TechMan

That would make more sense, as it is fairly commonly known that Mr Snow doesn't want smaller aircraft on his airport (ie GA). Unfortunately, it is his airport and he can pretty much do as he wants. A result of the Government selling off their assets for a pittance.

you decide...the SAAA convention was moved from a previous date to the date that the RA-Aus AGM and board meeting was on..

The Alpi Pioneer has a wood frame fuselage with a carbon covering....

The AGM is coming up soon, I would think the 19th September seeing the board meeting is following. Who is going?

John, Perhaps a matrix of possible ways of where the Board may spend the tens of thousands of saved dollars would be good to know as a member Chris

It depends what domain you are referring to (I am assuming amateur built/certificated factory built). I have not seen any reg changes from the CASA side regarding retract for Light Sport Aircraft even though the US have ammended their regs. I believe it is on the CASA 'to do' list, but with sport aviation having a bee's empenage of 1%'s priority within CASA, it will need to be hassled to get the change for retracts on waterborne aircraft through for our rules regarding LSA. At the moment it will still be repositionable undercarriage. Maybe someone knows more? A good amphib plane to consider for a smaller price that the Freedom could be the Super Petrel from Brazil, being imported by Ken Horlock. He will have his first kit finished soon and will be bringing them in as LSA shortly afterwards. Chris

Thanks Team, I say Team as I see it as more of a team effort, keeping our freedoms and keeping our aircraft flying. Sometimes we do get into each others hair from time to time, though generally we are going in the same direction. I will certainly not disappear from the forums, may have to change my username now though, and am always there should someone need info or clarification on things that I can help with. I hope that I have done a reasonable job. I know that I missed returning some calls and failed to answer some emails. I certainly hope that RA-Aus fills the seat expeditiously, as it is needed, though I am sure there won't be a problem. Wishing you all well and happy and safe flying. Now I can sit on the other side of the phone and make demands of the office staff :thumb_up: I am off for a week now first to NQld to soak some sun rays before coming back to clear the icicles. Take care Chris

Ozzie - Provisional rego is usually the time between initial inspection of an amateur built aircraft and the completion of the test period finalisation form, once the test period hours have been flown off. Provisional rego is subject to the Annex which will have been sent out with the provisional rego certificate. J430 - LP/HP is cut off at a normal cruise speed of 80kts. Yes, the new Ops Manual will cover that. The Gazelle sits on the fence and so you should end up with HP and LP (in my view). If people want to add endoresements that they have from GA or other source, then a copy of the endoresement entry in your logbook will need to be sent to the office. If youhave time in a LP aircraft like Thruster / Drifter etc, or HP like the esqual / J230 etc and it is not registered on your certificate, by all means, call the office, or fax a copy of the missing aircraft log book page showing flights in said aircraft and get the staff to add the endorsement on to your certificate. Chris

Hi Al, Yes, you should get the new ops and tech manuals with the July issue of the magazine. Implementation date for the Ops manual is 1st August 08. (thats the last date I have heard.) Chris

Your Board thanks you Tony (twas their idea). I am sure your comments are appreciated. If you need additional copies of the diaries, please contact the office. Regards Chris

Apologies for putting my unqualified comments in. That'll teach me. Now that I know that people are still trying to get to AUF instead of RAA, that will be fixed. Why not use http://www.raa.asn.au until auf.asn.au is fixed. It will get you to where you want to go.

Hi Ozzie, I haven't seen any guidelines etc as yet for electrics / compressed gasses etc. Hydrogen or other gases, as a fuel for an engine, would possibly be a problem due to the containment arrangements, although Rutan managed to create a composite engine for his starship, so anything is possible. It will be a question of $$$. The olympus jet is currently being used on various sailplanes, the latest being the Ventus-2cxa from Schempp-Hirth Sailplanes. The downside to the jets currently is the noise, the fuel burn and the lack of climb rate for heavier aircraft. You might end up burning holes in the wings on the Lazair Chris

The auf.asn.au should still get you there. The real reason was that we had a change of IP address from our service providers and the DNS for the raa.asn.au domain name needed updating. This was done, though it needs a bit of time to filter through the net. Chris

The issue is the stall speed for aircraft under RA-Aus. As I have written in the magazine, the flight manual for, say, the J400 (as a 2 seater) states that the stall speed at MTOW is 52kts (from memory). Therefore, even at a 760kg limit for RA-Aus, the J400 will still not be legally allowed to fly at 700kg, as the stall speed will not comply. Unless of course someone can prove through data and flight testing that enhancement work does actually bring the stall speed back. It will be a matter of working out the stall speed for aircraft types to see at what theoretical weight the aircraft would stall at 45kts CAS Vso. Remembering that stall speed is calculated at the most forward CG limit. Chris

I see no reason to approach CASA for an exemption as the only requirement for CAO95.55 para 1.5 and 1.6 aircraft is that they are fitted with 1 propeller and 1 engine. It does not specify that it must be reciprocating. Even LSA does not make that specification, only non turbine. Chris