Jerry_Atrick

@Vincik , I saw the NOTAM of Italy closing VFR flights a couple of weeks ago. feel for you as the lockdown is pretty tight there. I would think wine is more of a necessity than other stuff at the moment to help people keep sane (except, of course, those that are negatively affected by alcohol). Here, breweries are considered essential services and pubs are converting to delivery/take away food outlets and some, as in Aus, also do retail. Our local village pub, which has a landlord who is inexperienced is only doing fish and chips every other Saturday at the moment. We are lucky - as of yesterday, in all of Somerset (my county), only 48 people have been comfirned infected and all in the one location, just south of Westonzoyland. As the crow files, it is about 15 miles or so NNE of me (ironically, not far from the GP suregery I am registered at). I hope Italy comes out of it soon... From what I have seen of Italy, it is one of the more community spirited societies I have seen where age is not seen as a defining factor of whom one socialises with; Each time I have been there, I have relished the hospitality and the spirit of Italians (mainly have been to the North). It must be on the verge of agonising for so many to not be able to interact with their fellow people. Stay safe, sir.. Hope to be flying there in June...

Darn it, just saw this after by diatribe in the bfr thread! Well done to CASA.

Is EASA land, thee is no such thing as a BFR anymore.. Basically the rules are: By your two year anniversary since your last renewal, you have to have flown for at least 12 hours in the last 12 months and if you have, you need to do an hour dual with an instructor in your last three months leading up to the expiry of your renewal. They CANNOT fail you and the flight does not even have to be instructional (in other words, grab an instructor - go for a bimble and land - as long as you are dual and it is an hour, that's all it needs). If you miss this - or oddly, if you meet the requirement but the instructor doesn't file the paperwork by the expiry, then you have to do a flight renewal test - which is sort of like a BFR used to be, but no flight plan and no navigation - from memory it is the three stalls, PFL, normal and glide approach - may be a bit more - can't recall ever doing short field, precautionary landings, low level or anything like that out of necessity). I think EFATOs are in the test. Remember it is only required if you let your renewal lapse. I know a couple of flight instructors who have been very clear to people they have done the biennial hour with that if they had the power, they would have grounded them. They can formally write up areas they think the pilot should get remedial instruction on - no more. How is that for safety? (BTW - EASA think a mountain of paperwork and bureaucracy will make everything allright). My personal minimas are a biut more stringent: - 90 days since flying or of I am feeling rusty anyway - I grab my examiner and we blow the cobwebs off by doing basically the renewal test mentioned above and more if I feel that rusty (so, for example, it has been over 6 months because of the paint job that overran.. so I will go straight to the next point). - Every two years - we bascially re-do the whole flight test and then some. In the case of lockdown - maybe they should take a view that if you were current, e.g. had flown, I dunno, 3 hours in the last 3 months or something, the extension could be granted; otherwise, you are likely to be rust anyway and you shouldn't be flying... The precise definition of being too rustly may be 6 hours in 6 months - but has to be reasonable as we know lack of recency is an issue with flying skills. I personally have no problem doing the BFR. Many pilots I speak to who fly many more hours than me loathed having to di it when it was a requirement over here as they were always current. But, almost every time I asked how often they preactices stalls, EFATOs and PFLs, the answer more often than not was they hand;t or at least not enough. It is debatable whether once in 2 years is enough, but at least it gives some meaure of competence and prvides the opportunity to practice if that is required. FWIW, I think road drivers/riders should have to go through similar - maybe every 5 years. Over here, we have speed awareness courses when one gets done (only allowed onve every three years and if you attend, you don't get your demerit points). I attended one (caught on camera going 33mph through a 30mph zone in a village at about 11pm.. Police here would not even bother - shows when public servants get to make the decisions, things are not quite the same), I consider myself a reasonably good driver, and they basically sent through the whole road safety thing - not just speed kills - and it did indeed refresh some of the grey cells that maybe had taken a too relaxed attitude to some things such as distance between cars, skidding, etc.

