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68volksy

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Everything posted by 68volksy

  1. 68volksy
    Hi TP, I'd find it hard to believe that you had access to the full number of RA accidents given the lack of investigations? We can pick some up from news reports and on this forum but there'd be many out there unreported or not caught by the news cameras. Talking to a guy from the ATSB the other day and he said they're getting very concerned about the RA-Aus accidents as they're getting at least one request a week over the past 12 months to assist police with an investigation. To prove/disprove my point I might ask if anyone here can tell me how many fatal accidents or serious injuries have occurred in RA-Aus registered aircraft over the past 12-24 months? I'm after the official number (if there is an official number). Should be a pretty simple one to start with?
  2. 68volksy
    I think some legislative changes definitely need to be made. RA-Aus (and to some extent the GA experimental category) has been allowed to run on a very long leash for the past few years. If we were to look at the accidents over the past few years (especially the fatal ones) I think we'd find the balance of aircraft involved tilting very heavily towards the high-performance end of the RA-Aus spectrum. It would be interesting to compare the accident rate of high-end RA-Aus to low-end GA and the causes of those accidents. There's 100 years worth of data on GA aircraft and accidents - if the RA-Aus statistics aren't at least as good as (in theory they should be better) the GA statistics then changes need to be made. It's so damn simple in my view it shows nothing but utter arrogance in the RA-Aus community that comparisons such as this are not being done and cannot be done. End of rant - normal viewing can now commence.
  3. 68volksy
    From what I hear Victor 1 is under close scrutiny at the moment from CASA, Airservices and the ATSB. From chats with my instructors you do not fly it without lifejackets and you make damn sure you're up to speed with wind direction and are fully prepared to ditch into the water. Personally i think i'd rather ditch as best as possible into the water a little way off the coast and float around in my lifejacket for a while rather than try to land close to the coast among all the rocks, cliffs and innocent people. The Warrior tends to float for a while if you ditch well enough which helps with this option I suppose.
  4. 68volksy
    A couple of guys have already moved aircraft stating they were told access fees would be $7k per annum so it'll be nice to finally get some certainty. I notice 1 hanger's already been fenced off from accessing the airport by the new owner also so it'll be good to hear why that was.
  5. 68volksy
    Hi Turbo, I managed to chase up a Coroners report by ringing the coroners office handling the hearing for an accident a couple of years back. They were quite helpful and emailed it to me. I wish they were easier to get or someone reported a summary of the findings as the one i was after was extremely scathing of a certain aircraft retailer. I'll certainly never go near the individual in the future after reading the Coroners findings and summary of the hearing. If it came out as an ATSB report and mentioned Cessna they'd be shut down overnight...
  6. 68volksy
    I don't think this sort of thing could be properly achieved by RA-Aus. Properly investigating an accident takes a huge amount of resources and a great deal of time - and even then there are many questions that go unanswered. Plus to do it properly you need a record-keeping system that is well-documented and reliable. I think it's one of those cost-cutting choices you make when stepping from GA to RA-Aus.
  7. 68volksy
    For TAF's and the like i'm thoroughly enjoying this website: http://www.bom.gov.au/aviation/knowledge-centre/index.shtml#Weather+Advice+for+Your+Safety/ The CASA guys promoted it heavily at their Avsafety Seminar.
  8. 68volksy
    Hi Greg, I'm pretty sure there's someone learning with Teraya at Goulburn Aviation who was talking of getting into a Jab 160/170. I'll pass on your idea if I can remember who it was! I only caught the end of a conversation as the guy was leaving. There was another guy who currently owns a Gazelle up here who was thinking of trading it for a 170 also - I'll ask him next time I see him. There's a shiny new 170 up here too but I think the owner of that has it tied in with his business.
  9. 68volksy
    My understanding was the LAME license had nothing to do with RA-Aus? When they sign off an RA-Aus aircraft i thought they are using their RA-Aus L2 maintainers licence and not their LAME licence. I also thought RA-Aus was setup to get away from the CASA way of doing things and the inherent costs involved. Dodgy work is dodgy work no matter who "licences" the individual though. It should be a pretty simple Trade Practices case at the very least I would have thought?
