Jim McDowall

Shades of the scene in the movie "Those Magnificent Men in their flying machines" where the German commander decided he was going to be the pilot.

The story goes that Australia was going to buy the TSR-2 until Mountbatten visited Canberra and convinced the Cabinet that it was a non starter. We ended up buying the F-111 and the TSR-2 project crumbled away without support from the dominions. Mountbatten's true motivation may never be known.

CAO 95.55 does not expire for some time yet: " This Order: (a) commences on 1 February 2018; and (b) is repealed at the end of 31 January 2021."

This is what happens when member based organisations seek income sources beyond membership fees. Over time members just become milch cows as the real reason for the organisation (and hence the existence of a membership base) is lost over time and its own corporate interests overide those of members.

It is generally acknowledged that the most dangerous time to fly an aircraft is straight after it has been in the maintenance shop. Mistakes can be made by anyone and some make more than others. Nothing beats hands on experience, but it is important to realise that most people will not attempt a task on an aircraft if they have any doubt about their capacity to achieve what they set out to do. How they gain the knowledge is immaterial to the outcome. For example, aircraft homebuilders attract other homebuilders like flies to s**t. The sum of the experience in this circumstance is something that no course can supplant. In an age where education by institutions has largely become "tick and flick", the hands on experience is gained on the job, supervised or otherwise. This is the case in the professions as much as the trades, where people learn at the expense of their clients.

Turbs, it seems I rarely agree with you but in this case you and I are on the same page. If educational material is produced by RAAus its development is paid for by members and should not be seen as a revenue stream by the organisation by treating members as milch cows.

My understanding is that the SAAA MPC is pretty much about the regs. I am happy to be corrected but the syllabus that CASA has ordained to comply with the experimental owner builder regs is really only about the regulatory side of the game. Having RTO's run courses is a potential recipe for disaster- cite the recent failed relationship between a certain TAFE and an entrepreneurial flying school owner. My own experience with a UNISA course to gain Solidworks accreditation was to my way of thinking a fraud on the students. The $1000+ course was nothing more than a few short uninformative videos, some notes and exercises downloaded from the net and an occasional late night online chat that masqueraded as a tutorial. Exercises were not marked in a timely fashion so feedback/ discussion was not possible. If it wasn't for YouTube (for free) resources I doubt anyone could have completed the course. In short money for old rope for the university. RAA should put more resources into training via webinars as the EAA does (membership is the best money you can spend on aviation). Short course accreditation is only a money spinner for those running the course. And of course the Canadian experience with owner-maintenance is exemplary as cited in an FAA report on aircraft maintenance. The accident rate of owner maintained aircraft is no worse than "professionally" maintained aircraft. Since March this year pilot/owner maintenance is possible in the EASA environment for privately operated aircraft up to 2760 kg MTOW. The EASA regulators could not see any safety issues with this arrangement. Why would we be any different in Australia? Except some of us have an overwhelming desire to be regulated or endorsed.

"No phone number to call, no website, no guidance as to whats acceptable or any management plans required that would assure unrestricted re entry." What is acceptable is on the web: 5—Skills critical to maintaining key industries or businesses Specialists required for industry or business continuity and maintenance of competitive operations where the appropriate skills are not available in South Australia, where the service is time critical and where the provision of the service requires that the person be physically present in South Australia. Persons who, in the conduct of their duties, are responsible for maintenance or repair of infrastructure critical to South Australia and are required to be physically present in South Australia for such purposes. Persons who are employed or engaged in agricultural or primary industry activities and are required to be physically present in South Australia. Persons who ordinarily live or work in South Australia and travel for work purposes for regular periods according to established work schedules. Note— A FIFO worker (being an essential traveller under the last paragraph of this clause) is not required to self-quarantine on return to South Australia, provided that their employer is applying risk mitigation strategies during periods of work. In addition if you fly into SA and don't leave the airport you can come and go: 7—Direction not to apply to certain arrivals (1) A person arriving in South Australia on any aircraft or vessel is taken not to arrive in South Australia for the purposes of this direction if— (a) in the case of an arrival on an aircraft—the person does not leave the airport in South Australia; or

SA has lots of crap systems based on subjective assessments of people who have no idea what it takes to function in the real world as opposed to the world that public servants live in. I suspect it is not much different in the rest of the country.

Population density of Adelaide is roughly the same as Sydney and Melbourne and the population is older on average than the rest of Australia. On demographics alone there should be more deaths in SA per capita. However, a cruise ship full of potential victims were not let loose in SA to infect the population although some made it to SA. Add to that the fact that the State Government doesn't believe that anyone lives outside the metro area so it makes laws/rules accordingly.

The cheating involved external assistance (not allowed by the IGC rules) to competitors by "hacking" the tracking device information of other pilots which was supposed to be on 15 minute delay but the Australian team had real time access to the data. See their investigating lawyers abridged report attached. It is also possible that laws may have been broken eg privacy, telecommunications etc. which may be why the report was abridged. I understand that other teams are appealing the light penalty applied by the international jury to the FAI. WWGC Report Abridged (1).pdf

I think the evidence shows that closing borders and quarantining of any returning Australian residents was the main factor in curtailing the spread of the disease - witness Britain, an island nation with still open borders. Limiting internal travel has been of assistance (Govt should have put a fence around Sydney). Track and trace has been effective but anyone who has witnessed the retail frenzy would sensibly call "social distancing" a fraud. Asymptomatic carriers will always present a risk as will those really dont give a sh*T.

To repeat a previous post I made on this thread: Not quite correct. Population density of New York is about 10,000/km2, Barcelona about 16,000/km2, Milan about 7,500/km2 London about 4,500/km2 whereas Melbourne is about 450/km2, Sydney about 400/km2, Adelaide about 400/km2 and Brisbane about 145/km2. Population density has a lot to do with disease transmission, so the northern hemisphere transmission expectation should only be vaguely related to Australia's.

