Captain

Has so many bars that from time to time the average burner pilot has mistakenly lined up for landing thinking he was the piano keys of a suitably wide runway.

It was also rumoured that the checklists goldenbars used in the cockpit started with a summary of his life and achievements so much so that landing checks needed to start before take off where the flight was less than an hour long. Students can't work out if this is a a similar symptom to overbarring or merely an attempt to make a lesson longer and less productive than it should be.

 

Ratus Ratus was also known to be prone to overbarring especially when.......

...... Nanna, Mavis and Turdy are in the room at the same time with a plate of CWA scones and jam (El Ratsack gets turned on more and more by good food these days).

"Well" thought the Rodent "That just shows the wealth, extravagence and pozy nature up in god's waiting room in Coffs H, where they apparently have gold paint on the keys at Coffs airport, and after checking on google I now know that they have gold coloured reflectors on their taxiway centrelines, gold thread in the windsock, and AndySh@ has gold plated nuts on the thru-bolts of his 230. We know that about his 230 because one of them was found, glistening in the sun, just outside the .......

Andys@coffs' date=' post: 252558, member: 94[/email']]My personal bullet point list has the following things on them:-

1) Insurance, what we have isnt right and is potentially medium to long term fatal. Its a one word problem but a major body of work to fix, IMHO.

 

2) Restructure of the board/exec. Do we need geograpohically aloocated representatives.......To me that approach is as an anology to talk about the usefullness of horse and cart in an automobile era. We are all able to be connected instantaneously via the internet, CASA requires allmembers to be able to get our notams and briefings etc online so no one should be able to argure that lack of computer ability or connection should prevent us using technology as an enabler.

 

3) Given 2) do we need as many on the board as we have, It seems to me that we have so many that it is potentially easy to freeload. There is a risk that we take our anger out on those in the exec who might in reality be the only ones that are doing stuff and didnt just divorce themselves from the rest of the board by virtue of ego but rather through lack of value in the remainder...(Its only a guess not a statement of fact, I havent been involved so cant know if its true or not, but in any event this is about looking forward not backwards and addressing forward potential problems) Reminds me of that old military saying, Lead!, Follow!, or get the f&k out of my way!!!

 

4) CASA audit outcomes show us that we needed an external audit to find problems, In most large businesses we have an internal audit capability to unearth problems before you are embarrased publically...clearly we need some form of Quality assurance capability. Nothings for nothing so we will need to invest members money into something like this

 

5) Our IT capabilities both internal (operational) and externally facing are woeful and have been for years.....we need to get on top of this

 

6) And lastly there is obviously a problem with the chain of command, a CEO arguing he doesnt have responsibility for day tpo day operational team suggests that he, if not others in the office dont understanhd who provides marching orders. Where we have statutory reporting lines (teh equivalent of dual reporting in the corporate world) then there is the risk or people being pulled in oposing directions. To prevent taht duty statements and performance reviews are always done with both manager stakeholders present so that the bunny in the middle doesnt end up in a no win situation. The current circumstances show we have problems here.

I know and respect where you are coming from, but my take is slightly different as below.

This is coloured by my past experience where I have recently completed a contract as COO of a Mining Company, a CEO a few years ago of a national Sporting Body and having been involved in motor sport for many years.

The numbers below refer to yours:

1 - I consider the insurance issue as just a management problem. It is faced by every organisation and similar satisfactory policies are in place in many similar organisations. If I can get good cover to race a motorcycle, then it can be put in place for Recreational Aviation.

Director and Officer's insurance is similar, but perhaps hard to get if an organisation borders on being disfunctional.

I had no trouble arranging these insurances a few years ago for a national sporting body of 15,000 members which involved the shooting sports.

2 - This is a big one and probably Constitutionally based.

However I will comment on this present bullsh*t RAA practice of 2 Board Meetings a year. While I know that there are phone links and discussions more often, in my opinion there should be a formal Board Meeting held monthly, albeit by electronic or video hook-up. But it must be formal and it must be fully functional & binding ......... with full monthly financial and management reporting.

Consideration could even be given to making those items that are not discussed in camera, open to bona-fide members to listen in on through a secure web connection.

As an example, through regular oversight this would have stopped the Treasurer (so called) and the Executive from fronting up at an AGM with unaudited accounts. (I cannot tolerate such amateurish performance).

3 - Monthly Board Meetings and encouragement from internal peer pressure would solve that. Anyone who is not pulling their weight on the Board should be sanctioned by the other Board Members & the full membership.

