waraton

brinykraut it is mad max country! Mad Max filmed out near Silverton and some awesome trips and adventures still to be had in Far West NSW. Bourke and Wills did part of the Darling river and split their party at Menindee way back in the 1860s. You are right though, much easier to fly over! I learnt to fly Gyrocopters this year so want to fly the length of the Darling then the Murray as one of my first adventures. Planning to do the trip as a small group next year. That should be fun.

Today we finally flew the Darling river between Menindee and Wilcannia today. Have covered it in each direction beyond that but for some reason had never done this short hop. Not much water in it around Wilcannia at the moment, mostly deep holes.

Wilcannia township from the East looking West with the Barrier Highway centre. The Wilcannia strip is top right.

The Darling River has a river distance of around 400km between Wilcannia and Menindee but is only 130km direct. Below - taken not far from Menindee.

An early morning trip

Flight home today took me past the Menindee Lake System in Far West NSW. Lake Wetherall (below) part of the Darling River system still with some water.

Below. An empty Lake Menindee looking south with Lake Tandour off in the background

The village of Sunset Strip on the edge of Lake Menindee have lost their water views with what looks like sand dunes forming on the Lake bed.

Flight this morning from Stephens Creek to White Cliffs for a milkshake and a bucket of hot chips. By 11.00am it was rough as guts up to 7500ft, spew bag on the ready for my young bloke but to his credit he held on. Not a rain cloud in sight. Easy 10 minute stroll into town from the strip and well worth putting on the destination list for a couple of days.

Above; 3500ft heading out before the thermals started getting too exited.

Welcome to White Cliffs !!!

ASIC not required!

The Silver City Recreational Aircraft Club Broken Hill is exited to announce we will be hosting the 2019 ASRA Nationals. The event program is under development and will be published in the next few months and published in the ASRA magazine - Gyro News

We are aiming to have a fun, family friendly, back to basics event. On behalf of the club thanks to the ASRA board who have been really supportive. Please book the date and have a plan to fly/drive/ride/train/bus with your partner/kids/mates/guitar and make a trip of it.

Noticed on the RAA website today that in the members section under the Aircraft tab is a registration search function with a "coming soon" note. Curious to know how much information will be included here and when it will be online, airport operators will be hopeful. Here is the screen dump.

Well I don't know how to fix this but I am very pleased there are people like Giles who are prepared to get in and help. Yes a hero, yes courageous and yes doing what he could to help people who, clearly, were not able to help themselves. I would hope I have the courage to step up if the need arose and equally hope if I needed help people would step up as well.  

"Avenues" such as clubs with club sponsored 3 axis aircraft with instruction in certified 2 seat aircraft, Drifters are an example. The demise of clubs where volunteers provide or contribute  to instruction are almost a thing of the past for various reasons. I see Powered Paragliding as an example of a form of flying which is a fun without the control, they seem to be doing a pretty good job keeping safe without the bureaucracy. Incidentally, I am one of those people who front up every week and volunteer time and effort to contribute, however I can, to keep the aviation dream alive for others as well as myself in my area. That's how we try to make a difference, not by trying to get on the board of the RAA but being active on the committee of our local clubs (what is left of them) and working within the framework we have.  

It would be great if this reported growth was translating to extra activity, the reality I see is many regional clubs in decline, airport access getting worse by the day, and costs continue to escalate. Many avenues for affordable flying are already gone and unlikely to ever return. Who and where the increasing RAA flight hours are being flown I would like to know. You don't need a breakdown of demographics to figure out age groups if you are involved in the grass roots of "club life" (or whats left of it). I don't believe we are a group of people trying to character assassinate ourselves with words of doom but like many I am at a loss to see how we can invigorate interest in flight when we are competing with so many other less complicated and less expensive forms of entertainment. If you are part  of a thriving and prospering aviation community please share your strategies with this group.  

Looking for any suggestions on where I could get a 3/8 UNF Curtis style fuel drain for a Jab 230 (belly headertank fuel drain). Want to be able to remove aging fuel from the aircraft without the mess and hassle of using existing drain or pumping from disconnected fuel line. Any other suggestions of how others are achieving this would be appreciated.  

Have had 3 days of fun flying, flights with my kids and then a fantastic trip as a passenger in a Trike this morning after bacon and eggs for breakfast.

Following theTibooburra road heading towards Broken Hill which can just be seen on the horizon in the left of the pic.

Sunrise and another early start.

