RA Aus Maintainers Authority

[Guest Maj Millard]

John, You are indeed correct there, it is another hoop to jump through. However it is a relatively small hoop which CASA have imposed on us, that is easily delt with.

 

It is our hope that is may help to ward off the imposition of much larger hoops from CASA. We have to feed the bear a little so he will hopefully stay most of the time in his cave !...

 

And yes, there are instances where poor general maintenance has contributed to some of our accidents in the past. unfortunatly the Coroner has jumped on a couple of these examples, recommended action by the regulator, hence the heat from CASA.............Maj.....NQ Board Rep

 

 

[Yenn]

I have built a GA experimental plane and a RAAus plane. Now to maintain the RAAus plane I will have to go through an examinaton, but I can do the GA maintenance and sign off the paperwork, without an exam.

 

 

[rankamateur]

John, You are indeed correct there, it is another hoop to jump through. However it is a relatively small hoop which CASA have imposed on us,

Doesn't that sum up the impost of living in a nanny state. As you point out the hoop is small, as they get smaller, and closer together, they don't get any easier to jump through without tripping up.

 

 

[Zibi]

I may be in a minority in here, or at least the quiet part of the forum, but I'll admit I'm not very good when it comes to knowledge about engines or even airframes.

 

I bought a factory built plane and right now I maintain my own plane, I follow the manuals, ask others if I'm not sure, etc.

 

But I often wonder how many things I might miss, just because they look ok to me, or I don't know what to look for and I appreciate a test like this as it may point me into areas where my deficiencies lie.

 

What I would appreciate way more would be some form of training courses or seminars where I could improve my knowledge.

 

I've tried looking for a Rotax maintenance course, but it seems that main Rotax page sends me to local distributor, and local one sends me back to main Rotax page (or didn't have anything easily visible).

 

 

[Teckair]

I stopped flying other peoples planes due to maintenance problems. I have not seen too many problems with L2s but some L1s are a very different story, for some weird reason a person who cannot fix their car can be quite happy working on their aircraft.

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

I stopped flying other peoples planes due to maintenance problems. I have not seen too many problems with L2s but some L1s are a very different story, for some weird reason a person who cannot fix their car can be quite happy working on their aircraft.

Yep, if there is one skill that is more important than any other for a L1 its the ability to accurately assess their own maintenance abilities and to know when they should do stuff themselves, and when they should seek the paid assistance of a professional.

 

Its the "paid" bit that gets in the way...... people only think of the short term costs.....if the longer term costs such as excesses, or lack of insurance because maintenance IAW manufacturers published handbooks haven't been followed were considered, then the short term costs may not appear so ugly.......

 

 

[planesmaker]

I have built a GA experimental plane and a RAAus plane. Now to maintain the RAAus plane I will have to go through an examinaton, but I can do the GA maintenance and sign off the paperwork, without an exam.

Yenn you must have done a maintenance procedures course through saaa to maintain your GA experimental. It does involve an exam. Tom

 

 

[DrZoos]

Yep, if there is one skill that is more important than any other for a L1 its the ability to accurately assess their own maintenance abilities and to know when they should do stuff themselves, and when they should seek the paid assistance of a professional.Its the "paid" bit that gets in the way...... people only think of the short term costs.....if the longer term costs such as excesses, or lack of insurance because maintenance IAW manufacturers published handbooks haven't been followed were considered, then the short term costs may not appear so ugly.......

So true. Im very happy to pay my L2 and learn a lot from him in the process.

But i guess some dont have that luxury geographically

 

 

[cscotthendry]

????

 

I just went to the RA-Aus website then Safety | Technical | Maintainer Assessment and got

 

Not Found

 

Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.

 

???

 

 

[ave8rr]

I have built a GA experimental plane and a RAAus plane. Now to maintain the RAAus plane I will have to go through an examinaton, but I can do the GA maintenance and sign off the paperwork, without an exam.

But you will have to do the SAAA maintenance course to be able to issue the annual maintenance release under the new regulations.

