Jerry_Atrick

*cough* *cough* ; *splutter* *splutter* ... Obviously, the stress our pollies are under, they need the relief.. And it works both ways - pressure relief provided by the houses of ill-repute - no doubt considered essential services - and relief of not having to deal with those members of the family one would prefer to cast into the open ocean at a point where white tips are swimming in circles waiting for their feed. Of course, it may provide little comfort of being denied the liberty of seeing genuine loved ones. I don't believe either of these are crimes.. The former may land you in hot water in a civil suit, but the latter, well, is all around us today... I am not sure of the circumstances of the latest outbreak in Victoria, but to consider the legal implications in criminal law: Generally, for a crime to be committed, there has to be two ingredients: actus reus (guilty act) and mens rea (guilty mind). As an example, the act of killing an adult is not in itself murder, but the guilty mind (i.e. intent) makes it murder. Without getting into a convoluted argument about the overlap, as an example, of you happen to be jogging along the footpath and from between two dtrucks parked on the side of the road, a pedestrian, oblivious to the world outside them thanks to the miracle of modern personal music players, emerges in your track with too little time for you to react and you pummell them to the ground upon which their head makes fatal contact with the concrete, you are very unlikely to be convicted (or charged) with murder as it was a totally unavoidable accident. If, however, you lined them up for 100 metres away (and assume that can be proved_) and you timed it to pummel them to the ground on them emerging from between the trucks, well, you have intent and you are guilty of murder (again, assuming it is provable and there are no defences such as temporary insanity or provocation or something else). To our hapless COVID infected people in Trugininia.. the key questions are: - Is it a crime, when out of lockdown to move around if one has COVID-19? - If so, did they intend to move around with COVID when they moved around - in other words - did they know they had COVID and therefore intentionally move around when it was illegal? If the answer to both of the questions is yes, well, then, yes, they should have the book thrown at them. If the answer to either is no, well, it's sad it has happened, and yes, the ramifications are serious, but either it wasn't against the law (therefore a court will throw it out unless they want to invent a common law crime) or they had know possible knowledge they were spreading COVID (therefore, no intent). The exceptions are strict liability (i.e. intent was not there, but too bad unless you were an automotant - meaning unable to control your actions), which is common for motoring offences, or absolute liability (no intent, and too bad if you couldn't control your actions) - probably the preserve of tax avoidance or similar. Those who travelled without the requisite passports/tests/etc required for interstate travel probably should have the book thorwn at them.. the local Melbourne cases - I am not so sure.

As OT said, finance is not the sole measure - but using it, yes Australians get it right despite governments actions and inactions that thwart it. With respect to the COVID success, it would appear the governments that let it be handled by the CHO's got it right and those that didn't - didn't quite get it right (although the numbers are still far better than other countries). In Vic, the government was responsible for the quarantine outbreak - not the CHO.. Going off topic (since the subject of financial position in the world was brought up - which is measured usually as GDP/capita - given Australia's resources, education (well at least of prior days), size, etc., on an adjusted basis, I would say it is a laggard.: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/worlds-5-richest-nations-by-gdp-per-capita-2021-05-20. With the exception of the USA (and Luxembourg as it is a tax haven), we should be up there given what we have at our disposal. In the top 25 economies, which is outright GDP, we are 13 - so just scrape into the bottom half. Ahead of us are many countries that do not have the resources.. they have an internal market bigger than us - yes most have a bigger population than us, but there is no reason why we should not be further up the scale (on both counts). I agree with OT - Australia is moving to the American model and it is a travesty that such outright and per capita wealth nations are further concentrating wealth (or in Australia's case, either selling economic rights to foreign interests or just letting them in); and the resultant problems that causes. We have a saving grace, which is a relatively high basic wage (costs of living ain't cheap, though).. But things like health, education, food standards, ecological sustainability, etc, are all in the mix in terms of utilising all economic resourcing to better society. In our societal structure, we need a robust economy to work for us; and to get one, we need to work for the economy.. In a competing world, that means governments must foster innovation and investment; accept the future and be prepared to transition the economy as technology progresses and other imperatives (e.g. climate change) occur. In addition, IMHO, it needs to weigh its procurement policy to supporting existing and fostering fledgling indigenous businesses, rather than relying on foreign businesses, even if it costs a little more and involves a little more risk. Re the grubbiness of government, I was doing a job for a Vic statutory authority. We were going to tender to replace legacy systems with an integrated system to service that sector. There were sadly no indigenous firms that could provide the system.. As we were evaluating the tenders, our initial round threw out a world leading software vendor who pitched the most expensive solution that in their bid, they acknowledged didn't exist and they would have to build it - they didn';t have an offering that came near to supporting the sector we were in. It was not until it was made clear to the minister who had ultimate responsibility for the Authority that should any of the other vendors appeal the award, there is no possible way without doctoring all of the bids that the decision could be upheld, especially if the auditor general got involved. That public service head had been moved before I finished the contract.

