sain

The avocet flys again link is here, for anybody else wanting to read it: http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/avocet-flys-again.63465/

Feel free - his electorate office # is: (02) 9977 6411 and his Parliament House # is: (02) 6277 4022 You may not be able to speak to him personally, but a representative of his should be able to answer any questions you may have. *edit* btw, i have no association with his office - just encouraging all australian citizens to talk to their elected representatives. Would be nice if we could do that will all of our elected represantitives, and its really sad when you can't even hold people up to the low standard that is the australian federal parliament.

I loved learning to fly in the Gazelle, the handling charactaristics are just beautiful. I've flown a couple of other aircraft types too, and the Gazelle is the nicest of the lot. Some are pretty horrible by comparision. *jab bashing to commence in 3... 2... 1* I'm learning to fly a Jab at present, and its also a nice aircraft to fly. I find, however, that the controls are out of balance with each other (amount of force + travel is all screwy), and that takes a lot of getting used to. And the ergonomics of it all just got me thinking "what drugs were the designers on?" My flights in a couple of Piper aircraft (warrior and cheroke) makes me think they are very nice training aircraft as well. The controls are heavier, but everything is at least balanced and the entire cockpit isn't set up in a way that incrases a pilot's workload. If somebody balanced the jab controls, sorted out some toe (or heel) brakes and a sensible flap actuator it would be an absolute joy to fly and a truely world class aircraft.

You mean like in the current, and for that matter past, training curriculum that everybody got assessed on to get their RA-AUS certs in the first place? or like you get tested on every bi-annual flight review? Do you feel your instructors havn't made an accurate assessment of your ability to put the aircraft into a glide? and if you do feel that way, why the hell havn't you done something about it? go practice for gods sake. Its your responsibility to be a competent pilot.

actually probably not. some low level staffer will be assigned to check if you can submit under a fake name, and once they discover you can it'll get ignored. call me cynical. Mind you, it'll at least get them to think about it for a second or two.

Go for it John and Jim. A crisis is no excuse for inappropriate behaviour.

You may also find this link useful: http://www.ronleclerc.net/fuel-system.html Which is discussing a CH701/750 fuel tank. He is using 5052H-32 0.032" aluminium.

when did he die?

Well, recently I've used a PET bottle cut up to make a funnel when pouring E10 based 50:1 2 stroke. Afterwards the plastic on the inside of the funnel was semi-melted and could be scraped off. That could have been caused by the ethanol, the alcohol, the oil, or a reaction with residue left over from the contents of the bottle, or something else unknown. I poured some of the 2 stroke into what was left of the bottle and left it overnight and got jelly forming. I was also able to poke a stick through the side of the bottle with very little force. I've also worked at a service station as a young lad (wow - 20 years ago), and filling soft drink bottles was a no-no. One of the older guys had tales of a customer's bottle elongating on him (under the weight of the petrol in it) as he walked off. That was a long time ago though, and PET may not have been used for softdrink when it happened. As there were many variables in my experienced event and the rest was anecdotal I was thinking somebody might know. So - anybody with the knowing care to comment?

I thought PET was really really really not hydro carbon proof... or at least not petroleum proof. Doesn't it turn to jelly when in contact with unleaded petrol?

or there is no way i'm passing my next casa drug test

This is probably wildly inappropriate, but it reminds me of that far side cartoon where the pilot and co-pilot make an announcement about severe turblenece and then have a bit of fun:

One item people don't seem to have mentioned yet is a magnifying glass. I use a Frenel Lens. I've got an A4 sized one tucked into my map folder. Its a lightweight and made of flexible plastic, and is great for starting a fire if you've got a bit of sunshine. If your going to be stuck over night, or stranded in cold weather fire will help keep you warm and also act as a beacon for rescue parties. Just don't start it under your fuel tank... Fish hooks and fishing line are also a good idea to take along in your kit. You might not be stranded near a river but birds will take bait on a hook just as well as fish. The fishing line is useful for all sorts of things. One of those fold up bright yellow ponchos is also handy - it'll help keep you dry and will block wind, and can be used to make a bright, flappy "i'm over here" flag. It can also be used as a cover sheet for a basic still.

amazing how easy it is to get yourself in trouble if your an officious pr*ck

Don't you have to be a registered ASIC inspector to inspect ASICs? I've not looked at the relevant regs for a couple of years, but certainly when they first came out you wern't allowed to inspect asic cards unless you fit some stupid requirement. might be worth looking at the regs, and then calling a complaint throught to CASA/Air services and getting his revoked. Good work standing up to him Kaz.

