Australian SportPilot Magazine - Edition #99 - April 2021 by Recreational Aviation Australia

Official Publication of Recreational Aviation Australia Ltd.

RRP $9.95 inc GST / ISSUE 99

RAAF 100 YEARS

TOP

UNCONVENTIONAL AIRCRAFT All aboard the crazy plane

DOSE OF VITAMIN SEA Touring King Island, Tasmania

772652

679002

DESTINATION FLYING 100 YEARS OF RAAF WACKY WINGS NEWS & EVENTS

CONTENTS

FEATURES

ISSUE 99

22 HISTORY OF RAAF

Page 22

HEROES, ZEROES AND LIGHTNING A short history of the RAAF

Page 34

KIWI FLYING Experiencing the aviation wonders of New Zealand

Page 44

FLYING AB INITIO Experiencing light aircraft for the first time

Page 58

A DOSE OF VITAMIN SEA Touring King Island, Tasmania

Page 66

TOPAZ: A HIDDEN GEM Is this the ultimate luxury tourer?

Page 72

ALL ABOARD THE CRAZY PLANE 8 of the most unusual aircraft you could fly with an RPC

Page 84

PARA-WHAT?

REGULARS

Powered Parachutes & Paragliders – What’s for you?

40 PILOT TALK

51 ANGLE OF ATTACK

72 WACKY WINGS! COVER: 1910 Deperdussin Monoplane. In 1913, The Australian Flying Corps – later to become the RAAF – commenced with the purchase of two Deperdussin single seat monoplanes. See the full story on the RAAF 100 year anniversary inside.

Page 4

WELCOME

Page 6

LETTERS

Page 8

FROM THE CHAIR

Page 10

FROM THE CEO

Page 12

NEWS

Page 16

EVENTS

Page 18

THIS EDITION IN PICTURES

Page 21

RAAUS BECOMES APPROVED ASAO

Page Page Page Page

PILOT TALK Training Development Innovation and Improvement Airworthiness and Maintenance Flight Operations

30 32 40 41

Page 51 Page 55

ANGLE OF ATTACK Getting red carded The physics of a good landing

Page 76 Page 80

PILOT PROFILES Get better, not bitter Flying to the beat of a (very) different drummer

Page 90

IN THE HANGAR What’s the frequency, Kenneth?

Page 95

WHAT’S HOT

Page 99

COCKPIT Beating the heat

Page 102

AVIATION MARKETPLACE

Page 105

CLUB DIRECTORY

Page 106

FINAL APPROACH

EDITOR’S WELCOME NICHOLAS HEATH

It’s funny looking back on it now, but I recall it so clearly. As the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up last year, I along with many others, thought to myself ‘this will be over by Christmas’. Famous last words.

Nicholas Heath Editor editor@sportpilot.net.au

Fast forward to today, we are well in to 2021 and the damn thing is still making life difficult. Of course, in comparison to those overseas we have got off lightly. Compared to those who have actually suffered the disease or a loss, I have only had to cope with the inconvenience and impact that COVID-19 has had on what I do. During the course of a normal year, I would fly many times, whether it was in my own light aircraft, other aircraft or a commercial airline. Looking back at 2019, I made two international trips, half a dozen interstate trips and a bunch of local flights. Just another year. But little did we know then, it wasn’t. It was the last normal year. This year, even with the vaccine, I can’t see international travel returning to anything like normal levels. Domestic flights will start to ramp up again, but it will be a slow clawback to where we were just 18 months ago. However, when it does come back, and it will, there will be terrific demand for pilots. And they won’t be there. The pilot training funnel for the major airlines is almost empty. Even if there were places, many budding pilots have had to re-think their career in light of the pandemic. Many pilots have accepted early retirement or gone to seek other employment. Unlike previous interruptions to the supply of trained pilots, like the pilot’s dispute of the

1980s and the Ansett collapse a decade later, this is an international event. Right now in Australia, it goes without saying that we are better placed than almost every other country when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we can’t get too self-congratulatory on that, being an island certainly helps. What it does mean is that we are rapidly returning to a point where we can undertake ‘normal’ training. Australia is blessed with a lot of wide-open spaces and sunny weather, the perfect cradle for flight schools. RAAus has become the starting point for many aviation careers. The relatively low cost of taking an ab-initio student from zero hours to pilot makes it an obvious choice. As such, RAAus will be the starting point for pilots not only in Australia but also the rest of the world in the years to come. Australia has an opportunity here. Australian pilots and Australian-trained pilots have always been well-regarded in international markets. We were already a favoured training location for many airlines. As we emerge from COVID-19, Australia can cement itself as a leading provider of aviation training and pilots to the rest of the world. As pilots, we need to be supportive of the training schools and airports that host them. You need to be understanding and charitable to those young pilots making bad circuits and poor radio calls. Remember that we in Australia are showing them how to be a pilot and, that one day, you might reap the benefit. I bumped into a twin jet pilot in the terminal at Mildura who had very politely allowed us to land before him. He said “Nice Tecnam. I trained on them”. Pilots are pilots. It’s up to us to pass that on.

