robinsm

multifocal transition lenses with clip on sunglasses. Wear them all the time, no probs flying etc. Remember polaroid lenses can make it hard to read electronic screens hence the removable sunglasses.

 

 

I believe mineral is recommended because of the long term coating of components when the engine is idle for long periods. Synthetics are good but, I believe, not for long term idle engines and components...just my understanding.

 

 

Castrol Activ 2T....Mineral, better protection for your engine when shut down for a while. 50/1 perfect.

 

 

Let's not get sidetracked; the Federal Government has already said when it expects to get back to surplus, and as I understand it, the wish to get back to surplus is bi-partisan.

Yep, and santa claus comes at christmas,...surplus... government.. (bi partisan wishes are fine but sounds like air fairy spin to me. Historically, rare occurrence). Hopeful but not holding my breath.

 

 

Have you listened to any of our pollies lately? (Like in the last decade or ten!)They are always taking credit for their predecessors good outcomes and always blaming their predecessors for things that are going wrong. It is so childish that it is depressing.

I try not to listen to then, my Bul..it factor is very low and, if I was to listen to any of them, I would be swamped with garbage and taking anti depressants constantly. And, no, I dont know what the alternative is.

 

 

Oh dear, now you've gone and spoiled the New Year already for our Federal Treasurer!

Yep, could never understand that either, surely the govt should be running at a cost neutral situation, any surplus should be applied to ongoing programs to benefit the populace? After all, I, obviously mistakenly, thought that governments were there to look after the country and its people, not to run deficits, support the rest of the world and set up financial feeding troughs for elected members, both state and federal. I must be naive to think that..charity begins at home, look after your people first and live within your means...sorry...just some rambling from a disillusioned voter and member of the masses.

 

 

One year as a deficit on a farm or business happens, but when the company is running a deficit as standard op procedure consistently then something is rotten in the state of ...you know where...

 

 

Bull, I'm sorry, but I don't understand your post. Are you saying I had your comments deleted? I think you're on the wrong track there

I've written a few hundred Annual Reports, so I'm disqualifying myself as having a conflict of interest, but perhaps you would be good enough to explain how falling assets can be a good thing for members, and running deficits isn't going to take the organisation out, and how we can actually now see the profit/lost result of the Magazine, compared to the good old days, and so on.

I could never understand how a business/body could run at a loss or deficits as a normal thing and consider themselves to be successful. If you or I did this then we would go out the back door very quickly...just sayin

 

 

How does a yank, with no brains, take credit for something that is nothing to do with him, oh well, as they say, only in america...lol. This is Australia, we do better...lol

 

 

Interesting topic, but alluding to a "conspiracy" or some such over Jabiru then not supplying the info to back it up is a pointless rumour gathering exercise. I would not have a clue what the problem was, and I am not in a position to "get in the know". Silly thing to do, make a statement then refuse to supply proof, makes it a rumour only. Sorry Keith, statements like that without stating the proof are pointless and do you case a disservice.

 

 

sounds like a revenue drive for ASIC's to me...

 

 

While I don’t mind people being ‘enlightened’ with the ‘facts’ I think your circumstances tarnish your message Keith.Maybe it would be different if you were just a member of ELAAA but being the director (going off memory so could be wrong!) it doesn’t come across well having you throw dirt at RAA.

I dont think he is throwing dirt at RAA. I think he is just reflecting the opinions of a large number of us about the commercialisation, over regulated, used to be enjoyable, sport that relied on something called personal responsibility. I am not a member of ELAAA.

 

 

I am a member of a couple of closed groups on facebook. The admin (group )i think has control over unacceptable posts and who can join the group. And its easy enough to follow a topic. Now let me say outright that i am not a big fan of facebook , but it does have its uses and good points. At the very least there is no software maintenance workload.There are already many aviation closed groups on facebook.

 

A big loss by going to facebook is loss of identity , but perhaps this can overcome by using existing imagery to get a bit of the original site ambience .

 

At our airfield we a young fella still at school, keen as mustard, his preferred comunication method is facebook. And i guess most new youth aviators will be the same.

 

Perhaps we could create a facebook closed group page for recreational flying and simply test it out. Would need 4 or 5 admins to approve new group members and veto inappropriate posts. Run it as a test in parrallel with this site for a year.

 

As to privacy i am not a troll but i dont use my real name or details on facebook, i use a cartoon name an alias , much the same as most of s do here on this forum . So privacy should be no issue.

 

Cant comment on how to do the shop side of things but facebook is commercial. Personally i use the shop. I go there first when i need to purchase aviation stuff . Dont always get what i need there but will buyif its available and priced right. Would not like to see that disappear. To me the shop is a valuable resource.

 

Happy new year. To you all

 

Brian

Would not a closed group[ shoot yourself in the foot and severely limit your exposure and potential members?

 

 

Great addition to the site, thanks for sharing these Dave. Already added to my compulsory reading list....

 

 

I may appear to be very negative. I can understand the need to move with the times, its the empire building, chasing after GA benefits and disregarding the core of the sport that I have a problem with. We are heading towards over regulation because we (the individual pilots) cant be trusted to govern our own safety and behave as we have been behaving with no problems for many years. All of a sudden someone who builds their own aircraft is not competent, without a piece of paper, to look after it. If you built it and fly it, surely you have a vested interest in keeping it flying safely. Who else knows your aircraft like you the builder. The accident rate in RAA registered aircraft is low so why should we be subject to GA style regulation when all of their rules have not changed the accident rate either. Common sense seems to be out and rules and regulations are in. Example, why should I have to get a piece of paper (L1 cert) to service and repair the aircraft I built and maintained. A ludicrous situation. Maybe time for a basic recreational flying body that actually looks after pilots and their ultralight aircraft, (oh, sorry, we had one of those. Dont know what happened to it)

 

 

I wonder about that percentage? I for one, don't read it unless something important or controversial is brought to my attention.