I am not a member of RAAus and not knowledgable of its politics (to provide context to this post). Althog I take what you say, Ian, does going digital not then introduce some level of accountability that I am inferring from the posts in this thread may not exist? If people are askign questions and RAAus are pporviding answers, then they will have to be carefule about whow the frame these answers as these will exist in perpetuuity. Even if the forum is via some interactive webinar tech or video converencing cuh as zoom, the streams can be recorded, so being flippant, careless, not answeering questions; or conversly responding in a thoughtful manner, explaining a particular question is complex and requires a bit or work and providing an anticiapted timeframe being documented and evidenced for all to see and judge. Yes, there can be trolls and degenirates that try and manufacture something that it isn't, but surely the accountability it brings is a good thing? Take your point - if they are inexperienced, they are taking a risk, but the organisastion will have to move with the times at sometime?

Those volksplanes don't look to have particularly big cockpits.. How did you secure the contents of the coke bottle now the neck was cut off it? Esp on landing?

Where I have come across something like this before? Oh yeah - the coal debate under flight shaming - where China could do no wrong - and there was no acceptance that China manipulates markets.. Suddenly, Brietbart are saying China is bad and it is gospel.. Keep on digging... BTW - As much as China is an economic powerhouse, it doesn't control all the markets... (but I will give you, it can exert some influence over them - which is why the US now have said they want to reduce their reliance on Chinese production and Iain Duncan Smith here has been waging a war against the kow-towing to them that the British Conservative government, partucularly under David Cameron - and also Labour under Tony Blair did)... Also, if you did any real research into mediafactcheck, there is some independent questioning of its reliability and practices - mainly because it doesn't provide credit of authorship... A criciticsm I would accept.. Not that it really matters much what I think...

FB: Really? Clinton Funded?.. Did you get that from Brietbart? Maybe check here: PolitiFact - Wikipedia And even if it was, so what? How has that proved it is not accurate? I did a search and couldn't find a link toi Soros - maybe you can post it? But even if he did, what does it prove? Soros did hve an insider trading conviction. But what does that prove? Bannon, who owns Brietbart is a self-confessed white supremacist - Sorors is a philanthropist... Hmmm.. If anything, on the assumption a) it has been finded by Soros and b) Soros ha anything to do with it on a continual basis 0- where's the evidence to suggest it is an inaccurate =or biased site (of course, from others than it accuses of being inaccurate or biased)? Generally the deeper a rabbit hole people dig, the more entrenched based on emotion and ideology they become.. Align yourself to a white supremacist whose soapbox has been proven by many to be misleading and whip up racial tensions; against those you accuse, but have not proven to be inaccurate... Go for it...

FB - I don't need to fact check my sources - anymore than you fact check yours.. But my sources at least proffer uop evidence as to why your sources are questionable (their term, not mine).. Why don't you find sources questionging my sources ol' chap.? One of my sources doesn't say everything Brietbart has to say is incorrect.. in fact they cited one artile as mostly true... Again - you like to go on the attack with crap but when people find ways of questioning your assertions and where they're based from, all you can say is "you should check your sources"... Mate, all I can say is I seem to trust my sources like you seem to trust yours.. As I said - you think they're wrong or questionable - you prove it... [edit] Oops... forgot... [/edit]

@kgwilson - many condolences and sad for the additional pressure placed on you. Back to topic - I have cancelled my shareoplane booking to fly to Turkey for Anzac day, and CAT/RPT is out of the question at this stage. There is an organised fly in called Raduno in Italy; I still have my Shareoplane booking for that as it is in mid-June, but not holding out too much hope. (https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=114298) @Flying Binghi - for your entertainment re Brietbardt: | PolitiFact. Of course, some of the citations are older now and there aren't thousands of them, but you wanted more. I personally won't use that site nor give it any traffic whatsoever, but there was a story that made it big here, because it plagiarised a BBC report about the increase in sexual assaults in either Sweden or Switzerland. It falsely stated that sexual assaults were up a significant percentage (I can't recall the exact, but it significant - c. 25% seems to ring a bell) in the sameyear that Europe opened the flood gates to immigrants and blaming the immigrants. The truth was, they were using numbers over a 5 year period where the first year coincided with the country widening the offences that are categorised as sexual assault. If you took the percentage by which the immgrant population increated the total population of the country and compared it to the percentage increase of sexual assaults in that year, it was a comparatve decrease per population. There are other sites that call into question its journalistic integrity. For example, https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/breitbart/. Re the AFP article you quite, it states, "Vigilantes in some Australian outback towns have reportedly slashed tyres ". It doesn't say they have... It quotes a pollie, not facts, and I don't know about you, but when was the last time you heard about a pollie trying to sensationalise something? To use one of your favoured emoticons, ? Just like SloMo, BoJo and now Trumpo, who's inaction has catapulted the US to the biggest of yet something else, are going down the lockdown route... But, hey, you guys obviously know something your idolsa and icons of the free world don't Oh, another emoticon (as after all, that is what most reporting being referred to is): ? Personally, I can't wpork out if it should be , or

