FlyingVizsla

RAAus Ltd is a Not-for-Profit company run by and for members. Keith Page was a director of an alternative to RAAus - EELA - which was a For Profit company, but it never got approval from CASA to operate. Rod Birrell has a long history with AUF / RAAus. There are others around who feel they have been snubbed by the changing organisation and have an axe to grind, or look at the AUF days with rose coloured glasses. There are people who want to go back to the days when the Board & employees failed 5 CASA audits and ignored all warnings - CASA then stopped any aircraft registrations and appointed someone to oversee the whole process (at members' cost) until they got their house in order. We still have a plane that was taken off the register then, and hasn't returned. There were complaints that the Board consisted of Flying School operators who were only there to protect their businesses. One downside of the Incorporated organisation, which was moved to Victoria at one stage, then moved to Canberra, was that the Secretary had to reside in the State of Incorporation. When a Board member was Secretary, he had to either reside in that State (or territory) or they had to nominate one of the office staff as Secretary (which usually happened). RAAus will never be 100% acceptable to all members. Part of that is the legislation they have to live within, which is a dog's dinner. Aircraft that can't fit anywhere etc.

Yes, you can. But you need 100 members to agree on what they want. The following is an excerpt from the Constitution. General meetings of Members 18 General meetings called by Directors 18.1 The Directors may call a general meeting. 18.2 If at least one hundred (100) Members or 5% of the membership, whichever is the lower, make a written request to the Company for a general meeting to be held, the Directors must: (a) within twenty-one (21) days of the Members’ request, give all Members notice of a general meeting, and (b) hold the general meeting at a time and place within reasonable access within two (2) months of the Members’ request. 18.3 The Members requesting a general meeting pursuant to Clause 18.2 must be current Members with voting rights at the time of making the request. 18.4 The Members who make the request for a general meeting must: (a) state in the request any resolution and/or business to be proposed at the meeting, (b) sign the request, and (c) give the request to the Company. 18.5 Separate copies of a document setting out the request may be signed by Members if the wording of the request is the same in each copy

One of our members from Childers Qld is exhibitting his homebuilt. Only heard of one other from here going down. A couple talking about going but not in their own aircraft. Might get an update from the FB feeds.

Mr FV was interested in the Orion Cub. Advert and glossy write-up in the Mag. Went to the website to get more info - Not a Sausage! Distributor of Sling & Bushcat, nothing about Orion. https://www.gapaero.com/

Our mag just arrived - I wondered what people were talking about, now I know. Must be slower getting out to the boonies. Mr FV is keen on the Orion Cub (our other home build is a RANS Courier S7 - another Cub style) and kept reading out bits to me. Impressed with the Riblett aerofoil, $80k for basic kit (he's got an ancient 912 & old avionics) only need a prop. Assume it is tandem. We'll need to build ANOTHER shed ..... Hope the wings are removable. My Flight Safety mag also arrived with plenty to read there.

He just builds ANOTHER shed - mill the timber, use second hand tin. Rural area, so plenty of room, but the last one is still held together with G-clamps. His projects outpace his places to put them. Mind you, the projects don't cost us much as we fabricate parts ourselves. Would be loath to calculate the cost of all the magazines.

I blame all these magazines for inciting interest in new engines, kits, gadgets, plans etc.... We have plans for several aircraft, like the Whisky IV, Micro Mong (that never got started); built a RANS, Karasport, flew a Wheeler Scout, put a deposit on the innovative Gemini diesel (shortly before the company collapsed & engine sold again, again, shelved), designed several aircraft that never got past the pen & paper stage. Spent thousands on aircraft over the years. I held dreams of building my own, being realistic, it would be a kit. My civil engineering job meant I was rarely home, so I was waiting for a more settled life where I could do a couple of hours each night, rather than half a day once a fortnight. Then I married Mr FV who was building his RANS. We have BOXES of old AOPA, AUF, Sport Pilot, EAA, Kit Planes, early Ultralight mags, Australian Flying, AWPA, Leisure Aviation, etc... I have a mate who can't help himself, if he sees a derelict ultralight, he buys the wreck and ask me to find the history - that's why I have the magazines (and Mr FV will never throw anything out). But to be realistic - the later info is on the 'net and easily accessed.

