Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2021 i Australian Flying

BRM Aero representative Edge Aerospace accused the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) in November of inequity in their handling of two separate overweight issues. CASA issued a Show Cause notice to a specific BRM Bristell owner in November 2019 after three aircraft were found to be over their maximum basic empty weights, but no such notices were sent to owners of FlySynthesis Texan aircraft, several of which have been found to be up to 114 kg over their stated empty weights. Instead CASA sent Texan owners a letter endorsing a Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) recommendation that the aircraft be re-weighed to determine the actual empty weight. The particular Bristell aircraft on which the show cause has been issued was 4.1 kg overweight, which was rectified by replacing a battery and…

CASA suspended their 2020 customer satisfaction survey in November after AOPA Australia posted a direct link to the survey company online CASA sent a one-time link to 6600 participants only, but AOPA Australia provided the aviation industry with a direct link to survey company Faster Horses that would allow anyone in the industry to provide input. According to CASA CEO and Director of Aviation Safety Shane Carmody, AOPA’s action compromised the survey by allowing more than the selected 6600 to participate. “One aviation association has been promoting a manipulated link to the online survey effectively destroying the sampling methodology behind the research,” he said. “Reluctantly we have been forced to put the survey on hold because we can no longer be confident the survey will accurately and fairly represent the…

Video bloggers (vloggers) are making filming flying popular and motivating a whole new wave of pilots to record their own enjoyable adventures, and fly well. Vloggers include Niko’s Wings, Baron Pilot, Stevo1kinevo, 310 Pilot, The Ren Baron, Premier Driver, In the Left Seat, Missionary Bush Pilot, Citation Max, Skyline Baron Pilot, and Australia’s Stefan Drury. Many of the vloggers know each other, fly together, and compare notes. The professionals make it look easy, but there are traps and tricks for newbies. Vloggers with large followings tend to have sponsorship, that helps offset the cost of the flying. The better and more attractive the videos, the more subscribers they have, and the more sponsorship they attract. Vloggers have to be good though, really good, as aviation suppliers are inundated with people…

As we leave 2020 behind and reflect on COVID-19 induced challenges, with the majority of business aviation aircraft being effectively grounded, the ABAA and many other business aviation associations around the world are confident that recovery will be attainable in 2021. Global Business Aviation Outlook Also, on the bright side, Honeywell has forecast 7300 new business jet deliveries, valued at US$235 billion during the next decade. Short-term reductions in both deliveries and expenditures due to the pandemic are not expected to have a lasting impact on the business jet industry. Also, Honeywell forecasts that business jet usage will recover to 2019 levels by the second half of 2021, and five-year purchase plans for new business jets are largely unchanged from late 2019. Even though Honeywell's October 2020 Global Business Aviation…

Babcock Australasia has had its rotary wing contract with the Government of South Australia has been extended until October 2022. The company currently delivers Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Search and Rescue (SAR) and airborne law enforcement services for the South Australian State Helicopter Rescue Service (SRHS). The contract extension includes an additional Bell 412 helicopter which will be based at Adelaide Airport, which will replace an EC130, and will be operating alongside two existing Bell 412s. The Minister for Police and Emergency Services, the Honourable Vincent Tarzia MP, recently visited Babcock Australasia’s hangar at Adelaide Airport where he was given a tour of the facility and met with pilots and aircrew from Babcock’s Aviation and Critical Services team. Babcock Australasia’s Managing Director – Aviation and Critical Services, Darren Moncrieff, said…

Got something to get off your chest? Australian Flying welcomes your input. Send your AirMail, with your name and contacts (which can be withheld from publishing upon request) to: stevehitchen@yaffa.com.au or write to: Australian Flying, GPO Box 606 Sydney NSW 2001. Dear Editor I read with interest the article on the Airtruk. I have a couple of points that might have been over looked or not considered of interest. The very first Airtruk design occurred in New Zealand in September of 1959 and known as the PL-11, designed by Luigi Pellarini. In August of 1960, the PL-11 (ZK-BPV) had its first test flight. Because of financial help coming forward, a more lucrative investor meant the design came to Australia, as written-up in the November-December 2020 issue of Australian Flying. Some…

In a big week for Recreational Aviation Australia in November, experienced aviation administrator Matt Boutell was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer and CASA granted the organisation their CASR Part 149 operator’s certificate. Both events mean a new path forward for RAAus. “With Matt coming on board to guide our team we will be well positioned to lead RAAus into some great new opportunities,” RAAus chairman Michael Monck said. “We’ve tackled a great deal of challenges in years gone by and with Matt bringing in a wealth of experience across the business, flying and maintenance aspects of our sector we couldn’t be handing over the reins to a better qualified person.” Boutell has extensive aviation experience, having held positions with Airservices Australia, CASA and Qantas. His career so far…

Should you loiter around a cockpit, aero club or hangar long enough, the issue of automation in modern aircraft is bound to surface. Like Holden vs Ford and taildragger vs tricycle, passion and beliefs will fall upon both sides of the fence. And like those opinions, the debate surrounding automation and technology in modern cockpits has more than a single answer. In the beginning In an overgrown paddock in Harden NSW, not far from the public school, cattle graze about a forgotten concrete circle embedded in the grass. It is a silent reminder of Australia’s first airmail flight in 2014, when Maurice Guillaux navigated his frail Bleriot monoplane from Melbourne to Sydney. To aid the French aviator in his task, the circular device was a navigation aid to confirm that…