Thanks for your responses. Really sad to hear Gordon passed away - I purchased my set directly from him - top chap! I'll give the manufacturer a go - are they still being made at least? Cheers, JA

The UK so far has no theoretical restrictions to VFR flying; the quote in Hunsta's post (#6) comes from the UK DfT. However, there is an effective ban of VFR flying as most, of not all GA airfields have closed to al lbut emergency services traffic due to the order to shutdown all but essential businesses. I am not sure about strip flying, bu a look at FR24 suggests nothing is really happening with private flying GA at the moment. At the moment, commercial flights are operating to allow nationals and residents to return home cross border, even Italy, so I doubt people are turning to GA en masse to get home - at the moment: [ATTACH type=full]51774[/ATTACH] (Note, the small plane to the west of the highlighted plane in a Kenyan Air Force C27J Spartan). There are definitely many fewer planes than normal in the skies and most over or around Italy are bound for other countries But, unlike the total shutdown of CAT (RPT_ like that which happened when the Icelandic volcano erupted, people can get home. (I had a few calls from people I didn't even know asking me if I would taken them to or repartriate them from Europe back then).

Jeez, @turboplanner - do you not sleep?

@onetrack - searched EQ1 wireless headsets and there was not much except for a US retailer discounting them.. Much appreciated, Lance

@Flying Binghi - I agree that we don't know whether or not the 21 year old had underlying issues or not - however, how many people aged, say 18 - 50 have or don't have some underlying issue that will allow the virus to take hold and kill them? We don't know. Regardless, in today's western societies, it is unacceptable that we do not apply our medical knowledge to save lives of people even wuth unknown medical conditions and the problem then becomes, if we allow too many beds to be occupied by people and have to start making decisions about who to give those beds, the percentage and number of deaths will rise - possibly exponentially - and many of those will have been preventable deaths but for the lack of resources to cope. The question then becomes somewhat qualitative - how far to we go to protect what could go well beyond the average mortality rates caused by the flu to preserve our individual freedoms. It's highly subjective and I think comes down to something like this: Do we prevent the spread to keep the infection rate curve shallow so that the herd builds up its immunity but preserving all but those that would succumb to it regarldess of treatment - but maybe even stop many of those from even contracting it, or do we allow it to spread like wildfire and take out those we could normally treat, but make the herd stronger as a result? They are extremes but this is the sort of questions it boils down to. At present, governments on the east and west divide seem to be going for the former and I personally am not uncomfortable with that. @SplitS: I am by no means even knowledgeable on the Aussie constitution and don't have the time to do research. But the article you presetned about declaring an emergency, although not seemingly enshrined in legislation has common law roots - possibly inherited from the British legal doctrine of Royal Prerogative. In the judgment of Pape cited in the article, the majority of the HCA ruled: ‘The Executive Government is the arm of government capable of and empowered to respond to a crisis be it war, natural disaster or a financial crisis on the scale [of the Global Financial Crisis]’. In that case the executive government (the Prime Minister and Cabinet) can act to take control of the disaster even without legislative authority. ' There was a strong dissent by Brennan, but notwithstanding, there was no legal authority cited that overturned or substantially modified the decision in Pape. So, while there is no legislative authority, there appears to be a legal authority. It is conceded the question of fact wasn't tested in the case - but that comes down to whether or not the GFC is sufficient to be called a disaster, emergency or whatever the terminology is. On section 92, the Wikipedia entry is illuminating - basically it is not black and white as people are asserting.. In fact, it seems to come down to as long as there is no discrimination amongs the people of all states, the barrier may well be legal. Under Nationwide News v Wells, cited in the Wikipedia article, the tests of the barriers are, and let's face it, if you are immobilsing people for 14 days for entering, it is in effect a barrier: whether the law is enacted for the purpose of burdening interstate intercourse. [JA: Not technically - they are enacted to stop the spread of Coronavirus] if the law is enacted for some other purpose, whether it is appropriate and adapted to the fulfilment of that other purpose, but a law may be found to be enacted for the prohibited purpose by reference to its meaning or effect. [JA: Tough question - see below] where a law imposes a burden by reason of the crossing of the border, or it has the effect of preventing or impeding the crossing of the border, it will be held invalid if that is its only or chief purpose. [JA: Definitetly not its chief purpose. I like to think the days of rivalry between Vics and NSW, for example, are long gone and only held by a few relics, or those at high risk to COVID-19] the above are subject to permissible regulation which might take the form "of excluding from passage across the frontier of a State creatures or things calculated to injure its citizens", but the severity and need for such measures must still be assessed. [JA: The first part is met and the second part seems to talk to appropriateness above] The bits in [JA...] are obviously my take on it; others may have a different view. The question of appropriateness is probably subjective; why state borders and not local council borders, etc? I can only think that (at least the time of me leaving Australia) is that the states are responsible at least for the administration of the public health systems and therefore, going back to the idea is to slow and hopefully stop the spread so the state health systems can cope, this would seem sensible. I am not a lawyer, and am certainly not a judge.. so my 2 cents worth more than anything. Bu s. 92 appears to be anything but cut and dry.

