Natfly 2012 Dissection

[turboplanner]

I wasn't there, but the post by Mr H seems to sum up the feelings on this and other forums.

 

It may have been a big financial mistake to sign up for three more years at Temora before getting the results of this year's event, which was only a few weeks later.

 

The recent Melbourne Truck Show was an all time record, so that puts the GFC to bed as an excuse.

 

At times when I've experienced a downturn like this, I've always looked very carefully at the time the event was successful, what the reasons were, and what changes were made that might have led to the decline. The reason usually becomes reasonably obvious.

 

In the case of Natfly, politics and hard heads are mixed up in it as well, but it's your licence fees about to go down the plug hole so better to sit up and take some notice.

 

The failure of the rag and tube them is clearly not related to the GFC or anything else other than the laziness of the people involved. It was clear enough to the rest of us that the Organizers provided the platform, so the rag and tube guys only had themselves to blame. After witnessing the armada bigger than Pearl Harbour flying down the runway at Mangalore a few years ago, it's clear to me that no effort was put in, and the constant carping about these guys being "squeezed out" is going to be falling on deaf ears. This segment is still valid, still a very important part of the recreational picture, but needs some internal leadership to pull it's people together. The key thing needed is probably a father figure who will get on the email circuit/phone etc. and get exhibits on trailers and trailers to Natfly. That alone would have boosted attendance and exhibits, and probably new members.

 

 

[David Isaac]

Folks,

 

To some degree I have to put my hand up and say sorry regarding the 95-10 rag and tube effort. I was supposed to drive that for this year and even though I posted in the early days seeking interest, I got very little. In the whole time I was contacted by two people. But I am not looking for an excuse because if I could have driven it hard as Turbs has suggested I may have been able to get the numbers up even though the logistics of getting these machines to Temora would have had its challenges, we were going to work on that and assist with transport.

 

Two unfortunate significant things happened during the year that pretty much sabotaged the 95-10 effort for Temora.

 

Firstly at the last AGM Steve Bell approached me regarding doing a major focus at Temora on rag and tube and the 95-10, and the old 95-25 types. Steve was going to dedicate his time to special forums in this category for the whole of Natfly, leaving his other Techy stuff to others. Unfortunately we lost Steve during the year due to a series of difficult and unfortunate circumstances and with him our major contributor as someone with significant contacts that he was to call on.

 

Secondly, my personal circumstances dramatically changed during the year and my time was completely hijacked by other family and business priorities, this pretty much excluded me from involvement. I didn't and still haven't turned a spanner on my own 95-10 Javelin and haven't touched my Auster this year, that is how busy it has been. I am disappointed that I could not put the effort in; Steve Bell, Carol Richards and I had planned to have a special field away from the Temora site to gather the slow R & T types and have a mass flyin as a special early morning event ... sadly that was not to be either. Ross Millard (the other Major) put his hand up and flew all the way from Townsville with Donny the Windsor and held a good forum, thanks Ross, sorry the rest did not eventuate.

 

So sorry folks ... perhaps another day .. the 95-10 types are certainly here to stay and a very cost effective way to hone some real flying skills. We really do need to do this again and in a big way. Mangalore was like that ... where have we gone with this?

 

 

[robinsm]

David, dont beat yourself up over this. The pilots out there were aware of the proposal and it was up to them to show an interest as well. The number of 95-10 amd 95-25 were very low, even the 95-55 rag and tube were scarce. Personal circumstances change and we must accept that. Well done for volunteering initially. As you say, maybe another day.

 

Cheers

 

Maynard

 

 

[pudestcon]

No blame at all David. That's just life.

 

I have a R&T as you know but Temora is just outside the T500 endurance.

 

Pud

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Maynard,

 

How did you find the flight to Temora and back to Goulburn? I wasn't too sure about how the forecast looked for the return flight and ended up driving.

 

I had thought of towing my slower Wizard-winged trike but the thought of being in the Natfly circuit at 35kts didn't appeal when it's hard enough to find a slot in the 60kt+ XT-912.

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Back on topic,

 

Quite notable absences of any displays were Quicksilver, X-Air and Airborne . . . that I noticed.

 

 

[winsor68]

Quicksilver were the with a 2s.. and I could have sworn I saw Airborne too.

 

Next year now that I know a bit about how it all works I will be offering to put more effort in for the rag and tube... I have called one of my new mates Max from the Holbrook Museum already since I got back and am hoping to help chase up a few leads for the museum from us Queenslanders... there has been a Jackeroo and the Skyrider Tomo has flown... both very much of interest to the Museum which with a little donation from some of us should take their rightful place down there ... both shown as available for sale right here on this site.

 

What do you reckon guys?

