kgwilson

Passenger distractions is something that every pilot and especially commercial Joy rider jockeys should be acutely aware of and be able to ignore or shut them out.

My personal take for this unfortunate incident is something that affects everyone at some point in their flying career, Complacency. The pilots in this situation were doing 5 & 10 minute flights continuously with a line up of paying punters waiting. I'd find that quite boring. We don't know if any radio calls were made. Possibly they weren't. Blind spots need to be dealt with as a standard procedure. The holes in the SC were all aligned.

The most popular and numerous recreational aircraft by far in Australia are Jabirus. There are 7 at our airfield with 9 aircraft sporting Jabiru engines, there are 3 Mooneys, 3 RVs, 2 Piper PA 28s and only 1 Cessna & several other 1 offs, 3 gyros & 2 trikes. I don't care if you don't like Jabirus, that is your choice but if you are too frightened to fly in a Jabiru engined aircraft you have chosen the wrong sport. The flying school here has a 170 & it is on its second engine after making 2000 hours TBO. It was more economical to put a new engine in than overhaul the old one. Treat them as you should and maintain them by the book and you will have many years of happy flying. In saying that every engine no matter what type or cost can and will fail. Proper treatment and maintenance will reduce the risk of failure dramatically. I have a Gen 3 3300 with 400 hours since new. I maintain it meticulously, run it on 98 Petrol & it has never missed a beat. I change the oil every 25 hours & never have to top up between changes & the oil stays relatively clean throughout. I like the engines simplicity & direct drive and it sounds like a real aero engine. I can pull it apart to every last nut & bolt if I want to. Rotax 912s are very reliable & good engines but complicated, with lots of plumbing and expensive and they fail like everything else. I'd never attempt any serious maintenance though.

There are plenty of things that could have gone wrong if this aircraft had only been flown twice in the last 12 months. Even water in the fuel could have been an issue. Electrical issues sometimes only manifest themselves after the engine has been run for a while. Initially everything works fine and then corrosion on contacts may initially not have any effect but after a while the resistance builds especially if there is minor arcing leading to the connection failing. Insulation breaks down with age and/or becomes brittle especially near joins. Given the age and lack of use of this aircraft this is a distinct possibility. Crud in the fuel, varnish in the carb from dried fuel loosening and clogging jets etc. A different scenario but an example of what can happen is after the flood a Mooney had water right over the wing roots and the cabin floor was awash. Everything under water was removed and replaced with new or refurbished or meticulously dismantled, cleaned and replaced. After the test flight went well, it ran like a bucket of bolts next start. There was still water in the fuel after the tanks had been completely drained. It was found some of the drain straws between ribs were clogged with the last sloshing compound allowing water build up behind the rib. Then the timing went awry. Both mags were sent away for overhaul as there was some internal corrosion. Then the engine would not idle. The fuel control unit was corroded, the battery failed, new ones installed and the starter motor crapped out so a new one has just been installed. Most of the instruments required repair. Luckily the aircraft is owned by an instrument LAME. None of these things were under water but were a consequence of the flood. There were a number of other things as well.

I am too old to get stuck in to Pollies and bureaucrats. I just provide passive resistance. I don't have an ASIC, won't get one and will fly and land where ever I need to & if challenged will provide the appropriated resistance response.

So what additional information is required for an ASIC card that isn't required for a drivers licence? A drivers licence is used as ID for multiple government, banking and other organisations systems plus a few other things to make up 100 points. They want to know your addresses for the last 10 years & you have to provide other IDs and proof like medicare card, photo id like drivers licence/passport, rates or utilities account etc. So your drivers licence and CASA licences or RAA membership card covers all that and you already have it so an ASIC is no better form of ID that what you already have. It is just a stupid, expensive bit of red plastic with your mug shot on it that you hang round your neck that some think makes you look important.

Huntsman Araldite K-134 high strength is what you need. It is distributed in Australia by Selleys as Araldite Super Strength Epoxy & is available at Bunnings. Huntsman market araldite to the Aerospace industries in the US. I used this extensively in my aircraft build. It has never failed.

So what are the security issues at these small regional airports? They probably don't want people wandering around the runways or tinkering with aircraft so put up a fence and have some video surveillance. It is not as if someone is going to hijack a local RPT. Where are they going to go to? No the system was a kneejerk reaction to the twin towers attack in 2001 and strict security was enacted in the US & once the whole thing was over security was relaxed again back to normal & thousands of local airports that have local RPT operate without any special ID system for pilots. Same in most other countries. Not here though. The original ASIC was issued by CASA & RA-Aus but now is issued by approved profit making businesses & no longer by CASA or RA-Aus. An ASIC is no use at a major or international airport anyway. There you need an AVID and completely understandable. There isn't an international airport in the world that does not have a security system for aircrew.

There is a KR2 at our airfield with a Corvair flat 6 in it. It looks a nice engine though with only 1 head for 3 cyls & the carbs on top in the heat. Unfortunately the owner crashed it in a gusty wind takeoff & it hasn't flown for some years but he is finally getting a round tuit so I may see it some time soon. He got the engine running just recently. It will be good to see how it performs.

ASICS were, are and always will be a crock. I have refused to ever get one. I have only ever been challenged once & then I just ignored the security bloke as I was already inside the security area anyway. They can't check you on the way in if you are flying. The system is a joke making money for a few outfits who are p!ssing in pollies pockets.

