NT5224

Hi Folks! I don't know how Av data works. I've only ever once flown into a strip with landing Fees and on that occasion I handed over a tattered blue note. But down in the big smoke (Darwin) and other regional towns, councils have a parking app that allows you to pay for parking with a mobile device. Its initially frustrating to set up, but thereafter works quite well (assuming you have a mobile device). It allows you to pay a fee for using a facility and keeps a record of that. Is Avdata like that? If not why not have a landing fees app based loosely on the parking fees app administered by RAA, or somebody else. It would simplify things lots... Alan

Hi folks! As a technophobe old fogey, I'm deeply suspicious of new fangled smart phones and 'apps', (but I do love my Oz Runways!) Then yesterday, while reading about the bushfires down south I stumbled upon reference to an extraordinary new app called 'Rain Parrot'. This is not an aviation app, but it seems to draw upon weather radar data and your location to give a highly accurate estimate of when rain is about to start falling at your exact location, its intensity and duration. Like most keen weather watchers I tend to do this intuitively just looking at the radar map and knowing my position, but when I tested the app last night I was really impressed. It was almost spot on to about 30 seconds! Much more accurate than my own assessment. Very impressive! So it got me wondering what other (aviation related) app things I might be missing out on? What aviation apps do you use for flight planning, navigation, weather, safety or anything else? Any tips much appreciated! Cheers Alan

I just come back to this thread after a few days- I’ve been busy spending my hols putting in a concrete floor into one of our outbuildings with my wife. It’s very hot work in excessive humidity... But absolutely thrilled to learn of the successes of our firies down south. What an amazing crew! If only our political elite had half of their integrity and sense of civic duty... Their stories need to be told. Every man and woman volunteering with RFS is a hero in my book! I’ve been trying to follow the story of the bush fires down south but now that the urgency and drama of a couple of weeks ago is gone, the media isn’t going there so much...so I’ve found this forum an great source of information with some of our members living so close to the fire line. But coming back to the thread, I’ve been staggered by how far it went off topic ... with all our old Gulf Warriors reliving their past campaigns.. The various perspectives made for fascinating reading Alan

Yenn in the Territory and other jurisdictions I’m aware of firebreaks are a legal requirement... Are you staying they aren’t in QLD? Firebreaks are not subject to land clearing regulations, at least not here Alan

Agreed This country is undergoing a slow decline in its rural and outback populations (the people who produce the food that the 90% urban population eat, and who manage the land and keep things in check to prevent natural catastrophes like the current fires). With current round of drought, fires and downwood pressure on agricultural prices from wholesalers, we are experiencing increased urban flight. At present, in my area we have on average one soul to manage every 300 square kilometres of country. That isn't enough, and people (especially the young) are fleeing to the cities and intensifying the pattern of urban flight. You can expect more and bigger fires as a consequence of nobody managing the land. Im sorry to come across as negative, but that's the reality of the situation from my perspective. The problem is so much bigger than 'Can we solve this problem with purchase of a fancy new water bomber?' Alan

This is absolutely true! if you want to live in the bush, do your firebreaks (although these are useless with the wind behind a fire) and clear or burn around your assets to ensure fire cant reach you. Anything else is irresponsible. And the same applies at a more strategic level. We need to be much, much better prepared as climate change intensifies fires and risks. Fuel reduction burns and enhanced forestry and landscape management may not have the high drama impact of jet water bombers (and thus appeal to politicans) but realistically informed land management is the only way Australia will prevent these catastrophic fires in future years. Alan

Not Wouldn't entirely agree In addition to the 150 series aircraft there will be a bunch of Bush type STOL aircraft, such as Super Cubs, my own Rebel and a couple of other robust old-school taildraggers that fit easily in under existing stall speeds. No, thats not all aircraft in the 600-760 weight class, but some. Alan

Best of luck with the fires deanfi... Stay safe and get out if you need to... We'll keep fingers crossed for you! Alan

SplitS Yeah I've heard about this. Here in the Top End we only have one supplier for fixed wing so its a monopoly, but competition for rotary wing services is pretty fierce. Its all coordinated by the NAFC apparently. But our NT government also has preferred suppliers. I've heard tales of skullduggery from one of the chopper operators Alan

No worries, Craig Lots of us on here just like yammering. Did you look at the CASA consultation paper on the MTOW increase that was open a few months ago? Still available on the CASA site. What is that aircraft in your profile pic? I can't make it out clearly Alan

