FlyingVizsla

I was talking to Andrew (Assistant Ops) at the AGM. The cross country training is going up to 12 hours of which 10 must be dual. The old Ops took it up to 10 hrs (up from 5) total, but no mention of minimum dual. I didn't ask anything beyond that. Sue

The news on MTOW increase was just that it was being favourably considered, no time or figure. The CTA, on the other hand, was "this summer" with Skidmore "positive". No one asked in question time for clarification. RAA was also looking to future innovations to stay ahead of the game eg new fuels/ propulsion systems - electric / solar etc. Better to have something in place or simmering than get forced to make up the story with the "first of type" wanting rego.

I couldn't find an age break-up in the Annual Report, except for the statement on page 22 that the average age is now 50yrs 3months, down from 51 years (excluding the under 16yr members). If it hasn't remained stagnant (average age now 52yrs), that is an indication that; older members are retiring, or younger members are being recruited, or a combination of both. There are less women, down to 5.9% or 540 members (loss of 144) . The other interesting statistic is the growth in flying per person - from 10.77 hours in 2011 to 24.72 hours in 2014. It was noted that under reporting might be responsible for part of that. Sum total - less members, more aircraft, more flying. If instructors aren't getting older, we should be promoting flying as the Elixir of Youth, bottling it and promoting it. The CFIs might be getting on, but I have met a number of younger people, bitten by the flying bug, and getting into Instructing as a way of passing on the disease, an excuse to fly more and a way to financially assist with that. The last few years have been disruptive, the RPL, Jab restrictions, RAA debacle / CASA audits; which may have influenced membership trends. Despite the 3% drop, the Board are looking at ways of promoting recreational flying which may translate to more and younger members. Some more flying females would be nice too. Sue

The results of the recent survey with the Australian Institute of Business were briefly mentioned at the AGM (a formal statement to come). 1,500 responded, with cost being the biggest issue, 90% live within 200km of a Flight Training Facility; 70% of those who left went to motor cycle clubs. Will have to wait for the formal results, but I thought perhaps the RPL might have had a bigger impact. AGM was good with about 40+ in the room and 50 by live streaming. News on MTOW increase, CTA, discussion on L1 training, Member's Charter, the new constitution etc. An aircraft register will be required under 149, the membership card will be phased out (when you can get your "proof of licence" up on the web, on smart phones etc). The new website launches 21 October where you can manage your details, pay your fees (there are options for 1, 2 & 3 year payments for aircraft and membership). There will be no members forum or discussion area. It is simply a business tool. It was remarked that the one thing that was growing was the age of members. Looking round the room, apart from Board and staff, I was one of the youngest. I met some forumites and got to put names to faces. Sue

I had a look at the RAA information sent with our membership/licence renewals - his is 1988 (when he registered the aircraft, but he was probably a member before that), and mine is 2001; however I have receipts from 1999 & 2000. In my case it might be moving from one category to another (I did a conversion on a Lightwing) however that is a year or so late for 2001. I had another theory about the membership number - that it was the same as the aircraft - but our Scout was 10-0298. The Karasport was 10-033 but was changed to 10-1382 (no idea why). This is probably all due to the early AUF not realising the future popularity of ultralights, not planning for the computer age, and perhaps losing some corporate knowledge and making odd decisions. For example, the number 033 may have been issued for three aircraft eg 10-033, 25-033, 32-033. Today that number is issued once only, allowing aircraft to move between categories. As I work through the old AUF magazines I might find some answers.