EDITORIAL (03) 5273 4777 editor@sportpilot.net.au EDITOR

Nicholas Heath DEPUTY EDITOR

Sophia Blakebrough STORY CO-ORDINATOR

Tom Lyons CONTRIBUTORS

Mick Sowry

ADVERTISING (03) 5273 4777 advertising@sportpilot.net.au ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Ed Jones

RECREATIONAL AVIATION AUSTRALIA HEAD OFFICE PO Box 1265 Fyshwick, ACT, 2609 Unit 3, 1 Pirie Street Fyshwick, ACT, 2609 International: +61 (2) 6280 4700 National: (02) 6280 4700 Email: members@raaus.com.au www.raaus.com.au ACN: 070 931 645 CEO

Matt Bouttell ceo@raaus.com.au CORPORATE SERVICES EXECUTIVE

Maxine Milera admin@raaus.com.au INNOVATION AND IMPROVEMENT EXECUTIVE

ADVERTISING CO-ORDINATORS

Cody Calder

Georgia Skene Elli Sharples

cody.calder@raaus.com.au

FINANCE

Christine Heath Emily Beaumont

HEAD OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS

Jill Bailey jill.bailey@raaus.com.au ASSISTANT HEAD OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS

Jordan Portlock

PRODUCTION SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER

jordan.portlock@raaus.com.au HEAD OF AIRWORTHINESS AND MAINTENANCE

Jared Smith

Scott Pigdon

jared.smith@raaus.com.au

SENIOR DESIGNER

ASSISTANT HEAD OF AIRWORTHINESS & MAINTENANCE

Rory Douglas DESIGNERS

James Conte Teddy Illingworth PROOFING

Kerry Mentha A & I Gibbon Chris Sager DIGITAL

Nick Jones Budda Pile Riz Oliveros Matt Dwyer

Darren Barnfield darren.barnfield@raaus.com.au GENERAL ENQUIRERS admin@raaus.com.au PILOT AND MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES members@raaus.com.au AIRCRAFT AND MAINTENANCE ENQUIRIES tech@raaus.com.au SAFETY ENQUIRIES safety@raaus.com.au

DIRECTORS Michael Monck (Chairman)

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION SportPilot Magazine is an official publication of Recreational Aviation Australia and is published three times a year by Pace Marketing Pty Ltd. ABN 33 052 999 925. 6 Brougham Street Geelong Vic 3220. As part of their RAAus financial membership, all members, flight training schools and clubs will receive each issue of SportPilot free of charge. Alternatively, readers are welcome to undertake an Affiliate Membership with RAAus with an annual charge of $39* To subscribe visit raaus.com.au

0419 244 794 michael.monck@raaus.com.au

Barry Windle barry.windle@raaus.com.au

Trevor Bange trevor.bange@raaus.com.au

Eugene Reid eugene.reid@raaus.com.au

Rod Birrell rod.birrell@raaus.com.au

Luke Bayly luke.bayly@raaus.com.au

Paul Tyrrell paul.tyrrell@raaus.com.au

Andrew Scheiffers andrew.scheiffers@raaus.com.au

TERMS AND CONDITIONS All content published within this magazine is the property of Pace Marketing Pty Ltd. ABN 33 052 999 925. It is protected by Australian and International Copyright and Intellectual Property legislation. You are unable to interfere or breach any of the legislation or intellectual property rights that protect this publication. All rights not expressly granted under these terms of use are reserved by Pace Marketing Pty Ltd. Unless stated otherwise, you are forbidden to copy or republish any content or property within this magazine without the copyright or trademark owners’ permission. The magazine title, as well as the associated logo of Recreational Aviation Australia Ltd, are the property of Recreational Aviation Australia. Pace Marketing Pty Ltd reserve the right to be acknowledged as the magazine’s designers. While every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of content within this magazine, no warrant is given or implied. Content within this magazine is available to you on the condition that you undertake full responsibility for assessing the accuracy of the content and rely on it at your own risk. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the individuals named or referenced within this magazine. Recreational Aviation Australia Ltd in conjunction with Pace Marketing Pty Ltd reserve the right to decline any article, letter or comment deemed unacceptable for any given reason. No endorsement or responsibility is implied or accepted for any product advertised within this magazine. Advertisers and buyers within this magazine are responsible for ensuring that all products advertised and/or purchased via this magazine meet all appropriate Australian Certification and Registration requirements, particularly those pertaining to Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and Recreational Aviation Australia. Please note that all aircraft featured within this publication are registered and legally permitted to fly. Please be advised that photographs of aircraft within this publication may be altered without notice for editorial purposes.

