This sock seems to still work however the one meter hole seems to extend all the way through, perhaps there's a bit worn off the end.

Of course I picked to worst time to try to fix it with the wind at 30kph. It might not look too high but from up there it feels like there's a gale blowing it it's a very long way down.

I've got my hands on a new used one so this morning I'm busy with repairs.

Man, these things are big, 3.5m long and a meter at the mouth. I thought I'd repair it with the sewing machine but that's not going to happen. I'm using a rubberised paint to glue the new material over the holes. It might hold, it might not.

Meanwhile while the paint dries I'm running the grader over the airstrip, just 17-35 because the creek is washed out between here and the other airstrips.

I flew in a few weeks back and made use of their courtesy car for a couple of days (very much appreciated). Great facilities and clubrooms.

Sadly, I didn’t see a soul out there to thank them in person, but the weather was a little wild.

A tad surprising as I have not landed at YGLB within the last 5 years or so (would have to check logbook for precise date).

Called AVDATA,  charming lady (CL) answered - Turns out the charge was for doing a low pass ? WTF?  Who knew you could be charged for an aerial manoeuvre ?

I  explained to CL, that not only had I no intention of landing but there was also a high wing (Foxbat?) backtracking on the runway at the time, so I couldn't land and no I definitely wasn't training.

Apparently YGLB charge for any fly past under 1000 ft AGL. I checked ERSA - no mention of this innovative Toll on the airspace.

My thanks to CL who has waved the fee.

Was the Forum aware that you could be charged for a fly past??😈

Looks like they listened...

Autonomous aircraft boost logistics reach

WWW.DEFENCE.GOV.AU

---

Air Force is developing autonomous aircraft to strengthen logistics across northern Australia.

I thought I would share my recent experience in renewing my ASIC.

I got the email that it was coming up, and actioned it straight away.  I chose the post office option, so went down that day to the Post Office to get it processed.  Wed 1 April.

7 Days later I received an email to say it was approved. Wed 8 April

The following week I had the card in my hand.  

The only gripe I have is my existing card, that I have no sent back, expired in May.  This new card expires in April.  So being quick to renew, actually means I have lost a month, so I should have waited until 1 May to renew.  But I had heard the horror stories and didn't want to risk being without one.

PS - This was through Veritas.

Cheers

J

The snappy little cartoons, below, from CASA are, I reckon, very effective in getting useful messages across.

They're far more bang for the buck than, say, the webinar series also to be found on the CASA Briefing website.

For example:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUpU9ikmeEc&t=411s

To me, even actual real-world seminars, more often than not, fall short of expectations.  In any case, the usual 'house-keeping', fumbling, waffling etc. is not, any longer, acceptable in any kind of screen format. If the information in those webinar presentations is worth telling it should be re-purposed for publication on-line, i.e, professionally 'produced'. It wouldn't take much. Most of the resources are already in place. They'd end up a tenth of the length and ten times more effective. Production values - and educational outcomes - can't just be left to chance. The internet won't take it anymore.

Still and all, there's lots of very good stuff on the CASA site:    https://www.youtube.com/@CASABriefing/videos

And these little cartoons are, IMHO, definitely on the right track.

I've recently bought a D11 in NZ which has the 420x150 Auster/Chipmunk tyres fitted. While they are in reasonable shape they look to be about $1000 each as very few aircraft use them.

A couple of Jodel owners in the UK refer to using a 4.80/4.00-8 Kenda 371 trailer tyre, which appears to fit a different wheel, but is about 10% of the price and has some track record on Jodels. It's also easy to get on ebay whereas no doubt the aeroplane tyre will be "out of stock" should I want to get them locally. 

The plans for my aeroplane are from Frank Rogers, and in them he refers to the wheels as "Austral wheel co pty ltd BH72", aluminium alloy construction,and provides an address in Melbourne. The wheel part number, business, and address all seem to have faded into history from my limited searching online. Well the address exists, but it's almost CBD Melbourne so there's not going to be a wheel factory there!

Measurements on the plans suggest the Kenda tyre may be a close fit to the BH72 wheel.

Artificial stupidity says a BH72 wheel is from a wheelbarrow. At least it did last night, now all wheelbarrow references seem to have gone...

Looking at pics of D11s in Australia, it appears some have the Auster/Chippy tyre, and others may well have trailer tyres.

Would anyone on here be party to what tyre and wheel options are used on Jodels in Australia? If there's an option to get a wheel which matches the plans I have, which would likely fit the Kenda tyres I'd be very interested to hear about it. 

At some point in the near future I'm likely to want to make a set of wheel spats that fit a bit better than the current examples, so prior to that I would like to establish if I'm stuck with the current tyres or not, as the tyres used will clearly affect the fit of any wheel spats I make. 

Thanks in advance for any info folks. 

The RAAus Technical Manual says

    "Only appropriately qualified Part 66 licence holders may carry out maintenance on an amateur built lightweight aeroplane unless an individual has been authorised under CASA instrument 18/22 (or updated instrument)".

Reading CASA instrument 18/22, it's all pretty straightforward (in their typical roundabout way). If you built it, or if you own it and have built an essentially similar aircraft in the past, then you can do the maintenance. So far, so good.