Interesting .... His card from 1992 (valid for 2 years) has "Membership No. 101523" and "Pilot Certificate No. 004446". According to John Brandon's history http://www.recreationalflying.com/tutorials/regulations/benchmarks.html there were 2400 members in 1990. I found some handwritten (Kalamazoo system) AUF receipts from the late 1980's - some with no detail apart from date, name and amount. I found one for 1988 for membership renewal and one for aircraft registration. John Brandon reports 1,150 members in 1987. So, at some point the Pilot Certificate number became the Membership number. It also appears that the certificate number exceeds the number of members at the time of issue. I am guessing there was some form of coding in the numbering. Eg 4 for Qld, or 10 to start off, being 95-10 (member number 1,523 seem more reasonable for the time than 101,523). Another theory - after the great Server collapse (when no one did a back-up and all the records had to be re-entered from paper files), perhaps it was easier to use the Pilot number rather than a separate member number? Sue

Add one more to the 70+. As both hubby and I use the same computer and user name we can only vote once. I got in first. Sue

Husband joined in the 1980's and has a membership number in the 4,400 series, I joined in 1999/2000 and have one in 13,000. His number seems a bit high for his join date, but I'll have a look through his early stuff to see what date he joined. I have invoices etc from 1981 - 1986 from Ron Wheeler & others, when he was building the Scout; and the initial registration from June 1988. Sue

Nomadpete - interesting observation. I discovered flying as a child when I flew with my father and he let me take a hands on role from a young age. My 3 younger brothers were not interested; maybe 'cos I hogged the RH seat? Mother came from a non flying family and was not interested either. My husband's father started flying in 1932, my husband was the eldest and the only one interested in flying (although his father had abandoned it due to cost). When he was older he went into models and then into the early ultralights. Neither of his sons fly, but both are into models. Would be interesting to see how many "eldest child following in parent's footsteps" there are among us. Sue

Mr & Mrs Vizsla finally got the RANS sorted out and went for a fly, just for the fun of it. We went over the day before, did a quick fly to check everything was in order, cooked tea and bedded down for the night. Several critters were banging and scratching in the hangar so he insisted I join him up in the single bed rather than on the floor with the snakes, possums and resident goanna (some guys will tell you ANYTHING). It was an early start because I had been awake for most of it. Wednesday morning was glorious, clear blue skies, light wind and the RANS was tail up and off the deck in a wink. Flew around sight seeing, photographing and looking around for about 2 hours. This is the first relaxed flight we have had for at least a year, not test flying for faults, going somewhere etc. Just thorough enjoyment. We heard a number of Jabiru calling inbound Biggenden and wondered what was on there. Flew over our farm and neighbours and took photos for them, then returned to base to find morning tea on at the Club house and two other Jabs flying in behind us. A good time was had by all, stories large and tall exchanged, over cream bun and coffee. Then off to wash the plane. Next Sunday we plan to do a short flight to Pacific Haven (weather permitting). Fantastic feeling to have one plane flying. Now to finish fixing the others..... Sue

I think you have to have an ISSUU account and be signed in. It took me a while to work out where it was - click Share - then Download even if greyed out. The dialog box took "ages" to come up and I ended up with two, being impatient. The ISSUU site covers a lot of my interests and magazines that I used to read - all for free, and some allow me to download too, even books.

I got September Sport Pilot from the ISSUU website and uploaded it to Mr Vizsla's iPad where he has been reading it for a couple of days. It is a bit confusing as one email from RAA said ISSUU was now the permanent home of Sport Pilot, then another refers to alternatively picking it up from the Facebook page. I have not had much trouble downloading it from ISSUU provided I pick my time (low traffic for higher speed), however I am having trouble downloading the latest upgrade for the iPad - it keeps timing out - an hour or so and it gives up.

Not off topic - it is about planes. I watched this episode too. 27 planes in one hangar! The house was a bit avant-garde and looked worse in the flesh than on the plans, but it did have a fantastic glassed lounge / kitchen area to watch the airfield and a glassed section in the roof to view them flying over. My husband doesn't like "calamity Kevin" so he missed out on a bit of plane porn. I like watching Kevin to follow the mistakes people make and see the innovation. So glad I live in Qld after watching so many "snowed in, iced up, fogged in" episodes. Sue

