issue but didn't tell anyone about it? The big thing is to report all cracks found then Darren can work out if it is an isolated incidence or an epidemic. My money is on the latter.

Arthur Marcel, who writes quite a few articles for SportPilot and has a very pointed letter to the Editor (and the Board) in the October 2014 edition, has been assisting Dean, Scott's brother to get some funds together to rebuild this amazing aircraft. I liked the suggestion that Scott was Australia's Burt Rutan which I would rate a great compliment and well deserved. I never knew Scott even though he was from around here (Central Coast NSW) but wish that I had. His exploits in this amazing aircraft are now stuff of legend and it is to the credit of his brother Dean that he is trying to get the Opal rebuilt. I know I'd travel a very long way to see it fly again and to complete the mission that it was built for. I readily accepted to act as Treasurer for this project and kicked in the first $50. We need to get the word out to as many aviators as we can so we can cheer this little miracle on its next flight as it crosses the Continent. But, I'm getting ahead of myself here. First it has to be rebuilt and for this we need access to a decent shed somewhere on or about the Central Coast of NSW. And Dean needs some assistance in getting the funds together for the rebuild. As Treasurer, I've established a dedicated account at the Westpac Bank for the project and will ensure the money collected is well spent. Any ideas people have for sponsorship and fund raising generally would be most welcome. If you want to donate any small ($5) or large amount (sky's the limit), you can deposit directly to: Opal Restoration A/c No. 609 627 BSB 032 501 Please identify yourself as depositer - your RA-Aus member number would be OK but name is helpful. And, send me an email ( dar21347 "at" gmail "dot" com ) alerting me to the deposit so I can acknowledge the receipt. Do we have any aviators masquerading as TV producers for a daytime job? Do you think this might make an interesting program for the mainstream TV networks or Cable Channel? The story of the amateur designer who designs and builds a unique aircraft that smashes world records; the tragic last flight that killed Scott due to a very small part failure and then Dean's tribute to his brother as the phoenix rises from the ashes of its last flight to go on to new world record glory? Scott's and Dean's story is a very moving one and I'm sure a good writer could get this to air. A very Australian Story? Scott certainly deserves to be on the RA-Aus "Pioneers Board of Honour" and we'll make representations to the Board for that to happen.

Since the last AGM we have a new President and Secretary, many new Board Members, a new CEO, Tech Manager and Ops Manager. There have been several meetings with the Minister and CASA. That is more than doing nothing and very time consuming. There has been a lot of work done to head of legal issues before they descend into a shit fight in court. The registration issues have been almost completely resolved and the Board has been reluctant to say so in case they hadn't got it fully, sustainably fixed. In the last 12 months we've seen an absence of the "Jobs for the Boys" and "she'll be right" attitude of previous Boards. The Board had a governance training session before the AGM and were going back to work to formalise the longer term strategy for RA-Aus to get back to be financially stable and providing value adding to members with discounted hull insurance, fuel purchasing and even spares and accessories discounts. However, the Board have still to master how you keep 10,000 members informed to the extent that they want to be informed. The CEO and the President have started email mailouts which cost bugger-all to send out. If you know of anyone not getting them then get on to RA-Aus and get your email on file current. RA-Aus has email addresses for something like 92% of members so email is becoming very effective way to communicate for RA-Aus. The atmosphere at the 2014 AGM was fairly relaxed and I'd ascribe the low attendance compared to previous years with the reduced level of anxiety members are feeling about the way RA-Aus is being run and where it is heading.

DWF, the Special Resolutions were passed with no votes recorded against. Thanks for your support on this. The Chair of the Meeting, Michael Monck advised the meeting 10,000 proxy forms had not been printed and sent out as a cost saving measure. Of the 10,000 that would have been sent out it was estimated that more than 9,500 and more like 9,900 would have gone straight into the waste paper basket. Max Brown argued that it is a cost of democracy and such an approach could lead to RA-Aus being taken over by a small group with a narrow focus. If such a group existed and brought 50 members to the AGM they could have had a strong effect. It was accepted by the Board that there should have been better notification that forms were, for the first time, not being sent out. It was also agreed to make the Proxy form a lot easier to find and download on the website. As we move into greater use of email notifications, then links can be included in the email to take you straight to the form. Those who insist in remaining staunchly in the 20th Century will find life more difficult not just vis a vis RA-Aus but in everything that they do. Might be time for such people to talk to their grandchildren on how to operate in the 21st Century.

Perhaps a little harsh rhysmcc although I do understand your frustration. I don't know why it could not have been released for comment by ordinary members the way CASA does with NPRM. It is after all the most important thing to come out of RA-Aus in the last 7 years. The only thing I can put it down to is that it was so overdue that they just couldn't afford to go through the many comments that may have come in. We should remember that Steve Tizzard was engaged to re-write the Ops Manual about 5 years ago so perhaps CASA had run out of patience with the old, passed-its-useby-date manual. At least it will be available to the CFIs at their conference in November. At the AGM at Lethbridge, it was announced that the Board had approved and it was with CASA who were viewing it favourably. Approval is expected quite soon.

Take Williamtown for an example, it has one runway roughly East/West aligned. A VFR Route that bisected the runway heading roughly North South at a sensible altitude should not interfere with any traffic (VFR/IFR) arriving or departing from East/West. There is a VFR route but not available to RA-Aus who have to trek up through Dungog at low altitude. The other problem with the military is the way that they chew up vast amounts of airspace and, in the case of Williamtown, 24 x 7. There is no discipline in that and no consideration for other airspace users. It is not as if they even fly on weekends and we are not in the middle of an air war on this continent. Have a look around southern Qld if you really want to see more of the same nonsense with Amberly and Oakey a stones throw apart. What a joke and not funny. Coffs would take a bit more of a head scratch but that's what engineers are good at. Can't argue with that sentiment and it produces the safest outcome for all. Classic case is the RAA schools operating in Class D airports where it is OK for a student to go solo but the moment they get their Pilot Cert they are no longer allowed in the space despite having done the training and being in a suitably equipped aircraft and probably being considerably more current than many PPLs.

