FlyingVizsla

Agreed FT - the figures are quite weird. Looking at 2013 95-10s = a landing every 7.5 minutes! Perhaps most of them were overweight old pilots bouncing their Wheeler Scouts down the runway? I suspect there has been many a slip up with data input, by admin, by pilots and others; and there hasn't been the resources to track them down and correct. A quick analysis of outliers should bring up most anomalies, but you have to love figures, not everyone does.

Try this Australian Aircraft Activity They are a little slow getting the reports out - 2015 is here. RAAus provides the information you supply to them. Unfortunately they can't go back and add hours that were missed (for example) in 2009, so those go in when we updated, in 2016. I'm looking forward to reading 2016, 2017. The Dept are terribly slow asking GA for their figures, I got my request for the previous years in September 2015 (for Jan-Dec 2014), June, July and probably won't see 2017's form for another 5-8 months! Then they have to chase up non-returns, collate, analyse and publish.

I suspect part of the explanation for increased hours is that we now have the ability to correct the hours flown on our aircraft through the website. When data was lost in the "great server collapse" and failure to back-up some years ago, two of our aircraft had their hours "estimated". He used to pay by phone and got caught on the hop with the question of "how many hours flown, landings, etc" so under reporting compounded. The total hours got updated, but not much thought went into total landings. The other thing I didn't agree with, was the decision to report only pilots as members. Suddenly RAA appeared to have lost 10% of membership. The total membership is about 10,000 (still), but they talk about 9,000. As for scholarships $77K going back into flying schools, aircraft hire etc from member donations to get more people into recreational flying is a good thing.

From the ABC Friend witnesses fatal plane crash on farm

This from the National President of the AWPA - Australian Women Pilots' Association:- ... National Vice President Sandra Southwell has passed away. The family of Sandra has confirmed the following details; Sandra passed away yesterday, Saturday 20th January, 2018 after being involved in an aircraft accident. Our condolences go to Sandra’s partner of 25 years Barry Bransden. Sad news indeed.

AUF magazine April 1991 lists 10-0780 as a Pioneer Flightstar whose rego had expired 28/7/1990. Presumably it was reinstated to the Register after that. Tim & Leanne run the Emerald Motel Apartments. Tim was well liked. There are many scenarios - perhaps he was doing solo practice or maybe Navs to finish with his Xcountry? Might have been a medical or structural failure - we don't know yet. The fact that his instructor went looking for him after a 6am take-off suggests pre-licence solo under supervision. Meanwhile there is an instructor who is going to be badly shaken. No one wants to lose a student, or fellow flier. Condolences to all.

RIP, Probably know him. There is an airstrip about 15km from Emerald on the Springsure road, a crop duster outfit, also it is a direct route from Emerald Airport to Springsure strip. I built that section of the road a few years ago. There is a side track, railway, 2 lane bitumen road with wide shoulders, pretty straight, flat open paddocks. Not in Springsure at present, but no doubt will hear soon.

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.