Anyone got a working Crystal Ball on our leaders in the RAA on weight increase

[facthunter]

One more recent attitude of aviation medicals is that some of the requirements of the class one and two hark back to the military days and don't have a REAL and practical effect on death or incapacitation on duty. I held a class one for something like 30+ years, and know of instances of DEATH within a month of passing the class one sometimes an hour after doing a flight and total incapacitation during a landing roll, personally. and people in their 20's with a class one having a serious heart attack with no warning. The best safety feature is TWO pilots but they spend long hours in flight these days so it's a more critical situation to have pilot redundancy available. You can't drop down and just land in a paddock with a 777 in the middle of the Pacific The statistics are there to show both medicals are not a good reliable predictor of incapacitation. May countries like the USA are going for a reduced standard on this basis. We now have over 70 years of good records to fallback on.

 

Whether your LICENCE is ICAO compliant will be written on it. Your CERTIFICATE certainly is not, and never will be and being ICAO compliant is not a good idea. You can never be a leader if you go that way.. IF you go to primary airports you will also pay a lot for the privilege and flying in controlled airspace isn't free either. Why should it be. Some one has to pay for it and it's a user pays system to a certain extent

 

I've always said be careful what you wish for . You might get it and lose some or all of what you have.

 

Note. Most of my flying hours are in CTA and apart from transit rights and specific access with training I say don't go there. It's more workload. more training, recency considerations, Clearances, for levels, track and airspace, (leaving and entering). You need a new clearance for any change . Calculate LSALT's. Holding procedures radio reliability/ duplication, know radio fail procedures. Maintain altitude precisely on assigned level, maintain assigned track also. Reporting position constantly on a regular schedule. Amend ETA if 2 minutes out. flying IFR (losing VFR) dodging weather revised eta's and you are usually over tiger country and involved with climbing/ descending RPT traffic often because that's where THEY are. No big deal if you do it every day, and are properly trained. IF you only do it occasionally you may have a lot of problems. Nev

 

 

[pmccarthy]

I have been flying GA since 1970 (still do) and RA since 1992. Haven't entered CTA since about 1974 and still had a lot of fun. I know I could do it if I wish but just haven't needed to, I don't go to cities. Plan my trips around them.

 

 

[facthunter]

When I operated out of Newcastle and later Rutherford with RNAC we used to get a "special VFR" procedure into Mascot.. You knew if you stuffed it up, you better not come near the club again. It was actually easier and safer than going via the Lanes to Bankstown. About half of the people running DCA were from Newcastle so we had mates in city hall. It's not WHAT you know, you know. Nev

 

 

[turboplanner]

Ah yes ICAO harmonisation, the road to the death of GA in Australia.

That could be, but the last time I had a look at the FAA regulations, the carefree era was over there too and they were adopting ICAO standards as fast as we were.

 

 

[Roscoe]

https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/5474110/ar2014084_final.pdfAs per the report, RA AUS shows a significantly higher rate of incidents/accidents than their GA equivalents.

 

Seems fairly practical to me. Near the Sunshine Coast you have caloundra and Noosa. Near Coffs Harbour you have Nambucca heads, Grafton and several others. Fly to destinations within the priveleges of your licence or go get the licence that lets you go where you need.

Consider this hypothetical scenario

A Commercial GA Pilot with a Class 1 Medical Cert decides to retire from Professional flying and gets himself an RAA Aircraft fully equipped with Radio and Transponder.

 

He decides to let his medical lapse and operate in the

 

One more recent attitude of aviation medicals is that some of the requirements of the class one and two hark back to the military days and don't have a REAL and practical effect on death or incapacitation on duty. I held a class one for something like 30+ years, and know of instances of DEATH within a month of passing the class one sometimes an hour after doing a flight and total incapacitation during a landing roll, personally. and people in their 20's with a class one having a serious heart attack with no warning. The best safety feature is TWO pilots but they spend long hours in flight these days so it's a more critical situation to have pilot redundancy available. You can't drop down and just land in a paddock with a 777 in the middle of the Pacific The statistics are there to show both medicals are not a good reliable predictor of incapacitation. May countries like the USA are going for a reduced standard on this basis. We now have over 70 years of good records to fallback on.Whether your LICENCE is ICAO compliant will be written on it. Your CERTIFICATE certainly is not, and never will be and being ICAO compliant is not a good idea. You can never be a leader if you go that way.. IF you go to primary airports you will also pay a lot for the privilege and flying in controlled airspace isn't free either. Why should it be. Some one has to pay for it and it's a user pays system to a certain extent

I've always said be careful what you wish for . You might get it and lose some or all of what you have.

