bas

Of course taking photographs is what terrorists do, it says so in the movies! http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/06/the_war_on_phot.html

The official announcement is up: http://www.raa.asn.au/2012/05/board-resignations/ No details...

I can't comment on your business as you obviously need more power than I do. We've been looking at "hobby farm" land where Kylie can keep the horses and I (hopefully) be able to keep the aircraft. A lot of them have 11 KV running at the boundary, but by the time you pay for a transformer and have underground cables put in (yes, overhead at the boundary, but you are not allowed to go overhead to your house anymore!) you are looking upwards of $25K for the privilege of paying an annual supply fee and per kWh. $25K is also the magic number for a solar system with overnight battery backup to power a reasonably sized residential property. I reckon we are going to be self-sufficient when the time comes!

The thing destroying your business is not higher energy cost, it is the Coles/Woolies cartel and you know it! It's just been going on for so long it seems normal. $1/litre milk, are they serious? Now there we agree; that system is so inefficient. I try to buy local meat, produce and dairy as much as I can. (But it's really hard to tell) Can we have seasons back in our supermarkets, please? And maybe stop growing rice and cotton for export so we can have a bit of water left by the time the Murray comes my way.

Businesses only pay tax over the money they don't pay out as either wages, dividend or expenses. Most small business pay very little tax. They think they do (because they hand over the GST customers pay them as well as the PAYG of employees' wages) but they don't; especially small business pay stuff all tax. I don't! They efficiently fund public services and keep society ticking along and provide a stable business environment. Look how the US is doing with their even lower taxes than ours and little useful public services like healthcare and education so people pay for it themselves - through the nose. Combined with pitifully low salaries, people can't afford to buy anything anymore and they are stuck in a downward spiral. Please don't lower Australian taxes. Force government to be even more efficient, but don't lower taxes, or cut back services. My customers won't be able to afford my products anymore! Local business is being destroyed by large national business. A little bit of carbon tax is not going to make any difference. Government incentives, funded by tax are a great way to do that.

Yup, it is the fairest of all! Why? CO2 output only happens because we as individuals want to buy stuff or power the stuff we bought. So it is up to the individual to reduce. We can all do your bit by not complaining about the carbon tax making your electricity bills go up by 10% and instead lower your usage by the same amount; a figure very easy to achieve in just about any household. That's how we're going to make a difference! And that's what taxing will do: make use re-think if we really need these things (just like it does for tobacco and alcohol) or how we can make these things more efficiently and avoid the tax that way. Have our cake and eat it too... Does this work? Europeans pay about twice as much as us for petrol, all due to excise. Their consumption per capita is about a third of what it is here because they have found more efficient ways to get around.

Why did the Dynons go black, ever found out? They should be pretty reliable. SkyView looks nice. But with all the options, you should probably restrain yourself. In a day VFR machine, a single 7" with one ADAHRS and engine probes should be all you need. Then leave a nice big space in the center for an iPad with OzRunways! :) In any case, I'd always put in an ASI and altimeter as bare minimum backup.

Europe is next, only the worlds largest economy. And if they and us then start to put tariffs on imports from non-complying countries, we're on our way to getting them in line and making a difference!

Don't forget we have the highest output of CO2 per capita in the world, and unlike Europe and the US, let alone China, no manufacturing to speak of so once you add the pollution added on our behalf by those we import from (who do so by burning the dirty coal we sell them) ... the mind boggles. Australians are the dirtiest bunch on the planet by far. You have to lead by example...

Only for certified aircraft?

Two things: firstly, just because something isn't 100% green or clean, doesn't mean it doesn't provide a useful reduction. Secondly, this is a "bootstrap" problem. Build enough wind, solar, hydro and nuclear and you suddenly have enough electricity generating capacity both power more processing plants using electricity as well as to make hydrogen fuel using electrolysis to provide fuel for "mobile" power. (i.e.: transport and remote locations.) Then things become really interesting! "Years are in the thousand" indeed. A single pixel in this graph spans 600 years, so nowhere near the resolution required to tell what has been happening since the industrial revolution. Here's a a graph someone made earlier: From the Vostok chart you can see that, periodically, temperatures and carbon rise at the same level. This has happened for may reasons; there have been periods of great volcanic activity sending CO2 into the atmosphere, heating up the planet. There have been periods of increased solar activity that increased temperatures, which, combined with the much higher oxygen concentration at the time, caused raging bush fires that emitted large amounts of CO2, causing a chain reaction of even higher temperatures causing more fires. Looking that the 1000-year graph above, it is painfully clear that for close to a 1000 years, the temperature was stable, but when the industrial revolution started, CO2 went up dramatically, and the temperature soon followed. We don't have great many solar-activity fuelled bush fires at the moment, nor a plethora of volcanic eruptions. This is our doing. That nature did it on its own 100,000 years ago is no consolation when seas rise and flood low lying land. Or melting north pole ice disrupts the north atlantic conveyor and starts another ice age in Europe. All because of our fossil fuel burning habits. If we can stop emitting su much CO2 and put off the next naturally-caused ice age another 10,000 years, that's just fine by be, and my grand kids.

