old man emu

Yesterday I passed my annual Heavy Vehicle Driver's medical. Now I am considered physically and mentally fit to drive an 80-seater bendy bus fully loaded with school children at 100 kph on a freeway in peak hour traffic. However, according the CASA, I am not physically fit enough to fly solo circuits in a VH-registered Jabiru at my local airport (Camden).

Why? Because a stress echocardiograph conducted by a cardiac specialist revealed "T-wave inversion in lead III." Conclusion - Normal stress echo with no evidence of myocardial ischaemia.

This T-wave inversion, without associated breathlessness, occurs in about 5% of the population. It is a normal genetic variation. However AVMED would knock back my Class 2 medical on the basis that my cardiac function was not "normal"

If AVMED will not accept normal genetic variation in cardiac function, then how long before they start knocking back applicants who are blue eyed and auburn haired? This combination is surely a minority amongst the whole human population.

It is time that the faceless arbiters of AVMED emerged into the real world.

OME

Ahh! There's the rub! Although I have been a member in the past, I'm not at present. Therefore I cannot access the RAA Intranet.

My reason for wanting to see what was in the L2 course was to be able to compare it to the content of the Certificate IV in Aeroskills, which is the qualification that an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (not a LAME) obtains at the end of an apprenticeship.

OME

Those links are to the forms to be submitted when applying for a Maintenance Authority.

What I am looking for is a link to the training course so that I can see what is contained in the course. When I try to use the link in the RAAus site I get a 404 error.

OME

Please post an active link to the RA-Aus web page that would contain information regarding the qualifications required for the issue of L1 to L4 maintenance approvals.

Thanks

Old Man Emu

I reckon that the Yanks found the plans, too.

But I agree that restoring (actually, completing) the Horten would be a wonderful thing.

OME

This story is making me itchy!

As a result of CASA's AVMED incredibly high health standards,

I suppose it would not take a great effort of recall to name the fatal commercial aviation incidents over the past ten years or so where mental or physical health has been a factor. Now determine the ratio of that type of fatal incident to

a) Fatal commercial flight incidents where the cause is attributable to non-human factors

b) The number of commercial flights made during the period under review where no incident of any type occurred.

I bet the ratio is an infinitesimal size.

OME

The Piper VH-PBS is operated by a flying school at Camden. Based on its registration call-sign, it is known around the airport as "Peanut Butter Sandwiches"

And that's about all I know about the matter.

OME

So, can anyone tell me why an RAA instructor has to pass a Class 2 medical?Chris

He's effectively performing as a commercial pilot, so he should be maintaining a higher level of all skills and obligations.

As a result of CASA's AVMED incredibly high health standards, an Australian pilot surely has the ability to destroy 99% of known diseases in a single flypast.

OME

Who went belly up? The stuff is located in Emerald, Qld

Spot on. You can't be just simply a manager, nor just simply a pilot, you need both skill sets, for complete understanding of the requirements of the setup

Anyone involved in the upper echelons of running a business MUST accept that, although the final decision rests with them, they must be guided by the sound advice of persons expert in the component areas of the business's activities. Henry Ford didn't build a leading world-wide manufacturing business by swinging a spanner himself. He engaged the people who could either do the coal-face work, or provide him with sound advice on which to make his decisions.

Subsection 6.6 of the RA-Aus Governance Policy outlines the relationship between the Board and the CEO.

1. The CEO is required to implement the strategy approved by the Board

2. The CEO has the right to rely on the Board for clear direction, mentoring and support.

Specific CEO responsibilities include:

 developing and recommending business plans for the Board’s consideration.

 submitting reports, budgets and financial statements to the Board.

 implementing all approved plans, policies and programmes and achieving agreed targets.

 overseeing the financial management of the organisation.

 maintaining awareness of the business, economic and political environment as it affects the organisation.

 overseeing the effective operation, administration and development of the company.

 protect and enhance the image and reputation of the company.

 ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory obligations.

Clearly, an good CEO recognises that the role is like that of an orchestra conductor's. Each member of the orchestra has the skills to get a tune from their instrument, but the conductor's skill is reading the composer's score to bring the individual tunes together as a symphony.

RA-Aus needs a CEO who see the role as that of a coordinator, not an autocrat.

Old Man Emu

Skidmore won't. Someone's put the skids under him.

Canardly understand you, OME Nev

Down with Duck Tape! One way or the eider.

OME

nothing to do with it?

I hope that they start pulling the security passes of the neo-fascists of Sub-continent origin who are bullies at Immigration Control. Not the people who sit behind the desks, I mean the line-up monitors before you get to the desk. After 24 hours in an aluminium tube, you don't need to be treated like sheep anymore.

OME

Phil, What's NTDWI? I can't translate Cryllic.