 

Note. Most of my flying hours are in CTA and apart from transit rights and specific access with training I say don't go there. It's more workload. more training, recency considerations, Clearances, for levels, track and airspace, (leaving and entering). You need a new clearance for any change . Calculate LSALT's. Holding procedures radio reliability/ duplication, know radio fail procedures. Maintain altitude precisely on assigned level, maintain assigned track also. Reporting position constantly on a regular schedule. Amend ETA if 2 minutes out. flying IFR (losing VFR) dodging weather revised eta's and you are usually over tiger country and involved with climbing/ descending RPT traffic often because that's where THEY are. No big deal if you do it every day, and are properly trained. IF you only do it occasionally you may have a lot of problems. Nev

Some good points Nev.

Many Pilots just want to be able to transit CTA Airspace and it's not difficult.

 

When I operated out of Newcastle and later Rutherford with RNAC we used to get a "special VFR" procedure into Mascot.. You knew if you stuffed it up, you better not come near the club again. It was actually easier and safer than going via the Lanes to Bankstown. About half of the people running DCA were from Newcastle so we had mates in city hall. It's not WHAT you know, you know. Nev

And i can recall flying into Sydney on a Sunday arvo for a cup of Coffee (because we could).

But getting back onto the CTA Access thread, I think a lot of RAA Pilots would just like to be able to transit a CTA area without landing which is a safer option than being pushed out to the hills which is the case on the East Coast.

 

I recently flew from Bankstown to Bundaberg, coastal all the way and had a great experience all the way!.

 

Williamtown was an easy coastal transit at 1000ft AGL, a call to Coffs Tower at Nambucca Heads and was cleared for a straight in approach to land for fuel, Gold Coast Tower cleared me for another Coastal transit at 1000ft AGL and then a nice scenic run via the Islands vfr route up and into Sunshine Coast Airport, which again, was just a call to them at the southern reporting point and cleared for a base leg entry for a landing and overnight stay.

 

None of this was difficult, and and the Controllers at each Airport were very helpful. I had never flown into Sunshine Coast before, and told them I was unfamiliar with their procedures, and I was given red carpet treatment, directions to parking and fuel, etc, etc.

 

You just have to spend the time planning the flight, going over the radio work, and not being afraid to clarify anything you don't understand.

 

Like you Nev, I have also operated in the GA environment for many years, so yes I am used to it, but with proper training and an equipped aircraft, it gives the RAA Pilot much more flexibility and confidence.

 

I am in full support of RAA seeking approval for its Pilots CTA access PROVIDING the training and aircraft is up to scratch and the Pilot can demonstrate competency.

 

 

[Yenn]

I haven't felt the need to go into controlled airspace for many years, except for a BFR or two. The need to be constantly monitoring the radio, plus very accurate level and timing requirements, makes it more like work than recrearion. I did a trip to Redcliffe today which involved 12 changes of radio frequency, in a trip of just over 3 hours and I was not in IFR or controlled airspace. Not fun flying.

 

 

[coljones]

One more recent attitude of aviation medicals is that some of the requirements of the class one and two hark back to the military days and don't have a REAL and practical effect on death or incapacitation on duty. I held a class one for something like 30+ years, and know of instances of DEATH within a month of passing the class one sometimes an hour after doing a flight and total incapacitation during a landing roll, personally. and people in their 20's with a class one having a serious heart attack with no warning. The best safety feature is TWO pilots but they spend long hours in flight these days so it's a more critical situation to have pilot redundancy available. You can't drop down and just land in a paddock with a 777 in the middle of the Pacific The statistics are there to show both medicals are not a good reliable predictor of incapacitation. May countries like the USA are going for a reduced standard on this basis. We now have over 70 years of good records to fallback on.Whether your LICENCE is ICAO compliant will be written on it. Your CERTIFICATE certainly is not, and never will be and being ICAO compliant is not a good idea. You can never be a leader if you go that way.. IF you go to primary airports you will also pay a lot for the privilege and flying in controlled airspace isn't free either. Why should it be. Some one has to pay for it and it's a user pays system to a certain extent

I've always said be careful what you wish for . You might get it and lose some or all of what you have.

