RAAus fees up again

[kasper]

Well it’s “only” inflation again according to the board communique but $5 on your membership and $5 on your rego are here again.  

 

And yes yes that’s the cost of a cup of rather average takeaway coffee ... but if after 5 years of management improvement you are never able to have less than inflation I question the value of the improvements to our systems. 

 

 

[turboplanner]

Yes, the massive investment in software a few years ago should be producing huge savings now.

 

 

[Thruster88]

I look at the stats page regularly

 

The extra 2300 members we have gained in the last year should be providing enough of a boost

 

Can't understand why this big increase is not flowing on to more aircraft, steady around 3350 all year

 

I do think over $400 to keep a file on Thruster and I is getting up there.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Yes, the massive investment in software a few years ago should be producing huge savings now.

It did! Remember the annual losses before the upgrade?

 

 

[kasper]

I look at the stats page regularly

The extra 2300 members we have gained in the last year should be providing enough of a boost

 

Can't understand why this big increase is not flowing on to more aircraft, steady around 3350 all year

 

I do think over $400 to keep a file on Thruster and I is getting up there.

I’m guessing the ’members’ are to a large proportion foreign students being put through RAAus initial training to certificate and then moving into GA and commercial ... there are a couple of very large training organisations that are doing this staged training to lower their overall costs.  But what it means is the members are only ours for 1 year and they never invest in airframes.   

 

if this is is the case then we will not see year on year increases continue unless more schools move to this model ... but overall it’s not true recreational training but commercial wrapped up in recreational to lower costs. 

 

And if large the training schools are the growth area for member money then think about where priorities for a company will sit ...  align with GA and just stay lower cost than GA and you have easy money ...

 

 

[ev17ifly2]

Holey cow, a massive $5 increase from RAAus.   My shire rates have increased by $300 this year, car and bike registration also up significantly, health insurance through the roof, petrol at an all time high, how will I ever manage to scrape up the extra $5 to go flying. 

 

 

[Yenn]

At least they have not found what the electricity supply companies have found.

 

Just add on a set fee for the infrastructure and it doesn’ matter about unit cost.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

It did! Remember the annual losses before the upgrade?

the IT system was designed to automate a lot of the process of the RAA which was going to lead to a reduction in the staff.

 

This never happened, looking at the system they paid $250k, they learnt a lot about sunken cost theory.

 

 

[Downunder]

I do think over $400 to keep a file on Thruster and I is getting up there.

So if you're doing 50 hrs per year, The RAA's cut is $8 per hour.....

 

 

[Thruster88]

So if you're doing 50 hrs per year, The RAA's cut is $8 per hour.....

I am only only doing about 25 hrs per year (can do a lot in 30 mins at a farm strip) so about $17 per hour for what?

 

 

[ClintonB]

It can be a lot worse. I only got 8 hours in on a mandatory 4 months oil change in C182 at a cost of $400 for filter and oil change( along with 50 L per hour of Avgas). Been busy on good days and shitty weather on days off, about 4 hours up now and not far from next one. How oil causes a plane to fall out of sky I have no idea, but thems the brakes as they say. This is on top of a 100 hourly that made a dent in $3500.00 to comply with. “Free” rego and no licence fee directly does have its draw backs.

 

i need to get my RAA plane going again.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Just traded my 9-year-old Mercedes on a Toyota. Merc blew a rear blinker bulb, turned out it was an LED, cost to replace with labour was just under $1000. I realised I was on a hiding to nothing.

 

I cannot get excited about $5 with RAA.

 

 

[poteroo]

It can be a lot worse. I only got 8 hours in on a mandatory 4 months oil change in C182 at a cost of $400 for filter and oil change( along with 50 L per hour of Avgas).

 

Tell me about it!  I owned a C180 for 5 years, a C182 for 12, and a C170 for 13 - and the real costs were staggering. If I hadn't been operating 250-300 hrs pa, it would have been an eye-watering cost per hr.  Older GA aircraft cost a motza to maintain in good order - there are always components to replace, (on time or hours), or worn out bits to fabricate and fit, or inspections for corrosion to make per ADs or SBs.  It never ends!  And, if you don't keep up with all this, the aircraft will end up nearly unsaleable, or you'll nearly have to give it away = huge capital loss.

 

So, I have to pay RAAus for my ticket-to-fly, and my aircraft rego.   Its cheap! 

 

 

[Jim McDowall]

 Older GA aircraft cost a motza to maintain in good order

Technically GA aircraft include RAAus type aircraft.

 

VH reg aircraft (which is what I think you really mean) include experimental aircraft which by the time you add up all the RAAus fees ( GFA are more) cost no more to operate, provided of course that you hold as a minimum a RPL, the same RAAus registered aircraft.

 

It is really illogical to compare a C182 with a Jabiru operating cost, but a certified Rotax rebuild can also be expensive.