Jerry_Atrick

Welcome, Flightrite.. I am thinking of including permit aircraft in my repetoire.. There is a reciprical agreement betwween the UK, France, Germany, Austria and I thnk Italy and Spain so permit aircraft, which covers VLAs and ULAs and maybe even some MLAs are allowed to be flown between these countries on their national licences/certifcates without permission and can stay for a max od 30 days.. So, that £200 flight using a spamcan from a London airfield to Le Touqet for lunch suddenly gets a whole lot cheaper.. and with similar performance (I have only flown across the channel once with more than two people in the A/C and I was not flying that day). In the UK and at least the other countries listed in Europe,, permit aircraft (the collective term for VLA, ULA and I think, microlights) have virtually the same privileges as GA aircraft if they are adequately equipped (Mode S transponder and 8.33KHz radio). I think (but don't quote me), they have a dispensation for a full flight radiotelephone operators licence but do some training - the skies are too small here not to use the radio (though some stubbornly don't have the radio or transponder - but not many - and they do have restrictions as they can't transitcontrolled airspace nor transit transmponderor radio mandtory zones, nor can they cross an international flight boundary). Also, recently, the CAA have, with the LAA (equivalent of RAAus) allowed permit aircraft suitably equiped to be used for IMC flight for suitably qualified pilots (Sub ICAO IMC rating/Instrument Rating (Restricted). I will still fly cert GA as I also go to Belgium and that is a 90EUR fee for permission for set dates in and out for permit aircraft and no refund if the wx doesn't play balkl or for someother reason you can't makeit. Also, I go to other countries in Europe and was planning Turkey at the end of April - just cancelled it though.

My Shareoplane ended up in teh hangar for a bre metal respray for 6 months; so I was planning a check flight anyway. This flying furlough will make it a definite. Even if I was flying the PA28, which I have oodles of ours on, I still have self-imposed rule of a layoff of three continuous months, and I will do a check flight. They usually last an hour or two.. and £25/hr, it isn't going to break the bank.

I have no idea of the quality of the runway - I am sure it wasn't designed for jet traffic though - and it coudln't have been too bad to survive my PA28 landing, which on the day, was a little smoother than the one in the video ;-)

@SplitS - How is 100 times the maximum influenza death rate at a period of lock down, so relative containment, where if left unchecked, the rate of deaths could be much higher with or without co morbidity factors not be justified? BTW, I agree that if the evidence supports it, then loosn or tier the restrictions - but at the moment, the relatively independent healt officials are not deeming it that way - unless you think they are in China's pocket? Bindi - tired of hearing your quotes from sites whos jounalistic credibility is questionable by most of the fact checking organisations.. Without even having to look it up, the ONS is not part of the NHS as they claim.. Your theory sort of fails as it would assert virtually all western governments are kow-towing to China - including the USA and Trump? I find it a little incredulous to say the least. If you go to the ONS site your publication quotes, it is very difficult to read how they are doubling up the numbers. It is quite clear that the statistics are provisional and the methods used and there is a delay due to registrations. But nowhere does it say it then uses its statistics and then addes them to other statistics to get a new number, In fact, the gov.u website it states is used for communicating the official stats. You forget, this is the UK - and the tabloid (ex. Fleet Street) press would have a field day if the claim was remotely true. So far, not much from them.. unless you think China is paying them, too. And for Sweden - it is middle of the road and their health workers are very apprehensive at the moment as they think it is only a matter of time. You see, the Swedes trust the government and generally comply with their directions - unlike the Aussies, US and UK, for example. Therefore, when the Swedish government says take sensisble precautions such as maintaining distance, catching your snneezes and coughs and wash hands regularly, the Wedes will do it relatively diligently - there won't be "catch it" parties and the like. They are also, like Japan, a relatively mono-cultural society so they don't have has much diversity of originating destinations of people travelling to them. Thirdly, unlike Italy, they have a high number of single person households - which by definition are not inter-generational - over 40%. Health officials there are worried about the lax stand taken and the cinfidence shaking outcome it will have. The unfortunate outcome of this is that there will be deaths out of the other side of it.. But how much of that will involve co-morbitity as well.. those already, say, with mental health conditions that are teetering anyway, etc. Callous, yes, but my point stress is unlikely to be the sole factor,just liek COVD-19 is as well.. The question is which has the more potentiasl to do far greater damage? I don't know the answer to the question - has anyone done the research so that we can make a claim one way is better than the other?

