skippydiesel

As PIC you make the decision. Back when I trained for my PPL the communication rules were fairly proscribed. Things have changed, as they always will, and now we have virtually no communication system at all - its all up to the PIC to decide when & what to communicate (I amy be ovestating this a little, to make a point). I friend of mine died just a month or so back, when two very experienced pilots did not to communicate (they also died). Perhaps if they monitored The Oaks frequency and or made a call or two, no one would have died that day. I don't fly over hundreds of airfields, if I did I may be a little less enthusiastic about making the calls I do, who knows? For now I feel I am doing my bit to try and keep myself safe and those other pilots out there, who may not have made a call (cause they don't have to). Here is an excellent example of what should happen, from this Forum, Landing Fees, KRviator; "............................ when I went to Broken Hill. "Dubbo Traffic Rex 6866 a Saab Taxiing for Broken Hill runway 05" "Rex 6866 and Dubbo Traffic Alpha Bravo Charlie an RV 30 miles west maintaining 9,500 overhead time 20" "Alpha Bravo Charlie, Rex 6866 we'll maintain 8,000 until we've confirmed we're past you" "Rex 6866 much appreciated sir" Shortly afterwards "Alpha Bravo Charlie, Rex 6866 visual, your 11 o'clock low, 1 mile and we'll start our climb to the flight levels soon as we're past" "Rex 6866, Alpha Bravo Charlie, copy sir, thank you" 😈

Wow! they went out with a bang😈

"And they don't "only charge for landings" - I've been charged for overflying airports at 9,500' - verified by ADS-B - because I put "YGLA" on the flightplan as a turnpoint instead of the aid and made a deconfliction call with a departing RPT on CTAF." I hope you have not paid. Its the PICs prerogative to set whatever flight plan meets his/her cross country needs, subject to airspace classifications and military activity. YGLA circuit height is 1059 ft, overfly 1559 ft . I don't think you can be charged for entering the circuit (without landing), let alone an overfly of any altitude, let alone 9500 ft "...deconfliction call with a departing RPT on CTAF." Care to expand on this statement? .😈

How do you know they aren't "populated"? You can not have the information to make such a observation. I call for the following reasons: It costs me nothing - I see it as a basic courtesy that may have safety implications for me/other aircraft. I don't know who may be listening/will benefit from my call. This applies to the airfields and aircraft in the vicinity. Should I face a problem/incident a little later - someone may have heard/recorded my call and be able to assist with last known position. I still make "all station" calls when I change frequency, following the above logic. In my humble opinion we have swung too far, to the silent side of the communication pendulum. Pilots are relying way too much, on the "mark one eyeball", OzRunways (& other EFB's) to tell them their is another aircraft in their vicinity and the assumption that if they hear nothing there is no point in making a call. The Camden pilots who fly over The Oaks without making that all important call , are putting pilots at unnecessary risk, should be counseled and if continue to offend, some face some form of disciplinary action .😈

AND aircraft arriving from the West overfly, all too often at or below our 2500ft, on occasion as low as circuit height 1900 ft. Very few make any sort of Inbound call let alone the usual 10Nm one or even an overhead call, When hailed appear not to be on/monitoring 126.7 (our CTAF frequency). My perception is, the arriving aircarft tend to be the worst offenders.😈

Hi Walrus, I stand to be corrected; I understood and practise that a 10Nm inbound, altitude (intentions & time) /overflying/passing of ALL airfields, call is required. Further - may not be required, I do a second call - overhead/abeam(direction & distance/any change of altitude) Further - If not landing, I do not enter the airfields airspace, I overfly above the minimum and or pass to one side, well outside any possible circuit activity. I (& the majority of private pilots in AU) am flying at surface to 10,000ft a AMSL - not 40,000ft. Depending on windspeed, direction & terrain clearance I could easily be approaching an airfield at close 500ft above circuit height. There is no suggestion that RAA class aircraft or GA, using The Oaks airspace/in the vicinity, should not communicate with each other - they should when/where appropriate. When in The Oaks airspace - communicate on 126.7 As for Camden communication - this only applies to aircraft entering, within their airspace. There is nothing to be gained by The Oaks aircraft having conversations with Camden Tower😈

"In the Skippydiesel's case Avdata has made a mistake and they have corrected it." I did not get the impression, from Avdata, that trying to charge for flying in the circuit was a mistake - sounded to me that this is a charge that the YGLB owner is attempting to levy. Avdata merely passing on the charge. Could be wrong but got the feeling that Avdata not to keen to do so. 😈

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I try not to be too critical of others misfortune - we know the cause (no fuel) but we didnt get to read what lead up to the loss of power. I have been lucky; Years ago, despite careful flight planning, unexpectedly/unforecast strong headwinds, had a drastic effect on my ground speed. After some inflight guesstimates, I decided my fuel situation was just too marginal to continue as planned. I diverted to a field some distance from my planned track. It was late in the day but luckily a "Good Samaritan" was working back and had 20 Litres of fresh 98RON on hand. On arrival at my planned destination - I still had that fresh 20L in the tank, but no more. 😈

Walrus; Up until Australia was cast adrift by the British during WW2, we were completely dependent on the Poms. All facets - cultural, economic & military came from the "mother country". Even after WW2 we continued to depend on British market for the sale of our products. Then the Poms delivered a final "kick in the goolies" when they entered the European Common Market - cast adrift once more, we had to find other buyers of our products. We should have learnt from those hard lessons , but nooooo we transferred our dependency to Uncle Sam. Willingly subverted our culture to a pseudo US one and sent our troops to die in futile, unwarranted/ ill-conceived wars in the name of Yanky colonialism. The American came to our aid in WW2, not out of the goodness of their hearts/kindred spirits but because we were an unsinkable aircraft/troop carrier in the Pacific - a launching platform. Since day one of european colonisation, we have looked to others for manufactured goods, rather than develop industry of our own. The car industry is such a good/recent example - Australia developed two very good cars (Ford/Holden) - should have been the Volvos of the southern hemisphere, sold to the World - but no - we tried to bribe, with bucket loads of taxpayers $$$, the US parent companies to continue. Their allegiance was elsewhere and we lost not only a jewel but also a strategic industry. Our Gov should have done what they recently did with Whyalla - we would still be making Australian cars today. Despite our immense geographic size we are a small country. It behoves us to have allegiances with the more powerful. This should never have been allowed to develop into dependency, with successive prime ministers, behaving like whipped puppies, when in the presence of American Presidents - sickening! Like all great powers before it, the US is a bully. No country should get too close to a bully, least the bully flatten the unsuspecting sycophant for no good reason, other than a display of strength.. There is a chance that the Trump may inadvertently be good for use - our leaders may learn & work towards true independence😈

There is no argument - this is but a question/debate. I was/am shocked at an attempt to charge for the use of the airspace above YGLB. Going by the Hervey Bay comment (above), at least one other Australian airfield has tried & failed, to charge for using the airspace above it. "Most airfield owners have a website where they state their charges." - are you suggesting that; if stated on a website, its legitimate/fair/reasonable? ".......this argument should be with the airfield owners if you are being charged for usage that did not occur." I did fly through (use) the air above YGLB Seems to me we should all be shocked by such a move. What's next, a charge to breath?😈

IF! there is a next time, I will land, visit with the locals (hostiles?), get my $12+ worth & depart😈

Even cheaper if you purchase your coolant & fuel hose from Repco/Gates😈

So is Hervey Bay the only other airfield where a use of circuit charge has been attempted/failed?😈