Mike Borgelt

Turbs, the RAAus derives ALL its powers from the government. Without those who would bother to join?

If that is a composite aircraft that cover ought to be white. Sitting in the hot sun probably won't damage a properly constructed and coloured composite aircraft. Gliders are tempered after cure at 55 or 60 Deg C. I believe some German glider manufacturers may be using higher temperatures now. I suspect Cirrus is using higher temperature tempering now as they no longer need to be white. Same materials, resins etc as German gliders as are Diamond.

So the hours flown nearly doubled from 2106 to 2017? Sounds like RAAus has discovered the GFA method of reducing the fatality rate per 100,000 hours. Just fake the hours by exaggerating them greatly. "Insanely good" ? I'd say "unbelievably good".

Dear God, 7 pages of mostly off topic drivel. Turbs wants to regress to the bad old days (let's have lots of and yet more rules), nobody seems to know the rules (probably because they re too complex as is to be expected from that mini CASA formerly known as RAAus), medical causes are speculated on without evidence (want to keep that State Driver's Licence medical guys?) and we know there won't be a proper investigation. Some years ago a BD-4 (VH Experimental homebuilt) crashed and burned up near Monto. The police investigated. I took the trouble to make contact as I own the same type and had met the pilot of the crashed one. I could tell them a couple of things to look for but they never got back to me. A safety culture and a rules culture are different things. M61A1 is right, the government doesn't care about you or your safety. They only care about their continuing ability to loot the wealth of the Australian people. Hence their rules culture.

Here's a point about Part 149: if the body that is a Part 149 organisation goes out of business you are screwed. Can't fly until another takes over - which could take months if not years. It also divides up the low end of of private aviation into mini CASAs and nobody knows what the other ones are doing. Safety information also does not flow. This is nuts. I've said it before : It does not matter who administers the rules, it just matters what the rules are. Anyone who thinks by joining RAAus or GFA they are getting out from under CASA is sadly deluded. The rules have been rubber stamped by CASA in both cases. We could just have CASA do the admin and the organisations can get on with promoting their activities, safety education etc. Just like the EAA in the US which has NO legal powers at all but works with the FAA to make sure the rules administered by the FAA aren't stupid or unnecessarily onerous.

"Greed, power games, self promotion and empire building at the expense of the members and the core interest of the organisation. Yep, most of us just want to fly. We are not all millionaires, its why we fly ultralight. The joy of flying is soon shattered by Egotistical bureaucrats looking to make a name for themselves. Over regulation and "big brother " rules that are not needed. How to stuff up a great organisation, privatise it, make it a corporation, disregard the cattle (sorry..members), give all the power to a small group and attempt top become a semi Government body. Death by regulation..." You guys could be describing the GFA, only it isn't a company just an incorporated association. The group running it are just as determined to go with extra regulation that CASA would not require and make sure that any body else is kept away from the levers of power. About 15 years ago one President was heard to say "we can't have a voting system and democracy - the wrong people might get elected" In a more recent case a serving president suddenly resigned to take up a position on the CASA Board. I'll leave it to your imagination as to what was going on the previous 2 years. yes, they did acquiesce to a CASA wish list and the bureaucracy increased noticeably. I gather the CASA Part 149 stuff was meant to be all done and dusted but a non CASA lawyer pointed out that much of CASA's wish list was illegal. CASA really is in the running for "World's most incompetent aviation regulator".

You are thinking of the BD-5. This is a link to pictures of BD-4s Main Photo Gallery – BD-4 Experimental Aircraft Community Site

flyvulcan, better work on CASA to eliminate the no turbine restriction for the Basic Class 2 Med and RAAus for the same. facthunter, these guys re trying to prove you wrong. A little extra fuel burn for a possibly cheaper engine with significantly longer TBO with seriously lower overhaul costs and much higher reliability will sell. Now can it be made as a turboshaft driving an alternator? Sounds right for my idea of a two seat kitplane that cruises fast and has VTOL enabled by distributed electric propulsion.

I know a a certain BD-4 that would go well with a 200HP turbine.

