FlyingVizsla

The local newspaper report FOOTAGE: Man tells of moment plane came down

He's in the Maryborough (Qld) hospital with a deep gash to the leg and a piece out of his ankle. He's older than 68, so that would be partly why they made him do an overnighter. He is a forumite here, but hasn't contributed for a while. Leg injuries would go with the territory with the Airbike; as you fly with legs & feet outside. He ended up in the backyard of the house across the road directly off the end of the Pacific Haven airstrip (9 Marina Drive, Pacific Haven). Otherwise he probably would have landed on the garden or just flown away. There's a picture of that Airbike here Taildragger Heaven He's in the picture in post #66. He was buying another plane, so sounds like he'll be back. Get Well Soon!

The Clear Prop shop (profits run this site) has a log book. If you ask, Ian may give you a view of the pages. Aircraft Maintenance Log Book We use the RANS log and RAAus logs and adapted sheets, particularly as an addendum to the Build Logs.

Welcome Angela, Have you joined the Australian Women Pilots' Association? They currently have scholarships and awards - most close end of Jan. Each one has conditions - some are open to non-members and men. Sue

Childers Qld also have a Fly-in Breakfast on Sunday 3rd Dec 2017 hosted by the Isis Flying Club, with some cars from the local Car Club on display. $10 breakfast. Isis Flying Club

Welcome Sarah! The Australian Women Pilots' Association has scholarships, awards etc that might interest you. They are open to Members & in some cases non-members and men. Applications are now open - the closing date for most is 31 January. See the website for eligibility and conditions. They are awarded at the AGM usually held in April. Australian Women Pilots` Association

Bull, your post is still there - you must have started typing within the quote (it shows up like [ / QUOTE ] ), so you have to click on 'click to expand ...' in the blue .. I read it - 60 people, 30 planes ... that the one?

Bernie, you get the new posts when you hit the button "New". "Search" is a separate box where you put in word(s) to search for. People use it for a number of reasons - to find all the posts on a subject eg "climbing turn stall" before starting a new thread to ask the same question, to look up the history of an aircraft, find similar accidents (C.210 inflight break-ups), go back to an interesting thread posted some 1-2 years ago that emerged in thread drift etc. I use it frequently, but as the site is getting bigger, that amusing / informative post gets harder to find.

I prefer 'Everywhere' as I have usually exhausted a single forum title scan before I search. I would also like to search on a date range (between this and that), or "older than". The only option is "newer than". I find some things I am looking for are not in the forum I expected (or remembered them) to be in. Eg trying to find an old accident which might be in Warbirds or General rather than in Accidents where it should belong, or just because of thread drift.

The desire for a weight increase has been on the books for over 20 years. To quote the President's Report (Doug Muir) from 1997 in the AUF Journal Sept Vol 7(9) p.10 - "Some of the main outcomes we are working towards are the introduction of the experimental category, a revised primary and a new intermediate category and an increase in weight to 750kg, 45 knot stall, while retaining the privileges we currently enjoy." He hoped that "manufacturers would be able to produce a new generation of aircraft for the Australian market.". ".. and give us access to much more of the home building market ..". 1997 had a number of letters and articles on 750kg, both for & against and neutral. Letters to the Editor were pretty robust in those days. Nothing new ... just moved on-line ...

ELAAA - the alternative to RAA - intend to cover recreational helicopters, when they get approval from CASA. Might be worth contacting them, they have a facebook presence. They are going for 760kg and ultimately 1,500 kg to take in the RPL market.

Welcome tommieck. Might be best advertised in the Classified forum, it's free, we posted a plane and got a lot of interest. Do you have photos? Probably the first question they'll ask. We have a few friends with Savs, who love them. Hope you stick around and enjoy the site. Sue

BMI is a quick yardstick for AvMed, only useful if they listen to your health carer's assessment - problem is they may not accept the 'pregnant elite lean muscled athlete' explanation. We're getting too 'risk averse' in Govt, too easy to throw the responsibility back on the client to prove there isn't a problem. I work on the theory that if I stay within the 'numbers' they will leave me alone. Some health care people prefer the Hip to Waist ratio, or the fat score, mostly a combination of the above, but the best is personal assessment by a qualified professional. I hadn't heard of the neck measurement before. No doubt there are other measurement systems.

The CSIRO have developed a BMI calculator that takes into account sex age and ethnicity. Weight Loss & BMI Calculator | CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet If you want to lose the weight, the CSIRO proven weight loss diet is available - fully refundable if you make a net loss over the 12 weeks (and other conditions).