OK this probably should me more for a carpentry forum, but a friend (possibly of a few on here, even) sent me a vid and I thought it was quite interesting.. Hand made prop - ornamental only, but I marvel at the skills of some people - even more so those who can hand build working props! Enjoy..

Was going to write a long diatribe.. I would wager, given the evidence, that Australia has progressed more in spite of the governments than because of them, and with more progressive and strategic thinking governments we would be miles ahead of where we are now. Mind you, it is not unique to Australia...

I don't think this is entirely accurate as state of emergency laws vary from state to state. I am not going to read all the laws, but the Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing seems to give at least some direct powers to the CHO (https://www.emv.vic.gov.au/fact-sheet-states-of-emergency-under-victorian-law), whereas in NSW, under the Public Health Act, it appears the state health minister has the power (https://justiceconnect.org.au/resources/how-the-new-south-wales-governments-emergency-restrictions-on-covid-19-work/). Although my time in both the Victorian and Australian Public service (both permanent and consulting capacity) is far less, I did witness first hand some of the grubbiness with both the senior public servants and pollies, which played out. It was not too different to the same in the private sector, to be honest. Defo.. Yes... and the difference in the powers accorded under NSW law is probably why. I was watching a snippet (I think on Media Watch) of one of the press conferences, she was uncomfortably saying one of the reasons for the delay in lockdown was she observed while driving her car people voluntarily wearing masks and observing social distancing - doing the right thing - and therefore didn't feel the need for lockdown. That may be true, but I doubt it. If it were true, you would want her out of that job ASAP as she has admitted two things; first she drew conclusions from anecdotal rather than empirical observations/evidence; second, if using a population sample to work out what is going on, it should be purely random to mitigate bias risk. I could be wrong but I am guessing the suburbs and areas she was driving around are not representative of the wider Sydney communities.. just a hunch... so her observations would have been filled with bias. Also, Gladys has admitted in press conferences that the government took advice from both the science and business. This underscores, in NSW at least, it is not the CHO calling the shots... And some independent journos are claiming the business advice is at loggerheads to the science advice, and assert the business advice won (at least in the early stages)... If that is true, ironically, the businesses are suffering more now. Agree, but it would appear the difference is that the CHO in Vic has power to fix the situation where in NSW, it seems the CHO has only advisory capacity to the Minister of Health. And once a minister holds the decision, many non-science factors come into it. The reality is that it is the pollies who facilitate the power anyway - the state of emergency has to be declared, have a shelf-life and be renewed. There has to be political will to ensure appropriate enforcement of whatever is decided to hold people to account when they breach it. Even in Vic, if the CHO made all these restrictions but it wasn't backed up by enforcement, it would mean nothing. "Chaiman" Dan was resolute in his support for the CHO and, with hiccups, it got the job done. Without that resolute support, the dissent would have been higher and harder to manage. None of this, however, changes the fact that the evidence of what is happening is a slap in the face/egg on the face of anti-vaxxers/lockdowners conspiracy theories.. Aus will get to its critical mass of vaccinations, and those that don't will have practical restrictions placed upon them; some may be government/legal restrictions, but I would guess most will be placed on them based on commercial interests.

ASIO intelligence does suggest Lismore is high on the international terrorist agenda, you know.....

post deleted - was out of context (hadn't realised the thread moved on quite so far)

In the context of a discussion on Australia, well, er, things like climate change denial, fossil fuel lobbies, tax breaks for the rich, er the Afghanis who helped Australia being left for dead, civil libertarian issues, sexual abuse and cover-ups, etc... The assertion was a reflection of another user's assertion and was a subtle attempt to say, hey, while they are grubby, they haven't been so grubby with respect to COVID* Excellent analysis... this should be ample evidence to those who look for conspiracy theories that the reckless, if not criminal behaviour of governments entrusted to protect their citizens who bowed to their sponsors... er.. donors and vested interests acted wrongly. I did not mean to say Australia was grubbier is less competent that any other country. Exactly, which was my reference to the state governments who did act decisively seem to be fairing very well by the electorate.. BTW, even at state government level, politics is otherwise grubby... However, those governments who have taken a more liberal approach to controlling the pandemic seem not to be enjoying as much electoral support.. And coincidentally, this video was just released: (Just wanted to clear up, as I have said on the sister site, the state governments by and large have been doing well.. Even Gladys, who is having a few issues at the moment, has by and large, well.. been OK...)