And if you can't find an expert, you hire a Paid Extra! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-mQsWm0KUA SA doesn't allow blending of ethanol, so the only way to sell it here is to truck it in pre-blended. (blending is normally done at the depot, not the refinery) Hence, we have very little of it. I have no problem with it; a few hundred million European users of the stuff can't all be wrong.... Rotax also has no problem with 10% ethanol in their engines. The only issue is that the 912 ULS needs 95 minimum, so BP's "91 + 'up to 10%' ethanol" is not going to guarantee it is going to be 95, so don't use that. I put Shell or BP 98 in my aircraft, never had an issue. I would also be happy to use a 95 fuel that has ethanol in it. If Rotax says it's fine (no ifs, buts or maybe like they do with AVGAS!) then who am I to disagree?

The thing I find most annoying about the Carbon Tax coverage in the news is that they spend page after page after page telling us how our electricity bills are going to go up 10% and how paying more won't cut emissions. How about a few column inches on telling people how to save 10% on their electricity use, Rupert? You know how easy it is to save 10% in the average home? Same bills as last year AND lower emissions! But telling people they actually have to put some effort into something won't sell newspapers... Exactly. You must compare NBN plans to naked ADSL as there is no further line rental. Internode 300GB naked ADSL2+ is $90. (average speed on ADSL2+ is 12 mb) Their 300GB, 25 mb NBN plan in $75.

My hangar mate just took delivery of his newly imported Scottish Aviation Bulldog and indicated he's open to private hire once put back together and on the register. To to take that PPL check flight I have been putting off. It's like avi8tr says: a PPL opens up possibilities. I'd never choose a C172 or Warrior for day to day flying, but there's some great aircraft that you can fly in great locations and at great attitudes using a PPL. :)

Best to invest our resources in building alternatives NOW; once the stuff gets rare and hugely expensive, we won't be able to afford (or have the time) to do so anymore. Bio-fuels will be great for those industries that can't switch over so easily. Aviation being the main one. Just about everything else we do (drive cars, light our houses, industrial processes) can be done with renewable or nuclear electricity; whether it is through charging batteries or separating hydrogen. Only ships and aircraft are a real problem, so lets save what we have for those and switch them to bio when we need to.

The mini-500 is probably the most crashtastic home built ever: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_Mini-500 Is that the Vic Police Dauphine? Just got an invite to come fly their sim, in exchange for helping them hook up OzRunways to said (and all other) ELITE sims. :) Probably the littlest copter I will fly: [media=vimeo]14333058[/media]

Wot, you wouldn't jump at the chance to fly a Mini 500, avi8tr???

Yes, Bas is my real name! I don't mind people using pseudonyms, as long as they don't use it so they can anonymously abuse people or "stir things up". Anyway: KI. I have never stayed here, but Muston Heights is what everyone recommends for accommodation. You can land right next to the house and they can arrange a car for you: http://www.kangaroo-island-au.com/muston/ It's not on the map, but if you have OzRunways, it is in there as YJOH "Johnson Airstrip". YKSC is a terribly unfriendly airport; there is nothing there and it's a pain to find someone to drive you into town and it costs an arm and a leg. There is also no fuel, you'll need to get that from the mainland. Aldinga or Goolwa will do. Lunch at Chapman River wines: http://www.goodfoodkangarooisland.com/wine/chapmanriverwines.asp They too have their own strip (phone ahead so there's no sheep on it) The airstrip is about 800m grass and gets regular use. It’s roughly 16/34 and has a power line a the Southern end and some small trees at the Northern end. The windsock is at the South Eastern end. S035 47.7 E138 04.1. Next to Chapman River wines is http://kiecocabins.com/ I don't know much about them, but it is another place you can stay. Hope that's a good start. :)

I was certain about *OS, just had to try a few for the first letter. I knew it wasn't MOS, 'coz that's a friend's R44. :)

VH-NOS is on the register.

Have you found out where you want to go on KI yet? I have some good information for you! B&Bs with airstrips, wineries with strips, private strip... :) I love going there, so let us know when you come down this way and we might catch up over there!

What's this RA/GA thing? We're all GA. General Aviation. Defined as anything non-military and non-scheduled. Balloons, gliders, C172s, Sheik Al-Ur-Oilmoney's A380, even the LSA's we fly! ;)

Unfortunately, due to regulations, it is unlikely you'll be able to solo or fly in command on your trip. Too much paperwork that's almost impossible to complete from abroad and can take months even when you are here. So best you can hope for is flying with someone else...

I read "intern", so in any case if they pay, doesn't sound like it will be a lot. I also wonder how they are going to find these people that are both still in college and have a CPL, 250 hours and instructor rating. I am guessing they are going to have the drop the "in college" bit from the final selection requirements...

Even Cessna wants qualified CPLs and Instructors to work for free. What a load of crock!