sain

Just imagine that same thing in something like a Hummelbird or a Lil Tinny where the aircraft cost is in the $10-12k ballpark - before you cough up $10k for the ADSB-out gear. Same deal for a lot of the "rag and tube" ultralights being sold second hand... John Mck, any chance of a grand unified response from RA-Aus to CASA regarding this? something along the lines of the Sport Aircraft Associations on that other forum? or just a " off CASA" might go well too.. :-p

wow, not real friendly like on those forums are they...

For those who would like more info on ATS-B (like I did) you can get a fairly good, though not technical, overview here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADS-B Any chance RA-Aus can make life easier for us by putting up a page on their site with their official view, and an opportunity for us to agree with it (perhaps using our Membership No to verify who we are) so a nice big response can go to CASA? Some hard facts may also be useful for generating arguments against ADS-B.. i.e number of actual air-to-air collisions, number of near misses, number avoided by TCAS etc. Assuming the worst happens and we get lumped with it, could RA-Aus consider hiring an electronics engineer to design and prototype an ADS-B unit for production by commision? On the face of it it doesnt seem that complex (24 bit UID + position "vector"). Seems to me getting the data for the vector would be the hardest bit. that and getting the device CASA approved..

nobody ever seems to discuss the midwings...

Tim while your at it can you find out if the [email protected] email address can be used for submissions? Might be easier for people like me who prefer to do things in software rather than in hardware (damn pen and paper!)

The meeting was very well attended, with about 20-25 concerned citizens showing up. These included members of the Canberra Aero Club (thanks guys and gals!), members of the Southern Highlands Aero Club and other Goulburn pilots, and some people from the businesses now operating at Goulburn (having moved from Canberra because of the cost). There was also an ex-council member and a few others I've probably missed (apologies all) The council had a number of plots of land that they wanted to convert to operational use and for the most part these went without comment. The only two items stirring any intrest from the audience were a car park and a caravan park (both items opposed). Then (with some trepidation) they got to the airport.... Turns out everybody was at the meeting to speak out against the conversion of the land to operational, and sale of the airport. Every time the gentleman hired to run the meeting asked for further comments, their was a rush of hands in the air and people trying to get to their feet. Pretty much every point we've raised in this forum was covered, along with a few others, such as the origional owners of the airports gift of the land to the federal government and their stipulation that it be used as an airport for everybody who to use it. The bad points of privatisation were also covered, and all the "hidden" benifits such as firefighting/saftey, aerial news coverage. A number of the councils points for the conversion were also effectively debunked, such as the "lack of community interest" (turns out they are more interested in the airport than the art gallery) and the "lack of strong ties to the community". A number of suggestions along the line of "we can help you make this airport better" were also very well received. The gentleman running the meeting asked a number of times for any comments for the conversion, but none were forthcoming. Probably missing a bunch of other things that were covered, but hey. Tim can comment (c: Anyway the gentleman running the meeting wound it up by concluding that nobody in attendance was for the land being made operational, or for it being sold, and he would cover our concerns in his report to council (which will also be made available for comment). In the meantime letters to the council opposing the conversion to operational land, and the sale would be much appreciated. A big thanks to those who voted on the Goulburn post site too, it was enoughto get them to send a reporter along to the meeting, which should also stir the public interest a bit! The excellent % against the sale was also raised to the council. Thanks for the suggestion grantisaac, thats a great idea.

Well, after navigating the horros of goulburn's council website I figured out where it was (thank god for google maps). I've been looking through austlii (australian law library) trying to figure out what can be done to stop the council declaring the land operational. Unfortunately it looks like bugger all can be done, other than raising issues at required public meetings (did they hold one way back when? if the meeting was post '93 then they were required to, not sure about before that) and appealing to reason. All they really need to do is give notice (28 days) and hold a public meeting for people to raise issues. Anyway it might be best to take a "how can we solve this problem together" approach, and seeking protections for the aviation community using the land, or maybe by convincing them to sell off only a portion of the land, with some planning restrictions in place. Perhaps that land running parrallel to 26 could be good option for hangers and other light industry. Anyway, stuff to ponder. I'll walk down and try to see RA-AUS now. *EDIT* Okay, been down to see RA-AUS, unfortunately they are all tied up in training at the moment (they all looked very busy in the conference room), and will be for the rest of the week, so there is no hope of chatting to one of them re: the sale of Goulburn.

Welcome to the forum Tex!

Seems like that wasnt much notice from the council. Whereabouts in Goulburn are the chambers Tim? I'll try and make it up there for the meeting. Have you called RA-AUS to see if they can send anybody up for it, or would you like me to drop in and see them in person?

Not to be difficult, but in reality your salary for those workers should really be doubled (when costing), to cover things like ongoing training (including transport to and from + accomodation), liability insurance, super contributions, general resource usage etc.