This could be good value, if they allowed camping under the wing, decent dunny and shower block, and of course, on site BBQs - right next to the fuel bowsers/trucks/tanks... 🙂 Me, personally, after flying in the UK, would feel guilty only paying $6 full stop and $1.76 T&Gs. A comparable airport over 'ere: https://flybrighton.com/landing-fees-and-charges/ and this used to be my home airport: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/593e87342e69cf4a3e148bb4/t/60fadce6c1ab01116964fd19/1627053286642/Airport+Price+List+v7b+(incl+VAT).pdf. At these rates, the annual landing card for Blackbushe for what was my a/c at c. 1450kg mtow would require 174 landings to break even. Smart flying schools pay private airstrips an annual fee to be able to use it for T&Gs rather than at their home airport. Why table what is happening in the UK? Because about 35 years ago (before I arrived here), they went from community assets to cost recovery.. I think most were council owned. Now a lot have been either sold off or long-leased to private companies with Armageddon clauses that if they can't make money out of it, they can convert them to housing estates.. Guess what has happened? Lots of airfields (some historically significant WWII airfields) have gone; the remaining have jacked up their prices.. And, nary a real (GA) flying club to be found; certainly not of the same calibre of those in Aus. Permit flying is in better shape, but it hasn't made up for the decline in GA since I have been here ('96). So, take this as a warning, esp if you need more than 400m landing/take off distance.. It is a slippery slope.. Like @Munger, fight to keep it affordable... Airfields are a public asset; yes the pilots are few, but the benefits are many.

I am still struggling to see how this is what the grubby government want? Don't get me wrong, the government is grubby - no doubt about it, but they would rather not have to lock people down and pay for it; although it did manage to find its way into some business people's wallet who didn't need it, so I suppose the government will consider it job done! But what are the government getting out of it? Are they exercising more control to their benefit over the people by imposing lockdowns when required? I am not seeing it. Apart from the restriction of movement, what more control do they have that is enduring (remember, state of emergency has to be renewed, and famously Dan Andrews wanted 12 months and didn't get it). Pre vaccination, there was a need to lockdown and it appears the pollies whose party pockets are lined by business were the ones not wanting to do it. Gladys is now paying the price; SFM famously got the federal government to join the constitutional action initiated by Clive Palmer to keep the WA borders open. When he realised it was going to cost him more votes than Palmer's dirty donation money could buy, he decided that it wasn't a good idea after all. Sadly, there is a vocal minority who think that this is some conspiracy theory to allow governments to seize control, but what other rights are under attack as a result of this? And the governments seem to want to open up as soon as practical; they have not continued the lockdown when the numbers show they don't need to.. so where is this control grab coming from - as opposed, to say anti-terror laws used for non-anti-terror events? Happily, the Aus electorate seems to back the governments taking a responsible approach - What was the WA election result, again? And the Qld result? I am not sure how Dan Andrews will do in the next election, but his popularity seems to have increased; while the pollies who were more "liberal" with the lockdown requirement and fighting COVID seem to be struggling at the moment (of course, COVID is not the only factor dragging them down). Australia is a free country - and you have a choice to take the vaccine or not - no one is going to force you and they're not going to kill you if you don't.. But when Aus has reached the critical mass of vaccinations, well, according to The Age today, the lockdowns will stop and normality will resume - for those who are vaccinated. I can't see an employer of, say airline pilots allowing a non-vaccinated pilot into the cockpit.. I could be wrong.. And it is [currently] a pretty tough job to do from home. Similarly, I can't see too many airlines allowing unvaccinated people a seat on an aircraft when economics dictate that they no longer want to force social distancing.. But this won't be the government impressing the rules on us. The UK is now out of lockdown with c. 65% of the adult population vaccinated. Virtually all hospitalisations and deaths in the UK (125 deaths the other day) are non vaccinated people. Some businesses won't accept customers without face coverings - I still wear mine because I know there is c. 35% of the population still yet to be vaccinated and I don't want to pass it on to them. Anecdotally, 95% of people still do. Seems the government here has relinquished its control. So much for that conspiracy theory.. But, hey.. still think its a conspiracy theory? As I have said before, get together with like minded people and throw a COVID party as people did during the first lockdown.. And make sure at least one person has it. The new Delta variant should do the trick. Sadly a few caught the earlier strain COVID from the party and died. It wasn't long before their friends and family believed the urgency of the situation.