Dont bother with it now, its all shiny advertising for the expensive end of the sport. A nod to real pilots every now and then but otherwise a waste of computer space. Gave up the paper version when it became a cost, not a benefit.

 

 

The largest portion of reserves being spent is on keeping paper magazine alive.........100% what members demanded.

IWithout proof I would disagree with your statement. If the magazine is that expensive, then how about listing the other expenses the RAA has. It seemed to do OK before the modern drive to be all to everyone, corporation and salaried officers. Your membership fees paid for it, now its an added cost iof you need it. Where has the money gone. Obviously not on member beneftits. More regulation, larger salaries, computer systems, jaunts etc etc. Unfortunately many will say thats progress and get with the times. Why, they have reinvented something that did not need reinventing and the membership is paying for it.

 

 

Hello robinsm, I think the value of the empire building is crumbling the reserves going/have gone into keeping it all afloat. One can only use the capital for so long and it runs dry, after it is dry there is not much hope.KP

I agree, the income is finite, not expanding so to prosper, either less outgoings or more incomings. Obviously neither is being done inj the poor management, spending model we have now.

 

 

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...

 

 

Ian, Instead of reinventing the site, leave it for another 12 months, only doing minor tweeks as required and concentrate on developing the store as a source of income for yourself and your family. The site may be stagnant as you say (not growing fast enough with new users, but have you considered that because of the market you have, membership will slow down as you reach semi saturation point. The numbers, without going global, are finite and the membership of this site is huge. A return to the chaos of yesteryear is something no one wants. Maybe, as you pointed out before, a small management committee, with yourself having the golden vote may be the way to go. (3 plus yourself maybe?) Give yourself more time for yourself and your family.

 

I think the development of the shop (in all its categories) may also be the way to go for yourself.

 

I agree, the politicking, and the empire building, is tiring and does tend to leave the enthusiasm in its wake but I think those on this site are more interested in the "just flying, not bulldust" info and discussion this site is known for.

 

Thank you for your enthusiasm and hard work over the years.

 

My hand is up as always if needed

 

Take care.

 

 

Bankstown many years ago used to have 20 aircraft in the circuit using 3 runways and also training Garuda pilots with a six week English course! - and that was fun watching a Cessna 150 waffle all around on finals in front of you for runway left and you are in a twin for runway centre with the closing rates. So please don't give me a busy circuit with seven aircraft. Really.

Any more than 3 in the circuit, given the attitude of some speed jockeys, makes a leisurely departure and a return at less busy times a must for me. Too many close calls in the circuit with pilots? maintaining their "rights".

Apart from that, good to hear that both in the aircraft are OK. Things are replaceable, people are not.

 

 

Get another opinion and then persist with the manufacturer. Some" KNOWLEDGABLE EXPERTS" tend to spout off regularly and, not disparaging the "expert" who spoke to you, I would be a little wary working on just one "expert" opinion. Almost got caught very expensively by an "expert" myself untill I got a 2nd and 3rd opinion from others who dealt with the day to day issues.

 

There are many so called experts out there who talk through an orifice other than their mouths. Just be carefull, and research the heck out of it before diving into the bank....just sayin

 

 

Oh, also I forgot to mention...Clear Prop IS BACK

Yes, the shop is back to being simply called Clear Prop and is located back at the web address of www.clearprop.com.au like it use to be.

 

12 or so years ago we ran a competition here on Recreational Flying on what to call the shop when it was started with the overwhelming result being Clear Prop - The Pilot and Aircraft Supplies Discount Shop.

 

The only negative thing is that the auto user connection between Recreational Flying and Clear Prop is no more...any new users to Clear Prop will not have their Recreational Flying site registration automatically carried over to Clear Prop. So, on Clear Prop if you are a new user to the shop you will either have to simply check out as a Guest or register as a user there.

 

The positive thing is the new Clear Prop Shop has been built as a dual shop. From the one installation of the shopping software we will have 2 actual shops, Clear Prop for pilot and aircraft supplies and a 2nd shop, yet to be named, will have its own web address but have general products for sale and be tied to the Whats Up Australia site. But what is great is that some of the products that can be unspecific to either shop can be listed in both shops like tools etc. Tools as one example can be both aviation related and general in nature...so product stock can be shared across both shop sites.

 

Finally, I just want to thank my son Lachlan who created the look of the Clear Prop shop and subsequently will be the look of this site Recreational Flying. Lachlan is in year 9 at school and is planning on a career in graphic design so thanks for your help Lachlan.

 

Here is an example of one of his banner designs:

 

[ATTACH]52836[/ATTACH]

May pay to check the anti robot validation, comes up as invalid and wont let you register

 

 

Empire building, develop to death...

 

 

Before I got my CC endo, I used to fly to a country airstrip 22 NM away, land, have a quiet cup of coffee from the thermos, snooze under the wing and fly back home. Plenty to see within 25 NM, makes the CC endo morfe appealing to see more. Stop arguing and just enjoy the journey. Agree, once the CC endo is passed then go for it. Its a big country and most of it is available even by the slowest Raa aircraft.