@gareth lacey - thanks! Hope they have changed names or something...

I am sure younger, fit or otherwise healthy people who contract it and the succumb are not in the same category of numbers as those who have underlying issues or at risk age group, etc, however, here is, sadly, another: Coronavirus victim, 21, 'had no health issues'. Now, what happens if it is your daugher, sister, niece or that of a close friend. A lady in the village lost both her Aunt and Uncle to COVID-19; both well into their 80s, but it doesn't make the pain any less for the survivors.. and they were reasonably fir for their age, too. I happen to live next door to a couple who are both specialists at the local hospital; I have to say, until the conversation I has with them, I was a little, "this is over the top - as even if we all isolate, it will lay there dormant until we start mingling again".. Yes, it will if we don't wait at least 2 or so more weeks after there are NO MORE reported cases. But, as one who is an epedemiologist pointed out to me, once it dies; it dies... I agree the flu kills many 10s of thousands of people a year; I agree that life is not a guarantee; But this is a beast that doesn't appear to only pick off the weak.. the problem is, it is unpredictable in its impact and many more people require intensive care to get through than the flu... And if we allow the infection rate to get up, we won't have the resources to handle the demand and the death rates will rise above what they are now.. It is not a great picture. The next door neighbours live in fear that they will have to decide who gets the ICU bed and who doesn't... You can bet your bottom dollar, when it gets to that, the "at risk" groups will cover a lot more people.

@gareth lacey - yes - I bought them direct from the company. I have searched the internet - the site - microlight.com.au doesn't exist and the last FB post (I joined just to be able to see it) was from 2017 or 2018... I take it there has been nothing in the local press over the last couple of years?

I have a pair of EQ1 headsets and was wanting to get in touch with the manufacturer. It was previously manufactured/distributed by microlight.com.au (I think).. Have they gone bust? Have they sold the rights to Lightspeed (I notice they have a wireless headset now)?

To give you a flavour of whay is happening in the UK, have posted a link to a non-competing forum thread: GA airfield closure - FLYER Forums