I have run plenty of events at South Grafton & we provide airside marshals and public security, car parking, ticketing people etc. This was also when the aerodrome was council run as well as since being run by the hangar owners. We were required to apply for an Event DA from the local council which was done & it is valid for 5 years & we get it renewed at 5 yearly intervals. This was the same at Evans Head when the Great Eastern Flyins were held. ASICS are never required at any uncontrolled aerodrome that has no RPT and no security fencing. Toraweenah is a country airstrip and I am even surprised it is published in ERSA given the only information provided is the location, operator details and runways. Even the runway length is omitted. Someone is talking through a hole in their hat.

Trees, houses, factories and thousands of other obstacles and hazards surround many aerodromes. You assess the risks and make decisions. If you aren't happy about the situation go somewhere else or don't fly. Those things don't bother me and obviously don't bother owners of all the aircraft at Wedderburn either

My assumption was that training was not complete so no pilot certificate had ever been issued as it was just stated membership has lapsed and rhtrudders son had lost interest. If a GA licence had been issued as it is a lifetime licence training & a BFR only is required. Not sure about RA-Aus as if membership has lapsed for more than 12 months there will be a few other hurdles. If less than 12 months there is an on-line process to reactivate membership. A RPC is only valid if you are a RA-Aus member.

The hours and lessons completed still will be valid but you will have to go through the process again with an instructor to demonstrate proficiency. For some people what they previously learned will come back to them quite quickly whereas for others it will be almost starting from scratch again. If written exams have changed in the time away you will likely have to complete these again. It all depends on how long ago it was. If it was 20 years+ everything will likely have to be done again.

I note that the Glasair web site provides 3 engine options for the Sportsman. Lycoming IO-360 160HP, IO-390 210HP, & Continental CD-155 155HP Diesel. No mention of Subaru at all. There are 2 for sale on Planesales. Both have IO-390 210 HP engines.

We had a Glasair Sportsman (nose wheel, strutted, high wing) hangared at YSGR a few years ago. It had an injected Subaru engine. I think it was around 2.5 litres in cubic capacity. If this one had a similar engine then carb icing can be ruled out as a possible cause.

Instead of trying to figure out where everyone was at the same altitude I'd have changed to the next VFR cruising altitude rather than doing a couple of 180s given that one of the aircraft was behind him on the left or was it the right, he wasn't sure. That would have reduced the stress level and got them there quicker without much difference in fuel burn. Turning around to fly towards an aircraft somewhere behind you at the same altitude is not smart. If all 3 had ADSB then the use of that and the radio for confirmation of location would have reduced stress dramatically. Interesting terminology. A loop in my book is a vertical 360. His were 2 x 180s in opposite directions. Also height, forty five hundred instead of four thousand five hundred. When he originally said loop I assumed that he meant an orbit.

The owner can even get someone else to deliver the aircraft so long as the person flying does not get paid. The owner can also pay for the fuel. The terminology is an owner who is a PPL cannot use his aircraft "For hire or reward". So long as that applies, the person delivering the aircraft just has to have the appropriate valid licence and endorsements.

That mob in Coffs really took you for a ride Jack. Even my first training flight (effect of controls) I did my own takeoff with the Instructor talking me through it with his fingers following the yoke travel. I imagine that for some students the instructor would have to assert control. How do you learn if they won't allow you to perform the task at hand?

The North East end of the strip is some 800 metres from the Roadhouse which seems to indicate that he took off to the North East given the report states the crash site was approximately 500 metres from the Roadhouse. The South West end of the strip is 2 km from the Roadhouse. If that is the case then he took off in the best direction for a forced landing. It seems to me that if there was a lack of power he was unable to get the aircraft to climb and then collided with terrain, most likely hitting trees and scrub.

Absolutely. I was trained at a towered airport and low level circuits were always taught and approved by the controllers. Sometimes the controller would request a low level circuit as a way of getting you round quicker usually due to an incoming RPT. We have everything from Kingairs to powered parachutes at South Grafton with radios being mandatory. Announce what you are doing and make appropriate position calls & there is no problem.

Milking students by unscrupulous instructors was a problem a few years ago which hopefully is no longer a major issue as those FTFs have been called out. I knew of a couple whose conduct was disgraceful, luckily now no longer training students.

It is a pretty decent strip of 1265 metres according to Mr Google. The best place to land is on the Eyre highway or to the North where there is no scrub. To the South West though there are quite a few clear patches. One is about 3km from the runway and is about 1100 metres long in the same direction as the runway. If you had some height this would be quite possible but without it in this direction your choices are very limited.

There does not seem to be a prescribed set of requirements for a flight test for the RPC so this appears to be at the discretion of the CFI/Pilot Examiner. Obviously all of the theory exams must have been completed satisfactorily first and if the CFI/Examiner is aware of or has been involved in the students training then that is likely to influence what he/she requires the student to demonstrate during the actual flight test. In the past even the training of RPC students has been different from FTF to FTF but there is a prescribed syllabus which is published on the RA website and has been the same since 2014 so a student should be able to satisfactorily demonstrate all of the requirements listed in the syllabus. A new student pilot will not get the PAX endorsement with the issue of the RPC. That usually requires 10 hours of solo after attaining the pilot certificate. There is a RA publication for pilots (RAAP-5) on what to expect from your BFR. This was last updated in February this year. Conversion from GA to RPC which is what I did required 5 hours flight time in an RA aircraft of which at least 1 is with an instructor. The flight test was pretty simple given I'd been flying for 40 years in GA & was a bit like a BFR but with no wing drop stalls or incipient spin recovery which is not allowed in RA or XC stuff involved. Mine was partially completed in CTR as well which most probably are not.

They are pretty ugly but have great performance and were very effective at what they were designed to do.