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Jim McDowall

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Everything posted by Jim McDowall

  1. Jim McDowall
    An the fire retardant doesn't? A small amount of salt water wont do any lasting damage. Five years ago ago I sat and watched as the fire front ran along the overgrown roadside vegetation. It was a long time before the paddocks burned. This was also the case in the Wangary fires a decade earlier when the fire ran at upto 60km/hr. I South Australian CFS stats show that about 50% of fires start on roadsides. Thus it follows that many fires could be prevented by simply management of the roadsides. It used to happen but the we had a green revolution. But with a month of media beating up the drought, fires, first in the US then on the east coast, the climate extinction people, 11,000 scientists (of which only about 240 hold qualifications in anything remotely climate related) saying we are all doomed it is little wonder the crazies are out in force lighting fires. End of this rant
  2. Jim McDowall
    Part 149 explained in attached document Part 149 explained.pdf
  3. Jim McDowall
    That is fine for new houses which make up a small percentage of the total housing stock. Councils real duty of care is often compromised by their neglect of roadside vegetation and rural roads citing "care for the environment". The current fire "emergency" on the east coast may have some outcomes that the green lobby may not like.
  4. Jim McDowall
    Appoint them to a quango or perhaps a Governorship or get them a job in th UN
  5. Jim McDowall
    Did you mean "It is my humble opinion at this time that the only SAO that will end up operating under P149 will be RAAus"?
  6. Jim McDowall
    All about airlines, state and local government - nothing about GA (which includes RAAus aircraft). The people in Canberra dreaming up this shit probably don't know about the importance of GA - especially private GA - in the regions.
  7. Jim McDowall
    And expanded the scope for activist or corrupt local government employees to pervert the system sometimes in concert with similarly minded state government counterparts. These people rarely get brought to book as developers simply shrug their shoulders and move on to the next opportunity. There is no reward for principled behaviour by developers who may wish to take on the entrenched players in the system.
  8. Jim McDowall
    So Turbs, do you read this quote from the article differently?: Shooting from the hip was always inaccurate
  9. Jim McDowall
    In Oz we continue to lag the rest of the democratic world. UK, US and Canada both have enlightened medical requirements based on a much larger sample of experiences. In Canada for example it is a one page declaration signed by the applicant and countersigned by the MD. With this in hand, you can fly aircraft upto 4 seats, albiet with only one passenger. Waiting for commonsense to arrive in Canberra is like waiting for rain in western NSW, a potentially fruitless exercise.
  10. Jim McDowall
    I got it. Law makers just put bandaids on things instead of dealing with the real issue.
  11. Jim McDowall
    It would appear that this is the key phrase. For what purpose does RAAus collect information and how does this information related to assisting others in their commercial operations (if my belief that the local government legislation would regard this revenue as a "commercial" activity is correct.)
  12. Jim McDowall
    Like the new format but my LastPass (password manager) login no longer works
  13. Jim McDowall
    Lets hope one of the "operational issues" they run into is not a RAAus aircraft - after all we all inhabit the same airspace and (hopefully) play by the same rules.
  14. Jim McDowall
    And Part 149/103 etc took over two decades - so the answer may lay between 6mo and 20 years!
  15. Jim McDowall
    Even though the language of Part 149.060 would seem to indicate that CASA may approve ELAAA their prior statements in the Part 149 consultation papers and minutes of consultative committees indicate that CASA is keen to preserve the status quo. CASA has history on this. CAO 95.4 used to permit people to opt out of the GFA system and fly independently of GFA (the so called "parallel path"). Under pressure from GFA and their internal (to CASA) acolytes the parallel path was dispensed with without any evidence of a safety case.
  16. Jim McDowall
    The CASA annual report shows that it had revenues of $122 million from the Aviation Fuel Revenues (Special Appropriation) Act 1988. The accounts a;so show that CASA has cash reserves of $69 million! Maybe they could spend some on promoting recreational aviation by paying the various ASAO's their costs of complying with Part 149.
  17. Jim McDowall
    Have a look at the nosewheel in the pic. Nosewheel leg failure on the RV series is well known and poor engineering should not be used to justify maintenance of the 45knot stall speed requirement. Many other 800 kg series production aircraft have long term service records that demonstrate the safety of the FAR23/CAR3 61kt stall standard.
  18. Jim McDowall
    Typically students do about 40 hrs in RAAus then move on to VH over a 12-14mth course
  19. Jim McDowall
    But are the students flying 60+ hours per annum each? see post #1 which is about members hours not aircraft.
  20. Jim McDowall
    Without saying that there is a conspiracy afoot, it is in the ASAO's interest to report high flying hours numbers so the accident rate ( fatalaties etc/ 1xxxx flying hours) is less. If you think the RAAus numbers are humbug take a look at the hours reported by the gliding fraternity to the BITRE which do not stand critical examination. Of the nearly 1300 registered gliders nearly have do not have annuals (derived from GFA accounts) done which means the fleet averaged nearly 100 hours per aircraft. Taking into account weather, the seasonal nature of gliding and the need for support for launches (except for SLG), the dormant nature of many clubs the reported stats can only be described as bunkum.
  21. Jim McDowall
    And where is the evidence basis for these changes as they seem not to be "safety related" or is the object to drive us from the skies to make room for legions of drones (acting behalf of Amazon, Google et al) delivering parcels, dinner and whatever else can packed into a pilotless vehicle?
  22. Jim McDowall
    In Recreational Aviation Australia Ltd's response to CASA Medical Certification Standards Discussion Paper (December 2016 - page 13) it said: "Adoption of a self-certification model by CASA would put CASA in direct competition with RAAus and create the untenable situation of RAAus having to compete with the body that controls its very existence – a conflict of interest for CASA that could have significant adverse consequences." It may be that CASA could overcome this by requiring medical certification for all (despite international regulators moving towards self certification in varying degrees.) Has RAAus shot itself in the foot?
  23. Jim McDowall
    There are two approved devices that qualify for the rebate scheme and neither of them are roll cages (the Quadbar Flexi and the ATV Lifeguard). I agree with your reference about tractors but who was talking about tractors?
  24. Jim McDowall
    After watching those guys in action a number of times in various situations, I would say that the management of the SES would do well to remove every powered device from their members for their own protection. Don't get me wrong there are some wonderful people involved in the SES but when the adrenaline kicks in all the training in the world wont save some from themselves.
  25. Jim McDowall
    The Victorian Government did no such thing. It simply introduced a rebate scheme for roll bar fitment to NEW quads which could be sold without roll bars (probably because of interstate trade issues). You are seeing less quads as a result of market influences such introduction of the buggies, and yes, the marketplace recognizing the dangers associated with quads. I doubt any farmer new of the Tasmanian case or even if it influenced any on farm decision.
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