HI folks! First, my deepest sympathies for all effected by the terrible bushfires in the southern states, and gratitude to those courageous men and women of the emergency services who give their time and energy and risk their lives to protect us all. I have followed this thread for a bit and now wish to contribute since its a topic close to my heart, and a major part of my lived experience.. As some may have noticed, I live in the tropical north which has a totally different fire ecology to the south. Fire prevention and management dominates our thinking and activity for about 9 months of the year. The reality is that I live in the heart of the most fire prone region of Australia. My wife and I actively fight fires at least three times a year, every year. Because of where we live, there is no rural fire service, no SES and the government does not offer any support to land holders in event of fire, unless lives are directly at risk. I know this because they sent everybody in our district a letter to this effect. Here is the essence of what we we have learnt: In the north, fire seasons are getting longer and fires more frequent and intense. As somebody who lives on the land, I have no doubt that weather patterns are changing and fire risks are intensifying on my country, It is extremely hard to successfully extinguish bushfires (and impossible with the wind behind them). We put lots of energy into fighting fires, but always even more energy into preventing them through careful pre-fire season preparation. Our bushfires calender is approximately as follows: four weeks weeds management, six weeks grading and preparing breaks, six weeks fuel reduction and boundary burns, and then approximately six months of monitoring and responding to fire threats. So I don't fully understand fire ecology or administration down south, but as a general principle I would say that when the fire is coming across the paddock its too late to start worrying about fire response management. Fire strategies need to be carefully thought through and preparations need to start months before the event to prepare the landscape. Now Im guessing that could mean things like fuel reduction burns through key corridors and establishing natural and artificial fire breaks. Where I live, our neighbours and ourselves have specific response plans for if fire comes at us from any direction. This is all worked out months in advance, and not in the heat of the moment when decision making could be flawed. And of course we take the pressure off by having our home and assets protected before the fire season (clearing and burning a few acres around the house and other buildings). Back to the issue of aerial fire fighting: I know the bloke who hires Air Tractors out as fire bombers during the season to the government. The government spend can spend 40-50,000 bucks in a single day on air operations around Darwin. That can go on for weeks. It may not sound like much compared to down south, but consider the size of our population and economy. I used to share an airfield with the Air Tractors. No doubt they're awesome machines, with fast turn-around times and an ability to operate off rough forward strips. In my opinion a handful of Air Tractors would be much more effective for fire fighting than a large Jet ( like a 737). However, its a sliding scale. I believe the $50000 you spend each day on Air Tractors would be much more efficiently spent on pre-season preventative measures on the ground. Air Tractors and maybe even 737s have their place, but they shouldn't be considered a primary line of defence. I have a sneaking suspicion that governments like them because they are highly visible and newsworthy and make the government look like its 'doing something', but also (in our case), enables them to defer any expenditure on fire until the last possible moment... even although the total costs will be massively higher at the end of the fire season. But 'emergency' expenses can always be written off more easily than maintenance or preventative expenses ( especially with the Commonwealth picking up the tab). Just my thoughts... apologies for rambling Alan

No, i can honestly say I've never seen that before! Ive now found the page where that shows, but I don't normally use the site that way and go through that page. Maybe something to consider? I'll subscribe Alan

How do I become a financial member? I've never come across the option! Alan

Hello.... I agree with some of this post respectfully disagree with other parts. I would wholeheartedly support the proposition of drawing in more GA aviators, and at anyrate I feel the old distinctions are becoming increasingly blurred. But there aren't a whole lot of serious recreational GA enthusiasts either. I am transitioning from RAA to the GA camp myself with my aircraft registration. The part I disagree agree with is that political biases affect participation in the site. First i don't wholly agree with the assertion that the site is dominated by left of centre politics and outlooks. I think our age is a much more significant determinant than anything else. Most of us are upward of 50 and so probably have tendency to be more conservative in some aspects of our worldview. Simultaneously, being a flyer suggests forum users have an innate sense of adventure combined intellectual capacity to manage aircraft flight systems and pass necessary examinations. They also have the recklessness (stupidity?) and bloody mindedness to throw cash an increasingly expensive hobby. Many would suggest that's evidence for poor judgement. ? I think those attributes of forum users are more likely to skew political outlook than the regions we come from. However, its worth noting that forums like this can be really useful for people outside of major cities or regional towns. I live remote, own an aircraft that i operate from home and dont have a flying club environment to fall back on for guidance and advice. So for me, Recreational Flying is incredibly valuable! Cheers Alan

I recently read the autobiography of Phil Collins (the drummer bloke with the band Genesis). He tells an unfortunate anecdote. He explains how his old man died in the early seventies just as the band were beginning to hit the big time. He returned from a tour of the US to attend the funeral, where his dad's body was cremated. Dad had requested his ashes scattered on a favorite beach in UK. As he was writing his autobiography, Phil checked with his brother to confirm the story of how his dads final wishes had been fullfilled. The brother responded that he had thought that Phil had been the one to take the urn and spread the ashes. The two brothers do a bit of investigation and it turns out that poor Dad's ashes had been left in an urn after the funeral service, abandoned at the crematorium and now lost forever. Tragic, but just goes to show the even the rich and famous can be blighted by stuff-ups! Alan