4 - An internal audit system (or retaining an external party to undertake such checks) is normal in business, and is not difficult. It works well in mining and we have Statutory Responsibility within our operations.

I see this as normal management if they are competent.

5 - This is surely a simple and normal management function that is faced by almost all companies. The only organisations without good IT support & a functional website are those that are incompetent or amateurish. Which or both of those apply to RAA?

6 - Poor chain of command is just ratsh*t management at Executive and senior staff levels. Good management could fix that in 3 days.

Regards Geoff

I get a feeling NOT all board(state)members know whats going on..again this would mean admin (H.Q) not communicating.?

It has always looked to me that there is an inner sanctum/clique at Exec level in RAA that think that they are above working within the normal constraints of good governance between a Board, Executive and Staff.

The Exec probably think that they are doing a great job & working hard for the members without appreciating that the Board is where the policy decisions should be made and the Exec/Staff are then responsible for effectively carrying out those resolutions.

This was all discussed at length here when Ian Baker was on the Board and it was clear at that time that the Board (and particularly newly elected Board Members) were treated as unnecessary novices by the more experienced and entrenched Executive and their clique of mates on the Board. At that time it was also reported that new Board Members were sometimes intimidated on how to vote.

The failure of meeting these CASA Audits should be the trigger for a complete shakeup, in my opinion, but I bet that the Board will just continue to allow themselves to be "managed" by the Executive as they have over the past couple of years and if they do they will be culpable, ...... and if the members allow this to go on again as they have in the past, then the members will get what the members deserve ...... (It could easily be argued that the present situation is also exactly that.)

I also suspect that the only chance that concerned ordinary members have to set things right will be Don Ramsey's recent change to the Constitution and the ability to more easily trigger an EGM. If this latest Audit stuff-up & recent groundings doesn't cause Don to be flooded with more than 100 signatures, then the membership are mostly dills.

Update is now on the RAA web site.

This should be authored & signed by either the so-called CEO or the President.

Please bear in mind that this is a report to the Membership, who provide most of the funds to pay the RAA Management, who it is reasonable to suspect have been the reason for the mess.

And I'm also not sure that it is saying enough, as it reads like the RAA are almost over the line with CASA and it's therefore just a day by day proposition. It will remain to be seen whether that is finally the case.

keeping up the supply of suntan oil.....

..... where AndySh@ uses AeroShell 10 - 50. "I like the butch smell" he explained "And it lubes my big-end well, before .........................

"......Lat and a half, and skinned as well - no fur balls to slow down swarrowing" (sorry, forgot Rat's octogenarians weren't Chinese)."he's full of fur balls" replied Nanna, "you could nearly knit.............."

... a cover for Andysh@'s 230 (which is due to be re-registered next week), up there on the north coast in god's country, where the hangars are full of rocking chairs and the hangar talk centres around the cost of funerals, the worth of All Bran to keep you regular, and ............

....mine after previously passing himself off as Ming Lat and obtaining Chinese citizenship, and carting a load of US dollars over the border in his Jab without the engine missing a beat, when.....

...... he discovered that it was the year of the Lat, and Mao had prescribed that all Chinese should eat 2 Lats in order to keep the Lat population down.

"The rovable Lat is such a good sort that I will volunteer to eat him twice" wrote Nanna.

"He is certainly a hunk" replied Mavis "But have you seen AndyS@onhisthumb? Wowee, he's a real ............

Andysatonit looked long and hard (not that there is anything wrong with that) at Turbs post and couldnt see a proposition or even a preposition. Not that he was much interested in prepositions having lost interest in them as an accademic pursuit about 11seconds after the droaning english teach moved to an even less interesting subject......However the proposition that ElRat was, rather than a humble highwayhouse owner was indeed a mining magnate was news to Andy who was now please to rub shoulders with the like of ElRat the magnificent!!!

Seeings as ElRat must have a gold coin or two his thoughts turned to the prospect of sicking Kaz onto the bored and having ElRat (the Magnificent...grovel..grovel..etc ...etc) pay for this legal experiment. where will this lead us ......

....... "Most likely down a mineshaft at the speed of light (or of a Tyronejackacricket)" replied the Rodent "So send me a picture of Kaz and I'll think about it."

"Don't worry about that" replied Kaz "As you can send me a picture of the Rodent first, but remember that I don't work or fratinize with geriatrics, deviants, drongoes (except perhaps that stud AhRox-off), or other members of the legal profession."

