Taking ya mate for a fly think twice

[farri]

Greg, Was your friend operating out of Cairns aerodrome?

Frank.

[Greg Spiers]

Nup, out of Batchelor NT at the time. One now flying a Jet Ranger out of Torres Strait Islands and another operating his own company out of Katerine I believe. How's the weather in Deeral, used to be a District Inspector for Rural Fire in Innesfail for a short stint after leaving the NT, good weather for flying when it wasn't raining.

 

G

 

 

[Guest nunans]

I would only need to frighten someone who I took flying, for them to be able to sue me.

I have been told of an instance where the passenger of an ra aircraft which flew an uneventfull forced landing decided after the event that they would sue for Psychological trauma. I wonder if thier decision to sue was prompted by one of those no win no pay parasite compensation lawyers?

 

 

[turboplanner]

I have been told of an instance where the passenger of an ra aircraft which flew an uneventfull forced landing decided after the event that they would sue for Psychological trauma. I wonder if thier decision to sue was prompted by one of those no win no pay parasite compensation lawyers?

Anyone can sue anyone; they don't automatically win, and this person would have to prove damage. Many of the no win no pay contracts only apply to the lawyers fees. If you tried this one, you'd probably lose and face $50,000.00 in costs.

 

 

[farri]

Thanks Gre

 

Nup, out of Batchelor NT at the time. G

Thanks Greg. I asked because a friend of mine who had obtained his AUF pilot certificate,here in the Drifter, later went on to fly helicopters and ran his own heli flying school out Cairns aerodrome.

 

I thought it might have been him you were talking about because his situation turned out almost identicle to the case of your friend.

 

Frank.

 

 

[Teckair]

I have been told of an instance where the passenger of an ra aircraft which flew an uneventfull forced landing decided after the event that they would sue for Psychological trauma. I wonder if thier decision to sue was prompted by one of those no win no pay parasite compensation lawyers?

I have been told law firms will only take on those no win no fee cases if they are confident they will win and the fees they they charge are much higher than would normally be charged. The result is usually the law firm wins not so much the person taking legal action.

 

 

[facthunter]

I can't imagine a fee "much higher than would normally be charged".Nev

 

 

[planedriver]

My neighbour took up one of those "no win, no fee" deals, after being completely left out her mothers will, with all the estate left to her two brothers.

 

What should have been a fairly easy situation to resolve, resulted in her being awarded almost 70grand, then the solicitor relieved her of 59 1/2 of it.

 

I understood that provided you were mentioned in the will, and even only left $1, you could not even contest it?

 

As is usual, she was initially told it should be an easy matter to resolve, and the fees would probably no more than a few grand and she'd get the balance. YEA RITE!

 

 

[facthunter]

Yeah They reckon that 99% of Lawyers give the rest a bad name. (Sorry Kaz, I couldn't resist it) nev

 

 

[planedriver]

And honest ones mainly fly old Austers

 

 

[Greg Spiers]

No

 

Thanks Gre

Thanks Greg. I asked because a friend of mine who had obtained his AUF pilot certificate,here in the Drifter, later went on to fly helicopters and ran his own heli flying school out Cairns aerodrome.

 

I thought it might have been him you were talking about because his situation turned out almost identicle to the case of your friend.

 

Frank.

No worries Frank. I was involved in the helicopter industry, remotely, wasn't an operator but did have a fair bit to do with it in the NT with the work I was doing for Environment Australia and many of my friends where flyers. I have dozens of stories like that one and I will post em as time goes on and I am reminded of them. I flew a drifter around the Atherton Tableland once, bout 1992 or 3. It belonged to a German guy who lived not far from Atherton, can't remember his name. He was a bid concerned when I flew over some tiger country for a while, he made the comment that I had a bit of faith in his 582. Ya gotta have faith in your aircraft eh? I was used to flying over tiger country in Arnhem land and Kakadu where I did most of my flying. I loved the drifter, almost don't see them anymore, more's the pity. I got out of flying for over ten years when I moved to Adelaide, built a house and all that stuff. When I wanted to get back in again I was shocked to see where it had got to in that time. I had a GA PPL A license and getting it back was going to cost me an arm and a leg ($6,000 was one quote) so I headed back to AUF but that had gone to LSA. I am too far from an airport so am looking at gyros as I have a chance of maybe flying off my property in the hills but I need to do more investigations and measuring yet, bit touch and go. Hope you enjoy your Drifter I know I did.

 

Keep flying, stay safe.

 

Greg

 

 

[Teckair]

Hey Geg maybe that German guy was called Werner?