A modern 18 meter single seat sailplane without ANY form of engine will set you back the best part of A$150,000 just for the airframe. Add instruments A$10,000 to A$15,000, trailer A$15,000 to A$20,000, parachute A$3500, shipping from Germany or South Africa say $10,000 and GST on top of the lot and you are in the A$210,000 to A$220,000 region. Add another A$50,000 for a sustainer engine that might prevent outlandings but will not launch you. Still think the Blackshape is totally stupid at A$280,000? Alternatively you could buy a used Jab for $30,000 to $70,000 or in glider world a used Libelle or Standard Cirrus for about A$10,000 spend a few thousand updating and refurbishing it and have a lot of fun and if competition is your thing there is a Club handicapped class with even World Championships

Cashed Up Bogan, Oscar. Perth was full of them during the mining boom. When you look at what a Cirrus SR 22 costs and how often you need more than 2 seats maybe a 2 seater at about 30% the going price of a new Cirrus and far lower running costs isn't so silly. My only question is : does it have a decent size baggage compartment and loading. RV's are good 2 seaters but you need a RPL or PPL. If we would have real medical reform (not the latest CASA bs) they are a good way to go although if I had to build a new aircraft I'd have a really good look at an IO360 powered BD4C and configure it as a 2 seater with large baggage compartment just the way we fly our BD4. You could leave provision for fitting the back seat later.

You are probably correct. CASA has managed to destroy RAAus, GFA etc as organisations for their members. The original aim was to promote the activities, educate and make sure unnecessary costs and requirements were not imposed but promise some people they can be bureaucrats and policemen and they forget all that. Contrast with the EAA which has been repeatedly asked by the FAA to run Experimentals, warbirds etc and always refused as it would totally change the relationship with their members. Note also the lack of compulsion to join, the way it is assumed people will learn necessary skills by asking, attending workshops, using EAA on line materials etc without the requirement to obtain a "certificate" that says you have completed this or that course. Homebuilders in the US are free to work on a homebuilt experimental even if they didn't build it, unlike here and you don't have to go to a bullshit, expensive weekend course to exercise your repairman certificate if you did. Yes I'm looking at our useless, supine SAAA.

Many years ago people in gliding in Australia were referring to the "downwind" check. Geoff Horwood pointed out that it is the "pre landing" check because in gliders you don't always get to do 3 legs of the circuit. Regarding which: Remember when that was a strict CASA requirement "you must do at least 3 legs of the circuit"? Gone away and the sky hasn't fallen in.

Anyone happen to know what the airfoil on the fin is? Jab airfoils on the fin look kind of " round at the front, with kind of flat" to the rudder. If so it is unlikely to be a laminar flow section and will likely go turbulent about where the "step" is for this test attachment. I often see confusion between turbulent and separated flow. Near the leading edge the flow is usually laminar and it will transition to turbulent ATTACHED flow at the slightest provocation (bugs, waviness, deliberate turbulators, steps etc). The flow will separate on the upper surface when the angle of attack is large (around 15 degrees). Turbulent flow actually can help delay separation as the velocity profile in the boundary layer is such that there is more energy close to the airfoil surface. In some gliders the flow on the lower surface of the airfoil is deliberately turbulated somewhere in the 80 to 90% chord region the prevent the formation of laminar bubbles where the laminar flow separates and forms a bubble of circulation which results in a thicker turbulent boundary layer downstream of the bubble. The thickness of the boundary layer and its velocity profile at the trailing edge determine the profile drag of the airfoil

better than what I've seen roll out of the cockpit of commercial passenger aircraft.

Don't know about being tree dwellers in our recent evolutionary past. I've seen one theory that say we are descended from apes who could tolerate the alcohol in fermenting fruit. Which makes us the descendants of drunken monkeys. Don't believe it? Look around you.

Or the Texas State congress which meets every second year for a few weeks, so I've heard . Less damage that way.

Saw a good quote the other day: "the people making the laws and regulations are no more qualified to do so than you are". Which is why I'm a fan of sortition. Look it up.

I'd give it 2 or 3 layers of 110 cloth and epoxy on top of the hot wired foam and run them back a reasonable distance onto the fin skin and secure there with good double sided tape and tape over the top. You DO NOT want the extension to move sideways or partly fall off when you sideslip.