"That leaves me out" said RatSack "She's choosy isn't she, & it also excludes almost all who have contributed to the NES over the past 2 years (except perhaps for that stud AhRox-off)."

So Ratty put his magnificent tail away in his jeans, packed his bags and headed off to Ordos in Inner Mongoria where he has an apartment and a second ...............

Turboplanner wishes to make the most obsequious, humble apology to the most honorable Rat for leaving out four dots from his post, but wonders why the wanker wouldn't know that a story may continue with a new sentence or new paragraph, provided it doesn't start with a proposition, and.....

EDITORIAL COMMENT - El Ratto thinks that Tubb must have got out of the wrong side of the bed over the past couple of days, as he has upset a couple of blokes in other threads, and now he is picking on his golden toothed mate of many years. What is the world coming too, when Turpsy goes feral, the RAA is almost shut down, many members appear to still be prepared to give the RAA management the benefit of the doubt, and coal prices have come off heaps ................ so being called a "wanker" by the TurbidPlankton is the least of Ratsack's worries. (But where oh where is the Magnificent Moderatti Ahlotti when you need the bugger (not that there is anything wrong with that)?)

We are in the process of employing a special consultant, acceptable to CASA, to help us put in place proper procedures, checks and staff training.Paul Middelton (Secretary and NSW Rep), due to his knowledge and experience, is working overtime with the President and staff to get our house in order, and with the consultant they are working on procedures and a system of checks that will give CASA confidence that we can get on top of this problem.

 

We will get it right, (and soon) and be far stronger and more proficient and professional from this exercise in the future. (It is a very ill wind ......)

 

John McK

Many thanks for coming on here with that response. You are the only Board or Exec member with the guts and courtesy to do it and it is greatly appreciated.

However I am concerned at your mention about "Staff Training". I have no trouble with proper training of the line staff who have to do the processing, but please (oh please) tell me that you are not referring to "training" the CEO and Senior Managers who were employed to administer and put in place these processes and who should have been hired because of their specific knowledge and skills in this area. Now that it is clear that the CEO and Senior Managers have been unable to set-up, refine and administer the RAA systems to satisfy CASA, surely the Board and Executive will provide the leadership to cut the dead wood and those that have clearly failed, including those in the Executive with clear oversight responsibilities for the staff's problems that have come to light.

This stuff-up and the failure to survive audits requires consequences for those responsible, not time away from their jobs for "training" ............... or has this member's organisation turned into the public service?

In private enterprise what has happened would never be tolerated and I see no reason why it should be in this member's organisation.

Regards & thanks again

Geoff

..... and again .....

..... until sleep, and emptyness, allowed Andysh@ to curl up into a cute little .................

This is surely the result of a failure of RAA systems and governance, as apart from Licensing, the management of aircraft registrations is an absolute core issue and purpose for RAA.

Now surely, surely, surely the members will wake up and the so-called CEO & the Executive will now be held properly to account.

Today's update reads as if RAA have done all that they can and it is CASA's fault. Whereas the position is the opposite. CASA gave RAA advice (and I assume notice/breathing space) to correct what they required and RAA did not, or were incapable of, achieving those requirements.

In my opinion this is clearly an RAA Management and Executive issue and the extent of the problem is further indicated by the fact that there was no audited Treasurer's Report at the AGM, plus several issues around the AGM were not cosher.

Dismissals should be the result.

.....

...... which is the trail that Andy leaves when he gets up off the hat, (and again ..... [however bigger] when he learnt that CASA were about to shut down the RAA) .......... but then again .....

Andy Scoffs, makes the point that Goldenbars has secreted the members millions to protect them, but Turbo says "Show us the Map", and of course Mr Scoffs can't do that.Turbo respectfully points out that there's a long history of secreted treasure never being found.

 

For example, you never heard of Robinson Crusoe buying a Cessna Citation and having a yacht in the Bahamas, did you. And he LIVED there.

 

And Blackbeard's treasure at Queenscliffe - many have dug but none are driving Ferraris.

 

And now there's a Plan A stage 1 to let all registrations run out, NOT GROUND the aircraft for those who suggested that. Of course without registration the aircraft is grounded, but we won't tell anyone that in case we are branded as "just a few trouble makers"

 

These aircraft will then become as valuable as garden ornaments, at which time an offer of fifty bucks will be made for each one - Plan A Stage 2.

 

When everyone has their money and is sitting back relieved that at least they got a small part of their investment back, Plan A Stage three will go into operation, where all registrations will be renewed and the aircraft offered for sale at pre Plan A Prices.

