Freizeitpilot

I mentioned on another thread… I expect there will be YouTube’s galore after Aero 25 at Friedrichshafen next week that feature all kinds of electric and possibly hydrogen aircraft innovations. I’m looking forward to see how good they could be and what the critical limitations are.

A $3 kitchen timer on the panel is a great reminder - even just to check fuel level for a high wing with dual feed.

https://www.aero-expo.com/conferences/hydrogen-and-battery-summit#1 Aero Friedrichshafen is the largest GA exhibition in Europe. This accompanying conference will provide an insight into the current European thinking for non fossil fuel flight. The presentation on a hydrogen powered 916is engine should be interesting.

The PB team are absolute professionals, and all strength to them. Lets hope the pilot fully recovers and is able to get back on the horse. What interests me is how the ATSB chooses which accidents to investigate. I know this has been dealt with elsewhere on this forum, but why this particular accident in what is clearly recognised as a high risk activity, versus others where the cause is a complete mystery and the consequences were even worse ? I’m not into conspiracy theories but it would be a bad look, if the ATSB said ‘nah, nothing to learn here’ when there were hundreds of witnesses and loads of media around. Ultimately, it would help if there was a publicly available decision matrix from the ATSB that identifies when an investigation is warranted and when one is not, within their limited budget. I respect the individuals within the ATSB and really do hope they perform a thorough investigation so we and the PB team can all learn and enhance safety further.

Extract from AFR……. Labor has quietly walked back a key plank of its plans to decarbonise Australia’s road freight industry, emptying an $80 million fund it set up three years ago to turbocharge the take-up of hydrogen-powered trucks. Tuesday’s budget revealed that the government had removed $75 million of uncommitted funding from the Hydrogen Highways program, which was meant to encourage the use of hydrogen-fuelled trucks and the construction of charging stations along major freight routes.

When exploring a project near Chinchilla a few years ago, there were no rail slots available from there to the Port of Brisbane…..and a vague recollection there was a weight limit on the track as well.

Ummm, western QLD ?? Ord river, etc, etc ?

A non-fossil fuel solution for heavy road haulage still seems a challenge. Maybe this is where hydrogen will find a niche. (Not sure about nitrogen though) There are already good heavy short haul solutions around using quick change battery packs, but the long distance road trains a still a bit of a head scratch.

Yes - grass is such a different animal to bitumen, amongst other things.

It may break even….or even turn a profit from advertising ? - I don’t know .You’d need to dig deep into the financials to figure that out. Member engagement and nurturing a ‘community’ is key. A membership magazine may be a very small part of that, but given the diversity of interests and opinions across recreational aviation, it would be challenging to hit the centreline every time. I’m not too fussed about the magazine for or against. I do note the editor does write a lot of the articles though, which suggests that member contributed articles are practically zero, which is a pity. I read Flying Australia as well, and used to read Australian Pilot when it was a print version in newsagents. Some articles in all these magazines were interesting to me, others I’d skip over. Someone said, if you can please some of the people, some of the time, you’re doing ok. Ultimately, to make the magazine feel more genuine to the membership, more grass roots member articles would help……but who is going to volunteer to write them ? I’m just a passive member that just likes flying and I don’t get too worked up about all the ‘baggage’ that goes with it. Maybe some day I’ll fly somewhere unique and particularly interesting and I’ll be motivated to dip my quill into the ink.

Is that a Lightwing ?

I was a pax in a Bonanza years ago on a flight to Lightning Ridge when the top latch of the door popped open. No big deal - landed at Coona and closed it.

I forgot the screenshot, for those that are interested.

One of the critical risks I see is that a TODR or LDR calculation is simply not performed because of a ‘she’ll be right’ attitude or a couldn’t be bothered thumbing through the POH. There is an unsophisticated, quick and dirty app available that can be used at your own risk. This app utilises your POH figures (rightly or wrongly), is very simple to use once set up for your aircraft, and can spit out a reasonable estimate based on prevailing conditions. The sliding scale function serves to indicate the influence of the individual factors on the TODR or LDR result. Do I rely on an unverified random app I found on the internet ? Nope ! Do I use it as a rough estimate of what I may expect on a particular day at a particular ALA - Yep! Before the keyboard warriors get hot under the collar, I have cross-referenced the app outputs with my POH table. So far my POH figures are a tad optimistic, but I suspect that is most likely due to the PIC (me). The key figure for me is always the distance to 50’ as I’ve got trees to clear, and there have been days when I’ve stayed on the ground. Use the app for entertainment value only, like I do. Available in the App Store : Take-off. (distance calculator) Don’t know if there is an android version. I have no affiliation with the app developer.