I wonder if seeing the big (relative to J230) Fokker might have distracted him at a critical moment? What's that Fokker doing there? Has that Fokker seen me or is he about to fokkin enter the runway and ruin my day?

Thanks Maj. Great credit to the Board, Management and the Staff. This is the turnaround we had all been hoping for. Still like to see renewals as slick as re-registering my car but that is going to take major IT systems upgrade. Don

I don't have a real use for CTA airports but transit through CTA would add greatly to my personal safety. Easy way to do this is VFR Routes like Victor 1. Something like that up the Coast past Williamtown and Coffs and a few more would make a great deal of good sense. Too much to ask for from CASA/ ASA?

Old K, Dennis Hunt has effectively been managing Warnervale for many years. The local council is looking to take control and have been using Dennis as a consultant. Not the easiest person in the world but certainly has the experience you are looking for. I'll send you his contact details by email. Don

CASA advise that this CAAP has been published You can find it amongst: http://casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_91054

Thanks Planey. That is a very interesting story of why the "Airforce 1" call sign was created. I do hope they manage to save it. I have a soft spot for the big Connie. My dad flew to the USA in 1957 in a Super G and it was a really big deal then. Refuelling on small islands on the way over. Navigating by the stars. As different an era as I can imagine.

While visiting Shanghai I carried a card with the hotel name & address on it in Chinese. Gave it to a taxi driver who I subsequently figured out couldn't read! Still got to the hotel due to my ability to wave my hands in fluent Mandarin. :-)

Wings appear to be largely intact but hangar demolished?

We have an iPad mini mounted on the panel in a RAM Mount in the Tecnam Sierra. Mounted on the panel is the way to go. I've tried knee Board mount and not good. I also have the full size iPad and used that until we got the mini. Mini wins hands down. I take both on any Nav and so don't need paper maps. OzRunways is more functional with a 3G connection and 32GB RAM. You could probably get away with 16GB if it was to do nothing other than OzRunways. I also bought a Dual XGPS 160 that can provide GPS data from both US and Russian systems to up to 5 devices. While it is super accurate and reliable it is probably overkill unless you need to weave between CTA zones. A bit belts and braces but I like that feeling in the air. Will give a quick connection to GPS when Mobile Phone towers not around. To be fair to the OzRunways mob, in their early days iPad was more than 70% of the market and they had (have) limited resources. That they are now flat out brining an Android version to the market is a tribute to what Samsung have achieved. I never was an Apple fan and only bought the iPad because that's what you had to have for OzRunways. But, I'm slowly being sucked into the Apple world with iPhone in pocket as well (also backup for OzRunways on the iPad). I've had several situations when the iPad was not set up properly and checked before commencing a flight. One was when I leant my iPad to somebody to check the weather and they inadvertently deleted my flight plan and I didn't discover it until I was departing the circuit. Then another time when, for some unfathomable reason I could not get any GPS signal (may have been in "Airplane Mode" but never worked out how or why). Then the other day, I was doing a local area (100 nm radius) and when I switched on the iPad it came up all dark and you couldn't read the map - that one turned out to be that that iPad hadn't been updated and maps were out of date and therefore not visible. The disappeared flight plan was fixed in the air by a series of "direct to" flights. The no GPS detected was solved by the co-pilot (me at the time) pulling out another iPad and drafting a new plan in less than 10 minutes. Considering that at the time, I had never used an iPad before and had never seen OzRunways before, it is a fair tribute to the iPad and OzRunways that I was able to do all that. The out of date maps was solved by resorting to the backup iPad which was up to date. Moral of the stories is of course . . . include your iPad and nav software in your pre-flight especially if you're going somewhere you're not familiar with. Bluetooth on and connection GPS/iPad OK? iPad charged OK? Flight Plan OK? Airplane mode OFF? Mobile data ON? NAIPS weather/notams checked & saved?

On Monday, on the only day with good weather for many days before and since, took a mate for his first fly around Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the lower Hunter Valley. The air was smooth as silk and pax was delighted. Only thing to spoil the party was landing back at YCNK which I would have given it a generous 5 out of 10. Nothing broken :cheezy grin:but if it had been any worse it could have been exciting. Of course, there must have been a freak gust of wind just before touchdown, just like in all the incident reports you read.

I know RA-Aus has similar concerns and are working on a positive solution - make it easier for members to have the check done and then remind the masses who have never heard of it that it must be done.

Also depends on how well your pitot systems are working. The ATC asked us one day if we were really at 22,000 ft over the Hawkesbury Bridge. When we said no, 2,000 ft they suggested brusquely that we turn the TXPNDR off Alt and get it checked. That was how we discovered that the ALT encoder had had a nervous breakdown. Replaced the encoder NAND now check he TXPNDR against the Altimeter routinely.

Bexr, thanks for reviving this thread. I'd missed it as well. rgmwa - beautiful looking aircraft, you have every reason to be very proud of it. I guess the payback will be the first flight in an aircraft you built yourself. Potrero - a few aircraft are planning to fly from YCNK to YABA for the WWI commemoration on 1 November. Looking forward to the trip and meeting a few RecFlyers in the West. Don