LETTERS

WRITE IN: We love to hear from you! Get in touch with us now editor@sportpilot.net.au or Facebook @sportpilotmagazine

PRINT IS STILL IMPORTANT?

GETTING BACK IN THE AIR

Dear Editor, Congratulations on the last edition of SportPilot. There is no doubt that RAAus is becoming more responsible in the Australian Aviation scene. Unfortunately, even AOPA have dropped their printed magazine. I can relate to the costs of production, having published several books, but having over 7,500 hours of private flying, owned many aircraft and having been a member of many aviation organisations over 50 years, I feel this was a big mistake. AOPA are still doing a great job in this crazy world where CASA seem to be doing everything to get rid of GA, and I still consider a paper magazine important. A magazine is always about, articles that can be read and re-read, and it can be passed on to interested parties, which may induce them to become flyers. The net may be read once – but is then gone and too much trouble to pull up again – so the content is ‘lost’. Now, back to water flying. One of our aircraft was a Lake Amphibian. The Lake is a true flying boat. It was underpowered, it leaked, it was fairly slow, but it was a barrel of fun. I did over 100 hours in it. Eventually, my own enthusiasm was my undoing. I exceeded my own and the aeroplane performance and came to grief in a too small, too high, highland lake. Flying off the water is very different, but magic and thoroughly recommended. Keep up the good work. Stan

Dear Editor, Recently there was an interesting discussion on an unofficial RAAus Facebook page with someone innocently asking what needed to be done as he/ she hadn’t flown for 18 months due to a variety of factors. Out of the woodwork came many people who also had to cease flying, mostly thanks in part to life circumstances and also that pesky virus. Personally, I last flew in August after my ultra premmie twins were born and subsequently spent the next four months in and around a neonatal intensive care ward several hundred kilometres from home. Time and money for flying could be back on the horizon for me shortly and I know that a call to my instructor could probably sort out some of my questions. But I’m betting that for quite a few people, life throws them a curve ball and they simply walk away from the great pastime assuming that it’s too hard or the ship has sailed, and they can no longer fly without starting again. Could you do an article or something about this situation? What I need to know? How long do I have before my license/ certificate is invalid etc? I get (as do most) that if you have been away for a while it’s always good to have a dust off with an instructor before you pull your socks up and go out on your own again – but what’s the law say about all of this? How long after you miss a BFR do you have to get it done again? I suspect 2020 put a lot more people than usual into this boat – and some might be a little too shy to ask or simply assume that they will never fly again. Andrew

Editor: Thanks for the feedback. It’s great to know people appreciate the magazine.

Editor: Great idea. Have a look at Licence to Learn from 2020 and the ‘Safety Month’ content on the RAAus website where they talk about this. It’s also useful to talk to your local RAAus flight school.

WINGS ANYONE? Dear Editor, I am in need for a set of wings for my Jabiru 160. Same wings as J170. I have a plane with a good engine, but the wings are damaged by the use of Mogas containing Ethanol. It has caused tank leakage and delamination of wing skin, and probable damage to spar. It is deemed not repairable. Kjell

ISSUE 99

Editor: If anyone has got some wings contact Kjell at kjellwes@hotmail.com. Good luck, we hope to see you back in the air soon.

UNFAIR TREATMENT Hi. I would like to ask for your attention to the fact that RAAus actively promotes discrimination/ unfair treatment When it doe not allow access to sponsorships to people that are not Australian citizens/ permanent residents BUT charges the same annual membership fee as to everyone else. I’m happy with the rule, as rules are rules. What I am not happy with is the fact that I have to pay the same fee for less membership rights and that is discrimination. So I would like to ask for a refund of part of the annual fee that I already paid and a reduction of the subsequent fees due to the fact that I don’t have access to all of the membership rights but, curiously, I have all the obligations. Nuno Editor: We will let the CEO respond Dear Nuno Thank you for sending in your concerns regarding the Scholarship applicability criteria. Having reviewed your concerns I can advise you that the intent of the question on the application form (question 8), regarding the need to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, was to alleviate the many illegitimate applications we were receiving from overseas applicants that had no intention or ability to complete their training with an RAAus training school, in Australia, within the allotted time frame. An unintended consequence of this question to mitigate

these circumstances was that those people such as yourself, were inadvertently not able to apply. I apologise sincerely for this oversight and assure you that RAAus prides itself on being an inclusive, modern and accepting organisation. Given this is the case, I would certainly welcome your application for a GYFTS scholarship. I have also taken action to update the form to amend the wording to be more aligned to the intent, such as ‘do you reside in Australia and are therefore able to undertake this training with an RAAus training facility within the allotted time frame?’ Given the above, I’d welcome a response with advice on how you wish to proceed with your membership and I thank you for bringing this oversight to my attention. Many thanks. Matt Bouttell Chief Executive Officer