It appears that the GFA Executive Officer who was Team Captain at the recent Womens World Championships held at Lake Keepit has admitted to overseeing cheating by the entire team. He was subsequently booted off all postions he held with the International Gliding Commission at a recent IGC meeting. (IGC is the arm of FAI the international sports aviation body). I understand that he is still Australia's representative to the FAI by virtue of being elected by ASAC (Australian Sports Aviation Commission - ever heard of it?). In spite of his admissions that has brought the GFA into international disrepute he still holds his job. Interestingly CASA has mandated that (AC149-01): CASA may also consider the following matters when determining the suitability of a nominee for the key personnel: • the person's history (if any) of serious behavioural problems • any evidence held by CASA that the person has contravened: - civil aviation legislation - another law relating to transport (including aviation) safety, whether in Australia or a foreign country • the person's demonstrated attitude towards compliance with regulatory requirements in Australia or a foreign country - relating to transport (including aviation) safety Whilst no laws were broken the GFA EO would probably have a hard time convincing CASA that he is a suitable nominee for a responsible position of a Part 149 organisation. Having said that the gliding mafia within CASA and the extended relationships that exist from the board down may protect him. Which begs the question why does an organisation with a declining membership continually end up with past president sitting on the CASA board when a growth organisation like RAAus get left in the cold?

Further to my posts #362 and #470. COVID-19, Australia: Epidemiology Report 10 for the period to midnight April 5th has been released. In summary there has been: 297,154 tests for COVID-19 5,805 positive tests 33 deaths Of the 5,805 postive tests there has been: 682 admissions to hospital 82 admissions to ICU with 29 cases requiring ventilations. In respect to the reportage of the US deaths the figures are misleading as a result of an instruction from the US Centre for Disease Control which says: “COVID-19 should be reported on the death certificate for all decedents where the disease caused or is assumed to have caused or contributed to death.” [boldfacing in original] "The CDC counts both true COVID-19 cases and speculative guesses of COVID-19 the same. They call it death by COVID-19. They automatically overestimate the real death numbers, by their own admission. Prior to COVID-19, people were more likely to get an accurate cause of death written on their death certificate if they died in the hospital. Why more accurate when a patient dies in the hospital? Because hospital staff has physical examination findings labs, radiologic studies, et cetera, to make a good educated guess. It is estimated that 60 percent of people die in the hospital. But even [with] those in-hospital deaths, the cause of death is not always clear, especially in someone with multiple health conditions, each of which could cause the death." (Montana physician Dr. Annie Bukacek ) The footage we have seen of mass burials on Hart Island (New York) is interring of those who either could not be identified or who were not claimed by relatives. Maybe a reasonable proportion of those were homeless or illegal immigrants for whom poor health is par for the course. The increasing reportage of cool headed epidemiologists who view the "hibernation" response as unnecessary illustrates that panic response of governments around the world may have been unwarranted in the long run and have caused irrecoverable economic damage.

Not quite correct. Population density of New York is about 10,000/km2, Barcelona about 16,000/km2, Milan about 7,500/km2 London about 4,500/km2 whereas Melbourne is about 450/km2, Sydney about 400/km2, Adelaide about 400/km2 and Brisbane about 145/km2. Population density has a lot to do with disease transmission, so the northern hemisphere transmission expectation should only be vaguely related to Australia's.

I have a list

Best of luck with the vaccine idea - apparently they haven't been able to develop a successful vaccine for any other corona virus.

Agreed, but look at how Australia prospered under Costello as treasurer (and I am not really a fan of his). South Korea is another example. Debt is a burden successive generations will wear - and wait till interest rates rise again!

In its 9th weekly COVID-19, Australia: Epidemiology Report, the Department of Health data shows that upto midnight, 29th March there had been over the nine weeks: 211,261 tests for COVID-19 (largely self selected so the data is automatically distorted) 4,159 confirmed cases (assuming the test is 100% accurate) of these cases: 2,219 were hospitalised 402 were hospitalised solely as a result of their COVID-19 illness (ie 1,814 of the hospitalisations had underlying health conditions that made them susceptible to ANY respiratory illness) 38 had been admitted to ICU;and 5 required ventilation Draw your own conclusions. It is as though the pollies are not getting this data and acting from fear alone. Now that the system has lumbered the nation with a debt that will never be repaid, it knows how to create a conforming society. Conformity is the enemy of democracy which relies upon free and open discussion of ideas for its success. This virus has sown the seeds of destruction of the society that we grew up enjoying.

And it kills dogs

Went to my local Coles supermarket this morning - so busy social distancing could not be practiced except perhaps by those women pushing two trolleys loaded to the brim. At the checkout contagion was easily possible as the goods were passed from the customers trolley to the checkout chick (yes she was) who handled it, then passed it on to a rotunda that could have been contaminated by the dirty re-useable bags of the previous customer for packing. Life is full of risk. Meanwhile no one has mentioned how many people have died on the roads during the period of panic. One thing is for sure that death toll exceeds the covid-19 toll.

Getting back to flying, how is it that an activity that you undertake by yourself in any way threatening public order or safety? Banning golf may be acceptable on psychological grounds (20 years of experience in that form of personal abuse) but maybe healthier than staying indoors.

Have a look at this article. Is this what the future may hold? Police State beckons

No theory, just an observation of the way bureaucracies work. Once a method of control is "discovered" they use it over and over to control the population. Sure the emergency powers have existed for some time but this is the first time they have been used in such a coordinated way across the nation. The question is, will the next "crisis" result in such a economy destroying over-reach of regulation?