Depends where they are .... Commercial rents, insurance, wages, have all gone up. Add to that cross-hire, L2 costs, aircraft maintenance (parts), landing fees, owners / Club / shareholders wanting/needing more dollars for profit, expansion etc. The first ultralight club I was involved with had a volunteer instructor & L2, borrow or BYO plane. Then they got a loan to buy a plane, the instructor wanted paying (only a pittance), the L2 asked too, but settled for an hour free flying for every half hour spent maintaining. Fees went up accordingly. Then they both wanted more, interest rates went up, the Club needed a hangar for the fabric aircraft, more fund raising ... Needed more students, advertised and started getting people from away, L2 & instructor said "we want commercial rates now". Then the drought took a grip, students dried up too, funds accumulated for the new hangar went on site rent, repayments etc until it was all gone and the plane sold. This was 15 years ago. Nothing new. If the market won't bear it, the operation folds. If they don't charge enough to cover day to day plus future & unforeseen (replacement, upgrade, prangs etc) they go bust. Holding off on fee increases gives the impression of a cash grab, gradual small increases seem to be the better strategy.

I have been through a number of years of AUF/RAA elections. There has never been an election with 2,000+ votes. The best return I found was 1993 - 1,240 votes (37%) from a pool of 3,345 members - it was a bit messy - it was noted some member numbers appeared more than once (duplicate voting), some non-financial (you were allowed 6 weeks to get yourself paid up), informal etc. Possibly because of the early enthusiasm and that people were voting for President, Secretary, Treasurer etc. There was pre-election talk of it being "conducted in a less than honest fashion" which was strenuously denied. Letters to the Editor were rather "robust" in those days. One complained his membership was $75, plane $50 and he had to do a BFR! Nothing has changed. A lot of elections were unopposed, meaning more than half the members didn't get to vote each year. 2009 election - 6 positions - 4 unopposed. 1997 - 5 unopposed, only those in South Qld could vote - numbers were not disclosed. 1997 the President was talking about a weight increase to 750kg 1994 - 13 positions - only 3 contested. The election report - Nth Qld 29% voted out of a pool of <200. Sue

I have the old Recreational Aviation Australia magazines (before Sport Pilot). The latest election was held 2008 for 7 positions. Remember, this was Regional Representation - each area voted for their State, Territory or Area Representative. There were 9,240 members (annual report), but no break-up of numbers within each area - however that's about the same number in 2014, where I do have a State break-up. Approx 718 members voted. Lee Ungerman was CEO and Returning Officer. Now, before someone says only 7.7% bothered to vote .... Regional Representation meant that many Did Not Get the Chance to Vote. Only half the Board was up for election. WA & SA reps were not among them (about 1,700 couldn't vote). South Qld, North Qld and Tasmania were all unopposed (another 2,700 couldn't vote). NSW/ACT had 5 candidates for 2 positions 11% voted, Victoria had 4 candidates for 1 position - 19% voted, unfortunately Ian Baker was defeated by Rod Birrell by 61 votes. The anomaly - Northern Territory - about 110 voters, one position, 3 candidates 22% voted - that's 24 votes - Mark Christie won by one vote. Overall half couldn't vote; of those who could, 14.5% voted. RAA Ltd allows all to vote; 925 valid votes were received - another 99 were too late - 14 invalid (incorrectly marked, no membership or lapsed etc) = 1,038 bothered to vote = approx 11% = approx 9.8% valid. So the answer is - About the Same. But more get to vote now. Sue

The result has been announced: The count of votes in the RAAus 2017 Board Election took place on 16 August 2017. Max Brown was the independent scrutineer. A total of 1038 ballots were lodged, of which 925 were valid. Invalid votes comprised 99 ballots that were postmarked after the closing date of 4 August, and a further 14 ballots were deemed invalid. Two candidates were selected by 867 voters (1734 votes) and one candidate was selected by 58 voters (58 votes) for a combined 1792 votes cast. With two positions available on the Board, Mick Monck and Alan Middleton were elected. Mick Monck is a serving Board Member and his term will continue for a further three years. Alan Middleton will also serve a three year term and will take office after the forthcoming AGM being held on 23 September 2017. Congratulations to Mike & Alan. 99 ballots post marked after the closing date (presumably because the magazine was delivered late) - Australia Post has some questions to answer - I hope RAA lodge a complaint with AP and postal ombudsman.

That lovely boy died a few years ago. Would love another, but my husband won't let me. His first wife came home with a stray and told him it was staying, however he could leave if he didn't like it. A few years later she died and he was terribly cut up when the dog died a couple of years after. He couldn't handle another. I am very used to the cycle of farm life with dogs coming and going, that's life, and I get over it fairly quickly. If you have any unwanted Hungarian Vizslak - I'll take one - idyllic farm life, cosy house, human to cling to - they are not called the "Velcro Dog" for nothing as you would know. When I was at Longreach I was often mistaken for the Flying Nun. There's probably a few holiday snaps with me notated as Sister Ann-Marie. Guess they looked at me, the only woman, alone, near a plane, small, slight, long hair, in a dress and decided I had to be a Catholic nun.