I was doing an aero lesson one day and it ended up with me feeling quite ill. When I landed, my instructor asked what I had eaten beforehand, which was nothing (it was about an 11am flight and I never ate breakfast at that stage of my life). He said next time, a light breakfast beforehand would probably fix it.. and it did. There are many reasons it could be happening and many ways to minimise the effects. The US military had designed a form of sunglasses to beat it for their pilots, I recall.. Quick google can't find anything, but there is a French firm that now sell glasses designed to beat motion sickness, though no idea how good or otherwise they are: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-these-glasses-cure-your-motion-sickness-180969722/ Also not sure if they are legal for use in flight.

Yep.. anti-lockdowners and anti-vaxxers offer no alternative. And, the evidence points that lives are saved and the economy fares much better when the lockdown is hard and fast, and over with quickly (relatively). Even Josh Frydenberg, citing EY research is saying the extended lockdown that is required in NSW will lead to a second recession.. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/treasurer-warns-sydney-lockdown-could-lead-to-second-recession-20210729-p58dxw.html If NSW acted faster, there would probably be no recession and wouldn't that be better for business as well as people? Sounds like the hard/fast and ultimately relatively quick lock-downs, while providing temporary issues, are, so far, the best option while waiting for the country to be vaccinated.

Wow! Leave the country for a few years and it descends to this 😉 I have no idea of what the planning rules are in Vic (my home state, let alone NSW).. but: When I have had planning issues (admittedly, not airport related), I have gone straight to the planning lawyers.. They usually know more about planning issues than consultants, and I guess if they think you need a planning consultant, they will tell you to get one. When the rubber hits the road, if it all goes pear shaped, you'll end up in court.. May as well have had the lawyers involved in every step of the way. Obviously, get one that has good experience with regional airport planning issues - and not whether DFO can plant a warehouse store on airport premises or not (this is why YMMB, ahem. Moorabbin, ahem, Harry Hawker airport is not the place it used to be). From the radio interview, a local government asset directly employing 50 people and indirectly 26 makes it (without weightings between direct and indirect employment), 343,205 revenue per employee for the $26m revenue.. I am guessing many of those are looking at salaries and benefits, probably at about $120K (as an average - maybe $160K). Lets take $160K; that leaves a c. $13m surplus... Does that not cover user pays (i.e. short of a new hangar/building or rwy repavement, would $13m not cover maintenance?) Although, I have to admit, over 'ere, I would love $12.30 as a larger regional airport landing fee.. Can't deny it. Dunno about the NSW version of VCAT, but my limited experience on planning issues with VCAT has turned out effectively a toothless tiger. At one hearing, the adjudicator (or whatever they are called), stated directly, that if the defendant (who lost the case) did not perform the specific performance, to contact her (the adjudicator) directly to ensure it got done. That was 7 years ago, and 6 years since contacting her.. and the defendant has still yet to carry out the prescribed works. Good luck with AATs when they rule in your favour against powerful adversaries. As TP says, you "busy" aviators have to make some time if you don't want to be forced to be flying from around the corner of the "big prawn" (I do hope it is still in Ballina). Short of Lismore CC turning the airport into a new estate, try and gather figures to present to them why it will leave a bigger hole in their deficit reduction plans if they continue.. e.g. if it has existing use, and the main payer of landing fees moves on, they are stuck with the asset and with less revenue.. The above are ramblings of a homesick madman who has, or at least had, ties to the Lismore and Ballina areas...

Ciao bene, @Malpo412

That was one helluva letter, but it appears to have been a little too late... I am sure he had sparring words when he was in charge of CASA. I hope the letter is published well beyond AOPA, otherwise it won't make one iota of difference to the electorate.

Maybe, but they still look good...

I was reading through the whole thread on the other site (first time I have been to it in a very long time), and some were of the belief it is due to an obstinate security manager at a certain airline that flies into Birdsville. Apparently, Birdsville and a few others were supposed to be coming off the list of airports requiring security (and therefore the ASIC card), apparently in line with Dept of Home Affairs advice, however, at the last minute it decided not to.. and a few others that the certain airline fly to that were supposed to come off the secured airfield list (or whatever it was called) but changed their mind at the last minute.. Althogh, apparently a coupel of others decided not to take the airline's advice. Regardless, still up to the council to apply common sense and logic.

