sseeker

You sure do rant a lot! Nope, I got an email in circulation from one of our club members regarding their push for a medical exemption. I have the PDF if you'd like it. -Andrew

All progress pud, can't wait to see her in the air! By the way, have you heard of the Bindoon Agricultural College fly over in September for the Battle of Britain? 25-30 aircraft going on a "dawn patrol" flight around Bindoon and over the college. I've got the Gazelle for the morning! -Andrew

In WA you can hardly get over a city centre without infringing CTA. There are of course suburbs you can fly over but I'm talking my central capital city wise. CASA has medicals for a reason, they're not there to rip you off. -Andrew

"If you have the experience then sure, but you have to be able to prove it by attaining L2 qualification, if you don't then it means nothing! " By the way you explain your plethora of experience you would have no worries obtaining L2 authorisation (possibly line maintenance only?) which is what I quoted above. IF you've been rejected by CASA and RA-Aus then maybe you should ask yourself why... Sorry if you took offence to it but there's people out there who truly think they're amazing when they're not. I bet you've met some as well. Your right, if RPT is operating prior to towering operating hours then it would be a useless requirement for a medial in Class D. However transiting through when the tower is open and is directing RPT and other IFR traffic around and you don't hold a medical, you haven't been assessed on your health condition what happens when you have a heart attack over a city centre? You lose conciousness and hit a Dash 8 carrying 70 PAX? Then John McCormick will really send us back to the weeds! My comment was intended directly at you, it was for everyone reading my posts. Sorry, I misread that. Just as you misunderstood my prior comment. People make mistakes, my bad. Me bitch? I've heard nothing but moaning about CTA rights and quite frankly it's annoying me. 1. Medical 2. Serviced transponder 3. Radio 3. L2/LAME Maintenance 4. Appropriate training 5. Approved engine If all of those are ticked I think a CTA endorsement should be allowed! The AUF was around before I was born, but at least I can understand the true definition of "Recreational Aviation" - if you really want CTA the SAAA is pushing for an exemption for the experimental category and even they understand that CTA transiting is dangerous which is why they elected to have a safety pilot on board if they are exempt from a medical. I think this constant pushing for more rights should stop before we become a replica of GA, what would be the point in that? After CTA all we'd need is 750kg, 4 seats and we'd be called GA! Hell do you want an aerobatics rating next? -Andrew

Kinda sucks that in a few months I'll have 100+hrs and still can't apply for my PPL due to age restrictions :( Was there a 17 year old minimum for the PPL® or was it 16 like the GFPT? -Andrew

Anyone who maintains their ultralight aeroplane and thinks they're as good as a qualified GA LAME who has to sit a MINIMUM of 4 years full time training + theory training seriously needs to pull their head out. If you have the experience then sure, but you have to be able to prove it by attaining L2 qualification, if you don't then it means nothing! Attack me, but you know its true! If you want to fly in CTA expect CASA to assign the appropriate requirements. You're not gonna get it easy. CASA/RAA don't know your personal qualifications so why should they let you fly a self maintained aircraft into CTA? Seriously, you think controllers snooze and read magazines in their shifts? I suggest you actually visit a tower. I have nothing but respect for these guys, they don't have easy jobs! http://www.auf.asn.au/opsmanual/3-04.pdf Section 3.04 - 37 "Controlled Airspace Endorsement" Take a read. -Andrew

Reason I asked is because I wasn't sure whether those 'requirements' still existed, being a phased out licence. -Andrew

You're right. The majority of Class D airspace is associated with the old GAAP aerodromes and it is relatively small. I think the restrictions exist purely because it's controlled, there's a controller there and you need to be able to abide by his instructions (reason for medical), RA-Aus planes are generally less reliable because of self maintenance and pilots aren't trained to fly in controlled airspace! When the controller's not there it's exactly like flying at a non towered aerodrome, you make the decisions yourself. There's also different VFR minima for Class D and other control zones. The exemptions that exist enforce L2 maintenance on the aircraft (as they should have anyway since they're training a/c) so if you were expecting a CTA endorsement, expect L2/LAME maintenance as a requirement. Professional maintenance is something I strongly believe in for CTA flying, especially in built up areas. -Andrew

I don't really know other Australian airspace that well but all the Class D stuff I've seen is relatively small. Cutting through Class D seems kind of pointless (unless it's to avoid tiger country!) -Andrew

The exemptions exempt ONLY the flying schools aeroplanes! That doesn't entitle you to fly your own privately owned RA-Aus aeroplane into the airspace that exemption covers. After you've gained a certificate, you can continue to privately hire the schools aeroplanes and operate out of the Class D airspace, just not operate your own plane there. Jandakot has an exemption for a flying school there however the Sporty is $190/hr (landing fee and GST inclusive) for an hours solo flying, I can rent a GA C152 for less than that solo! Totally defeats the purpose of RA-Aus, cheap and affordable flying. Unfortunately when you operate out of these aerodromes, the cost is much higher. The Sporty is a fun aeroplane to fly and makes for awesome scenic flights, so I'm happy to pay for that. I've never heard of an exemption for private RA-Aus operations into controlled airspace. There could be though! -Andrew