Hi Gary, Welcome to the mad house! What did you build & how did it go? I am a member of EAA and take an interest in the Home Builder side of things. My husband has also built. Very satisfying, if not frustrating at times, but a great thing to do. Sue

Hi Paul - Welcome! I had a quick look at the BK Sports plan Specs - my first thoughts are that the pilot weight isn't much - 113kg (fully clothed + gadgets etc) isn't much for what is now becoming the "average" Aussie male. I would avoid the hand-start option - dangerous and you need two people - one to swing and the other for brakes and throttle - bit of a downer if it is a single seat and he can't come with you. Check with RAA to see if it has been accepted. My husband built a RANS and finished just before we married - I was intending to build a plane myself, once I got settled - I had one of those jobs that took me all over the place - 10 years later he still thinks it's the best. Not saying you should go that way, but the RANS S7 was easy to put together (like a big mechano set he said) and avoids the pitfalls of plans build, where you have to source materials, cut and construct (been there ... amazing the mistakes on some plans ... ) Engine reliability and life are also considerations. If you just want to do cheap local flights for fun, then the single seat Karasport is his choice. Ours can be dismantled (needs two people) and kept in an enclosed trailer. Your best option is to talk to as many people and try as many aircraft as you can. Hope you find your dream bird. Sue

Welcome Mike, Do you fly? Interested in any particular type of aviation? Sue

Got our magazines today. The voting process (opening, closing, method of voting etc) is rather vague. From the Constitution of RAA Ltd:- 34.4 ..... Any voting method employed for the purpose of electing Directors shall be consistent with those methods accepted by the Australian Electoral Commission or an equivalent body. The AEC does not have any guidelines on their website, so there's no indication of the "accepted" methods. As for "conflict of interest" - the early Board members were almost all men who ran Flying Schools. The 5 candidates have statements regarding their business interests in aviation:- It appears only 2 derive income from aviation businesses - NEEL KHOKHANI as CEO of Soar Aviation/Soar Advanced Flight Training, and ALAN MIDDLETON as the Chairperson of Directors at Bluewater Airport in Townsville and an active RAAus flying instructor. They are 5 good candidates. It makes the decision harder.

From his blog:- Weʼre raising funds to help pay for Colin’s medical expenses in Japan Update 14th July You will have heard about the tragic fate of Colin’s aircraft, Itzy. Very sadly for Colin Itzy suffered engine failure and he had to make a forced landing on a golf course in Aioi, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Colin was extremely fortunate to walk away from the accident, but has since discovered he has broken his back in three places. He was air-lifted from the scene and is now in the emergency ward of the hospital. He is not allowed to move from the bed as there is a risk that he could damage his spinal nerve, until he has surgery. He faces a very large medical bill, and at first was refusing treatment as he doesn’t have the money. His friends and family have made sure surgery will go ahead in Japan. There is no price for a life. The bill will likely be around $30,000, so I am hoping that between us we can raise a little something to help his family with this expense. I know many of you will have been lucky enough to have met Colin during his round the world trip. He rarely asks for help and is fiercely independent and proud. I know many have wanted to help him before now with the journey and he never accepts, but I think this time he is in need of the help of all those wonderful friends he has made around the world. Click here to donate and support Colin: Help raise £20000 to Help pay for Colin's medical expenses in Japan __________________________ Update Wow! We have smashed the Just Giving target in less than a day, we are so eternally grateful to everyone's kind words and donations. Let's keep going! I have just spoken to Colin (he wasn't too angry with me) and he has said that any extra raised that he doesn't need will go to charity. This is very typical of Colin, always thinking of others. He will also thank each and every one of you when he is recovered. He is being well looked after, but is in a lot of pain and understandably is feeling very emotional. He has one cracked vertebrae, one damaged and one lumbar vertebrae split in two. He will be having surgery next week, but in the meantime he is in a body cast and is in the emergency ward, unable to move very much. Thanks, Zanna McKail __________________________ This accident was just after waiting 7 months for approvals for forward flight through Japan and Asia. Perhaps the engine was sitting for too long? Also had atrocious weather while waiting - massive rain.

For my plane, I do mine through a LAME as part of my maintenance - I'm NVFR etc. RAA outside CTA, I suspect pilots do check their airspeed & altitude against their GPS, but don't put it in their aircraft log books. A manometer is easy to construct and the maths just a little more complicated. A reminder to write it in the log book.