 

 

[Greg Spiers]

Hey Geg maybe that German guy was called Werner?

That's him.

I was giving a paper at a conference, at the Malanda Hotel, good pub that, on innovative fire management techniques. I had developed aerial fire incendiary bombing methods across the top end, it had been going on for years but I simplified it to work better with environmental management (mosaic burning patterns) and to work in with Aboriginal fire regimes and the politics of it all. I got a phone call from Werner and offered me the ride, it was great fun and I was happy to get out of the conference for a few hours. Don't know if you are interested (I'll tell ya anyway) the paper was about using R22 helicopters and ultralights instead of more expensive and less manoeuvrable alternatives like fixed wing GA and Jet Rangers, as had been the case, with automated machines. I ultimately wanted to use ultralights with manual dispatch and got into all sorts of bother with the CASA who eventually canned me. I had arranged to pick up a Skyfox (55-671 if ya interested) from Coloundra and fly it back to Kakadu for trials. CASA wouldn't let it go ahead and classified it as a Commercial Activity even though we were going to fly them ourselves on our own property because, the 'dropping of articles' from a plane required a commercial license according to their interpretation of the regs and, the cross hire of the aircraft was also classified by them, at the time, as a commercial activity because someone was making financial gain, CASA wanted a Commercial License and a GA registered aircraft, if it was going to be used for 'air work'. It was a mine field. The ABC got in on the act to support what we intended to do and I think they wanted to stick it to CASA at the time but I was getting a lot of pressure from my administration to not make an issue of it so I dropped it. I think Werner must have got my name through the AUF as the AUF were keen to see it happen. Oh well, that's life.

 

Greg.

 

 

[Teckair]

Yep Casa would never go for that, commercial pilots would not be happy. You could legally take a photo from an ultralight but if you sold it then that was illegal. Same as joy rides which are illegal but fine if it is not called a joy ride and is done for free.

 

 

[farri]

Good old Werner! Know him well. I instructed both him and his partner, Sandra. Werner was Nth Qld, AUF rep for a while.

 

Last night I was at a function and got talking to a guy I`d just met. The conversation got around to flying and Ultralights. He told me, years ago, there were a couple of guys, on the Atherton tablelands, giving joy flights and charging $10 so he took a flight. I asked if he`d enjoyed it and he said " the guy frightened the s**t out of me."

 

Frank.

 

 

[farri]

Frank.Keep flying, stay safe.Greg

Yes Greg! I will continue to fly for as long as I can and I don`t want to become paranoid about taking someone else flying with me.

 

Our grandchildren regularly come to see Fran and I and they often bring friends with them. This afternoon they came with a guy and his girl, in their late teens, who are over here from England, to tour around the country. The guy had never been near an Ultralight but was keen to go for a fly. I`m always happy to take up any of their friends,so up we went. He loved it and it got him interested in flying. I explained that they do have Ultralights in England, I gave him the web address to this forum and a recent copy of Sport Pilot so that he could see the variety of aircraft now available in Australia....I also took my granddaughter for a fly and everyone was happy.

 

Frank.

 

 

[flying dog]

Ok,

 

I'm interested.

 

Maybe where I fly I was sure that the PAX was covered, but not me.

 

Thing about taking people.

 

Way back, I was talking to someone and they said they wanted to come flying. As I was "new" to that I took them up on it.

 

I gave the preflight brief and the do's and don'ts.

 

We took off. "How high are we?"

 

"2000 feet."

 

"What's that in metres? I want to know in metres."

 

"The gauge is in feet, what do you want me to do?"

 

They got upset with me.

 

They were looking out the window:

 

"Why do they have a swimming pool in their back yard?"

 

We hit some turbulence, and he was asking how far up/down we went.

 

I wanted the plan to have an ejector seat.

 

I also read an article in one of the mags about someone who was flying up to near Brissie.

 

3 PAX.

 

The person in the front seat touched the throttle and caused all sorts of problems.

 

The person then went on to say he heard this person attacked someone else and cut off their ear.

 

I can't vouch for the validity, but yikes!

 

 

[flying dog]

Oh just some more research:

 

http://www.raa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Members-Liability-Policy.pdf

 

Anyone care to explain what I am missing about the pax not having cover?

 

 

[Teckair]

Oh just some more research:http://www.raa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Members-Liability-Policy.pdf

Anyone care to explain what I am missing about the pax not having cover?

bodily injury including a sub-limit of up to $250,000 for liability arising from injuries to

passengers (including student pilots).

 

 

[flying dog]

Yeah.

 

if you want more then take it up yourself.

 

What do you want for free?