 

And that Boys and Girls will really produce a Treasure.

So the TurbanPlanchette has killed the NES (again) for the lack of 5 little dots at the end of his post # 6970, and all because he (or she) [not that there is anything wrong with that] couldn't stand the prospect of the CrappyRodent or Andyshatinahat picking up post # 7000. How sad and selfish is that?

CASA has Service Difficulties and Defect Reports (SDRs) downloadable as CSV files from their website. You can open these in a spreadsheet.From the last 5 years of reports in the piston engine SDRs the number of Jabiru engines faults/failures reported to CASA were:

 

2012 - 2 reports out of a total of 98 reports for all piston engines.

 

2011 - 18 reports out of 161.

 

2010 - 23 reports out of 130.

 

2009 - 7 reports out of 117.

 

2008 - 8 reports out of 121.

 

As a percentage around 9% of all piston engine defects reported in the past 5 years were Jabiru. According to the notes in each report the majority of these were RAAus registered. The vast majority of faults were, unfortunately, the usual suspects: seizure, cylinder cracked, bolts and valve breakages. Only a very few were minor faults such as an incorrect dipstick.

 

Looking closer at one year's reports, in 2010 there were 23 Jab, 34 Continental, 1 Franklin, 67 Lycoming, 1 Pratt and Whitney, and 4 Unknown.

 

The major cause of Jabiru faults was broken through bolts - 10 out of the 23 reports.

 

The major cause of Continental faults was cracked cylinders - 10 out of the 34 reports.

 

I couldn't really see any major cause of faults in the Lycomings with a pretty wide spread of causes.

 

At the risk of being labelled a Jab basher and Rotax fanboi....for whatever reason, there were no Rotax reports in the past 5 years. That doesn't mean there were none I guess, just none reported.

 

For interest sake I also looked at the "Aircraft under 5700kg" category reports for 2011. These also showed a trend for Jabiru engine faults. The recreational aircraft reported were:

 

20 Jabiru - 16 of these were engine related.

 

1 Sonex - Jabiru engine - engine fault

 

2 Sportstars - airframe

 

1 Foxcon Terrier - airframe

 

5 Tecnams - 4 airframe and 1 throttle cable.

Thanks for the effort you went to in order to present this set of figures.

Very worthwhile.

Regards Geoff

Tubb,

I'm not knocking what Mozz & others are reporting. Just trying to understand why this has not built into a major issue in the VH Jab fleet, given that if the issues are as bad as reported by Mozz and the others, it surely must be cropping up there and therefore would be attracting regulatory attention that might force it to be solved for the rest of us.

Regards Geoff

My point is that any VH registered problems of the type that Mozz reports above would be more likely to be publicly reported, and they don't appear to be (at least via the Crash Comic), and even at a 10:1 ratio that is still a shipload of Jabs.

Capt, id beg to differ there. Places like Camden are a good case study, they have RAA and GA maintained Jabs. The failure rate doesn't seem to favor one or the other.Not when being maintained by engineers anyway. Self maintained by a dentist mite be a different story ;)

Mozz,

What I don't understand is that there is usually almost nothing on Jab's in the Crash Comic, yet there are a substantial number of them VH registered.

Surely if this is an endemic issue they should be showing up there and thereby inviting input from CASA or related controlling bodies.

Regards Geoff

Ahhh, the memories of last weekend at the Rathaus.......

..... and self confessed by LoxyPoxy, no-less", commented another member of the Magnificent Moderati (named Martin).

"See how quickly they turn on their own" commented the TurbidPlankton.

"Yes", responded PoxyLoxy "Come on fellas, be fair, as it was just a momentary lapse of Moderati magnificence."

"No" said Eeen "We've been looking for an excuse to dump Poxy for years, and miss-spelling "Orgynisation" (it is spelt with a "z" as every one of us know who have partaken of the high-jinks at the RatHaus) is a sacking offence at Mag (av.ref.) Moderati level, why, that is even worse that providing a Treasurer's Report that just says "I've been a member for yonks and have seen a lot of change.".

"I agree" replied the Mini Minor "Not using a "z" is much worse, and after all, the Treasurer's lack of Treasureship was just a mistake, I'll wave my wand and put it right, I'll fix it up, as you can't really expect a Treasurer's report at an AGM, and those blokes & blokettes on Eeen's website are being unreasonable and are just stirrers. I'll write to Eeen and shut it down, after all, I am the famous Mini Minor and I can do that sort of stuff (now where is my Ambulance Chaser mate)"

"Hey, hang on a minute" yelled AndySatOnIt getting quite irate, irritated, irreligious, irresponsible and irrattional, but not irrelevant "....................