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Hi Winsor,

 

Come to think of it, Quicksilver was there, but didn't feature the 65hp 4-stroke engine they did in previous years. I think the Airborne trike you saw in the display area belonged to Punkinhead who do the aircraft covers & pilot supplies.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

David, I'm sure you and others did their fair share in trying to get 95.10 happening. Windsor68 and I were coming down regardless, and I can tell you we left well satisfied.

 

I did actually have a good 95.10 experience on several fronts, dispite the lack of a large number of machines present.

 

Foremost of course was meeting and becoming good friends with Neville White, one of our sports first, and greatest 95.10 legends, who still flys a 95.10 machine today in the form of his Eipper Quicksilver GT400.

 

To view Nevilles' early Cab Wasp was fasicinating for me. It was with bare-bones machines like this that our sport was born. I just had to sit in the Cab wasps' simple plastic lawn chair seat, and Neville was nice enough to let me. And guess what ?...not an instrument in sight from the pilots' seat, this was true seat of the pants flying!!.. The engineering and ingenuity of that simple early machine is astounding, especially with the basic flap, and elevator trim systems. Nevilles' wife was there also, proud of the fact that she had been the one who sewed the dacron sails for all the 16 machines they both built from Gunadah.

 

I then ran into Steve Cohen, one of our early pioneers and legends, and our own Pylon 500 who also flew early 95.10 machines. What a treat.

 

Over to the Eipper Quicksilver stall where there was an MXL2 in all it's glory, the machine I had initially trained in, and got my first UL wings. And yes, I just had to sit in it also, the seat feeling very familiar. What memories came flooding back of my first early morning flight training,(brrrrrr) and of all the rides I had flown in the same machine later on, giving many, many folks their first UL experience.

 

I had a good look over Nevilles' Eipper GT400. This was the type of machine I had first solod in back in 84, and once again many happy memories for me.

 

And donald and I had flown all those miles over desolate scrub, and mulga, to arrive at Temora in a 95.25 Lightwing training machine, which was a descendant of one of the first dual trainers allowed in the country, back in the 80s and one in which many of our early pilots also gained their wings.

 

Then we met Chris Conroy. Hell of a nice guy, aircraft designer, and an early 95.10 pilot who always took every opportunity to promote the UL cause on his popular TV show, which ran on national TV in this country for 23 years or so. I took time to attend his forum, and he is still very passionate about the 95.10 cause.

 

Paul Middleton was there, who together with Trevor Burns allowed the whole thing to kick off when they both had jobs in CASA, or whatever it was called back then. They were the ones who arranged for some early ultralights to land on the lawns in front of the old Parliment house in Canberra, which gave our early aircraft some ligitamacy. Try doing that now !!........

 

No 95.10 wasn't everywhere at Temora, but it certainly was there if you took the time to look for it!!................................................................Maj...

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

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Washing day at the lightwing camp....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guernsey]

Checking out that last photo of the Lightwing with all the washing on the back fence and the wing struts, I recon there must have been two stark naked pilots inside the tent. Alan.

 

 

[Bryon]

I recon there must have been two stark naked pilots inside the tent. Alan.

The mind boggles

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Since discovering that Windsor68 is a very active snoorer on the first overnighter, I insisted that his tent be as far away from mine as possible, so he's under the other wingtip !!.....................We had availed ourselves of the wonderfull laundry facilities at Temora to catch up on a weeks washing !!................................Maj...

 

 

[Guest russ.mullins]

I traveled to Natfly with a fellow aviator and we both left with much the same comments I have read here tonight. Simple stuff such as the Temora Aero Club being closed when it's right in the heart of the air park had me wondering what has gone wrong (after all it's the closest toilet and us old boys don't have the prostrates we used to have!). I came away thinking I had been at a display of the new "GA Light" class of flying, lots of very beautiful and fast aircraft, but not in my budget. The poor little Cessna I did my GA training in could barely see the dust of some of the recreational rocket ships I saw on the weekend. As for the GA entrants winning prizes at the RAA Natfly... Really!! And finally, my main enjoyment from past Natfly's has been listening to Steve Bell the Missing Soldier of RAA talk about tech stuff. As each of the key players in RAA have moved to greener pastures over the past few years, the RAA Magazine has been loaded with glowing praise from the CEO and others about their tireless work and achievements for our betterment, and yet Steve Bell the Technical Adviser who ran some of the really interesting forums at previous Natfly and a person who could be called up on the phone for some advise at any time has vanished without trace and without so much as a thanks for coming from his peers in the big house. I came into recreational aviation full of enthusiasm and excitement for what I thought was a great alternative to highly expensive GA flying, and now I'm wondering whether we are all heading to a new class, "GA Light" I hope that's not the case because too many good people worked to have recreational aviation recognized and they deserve better.

 

 

[spacesailor]

I took the tent & a couple of extra chairs, BUT should have taken a motorized scooter, going from the "Sonex" hanger to A or B hanger,s the long way round was very tedious.

