FlyingVizsla

Article in Australian Pilot (AOPA August) magazine points out 20% of the VH fleet reported "Nil Hours Flown" for the year.

Sue

Would you be able to give me the heads up on how I can join the instructors forum ?

 

Thanks Sue

 

Regards

 

Wayne

Send Admin (Ian) a PM (click on his picture or find him through Members) & "start a conversation". For the instructors' forum you have to show some evidence of being an instructor. The forum is designed so that instructors can discuss issues amongst themselves; without the background noise. It has gone a little quiet in there, but it is an ideal forum to discuss handling difficult students or aircraft, developing Safety Management Systems for your School, networking, advice etc. The other good avenue of communication is the Chat rooms. You can do the video thing with whoever comes along, or you can go into a Private Room and control who can enter. The advantages of this - you could assist theory students without having to both travel, you can mentor new instructors and connect with others, get advice etc.

Sue

Wayne,

Good to hear someone operating out of Wondai. I used to live in the South Burnett (many years ago). You may be able to shed some light on the discussions on this forum about the Wondai airstrip. There was talk about it being sold off by the Council etc.

Good to have you on board!

Sue

RAA supplies statistics to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) for each calendar year, as does every other aircraft operator. RAA gets this data from you when you re-register your aircraft and then rolls that up into an annual summary for BITRE. The results are published each year. Unfortunately 2010 was released in Jan 2012, which means waiting till 2015 to get the years 2012 & 2013 to see if there was a downturn. Unless RAA release their information earlier. You can read the full reports for each year here:

http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/general_aviation_activity.aspx

Below: a snapshot of the hours flown by category - perhaps someone could offer some conjecture as to why the hours dipped in 2010, particularly for certified aircraft. What was happening, apart from Qld cyclones & floods? The GFC 2007/2008 didn't seem to affect flying hours.

back Mad dog.

Sue

Profit & Loss statements up to the end of May 2013 - extrapolated to the end of June 2013 and compared to last financial year:

Memberships down about 5% (financial growth in previous years 7%, 5%, 12%)

Aircraft Registrations down by 15% (previous growth 13%, 16%, 15%)

Members Market Advertising up 24% or 13% (prior year description not clear)

Income is down 8.7%, Expenditure up 7.2% on last year.

Our hangar is full of aircraft that are now out of registration, to get them renewed is maybe a bridge too far, particularly for one. Unfortunately the previous years' financials don't have enough detail to compare new registrations for each year. There's still planes in hangars, but less are flying, and people not flying are not renewing memberships.

Sue

Keith,

We had lots of silence when things were going bad. If you look at the RAA Members Only portal you will see there is more information than we have been used to. Weekly rego updates, monthly financials (up to end of May now - will give it a look tonight) - minutes of meetings, documents suggesting change, audits, Deed of Agreement etc. Ticking along nicely. Rather should I say whispering along.

I will be at the meeting at Ausfly to hear from our leaders. Communication works both ways.

Sue

BMA Blackwater got approval at the June Council meeting to establish a 1,152 room accommodation village on the mine site, guessing some may want to try flying their private planes in. The reason I was enquiring about Security Gates, was that at some other mines with airstrips, you have to pass through the company's security gate - sign in, pick the coloured marble out of the bag (wrong colour and you are drug & alcohol tested), do the induction video, sign the "I am not fatigued" declaration, be issued with PPE (unless you have your own approved), pin on the Visitor tag or swipe the card. Then go through the paperwork for "I came through the gate but I am flying out and therefore have to be struck off the list of people on the mine site (for blasting, emergencies etc) when departure is notified."

The consultant's report is no longer available on-line - it would have been in the Agenda which is now not available. For Council to take Blackwater over they would be looking at employing staff as Airport Reporting Officers, cleaners, slashers, building & pavement maintenance etc. The consultant also noted that the width of the airstrip no longer complied with the RPT standard and it would require widening, several things that infringed the surface area to be relocated ... their costings based on the number of passengers was an extra $120 per RPT passenger on top of the usual landing fees. This would kill off most custom. Emerald (71km - 45mins) has up to 12 flights a day with two airlines, spacious modern terminal, cafe, fuel, light aircraft hangars & tie down area, pilot room, cross strip, flying school, LAME, charter operators, car hire; just too attractive to make Blackwater viable. There were also issues with the airstrip sitting on a large plot of land, the Qld Govt can only have one leaseholder per parcel and it was going to get complicated.

Council is considering the sale of the Emerald Airport. It has been a black hole for money, but should be running at a profit. I have seen a summary of the recommendations but not the full report. It now falls to the Council to decide if it is in the ratepayer's interest to sell a fully functioning airport with all the bells & whistles. They are presently building a charter only terminal to save the miners going through security screening at the RPT terminal.