  10. 68volksy
    Hi Sam, Have you found yourself a plane as yet? If not I can recommend Teraya's Gazelle at Goulburn Aviation - www.goulburnaviation.com.au (separate to the group mentioned above) if you're willing to sacrifice a bit of speed over the Jabiru. She's got a guy doing a conversion to his brand new J170 with a very nice glass cockpit who may be open to the idea of cross-hiring it through Teraya (if enough of us keep bugging him maybe?). There's a couple of other ex-students there who also have Jab's although I think they're 55 registered. Her rates have always been very reasonable I believe (it helps that she has all us happy volunteers always hanging around).
  11. 68volksy
    Just been through this process to buy an aircraft and cross-hire to a flying school. First broker (one of the big advertisers) stuffed up initial application and came back to us with the only option being to finance directly through them (the brokers directors) at a slightly ridiculous rate of interest. Second broker was much better but we chose not to use the financier (bank of queensland) due to the increased insurance costs and requirement for a valuation. Increased the initial cost by over $5,000 (extra $1,000 per annum for insurance due to higher public liability requirements) Ended up with a simple unsecured business loan. We were told the financiers simply will not finance a personal aircraft purchase unless it's a "personal loan".
  12. 68volksy
    Hi PF, If you need a lift into town if you choose Goulburn or anything let me know. Someone's usually poking around out there and I could get them to keep an eye out for you. If you're lucky they may even have the Billy on. Cheers, Tim
  13. 68volksy
    I thought I saw the Boomerang designs in the Whitney liquidation sale - wonder if anyone bought them? My reading is the Boomerang was designed primarily for flying training and was advertised as a very robust aircraft. In my opinion the Tecnams are much more suited to the owner/flyer. I think most GA training organisations know and trust the Lycoming/Continental engines and tend to steer clear of Rotax's. The Boomerang is also rated for spinning I think - not sure if the standard Tecnam is rated for spinning?
  14. 68volksy
    I'm just stirring the pot. What's the point of an online forum if you can't do that? Even if Avdata switched to taking photos instead of using radio they still could not charge a single RA-Aus aircraft a landing fee. I don't work for Avdata - well apart from filling in the paperwork to get aircraft out of landing fees for aerodromes we've never even heard of inline with what frank says above. Honestly cficare - it would take 30 seconds to figure out my name if you're interested. I'm not proposing name tags for all pilots and aircraft but rather an open system where people are accountable for their actions and anyone can make them accountable. I believe that such a system exists on this site without the need for us all to provide everyone with our names and addresses thanks to the moderators and the sign-up process. If RA-Aus were as diligent as the moderators of this site and held firm to the primary principles of RA-Aus as the moderators do to the principles of this site then we wouldn't be having this conversation in my view.
  15. 68volksy
    There's a lot of referencing of privacy legislation going on in this discussion. In my understanding (and i'm open to be proven incorrect) the Privacy legislation only applies to organisations with a turnover of greater than $3million. There are some specific items such as Tax File Numbers also. Does RA-Aus turnover more than $3million per annum? I think it more likely that RA-Aus has developed and implements its own Privacy Policy. Does anyone know more of the actual legal position that RA-Aus is in with regards to this? As an Incorporated Association under s67 of the ACT incorpoartions Legislation the the association must make its register of members available to at least its members i'm pretty sure. Maybe if the Avdata people joined the association they could have access to details to charge landing fees?
  16. 68volksy
    I'm still here. Good old tax season's begun early this year for some reason. Not hard to figure out my name if you know where to look. Might be a good exercise for those that are curious. I expect to receive a postcard from those who have the time.
  17. 68volksy
    I see it as being polite and responsible for my actions.
  18. 68volksy
    I don't see the information being available as a concern at all. As i said if you give me just a name i'll soon be able to get at least your address, mortgage details, credit history and if you've ever been part of a company your date of birth and place of birth. And that's all without breaking any privacy legislation and using publicly available documents. If you want to be a member of your local Aero Club you effectively place all your details out into the public domain. Why not let the public know the owner of that noisy aircraft flying at 100 feet above the bed of the sleeping shift worker. It's not like the police will be around to book them or RA-Aus will give any complaints even a moments thought...