RE: POST VIRAL Dear Editor, I am writing to you to enquire about the article published in Edition 98 (December 2020) on page 38 and 39 entitled, “Post-Viral” Aviation Hazards’. I note that it appears to be a product of CASA. If this is so, would you be able to advise me where I can locate it? Alternatively, can you authorise me to copy it for publication in The Cessna 182 Association of Australia newsletter? I am sure it will be of interest to our members also. Lesley Editor: That’s correct - Drop CASA a line and I’m sure they will be able to help.

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FROM THE CHAIR MICHAEL MONCK I was invited to review a course the other day that talked about high consequence decision making and the things that may influence the choices humans make. The course centred on a scenario in the middle east where two F-15 pilots Engaged and took down two friendly Blackhawk helicopters with all on board being killed in the process.

In this scenario, the F-15 crews took off with a certain set of information and a particular mindset that they would encounter hostile aircraft. When presented with data that could confirm their beliefs, their expectations were realised - or in their minds they were at least. They took the pieces of information that confirmed their existing beliefs and used it to make a decision, while at the same time mentally discarding those parts that conflicted with their expectations.

During the course, the lead up to the flight was discussed with the intelligence briefing content being outlined, the roles that each aircraft would play, the mission objective itself and a range of other pieces of information along the way.

In addition to this they broke some protocols, treated constraints relating to rules of engagement as a procedural requirement that they had to meet, and performed activities they were not trained for. There are a lot of moving parts to this story here and even more when you dive a little deeper.

We often talk about the Swiss cheese model and how accidents and incidents occur when the holes line up. Generally speaking, it is not one single factor that leads to such an occurrence but a series of contributing factors. In addition to this there is, generally speaking again, a root cause

Despite all these factors adding up to a bad decision being made, none of them was the single most important point of failure. That came down to culture and the competitive tension between F-15 crews and their F-16 counterparts.

They took the pieces of information that confirmed their existing beliefs and used it to make a decision, while at the same time mentally discarding those parts that conflicted with their expectations. of the accident that, if avoided, may have prevented the entire event from happening at all. The interesting thing about this course and its content was that even in the high-powered world of fast jet flying in combat scenarios, the theory still holds. There was not one particular point of failure but a series of them that ultimately led to the demise of the Blackhawk crews.

It turns out that F-15 aircraft were used for air superiority roles which meant they operated at high altitude to defend larger aircraft from airborne threats. F-16 aircraft, on the other hand, could be tasked with low level operations to investigate low and slow threats. The Blackhawks appeared to be such a potential threat and ordinarily, F-16 jets would be dispatched to identify whether it is indeed a threat or friendly

Michael is the Chair of the Board for RAAus and has held this position for 7 years. He holds flying qualifications from RAAus and CASA and advocates for the broader industry in a number of different forums. Michael is an active pilot and owns a CTLS aircraft which he regularly flies throughout Australia. michael.monck@raaus.com.au

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forces. Moreover, they had access to intelligence on movements in this airspace that the F-15 crews did not have because it was deemed they didn’t need it due to them operating at higher altitudes.

role in the decisions we make, I would argue our culture around safety is one that is equally if not more important. Every day we get up and make a decision to fly. What we do when that flight takes place is driven by our culture and attitude towards safety. Do we do a beat up and try to go a little lower than our mate who

Whilst things like confirmation bias play a pivotal role in the decisions we make, I would argue our culture around safety is one that is equally if not more important. In short, the competitive tensions between the operating crews of each aircraft type led to the F-15 crews on this particular day departing from the procedural requirements of their orders to perform a task ordinarily done by the F-16 teams. Their lack of training, low familiarisation with the manoeuvres being performed, limited information, etc. all resulted in them attacking friendly forces and it all stemmed from the cultural issues present between the crew of the different aircraft types. Had this cultural issue not been there it is likely the actions taken would be very different with the F-16 crews being called in and the ultimate outcome much more positive. For our types of operations it is easy to argue that the stakes are very different and the lessons here do not apply, but this could not be further from the truth. Whilst things like confirmation bias play a pivotal

went first? Do we push ourselves a little harder to get into that tight little bush strip even though our mate who had a more suitable aircraft was already close to his limits? Or do we not let our egos get in the way of making a good decision and allow ourselves to go home at night to our loved ones, who would miss us dearly if that were not to happen? While the flying operations we engage in may not be as high paced as the ones described above and our aircraft may not be high performing like those in the example presented here, our decisions are still high consequence. We may not be presented with a situation where we are deciding whether to fire on a Blackhawk helicopter but we are faced with decisions relating to our own wellbeing and lives. That seems to me to be a pretty high consequence decision.