The village of Cockburn population 25) on the NSW SA border looking West with the Railway (left) and the Barrier Highway (right) converging with a light show not done justice by my phone camera.

With temps in the low 30s last night it was still pretty warm at dawn for an early morning flight this morning. Going to be another hot one today.

Ready for preflight.

The Silvertown wind farm under construction. These turbines are the largest so far in Australia. More than 50 of them going in.

The Mundi Mundi plain. From the lookout near Silverton you can see the curvature of the earth, not a bad view from the Jab either.

Silverton looking north.

Broken Hill with the Line of Load ore body and mines running through the middle of the city.

Umberumberka Range with the long closed Silverton Tramway line heading off in the distance to Cockburn in S.A. Anyway that was my last flight.

For Australia day today I had breakfast in Jindabyne, and made it home to Broken Hill for lunch.

The Snowy Mountains with some early morning fog was very spectacular.

On past the irrigated fruit blocks along the Murrumbidgee river.

Then the familiar view of seemingly endless landscapes heading for home before the summer thermals really kick in. Pretty awesome Australia Day activity in my book. Hope you enjoyed your day.

From an aviation insurance broker who has done a great job for me previously but comparing it to the RAA recommended broker this was their response;

"Thank you for your email and the attachment. I note that the insurance is placed under the RAAus scheme which is underwritten by QBE and Agile. The way the market is going at the moment with premiums increasing two fold and other underwriters no longer insuring RAAus aircraft I would suggest you renew with the scheme when your insurance comes due."

A recommendation of sorts for PSB and the RAA with a warning for things to come it would seem. My policy only had a marginal increase from last year.

Elders, very competitive price and they will order what you want if not in stock.

Go one step further and look at the AVID. According to the CASA explanation, in order to pilot an aircraft, as a minimum, all pilots must either have an AVID or have applied for one, irrespective of what, where or how often you fly. I've never seen anyone with an AVID which costs less than an ASIC and current for 5 years as opposed to 2. Do you know anyone who has an AVID?

Surely CASA must see the id system is underutilized and either think there are a lot of people doing the wrong thing or just couldn't care less because they also understand it serves no real purpose in the majority of cases.

From CASA today;

This proposal has two elements that are intended to be implemented together:

• Establish MULTICOM below 5,000 feet
  This change would allow VFR and IFR aircraft to monitor and broadcast on the MULTICOM frequency of 126.7 MHz up to but not including 5,000 feet AMSL in Class G airspace where a discrete frequency, such as a CTAF or broadcast area, does not exist.
   
   
  

AND

• Expand the airspace volume of CTAFs
  At non-controlled aerodromes this change would expand the volume of airspace contained in the CTAF to a 20 nautical mile radius laterally and up to, but not including, 5,000 feet AMSL vertically. For the few aerodromes with an elevation of 3,000 feet AMSL or higher, the vertical limits would extend to 3,500 feet AGL.
   
   
  

Proposal - Frequency use at low level in Class G airspace - Civil Aviation Safety Authority - Citizen Space

Was reading the policy on the CASA website to try to work out exactly what the go is. I read that "at a minimum, all pilots must undergo the background checks for an AVID" literally this would mean power paraglider, gyrocopter, hanglider and paraglider pilots. So to me that reads at the very least every current pilot needs an AVID irrespective of where they fly.

"You need a valid ASIC if you require frequent access to a secure area of a security controlled airport that has Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations". The operator can determine which areas are security controlled but the intent is where RPT operators are parked/loading/offloading. ASIC not required at security controlled airport unless you plan to fly into one frequently there is no guide as to what is considered frequent.

I contacted Aviation ID Australia for clarification and they said they only issue the id and could not explain what was needed and why. It is as clear as mud. I wonder if we make it harder for ourselves because we think we need an ASIC when we actually only need an AVID (or not!).

This sent from Lawrie a few days ago....

Hi !

AT LAST MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

A flyover of Wilsons Promontory, my fourth extreme compass point, was achieved Tuesday, 21st November at about 1100hrs EDST. One hundred and forty-one days have passed since I landed at Broken Hill after completing the second stage of my four extreme compass points “adventure”.

It has been a little frustrating watching waiting for that three day envelope of clear weather necessary, in my mind, to attempt the flight to Wilsons Ptomontory. You may recall that some time ago, I jokingly suggested 4th December as a possible date; well; I was just thirteen days out. “Many a true word spoken in jest.”Wilsons Promontory is somewhat notorious for it’s weather; it being at 39.8 degrees south latitude; almost in the roaring forties of Bass Strait.