 

 

[jakej]

How many RAAUS aircraft have fallen from the sky due bad maintenance? Are there any stats, or is this an imagined problem?I built my aircraft, and if there is something I'm not comfortable with, I seek help, or with the Rotax, send it away to be fixed.

Yet another hoop to jump through.

Maybe your question could be 'how many incidents were possibly prevented'. - I saw an RAAus aircraft recently with cowl off while owner was doing nose gear maintenance , I noticed some cracking in rubber of fuel hose (pressure side to carb) & when it was flexed fuel came out. Hate to think about fuel pouring over an engine in flight.

 

Jake J

 

 

[Peter008]

I get the same response cscotthendry. The link must have been taken off the site. Have tried a few times last night and again this evening.

 

Just when I studied up on all of the info.......

 

Cheers

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Maybe they are changing the questions because you guys have been copying them !............ More than likely a possible temporary compute glitch, the office has recently been receiving some office renovation, with new phone and computer lines put in.............Maj....

 

 

[Teckair]

How many RAAUS aircraft have fallen from the sky due bad maintenance? Are there any stats, or is this an imagined problem?I built my aircraft, and if there is something I'm not comfortable with, I seek help, or with the Rotax, send it away to be fixed.

Yet another hoop to jump through.

Off the top of my head I have had 5 engine failures and about 10 situations where I found aircraft were unfit to fly due to maintenance issues.

 

 

[facthunter]

They don't have to FALL out of the sky. ( In fact planes don't do that very often) Any unnoticed leak,blockage or crack or bent bolt is a failure which but for a bit of luck could result in something more serious. Unusual planes of small production numbers need more monitoring, where as common designs have a usage history. Incident reporting would be patchy and a lot of partial failures are not reported, denying others of vital information, that would lead to inspections etc Nev

 

 

[storchy neil]

it finaly got to me how many off you so called experts have realy been following this foram I tried to tell you that my plane that was repaired by a l2 l3 lame was a death trap it is the only way to describe the repairs

 

I for one am lucky that i was not part off a inquest as to why my plane crashed what a pity that it did not as the misses would have been a millionaire now as the repairer did not have any repair manuals used parts bought from bearing services used parts not suitable

 

why don't you ask RAA to release the photos that they have of my planes repair bet that they don't its just a civil matter

 

some off you could not fix a wheel barrow

 

next time you fly a school plane check out the maintenance record and go over the plane thourghly neil

 

 

[fly_tornado]

RAA + computers = disaster waiting to happen. Maybe they are going to include the test in the next magazine? Then you can share the answers online and everyone will be happy.

 

 

[Teckair]

it finaly got to me how many off you so called experts have realy been following this foram I tried to tell you that my plane that was repaired by a l2 l3 lame was a death trap it is the only way to describe the repairsI for one am lucky that i was not part off a inquest as to why my plane crashed what a pity that it did not as the misses would have been a millionaire now as the repairer did not have any repair manuals used parts bought from bearing services used parts not suitable

why don't you ask RAA to release the photos that they have of my planes repair bet that they don't its just a civil matter

 

some off you could not fix a wheel barrow

 

next time you fly a school plane check out the maintenance record and go over the plane thourghly neil

We only had your version of events which no one is going to take seriously without hearing all sides to the story. The manner in which you post things does you no favors and will not help your credibility.

 

 

[M61A1]

I stopped flying other peoples planes due to maintenance problems. I have not seen too many problems with L2s but some L1s are a very different story, for some weird reason a person who cannot fix their car can be quite happy working on their aircraft.

A friend of mine stopped flying other people's 95.10's after a few too many engine fails.

Oddly I find the situation different where I work, we have a lot ex-military maintainers, still working on military aircraft, but who don't have the skill to change the brake pads on their own car. Edit......I just realised, that makes it the same.

 

 

[storchy neil]

We only had your version of events which no one is going to take seriously without hearing all sides to the story. The manner in which you post things does you no favors and will not help your credibility.