There is no scientifically proven basis for saying that a person with a body mass index (BMI) in excess of 35 suffers from sleep apnoea. It is just that at that number, the possibility that a person will suffer the ill effects of sleep apnoea increase. The BMI number of 35 is not a magic number, it is just a reference point. The stupidity of relying on this BMI particular number is that licensing authorities (CASA, and vehicle licensing bodies) are black and white about it. If you lost a small percentage of your body mass and your calculated BMI came in less than 35, these bodies would not blink, even though you might snore to wake the dead.

Leaving sleep apnoea aside, if someone did work on lowering their BMI, they would reduce the possibility of developing other, known, weight related problems.

Here are some links for further reading:

BMI Calculator | The Heart Foundation

{{meta.og.title}} (BMI and Waist Measurement)

It is interesting what the Heart Foundation says about the applicability of BMI:

BMI is a useful measurement for most people over 18 years old. But it is only an estimate and it doesn’t take into account gender, age, ethnicity and body composition. We recommend you also check your waist measurement, and other risk factors.

It seems that getting rid of the beer gut is a good way to beat sleep apnoea, and its mates.

The bad type of sleep apnoea is Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. Most cases of OSA are believed to be caused by:

• old age (natural or premature)
   
   
  
• brain injury (temporary or permanent)
   
   
  
• decreased muscle tone. This can be caused by drugs or alcohol, or it can be caused by neurological problems or other disorders. Some people have more than one of these issues. There is also a theory that long-term snoring might induce local nerve lesions in the pharynx in the same way as long-term exposure to vibration might cause nerve lesions in other parts of the body. Snoring is a vibration of the soft tissues of the upper airways, and studies have shown electrophysiological findings in the nerves and muscles of the pharynx indicating local nerve lesions.
   
   
  
• increased soft tissue around the airway (sometimes due to obesity), and
   
   
  
• structural features that give rise to a narrowed airway.
   
   
  

In adults, the most individual with OSA syndrome are obese, however obesity is not always present. Adults with normal body mass indices (BMIs) often have decreased muscle tone causing airway collapse and sleep apnoea. The cause of this is not well understood.

Then there is the FAA's attitude to BMI. Take note of the BMI value they use:

Obestity, Obstructive Sleep Apnea and BMI Calculation

OME

I think it's spelled "mammaries".

Watch out for bindiis. You might get pricked.

The Emu War

Australia cannot lay claim to any great empires or epic conquests, but we do have one distinction that no other nation on Earth can boast: we are the only country in history to lose a war to birds.

In 1932, the farmers of Western Australia, fed up with the 20,000 emus that kept dropping in to their farms to eat all their crops, went to defence minister Sir George Pearce to demand he take action to safeguard the precious wheat of the Campion region.

Pearce, a man who knew the value of a show of strength, decided that what the emus needed was a hefty dose of good old-fashioned military might.

And so Major GPW Meredith of the Royal Australian Artillery was sent, along with two soldiers, two Lewis guns, and 10,000 bullets, into the scrubland to show the emus just who was the more highly-evolved species.

PHOTO: The emu: a native animal that is essentially a cross between an armoured car and a velociraptor.(Flickr: The b@t)

Almost immediately the expedition ran into trouble. The soldiers attempted to herd the emus into a suitable place in which to mow them down en masse, but the birds, well-trained in guerrilla tactics, continually split into small groups and ran off in different directions, making it damnably difficult for the guns to draw a bead on them. Also, the guns jammed.

Also, when the guns worked, and when an emu stood still long enough to shoot at, they proved resistant to bullets to an unsettling degree. Meredith wrote:

"If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds it would face any army in the world. They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks."

The soldiers retreated, weary and sick of the sight of feathers. Meredith's official report noted, optimistically, that his men had suffered no casualties. The emus' report noted that humans were slow-moving and stupid.

The House of Representatives debated the matter and questions were asked of the minister regarding whether medals were to be awarded for survivors of the campaign.

The question of why, blessed as we are with a native animal that is essentially a cross between an armoured car and a velociraptor, our military has not taken advantage by training emus for combat duty in the ADF, remains unanswered to this day.

Got it?

OME

I had German measles as a 7 Y/O. . . maybe this explains a lot ? Phil.

And the examples keep rolling in! I think my point is proven, M'lud.

I'd like to see different details in most documentaries. If I have to see again and again those German soldiers opening the barrier across the German/Polish border, the smoldering wreckage of Battleship Row, or a French train being strafed, I'll throw my slipper at the TV.

It seems that the creators of these documentaries have a love affair with the Cut and Paste keys.

OME

.................. please deliver all political clap trap elsewhere (religion as well)why ruin a good thread with such #$%^^&^%%$$#@%^&*&%$@#$%^&*((*&^%$@#$%^&*((*&^%$##$%^&*(

You are quite welcome to have politico-religious threads in the Off-Topic section.

OME

I agree with Garfly about the work done by the US Photographic Units, and those films would provide some good footage to include in a documentary. I'd like to see docs that dealt with a plane the way aviation enthusiasts approach their investigation of a new plane on the strip. We get our interest aroused when we see a stranger in the circuit, and go over it in detail when it shuts down at the tie-downs.

Let's see more panels removed and POH's opened up.

OME