Those months as I have watched the weather forecasts there has been just one sunny day forecast, and that was last Tuesday,15th November. This week there was two suitable days forecast, Monday and Tuesday, 20th and 21st November. So; Monday I headed off to Bendigo Vic., overnighted there, and Tuesday morning took to the air; and after about two hours flying, there was Wilsons Promontory on my left as I proceeded along the western coast of the peninsular.

Having made my usual attempts at photographs, I retraced my steps (or should that be “my flight”) back around Melbourne to Bendigo, where I refuelled DMY and again overnighted. Wednesday morning, and I was in the air, this time heading home to Broken Hill.

It was a hot day and late morning the air became rather rough and thermals became quite savage, with a 1500 ft per minute rise being not uncommon. My welcome back in Broken Hill was somewhat “ROYAL”.

The Fire Brigade gave DMY a water-arch welcome, the ABC radio reporter was present, as was the local TV and the local newspaper reporters. Interviews were given all round.

I was quite overwhelmed with all this and the group of family and friends that had gathered. The TV report was on the Wednesday evening news, the Thursday newspaper report occupied front and second pages complete with photographs and the ABC radio interview was aired a little after seven am Thursday morning.

On a sad note, this day, 22nd November, was the one year anniversary of my wife’s Jean’s death. It was originally intended that Jean and I would share this adventure, but unfortunately, this was not to be so.

Even so, it has been a very worthwhile adventure; I have met a lot of interesting, very helpful and kind people; have seen a lot of “our wide brown land” and generally greatly enjoyed the experience. DMY’s engine has not missed a beat for the eighty hours that I have flown. You may recall that we had a battery problem that popped up on a number of occasions, and carburettor and starter motor problems at Charters Towers.

Just to show that life wasn’t meant to be easy, I had a radio problem on my way home from Bendigo this Wednesday. However, God is good, DMY and I have completed the attempted task without major incident.

I am enduring to put together a booklet of my adventures. This may be of interest to some. The exercise, I have found, is not as easy as one might think, however, time will tell. Again, thank you for your continued support and interest over the months since my setting out 26th May last.

Regards

Lawrence (Lawrie)

A lovely day for a fly in Far Western NSW at Menindee today.

This is Lake Menindee in Far West NSW, southern end looking north with Copi Hollow top right.

Lake Pamamaroo, part of the Menindee Lake system from the east looking west with the Darling winding its way towards Wentworth. Lake Menindee is top left of this picture. Truly an oasis in the outback which has been significantly impacted by the alleged theft of significant volumes of water over many years from the river system. Multiple investigations and now a Royal Commission in SA on the way to identify perpetrators.

Just another delight to come and explore, becoming more and more popular for paramotor pilots. Pictures from my phone just don't do this justice.

I have just renewed my pilot certificate but BFR is not due until June so the plastic will come when I do that. An anomaly for me which may not apply to others but was an issue for me. Reading the acronym summary on the A4 certificate they sent when I paid my renewal, I noticed that there is an actual 2 stroke (2S) endorsement on the certificate. I had assumed 2 stroke was covered by the LP endorsement I hold (which is now no longer current in the OPs manual) but I was not covered. I was required to send in proof of the 2 stroke endorsement given at the time. Goes to show you should never make assumptions and should always read the fine-print! I photographed the current certificate, which was emailed, with my phone so I have a copy I can access until the new card turns up in June next year.

This is an old thread, but am curious to know about more recent developments and installations particularly with Jab/Camit engines.

Time to renew the ASIC...jeee wizzz! I know this topic is done to death but for a recreational pilot who uses rpt strips from time to time for parking and fuel it is clear as mud. Not only is the application process ridiculous and unclear (the on-line application is easy until you try to figure who and where the photos and id validations have to go) it is paid for in full weeks prior to the process getting under way and possibly months before the application/renewal is completed and the card arrives which is back dated to the payment date which means you will never get the full time frame for your card. I don't think I need an ASIC but then again do I? As for the AVID, this seems to be a must have item for all pilots who fly anything anywhere, Gyros, PPG, Trikes etc or have I read that incorrectly? If it does apply across the board why is it not referenced in the explanation with GA and RAA pilots being identified specifically? As is the case with other examples on the forum I have never been asked for my ASIC card. Dear Dorothy...should I even bother !

Gum creek in an interesting landscape with early morning light.

Exploring abandoned villages railway-lines and mines to the North of Broken Hill this morning. Got away early and back before the thermals started popping. Recreational flying ...... never gets old!