Home computers have been running flight simulators almost since the beginning of home computers themselves. It those early days, the graphics delivered up by programs stretched the definitions of both “flight” and “simulator” to new extremes. Who remembers “flying” building-block styled aeroplanes around a Commodore 64? It was fun and it filled in time, but it bore little resemblance to flight itself. The march of technology dragged the development of home flight simulators along with it, and in the mid 1990s, programs like Microsoft Flight Simulator, X-Plane and ProPilot advanced the art until it began to actually perform and look something like real life. The daddy of them all was Microsoft Flight Simulator. It began in 1979 in rudimentary style like all the others, with updates coming with metronome regularity…

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Understanding and following key safety regulations relevant to all pilots will be a lot easier. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is releasing a plain English guide to the general operating and flight rules. These are the "foundation" safety rules for all manned aviation in Australia – covering everything from the carriage of documents to when an aircraft can be flown with inoperative instruments. The general operating and flight rules are contained in Part 91 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations and the associated manual of standards. Part 91 is one element of a new suite of flying operations regulations which come into effect in December 2021. The suite also includes new regulations covering large and small air transport, aerial work, sport and recreation and manned balloons. Part 91 will replace…

The public hearing on Friday 20 November was the first for the Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (RRAT) inquiry into the state of the GA industry, with particular focus on the operation and effectiveness of CASA. Over the five hours, the inquiry–which included also senators Rex Patrick and Glenn Sterle–heard evidence from nine groups including operators, associations, private individuals and CASA itself. Overall the picture painted was one of an industry struggling under the weight of regulation and a regulator pleading innocence. From calls to adopt the Federal Aviation Administration system of regulation to accusations of misfeasance and a negative impact on aviation safety, CASA and its system of regulation endured a litany of slings and arrows, with only the Regional Aviation Association, Recreational Aviation…

Several aviation companies including Tecnam and Rolls-Royce have joined forces to develop an all-electric short-haul aircraft. Announced in October, the P-VOLT project will also involve several other companies including North American and European Airlines. The nine-seat aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce electric motors and is targeted at passenger, cargo, medevac and special mission operations. Tecnam CEO Paolo Pascale Langer said the P-VOLT would help take aviation away from a reliance on carbon-based fuels. “We all need to commit our efforts towards systems that contribute to decarbonisation,” Langer said. “By combining efficiency and renewable energy into the futuristic propulsion system, we will not only reduce costs, but also grant a greener future to our passion for flying.” Tecnam and Rolls-Royce are already collaborating on the H3PS, a hybrid-electric version of…

Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) is not a generic description, it is a thing that conforms to one of a few ASTM standards. Fixed-wing aircraft generally conform to ASTM 2245 for design, performance and operation. Those standards define all LSAs by a series of characteristics, mainly: no more than two seats an MTOW not exceeding 600 kg (650 kg for amphibians) fixed gear (relocateable for amphibians) single engine maximum stall speed in landing configuration of 45 knots There are several others, but these ones are enough to describe the basic concept. The other condition is that the manufacturer takes responsibility for the continuing airworthiness, not CASA, the FAA or other authorities. That's an important point: just because an aircraft meets the LSA standard, it's not an LSA unless the manufacturer so…

Competing interests for a scarce resource can on one hand can produce cooperation, innovation, and opportunities; and on the other, rumours, secrecy, policy headaches, and competing interests. The question of whether helicopters and unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs or “drones”) can co-exist is a complex one, with the answer depending upon the where the observer is standing and the lens through which the questions are asked. It involves goodwill, imagination, and scepticism. Industry experts and the authorities are saying “Don’t worry, it will be OK.” But will it be a re-run of when governments auctioned off radio spectrum for mobile phone networks? The rise of UAVs NOTAMs for major airports now include notices of UAVs together with the operator’s telephone number, area and height of operation. Operators monitoring the tower frequency.…

With the new year almost entirely ahead of us, another summer almost entirely behind us and a 2020 that most people would rather forget, it is a good time to reflect and then look forward to figure out what lies ahead. The year gone by has seen significant changes in many organisations that define how aviation in Australia looks and feels. We’ve had a change at the head of CASA with a new CEO/DAS coming in. The Regional Aviation Association of Australia has also seen change at the top and of course, here at RAAus, we have a new CEO figuring out the lay of the land. The 2020 year (indeed, the end of the year prior) began by showing our country how important aviation was. With some of the…

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is of fundamental importance to the safe and efficient operation of Australia’s aviation industry. Professionals Australia, the union representing CASA staff, felt it was important to lodge a submission to the Senate’s inquiry into the current state of Australia’s general aviation industry, outlining the serious workplace problems driven by a dysfunctional and difficult leadership at the air safety body. General aviation presents a greater regulatory challenge for CASA than commercial. General aviation operators lack the scale to resources robust internal safety systems, and often utilise much older aircraft than their commercial counterparts. With a larger operational footprint in regional areas compared with commercial aviation, general aviation also requires a broader dispersal of skilled CASA staff. The safe, effective regulation of the general aviation sector…