Sorry for going a little off topic, but a quick question regard restricted PPLs. Are they still valid? Can you still fly on them? (if it was issued when they were around) -Andrew

1. Headset 2. Small first aid kit 3. My watch 4. Sunnies 5. Bucket load of pens/penicls/erasers and highlighters. 6. Torch 7. ERSA 8. All maps (VNC, VTC, WAC, ERC Low) 9. Spare flight plan forms/nav logs. 10. Fuel tester 11. GPS 12. ASIC 13. Nav ruler 14. Jeppesen CR2 15. Protractor 16. Licence holder 17. Logbook 18. Water bottle 19. Kneeboard -Andrew

GA requirement CFI... -Andrew

EDIT: Sorry... I thought that was the thread RE: IFR Rating for RAA.. Thanks for linking! -Andrew

Let me just say that yes I have done it with one of my schools SIs and I've done it GA.... I can't tell the difference between the two? We did the exact same things and we had the exact same instruments, in the exact same spot. Is there a requirements for CPL holders to have an instrument rating? For CPL I understand there's a few more hours IF that is required to obtain the licence. I actually agree with you in a way turbo, chances are some RA-Aus instructors haven't been exposed to IF themselves (having not held any form of GA licence) so that'd be a poor decision on the instructors behalf to bring his/her student under the foggles/hood. But for an instructor that has plenty of experience in the area (perhaps CPL Holder/Private IFR etc...) I don't see why not? Permitting you have the correct instrumentation. -Andrew

Hi, Is under the hood instrument training permitted with an RA-Aus qualified instructor, in a training A/C with the standard 6 pack of instruments? I don't see why not as technically you're a passenger on a dual flight... Just questioning whether there's any legal implications. The GA 152s that you can do your mandatory IF work for GFPT/PPL/CPL aren't IFR rated so that shouldn't be a problem for RAA. -Andrew

Hi Jake, I think you're still allowed to fly in CTA but only in the aircraft that the exemption states (so the flying schools A/C) you can't however buy your own A/C and fly it out of CTA. I have an entry in my logbook that states I've completed sufficient Class D training to operate a certain schools RA-Aus aircraft out of Jandakot. I can't operate any aeroplane I want though. -Andrew

The conversion is also relatively easy to a PPL if you have the right endorsements and experience. You need to find a non-biased school who will assess you for HOW you fly and not WHAT you fly. -Andrew

Hi, I'm looking at purchasing a WiFi only iPad 2 in the next few months. The reason I'm going for the WiFi only model is because my Galaxy S acts as a WiFi hotspot (just the same as a modem) so I can connect the iPad to the phone. The only lacking feature of the iPad 2 WiFi is the GPS. These external GPS' are around $100 to buy so the total cost of the iPad is $679 while the 3G one is $729, is it really worth the $50 saving? Or should I just buy the 3G model? Are the external GPS' more accurate? With that $50 saving I can get the care protection plan for $49 to almost match the price of the 3G iPad. So really I've got myself a 3G/GPS enabled iPad 2 16GB with Apple Care Protection for the same price as a 3G iPad without the protection. Think it's worth it? I had the protection plan for my iPhone and it really saved my butt when I cracked my screen! -Andrew

I thought that because RA-Aus wasn't a government agency (appears to be an incoporated organisation?) they had to abide by certain privacy laws. I'm sure it's in the air law somewhere that CASA is allowed to publish VH registered A/C owner information on the web. Not very good in my opinion, VH-ABC is low flying over my house... I might go pay the owner a visit. Owners always have the option to have a PO Box. -Andrew

Hey Tomo, There aren't any schools up that way so you haven't really got any choice of factory builts. You'll most likely have to find a forum member/raa flyer to lend you there A/C if you wanna fly RAA. I don't know of a GA flying school in Broome, I think there was one at some stage but it closed. I think your best bet is finding someone generous enough to loan you their aircraft. -Andrew

I don't think redistribution with the nearmaps logo is considered commercial operations... Unless we sold it. -Andrew

www.nearmap.com has up to date aerial photography of many locations. Requires free registration. -Andrew

It's a really good idea and some things have been partially done in Googles POIDB (Point of Interest Database). I have all the airports for WA, and there POIDB entries in my Google Earth and I'd be more than happy to assist in the building of the database. I can also provide hosting for the service since my family is in the web hosting industry. There's free scripts available on the internet (MediaWiki) which is what Wikipedia uses http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki this will easily implement into our hosting services. If we could get together a team of say 7 people (one for each state/territory, the person from NSW can do ACT) we could develop the basic pages for each aerodrome, once these pages are done you can allow members to join and expand on the aerodromes information. Creating a page for each aerodrome without rewriting the content would be as easy as injecting an SQL line to create a new row, but alter the name/weatherzone area ID etc... I'm happy to help out wherever needed. -Andrew

Very very sad to hear of such a passionate aviator in a fatal accident like this. He really did love gliding and he went down doing what he loved. -Andrew