NT5224

Thanks for compliments on our district onetrack. Although are post code 'Robin Falls' (no post though obviously!) , our house is about 30km from the place you camped at , -up on top of the escarpment. Flyng is the obvious way to get in. Would have loved to have brought a WW2 strip back to to life. Trouble is, we don't have one on our property. They didnt build them up in the high country. Alan

So I threw up a drone yesterday to have a poke around and see how the strip's looking. I'll try attach a pic here. The cleared area is 60m width by 750m length so probably sufficient for many RAA and some GA aircraft. It seems huge when I walk it at ground level. Its gonna be a great bush strip with basic faciliaties situated in a wonderful part of the country.

Hi folks! Some might recall that for a few years now I’ve been hoping to establish my own airstrip. It seemed a bit of a pipe dream for a while, then I went through about a year of approvals process then got sign off for necessary land clearing. It’s kinda a long process and one day I should write it all down to guide others. Then trying to line up somebody to do the actually work also turned into a drama. Just before he was due to start work, my friendly local contractor blew the motor on his dozer and so couldn’t do the job. But luckily he put me onto another local fella, who has turned out to be a really nice bloke. Contracting is a cutthroat game at the best of times, but with the mines all slowed down there are some unscrupulous characters around. Anyway, for the last last couple of days our new friend has been doing magnificent work at the site about a kilometre away along the escarpment from our house. Each morning, my wife the dog and I have strolled over to take a look at progress ( and the dog has been slinking back and forth intermittently through the day to keep an eye on things. He’s the boss of this country). And it’s taking shape. It’s gonna be a great strip. But it really breaks my heart to clear so much beautiful old growth tropical forest. You can clear a couple of hectares in a day, but it takes a thousand years to properly re-establish. We are keeping all the timber pushed aside and piled as ‘habitat’. Our contractor is like us, a nature lover, and so is being as careful and as sensitive in the clearing as he can be. He told us yesterday about once stopping his 65 tonne dozer to climb down and remove a King Brown snake from a log pile -by hand!- in order to avoid crushing it. So we’re hoping the initial clearing will be completed by the end of today. Thereafter we have been told it needs spraying, rolling and grading. We will seek further advice on this, because basically it’s just a bush strip ane getting a roller up here could be a challenge. The grading should make it useable. Next I need to get in a windsock, strip markers and a hangar and a a little shade structure for fuel drums. We are calling it Robin Falls International. Sounds grand, eh? Alan

-I believe the country airstrip guide can be purchased as part of a subscription to a well-known Electronic Flight Bag- Yes it can! But to be honest I didn't find much in it that cannot be found from other sources online. Even though it is renewed every year, (and so you have to re-subscribe annually) I felt that some of the information was very old and bears little relationship to the situation on the ground, at least at the airstrips I visited (predominantly in the Territory). That said I will resubscribe... Its fun to look through and plan adventures. But the airstrip guides on here are actually very useful tools especially for trip planning...

Yeah I read that article recently. After that flurry of recent accidents on Everest I began wondering about how the system of emergency evacuations operated at that altitude. Never realised that a Bell could even fly to 20,000 ft, let alone take off under load! Then factor in the weather and potential mechanical turbulence among the peaks... That's some flying! And her a young woman making her way in a male dominated society. Most impressive. Alan

How awful! Condolences to the bereaved families. But it will be interesting to learn of the circumstances of the collision, if it occurred in the circuit... Maybe there will be lessons to be learned for us all Alan

Hiya Tracey! Welcome aboard. Its great to see more women engaged and enthusiastic about flying and helping to create a more gender-balanced recreational aviation community. My wife achieved her pilot certificate a few months ago and found it really satisfying. She has turned out to be a fine pilot and certainly had better intuition and coordination than I had during my own flight training. Good luck! Alan

Not doubting it’s cheaper than a chopper, but choppers are used for mustering because they can operate at low speed and hover so they can turn very tight at low altitude. Can a gyro do that safely? It’s lift depends on forward momentum... surely it’s performance would be similar to a STOL fix wing

I read somewhere that the Gyro was being utilised for mustering operations. What are the benefits of a gyro for difficult low level operations like that? Never heard of Gyros used for mustering before. To the uniformed they might look like a chopper, but surely don’t confer the same advantages of a rotary wing aircraft...