I can understand the RPT pilots stooging around while they got a handle on how fast another aircraft was going around the circuit, especially if they were unfamiliar with the type. Just think how much it'd suck to be climbing out in something slow on a hot summer day and hearing the RPT behind you that was on late finals give a going round call. My own dealings with RPT and pilots operating under IFR has been limited, but I have found them polite, helpful and considerate of more inexperienced pilots.

Building uav's isn't hard these days.. plenty of off the shelf autopilots are available that you can plug into a model aircraft/glider you can get from the local toy store. instant uav, just add camera. and again, the camera transmitters are available on the 'nut quite reasonably priced - some of which are low power to comply with their source countries regulations. I'd be willing to bet that they don't realise the potential dangers. or have thought about it briefly and chalked it up to "she'll be right, that'll never happen".

Unfortunately for me I only have time to schedule a flight once a month. I also seem to be bad at picking decent flying days a month in adavance, so I often go up to 3-4 months between flights. If its been more than 2 months I schedule a lesson with the instructor. While its probably not strictly necessary, it does comfort both myself and my better half knowing that I've got someone there to catch any mistooks I might make, or correct any bad habits. Often the instructor will come up for a circuit or two, and then let me loose to do my own thing. As an added benefit you get to go flying with somebody who really, really knows their sh*t. I havn't had one of those flights yet where I havn't learnt something that helps me become a better pilot.

Interesting question that one. The aircraft in question was first registered under that number on 9/11/2008, according to the RA-Aus aircraft register (here look for 24-5515 in the list). I assume thats the plane your talking about anyway Volksy? the other "initial" registrations are either amateur built) or not on that register.

Time to pipe down on the "stop jab-bashing" comments guys. Motz has had 3 jab engine failures in the last 12 months (i think and I can't be stuffed going back to check). Re-read what he said but pretend they were rotax engines (or lycoming or whatever makes you happy). Is it reasonable for him to express that hes worried about sending students up in them? Is it reasonable for him to express that hes worried about kids being up in them. Is it reasonable for him to say he doesn't want to run a school with them anymore? Is it reasonable for him to say that he wishes the engine manufacturer would examine the problem more closely and do more to help identify and correct the problem? Take the fact that the engines are from Jabiru out of the equation and is anything he has said really objectionable? If you still think its jab bashing - Would you buy another car from the same manufacturer if you'd had 3 of their engines bite the dust inside of 12 months during routine driving? You guys are just making it so people won't want to report failures or incidents that they have. please quit it.

Thats a shame.. hopefully its not completely trashed

Well, last night at 9:37pm I received a response from Middo, which was polite and included an apology and explanation for not responding sooner. In case he ever reads this, thanks Middo, its appreciated. My questions to the board had been about reporting to the ACT Office of Regulatory services. I had heard that RA-Aus had not submitted an audited annual report for the 09-10 financial year, or since. If that was the case, and the 09-10 report was not submitted prior to 31 Dec 2012 then RA-Aus could have it's assets seized and its incorporation status revoked. Fortunately I was completely wrong, and the returns have in fact been submitted on time. YAY!

Thanks for responding Jim, Personally I'd be glad to help out the RA-Aus, time and skillset permitting. However right now I don't think you need a software developer or any IT security work. Let me know if I'm wrong and we will see what we can work out. Have you guys asked for any help yet? From the posts the President has been putting out you wouldn't think its required. After all, the staff have it under control, registrations are being processed, the backlog is being cleared, renewals are being sent out..... Unfortunately one thing the board members and the President have to work through is a significant amount of distrust from the membership. Having the RA-Aus office reporting a computer problem when CASA had pulled the ability to register/re-register aircraft was a mistake, and not a lot has been done to rectify that just yet. Some other behaviour has made it worse (claiming backlogs were being cleared when renewals wern't being sent). As a number of people have stated, its great to see the post about the accounting issue go up. We are very happy to see efforts being made. You can't say there is a lot of detail in the post however. Is it just a procedural issue that needs to be figured out, or is it more serious? Will there be any potential for impact to flying operations? If you can't say yet, then thats fine.... nothing to see here, move along, etc etc. For the board members who are posting here, thanks. It is helping.

who is trying to gag you exactly?

Guys, can I suggest you go back and read your posts in this thread. Some of you come off like well intentioned but distinctly frothing loons. How about you focus on education next time, not so much on the castigation and castration? Once (or maybe once each) is enough - after all, we want people to come back on here and learn more. If you make people feel like a whipped dog they wont stay. Pilots who fly from regular airports / strips will at least get correction from other pilots if they do something stupid. Flyme will have nobody watching over his shoulder, outside of biannual reviews, so scaring him off from posting about his flying is just stupid, and wasting an opportunity to help him and anybody else who might benefit from an opportunity to learn something.