NT5224

Hi RGMWA sorry to hear about the inconvenience to your friend, but glad I’m not the only one afflicted. The irony is the Class 5 declaration was meant to streamline the process but I have spent three or four hours already trying to get one- and am still no nearer than when I started. This is just an IT bug, CASA public facing staff have been helpful, but I wish I’d just gone with my usual Class 2 basic now. Note to CASA (and all operators of automated public services). Please test the system thoroughly before launching! How on earth a Class 5 Declaration can result in direction to a DAME for a medical examination is completely beyond me! Class 5 and Class 1-2 should be on totally different systems. How did they become mixed up? Another automated system that gives endless trouble is that annual flight movements survey conducted by the department. I always have to send my data just as an email…. Sometimes they tell you to do that explicitly because the system is ‘down’ (yet again). But glad to read the system is working for many people. Gives me hope Alan

They’ve escalated my issue up to IT. They’ve been helpful but I’ve already applied three times and paid twice so not keen to apply again. I have one paid declaration logged in the system. They just don’t know why the certificate wasn’t issued. I hope they can just nudge that one along. Alan

Hi Turbo I'm describing my own experience. I do know how to use the system, order a pizza or an Uber. The Issue is clearly an IT problem and could happen to anybody. The platform delivering Class 5 declarations is still just a few weeks old and there are inevitable glitches. The CASA team were startled when I showed them the machine had sent me a DAME examination appointment. Remember it’s a Class 5 ‘self assessment’. It’s like the Robodebt computer sending a demand for cash to somebody who doesn’t owe any. It’s just a machine gone haywire… I have no problem with CASA. Alan

Those who have the Class 5 declaration, what does it actually look like? Anything like an actual medical certificate? My problems are being escalated in the CASA IT department. The staff are being helpful -but our AI overlords seem to have something against me… Alan

Passed test. It is an IT issue. On my second attempt the system mixed up my Class 5 Declaration with an application for Class 1 or 2 medical certificate and sent me to a DAME. I have a bizarre document from CASA requesting me to go get a medical to progress my Class 5 Declaration. The whole point of Class 5 is to streamline that part of the process. I don’t have any medical conditions. Alan

So this time, to avoid a full day journey into Darwin to see my medical man I took a punt on the new Class 5 declaration. Attempt 1: Went through the online process, paid my money then…… nothing. No certificate. Attempt 2: Went through the online process, pressed submit and got a message saying an appointment was being booked for me with an Aviation Medical Examiner! (as required for a Class 1 or Class 2). Unbelievable. I have just received an email from CASA confirming that I will need to go to a DAME for my Class 5. How is it possible that those two systems can be conflated? So I called CASA and spent an hour speaking to two lovely people who helped me the best they could. They could see my first application and payment -but couldn’t explain why a certificate hadn’t been issued. They could see my second errant application and killed it from the system as it was preventing me from getting back in. They told me to log back out and start over. Attempt 3: Went through the online process and paid a second time. ‘Error Occurred while processing your request. Contact CASA’. Have other people been through the Class 5 medical route? What have your experiences been? Cheers Alan

Hey all just been thinking about doing a little flying while on a trip down to Adelaide. I looked at some weather data for Aldinga strip and was startled to see the daily average wind speed at about 13 knots, with gusts of up to 50 knots. For somebody from the Top End this seems really high. I’m sure the strips are lined into wind, but I think my own aircraft maximum crosswind component is about 18 knots. I’m guessing flyers in Coastal South Australia must have mad crosswind skills! Is Aldinga really that windy? Or are there times when it is possible for a relatively benign flight? cheers Alan

Good point! So Group G is for the sick and the weary… They should call it Group W. Alan

Hi folks if the moderator thinks this thread should be moved into the other Group G discussion, no worries. I’m the owner of a VH reg aircraft, flying from my own home airfield. The Lycoming Rebel has MTOW of 760kg which means it’s eligible for Group G. Why should I be tempted to defect to Group G? What’s in it for me? Is CASA looking to divest itself of light aircraft operations completely in future? Is this the thin end of a wedge? What about aircraft rated for multiple passengers? I’m trying to get a clear view of the pros and cons of switching, and would be particularly interested to hear from other GA pilots in a similar position. Now that RAAUS has confirmed Group G rego will be numbers not VH letters I’m concerned about being relegated to second class citizen status by other traffic…😂 Cheers Alan

I didn’t want to say it…but somebody flying a Highlander STOL at low level down a shale river bed. You don’t need to be Trent Palmer to see where this was going… I love watching Trent’s videos. He seems a great pilot and obviously has great video production skills -but I would never fly that way myself. I live out bush and fly from a strip on my own property with a STOL aircraft. I was doing a Flight Review a couple of years ago and the bloke says to me “lets go down to below 500ft to practice low flying. I bet you do that all the time at your place” I flew the 172 down to just above the trees and told the bloke “I never do this at my place or anywhere else, it’s nuts!” I go low over the trees when I land and that’s the only time I want to do it…. It’s actually pretty scary when you think about. Alan

Hi folks! This tragedy afflicting a fellow aviator is all the worse due to the death of a young child… condolences to the family and friends of this fellow pilot and passenger. That said, there are a few basic questions that can be asked around the circumstances of this accident. As previously noted, barring a loss of power flight into wires away from an aviation landing area would imply flight below 500ft AGL. Yes, that river bank looks pretty smooth and potentially landable. But deliberately carrying a young child into such a potentially dangerous situation would be more than just poor airmanship, it would be bad adulthood ( I won’t say parenthood because we don’t know the relationship between pilot and child). This has been a disaster. Flying is risky and we all do what we can to mitigate those risks for ourselves, for our fellow pilots, our passengers and those on the ground. Hopefully more will be learned about this tragedy and the lessons of it will be shared. cheers Alan

Murphy Rebel is cavernous Alan

Ladies and gents I’m genuinely interested in what people think about the latest congressional hearings on UAPs. (The new term for UFO). Some are claiming the evidence for UAPs is becoming much more credible, with new forms of complementary data recordings and such. Some are saying the US government is basically accepting that there is compelling evidence for UAPs… Meanwhile the same old whackos are insisting the US government holds physical and material evidence for space-aliens, Little Green Men and the saucers they fly in. Pilot testimonies seem to be an important part of the evidence under discussion. Most of us on this site are older people with extensive experience. We are also practiced observers of other aircraft in the sky. So I’m wondering if anybody on this site has spotted an inexplicable object or phenomena while flying? I’ll receive any such reports with an open mind. Or anybody been abducted and probed? 🤣 Cheers Alan

This is very sad news. Condolences to the families of those involved. I don’t know Caboolture airstrip but reckon it might see some traffic and movements. It will be really interesting to learn how this failure of separation occurred. It is all too easy to become complacent in the pattern around a bustling airfield. When CASA did their last safety seminars they focused on the case study of a collision between a fix wing and a rotary wing very low over a strip following some mixed up radio calls. The actual calls made by both aircraft seemed reasonable but could be subject to misinterpretation, and both pilots misinterpreted. Let’s hope this awful tragedy yields some lessons for us all. Alan

Yeah I appreciate the reason for discrepancy, but my point remains, that’s a big wing area on a small aircraft. Doesn’t look that big in the pics… Interesting. Alan