Gyrocopter down with a reported fatality in region of Timber Creek. Reports dont yet have details on the nature of the problem that led to accident. Tragic to lose a fellow aviator - my thoughts are with his family... A Katherine man.

I was recently on the phone renewing home insurance. While running through assets and things with the insurance agent to update insurable value (we are always adding new things!), they asked if our home had an airstrip. I truthfully responded that it did not. But we plan to clear for a strip later this month. Can any body tell me from experience how declaring having a private airstrip impacts your home insurance? What would be covered under a reguar home insurance policy? Im assuming insurers would consider an operating airstrip increases risks to insured property (e.g. an aircraft ploughing into your house or avgas spillage explosion!). Being essentially a cleared area, I have no need to 'insure' my airstrip, and would happily exlude anything airstrip related from our existing policy. Would having an airstrip on our property but not declaring it invalidate our existing home insurance against non aviation risks events such fire or theft? The strip will be situated a couple of kilometres away from our house so the likelyhood of an aircraft operations directly effecting our home would be negligible. Im assuming my aircraft is insured under its own insurance on the ground, and the hangar would just be on the household insurance as any property shed or outbuilding. Ladies and gents, any insights to offer? Cheers Alan

My wife and I have been discussing how best to apply nose art to our aircraft. Originally she was going to hand paint, then there was discussion of having vinyl transfers/ stickers printed. What have others done? Any examples of nose art of outstanding artistic merit, or just plain funny that you’d care to share? Can’t show our design yet - because still awaiting return of the our aircraft after Lycoming transplant. It can only be seen on the aircraft, but it’s gonna be great! cheers Alan

Mate, you've just dashed the hopes of the Gunbalanya community with this revelation.

Can this be possible? I thought everybody knew Arnhem Land was the selected focus for space industry development and Australia’s interstellar aspirations (something to do with equatorial launch latitudes). We may all be going to the moon in a Queensland coal fueled rocket, but our journey will commence in a beaten up Toyota on a red dirt road.

Actually, gotta say that the bloke who handled my application was fantastic! Really helpful and supportive. No complaints about the Territory Governments handling of our appo. It just takes time paitience and resolve but thats understandable to get through their process and diligence. I think here in the Territory its mandatory approval for clearing applications if the purpose is to establish a landing strip. But thats only on pastoral blocks covered by the Pastoral Land Act (presumably a health and safety thing). But our land is freehold, so in theory our application could have been refused, but our justification was pretty much the same as a pastoral lease, emergency evacuation, access in wet weather etc... The pastoral block next door to us have a strip, but thats 30 Km away as the crow flies, and about 60km along property tracks in my Land Rover, so not really an emergency option, particularly in the wet. Alan

Yup, you need a real engine for bush flying!

An exciting day for Mrs NT5224 and I on wednesday. After about a year going through the bureacratic mill and endless correspondence, I finally got the green light for my home airstrip. Some in the sourthern states my be scratching their heads wondering why official approvals would be required in the Top End. Quite right, strictly speaking they aren't. We don't have local government approvals (we don't have a local government!). So we didnt need approvals for developing an airstrip. We needed approval for the for 'clearing land in a wilderness area for the purpose of establishing an airstrip', which comes to much the same thing. Anyway, after my wrangling with the department, site inspections etc... approval is now signed, sealed and delivered. My strip will be 800 m long, and cleared 60 metres wide. I will also be clearing emergency landing areas upwind to cover the contingency of EFOTA. I will clear another half hectare off the main strip for hangar, tie down and fueling facilities and maybe a small cabin or accommodation unit. Its about a 2km drive through the bush from the strip to our house and infrastructure , but because of the very fractured nature of the escarpment country where we live, I couldn't make it any closer to the house. I plan to commence construction the site at the end of the wet season. I'll let people know how we proceed getting set up. It might be helpful to others navigating through a similar process... As I said, an exciting day... Cheers Alan