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SPORTPILOT / FROM THE CEO

FROM THE CEO MATT BOUTTELL

It is a tremendous privilege that I find myself writing this article to the more than 10,000 members of RAAus and the many non-members that are keen aviators. For many years I’ve read SportPilot magazine (and its predecessors) and enjoyed the wonderful stories that makes aviation so interesting. SportPilot is an important product that we provide members, and it allows us to engage, share knowledge, inspire and be transparent. I trust this issue will carry on this tradition and that you enjoy it. Stepping into a new role is always interesting, exciting, stressful – and many other adjectives – particularly when you’re now the one ‘steering the ship’. Although this is the case, I would like to make a

In keeping with our existing direction, my immediate focus is to transition RAAus into the new regulatory regime under CASR Part 149, whilst also working towards expanding our privileges for the longdiscussed and awaited weight increase and access to controlled airspace. Of course, these are strategically important to us, but as an aviator for more than 30 years, I have an unwavering commitment to safety and operational improvement, therefore I will also be very focused on more tactical initiatives. I aim to reinvigorate and expand upon our already successful PDP programs to ensure we’re helping the membership where it’s needed most and ensure we’re visible and accessible for those who seek assistance.

As a 30 year industry veteran, Matt joined RAAus as CEO in January 2021. He is a passionate advocate of RAAus and for keeping aviation accessible for Australians. ceo@raaus.com.au

Engagement with other industry associations and bodies, as well as Government and its agencies, is a highly valuable activity I intend on advancing. Advocacy is a role that RAAus takes

Engagement with other industry associations and bodies, as well as Government and its agencies, is a highly valuable activity I intend on advancing. Advocacy is a role that RAAus takes seriously and we’ve done it well in the past. special call out to our team at RAAus, who have been very welcoming, open to change and extremely professional. I’ve been nothing short of impressed by the small team that exists to ensure our members get value for their membership dollar, whilst working to advance and/or protect our privileges. It’s a credit to all the team, the former CEO Michael Linke, and of course the Chair, Michael Monck, and Board of Directors.

seriously and we’ve done it well in the past, but I also see an opportunity to ensure we communicate effectively with our membership, wave our flag a bit more prominently and be clear on our policy positions by having a specific presence on our website so anyone can see what our stance is on a particular matter and, should they feel strongly enough, enable those with alternate views to make contact and challenge us. The current Class E

ISSUE 99

airspace changes that Airservices Australia (Airservices) have proposed are a clear indicator that they don’t understand us, so let’s help them and others do this by clearly communicating who it is we are and what we do. Some of you may have read our ‘e-news’ newsletter sent in early January where I shared some insight to the operational issues that have taken place at Ballina in Northern NSW, over recent times. Little did I know that the day after publishing the e-news that Airservices, our air navigation service provider (ANSP), would release a proposal that, if implemented, would see more than 70% of RAAus aircraft – and many other non-RAAus aircraft – be limited to operating at or below 1500 feet AGL unless significant investment was made to equip aircraft with a transponder and two VHF radios by December this year! Of course, there are too many issues to write about here, but I want to assure you that we are making a comprehensive submission to the consultation and will share it with members via our website. At time of writing this article the consultation has not yet closed and we really do not know what

direction this will take, but I will say that RAAus are advocating strongly for our members’ privileges and I’ve been very encouraged by the support shown by members in providing their own views to help ‘steer’ the direction of our submission, so thank you to all that have written in. As I write this in mid-February, Australia is seemingly progressing well towards living in a post-COVID environment. This presents us with the opportunity to get out of the office, to cross borders and to engage with members right across the country. Be it to talk maintenance, to conduct audits, to help flight training schools develop their systems and processes, or to attend events, the team here is itching to be out and about. Like everyone, we’ll need to remain agile in planning, but this will not stop us from planning in the first place and therefore if we can be out and about, we will be. With that in mind, I’ll leave you to enjoy this edition of SportPilot and I hope to see you out there ‘committing aviation’ very soon.