Unusually morbid topic, but an interesting one I never understood the appeal of scattering ashes, especially at a location with no particular significance to the deceased. My Old dad (still going strong bless him!) has picked out and reserved a little resting spot in an orchard to be buried and re-enter the ecosystem that way. I really respect that...The cycle of life. Alan

Hi Ian Ive been on the site for about five-six years now (had a previous avatar -but forgot the login and changed). Ive really enjoyed following the site and learned from the content. I hadn't appreciated you'd been running it 19 years! Thats extraordinary! Like earlier respondents Im not on Facebook, and much prefer the style of written discussion and exchange of information, views and anecdotes that occurs on here. Unlike one previous respondent I don't in principle object to the hammering occasionally given to RAA and CASA. Not that I agree with all of it, but its often amusing and in some cases well justified. People need somewhere to vent and I don't agree that negativity towards a governing body is the source of the slow growth in forum users... indeed it might be attracting them if they feel disenfranchised by their organisations. But as somebody pointed out above, i think this forum tends to attract people who are serious aviation enthusiasts (both students and established pilots) rather than just casual users and drop-ins. For one thing our demography works against a site like this. About half an hour ago i read an article about 'airparks' which cited that a very high proportion of aircraft owners in Australia are over 55. Im actually a couple of years younger, but take the point. So serious flyers are maybe of a generation less inclined to use online forums? Is it possible that as content on Facebook pages is reduced to the lowest dominator (the aviation equivalent of cat videos), the pendulum swing the other way, and people genuinely interested in flying will gravitate back here? I really like the classifieds section here, also the resources (including training materials which are great for refreshers). What i would like to see more of is individual aircraft flight reviews (perhaps owner penned?) so i can learn about other aircraft types, also flight destination write ups and event write-ups. But I guess that kind of 'magazine' content depends upon contributors generating material -which is out of your control. Two further ideas, both rather brutal. Have you 'advertised' the forum? Could it be better promoted? If financial support is an issue, have you considered charging a small subscription fee? Another special interest forum i use recently did that. It may defeat the objective of drawing in more members (but if you need members to attract advertising revenues, there may be a balance point somewhere between the two revenue streams). Just a wild idea. Cheers Alan

Hey -what does this tell us about ‘never turn back below 500 ft’ after EFATO? To my eyes he would have got back in after that steep turn, or was that because he still had partial power? Alan.

Glad I'm not the only one questioning these figures. They'd mean the average RA Aus member has flown seven hours a month, every month since January. Obviously flight instructors will pull the average up a bit, but I find it a stretch to accept that rank and file members will achieve anything like that. Given that only a third of pilots own their own aircraft and an aircraft hires for about $200/hour wet (is that right? just my guess) are they saying that 8000 of our members are able to spend $1400 on aircraft rental every month? If so, I don't just envy all the flying hours the rest of you blokes are doing, I envy your wealth.... That would run to about $11 million bucks, quite a boost to the recreational aviation industry! So who is putting out these figures? Are they really helpful to our sector and industry? For example, if they are using these same figures to calculate flight safety (accidents per hours flown), wouldn't that be misleading and potentially misrepresent our safety record? Just asking Alan

Well, you boys must have racked up all those flying hours without me...! Im still on 'zero', despite repeated attempts to edit my own hours online... But happily Im still an 'integral part of the community'. Its good to feel loved... Since 1 January 2019 RAAus pilots have recorded in their portal that they have flown 701530.1 hours, averaging 73.46 hours each. Your average flying hours per year over the past five years is 0. You are an integral part of the 13096 strong RAAus community. There are currently 3294 active aircraft in the RAAus fleet Could this possibly be true? Just out of interest, how many forum participants think they have flown over 70 hours since January? I obviously haven't. See above. Alan

Wow! How interesting... particularly the comparisons between SOAR and Flight Training Adelaide graduations... Also, training in an RAA reg Foxbat rather than a 172. It seems pretty hard on the poor students, but at least old mate Neel seems to be doing well out of it... We need to be encouraging young aviators, not systematically milking them for tuition. I hope the Skills Quality Authority get to the bottom of this. Alan

Hey Folks This topic has probably been done to death but Im interested to know what fuel people opt for, and what are their reasons for the selection? Do you fly with AvGas or unleaded? I guess the main issues are engine performance, engine wear, price and availability. What do YOU use and why? Are there any major considerations I've overlooked? My new engine is a Lyc 0-320 which is rated for either. I live out bush. Looking for other and all perspectives Alan

Yep, 'In the Clubhouse', or perhaps just 'The Clubhouse' forums. I like it Alan

Poor John! Its always heartbraking to lose a brother aviator. And sincere condolences to his family. I'll await any further information and the results of investigations with interest... Alan

Agreed. It makes sense to bring the general chat forums back... Thanks Ian