kgwilson

A good straight edge is as good as a laser pointer, just a little more difficult to use. I used a bit of aluminium angle as the straight edge

I'll add my positive notes to the early posts. Training at South Grafton is pretty busy with a mix of older and young pilots. I believe that the Aero Club school at Coffs Harbour is also busy. Our club has more flying members than last year only 4 months in. There were fewer visitors from March to now but they are beginning to appear again. I still hear plenty of chatter on the CTAF & fly at least once a week. A few owners fly regularly and a few more occasionally between fortnightly & monthly. I just recently did a BFR and had to book 2 weeks in advance for a time. I include GA singles with my comments other than training which is all RA.

RAAus used to issue annual cards with an expiry date and your pilot status with endorsements on but now issue a membership card only. This is the way of the world nowadays like no rego stickers on cars and now no rego cards for RAAus aircraft either. With an instant internet check available almost everywhere it is not had to determine the current status.

It has nothing to do with counting you as a member. If you do not pay by the expiry date (3 reminders are emailed & texted to you) you are no longer listed as a current member.

I tend to agree that pulling an engine through a few times say once a week during a cold damp winter when there is no flying is going to do the engine more harm than good. It isn't going to move oil around much at all but it is going to suck moisture laden air into the cylinders which will do nothing except promote corrosion. If you decide that you are unlikely to go flying for weeks or months a squirt of inhibitor in each cylinder & a few rotations to distribute it is best. But you also need to block the intake and exhaust to stop moisture laden air sneaking in.

This isn't a problem where I live and I fly throughout the year though we do get very high diurnal temperature and humidity changes so the most effective protection is blocking air intake and exhaust orifices. I do this every time I put the plane to bed even when I am away from home along with the other 8 "remove before flight" covers.

My Gen 3 roller cam follower Jab 3300A cost with instruments etc as mentioned above plus an extended prop flange back in March 2013 $18,633.88 inc GST delivered to my hangar door. Todays price is only a couple of grand more.  I installed a 7 row Positech oil cooler & also needed a battery & regulator. Plus I added EGTs and a carb temp gauge. So engine, electrics, ducting, cooling, instruments was around 20k. The Rotax 912 ULS is a very good super reliable engine but at 35k over the top price wise IMHO.

How about a rebuilt Lycoming IO360 for a Mooney M20J 201 that a friend imported from the US after the original engine had major issues after several thousand hours. Of course Lame installed but total cost was 85k. Now that is eye watering & he still has a 45 year old plane.

So what is the price of a 912 ULS fitted (no labour cost) including exhaust system, airbox & filter, CHT, Tacho, oil pressure and temperature gauges & senders? This is what came with my engine which is why I ask.

No, it,s easy & free to upload to youtube. You just need your own account which costs nothing & then create your own video channel. I`m not sure how much free space you get but it must be a few GB.

There is probably little point and no actual benefit to changing the Rego numbers now given there are 3500 with numbers. They should though all be on the same register IMHO and that details be made public as the VH register is now. Across the ditch all aircraft are on the ZK register. When the 3 alpha combinations run out just add another alpha character or number.

Removing the rego card from RA aircraft won't change anything. Who ever looked at them anyway. I've never seen any RA or CASA people walking around at any flyin checking rego cards. There are aircraft around especially in remote areas or on farm strips that have never been registered & having a card or not won't alter this. You will still have to produce your current rego certificate if requested though.

My engine serial no is 33A2547 & is the roller cam upgrade with 3/8 through bolts so is not included. Mine was the 5th roller cam engine off the line in 2013. The instrument states engines with 7/16 through bolts serial No 33A2540 & above. From 33A2542 they are all roller cam upgrade engines & have 3/8 through bolts with 12 point ARP nuts as far as I am aware so the instrument is only valid for 2  33A engines. Mind you the service bulletin JSB031 includes 33A engines up to S/N 33A2574 but excludes engines with the roller cam upgrade so maybe there were some later S/Ns without roller cam followers but I doubt any had 7/16 through bolts.

I moved from GA to RA to keep my flying affordable and so I built my own aircraft which I do not insure.  I rarely take passengers but always point out the warning placard to them that they fly at their own risk. What sort of defence this would have in a lawsuit I have no idea but I suspect very little. Even if you get the passenger to sign a witnessed waiver before you take them flying can be challenged. Like Bruce if I'd put away the premiums I would have paid for hull and perhaps extra passenger liability insurance  I'd already have enough to pay for half of a new aircraft.

I fly for fun and assess the risks and if the weather is dodgy or I do not feel right in any way I just don't fly. If I am away from home there is never a good reason to return if those risks are there as well. Staying another night or another week or even getting a bus home & going back later are better options. I've done all those things in my GA days & won't be changing now and I won't be getting any insurance either.

It is difficult to determine what is going on as the directors of Evans Head Airpark are not the same as those who began the negotiations for the purchase 5 years ago. The price may have been negotiated back in 2015 when the process began. Who were the hangar occupiers paying their rent to? Were rates being paid to the Council.? What is the role of the Museum Association? Evans Head Airpark Pty Ltd do not have an active website. Hanlons points to a non existent website evansheadairpark.com.au which may be the domain they have purchased but have not created anything yet, possibly because they are awaiting the results from the DA application.

Evans Head Airpark Pty Ltd is still that but some directors etc have changed. The cross runways have been closed so 18/36 (the main runway) is now the only runway. The museum is still operating and it is still planned to develop Aviation housing there. The Great Eastern Flyin has been cancelled next year due to Covid concerns but apparently Matt Hall & others are organising an airshow in early 2021. Reported cost of entry was $90.00 so I'd be staying outside if I was going to go.