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SPORTPILOT / NEWS

NEWS

STAY UP TO DATE WITH WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE WORLD OF RECREATIONAL AVIATION

RAAUS SCHOLARSHIPS RAAus is committed to creating aviation opportunities for everyone. That’s why the RAAus Scholarship program supports the dreams of young aviators, maintainers, instructors, and financially and geographically disadvantaged Australians looking to start a career in aviation. This is a fantastic opportunity for young people embarking on their aviation journey or experienced pilots wanting to train others by becoming an instructor. The scholarship is also suited for the mechanically-minded who want to train as an engineer or people exploring aviation as a change of career. No matter what your aviation dream is, an RAAus scholarship can help you kick-start your journey. Scholarships are awarded in four categories: Under 25, Over 25, Instructors, and Maintainers. Applications for the 2021 Scholarship round will open on 1st April and close on 30th April. You can download the application form at raaus.com.au. Thank you to our scholarship partners Airservices Australia and OzRunways for their ongoing support.

CASA AERO CLUB OF THE YEAR The Clare Valley Flying Group Incorporated has been awarded the Aero Club of the Year for 2020. Just a bare paddock back in 2009, the Club has transformed into an all-weather 24-hour runway 1250m long, grass cross strip 600m long and a terminal building with grid independent solar battery system with generator backup. The all-weather runway and lighting upgrade took 12 months to complete, with the grand opening of the runway scheduled in conjunction with the Wings Award presentation at the Aerodrome on 10th April 2021. The Clare Valley Flying Club are very proud to receive this award in recognition of what has been achieved, not just in the past 12 months, but in the last 11 years.

ISSUE 99

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ISSUE 100 IS ON THE HORIZON! This August, SportPilot Magazine will reach an important milestone; our 100th issue! To celebrate, we’ll be releasing a bumper edition, featuring a retrospective on our history and the changes in recreational aviation since the first issue rolled off the press in June 2011. What’s been your favourite part of SportPilot’s first 100 issues? Let us know what you’d like to see, or send through your own stories to editor@sportpilot.net.au

SPOT THE ENGINE Last month’s grainy engine picture seems like it stumped everyone. It was in fact a Franklin 4AC-150 from the 1938 which could be found in a variety of aircraft including the Piper J-3 Cub, Taylorcraft BF-65 and L-2. Franklin 4AC-150 This time it’s something a little modern and not your typical aircraft engine (Hint - Ed!). Think you know? Drop us a line at editor@sportpilot.net.au. The first correct entry wins the glory of having their name in edition 100.

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SPORTPILOT / NEWS

OUTBACK AIR RACE 21 WHERE’S CAGIT? The 11th iteration of the triannual Outback Air Race is back in 2021! More than 40 aircraft will compete, travelling 3900km to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Beginning 30th August, participants will race in time trial format from Darwin to Coffs Harbour, with stops in Cooinda, Adels Grove, Karumba, Undara, Shute Harbour, Gladstone and Roma. Each leg of the race is individually contested and, in typical outback larrikinism, the winner of each leg receives a mannequin leg trophy, to fill with donations as they race.

CAGIT, the RAAus “Come & Get It Trophy” has been with Grant Davis in the NT for some time. The continuing COVID-19 travel restrictions haven’t helped get the trophy moving, but restrictions have begun to ease sufficiently for someone to make the trip to Emkaytee or Grant’s nearby private strip to give CAGIT a new home. Anyone wishing to do so should contact Grant to discuss pickup. Ph: 0419 844 435. A 30th Anniversary celebration of CAGIT will be held at Albany WA on 24th April 2021, (deferred from 2020 due to COVID-19). Past holders of the trophy and others are invited to attend and those interested should follow details appearing on CAGIT Hunters Facebook Page @CagitHunters. PLEASE NOTE: CAGIT collection will be suspended until 31st May, due to CAGITs movements for anniversary celebrations.

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SPORTPILOT / EVENTS

EVENTS

CHECK OUT THE FLY-INS, AIRSHOWS & MORE HAPPENING AROUND THE COUNTRY

Around the nation, events are starting to pop up on our calendars again! From small fly-ins to large scale airshows, check out what’s coming up over the next few months. Events may be subject to COVID-safe restrictions, please check prior to attending. If you or your club has an event you would like to advertise, please send the relevant information to editor@sportpilot.net.au

COFFS HARBOUR OPEN DAY October 2020, the Coffs Harbour & District Aero Club held their annual Open Day, which was attended by over 400 people on the day. There were lots of great machine displays including some warbirds, hot rods, fire trucks and much more. The club also had both their aircraft available for introductory flights with the club’s instructors.

