bilby54

Thanks dodo, I, like probably hundreds of other members, did not know about any of the audits so if none of the previous one's failed.... while the 'new' casa auditors were in charge of the hen house... what were the previous audits all about?? IMO, it has nothing to do with whether middo had a bunch of proxy's or not. The last lot of ops managers / CEO's had a lot to do with it, knew about the problem, went to dinner with casa and are now doing audits! Doesn't that strike a chord with anyone?? If there was not a problem 3 or 4 or 5 years ago, then how is there a problem now?

So much for tongue in cheek!! For the record, I did not send a proxy to anyone so must be part of the apathetic membership. I do like the point about casa getting serious about everything being in place as legally required hence the picture of the crew change aircraft. What I do not understand is why audits did not happen until two ex ops managers went to casa and how they treated the situation when they did the audit? I have also put placards into aircraft mostly to stop people from overloading them but also to comply with the rules and that was before any audits or lack of, raised their collective heads.

I appreciate this photo is a bit grainy but have a look at the rego on the side of this Chieftan taxying at Roma recently! It is the dirty smudge at the base of the fin - the underwing was not much better. It is about time that CASA started looking in their own backyard before having a go at the sport end of the market. Be real interested to know if this would get past the RAAus audit!!

Hi Motz - Brilliant piece of writing.... brilliant attitude from everyone there at Jaspers

The HP / LP endorsement has nothing to do with landing the aircraft as it has to do with the cruise speed being above or below 80 knots. The approach speeds for most of the so called modern style of aircraft are very similar - not talking about Thrusters here. It should have been High Drag / Low Drag if an endorsement was really necessary Still cannot find a list of aircraft in the Ops or Tech manual and wonder how many people have really had trouble with a change in cruise speed from 75 to 100 knots?? An approach speed change from 60 to 40 knots does cause problems

Oh brother!! Shows just how silly the individual endorsements really are...... I wonder where in the tech manual it names individual aircraft? Next it will be an endorsement for every different aircraft type

Hey Motz that looks like a neat little airfield you have there. I saw the banner with " THE INTENSIFICATION OF THE JASPERS BRUSH AIRFIELD TO 80 FLIGHTS PER MONTH" Wow, that works out 20 flights per weekend. Including the Q Link Dash 8's, Skytrans Dash 8 and all of the crew change King airs and Chieftans we get that number of aircraft in two days at Roma now. I live at the end of the runway and what keeps me awake is the road trains with no mufflers and exhaust brakes. It is really hard to reason with people that don't want others to bring enjoyment into our lives

Just to clear up one point Kaz, the Pacific Ibis (of which I am an unofficial caretaker of one machine here at Roma) is grounded permanently - the offer of 19 category is not avaailable at this stage. Cheers

Hi Red, Any engine that is fitted with carburettors is susceptible to icing whether it is a Lycoming or a Rotax. The Rotax design with the intake at the rear of the engine helps considerably to reduce the amount of icing but does not eliminate it. The idea of moving the throttle was an old remedy when icing was suspected and it was moved rapidly to try and dislodge any ice - and if the pilot was in a bit of a panic then that was easy to do!! Carby icing can be hard to detect in the cruise and is usually found by having to increase the throttle slightly to maintain power until you run out of throttle. Carby icing happens more often in the descent as the throttle is closed causing a larger pressure drop across the butterfly with a resultant drop in temperature. Nothing quite like opening the throttle on short final to find nothing happens!

The last thing I want is another organisation to have to set up shop with. The need to fix the current problems that have been identified wether through unfortunate accidents or irregular audits is what is required and has been discussed at length in this post. Yes, some people in the organisation have stuffed up, some should not have been there in the first place and an air of mystery surrounds the inner workings of the RAAus workings but it is fixable so lets get on with fixing it. As for the Old Bar incident, I have commented in another post that ATSB did not want to investigate it but were requested to do so for political reasons generated by the intense media scrutiny (Circus??) and the families of those on the fair ride. They were of the of the opinion that it was pilot error as it was the second attempt at a touch n go..... and the ferris wheel should not have been positioned where it was. Let's move on people If you want a vote then mine is with the Nay's

And there lies the problem for me as my aircraft is used in my flying school and for the record, I have been flying since 1978 so be careful with the 'welcome to aviation' bit. My Gazelle has three years of records missing from the log book as it was done in a RAA logbook that is not available. The logbook was inspected in a CASA audit and approved but I have since found serious problems and none have been recorded in the logbook but all anyone can say is omg its got an illegal propellor! The next aircraft was a Pacific Ibis which the type had been approved for over six years and grounded without warning due to 'paperwork' issues. A friend offered his 500 hour Tecnam to keep the school going and this aircraft was only recently changed from GA registration and was NVFR certified. The engine dumped the water, sprung an oil leak and the nose wheel axle let go due to it not being done up so it is in for major work. When I removed the cowls to find where the water leak was, the oil cooler and radiator fell out and and all of the hose clamps in the cooling system were so loose that they were falling off. Why did I mention this? Because it still had a current GA Maintenance Release and was signed off by a GA LAME and all the RAA and some comments from this site are worried about is non certified propellors and other minor items. It is easy to check the the paperwork which CASA makes a career from, but if someone doesn't want a problem or accident recorded then it does not go in the logbook and that is what makes aircraft dangerous, not some thing about minor modifications