 

I followed one couple doing a shortcut between the houses, but was told we shouldent as they were private property,

 

One RAA aircraft missed out of being judged because "No current rego lable" was visible.

 

Disappointed, No "Dave Kings" HummelBird.

 

Sugestions, should we " Recreatinal Flying" have our own name tags ( big & brite) so we can greet each other, & joe public can see how many we are.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

One RAA aircraft missed out of being judged because "No current rego lable" was visible.

Rego labels are getting old fashioned, RA-Aus could go label-less like some states do for cars now. The rego number is checked on-line to confirm currency.

 

 

[David Isaac]

Rego labels are getting old fashioned, RA-Aus could go label-less like some states do for cars now. The rego number is checked on-line to confirm currency.

Correct GG, display of a registration label is no guarantee the registration is current in any State in Australia today.

Rregistration can be cancelled for non payment of fines etc.

 

South Australia no longer issues registration labels on motor vehicles and watch as all the other states follow; it is a simple way of removing a bureaucratic layer of administration and cost.

 

I could never really understand why RA Aus introduced that new label rule; to me it a knee jerk reaction to a minor problem that will not change by requiring a label to be displayed; something akin to what politicians and bureaucrats do.

 

There is NO requirement to 'display' registration certificates or labels in GA aircarft, so why do we add another layer of rules for RAA to follow?

 

 

[David Isaac]

.......One RAA aircraft missed out of being judged because "No current rego lable" was visible.......

Does anyone see the absolute irony of that ruling ... lets disqualify an RAA aircraft at an RAA meet because it was not displaying a registration card, but lets award a GA aircraft a prize intended for RAA aircraft and GA aircraft are not required to display any registration label at all and are allowed registration markings a fraction the size of RAA registration markings ... ?????

Figure that one out if you can.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

It's called control. CASA didn't have a way to check our regos so via the tech manager they 'requested' the display of the rego card in the little stick-on envelope that had to be visable from the left wingtip (sic). CASA is a controlling entity, don't for one moment think they aren't. And they won't stop there. Additional layers of really silly regs will keep trickling into our system, until we are overburdened just like GA is. Then we won't be able to afford to fly either ! And all this in an organization that is supposed to be 'self-regulating'...yeah right, ask Steve Bell what he reckons ?......or has he already reported to CASA Canberra for his labotomy, in preparation to becoming the latest CASA Sport aviation inspector ?......................heads up folks...................Maj...

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Regardless of the silliness of the rule, it is a requirement under the Technical Manual (implemented by Airworthiness Bulletin 01/03/2010), so if not displaying a current registration label, technically the aircraft is not compliant with the rules and cannot be flown.

 

On the other hand, it was not flying at the time of judging. Was it a requirement of the competition that the aircraft be registered? Did they check all the other ABs and ADs for all other aircraft judged? How about a homebuilt that was completed but not yet registered, and which arrived by road?

 

Seems like an error of judgement to me.

 

 

[andrew1975]

Hi all, I attended this year for the first time. I enjoyed it. Only regret the ozrunways forum was run a bit latter in the day on the Saturday. As I could only fly in and back on the Saturday, I couldn't make the 9am session. Still a lot of people have done a lot of work to put on this event, so thank you and well done. Every aviator I spoke to was friendly, so at least that part of the spirit do raa lives on.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

I think the fact is that it is held on Easter, when people want to be with their families, which would be another reason for less than desired numbers...

Yep, that's why I'll not be there. And it's not family friendly.

 

 

[viper52]

This was my second year at Temora and it was definitely quieter.

 

Why can't there be flying displays besides the daily aerobatic show. Hop in an aircraft and do a couple of circuits in front of the crowd, don't have to be a CASA endorsed display pilot for that.

 

Park similar aircraft together, took ages to wander around and find some of the RA Aus aircraft.

 

Did enjoy the RV's and Sonex's on display even if they weren't RAA, they are aircraft.

 

The comments about practical workshops made before are spot on. There need to be a lot more, even if the gurus from the SAAA do them.

 

Practical demonstrations on maintenance, aircraft cleaning, fueling, repairs etc.

 

How about some workshops on repairing flat tires, or how to be a copilot for the wife/ to the wife.

 

As for CASA, well there appeared to be more inspectors than attendees on Friday. But as has been said, a ramp check shouldn't scare anyone but couldn't they give a prize for the best aircraft library or best folded chart or something and make it an enjoyable experience??

 

They could have done some information sessions on CTA avoidance/entry, circuit entry etc. Safety seminar's? Positive stuff for the RAA pilot.

 

Even though I drove down from the Hunter (aircraft only has one and a half wings and no engine yet) the marshaling and transport the volunteers provided seemed excellent.

 

Two cents worth.