WYNARD CHRISTMAS BBQ

Bacchus Marsh Wings Wheels and Coffee. Justin Hoffman

BACCHUS MARSH WINGS AND WHEELS Held at the Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome on February 7, the Bacchus Marsh Wings and Wheels provided a unique experience for cars to mix with aircraft, both new and old. Run by the Bacchus Marsh and District Holden Car Club, the event was very well attended under grey skies, with a diverse selection of over 1,000 cars and 14 planes (fly-ins were limited due to the weather). With over 2,800 attendees, the event raised $15,000 for the Bacchus Marsh Hospital.

HASTINGS FLY & SPY Fly & Spy is an aerial observation trial conducted annually by the Hastings District Flying Club (HDFC). Following a COVID-postponement, the event finally took off late 2020, and what a joy it was to be back in the air indulging in our passion! Flying around Port Macquarie and the Camden Haven is always scenic but this mission involved closer observation in order to answer the 50 multiple choice questions. Congratulations to all teams, with a special thanks to the winners Team Bonny & Clyde, who generously donated their prize money to benefit young HDFC flyers.

Aviator Program Operational and Airworthiness Training Courses

Pilot Maintenance Course (CASA Schedule 8) 15th -16th of May UPRT Course Limited spots available 22nd - 23rd of May 12th - 13th of June Aircraft Ownership 101 Half day course 29th of May 24th of July

The Wynard Aero Club holds a BBQ on the third Saturday of each month from 6pm with everyone welcome. Their December event had 27 attendees drop in, and the club looks forward to welcoming visitors to future BBQs.

FLY-IN BREAKFASTS The Burnett Flyers October 2020 fly-in breakfast was well attended with close to 60 planes and over 100 breakfasts served, but the December 2020 event was a washout. The club’s COVID-safe Fly-in Breakfasts will continue for 2021, so drop in if you’re near the Murgon Airfield (YMRG) in Queensland.

*RAAus Level 1 - Owner Assisted Maintenance Training 31st of May - 5th of June 21st - 26th of June *RAAus Level 2 Maintenance Training Course June 5th - 16th of July For more information and to book, visit:

*Refer RAAus Technical Manual for L1 and L2 authorisation requirements. Completion of an advertised course will not automatically result in the issue of a maintenance authority.

.com.au

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AVALON AIRSHOW 2021 23rd - 28th November 2021 The Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defence Exposition is one of Asia-Pacific's most prestigious events and the most comprehensive aviation, aerospace and defence exposition in the southern hemisphere. Avalon hosts multiple concurrent conferences and expo streams across the spectrum of Defence, Airlines, Business and General Aviation, Sport and Recreational Aviation, Airports, MRO, Space, Unmanned Systems, Air Safety and Ground Equipment. As a cornerstone of the Royal Australian Air Force’s Centenary Year celebrations, Avalon 2021 is expected to surpass previous attendance records.

airshow.com.au 11th April 2021 Burnett Flyers Breakfast Fly-in

22nd – 25th April 2021 SPAA Whitsunday Fly In & Dinner

Fly in for a hearty breakfast with plenty of freshly brewed coffee or tea.

Join the SPAA “Splashdown 2021” and be part of the Whitsunday Airport (Shute Harbour) runway celebrations.

burnettflyers.org

seaplanes.org.au 17th April 2021 Temora April Showcase The Temora Aviation Museum’s April Aircraft Showcase event will feature all serviceable aircraft from the Temora RAAF Heritage collection. aviationmuseum.com.au

30th April 2021 Top End Flying Club Everyone is welcome to the Top End Flying Club’s regular social fly-in BBQ, held on the last Sunday of the month.

3rd – 4th July 2021 Brisbane Airshow 2021 Dedicated to the men and women who have served in our armed forces. The show includes Airforce, Warbirds, World War II Fighters, Jets, Helicopters, Aerobatics, Skydiving, Military Vehicles, Hot Rods, Classic Cars, Aviation Expo, Somerset Business Expo, Live Music, Gourmet Food, Amusement Park and lots more.

brisbaneairshow.com.au

tefcnt.weebly.com 30th April – 2nd May 2021 Oz-STOL 2021 Oz-STOL is on at Luskintyre Airfield with arrivals on the Friday along with the usual fun. Competition day is on the Saturday followed by a bon fire and live band. Departures are on Sunday. Food and coffee vans all weekend. Camping under your wing with toilets and showers available. Visit Facebook for more.

