coljones

You suggested "Do you wish to fund the ABC, if so state $ amount" this then leads to all sorts of optional payments "Do you wish to fund the defence forces?, if so state $ amount", "Do you wish to fund the pensions?, if so state $ amount", "Do you wish to fund education?, if so state $ amount", "Do you wish to fund sport?, if so state $ amount", "Do you wish to give tax breaks to farmers?, if so state $ amount". I thought we were trying to cut down on the paperwork in filling out a tax return. It may well be that the ABC is a left wing rat hole from your perspective because you are somewhere over there to the right with the feral commentators who are paid by Murdoch and Gengis Khan.

Thanks for the meat, now we can work on it. WRT millions - I'm not sure about the numbers but if 2/3 of the membership is plastic pilots then they are contributing over a million a year. I am hoping that part of the audit of Services V Revenue that RAA "should" be doing will reveal who are the "Lifters" and who are the "Leaners". Part of my complaint about ditching the magazine was that it may be the major return I was getting for the membership fee I pay.

Rather a broadbrush series of statements. Perhaps you should put some meat and muscle on the skeletons so we can see where you are missing out. A similar statement could be made that the cookiecut, manufactured aircraft have less problems per member (and plane) than the homemades. The millions of dollars the readymades pour into RAA goes to help all planes and pilots and the necessary activities to support them.

For RAA See https://www.raa.asn.au/contact/forms/ Section "Applying for an ASIC" but first read https://www.raa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Before-applying-for-your-ASIC1.pdf If your licence is CASA try http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_90103 Cheers (og skål)

Why should they go. Other than the demands of NIMBYs what good reason is there to screw over the armed forces by sending them out to Cobar. It is not a matter of looking down or up someones nose but maybe the people who demand that the services vacate should themselves move and those doing it tough for the rest of us can continue in congenial accommodation where the facilities and families currently exist. Putting the NSW Parliament at Cobar might be a great idea

The developer mentality - just kick the sailors, soldiers and airmen out of the way. Where to? Who cares, just not in my backyard!!!

But slotting into that tight spot requires human intervention and if you don't worry yourself about forced landings and do some serious training that tight spot my come, and go, before your very eyes when you most need it. The training should include bringing the bird all the way down with the throttle off to 500 feet and on final to prove to yourself that you can get into that tight spot.

Well, there are chief engineers and chief engineers and chief engineers. One once told me that if Gough got elected there would be no more elections. Some chief engineers are just a little too touchy. I don't regard myself as being proficient in engine failures recoveries although I am intrigued by all this talk about how quiet it gets when the fan stops. Maybe in my next 300 hours. Or, perhaps, take up gliding to experience quiet solitude. Have you worked out where the plane was going from and if there was fuel on board?

That is the problem with metrics it doubles the distance. Same thing happened with decimal currency, it doubled the price of everything. Daylight saving faded the curtains as well.

Whittling - no, not at all - the Telegraph starts with something innocuous and conflate with rumour, inuendo, misinformation and bile to wholly transform the narrative into something totally useless except to a conspiracy theorist. By contrast farmers' re-purposing usually works very well.

Everyone is holding off, waiting for that journal of erudition and truth, the Daily Telegraph, to cobble together a sow's ear out of a silk purse.

Ah, the Telegraph, a journal of repute and truth in Sydney.

RAA has scholarships as does the federation of AeroClubs. Check with an RAA Flying School or https://www.raa.asn.au/gyfts/ you local aero club or http://rfaca.com.au/learn-to-fly-scholarship/ Do you need a car? trains and pushbikes will save you lots of money - even a cheap postie big will deliver value for money. Keep well

At SFC, Bankstown - PA28 $345/hr dual + $19 landing fees/flight or circuits block. GST INCLUDED At Gostner , Camden - PA28 $310+$31/hr dual + $25 landing fee. GST INCLUDED I would suspect that among PA28s in the cities that this rate would be competitive. If you only ever expect to fly a Jabiru or Foxbat into controlled airspace then do your RPL in something like those. If you want to fly an RAA plane into controlled airspace you will probably just need the RPL with the controlled airspace endorsement and a PC. This will save you having to do a nav endo and instrument hours - I suspect - any ideas anyone? There is still the question of what plane do you do your RPL Flight Review in.

Sydney Flying Club (Schofields) at Bankstown Airport is a good school. 02 9709 8488, www.sfcaero.com.au . You could qualify for RPL in a similar plane to your RAA mount but if it is your intention to fly bigger aircraft, like a Piper Warrior,, PA28, then you should consider doing your RPL training one of those aircraft. Having an aircraft with a DI and an AI will also make your instrument flying training more accurate.

Can you put the end to end track up so us mere mortals can study it as we plan a plunder on CAGIT. Best wishes with the folding stuff, you have a nice little strip down there in Albany.

