CASA will expand access to controlled airspace for sport and recreation pilots from 2025.

[rodgerc]

Here’s their current schedule of fees

 

https://raaus.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Schedule-of-fees-and-charges-V1.0-July-2025.pdf

Edited yesterday at 08:49 AM by rodgerc
URL added

[Love to fly]

3 hours ago, rodgerc said:

Here’s their current schedule of fees

 

https://raaus.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Schedule-of-fees-and-charges-V1.0-July-2025.pdf

The proposed annual registration fee for GA looks kinda trivial against the fees I'd need to pay if I went back to RAAUS. Club membership and plane registration annually seem way up there to this bystander. Remind me what the advantages are of raaus? 

[BurnieM]

21 minutes ago, Love to fly said:

The proposed annual registration fee for GA looks kinda trivial against the fees I'd need to pay if I went back to RAAUS. Club membership and plane registration annually seem way up there to this bystander. Remind me what the advantages are of raaus? 

RAAus;

You can fly up to 760 KG MTOW up 10,000 ft, VFR only with 1 passenger and self declared medical.

You cannot fly in controlled airspace.

 

CASA;

You can fly up to 2,000 KG MTOW up 10,000 ft, VFR only with 1 passenger and self declared medical.

With extra training you can fly in controlled airspace.

 

Oops

 

Edited yesterday at 12:58 PM by BurnieM

[Love to fly]

4 minutes ago, BurnieM said:

RAAus;

You can fly up to 760 KG MTOW up 10,000 ft, VFR only with 1 passenger and self declared medical.

You cannot fly in controlled airspace.

 

CASA;

You can fly up to 2,000 KG MTOW up 10,000 ft, VFR only with 1 passenger and self declared medical.

With extra training you can fly in controlled airspace.

 

Oops

 

Hmm now I'm really struggling with this one. Lower annual fees and the above list have really helped remind me what I'm not missing 🤔😂 

 

So, I can currently fly aerobatics, formation and. IFR. Can fly in controlled airspace. Routine maintenance, apart from the avionics, is done by us. 

 

Guessing I should rejoin RAAUS and gain all the benefits of my RPC. 🤔🤔 

[coljones]

1 hour ago, BurnieM said:

RAAus;

You can fly up to 760 KG MTOW up 10,000 ft, VFR only with 1 passenger and self declared medical.

You cannot fly in controlled airspace.

 

CASA;

You can fly up to 2,000 KG MTOW up 10,000 ft, VFR only with 1 passenger and self declared medical.

With extra training you can fly in controlled airspace.

 

Oops

 

Flying GA at 2000Kg is like heating the house by burning $100 notes in the fireplace.

[BurnieM]

8 hours ago, coljones said:

Flying GA at 2000Kg is like heating the house by burning $100 notes in the fireplace.

Can you expand ?

 

2000 Kg is pretty much all 4 seaters.

So 2 people , 2 small dogs, luggage, camping gear and full tanks.

Not possible at 600Kg and very tight at 760Kg.

 

And if it is amateur built, do the SAAA course and can fully maintain say a Sling TSI.

RAAus 760Kg maintainence is problematic.

 

[Love to fly]

3 minutes ago, BurnieM said:

Can you expand ?

 

2000 Kg is pretty much all 4 seaters.

So 2 people , 2 small dogs, luggage, camping gear and full tanks.

Not possible at 600Kg and very tight at 760Kg.

 

And if it is amateur built, do the SAAA course and can fully maintain say a Sling TSI.

RAAus 760Kg maintainence is problematic.

 

Yep. In case my previous post was too obscure for some. From where I sit RAAus costs more per year than GA. Let alone for owner maintained experimental aircraft. Annual membership and annual registration fees in the RAAUS world make the proposed VH annual registration fee seem trivial. 

[BurnieM]

I understand that people who previously moved their planes to RAAus may be feeling a little put out now.

 

Undoubtedly taking that plane back to CASA could involve a fair bit of work and not insignificant costs but perhaps now is the time to start working this out and publishing the detailed process and costs.

 

However for pilots looking to purchase a plane CASA registered is starting to look like a no brainer.

 

[T510]

I'm looking in to moving my RAAus plane to VH experimental, haven't progressed too far down the rabbit hole yet but I will share what I find

[skippydiesel]

54 minutes ago, Love to fly said:

Yep. In case my previous post was too obscure for some. From where I sit RAAus costs more per year than GA. Let alone for owner maintained experimental aircraft. Annual membership and annual registration fees in the RAAUS world make the proposed VH annual registration fee seem trivial. 

I find your comments intriguing. 

• The RAA/CTA endorsement will come (eventually)
• I believe you can, with training, fly RAA/Formation (?)
• The aerobatic bit is probably not much of a  draw for most RAA pilots but if its a deal maker/breaker then go for GA. 
• Annual cost - Are you comparing financial apples?  I have always understood the RAA membership / inclusive liability insurance, to be a strong selling point (?)

The last point will be of no account to pilot/owners who carry no insurance (met one recently)

😈

[skippydiesel]

1 hour ago, BurnieM said:

Can you expand ?