However, right down near the bottom of the CASA document, it says

   "13. Before a person performs any activity authorised by this instrument, the person must hold a certificate of attainment, in the topics and standards specified in clause 12, from a course or an organisation mentioned in Annex 3",

and then Annex 3 says

   "Training course and training organisations recognised by CASA for the purpose of this instrument

    1. Sport Aircraft Association of Australia (SAAA) Maintenance Procedures Course as approved by CASA.

    2. A CASR Part 147 Maintenance Training Organisation that is approved by CASA to provide category licence training."

The thing to note is that there is no organisation that meets the requirements of point 2, so the only way that a builder of a lightweight aircraft can do their own maintenance is to join SAAA in order to do the course (which does not run very often). Talking with Jared at RAAus, he said that they are trying to get an existing online TAFE course approved by CASA for this purpose, so this may change. However, as of this date, that's CASA's rule, and what CASA say, goes.

p.s. Note that the required course is not about maintenance; it's about procedures i.e. how to fill in the paperwork.

p.p.s. Another interesting catch is that you can register your aircraft after obtaining your experimental certificate (CofA), etc, but you can't fly it until the maintenance release is signed, and if you haven't done the course yet, then you have to find a LAME to sign the release. Until then, no fly...

"CASA this week published the deliberations of a Technical Working Group (TWG) that has recommended several changes to the Class 5 medical standard limitations, but will leave the 2000-kg restriction in place.
 

The TWG met in November last year under the supervision of Principal Medical Officer Kate Manderson, making several recommendations to CASA through the Aviation Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), which, if accepted, could see modifications to most of the restrictions applied operations under the Class 5 self-declared medical.

Among the key recommendations are:

• the 2000-kg MTOW limit remain in place
• POB limit of two be increased to four
• the 10,000-feet altitude limit remain in place, but be reviewed under the Class 4 framework
• controlled airspace access remain in place
• aerobatics be permitted provided the aircraft has no passengers and not be flown in competition or air shows
• day VFR only be retained, but IFR be reviewed under the Class 4 framework
• formation flying be permitted provided with one passenger only and not in air shows or flying displays
• the requirement for a Class 5 candidate to never have been refused a CASA medical be removed
• the ban on medical stimulants to treat ADHD be removed."
   

I have wire reinforced SCAT tubing. The wire is in the way of what I want to do.

I have removed the wire but it leaves the "fabric" damaged - it does the job "at a pinch".

Would much prefer something similar to SCAT, without the wire.

Anyone know of such a product and where I can get it from????

All constructive suggestions welcome.😈

For most on this Forum its the price of ULP and Avgas. To get to/from the airfield & then fly the aircraft and what of refueling during a trip away?

A major influence in fuel pricing, that has always intrigued me, is the cost of diesel.

Diesel underpins  EVERY aspect of our lives (including petrol cost), yet its price rarely seems to be of significant concern to the general public.

Our Government taxes diesel at about 43%/Litre (not an insignificant amount). Therefore this tax is effectively influencing every aspect of our lives, yet there is no suggestion, from the Gov of reducing/suspending this  during the current fuel emergency.

• The consumption of petrol can be significantly reduced, without too much impact/pain on the wellbeing of the public and econamy.
• The consumption of diesel can not be significantly reduced, without severe societal/economic ramifications. 
• The Gov stand to have diesel tax revenue windfall,with the rise in the cost of diesel.

So far the Gov has toyed with the idea of;

• a national reduction in speed limits, as a way of conserving fuel  - predominantly petrol ie little impact on diesel consumption/cost.
• asking (directing?) people to work from home - another petrol reduction initiative.
• car pooling - reduction in petrol consumption.
• reducing some services  (eg weekly rubbish collection) - at last a potential reduction of diesel consumption

I suggest all Forum meters contact their Federal (&State) local members to express their concern about the price of diesel.

FYI - How the price of diesel is arrived at in Australia;

ttps://www.aip.com.au/sites/default/files/download-files/2020-06/Facts%20about%20Diesel%20Prices%20and%20the%20Australian%20Fuel%20Market_1.pdf

😈

😈

From the channel's  'About':

"The light aircraft in question in this blog is a Jodel DR-1050 MV Sicily Record F-PKPL,

powered by a 100 hp Continental O-200 driving a Ratier propeller. Although this plane was designed in 1959,

it still performs very well today, since it can reach a cruising speed of 210 km/h (factory plane).

It is a 2+2 seater, with an empty weight of 460 kg, and a maximum take-off weight of 780 kg.

It was built by Pierre Peuzin between 1985 and 1993.... The rest of this presentation on this link:

http://speedjojo.blogspot.com/p/accueil.html"

Im looking at getting back in the air, having had some minor experience in a C337 in my teens.

As a 40-something now, obtaining my RPL through RAAUS seems to suit my future plans.

In terms of aircraft, I've always loved Jabs, and again, I think that if I were to venture into aircraft ownership in the future, it would probably be J230.

As i'm basically starting my flight training again, with the view to eventually flying between SA, VIC & NSW, im also looking to do my instrument rating over time too.

Ideally, I'm looking for a safe and competent instructor (possibly younger) with a Jab who would either like to build their hours as an instructor, or maybe someone semi-retired who would rather fly 2-up, especially on the odd cross-country.

I am a current member of RAAUS, and am both safety and checklist-focused.

I am also looking to gain experience in UPRT, AQP and dmms in the future.

If you think that we can potentially work together, please feel free to send me a dm and we can talk further.

Obviously, im happy to pay whatever your going rate is.

Pic for attention 😎 

Ben

Very pretty tho.

Still trying to find the radar pages.

Found the links but all the NSW radar pages are missing and it goes to a generic 'Weather map' page. Zooming in gives an almost useless  display.

Not happy BOM

It pays more respect to aeronautical realities (both physics and politics) than the average aviation movie does.

And there's a nice part in it for our own 'Bud' Tingwell, mid career. 

"At the dawn of jet-powered commercial aviation, an unexplained crash is hastily blamed on pilot error, disgraced Captain Gort must infiltrate the airline's inner circle to expose a lethal design flaw. With corporate forces silencing whistleblowers and another flight scheduled on the same doomed aircraft, he races to ground the plane before history repeats mid-air."