The Australian Women Pilot's Association's annual event has a "partners program" and has for as long as I can remember (been a member for about 20 years but don't go to every one). It is not limited to partners as I use it as an alternative when the official itinerary isn't my cup of tea. Tour operators picked us up (as they normally did for other groups) and knew how many as we either booked in advance or let them know in the morning for the afternoon. Some things were walking distance or at the venue. The focus was on tourism or entertainment, not a tent offering creative spanner arranging, but things showcasing the area or allowing social interaction - most had a fee attached. AWPA moves their event every year to another State (known years in advance) and that State is responsible for arranging things. This year is South Australia - Victor Harbour - 30th March – 3rd April, 2016 and no doubt Victoria 2017 planning is already under way - WA 2018, Qld 2019, NSW 2020, Tas 2021 etc. Perhaps the National Fly-in could move between the major players - SAAA at Narromine, RAA etc. I wouldn't expect SAAA to host an event at other than Narromine because their headquarters and staff are there.

Unfortunately hubby wants his old magazines preserved, so no time saving to be had cutting the bindings. I accept that the scanning will be slow and boring, but it is a finite stash, and I have the time and patience. We live a long way from "civilisation" so services are thin on the ground. Our local library has two F/E employees and relies on volunteers like me to index, preserve and catalogue their non-core materials. They have one simple photocopier - it makes b&w A4 copies. So folks, me doing page by page scanning is a given. How to process the scanned image is more the question. I have Adobe Reader, which means each image remains as one file. I could put the bite on RAA to provide a short term copy (licence) of Adobe Pro; or do you know of a better platform to manipulate images etc. The aim is to keep the cost to the members as low as possible. I am presently looking at other software. Remember I have woeful internet speeds, so downloading and uploading to a website will take HOURS. rhysmcc - the CEO says they don't have digital copies prior to Sport Pilot. This goes back to 1986 with a typewritten newsletter - remember those wax sheets you typed on, fixed errors with pink waxy goo, hooked to a screen, inked up and turned the handle? AUF also had the "great server failure" where they lost everything because no one backed it up. I hope to have each magazine as one file, but also have it able to be searched without having to download every magazine. For example, if you were researching Accidents & Incidents, then only that article, but from each edition would be displayed. Similarly if you were searching for "Chinook 10-003" you should get every mention in all magazines. I do a lot of work on the TROVE digitised newspapers correcting the OCR text and like the way it works. Any ideas? Sue

My husband has all his old AUF magazines back to the 1980's, so I have volunteered to scan these for RAA. The CEO says the prior editions of Sport Pilot will be available on their new website - all 44 of them. I will do the rest. I have yet to talk to their website developers, but I am looking for any suggestions. I have an A3 scanner and OCR software. I am going to do a test run to see what I can produce. I would like the whole library to be search-able, rather than having to open each magazine to search. Maybe a choice between HD or smaller files; keeping in mind people with slow internet. Any ideas? Sue

When a major fly-in is combined with a major town event there have been issues. This one was the same days as the annual Show (probably so Warren Truss could attend both) which put pressure on accommodation and services - catering for example. Monto was another example, where it was held in conjunction with the Dairy festival - no rooms in town, we slept in the plane trailer, it was below zero overnight so people left a day early. I can understand the organisers thinking that another event might give the non-flying partners and children something to do, but I think the lack of accommodation, overstretched catering and volunteers out weigh that notion. The first Ausfly we attended was brilliant. I don't think there was another major event that weekend, the food was fabulous and plentiful, lots to see, many displays and well organised. Sue

I was just reading the AUF magazine from January 1994 - the cost of the Magazine was an issue back then too. Editor Peter J Lewis wrote: "The Editor has heard a number of rumours that the cost of the magazine being produced in the office is much more expensive than when it was being published under contract. At May 1, 1993 (my first mag) the cost of my duties as Editor was approximately $1,040.00 per issue and has remained consistent. (Remember I am also the Assistant Executive Director whose duties are costed separately). The contract rate with the Holbrook Publishing Group for April 93 was slightly (Approx. 1%) less than that. Not only is the costing about the same, I also do all those "in office" and other duties - paste up advertising, liaise with printer, arrange inserts, etc. which were not part of the Holbrook duties and until my appointment were done by the Executive Director at a much higher rate. So in fact this editor is saving AUF (you) money." In 1993 there were 12 issues, membership was 3,300 and the magazine was 40 page black & white, a full page advert was $168, members market $7. In the same magazine there were complaints that Lightwings and Skyfoxes were not ultralights, and Notes Re Crop Spraying - by the National Flying Coach (apparently it was approved).