Check out the ARRL Antenna book (your local library probably has a copy) or http://hamradio.online.ru/ftp/discone.pdf or http://www.northcountryradio.com/Articles/discone.htm cover one that I found. look for ham radio sites on the net, you'll probably find a few others. Any antenna that has a very wideband is useable for scanning, or if your after stuff all within one band a half-wave dipole at the centre frequency may be sufficient.

Various brands of liquid Wool wash bottles are pretty good. reasonable capacity, nice wide neck. I know the glider guys often have piddle tubes - watch out for yellow clouds around the gliders.

Pylon500 so we can bug him for updates. Garry Morgan (the cheetah/Super Diamond guy) Aircraft Kits Australia (the hornet/wasp stol) ELA Aviation (gyros)

Hmm.. any Search and Rescue flights been flown out of there for people lost in the surrounding bush (Bungonia and Buddawangs)? That might help to get the point across too, as its something other than pilots being rescued.

Congratulations Disperse, awesome stuff. I'm pretty sure we all feel that passion. After my first lot of circuit training I went home and crashed pretty much straight away (amazing how it tires you out when you first start). The next morning my lovely lady was looking extremely grumpy . Naturally I asked her what was wrong - she replied with 'You spent the whole night saying "goulburn traffic ultralight gazelle xxxx turning downwind for 26" and then turning over, followed a little while later by "goulburn traffic ultralight gazelle xxxx turning base for 26" and another turn and then "goulburn traffic ultralight gazelle xxxx turning finals for 26, touch and go" with another turn. Over and over and over!'. Unfortunately she was even more grumpy with my response "damn, sounds like I was forgetting to do my downwind checks." Eventually she forgave me, and even went for a TIF herself a while back. Hope you keep loving it!

Thanks to everybody who came out on Saturday to show their support for Goulburn, and to those who voted on poll. For me it was a very interesting day, with lots of interesting aircraft on show and people to talk with about their flying adventures. Great stuff for a beginner:big_grin: Hopefully the council will take some notice and start considering the field an asset for the community, rather than just a cost in their spreadsheet. Thanks again! Greg

hmm.. doesn't this (at the start): HOWEVER, ONLY THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES FROM ENR 1.12 SHALL APPLY TO THE ADIZ FOR AELW: and this: THE ADIZ FOR AELW DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY CHANGES TO EXTANT AIRSPACE CLASSIFICATIONS, FLIGHT PLANNING, AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES OR AIR-GROUND-AIR RADIO REQUIREMENTS. HOWEVER, THE RESTRICTIONS AND PROCEDURES DESCRIBED IN AIP SUP H23/07 FOR FLIGHTS WI R902 REMAIN IN FORCE. mean that we dont have to file flight plans unless you were doing so anyway, or am I not reading things correctly (highly likely as I'm just a newbie student)? Anybody from RA-AUS or Air Services or Dept of Defence care to comment?

The saftey argument is a good call - especially as fire spotting operations have been run out of their in the past (I think fairly recently, but the CFI there would know).

I'd avoid vista for a bit. Wait for the first service pack. It has many issues.

Great story Troy, and very similair to my own experience, except I think I lasted through a couple of extra turns before getting sick. Dave will probably have sick bags a plenty, and a very strong stomach so I wouldnt stress about that too much. Apparantly most people get a little airsick to begin with. Anyway, congratulations - looking forward to seeing the next installment, and this in print in the RA-AUS mag.

I thought the amraams were radar guided... or is this just a different seeker head? Either way i believe they are fairly expensive, I imagine most people's estates will bankrupt itself to pay for the missile they used to cremate you. Would save on burial and service costs though.

YGLB (goulburn) is outside too.

Thats the way! actually for most people that stuff will work fine. And you do get used to it after a while.

You may want to try taking ginger tablets (available at any chemist) as well as the wrist bands until your body gets used to the experience. I've found they help a lot. Apparantly there is also a non-drowsy (i.e they added caffine to it) motion sickness tablet available, but I dont know what its called - talk to your local chemist about it. Make sure you take sick bags up with you too - because cleaning off an instrument panel sucks. I think i've personally worked my way through my instructors entire stock of bags. You probably also want to stick to one lesson a day for a while until your body gets used to it. Congratulations on your first flight ;) Hope you enjoy the rest!

I did my theory exam (RAA) last weekend and I didnt find it too bad. Apparantly it was the "new" one, and i didnt come across anything that struck me as "out of date" (but I'm a newbie, so hey). My study resources were what pelorus32 suggested above and talking to my instructor about any bits I was having trouble with. The BAK book was useful with its set of questions at the end of each chapter, as well as the practice exam, which really helps to gauge how well you've absorbed the knowledge. My instructor also had a practice exam (for GA) which was also helpful. I'd definately read the theory section of the RAA site though - there is some stuff in the exam (or the one I did) which is explained much better there than in the BAK book. Good luck!