 

Note. Most of my flying hours are in CTA and apart from transit rights and specific access with training I say don't go there. It's more workload. more training, recency considerations, Clearances, for levels, track and airspace, (leaving and entering). You need a new clearance for any change . Calculate LSALT's. Holding procedures radio reliability/ duplication, know radio fail procedures. Maintain altitude precisely on assigned level, maintain assigned track also. Reporting position constantly on a regular schedule. Amend ETA if 2 minutes out. flying IFR (losing VFR) dodging weather revised eta's and you are usually over tiger country and involved with climbing/ descending RPT traffic often because that's where THEY are. No big deal if you do it every day, and are properly trained. IF you only do it occasionally you may have a lot of problems. Nev

But the same issues would confront the vast majority of PPLs.

 

 

[Roscoe]

I haven't felt the need to go into controlled airspace for many years, except for a BFR or two. The need to be constantly monitoring the radio, plus very accurate level and timing requirements, makes it more like work than recrearion. I did a trip to Redcliffe today which involved 12 changes of radio frequency, in a trip of just over 3 hours and I was not in IFR or controlled airspace. Not fun flying.

Appreciate your thoughts Yenn, however the option should be there for those who choose to use it. My earlier post regarding trip to Bundaberg was not hard work at all and in fact was made easier by ATC trying to assist in every way.

I think there is a perceived fear of stuffing up by a lot of Pilots which could be overcome by exposure to cta and it's very satisfying to complete a flight in cta that went well

 

 

[Lozzer]

Maybe a little late in this thread but I regularly fly a motor glider in Class D. The current (for some years now) GFA endorsement for flying in Controlled Airspace isn't quite as shallow as it was earlier made out to be....

 

1. Technical Knowledge

 

References: Visual Flight Guide, GFA Airways & Radio Procedures for Glider Pilots manual, Aeronautical Information Package (AIP) books, En Route Supplement Australia (ERSA).

 

(a) Use of Transponder.

 

(b) Standard words and phrases.

 

© Standard Radio Calls applicable to:-

 

• Class D aerodromes,

 

• Class C aerodromes.

 

(d) ATC Readback requirements.

 

(e) Interpretation of ERSA, VTC, VNC, ENC, and PCA.

 

(f) Maintaining Track

 

(g) Responsibilities operating in Class E airspace.

 

2. Flight training and Radio Requirements (Circle applicable class of airspace)

 

(a) Departure Procedures D / C

 

(b) Circuit Operations D / C

 

© Arrival Procedures D / C

 

(d) Transit Procedures D / C

 

Pilots holding Private or higher Licence or a Pilot Certificate issued by RAAus may be issued a Controlled Airspace endorsement provided that the Instructor issuing the endorsement is satisfied that the pilot meets the requirements above.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I thought this was a thread about the weight increase....not CTA

 

 

[facthunter]

Pretty sure the class one medical based ones are ICAO.( CPL and above.) A resting cardio is not worth much, unless you compare it with something recent. One point I agree with. the medical issue are discussed because the RAAus made them a priority to be achieved before the weight increase. That means as I read it, NO CTA .. Don't bother with a weight increase ...??? What actually is the CONNECTION? (except an arbitrary decision by the RAAus) Nev

 

 

[ian00798]

I would support the weight increase. A lot of RA aircraft are operating on an artificially reduced MTOW, ie sling 2, I think a 750kg MTOW would allow a much better utility of RA aircraft with no reduction in safety

 

 

[facthunter]

It would produce an increase in safety. More reliable airframes, more choice of motors. Cheaper stronger construction/ repair. Less exotic materials can be used, simple structures. I can build my Bleriot XI Nev