Huh! The UK (like the rest of the northern hemisphere) is in spring. Where I am, it was 24 degrees degrees today. I am sure there are normally flu deaths at all times of the year - if you are thinking it is a period of higher flu deaths, well,. you are wrong. I expect the most cases to be the later weeks of the previous year and the earlu weeks of the current year.. And the official reports back that up. So, looking at last years annual report, on P25, the number of admissions to ICE for influenza - for the whole of week 15 (which is what we are currently in) was.. .drum roll.. under 50.. for the whole week.. Covid 19 sort of dwarfs that figure.. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/839350/Surveillance_of_influenza_and_other_respiratory_viruses_in_the_UK_2018_to_2019-FINAL.pdf Of course, probably not all of them succumbed... but maybe a few hospitalisations that didn't get to ICU may have succumbed. OK - technically you are right - there are normally deaths this time of year due to influena, but the implication is that it is usually a time of higher deaths and this is not true. And the number we can expect, assuming a numeric equivalent of all ICU admissions ends up in death us currently running at about 1% of Covid19 deaths.. (50 / 7 days in a week = near enough to 7. There is more than 700 deaths a day in the UK to COVID-19...) I think someone earlier said do the maths.. Well, we are more densly populated than Aus - maybe Aus can afford to be a bot more lax.. but the reality here is that a slow response seems to have cost us quite a bit.

@Red - where do you fly from? Most of the GA airfields shut down to all but emergency services flights maybe three weeks ago now. I fly from Blackbushe (not my favourite airfield by a longshot, but the shareoplane is my favourite). They c;losed it so that you can't even go and grab any accoutments (like my ipad) that oneleft behind. I live in Somerset, a few miles north west of Taunton. Dunkeswell is my closest airfield, but that is closed as well. There has been a C150 buzzing about - I am guessing from a private strip. BTW, I had a penchant for Honda XL trail bikes.. Saw a 250 on ebay for 2.5K.. Ouch!

I was at Halfpenny Green when the Vampire tore up the runway. We all had to do xwind take offs to get out...

Each state has a slightly different set of rules, which is crazy, but if you go to your property to perform essential maintenance, and given the events over the summer just gone, fire breaks would be considered one I would think, then even the most jobs-worth policeman would find it hard to book you for it. If he (or she) did, let it go to court and see how quickly it gets laughed out.

Love the rego...

I whole heartedly agree... BTW, I have no problem with uninformed speculation - I do it myself... But I am clear that in the absence of facts, from what I have seen, these are POSSIBLE theories.. But when the guy who owns the site says this: "ENOUGH...the topic of this thread and the two unfortunate fellow aviators do not deserve this kind of posting" and from the posts I saw, I have to agree, it exceeded deceny. Berearved may not expressly come to this or any other site for information - but a google search will direct them here...

I have no effin idea what you are talking about... But keep 'em coming.. the banter is most amusing... OK - so let's go to herd immunity.. 95% of the COVID-19 fatals are whatever you think they are - lets say over 65s.. That leaves 5% of the fatality rate for the under 65's Let's humour you and assume all Aussies are under 65 - and I will round down the Aussie population to 24m... And lets round down the infection rate if left unchecked (remember, we are assuming all are under 65) to 50% of the population.,. That's 24m / 2 = 12m and 5% fatality rate (your figures) = 600,000 deaths - are you really happy with that? Oh, and of course, it would happen over a relatively short period, and what you neglect to mention is the percentage that requires hospitalistion and intensive care - of which such a rapid spread would cause many to miss out on as the resources are not there - further increasing the death rate.. which will be more than 5% and also because, of course, Australia has over 65s and the mortaility rate for those is much higher. Tell that to Boris, who is a reasonably fit 55 year old.. I volunteer you to be our guinea pig and get yourself infected and tell us how it turns out.. I would be most curious...

Bummer.. Whereabouts in Canada?

Over here in the UK - virutally all GA airfields are closed to everything except emergency services. Therefore, all instruction - ground or air looks to be off. Yesterday evening, I saw a C150 in the air. Today, at 16:35Z (17:35 local), there is a single Jodel 1050 that looks to have taken off form a private strip (see FR24 pic, below). Notice, there are only 2 rotors airborne in all of Scotland and it looks like a taxying aircraft at Glasgow (found out, it too is a rotor). My guess is these are for North Sea oil rigs... No CAT/RPT. The second picture shows Heathrow and Gatwick (and covers the Heathrow stacking area). No aircraft at Gatwick - just a couple of ground vehicles; Heathrow unbelievably quiet..

Still read the posts - great source of amusement...

In the UK, the guvmint is directly injecting cash into the airlines (is my understanding), including BA, which is now a Spanish company... Flybe went broke because they were already in dire straits... Although I fear for a few flying schools, like the virus itself, those that already have underlying issues will probably be the ones to fall; the guvmint is injecting billions into small businesses that are directly impacted by the lockdown..