Well, the UK is in lockdown... I last flew on Septemner the 14th. A short flight with my son from Blackbushe to Sandown on the Isle of Wight for an organised fly-in/Wings and Wheel day. Couldn't have asked for a better day.. A short clip shot by my son is attached. It was only my second PIC flight in the TB20. We had planned flying from Blackbushe to Sandown, then to Dunkeswell and finally back to Blackbushe, but a late start and overly cautious pre-flight meant we were going to cut it fine, so elecgted to do the 20-odd minute there (and anouther 20-odd minute flight back) and kick back and enjoy the airfield event. The weather was perfect - few cloudsl; light winds and vis was excellent (sometimes it can be really soupy). I throttled her right back as speed was not of the essence. Even so, we were pushing 130kts and it is a different world to the 105kts flat out the Warrior did (I know it can go slioghtly gaster with the nose down - say 110kts). When I throttled back the Warrior to enjoy the sights, it was 90kts.. .So, we arrived a little quicker than I was used to, and I had not yet done my join preparation.. so out to the English Channel a bit and an orbit or 2 as I worked everything out, and then headed in.. I called Sandown's air ground service, which wasn't active, so blind calls were the order of the day. It had a standard overhead join (these didn't exist when I was in Aus), so I did that.. The first approach was sloghtly high and fast, so I broke the approach early and went around.. The second approach was spot on.. I thought it was going to grease it ontoi the grass runway and enjoy golfing green like smoothness until slowing enough to taxi off (there is no designated taxiway - just come off when you want). But, it was rougher than a bogan convention to the point I though the retractable undercarriage was going to be left behind at some stage. But all ended well. The Take off was just as bumpy and in my haste to relieve the nosewheel of the loads, I pulled it off too early and it wheelied down the runway, of which the trees beyond started getting too close for my liking. So I relieved the back pressure slightly and amidst bumps, the beast lifted off and climbed into the wild blue yonder. We orbited around a hot air balloon on the way back (as it was getting late, the traffic has died down a bit) and arrived back at Balckbushe in time to close her down and get home for a late supper. All in all, a good day to be had. At the beginning of October, N20TB went in for a 100 hourly and a bare metal respray - should have taken a month.. Certificate of Release to Service was signed on Monday! I need a check ride and that isn't happening. Today, all GA aerodromes are closed... I guess I may be lucky and get to fly again before the year is out. On the grpahic, the red recantgle is mine to highlight the route in the bord cage airpsace in South East England.

Where you you hail from, squire? Also, note, the weight answers are likely to be in KG, not lbs...

You may have to take them to drone obedience school, Spacey ;-)

UK in lockdown = airfield closed = no flying. With the plane just returned to service after almost 6 months, I was not going to be flying for a while as I need a check ride and they were effectively self-imposed banned anyway.. More time for posting stuff on here.

I agree with FlyingVizsia.. Forcing subscription will eventually constrain your numbers and if that happens, it may not be so appealing to those who subscribe. A members only area, which can be anything from closed forums to additional content or ability to real-time message may be a better option. I am in a similar boat to you; only slightly younger and never developed my own PM methodology, I have been out of contract for only 3 weeks.. But not too much on the horizon and thanks to COVID-19, the new work planned has been delayed at best... Rather than doggedly sticking to looking for work (or worse, having to move back to working in London), I am looking for alternatives - plan B. As I mentioned before, it is probably time to put the PM hat on and develop/execute a plan B. In your shoes, is the site enough to warrant having a go at making it a commercial operation - not to elevate you to Gates of Zuckerman status, but keep the wolves from the door at least. Does the site generate enough traffic that may make sense partnering with other companies. I know you do clear prop, but maybe partner with say a couple of schools and other suppliers to provide special members only discounts to drive up your subscriptions? Obviously, advertisements should be looked at.. they don't have to be intrusive.. per click or advertising space.. Don't over-do it, though. Re clear prop, a $5 margin doesn't seem like a good business model to me.. As soon as you get a return, the cost to handle it has wiped out any profit on that item. I just did a random check and you are $26 cheaper than flightstore.com.au for an ICOM AC-25E transciever and it looks like they add shipping costs on afterwards. You sell ASA-HS1A headsets for $36 less than Skylines at YMMB. And you are selling the Flightcom V30SP $120 cheaper than skylnes!! If you are making money on this (and better still, don't have to carry stock), then you should be being more aggressive with your marketing... and you can still narrow the difference and make a bit more.. In the headset range, you don't have the big names, but still... Now is obviously not a good time to invest a lot in a discretionary consumer goods item in a specialised field, but longer term, you look pretty competitive and you may want to start your planning.. And FFS, you chould have a clear link/ad to clearoprop from the home page of recflying... Are there other GA community/forum sites in Aus that aren't direct competitors - cross reference each other by putting links in and things can improve. Just a few ideas hastily thought.. sure they can be refined.. JA

Yeah, can the person who started this thread, pleae rename it to a more accurate title??!??