Pal of mine told me last week he gave up commercial flying at age 63 because of the stress ECG. The doc who did the third one said there was NO WAY she would have one. Now all this talk of the Basic Class 2 is nonsense while we don't know the details which I'm sure CASA don't know yet. They are making it up as they go. Good to see Ben Morgan of AOPA is backtracking on his wholehearted endorsement of the CASA "announcement". This all misses the point: You are a far greater risk to yourself, your passengers, other road users, pedestrians and even people minding their own business in their houses when you are driving an ordinary private motor vehicle than when you are flying a small aircraft. Hence the Basic Class 2, Class 2 etc is BS and the medical ability to drive a private motor vehicle is all that should be rationally required.

CAAP Civil Aviation ADVISORY Publication. Say it all really. Yes some dill built a house just off the end of 23 at Gawler in the 1960s and complained when the odd towrope got dragged through his yard.

More fin area, same dihedral makes the aircraft spirally unstable. This generally isn't a problem. Most gliders are like that. Too much dihedral, too little fin area and the aircraft tends to dutch roll. You've seen this with free flight models Bruce. Make the fin too large and it is impossible to trim and will always spiral into the ground. Dutch roll is OK there. Hence the usual large amounts of dihedral. Why not just increase the fin area with a glove on the leading edge of the fin? Unless the rudder lacks authority I'd leave it the same size. Then no mass balance issues. Increasing the rudder area will require feet on the pedals or strong centering springs, otherwise the free floating rudder will not add to yaw stability. Oscar's suggestion about a gap seal is probably good too. Can you fit a glider type Mylar seal externally or a folded one internally? Yeah, I'm a flying qualities enthusiast. I'm astounded at what people will put up with.

Millmerran will be good for crosswind practice. Runway is 90 degrees to prevailing winds, like many airports in Queensland. Pittsworth is better. Toowoomba Regional Council isn't to be trusted. They'll likely steeply increase the lease rates once hangars are built. I don't think anyone wants to lease the entire airfield, just enough room to build a hangar. Councils also seem to want to lease you vast amounts of land for a small hangar which restricts the number that can be built and is more expensive to lease and maintain (mow the grass). About 20 years ago I proposed to Toowoomba Council a plan for a series of small hangars in a row (common walls either side) but they want 400 square meters for each, room for an access road behind etc etc etc. Other people planned to build a large hangar but when the numbers were done and Council taken what they wanted it was uneconomic. Of course government is greedy and ripping us off. How else will they pay for their cushy, secure, extremely well paid jobs doing SFA except get in everybody's way?

norm, you are welcome but it is very clear the DAME should not be even doing the cardiac risk assessment for Class 2 applicant. How did you get to 71 and this is the first time you had to do the stress test? One of the problems in society is that the law is so complex it is difficult to know what it is so when someone in a position of authority says to do something we tend to believe it. Not necessarily true and they may not even have the backing of the law.

normfox, I suspect your DAME didn't turn to the next page either. It seems to be not uncommon. One bloke I know, his DAME insisted on the stress ECG for Class 2 because he had turned 60 (no clinical indications or symptoms) and he got completely stuffed up as a result. A stress ECG in itself is a not insignificant risk, let alone the other medically induced disasters inflicted on him. Ask the folk doing it about the syringe full of adrenalin in the trolley for when they induce heart attacks in patients while trying to kill them. Here's the relevant chart from the DAME handbook: https://www.casa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net351/f/avmed/dames/handbook/images/avmed_reference_chart_2.png Note the bottom line in the matrix. Now will you and Yenn please read this ? You just got shafted by your DAME. I'd think about suing him. At this time I wouldn't count on the Basic Class 2 being useful to you . You've already been tagged as needing a stress test every 12 months. I strongly suspect CASA will require a DAME visit for your Class 2 renewal as well as your current stress test regime, otherwise they'd have to admit it wasn't necessary anyway. Your annual stress tests are probably more likely to kill you than your aviation activities but that won't be an aviation accident so CASA will be happy.