  19. 68volksy
    What about the issue of landing fees? My understanding is RA-Aus registered aircraft can land at any airport fee-free due to the locked-box secrecy regarding their ownership. I don't see this as rightly fair. We could always install boom-gates on runways but somehow I don't think this would work. You cannot compare car registration to aircraft registration. Be like comparing dog registration to car registration. It's not a matter of privacy - if you want to register a VH aircraft then you're made fully aware of what details will be available and what will not. Also if you ever decide to become a director of any sized company you'll have all your details (including date and place of birth) publicly available. If you've ever bought a block of land or registered a mortgage then you'd be amazed at what's available to the public. The list goes on. It's also interesting to note that a register of all members of a club must be kept and made available to the public upon request. The privacy legislation is only designed to affect the big boys.
  20. 68volksy
    Crikey, Someone should probably sort through all this and see if there are any trends. It seemed like a simple idea at the time... I'm quite pleased by the diversity of it all I must say. From my experience over the years it seemed to be trending towards primarily those that are self-employed and IT-type workers. That said there seem to be a few IT folk, Engineers and Musicians (Wasn't expecting that one). Keep 'em coming though - i'll try and summarise things when I get a chance. The general public's perception (or the people I know anyway) seem to associate pilots primarily with Doctors and the more wealthy "I manage a range of real estate and mining interests" type.
  21. 68volksy
    Just sitting here munching on my lunch and started wondering what it is/was us recreational flyers do/did for a living and who employs/employed us. I'm curious as to just how diverse this community might be. Also curious to see if any of the general stereotypes actually fit. I'm primarily an Accountant by trade and work for my own business. Anyone else wish to share?
  22. 68volksy
    Nothing's happened as yet. John Ferrara is meant to be entering into a 2 year lease for the airport commencing 1 July 2011 with an option to buy after the 2 years. That's the deal as it sat with Council in February and still is. I'm informed by a Councillor that as of today the lease has not yet been signed. There are many terms on the lease/sale agreement including the finalisation of the motel that commenced construction in 1991, the construction of a new terminal building and many others. I believe the detail in many of these terms is still being discussed also. From the Council resolution if Mr Ferrara fails to deliver on any of the points the whole thing falls over. Council is also taking an option over some of his property out there i believe. There have been no changes to any of the facilities. The old terminal building is slowly being demolished but that's been in the cards since 2001 when the DA for demolition was approved.
  23. 68volksy
    Petition signed. My father's a town planning consultant based in Goulburn/Sydney and would be happy to provide some professional advice in this area if needed. PM me if you'd like some details.
  24. 68volksy
    Hi Sue, We used to have Drag Racing and car testing at Goulburn until the users got together and pointed out how damaging it was. Unfortunately for us the Council then went one step further and are selling the airport entirely. If we could have the time again we would probably have tried to find a way to make these other things work as the Council was happy so long as the airport wasn't costing them money. Now the future of the airport land will be laid entirely in the hands of a private property developer with no guarantee as to access or charges. I'm not looking to support the drag guys but just sharing an experience. Cheers, Tim
  25. 68volksy
    I personally have made a conscious decision that all minimum hours stated are irrelevant. My feeling is the more flying situations i'm exposed to with a competent instructor sitting beside me the better. The first offer to go solo I politely said i'd rather not as I was exhausted after a tough day at work. My instructor actually made the offer to me in such a way that I could answer honestly without any pressure or expectations. The first solo and first training area solo were also discussed quite openly as I was getting close. The instructor made it clear that she would make a judgement as to my technical proficiency and it was up to me to make the judgement about my mental and physical proficiency. I think the technical side of things can take anything from 1 lesson to 100 lessons or more to "click" and there are so many variables in the mix it's not funny. Being mentally and physically prepared without resorting to an over-active ego, peer pressure or bravado also takes time to develop.
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