 

teckair suck it up if you don't like what I post so be it that's the way I am so

 

as I said the photos are at raa get on to the tec manager ask them what was found wrong with my aircraft by an independent l3 l2 lame

 

neil

 

 

[Teckair]

as I said the photos are at raa get on to the tec manager ask them what was found wrong with my aircraft by an independent l3 l2 lame neil

Do you really think that would work? Me asking RAA for photos of your plane? You could not be serious??

 

 

[Teckair]

A friend of mine stopped flying other people's 95.10's after a few too many engine fails.Oddly I find the situation different where I work, we have a lot ex-military maintainers, still working on military aircraft, but who don't have the skill to change the brake pads on their own car. Edit......I just realised, that makes it the same.

Not sure what you are saying there.

 

 

[Oscar]

Without going into the full song and dance routine, I've been working on a very major repair/modify of my own aircraft and we've found a considerable number of things that are far below-standard - and it was LAME/L2 maintained for all of its history. Quite a few of those things were immediately apparent on any decent inspection (including some that were obviously wrong that should have been picked up on a D.I.) and this on an aircraft that was used almost exclusively by FTFs. A number of those things affected primary control circuits and would have led eventually to the failure of at least the rudder circuit.

 

The conclusion I draw is that far too few people have even a basic idea of what is bad practice for quite simple matters such as proper routing of control cables/push rods, safe installation of rod-end fittings so they are free to travel their full travel without fouling brackets/control horns, proper selection of washers etc. to ensure full and free movement of control runs, even the necessity to maintain the firewall without having unsealed holes through to the cockpit in it! I haven't seen the L1 'syllabus' nor the exam, but I'd hope that there is some sort of 'basic airworthiness' booklet available that at least shows owners what sort of things they ought to keep an eye on and rectify / seek expert advice about if they appear to be dodgy. It doesn't need to be the Aircraft Mechanic's Pocket Manual.

 

 

[Teckair]

Without going into the full song and dance routine, I've been working on a very major repair/modify of my own aircraft and we've found a considerable number of things that are far below-standard - and it was LAME/L2 maintained for all of its history. Quite a few of those things were immediately apparent on any decent inspection (including some that were obviously wrong that should have been picked up on a D.I.) and this on an aircraft that was used almost exclusively by FTFs. A number of those things affected primary control circuits and would have led eventually to the failure of at least the rudder circuit. The conclusion I draw is that far too few people have even a basic idea of what is bad practice for quite simple matters such as proper routing of control cables/push rods, safe installation of rod-end fittings so they are free to travel their full travel without fouling brackets/control horns, proper selection of washers etc. to ensure full and free movement of control runs, even the necessity to maintain the firewall without having unsealed holes through to the cockpit in it! I haven't seen the L1 'syllabus' nor the exam, but I'd hope that there is some sort of 'basic airworthiness' booklet available that at least shows owners what sort of things they ought to keep an eye on and rectify / seek expert advice about if they appear to be dodgy. It doesn't need to be the Aircraft Mechanic's Pocket Manual.

People making these sort of claims should be talking to one or more Area Reps, have you actually done that? Making unsubstantiated claims on a public forum will only bring the RAA into disrepute and at the end of the day serve to work against you. Do you really want a situation where only a lame can work on your plane?

 

 

[storchy neil]

tecair my full name neil Bradley 7 stevens crs Mooroopna vic phone number 0419202665 ring me and I will send you the photos

 

Oscar you are right on the ball bloody basic things that l2 l3 lame should pick up and yet they are not accountable for not finding the stuff ups on the plane that you own you are

 

as I am not a l2 l3 or lame how in the hell can I find problems with the plane read the manual

 

raa cannot and don't do a bloody thing about l2 l3 lame that don't find defects in your plane as I have found out

 

the l2 l3 lame that found major defects on my plane had all the manuals and got all the specs for the maker before he would touch the plane neil