Low Flying Privilages

There has been a lot talk around lately about us losing low flying privileges under Part 103 and 149. In these instances it is best to go straight to the top. In this case I wrote to Mick Poole our operations Manager. Mick's reply to my query follows.

“Hi John,

The new part 103 and 149 are actually a lot better for us then people think. Yes if you read the new 103 and its content on low flying it appears that we will not be able to have the freedoms that we do now in some respects. But, what part 103 and 149 do is empowering our operations manual. In our new ops manual (as per the board web site for those who would like to read it) actually has the new endorsement on Low flying. This has been on the drawing boards for quite a while. As you know we have been able to fly low with the land owner’s permission etc, but what we have not provided in the past is the training for low level flying. As you would be well aware there are a lot of things that are out to get you when you go low flying, power lines, wind shear, mechanical turbulence, depth perception and it goes on and on. We have been working on the low level endorsement to at least give the people who want to and are low flying, some of the necessary skills and knowledge that will maybe save their life one day.

Believe me, we by no means want to take anything away from our members, what we want to be able to do is give them more. Part 103 and 149 will go a long way in enabling us to do this. More importantly the new operations manual is with CASA at present as you know. The new endorsements that we are introducing with this, (are)controlled airspace, in flight adjustable propeller, retractable, etc etc. These and other endorsements are being introduced primarily for the safety of our members. As our aeroplanes become more and more complicated and faster, we need to be able to, and in fact need to be seen, to be providing the necessary training to go with them.

I want to be able to go to sleep at night knowing that we have, or are, providing all the necessary tools for our Schools, instructors and most importantly our members. These tools enabling them to be able to continue to fly with the freedoms we have today well into the foreseeable future, but also to make it as safe as possible to maintain these freedoms.

Mick Poole “

Airport Dreams

Following is a memo I sent to the RA-Aus Board. This is for Board consideration. But YOU, our members are the association. Without you we amount to nothing. We, the board members, act on your behalf. But we also must have your support. As your board member I need to hear your views. If you think we need our own airfields let your board members know. If not, also let us know and reasons if possible.

My memo to the Board

In my view, one common failure of the leadership of bodies like ours, and not just ours, but clubs and even governments is they think short term. One year, maybe even five years. I believe we should be thinking out at least 50 years.

We won’t be around then but we must set in motion long term goals and ideas that can be acted on or modified by those who follow us. Perhaps very few of our ideas or dreams will ever come to fruition. But if we don’t have any, NONE will come to fruition.

Airfields are a big issue for us. If we don’t have an airfield we can’t fly our types of planes, and perhaps should consider paragliding. I see a number of ways we could secure airfields.

1. We could look at securing existing council airfields where the local council wants to rid themselves of this “burden”. As a non profit body we could take over the airfield much easier than an entrepreneur could. This could be done as an outright purchase or on a long term 99 year lease.

We could supply and rent hanger space, or lease land for private hangers to cover our costs and pay any loan charges. We could lock this airfield up as an aviation site for at least 100 years.

One urgent airfield that I know needs action now is Teewah near Noosa. Another possibility is my home airfield of Boonah. A third would be Evans Head and a fourth Gympie. I am sure all of you are aware of similar fields.

2. We secure vacant land in areas of need and develop our own “Airparks”. These could be 30 to 60 minutes out in the bush as I believe most Pilots would be happy to drive that far into town if they lived on site. Or the “Townies” would drive that far out to an airport. Obviously the distance would be further out for sites close to major centres (one hour), and closer in to minor centres (15 to 30 minutes).

At “our airfields” we set up “cheap fuel” and food outlets to encourage visitors. We could have our own plane and vehicle roadhouse if we are close to a major road. We could set up low cost camping areas, not only for visiting pilots but an encouragement for the retired “Grey Nomads” to visit on their travels. This way we start to get “critical mass” for our services.

I believe we would have a better chance of local support being a non profit Aviation Body rather than a “greedy” development company. In time (50 years thing) we might be in a position to buy the Archerfield’s or Bankstown’s of the future and save them for aviation at breakeven costs.

But we can start small NOW. We have a lot of members which gives a lot of political support. If we asked these members for a non interest loan of, say $200, we would instantly have a fighting fund $1M to $2M. More if we get higher loans or donations. We could have “set in stone” policy that would require a future Board to have a 75% member vote to change this policy. (eg to sell an airport)

“Our Airparks” could be a breeding ground for future pilots. There are a lot of grandparents amongst us and having the grandkids over for stays at an aviation venue might install in some of them the aviation spark.

All this might be a dream at the moment but it is an achievable dream. Without a dream we achieve nothing.

John McKeown

Rotax production ends for the 447 and the 503

It looks like the rumours we heard at Avalon, but denied at Narromine are true. The latest issue of Microlight Flying magazine in the UK has informed its readers about the ceasing of production of the Rotax 447 and 503 engines due to the plunging sales of these engines. The 582 will be the only 2 stroke motor Rotax will continue to make.

The Rotax 447 will cease production at the end of 2007 and the 503 at the end of 2008. Spares for both these engines will continue to be available for a further 10 years.

