cscotthendry

I had a read of the draft today and turned up some issues that I didn't particularly care for. A) Doing away with regional representatives in favor of paid professionals. - I see the potential for the composition of the board to gravitate towards career bureaucrats sourced exclusively from Canberra. The problems I see arising from that are 1) Either it will cost significant amounts of money to transport these people to regional areas to get feedback, OR, 2) they will just sit in their ivory tower and assume that if people have issues they will "make contact electronically", a proposition that looks good on paper, but in reality is not likely to happen much. B) Paid "directors" as opposed to volunteers I've seen no analysis of the likely financial cost of this to the members and would expect significant membership fee rises to occur the year after this is implemented. C) During a general meeting "a member or the chairman can challenge a members vote on an issue" and the chairman makes the decision on the challenge. This looks like a way to stifle dissent by the chairman. D) There is a clause that states to the effect that where a member is representing a corporation, they can have 2 votes in a meeting. I strenuously disagree with external corporations having a vote on ANY issue brought up in either general meetings or directors meetings. IMO RA-Aus should be run for pilots and aircraft owners, ONLY. E) Where there is a real or percieved conflict of interest for a director voting on an issue, the directors can choose to ignore that conflict and allow that director to vote on the issue. F) I really dislike The clause that says that the directors can from time to time change how directors are elected. This could easily be abused and lead to an entrenched power bloc that cannot be broken. G) There is a clause about "reasonable expenses" incurred by directors being reimbursed, but there is no definition of "reasonable", nor who decides what is "reasonable". Where people are operating on other peoples money, we have seen, in the case of several high profile politicians (hiring a helicopter to go to a friend's wedding, in one case) their definition of "reasonable" can be quite different from what the bill payers think. After reading briefly through the draft, I was left with a strong impression that the new constitution is an attempt to sidestep accountability by the board to the membership. I think is has some serious shortcomings and inconsistencies, and serves only the interests of the directors and not the members. There seem to be very few checks and balances on the power of the directors, leaving not much in the way for members to deal with the possible rise of an entrenched power bloc. There is a statement to the effect that the directors would be accountable through ASIC, but I have little faith in that regulator. It has been shown to be a toothless tiger on a number of occasions; being under-resourced and all too reluctant to pursue prosecutions. I will be voting against this constitutional and organisational change.

Ozbear: I suspect that the kind of people that would steal an aircraft engine, probably won't put it back in an airplane. It will probably end up in some homemade dune buggy or an airboat. In any case, if it's a Rotax engine, John should report the serial number to Bert Floods and get it on the stolen list. That way, whoever stole it will never be able to buy parts to keep it running. The stolen Rotax engine list goes worldwide.

Here's a scenario: Archerfield has two tower frequencies, one for departures north and one for departures south. If I am transiting southbound between Archerfield's airspace and Amberley airspace at 2,500', I will overfly at least two VFR lanes and parallel a third one I think. Q: what form should my radio call take? Q: should I make the call on the north or south frequency? Q: where should I make the call? NOTE: I am not transiting through Archerfield airspace, but I will be crossing over their arriving and departing traffic near the ends of their VFR lanes, so I definitely want them to know I'm there.

This guy has built a radial engine model out of MDF and explains how it works. He is a natural teacher and woodworker.

The intrepid little skyrangers are very hardy aircraft!

LOL, No turboprops, just supersonic fighter jets, and armed to the teeth no less!

On Saturday, we did the Gold Coast loop. It wasn't a very pretty day, but we covered a few of the touristy things Up Close and personal with the high-rises (Q1 just coming into view is 1069' and we're at 1000') And on the way back at 500' We went over Dream World on the way there And Sea World too.

OME: That is what I got from your post. If you fly an RAA registered aircraft, you will have a big notice somewhere (supposed to be in plain view of the pax) to the effect that flying is dangerous and our aircraft are not constructed to GA safety standards and that you fly with me at your own risk...or words to that effect.

It's been a long time since I lived there, but I think I've been through Macon a couple of times. Welcome to the forums and happy flying.

Joining 500 feet above the highest traffic may not always be possible. I know of a few fields near Brisbane that have controlled airspace directly over the top of the airfield; Redcliffe is one and Coominya is another. Always check the ERSA first and if there's no entry, try to find a contact number for the airfield owner or manager and give them a call to check for any restrictions or "fly neighborly" procedures.

Ken: Welcome to the forums. I lived near Stone Mountain for a couple of years. Where in Georgia are you?

It definitely won't be put in the back of the drawer.

But one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Same here. All the aircraft I flew or trained in had sticks, either between my knees or center, and throttle in left hand. Then I bought the Legend with Yokes and throttle in the center. I gave some serious consideration to having it built with the pilots controls on the right hand side, but opted for a conventional setup in the end. It only took a couple of hours, as Mick said, to get used to flying it left handed with throttle in right hand.

There is nothing "expensive" in my airplane. My life could depend on any part of it and I want the best I can get. If you put in "cheap" stuff in your airplane, then fly it like it will stop every time you fly. Yes I know we're trained to expect an engine out, but with cheap gear in your plane, elevate "possibility" to "near certainty". OUCH! Not good to see crispy stuff at any time, but especially near fuel....

I don't have the exact figures to hand, but Rotax specify the maximum delivery pressure for a boost pump in the installation manual. You can find the delivery pressures for the Facet pumps online and that will tell you which Facet pump is the correct one. The number that RGM posted rings a bell in my mind, but it would be best to check it by the numbers first. I wouldn't bet my life on an el-cheapo pump, which is exactly what you're doing if you put one in an aircraft.

And thank you also for the compliments.

When buying an airplane, that's easier said than done. In my experience, the manufacturer requires a deposit of about a third, to start production. Then another third is payable somewhere near the middle of production. The final third is payable upon shipment. I don't know what happened to the buyer that paid all of the money and three years later still has no airplane. If I were in his shoes, I'd be pretty p***ed too and be willing to sue someone.

Your video seems to have gone missing. Nevermind though, you're making me jealous. Need a flying fix! Edit: Sorry, the video IS there, just doesn't show up in the post. LOVED the video! Keep making more flying videos...

Apparently there is a brand of tyre (supplier actually advertises on this site I think) that I'm told is resistant to the calthrop. They are heavy but strong. As for runflats, the only kind I know of, don't contain any liquid. They have low profile sidewalls that are heavily stiffened internally. We've had two cars with them and I hate them for road use. They are rough riding, noisy and because they contain so little air when properly inflated, very critical for pressure. I'm not aware of any runflats available for aircraft.

Would you be willing to tell us where your airstrip is so we can avoid it?

A great turnout this morning. The food was plentiful and very welcome.

They could do something similar to hexadecimal numbering and start doing 7A7, 7B7 etc... That would give them at least 26 more models before they had to get more creative. Given that the 7_7 series has been adequate since the 1950s they might not have to do anything until 2076