Where do you get the term "major modification" from? What is considered to be a modification in the first place? The Allsize propeller was not available for a long time so my Gazelle was fitted with a Sweetapple with exactly the same specifications but has been deemed illegal - funny thing is, the Allsize is now available but it cost almost double any of the Brolga range. The Gazelle maintenance manual specifically states "Cheng Sing" brand tyres so if it is fitted with exactly the same tyre but from another manufacturer then does that make it illegal? You cannot specify one thing such as a propellor and ignore some other part of the equipment list that forms part of the certification process. The propellor business is just plain stupid and should have read "similar to" Allsize. You forget that some manufacturers have either gone out of business or simply discontinued parts as part of product improvement so people have not been intentionally disregarding the rules. No one on this site exceeds the speed limit on the roads either!!!

Thanks Andy Perhaps the incompetent in power disposing of those who show them up??

Can you provide any proof of this? I have written to the RAAus on several occaisions and may as well send them to the north pole - at least I have some hope of getting something back from santa and his elves:) This lot just ignore anyone they don't want to deal with How do you get info from these people. If what you are saying is correct then it was the absolute height of stupidity to sack Adam as his qualification, experience and dedication was exactly what was required to get this mess sorted. The sooner the Ibis action reaches the courts, the better.

And all this started from a little Ibis being grounded Still no official notification........ Still no paperwork ....... Still nothing to show the bank manager.. Quite frankly, RAAus sucks big time

Perhaps it has not been fully understood but there are going to be legal actions brought about by the groundings. Depending on how the owners decide to fight the case it could be either ten or so individual cases at several hundred thousand dollars each or one big one at a several million that will cause a serious depletion of the coffers (that we do not have the financials on) Just imagine - and it is entirely possible - that a very popular, many, many owner aircraft brand was grounded so that hundreds of cases were to be brought against the organisation. How do think everyone would react then. To say that so long as the majority are fixed first does not cut it for several owners - spare a thought for those who have been grounded and facing serious financial hardship and health issues as a result. These are the people we should be supporting

John, You refer to getting the paperwork right but in the grounding of the Ibis fleet, NO paperwork has been issued to any owner and it has NOT been posted on the RAA web site. It is highly likely that this audit will produce more groundings so the office needs to make yet another form to cover this and it needs to be a legal instrument. The owners and operators of the Ibis do not have any documentation for the flight manual to say the aircraft is grounded; they do not have any documentation to take to the bank manager to say they cannot meet the repayments because the aircraft is not allowed to fly. The RAA has proven yet again that they cannot handle this and it is only the honesty of the owners that stops these aircraft from flying. I do hope you are not refering to the current Ibis agent when refering to "those who will misrepresent, cheat and lie to register an aircraft"

Ok guys, so we run them all off and get a new executive. Which one of you are going to put your hand up to be voted in???? If a new executive is voted, will the current problem go away...... don't bloody think so! I have a perfectly good aeroplane sitting out on the flat that is not allowed to fly in Australian skies because someone in RAAus or CASA stuffed up. They stuffed up so much that it was allowed to fly for six years before someone decided that it needed to be grounded. There are ten more in the same situation! CASA has now decided that RAA is so bad at running the organisation that they do not want to allow any new registrations or transfers of registrations. Are you or anyone else really going to put your hands up to take on a position like this?? I personally want the problem fixed, not some electronic witch hunt to get a new executive that can do the same as the current executive. For the record, I despise the RAA for the situation that we are now in but it has been a long running problem and the current "CASA" staff knew about it when they were in charge.

C'mon TP.... the CEO won't write anything in the magazine so he might be a bit outclassed trying to stop a rumour mill!! :) There is nothing on the website; nothing written in the last magazine about grounding the Ibis fleet and looks like business as usual - except for those with an expensive piece of aluminium taking up parking space. No wonder rumours start!

I think this is a case of "If you haven't heard a rumour before smoko then start one before lunch" I contacted RAA office and the lovely lady on the phone said that she had fielded a few of these calls today and NO, RAAus has no plans to ground the fleet and does not know where the rumour came from.......

Interesting that the Ibis was approved to fly legally on their watch.......

I could not get any info from Canberra last week because there was another CASA audit happening. Ok, so the people from CASA who are doing all of the 'auditing' are both ex Ops Mangers and one was CEO of RAAus. Does anyone think something is amiss here? If it smells like crap..... and looks like crap.....

I heard this a few days ago also which is why I asked the question. Apparently it is also happening in SAAA but cannot confirm

Has anyone heard about other possible groundings to date?

I have watched his wife and family fall apart from this accident. It is unfortunate but there are things that have not come out in the accident report and thanks for the consideration, but no, he did not get caught by the storm as it was clearly visible from Roma and black as a dogs guts! The aircraft was found almost directly on track so it is quite possible that medical conditions could have contributed as it was clear skies to the NW so we will never know what happened to cause him to fly straight into one of the worse storms we had seen here in years. Your point about manouvering speeds is one that is not taught nor understood very well and I do not know why it is not marked on the ASI. To make matters worse, this particular 210 had the 320hp engine and speed mods so was quite capable of very high speeds Many thanks David and everyone,