As a result of Tubb's post # 6962, your lovable hero CarrierRat is tired and has a headache from reading all of those big words and looking up all that latin, however he was also reminded of that fantastic sketch in the Life of Brian about "Romanes eunt Domus", when Eeen rang to compalin about the quantity of space that Turpsies posts are taking up on his website.

"We have to be careful not to use up too much of our word and letter quota each day" said Eeen or the Word & Letter Police will align with the RAA Thought Police and try to shut us down, or perhaps some cute little Kiddie in the GYFTS program won't be able to learn some stuff about flying, for lack of words to use.

TopGunCarrierRat thought long and hard about this critical (Nobu would say "clitical") issue and rang Ahlot the Harlot to ask him to ...............

".......your rat's tail, as I remember right into the punch bowl at the last party, just after I'd spiked it with six bottles of Chandon!"Rat remembered that party, and how he was frogmarched out after propositioning every female in the place including the Station mare, not to mention the bitch.

 

Turbo added "the brave Carrier Rat was not actually landing on a carrier in high seas but had flown in to Brown Brothers winery, as he does three times a week, and after several hours of "tasting" towards the end of which every Brown brother was raising his eyes to the sky and wondering how they let him in again, WineryRat had offered to take Turbo for a ride to see if the Jab would last four circuits. The strip is short, but it was obvious after six go rounds that ShickeredRat had become unco-ordinated and was ballooning up on late final.

 

Turbo tried to explain he should look to the end of the strip and it was then that BlindRat admitted he couldn't see the end of the strip.

 

So Turbo tried to make it easier by offering to work the throttle. To this offer PlasteredRat said, "the pedals too if you could"

 

The next approach apparently nearly made it to funniest home videos as the Rat balloned up, Turbo pulled the throttle and the Jab dropped like a rock.

 

At the same time Rat shoved the stick forward and Turbo gave it full throttle and such a delicate touch of rudder that the aircraft recovered enough to miss the ground, but cut a half circular swathe across the paddock.

 

On seeing the most ferocious Brown brother coming out of the shed with a shotgun under his arm, SmartRat made a gentle climbing turn in the direction of..........

.... upwards, but still with enough speed to keep the heads cool and the thru-bolt nuts in their rightful place.

"That's slanderous" replied the Brave CarrierRat "As I was the propositioneee at that party, and as every brave fly-boy knows, the ladies (and the cattle) go weak at the knees once they learn that you are a member of the RAA and that you own a Saphire, let alone a TyroneJack-a-cricket or a SportyJauntyStar."

With his usual modesty El Ratatoile said to himself "This is PoppyCock (or Chrysanthemum C*ck or Rose C*ck or the stamen of any other flower), and this NES should never be all-about-me, so he attempted to introduce another character).

"Leave me out of this" said Rose "As I don't want to be crucified like what Nanna has been."

"Who called me a has-been, and I wasn't crucified, I was hand-cuffed" replied Nanna, who had shacked up in Ratsack's Bordello with the Saturday Morning Lie-In Star, known locally as ...........................

"..........one of Rat's landings......."

"Well you are a woose too" commented the Rodent, defending himself "I'm not going to spend this sort of money on a machine without making sure I get a thrill out of it, and besides, I am officially in training to be a pilot on a Carrier if OZ ever gets another one, see how I have an RAA standard made-in-Tazzy pilot's jump suit with epaulettes, six gold braided stripes on each and a Treasurer's report in the pocket, with a "Next Top Gun" badge on the chest, so plonking (aviation term) it onto the deck while imagining the runway pitching through 8 m is an everyday circuit (aviation term) for the brave CarrierRat."

However the cruel (but fair) Eeeen interjected and said "The only thing that you Carry is Rabies and the only thing you "plonk" is .................

.........sat and sat and sat......and one day laid ................

.... something that he couldn't remember eating.

"That happens quite often when I Cough and I can't remember harbouring a ...............

..leverage ratios of bell cranks in recreational aircraft in respect to response time and leverage effect.Turbo was always mindful of Planey's desire to focus on aviation terms, and it would be too much for the elderly Rat if he gave the real answer to what he was insinuating, since these days the Rat spent most of the day insinuating but never carrying through, unlike........

.... AndySatonhisthumb (and pulled out a plum? ...... oh erky perky), who didn't just insinuate, he ............