John McKeown

September 2007 Board Meeting

I attended my first RA-Aus board meeting on 14-16 September in Canberra. John Gardon was elected the new President, Myles Breitkreutz stayed on as Secretary and David Caban was elected Treasurer. Following are some items that may be of interest.

It was agreed all Board discussions except those “In Camera” or sensitive financial dealings with third party organisations would be available to the general membership.

I expressed concern at both the wording of changes to the Constitution and the vote itself. I stated (in my view) the vote was poorly handled in that there was no mention in the magazine that a vote was to be taken at the AGM, and no ballot papers were included in the magazine for the general membership. Changes to the constitution were passed with only 17 votes for and 1 against.

Lee Ungermann was confirmed as our new Executive Director, and Mick Poole was promoted to Operations Manager

The contract with Zebra publishing was renewed for another three years and there was discussion on how to keep improving the magazine.

Mick Poole showed draft copies of new aircraft and engine logbooks. They will not be compulsory for the general membership. Mick discussed the reason for the separate book for engines as some engines are moved from plane to plane and you can’t keep track of where they are or their status. I mentioned the same should apply to trike wings as some trike pilots have two or more wings.

A motion was passed that in future All Board candidate profiles will be published even if they are the only candidate, and all candidates must list their position on the executive of other aviation related bodies.

There was a motion passed to divide Queensland into three areas, Southern, Central, and Northern. Legal advice is to be taken if this can be done without changes to the Constitution. The total number of board members will remain the same.

There was discussion about Rego labels similar to motor cars. This was held over to a future date.

Rod Stiff was inducted as an RA-Aus Pioneer

There was discussion about having a Member Forum on our web site and how and where we could get staff to moderate this Forum.

We will now have new plastic Pilot Certificate cards instead official certificate cards.

There was discussion about our long term future and the possibility of our own airfield in the future.

John McKeown

Accident Lessons

I recently attended an RA-Aus accident course in Canberra and I would like to list some comments and perhaps some lessons some of us could learn.

Fire. One of our worst nightmares. We studied an accident with an in-flight engine fire where the pilot managed to “crash” land the aircraft. Exit the inverted aircraft and die of burns and exposure many hours later. There are a few lessons here if we look for them.

1. The engine fire was caused by a fuel pump with excessive pressure flooding the carburettor and dripping onto the exhaust manifold. What is sad is after this crash it came to light that there were previous minor instances of similar engine fires of the same engine configuration that were not reported to Canberra. If reported could it have prevented this tragic death?

How many of us look at our engines and consider what would happen if we had a fuel leak? Will we have petrol dripping onto a hot exhaust? Do we have an effective fuel shut off valve? Do we have an effective firewall? Do we have an effective fire extinguisher close at hand?

2. The pilot landed the plane in a small clearing but it flipped on its back. How many of us consider getting out of an inverted aircraft, let alone one on fire?

Will your seat belt buckle release with a load on it? Mine won’t, and I bet most of the car seat belt types won’t either. Try it and see what I mean. (Don’t turn your plane over. Pull real hard on the belt to simulate an 80kg or 100kg load and press the button). If the buckle is hard to release do we have a knife handy to cut the webbing?

3. There was evidence of pilot difficulty in exiting the enclosed cockpit. How many of us consider getting out of our aircraft if the doors jam, or we are inverted? Could we break a canopy or windscreen with our head or hands?

4. This pilot, with a lot of difficulty, managed to exit the burning aircraft with his clothes on fire. He was wearing flammable synthetic clothing. Investigators could follow the pilot’s movements by following the tracks of molten clothes remanets and burnt flesh lying on the ground.

Do we as pilots always wear non flammable clothing when we fly? Not just in recreational aircraft but also in commercial aircraft? Proper clothing would have gone a long way to help this pilot.

5. This pilot managed to douse the flames by rolling in a bush but was left badly burned with only a belt and boots left. All clothing was burnt or melted. The accident happened early in the morning not long after the flight started. He would not be missed until late in the day. No one knew he had crashed. No one would know he was seriously injured. The pilot carried an ELB but it was in the burning plane.

Would this pilot have stood a better chance if he had a mobile phone and an ELB on his belt or in his pocket? (In non flammable clothing)

6. This accident happened (from memory) at around 8am on one day and the search started late that day. It was suspended at nightfall and the pilot’s body was found about 4pm on the next day. There was evidence that pilot lived for a long time. Investigators could see depression and scuff marks where the pilot sought refuge from the hot sun under the unburned tailplane, and constantly moved position to keep in the shade as the sun moved.

Would rescue have come quicker if someone knew the pilots course and expected arrival time? Would the pilot still have lived if the search was continued at night and the pilot had a torch in his pocket?

My heart goes out to this man. We have a pilot who lived through an in-flight fire struggling to survive with serious burns, with no clothes and no water, who continually dragged himself around in the dirt under the tailplane to stay in the shade all the while hoping and praying? for rescue that would never come.

There are many lessons here for those of us who want to look for them.

John McKeown

Intro to John

My name is John McKeown and I have recently been elected as one of three Board Members for South Queensland for RA-Aus. This blog is an attempt to keep members a little better informed of relevant Recreational Aviation matters.

My Contact details are -

Email - johnmck(at)gil(dot)com(dot)au
Mobile - 0438 728311
Ph - 07 38161996 (home)