It was sold to the present developers George Lefteri and Evans Head Airpark Pty Ltd in April 2020 & a development DA has been lodged with Richmond Valley Council. There were changes to directors lodged with ASIC in June 2020 so the current shareholders are not known at this stage. You can find out if you want to pay though. 

Details below. This is from Hanlons Consulting website.

"The Development Application for the Evans Head Airpark was lodged this week with Richmond Valley Council. This follows extensive discussions and work with Council since the preliminary development application was lodged in December 2015.

Specifically, the project is a community title development comprised of the following features:

Local commercial and recreational aerodrome;

Small scale commercial uses and community facilities associated with the aerodrome;

Museum for military aviation and community groups;

Residential airside precinct with direct access to flying facilities;

26 residential lots on the western side (museum precinct);

59 residential lots on the eastern side (residential precinct); and

23 commercial/industrial/private hangars.

Aircraft maintenance and support hub; and

Boutique hotel and convention centre

Development approval is sought under the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act). Development permissibility is available under the NSW State Environmental Planning Policy (Infrastructure) 2007 and the heritage incentive clause of the Richmond Valley Local Environment Plan 2012. The development triggers the integrated approval provisions of the EPA Act for the Heritage Act, the Roads Act and the Rural Fires Act. An exemption has been sought from NSW Planning under State Environmental Planning Policy 71 Coastal Protection.

Richmond Valley Council is the assessment body with the Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel being the determining body."

I am a volunteer and Trainer with SES. We have a lot of ex Police & military who end up in the paid part of the service mostly in a remote office on a 6 figure salary. Then they seem to go about dictating and giving orders to volunteers. We give our time, knowledge and labour free and have other commitments so we need to be asked if we can do something at a particular time/date. This seems to be a foreign concept for them & they do not want to change. 

I can see parallels in CASA. Having power can be addictive to many. This has not happened overnight as the revolving door of directors will attest. None have been able to change the culture & only legislative change and a total clean out would be able to make any headway.

I spent 30 years dealing with CAA in NZ, originally as the President of the NZ Hang Gliding Association and the difference between that organisation & CASA could not be more stark. When I started flying in Australia I found the general opinion of pilots was that CASA was the enemy. This was quite a shock at the time. It was brought home to me during the Jabiru engine debacle. In simple terms the NZ CAA are like a Coach and CASA is the Cop. 

8 hours ago, RFguy said:

 

The GA headset plug is a mono plug. 

 

Mine are Stereo plugs and most know of are stereo these days.

Bose had a good reputation until the company was bought by Apple. Now they are mediocre but still expensive.

I didn't investigate why. It is not uncommon for different headset brands to be incompatible with one another. May be different these days. This was back in the 90s.

I had an Altronics headset years ago. Worked OK on its own but was not compatible with my Avcomm or David Clarks

The winner of the international model competition in Paris. Instant reverse thrust and control surfaces with a model that must have weighed only a few hundred grams.

It could have been a model or most likely a drone tarted up to look like a Jetpack. https://www.avweb.com/insider/jetpacks-over-lax-wanna-bet/?MailingID=474 

1 hour ago, tillmanr said:

I seem to be too simplistic in my interpretation of voting. 
 

Seemingly 606 members participated and presented a ballot sheet on which they then voted one or two times for a total of 1159 votes.
 

Is this the correct way to view this?

Yes.

1 hour ago, waraton said:

 

That's less than 6% of members submitting a ballot form if we have over 10,000 members. Why?

Apathy. Most pilots only care about their legality to fly. I voted but didn't get the email. I did get the last email on National safety week just 3 days ago so I have no idea what is going on.

As I understood it over the last 20 years or so CASA's staff numbers have doubled at the same time that GA registrations have halved. During that time technology has moved ahead dramatically to reduce manual labour in many areas. The ridiculous delays and changes out of step with other Aviation organisations around the world is one of the issues. Take the RPL. Originally devised in the UK, US, Canada & NZ to allow ageing pilots to continue to fly so long as they could drive a car and implemented in those countries by 2005, it took CASA another 10 years to come up with something completely different and complex.

An organisation with its head in the sand and unwilling to push changes through at pace in this fast modern world should self destruct. If it wasn't a government department that would have already happened.

24 minutes ago, Jeffmel said:

Cannot thank you enough. 

 

I understand the differences of learning in GA planes or small sport planes are like learning to drive in a Golf or 30 yrs old Kenworth. 

 

Basic concepts such as road rules, steering and gear changing are similar so it make sense to start with a Golf. 

 

Plus, it does not cost much for a RPC - RPL conversion, the latter one gives me more freedom in choosing planes and taking pax.

 

So I think the road for me will be RPC - numerous ratings - RPL (start having fun with families) - PPL (in the future) - CPL (maybe)

 

I will check the schools you mentioned hopefully find one suits me. 

A sound plan. So long as you have your Class 2 medical you can do just about as much with the RPL as a PPL during daylight hours.

The problem is that over many decades Republicans have sought to skew the process to ensure they retain power with the Electoral College system with Republican winners like Trump, Bush and Nixon becoming Presidents without receiving a majority of the popular vote. Even Hilary Clinton who was not well liked by many got nearly 3 million more votes than Trump and lost.

Now of course Trump & Republican controlled states are desperately trying to make voting and voter registration more difficult and spreading baseless misinformation of the legitimacy of mail in voting.