jamel

However rules are rules! One man is not greater than the collective however good he may be or his decisions are, perhaps the rules need changing? IMHO the system is past its use by date, too many big fish in a little pond.

And??

I did my renewal online 4 working days ago , filled in the hours and landings etc. and got a PDF by email of my new rego today! and the current rego didn't run out until 13/7! Cant complain about that:oh yeah:

I certainly hope you are right Maj , although my experience with SMS leads me to think that we are more likely to get a new regulation enforcing painting the first 15 cm of each propeller blade with fluro paint

Perhaps a bit emotive jamel. Some of the doomsayers would crap themselves to learn that we, in WA, have at least one dedicated and experienced current RAA-GAA pilot/aircraft owner/career copper (who obviously is multi-experienced in forensic everything), and...guess what....he's been CASA-schooled in the requirements of aircraft accident investigation and reporting! So there already exists a modicum of ability within RAA ranks to at least participate in (if not conduct) the establishment of reports re: these unfortunate fatalities. With RAA being so far behind the 8-Ball in so many respects at present, only the good Lord knows how long it might be before the system is modified to allow us to be involved in our own house-keeping. Despite all of the above, I too offer sincere condolences to the Pilot's family and friends. My frustration and sarcasm was directed at the process, not the police and the coroner, they do largely a thankless job in trying circumstances and are experts in their field, but is there a better way? At no time did I mention or ask anything about RAA members! I happen to believe, like it seems you may, that certain ones like you have described would be the ideal ones to carry out an informal investigation for the benefit of members. Are they ever involved? If so where are their conclusions? A one sentence summary " it is likely the aircraft lost airspeed on the turn onto final and stalled" would mean far more than 60 pages of waffle if the investigation even got that far! It would likely make us all think that if I turn low and slow, uncoordinated and cross controlled, I also am likely to be looking at the rabbit burrows from the wrong perspective! All the SMS books sitting in the flight office are not going to make one iota of difference to fatalities if we don't maintain the basic rules that we were hopefully taught. Even the police call in the experts! If there is a fatality on the highway they call in the accident investigation squad, if there is a heist at the local bank they call in the crime squad, if is an ultralight crash do they call in someone who might know something about it? There seems to be a hush, hush culture in the movement about accidents. Recently two poor souls lost their lives in a trike that went down into a lake on the central coast NSW. The silence has been deafening. It was of particular interest to me because I was recently endorsed and am inexperienced with just over 130 hours on type. I want to learn everything I can. Witness reports among other things described a large bang and the the aircraft then spiralling into the water. It was recovered with the left rear wheel spat missing. I puzzled over the likely cause for ages. I am lucky to have easy access to one of the trike pioneers from the 70,s. He could tell me immediately what the most probable scenario was. Now the scary thing is that there are lots of trikes flying with the exact same configuration, the pilots oblivious to the need to perhaps check their equipment. Wouldn't disseminating this kind of information be logical? I agree we should be involved in our own housekeeping! but I very much doubt filling offices with safety manuals is going to make any difference. Now I will go back to minding my own business!!

Someone playing funny buggas I reckon:nod:

Nev, I guess we all know the risks, no one is holding a gun to my head to make me fly RAA , part of the deal is that there is very little in the way of accident investigation, if we fly rAA we have to accept that! Let's hope the new SMS goes a way towards helping avoid these happenings.

OK I will bite! Apart from the Goulborn and Mildura inquests can you point me in the direction of any other worthwhile investigations into quite a few fatalities in the last few years?,

"My question is do RA-Aus actually have anyone that is capable of doing a "proper" investigation of incidents, ie has formal recognised training in incident investigation that would be consistent with a coronial inquiry as an "Expert witness"? "Will they do anything? Of course not! Some nice policeman who most likely doesn't know a rudder from an elevator will prepare a report for a coroner who wouldn't know a stall from a flare who then will most likely find that the poor gentleman died from a severe impact. My condolences to his family, they are unlikely to get any closure from the process.

Of course! Every time I go up for a water run or to have a gecko at the fences, the first thing I do is check the NOTAMS

You miss my point! How does CASA contact 3500 aircraft owners and say you are not allowed to fly them from 20/6/2013 ? This is not a business like Tiger ! it is a conglomeration of people all over the country, many uncontactable most of the time! like me:wink:

And how then does CASA go about grounding and enforcing 3500 odd aircraft stay on the ground? Send everyone a letter? Just asking??!

The way they lose photos of aircraft I wouldn't be counting on them ever being able to lay hands on them Dazza:thumb down:

And if I had any idea on how to go about registering it I would import the Northwing Maverick RT with the 40hp Kawasaki electric start and Pacer 13 XT wing with their version of a tundra kit tomorrow! It would suit my wants to a tee!

May I say it is great to have a report on the probable cause of an accident from those who were close to the scene. It has certainly made me more aware to land and take off with a respectable gap to the preceding aircraft. It is so easy to close up in a group fly in scenario! Thanks guys, it would be great if this happened all the time.

Very much the same reason cars have number plates front and rear! but that doesn't stop thousands of clowns driving around unregistered and driving bodily injury premiums up for the rest of us does it? Did the Hume Weir goose even try to get licensed or registered?

Of course the other thing is that anyone who thinks that a fair bit of unregistered flying is not happening has their head in the sand ! Not saying it is smart, just a fact of life caused by administrative incompetence.

I did better than that! I got two letters this morning, each had a new identical pilot certificate in it!! Seems everything is sorted at head office

Nah! They went to all that trouble writing that polite letter just to irritate you! You must of upset someone!

I am led to believe that if we as recreational pilots wish to continue to fly cheaply ($185 per year rego) then this is the price we pay! If it was a General Aviation registered aircraft then there would be a hell of a hullabaloo and an investigation. It is my contention that our association , RAAus could do a lot more regarding reporting to members re probable causes etc in a way that didn't leave it open to litigation if it so chose, but then again in recent times it hasn't even been able to get the registration of aircraft done correctly!!

Thanks for that info. I would like to build something simple like that to keep up my stick and rudder flying! however being a first time builder I am not prepared to go it alone, so I will keep looking about for something similiar where others have already been there and done that!

Would it have been the pilots choice to turn straight back after his pass or ATC? I wonder if a normal circuit would have provided more safety, especially seeing as the operation was over a built up area?

In an article in the last Sportspilot reference was made to the Aerolite 103. Does anyone know if any of these are operating in Oz. If not, does anyone have an opinion of the likelyhood of them being able to be registered here?

I also find it difficult to believe a spat could come off in flight! although nothing is impossible! To my way of thinking something else may have happened, but it doesnt seem anyone in the know is going to be kind enough to provide information on any possible cause. I would like to think that any pilot that had information that could possibly help or save someones elses life would share it! After all, what goes around comes around.

Thankyou Turbo, that answers my question as to why! there is obviously no joy to be gained going down that path! So it is completely up to me to look after number one, meticulous maintenance and pre flight checks, following safety procedures and flight training to the letter, and reading as much as I can find, to learn from everyone elses experiences in the many forums from around the world. I guess we can only mitigate as much risk as possible with what we have at hand.