Deleted... Thought I was posting against a late pst.. Sorry chaps

Specific: "Clearly identified or defined".. I think we are in agreement there, squire.. Hmm Provision.. Your meaning is the verb; of which it may or may not be.. actually, provision in common parlance as a very beans to provide with or some such meaning (e.g. "He has been provisioned with the basic necessities to see him through the isolatsion period, including copious quantities of dunny roll"). My Blacks Law Dictionary is in one of our unopened boxes since we have moved, but a quick internet search provided this: What is SUNSET PROVISION? definition of SUNSET PROVISION (Black's Law Dictionary) It is a privision [or condition] of law that provides an expiry date or event. Now, for it to be a privision, it has to be legally referenceable - i.e. in a legal instrument of some order such as an act of parliament, delegated legislation, or in the case of EU law, a national competent authority (in the case oif aviation for the UK, the CAA) legal instrument giving local legal effect to the EU law. The point I am making is that provision a generic term in law (when referencing statutory or delegated instruments) that is those statutory or delegated instruments. As you and I both know, quite often legal definitions of terms are not the same as common or derived parlance. Happy to discuss BTW - Congrats on getting Vic government departments to correct things and do the right thing - from experience, that is not eaasy unless you're on the inside..

EASA CANNOT DO IT. The regs are so poorly written and change at such pace, contradictory, etc, that even instructors and EASA itself can't always work them out. When asked what a speciic provision meant, the response was, just comply with the spirit of the regulation... How can you operate like that???