It’s an appropriate example of unintended consequences that no one thought of when security measures were increased.

Yes- I can think of two where a pilot hijacked the plane.

Yeah - the pilot was displaying one when he escorted the intruder into the divvy van.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-06/avalon-airport-man-firearm-incident/105019482 But, was he displaying an ASIC ? Bad guys don’t have ASICs, (apparently). Sadly, this will just reinforce the view that you can never have enough security around airports, any airport, to the average Joe.

Below is a different take on ADS-B from the US. The ‘S’ does stand for surveillance I suppose. As far as collecting airport fees using ADS-B data, I can also see an opportunity locally to refute spurious AvData fees which seems to crop up occasionally. Hopefully this US based experience doesn’t detract from the uptake in Oz and the obvious safety benefits. “Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) President and CEO Darren Pleasance announced today he has sent a letter to Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau protesting use of ADS-B data in “ways that go beyond its original intent.” Pleasance pointed out that AOPA supported the ADS-B mandate when it was implemented back in 2020, “as we were assured ADS-B would only be used to improve air traffic safety and airspace efficiencies." But the pilots’ group reports it receives weekly feedback from members who are frustrated with instances of ADS-B data being used for non-safety-related purposes. They include: “questionable” FAA enforcement actions; evidence in lawsuits filed against pilots for “nuisance, trespass, and causing emotional distress;” and third-party companies using ADS-B data to facilitate collecting airport fees. In the letter, Pleasance wrote: “Aircraft owners invested over half a billion dollars of their own money to comply with the ADS-B mandate, believing it would only be used to make flying safer and more efficient. Instead, they are increasingly being targeted with enforcement actions, legal harassment, and bills from third parties to collect airport fees—things that are far from the equipage mandate’s original purpose. We will advocate to protect pilots’ privacy and ensure ADS-B remains a tool used solely for its intended purpose, safety and airspace efficiency.”

The RAAF now uses the Pilatus PC21 for ab initio. That is one helluva seriously fast and complex aircraft for ab initio. I understand there is a lot of sim work up front beforehand though. Similarly, maybe to a slightly lesser extent, this appears to be the direction structured training is going for prospective multi-crew airline pilots. The days of the freight dogs in 40 yr old Chieftains doing overnight interstate flights or some ‘northern exposure’ in NT may be numbered (sadly)

I did a lot of my early training at an ALA. if the weather was crap, ie low cloud base, the CFI would simply say, a great day to practice some low level circuits ! Some day you may get caught with a lowering cloud base and ultimately need to do a precautionary landing. The ‘freedom’ at an ALA allows you to practice these things with an instructor.

I’m not qualified. If I was looking for a VFR lane for students to a new training area located somewhere well south of Camden, (toward Mittagong) I would follow the train line from Bankstown to Picton. Yes, that track has warts on it too, like being perilously close to the Holsworthy restricted area, meat bombers at Wilton and a current ceiling of 2500, but good options don’t exist. The Hume motorway may be an alternative which roughly follows the same corridor to Wilton. Would this training area transit be viable for schools at Bankstown - most likely not. These options also still don’t solve the east/west route to get over the mountains. That would require a VFR lane over the top of WSI, similar to how others have suggested major airports operate in the US. Indeed you can currently get clearance over the top of Williamtown on the right day. Comments ?

CASA actually listened - the Bankstown corridor as proposed, has been ditched. Let’s see what the next version looks like ! https://www.australianflying.com.au/latest/casa-ditches-bankstown-corridor-concept

I still haven’t seen a viable east to west vfr corridor for WSI airspace.

I’m not holding my breath. End of 2025 for CASA and then add the usual delays, deferrals, need for RAAus training manual updates, endorsements, lack of instructors, blah, blah. Im guessing maybe late 2027 ??