Glad that others have found and read the report. It’s obviously an important document. I noted as Frank does that the review seems to be paving the way to a proposal for board remuneration. Two years ago I voted (by proxy -I was in the Middle East), against the current corporate structure. I felt strongly that the changes worked against the interests of the rank and file membership and recreational aviation, but was happy to accept the will of the majority and throw support behind the new arrangement. Reading the independent consultants report is illuminating. People are people, and every decision-making group has personalities who clash. That’s to be expected (Im on a board myself and so is my wife). But what the report says is that these issues are not being managed and are hindering the performance of the board. It’s not pointing the finger at individuals but commenting on the performance of the board and it’s processes as a whole. A recommendation has been made that this same underperforming board is remunerated. Who recalls the arguments made two years ago that moving to the new board structure would save the organisation money? The report states some board members don’t pull their weight and read board papers or contribute. To my mind those are wasted positions. I gotta admit the current board have made a number of positive changes and got some early runs. However the findings of this consultant report paints a rather different picture to that which is communicated between RAA and it’s membership. It’s worth a read. But finally, kudos to the board for publishing the report, warts and all. It was good corporate practice to do so. Let’s make sure it’s widely read. Cheers Alan

So I've just been reading the independent consultants review of the RAA board performance . It makes fascinating reading. Can anybody explain what is meant by a 'fractured dynamic'? I'm not familiar with the term. Its certainly not appeared in any of the monthly RAA circulars to date... 'It was also clear that there is currently a fractured dynamic on the board which is hindering the board in being able to focus on the performance of its key functions'. Hmmm.....Comments? Alan

'Radials have a bad name in Oz, mainly due to neglect, a well maintained radial is no worse than any other recip. If you do 200 hours a month and only log 50 then little wonder engines don't run to TBO. There was a time when you could hear a radial on a working aircraft most days, can't remember the last time I heard a radial'. Last time I heard a radial was just before mine unexpectedly and permanently seized at 2000ft. No fun. I agree with the above comment about radials and neglect, but remember they're a very different machine to an inline. Pre startup oil management is hugely important owing to the alignment of the cylinders and requires more complex pre-flight sequences. My conclusion is : if your an operator with good maintenance support or an enthusiast with plenty of time for tinkering then a radial would be a much more acceptable proposition. if you are more interested in flying than tinkering and require high levels of reliability without investing lots of time in maintenance, then a radial isn't ideal. I myself have migrated to a Lycoming. Back to the original post, if was an Ag flyer, putting in high hours with regular successive take offs and landings from bad strips (and especially if I was self-maintaining) id have a few concerns. if nothing else, its getting harder to find LAMEs and Aero technicians with radial experience these days Alan

Like others have commented above, I was bemused by the revised site name ‘aircraft pilots’, and feel that the original name was perhaps a better description of what it is all about. But its great that Ian has sought to improve the site -and seeking our input on the best way forward. I’ll be happy with the site regardless of what it’s called. Alan

Hi folks. Just wondering if any ‘insiders’ on here can offer insight into how long the process to get an MTOW increase to 750 kg will likely take? Now I know many will roll their eyes and say ‘they’ve been trying for years’, and I understand the pocess needs to go out to wider industry consultation: But I’ve got a very specific decision to make about aircraft registration and so would appreciate any informed feedback. Will we likely see the first RAA registrations at 750kg in six months, in one year, or three years? Appreciate your thoughts Alan

Hi Just looking to sign up for a CASA safety presentation. If Im an RAA certified pilot do I have an Aviation Ref number? Cheers Alan

Absolutely, would love to give feedback. The engine has been ordered through Murphy Aircraft in Canada, but due to various logistical complications delivery is taking longer than expected. Isnt that always the way? Actually the Lycoming (320 -or even 360) is the standard engine for the Rebel and most fly with them. My Rotec Rebel was a distinct oddity, and Im beginning to understand why! Im very excited about the prospect of flying with genuine confidence in my engine.... Alan

Nev, I'm sure her instructor did tell her. I certainly did: Its one of the overriding memories of my own first solo, many moons ago. My own instructor had warned me, but nothing really prepares you for the difference when you've only ever flown a light plane with 2 pax. It just takes a little while to adjust and get used to both situations.