From the dark side (aka PPRUNE): AVIATION WRITER @ironsider 10:36AM MARCH 2, 2021 The decades-long tradition of *pilots camping under the wing of their aircraft at the Birdsville Races has been banned by the council in a move declared “un-Australian” by veteran aviator Dick Smith. The entrepreneur is leading calls to have the Diamantina Shire Council’s ban overturned, before the race meeting in September. Council imposed the ban because of the cost involved in operating a “special events zone” at the Birdsville airstrip. Owen Ruschen and Ian Dewick, camping next to their plane, flew in from Wagga.Diamantina chief executive Leon Love said under the airstrip’s tier-three security status, council would have to provide 24-7 *security and install fenced *walkways. “Those type of requirements have always been there but council is more risk averse and its insurers have become more risk averse,” he said. “Higher standards equals higher cost, and council also provides amenities, collects rubbish, empties portaloos, and all of those things combined cost us more than the landing fees we collect during that week.” He said the council took the view the operation of the airstrip should be cost neutral in race week, and eliminating the special events zone achieved that. “Maintaining a multimillion-dollar airport on a shoestring budget, something’s got to give,” he said. Mr Smith said the ban *appeared to be an “over-reaction” and he was hopeful it could be reversed. He said there was nothing more Australian than flying to the outback town and sleeping under the wing. “First climbing Ayers Rock (Uluru) was banned and now this. You wonder what’s next?” he said. “Now pilots going to Birdsville will have to carry all their stuff to another camping area where it’s completely packed with people who know nothing about aviation.” Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association executive director Ben Morgan said they were hopeful of finding a solution to the problem facing council and would work together if possible. A petition launched by AOPA opposing the ban had attracted more than 2000 signatures in 48-hours, and Mr Morgan said the issue highlighted a bigger problem for general aviation. “It needs to be stressed, this is a critical moment in time. We need to implement a solution that will enable events at remote airstrips,” Mr Morgan said. Already a “boycott Birdsville” hashtag was circulating pilot groups on social media, to the concern of local business operators. Birdsville Hotel owner and pilot Talia Ellis, said the races were critically important to the whole region this year after being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID. “When people fly out to Birdsville, most do so because they can camp out under their wing,” Ms Ellis said. “There’s lots of little towns that benefit with them stopping and refuelling, staying over night. It won’t only be Birdsville and the races that are impacted if this ban goes ahead.” She said there had been no safety breaches in the past to warrant such action and she was hopeful they could find a way to make it happen. “There is another way to skin a cat so to speak, so we think they can resolve the issues in a financially viable way,” said Ms Ellis. “There’s a lot of passionate people in the aviation industry who would be keen to help in any way they can.”

Pilot magazine here are doing weekly articles of emergency and unusal flight "refreshers/training" using FS2020... Last month they had an evelator control failure - although when I was a member of RVAC, hands off flying (in the circuit) was one of the comps... Let's just say, I almost survived 😉 but I was amazed at how accurate the plane could be flown without use of the control column.

Your're right in that a private/GA pilot doesn't technically need an ASIC card - I think the minimum is the AVID, which is a lower level background check and lasts for 5 years? The MSIC I thinkis for yachties.. But, as a GA pilot that would be flying into security controlled airfields such as Moorabbin, Bankstown, Parafield, and hopefully Jandakot - as well as the obligatory Birdsville (where I am told there is one bloke who is anal about ASIC card), it will be a ball-ache to try to arrange for an airport official with a red card to meet me, and of course, if I am running latet (rarely early), it will be a pain. Of course, when I get back to Aus, I would go rec flying as crossing international boundaries isn't really going to be an issue... For me it will be controlled airspace - My IMC Rating won't be valid in Aus, and I doubt I will be bothered douing a full IR (plus as one gets older, they want their flying to be more leisurely).

I don't even know who you're talking about... Is that Aussie's netball team?

Both countries? Isn't New Zealand really East Australia? [edit] or the Eastern Territory [/edit] Or, is Australia really the West Island? I can't remember...

Oi, Scott! Did you remember to switch on the transponder!!!???!! (the amount of times I have left it on standby and got a right ticking off by ATC is too many to admit to!)

Don't worry, Phil.. Read in this month's Pilot that France has given UK permit aircraft the all clear equivalence so your fellas can fly to France to get fois gras and escargo again without all of the administratrative hassle.. The airfields missing British custom must have complained hard and long enough... 😉

If you're a Hawks support, it's definitely Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.. Ship is going down... (sorry for thread drift).