Sue

Council offered to take it over in 2010, but the consultant report said it would need upgrading etc and it failed at a Council meeting in 2010. Try asking the Mines Inspectorate if the airstrip would be included under the mine (it is on their mine lease) and subject to having a BMA induction. Can't remember where the security gate is - at the office or on the entrance. Have not been out there for a while. Do you need to go through security to get to the airstrip?

I'll see what reports I can find regarding Blackwater from CHRC minutes & agendas.

Sue

Regarding Blackwater - It sits on Lot 22 HT600 which is approx 2,700 ha (6,700 ac) of Lands Lease (ie owned by the Qld State Govt and leased) - which tells you that this block was never a dedicated airstrip. I would have to ask people who have been around longer if it had been a strip before BMA leased it. The local Council does not control it, however I could follow the trail in the minutes, as they certainly discussed it. If you have a look at the ERSA entry for Blackwater, it notes a number of issues - blasting, towers, dragline boom, infringements, that impact on safety. It is also a Security Controlled Airport. BMA would be considering their liability.

Q-Link ceased services due to low numbers, Council supported that because they had spent $13million on upgrading Emerald. Blackwater airport is 11km out of town, so you have to drive there, Emerald, with far more flights & services and better terminal is only 71km. BMA have stated a number of times that they have no intention of mining the airstrip (but would not rule that out for the distant future). By my estimation from other local strips, it would have cost in excess of $2mill to establish and it is in constant use by their own charter flights and RFDS (over 100 flights per year). They have an airport reporting officer, all the manuals etc required for regular charter services. One issue they have - Fire & Rescue services - are not adequate for RPT. They were relying on Emerald to provide these services as Blackwater is a volunteer unit. Two minor RPTs have expressed an interest in resuming flights to Brisbane, but have not, as yet, succeeded. Skytrans was the last I heard of in 2012. The mining downturn has reduced population and probably passenger numbers.

Various groups have attempted to "save" Blackwater, or have RPTs returned. The local State & Federal Ministers have approached BMA & CHRCouncil. The local Blackwater Workers' Club (last year) were well advanced on an offer to take over the airstrip. One of the present CHRC councillors is a supporter of the "re-opening" of Blackwater. The ERSA entry only has a restriction to Night use (emergencies only). Try ringing and asking if they would allow a private plane to land - I have not heard what their response is - but have not heard anyone denied.

It is a private strip, on an active mine. BMA would be considering the issues of risk involved with allowing anyone to enter and undertake uncontrolled activities. I could give you a few names of community people already involved with the fight for the strip.

Springsure is not under threat, Rolleston is getting an upgrade.

Sue

Sue is yours 19 reg?

10 - out of rego - need under wing No.s, aircraft drawings & data pack, more photos. Not sure where the drawings went - lent to someone? Built more than 20 years ago.

19 - out of rego - need Inspector's W&B, more photos

55 - renewed - out on loan

10 - won't bother - Scout needs lots of work & he's too heavy to get it off the ground.

The C152 has to go for its corrosion inspection, its in pieces getting stripped and refurbished.

We have turned the house upside down looking for things (he loves junk with a passion) and keeps all his magazines, receipts, old nails, dead oil filters & batteries, phone books etc, but not in any order or accessibility, so finding anything is a challenge. It also doesn't help that we have things spread over several towns as we both live & work away from home and our hangars are a distance from us - the furthest is 7.5hrs drive. So, thinking "it's probably in the top drawer at ..." means it will be a week, a fortnight, a month or 3 months before we can check.

We will be driving to Ausfly. A bit of aviation porn might get him motivated again.

Sue

So if aircraft is grounded due to raa inefficiecy, it is in a remote location, you now have to foot a large bill for an L4 or LAME to travel and do a W&B?

When we got the letter asking for (among other things) photos of the underwing numbers, my darling argued long that it did have them, I hadn't looked hard enough. It was quite a surprise to him to find the under wing rather blank when he got there. So, getting numbers cut, have to pick them up, then travel to wing, apply, photograph and go home without a fly.

Sue

Others are worse off than us

We have been asked for our CURRENT Weight & Balance signed by an Inspector. A copy of our W&B provided when the aircraft had its final inspection was attached to the request. Reading the Ops Manual it seems a W&B can be done by an L2 - so beats me why we need an inspector (L4). Can only surmise that there was something wrong with the initial W&B - which was done by a LAME/L4.