 

2000 Kg is pretty much all 4 seaters.

So 2 people , 2 small dogs, luggage, camping gear and full tanks.

Not possible at 600Kg and very tight at 760Kg.

 

And if it is amateur built, do the SAAA course and can fully maintain say a Sling TSI.

RAAus 760Kg maintainence is problematic.

 

Hmm!

 

These days you can start with a 300 kg empty weight and a 600 kg MTOW aircraft= 300 kg PayLoad.

 

A 300 kg payload is perfect dooable for two adults,  all the camping gear (for two nights) & some food /cooking stuff (not for the dogs).

😈

[Love to fly]

17 minutes ago, skippydiesel said:

I find your comments intriguing. 

• The RAA/CTA endorsement will come (eventually)
• I believe you can, with training, fly RAA/Formation (?)
• The aerobatic bit is probably not much of a  draw for most RAA pilots but if its a deal maker/breaker then go for GA. 
• Annual cost - Are you comparing financial apples?  I have always understood the RAA membership / inclusive liability insurance, to be a strong selling point (?)

The last point will be of no account to pilot/owners who carry no insurance (met one recently)

😈

I moved to GA many years back. Less than a year after gaining my RPC.  No medical issues or reasons to not fly GA that I could see.  And for me aerobatics was a definite want. Later IFR became important. 

 

Insurance - correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't the RAAUS insurance fairly limited? I thought it only covered 3rd party type stuff? We do have hull insurance etc. But cost is based on plane value, not VH vs numbers. 

Edited 17 hours ago by Love to fly

[skippydiesel]

1 hour ago, Love to fly said:

I moved to GA many years back. Less than a year after gaining my RPC.  No medical issues or reasons to not fly GA that I could see.  And for me aerobatics was a definite want. Later IFR became important. 

All good reasons why to go GA. Seems to me that a large number of GA obviously RAA pilots have little or no interest in IFR or aerobatics

1 hour ago, Love to fly said:

 

Insurance - correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't the RAAUS insurance fairly limited? I thought it only covered 3rd party type stuff? We do have hull insurance etc. But cost is based on plane value, not VH vs numbers. 

There was / is no suggestion that insurance is in any way linked to Rego type.

In the hypothetical, same aircraft, value  /pilot experince etc comparison,  it is suggested that RAA is more cost effective than GA .

RAA due to their member/insurance combination, is able to deliver low cost  liability insurance due to "bulk" bargaining power" .

GA pilots/owners, on the other hand, is an individual negotiation with the insurer - as a consequence may be at higher cost.

I stand to be corrected - GA pilots can fly with no insurance. A considerable cost saving with increased risk.

You are correct - RAA pilots, should they wish, must negotiate higher levels of insurance on a one off basis. Patronising the same insurer ,that supplies the RAA basic, may produce a competitive quote.

😈

[Love to fly]

5 minutes ago, skippydiesel said:

All good reasons why to go GA. Seems to me that a large number of GA obviously RAA pilots have little or no interest in IFR or aerobatics

There was / is no suggestion that insurance is in any way linked to Rego type.

In the hypothetical, same aircraft, value  /pilot experince etc comparison,  it is suggested that RAA is more cost effective than GA .

RAA due to their member/insurance combination, is able to deliver low cost  liability insurance due to "bulk" bargaining power" .

GA pilots/owners, on the other hand, is an individual negotiation with the insurer - as a consequence may be at higher cost.

I stand to be corrected - GA pilots can fly with no insurance. A considerable cost saving with increased risk.

You are correct - RAA pilots, should they wish, must negotiate higher levels of insurance on a one off basis. Patronising the same insurer ,that supplies the RAA basic, may produce a competitive quote.

😈

Okay.  SAAA and the RV group both have negotiated insurance deals.  Not sure of the details.  We are insured with Agile, via their RV policy.  Doubt that we are paying any more than we would be paying to include hull insurance etc via RAAUS.  We would certainly be ahead when we factor in the membership & registration fees.

[skippydiesel]

6 minutes ago, Love to fly said:

Okay.  SAAA and the RV group both have negotiated insurance deals.  Not sure of the details.  We are insured with Agile, via their RV policy.  Doubt that we are paying any more than we would be paying to include hull insurance etc via RAAUS.  We would certainly be ahead when we factor in the membership & registration fees.

Interesting.

 

If I were to depart RAA -GA;

• How would I access a good insurance deal - join SAAA / cost)?
• What is the one off cost of GA Rego?
• Can I transfer my owner/builder/maintenance privileges to GA? If so, is there a cost involved?

I assume that RAA must be offering something attractive, otherwise there would be/ have been a mass exodus to GA .

 

I am fairly sure that there has been a historic financial advantage with RAA and for certain, the medical requirements were significantly less demanding than GA.

The changes to GA (RPL?) seem to have negated the medical advantage, what remains?.

😈

 

[skippydiesel]

Love to fly,

 

I have just read the Thread  "Aircraft General Discussion" - "VH registered aircraft are soon to pay annual registration fees."