A bit of background: When we moved (for me, back to) Melbourne in 2003, I was effectively grounded as it was an expensive place to live on one salary and, well, my partner isn't too keen on any form of flying, anyway. So, to keep entertained, I would "play" MS flight simulator and more often than not fly the default Mooney. My son, around 9 months old would watch me, and maybe at 18 months was flying himself (and not doing a bad job). On my 40th birthday, we went to Tocumwal for the weekend to celebrate, staying at the Coachmans Cottages (I think they have changed now). I managed to convince my partner to let me go for a "joyflight" so I took my son to John Williams aviation, which I knew had a couple of Mooneys. Upon entering the hangar, John and I introduced ourselves and my son instantly recognised his fleet, pointed to them and proclaimed, "Mooney". John was a little stunned by it and complimented him on his aircraft knowledge. Fast forward to October 24, 2010, and my son had just turned 8 years old. We moved back to the UK in 2006. I have yet to get back into flying, but am still "playing" with MS FSX, as his he. He is a prickly and stubborn so-and-so and was getting on my nerves a bit; so my partner suggests I take him away for an overnighter, I book some hotel somewhere for the next weekend and warn him that bad behaviour will result in it being cancelled. By Wednesday, we cancelled it. A couple of weeks later, he has a week of reasonably good behaviour, so on the Saturday morning, I jump onto one of those last minute booking sites and score a night at the Crown Plaza, Marlow Bottom for about £50. Fantastic.. So we hurriedly pack and off we go. The next morning, we awoke to a cold, but crisp and gin clear British winter's day. We hop into the car, but being a Sunday in a semi-rural area, there is not much happening. We found a park and had a kick of football (soccer) and then when bored of that, I thought, Wycombe Air Park (Booker) is not too far from here, so rang the missus to ask her if she would mind if we went for a joyflight. She was very hesitant (as she still thinks those tiny aircraft just randomly fall from the sky), but I reassured her that the flying school there was only until very recently British Airways Flying Club, had superbly maintained aircraft and the instructors were second to none. She agreed, so son and I drove to the aerodrome. Thanks to the relatively new EASA and its regulatory fight to put private GA out of business, flying schools could no longer give joyflights on their approvals (they basically needed a full charter service AOC); I didn't know this and when I asked if we could book joyflight, I got a very stern look from behind the desk and was told in no uncertain terms they don't do them anymore. When I inquired why, the response was given but I was offered as an alternative a trial instructional flight. We looked up the booking sheet and there was a slot available at 4pm. It was 11am now. Darn it, 5 hours to wait, but as I still hadn't returned to flying, I was prepared to wait it out. After driving around, singing silly lyrics to the tune of a well known TV commercial at the time, interrupted by a fine roadside services lunch of McChucks or some such similar cuisine, we drove back to Booker a little early with the idea of stopping the cafe overlooking the grass runway where gliding takes place. The cafe was closed, so we whiled away our time looking at the aircraft arriving and taking off. With about 15 mins to go before our slot, we walked in and started the process. We were assigned an instructor and after introductions, he guessed correctly who the student pilot was. It was quite funny, because he literally raided the every cushion from the two sofas and a desk chair. Armed with them, a clipboard, map and headsets, he looked a sight with all his accroutments wanting to egress from his clutches as we walked across the apron to the PA28, refusing my offer of assistance. He placed 3 of the large cushions under my son and two behind his back and asked an instructor returning from another lesson to take the excess baggage back to the club house. The instructor and my son pre-flighted the exterior of the plane and then the interior. The instructor went through everything and my son absorbed it all. Then the instructor fiiddled around, but finally got my son to a point where he could reach the control column comfortably, but his legs dangled and could not reach the rudder pedals: I hopped into the back (yuk!) and the preflight commenced. Soon we were taxying for 24L, which is grass. Remeber, my son is 8 years old and during the taxi, he asks if he can take off. I thought to interject to make it easy on the instructor to say no, but before I could make a decision, the instructor calmly says, "Yes.. I will operate the rudder - you can do everything else.. By the way, what are you going to do?" I was gobsmacked. The boy not only went through the throttling up and at 55kts, raising the nose, but also answered he would check the airspeed is alive and the DG is pointing in the runway direction. "Very well, let's see how you do!" Lined up and with clearance to take off, it was the first time ever, I thought of really asking the ol' fella upstairs to have mercy on us. But the little fella, with his right hand, nurtured the throttle towards the firewall, checked the DG and called airspeed alive. At precisely 55kts he pulled back on the control column and the PA28 almost rivaled an F/A 18 pointing towards the sky. "Maybe not so enthusiastically" said the instructor as he nudged the control column forward a little and called my son having back control. Darn it, he was showing me up! He was bang on 79kts and a little over 550fpm climb and I am sure the centreline was in line with his rear-end. Well, the instructor gave my son instructions, and he dutifly carried them out. turns, ascents, descents etc. He was pretty good and held altitude and heading better than many experienced pilots. Here's a medium level turn he was executing: We would continue and he would ask questions, follow instructions, and without any correction from the instructor (at least none that I could remember - of course the instructor would be on the rudders when required).. The instructor, however, did deny his request to try a stall - maybe they are forbidden in TIFs... As we flew over Blenheim Palace (I think), he did ask if we could land on the driveway and visit. I think the insructor would have liked to: And the boy could not ask enough questions: Finally, and too quickly, the bimble came to an end.. The instructor allowed the boy to come within about 50' of landing before he took control. Of course, the instructor was talking the boy down, but he had the speed and rate of descent nailed... Bad photo and more than 50' above the ground, but you can see the boy clearly has control: We landed and taxied back to the cliub house. As he was under 14 (EASA increased it from 13, though would not have mad a difference ion this case), he could not log it, so they presented with with a TIF certificate and a symbolic log book entry. He was on a buzz; I was on a buzz, too.. I knew I would have to start saving for his flying lessons (though, he wold have to contribute). I raced home to show the missus the photos and when we arrived, we already had some friends visiting. As they left, I had to apologise for not letting them get a word in edgeways as I vividly recalled every moment of that flight... Sadly, he lost interest in flying at around 14 (saved my a bucket); I think the gene that kicks in with distractions started... But, it looks like now, at 17, he is getting the bug again... Sorry about the quality of the photos. A bad workman always blames his tools and I am blaming the Blackberry I had with me which was old school even then.. JA

This is a very broad church, mosque, synagogue, temple... And I would not consider blocking people who are not being repeatedly being personally offensive as not being open to others opinions and facts... And I am looking forward in earnest (and I am being serious) to everyone providing constructive and substantiated facts, opinions and debates.. My comment was simply (and I am yet to have read those since making mine, so apologies if I have missed something) that the arguments are the same and seem to be just going arond the treadmill..

I have to say, I bucked out of this one.. . Assertion - the maths show low death rates... Reality - they do, but the rate of indection and the rate of hospitalisation shows that the leaths services of whatever coutnry would be quickly overwhelmed - and the death rate would then increase... Assertion - doctors and health experts don't no what they're talking about... and a spreading hysteria and fear mongerung.. Reality - Armchair pilots are the same with aviation.... Repeat the assertions and defences over and over again... I gave up biting when there was nothing new that was being asserted... @octave, I understand why you're doing it, but.... seriously.. when then inlet valves are closed,.. not much you can do...

Hello George, an welcome. You will find, although Aussie focused, this site members from all over....

Aeronca! (Doh! Wrong thread)..

And another:

One for @willedoo :