Pud, So sorry to hear. Wishing you a smooth transition. My thoughts are with you and your family; and your flying friends. Thanks for your input over the years, it has enlightened and enriched our lives. I will miss you. Fly free. Sue

Husband and I both got it (separate email addresses) - note that the link has unique codes - his was not the same as mine. I filled mine in, but trying over 2 days, can't get his to connect "Problem loading page - the server is taking too long to respond" which is usually a product of my slow internet connection (it happened twice before I got mine). The other suspicion is that it won't respond to two requests from the same computer. I was hoping to let him at it as his experience and views are quite different to mine. As for the questions - surely they can work out your age after you just told them how old you were when you joined and what year? So you have to chose your current age. Several questions I had to answer "other" as the pre-selected responses were not applicable to me. I guess they are trying to discover how to turn around a slowly dying membership base in the face of competition from RPL and other sports. Sue

The quote on my C152 is $16,500 for the initial inspection including NDT & MPI, but excluding Eddy Current inspection which requires a specialist to be flown in. Cable installation, 100 hourly and any repairs at $110/hr. This is a special rate due to the financial stress of the drought and economic downturn. This aircraft has spent the last 20 years in arid areas of Western Qld. Sounds like $25 - 30k for an aircraft only worth that, but I doubt you could ask for $60k resale, particularly competing with aircraft that are not required to do SIDS.

The quote on my C152 is $16,500 for the initial inspection including NDT & MPI, but excluding Eddy Current inspection which requires a specialist to be flown in. Cable installation, 100 hourly and any repairs at $110/hr. This is a special rate due to the financial stress of the drought and economic downturn. This aircraft has spent the last 20 years in arid areas of Western Qld. Sounds like $25 - 30k for an aircraft only worth that, but I doubt you could ask for $60k resale, particularly competing with aircraft that are not required to do SIDS.

After waiting in vain for the Dynon agent to supply us with a unit, we started shopping around. We ordered a Dynon from the advertiser on the back of Sport Pilot (Mendelssohn) at the advertised rate - when we phoned they said the price was $200 dearer, we paid that accepting that prices on US stock probably went up with the movement in the dollar, however next month and the months after the advertised price remained the same. We particularly chose this supplier because we thought we were supporting RAA. They were very prompt on delivery, but they haven't got any repeat sales from us. Clear Prop shop is pretty prompt and affordable, but Ian does have his "off" days, but we understand, and support it because it keeps this site going. We had another experience trying to get a fuel tank out of the USA from RANS. It took a fortnight between email and answer, which was usually "ring us" and when we did (after 10pm and before 7am) they couldn't find emails and had to go through the whole thing again. In the end the fuel tank was in stock $213USD and they would get back to us about freight; about a month later $700USD! We could get freight much cheaper, all they had to do was confirm that the package was ready to be picked up - after 3 months chasing them each time the freight company gave up. The whole process took a year. We ended up repairing our old tank. Sue

TWO people have been injured in a plane crash in Maryborough on Thursday. A police media spokeswoman said two people had received minor injuries after the crash at Beaver Rock. The crash happened about 12.15pm on Dimond Rd. An ambulance spokeswoman said crews were called to a light aircraft crash at 12.18pm. She said both patients were assessed and one was taken to Hervey Bay Hospital in a stable condition with a laceration to his leg. The other person received treatment on the scene. http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/two-injured-light-plane-crash-beaver-rock/2707643/ I have no more information apart from this article in the local paper. Sue

To download the higher resolution copy from ISSUU, first you have to set up an account, log in, then choose the magazine. Under the magazine click "Share" then "Download". Worked for me, but have not tried it on my husband's ipad yet. Sue