Sue

We have two aircraft with overdue rego. Got a preliminary request for info (photos), started complying (aircraft is 7hours drive away), then got another list that has a lot more. As one was a recent home built the request was for the info that went in but seems to have been lost. The other had been registered for many years and needs underwing numbers - again another trip. By the time we discovered we needed an inspector to provide W&B etc the aircraft was out of rego, so now need to get an inspector to come to a remote area. The boss is losing enthusiasm. We will fly again, unlike some who now own garden ornaments. The C152 is undergoing a repaint and refurbishment, just when some quick transport would have been ideal. So rego time depends on the response from HQ (which is much better now), but also on what the previous administration has "lost" or not asked for when the regs changed.

Sue

Hi Chezza,

Try getting in touch with the Australian Women Pilots' Association.

They have a WA chapter - here's their website & contacts http://www.awpa.org.au/contact-us

They do a lot of networking, have social and flying get togethers, tours of air traffic control, competitions etc.

AWPA have a range of scholarships, awards, trophies & funding open to members, non-members & even men!

Unfortunately I am in central Qld - a bit far to share the C152. Enjoy your flying.

Sue

Chris

Congrats on the Pilot Cert!

Sue

Keith,

As I understand it the SMS has been rolled out to Flight Training Schools as a template - perhaps you could visit your nearest school and offer to help with it. For example volunteer to be one of the Safety Management group, help tidy up the processes, look for hazards etc. This could be particularly useful at small schools, eg CFI only schools where they don't have extra staff to call on.

The Co-ordinator for the SMS is who ever is nominated - could be the GM (who then directs his staff to "make it so"), or maybe a Board member who can then direct the GM. There are many ways to solve the problem.

Sue

Thanks for your reply rgmwa - I'm just trying to work out how to send a conversation, then I will contact you.

To start a conversation (sometimes called a PM or Private Message) click on his picture, then on "start a conversation". Then you can do a message that will pop up on his inbox with an alert to his own email (saying there is something in his inbox at RecFly). Only the two of you see this conversation, but you can invite others. To see your inbox look up to the top right - next to your name.

Welcome to the Forum

Sue

How much does the magazine cost? This is only to the end of March 2013 (all without GST)

Expenses

RA-Aus Publications $218,332.71 (this might include other things like self promotion)

Income

Magazine Sales $8,090.37

Display Advertising $2,431.82

Members Market Advertising $19,257.96

Plus an unspecified amount as part of the membership fee (note it costs $60 for a 12 month subscription only membership)

Income for 9 months = $29,780.15

Expenses for 9 months = $218,332.71

Difference = $-188,552.56 (9 months), $- 251,403 for 12 months - this comes from member subscriptions

Guess 9,200 members = $27.35 each per year

Note that these figures don't take into account the time spent by employees in their normal course of work, and not sure if part of the postage may be attributable to the magazine. Being a part year statement, some bills, income may be outstanding.

One advantage of the magazine - if a notice is placed in it, it is deemed to have been delivered to every member. The other advantage is being able to hand them on, leave them at the hairdressers, surgery, flying school etc.

Sue

Now on the RAA Members Only portal - a link to the CASA Surveillance Manual. This contains the methodology for scoring RAAOs (of which RAA is one). I suspect RAA has scored badly on some of these and this is why CASA is taking an interest.

Read it and score your organisation. What did you get? Could it be improved? What can we do?

Sue

RAA have published the CASA Deed of Agreement for 2012/13 on the Members Only portal. It is a scanned copy.

Read it for yourselves.

There will be an exam.

Sue

Since the invention of solar powered lighting for small strips, it's something for every country airstrip owner to think about installing - particularly if they regularly push last light. They can be set to come on by a light sensor, and turn off on a timer. Wish they'd been available when we lived out in the bush and operated early/late in the day. Reckon it would be money very well spent.

There was a whole thread on it a couple of years ago.

Sue

Possibly commuting. The aircraft was registered to a company with an office in Camberwell and a residence under the same company in rural Boxwood with what looks like an E-W strip in the paddock. ATSB are doing an investigation.

Further news article citing bad light. Photo shows VH-CKS

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-28/bad-light-may-have-contributed-to-fatal-plane-crash/4786906

I am very impressed. I feel we have turned a corner.

We got the renewal with the standard photocopied (send us photos of everything) form and were working on that - the plane being hangared 600km away and being a recent build, many photos had already been sent to HQ. Problems with camera / operator, printer etc and we were still looking at another trip to get the last in focus picture. Then we get an email from RAA temp staff requesting just one photo, which we could email. Easy!

The change is that they had got our file out before we sent anything in, and assessed it for missing info.

I now have confidence in the system as it is getting pro-active rather than reactive.

Sue