You could do an "Advanced Pilot Award". The pilot skill set is advanced. There are no additional privileges gained except the accolades of your instructors, fellow pilots and friends and the discipline and training of undertaking the award may well be very valuable. I have a feeling that the skill set is closer to or better than that required for a PPL. ADVANCED PILOT AWARD ENDORSEMENT (APA) 8. As this Endorsement does not allow the holder any operational privileges no further detail is provided here. However, the requirements for the endorsement are shown in Section 2.07, paragraph 13. ADVANCED PILOT AWARD ENDORSEMENT (APA) 13. An applicant for the issue of an Advanced Pilot Award must: (a) have reached the competency standards required under Unit 1.07 of the RA-Aus Syllabus of Flight Training; and (b) be recommended by an RA-Aus Examiner to undergo the flight test for issue of the endorsement; and © pass a flight test conducted by a Pilot Examiner or a CFI.

Camden has similar issues to YSBK except the hours of of tower operation (Class D) are 8am to 6pm. Daves has a quality cup of tea bag and instant coffee and the landing charges are most acceptable (about $5) Somersby -YSMB - about 30 mins north of Hornsby and near the expressway might also be an option but you will have to navigate the lane of entry with some low flying < 2000' and pass close to a major bankstown reporting point at Prospect Resevoir (PSP). The Sydney/Newcastle VTC and the Sydney Basin will give you a good heads-up See http://ontrack.casa.gov.au/index and have a play

try here http://sdr.casa.gov.au/sdronline/REPORTS/REPORTVIEWER.ASPX?TRANCD=RPTVWR or here http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_90818 I suspect that these are all GA planes as there are no Rotax, modified VW, Subaru engines mentioned in the quick flip through I did OR there is massive underreporting in the RAA fleet.

And???

Don, we really do need you back on The Board.

Labour is a resource just like money. Staff are employed to satisfy outcomes in Ops, in Tech, in membership, in ASIC, in General Admin, in the Board Support, in Relationships Management, in Member Services and other areas. It is not just staff costs it is where the costs (including staff costs) are expended in each area. The CASA fiasco was not really about CASA demanding more but CASA demanding that we do the job we were supposed to be doing in the first place. RAA didn't insist on quality staff to do a quality job on quality systems. This failure has meant that it is going to cost us much more than it should have. But things are changing. If past boards and CEOs had had their eyes on the ball and had established systems rather than surpluses and ever growing reserves then RAA may have dodged the bullets It is pleasing to note that the board is put up $300,00 from reserves (previously so tightly guarded) to establish management systems. This should, hopefully, bring light to dark corners, improve the way RAA does business, establish protocols, reduce the revolving door in senior and other staff and reduce the cost of expensive consultants whenever there is a hiccup. Keep well.

Not at all Captain. My point is the board should ask for a fee increase by cogent arguments rather than hacking a member benefit. The board hasn't explained where the expenditure hole is and sought to rectify it, by mitigating the cost or by increasing the hypothecated component of the fee, or some other fee if it is a rego issue or an FTF issue. We do have reserves which can be used to even out cyclical cashflows, if required. To continue to demand continual supluses, year on year, without reserve targets and policies is clearly ridiculous but until recently that was the only game the board would play in fiscal responsibility. I have consistently said I don't have a problem with a well documented argument for a fee increase and will willingly pay up on that. You, I am sure, would understand that the shareholders would, and do, get very agitated, if companies reduce the dividends and benefits, without good reason, without growing shareholder wealth. There needs to be more hypothecation of the RAA fees and their allocation to cost centres so that the board and members can see where the organisation is headed and where the holes are and who is paying for what. Fx. Rather than allowing the confiscation of the kids' pocket money society generally demands that the old man give up booze and betting (and beating the wife). A much better way to balance the family budget. Are you happy about the fee increase? Keep well

And I said back then "The cost of the magazine is a smoke screen. Unless the cost benefits in other areas of RAA are rapidly established, and dealt with our financial deja vu will keep on repeating itself. If you can the magazine then I want my $60 back!!!"

Thanks Andy for your candid input to the debate. The issue was the lack of proper disclosure of a fee hike ($50). The announcement was bordering on obfuscation as it talked about saving money on the mag' rather than jacking up the underlying non-magazine related fee. I have never been afraid of a fee hike, if required and explained, and taking into account sensible policies on reserves and asset retention (some governments want to flog assets and to outsource) which we are yet to see. Was there a resolution or just a decision taken on this? I do prefer paper. A lot of people are handling technology well but a lot of the small things are becoming lost because it is becoming complicated to find them because the search terms are complex. Search for "broke" when the article in question said "financially embarrassed" rather than "bankrupt" fx You can fold a mag up into your pocket and read it outside without sunglare on the screen and batteries don't go flat. Despite anything else I am dubious about the imminent arrival of the paperless toilet. Cheers