 

Your perceived advantages may be being eroded by a greedy bureaucracy.

 

😈

 

[BrendAn]

19 hours ago, jackc said:

Flying Schools who already have RAA Training accreditation simply need to abide by the new amendments to the RAA manual to meet the training requirements?

Just recently I was told flying schools now have to pay a new fee, flying school told  me it’s another money grab by RAA, he is thinking of giving the game away. 

i know of 3 that have chucked it in this year.  getting too hard and expensive is what they are saying.

[Love to fly]

2 hours ago, skippydiesel said:

Love to fly,

 

I have just read the Thread  "Aircraft General Discussion" - "VH registered aircraft are soon to pay annual registration fees."

 

Your perceived advantages may be being eroded by a greedy bureaucracy.

 

😈

 

I mentioned the proposed charges in my post. Methinks it will be way under the annual raaus fee.  Let alone the combined membership and registration fee currently being charged by raaus. And one school of thought is it is being introduced to protect raaus from members leaving for GA. Whether this is correct I have no idea. 

 

Perceived advantage 🤔 no raaus membership or registration fees paid by me in nearly 2 decades. No annual fee paid to casa. My biannual Class 2 medical hasn't been very expensive, and I could always downgrade to a Class 5 which is less than the cost of a cup of good coffee. We're way ahead I think. Happy to be shown to be wrong. 

[T510]

2 hours ago, skippydiesel said:

Interesting.

 

If I were to depart RAA -GA;

• How would I access a good insurance deal - join SAAA / cost)?
• What is the one off cost of GA Rego?
• Can I transfer my owner/builder/maintenance privileges to GA? If so, is there a cost involved?

I assume that RAA must be offering something attractive, otherwise there would be/ have been a mass exodus to GA .

 

I am fairly sure that there has been a historic financial advantage with RAA and for certain, the medical requirements were significantly less demanding than GA.

The changes to GA (RPL?) seem to have negated the medical advantage, what remains?.

😈

 

Skip,

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the cost to insure my Mustang II, especially as a low hour pilot. I called around and got a few quotes and they where all pretty similar - I wasn't a SAAA member when I took out the policy

Transfer fee was $130 under CASA - $15 cheaper than RAA. Will be interested to see what annual rego costs come in at

You would have to do the SAAA Maintenance Procedures Course ($550) as an owner builder. Once Part 43 comes in that applies to owners, not just owner builders (Looking forward to this)

 

Class 5 medical under CASA is self declared and costs $10 ( I have recently done this) 

 

I would have looked at Class G for the Mustang II but I think RAA made a large mistake by not allowing maintenance privileges under Class G

 

Pretty sure there is little financial benefit if any, unless you rely completely on the RAA liability insurance and don't bother with hull insurance. I self insure my cheap planes

[BurnieM]

Don't forget one years membership of SAAA as well so a little over $800 to do MPC for your CASA reg amateur built.

 

Class 5 medical is actually 2 small coffees 🙂 

 

Class G pretty much became a waste of time when CASA announced class 5 medical shortly after.

This was CASA tho after delaying class G several times then introducing class 5 med.

 

Logical thing would have been for RAAus to abandon class G and immediately put effort into driving controlled airspace endorsement.

This did not happen and here we are.

 

[BurnieM]

When I joined RAAus 3 years ago membership was just over 10,000, now it is 9,400.

 

[BurnieM]

Question on aircraft insurance;

                    is your premium any higher with a class 5 medical ?

[facthunter]

Less people are prepared to  spend money on flying. Also how many are active?  You need to compare total Hours flown also.  Nev

[skippydiesel]

5 hours ago, T510 said:

Skip,

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the cost to insure my Mustang II, especially as a low hour pilot. I called around and got a few quotes and they where all pretty similar - I wasn't a SAAA member when I took out the policy

What is your policy (ie public liability or  hull & public liability) , the value of your aircraft and the annual cost.

Transfer fee was $130 under CASA - $15 cheaper than RAA. Will be interested to see what annual rego costs come in at.

Good

You would have to do the SAAA Maintenance Procedures Course ($550) as an owner builder. Once Part 43 comes in that applies to owners, not just owner builders (Looking forward to this)

Sounds like there is no credit for being the builder

Class 5 medical under CASA is self declared and costs $10 ( I have recently done this) 

$10 more than the RAA

I would have looked at Class G for the Mustang II but I think RAA made a large mistake by not allowing maintenance privileges under Class G

I have absolutly no interest in RAA Cass G. Other than to say the whole exercise seems to have been one enormous wast of time, that will no doubt, cost RAA members dear, in increased fees.

Pretty sure there is little financial benefit if any, unless you rely completely on the RAA liability insurance and don't bother with hull insurance. I self insure my cheap planes.

Please explain - "I self insure my cheap planes".

😈

 

[sfGnome]

5 hours ago, T510 said:

You would have to do the SAAA Maintenance Procedures Course ($550) as an owner builder.

That price is about to more than double. Will be published shortly.