Lightwing has a single seat Pocket Rocket that looks slightly similar, but is a taildragger. Given the early number - 2161 - and Provisional Registration - this aircraft has been decades in the making.

Mr FV is planning to live to 107yrs to finish all the projects he has on the go now. Any more and he'll have to live longer.... Despite all his dreaming and studying plans and kits, there won't be another plane building adventure. He's still restoring a 1951 dozer, and old grader, forklift, tractors & windmills for others etc. He reads aviation magazines in bed.

I read - Kitplanes, EAA's Sport Pilot, RAAus Sport Pilot, Airnews (Aust Women Pilots Assoc) - in Print. Read a number of other publications in digital - Kitplanes, EAA's Sport Pilot & EAA webinars. Like their Engine & Kit Buyer's guides too.

I've been with AUF/RAAus for decades, and have the magazines. Originally it was a typed, roneoed sheet, then a monthly magazine put together by volunteers, mainly to inform members of AUF business, aircraft etc. After criticisms they employed various people / companies to produce the magazine in a more "professional" way. Didn't always work - in theory the AUF Board members were to read it before publication. Some monumental blunders got through. Eventually they had a very good editor who was an enthusiast who travelled and ferretted out stories. He died in a car crash. RAAus searched for a new publisher. Now it isn't an editor dedicated to the one magazine, it is a company for whom this is just one of several magazines. The editor had some flying experience from years ago and the son started learning when they got the contract. The magazine is a big cost. I would have to check my old records, but just consider, back in the day, if it cost $5 to print, $2 to post for 10,000 members = $70,000 per edition, plus whatever the publisher is paid. When 98% of the membership were on email, they tried a digital edition, but members said they preferred a printed copy. A subscription was introduced and the numbers didn't translate into enough to make it viable. RAAus does not need a magazine any more. They changed the requirement for election statements to be in a printed form and distributed to all members and voting is now electronic. They have regular broadcasts by email. The 2024 Financial Statement does not specify the magazine costs (its contained in Postage, Printing, Suppliers) but a half a million would be my guess.

Here's the airstrip. The hangar is the top, nearest the runway. I am guessing he hit something before arriving on the roof, given the minimal damage there Vs the damage to the plane. If it is a Provisional Registration, then maybe it was part of test flying that showed up a problem.

I'm not picking on CASA, but history tells us that they have moved away from administering individual aircraft in favour of administering an organisation that administers the lower levels of aviation - Models, ultralights, hang gliders etc. They are moving away from Exemptions. That's why I doubt that a category of aircraft will be established which requires no registration, licence etc. in Australia.

You're confusing the RAAus team with the Publishers and Editors of the Sport Pilot magazine. The RAAus team contribute regular articles with their names on. The rest of the content is provided by the Editors. They have Travel magazines in their stable, so I suspect some articles are re-purposed with a little "aviation" tweaking. They do some easy to assemble articles like Aviation Pioneers, Media releases, aircraft manufacturer's blurb. They take whatever articles people send them. I guess a photogenic young girl & her instructor are glossy magazine fodder, but to give her her due, she is studying aviation at school through a Qantas sponsored program, and has been in several States to get to this point. Nice to have the money to do that ....

Things are changing rapidly. Just have a look at YouTube for guys transporting themselves on multiple rotors, hover bikes etc. Where do they fit in the CASA universe? Our legislation is a long way behind technology. How do you register a modular rotor contraption that has removable, configurable, engines, with number of seats fitted "as needed"? Or autonomous aircraft, or flying cars?