17th April 2021 Warrumbungle Wings & Things Join Matt Hall, 2019 Red Bull Air Race World Champion at the Coonabarabran Aerodrome for aerial displays, joy flights, kids entertainment and plane and car displays. Tickets at 123tix.com.au

18th April 2021 Wings Wheels & Wine, Mudgee Airport The 2021 Wings, Wheels & Wine event will be jam-packed to include an airshow, a stack of tyre shredding vehicles, and possibly the odd bike doing a backflip over a Wolf Pitts Pro (a high-performance aerobatic bi-plane). And of course, enjoy some of Mudgee’s premier wineries showcasing their produce.

wingswheelsandwine.com.au

View the different club aircraft on display. Talk with owners the people who actually built them. Enjoy a trial introductory flight, BBQ and espresso coffee. Be quick – there are limited show bag giveaways and prizes to be won. hdfc.com.auTumut Aero Club Join the Tumut Aero Club for their BBQ Breakfast/Brunch, with Hangar Toolbox talk.

tumutaeroclub.org.au

The Outback Air Race is an aviation time trial through the Australian outback. The Outback Air Race has raised funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia since 1996. Competitors and spectators have raised over $3.1 million, with funds going towards outfitting RFDS aircraft.

outbackairrace.com.au

2nd May 2021 Wagga City Aero Club

18th September 2021 2021 Tocumwal Airshow

The Wagga City Aero Club runs a Sunday BBQ on the first Sunday of every month, commencing at midday. Enjoy a delicious luncheon for $15. The club also has 10 flyaways planned this year to places all over Australia. waggacityaeroclub.com

The Tocumwal Airshow returns on the 18th of September, showcasing the aviation history and heritage of Tocumwal and celebrating the Centenary of the Air Force.

15th & 16th May 2021 Barossa Birdman Flying Club Fly-in Come and enjoy the camaraderie and hospitality of the Barossa Birdmen at Truro Air Park with a Morning Tea or lunch for only $5. Pilots please be aware of restrictions regarding overflying neighbouring properties and hazards. For more information email

denmart@dodo.com.au 18th April 2021 Hasting District Flying Club Open Day

30th August – 12th September 2021 Outback Air Race

28th May 2021 Top End Flying Club Everyone is welcome to the club’s regular social fly-in BBQ, held on the last Friday of the month. tefcnt.weebly.com

13th June 2021 Burnett Flyers Breakfast Fly-in Fly in for a hearty breakfast with plenty of freshly brewed coffee or tea.

tocumwalairshow.com.au 9th – 11th September 2021 AusFly Fly-In AusFly is a relaxed, traditional Aussie fly-in event where aircraft owners, pilots, builders, industry supporters and enthusiasts come along and soak up the true spirit of Australian general aviation. At Narromine Airport, New South Wales, AusFly will feature static and flying aircraft displays as well as food and entertainment for the whole family. A gold coin donation upon entry. ausfly.com.au

13th - 14th November 2021 Wings Over Illawarra Australia’s largest annual airshow held in the Illawarra on the NSW south coast just over an hour south of Sydney. The event is expanding to include the NSW Drone Expo, the Oz Flight Sim Expo and a General Aviation Precinct - something for everyone!

wingsoverillawarra.com.au

burnettflyers.org

SPORTPILOT / IN PICTURES

The glorious Tiger Moth. Photograph: Bill Struthers

THIS EDITION IN PICTURES

A Foxbat above Wyndyard Photograph: Greta Kingston

Take a look at some of the amazing images captured by the RAAus community! Some shared with us in the past few months, others dug up from the archives. Submit your photos to editor@sportpilot.net.au.

Adelaide Soaring Club Photograph: Adelaide Soaring Club

ISSUE 99

Images 1 – 4 Temora Airforce Centenary Showcase 6th – 7th March 2021 Photograph: John Kerr

4 Hastings from the air. Photograph: Rod Davison

Flying with friends at the Wynard Aero Club. Photograph: Gretta Kingston

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RAAUS BECOMES APPROVED ASAO organisation. It also further legitimises the framework under which we operate as an organisation.

RAAUS OPERATIONS MANUAL AND TECHNICAL MANUAL

Former RAAus CEO Michael Linke, with former CASA CEO and Director of Aviation Safety, Shane Carmody.

On the 27th of November 2020, Recreational Aviation Australia was the second Approved SelfAdministering Aviation Organisation (ASAO) to be issued with a CASR Part 149 certificate with an effective date of 31st March 2021. Part 149 simplifies the regulatory arrangements that have existed for many decades with sport and recreational aviation organisations through conditional exemptions from the standard aviation rules. CASR Part 149 brings more transparency, flexibility and certainty for the sector. RAAus has dedicated a large amount of time and resource over the past 3 years to prepare for the application and implementation of Part 149. Much of this work included the overhaul of many internal and external documents and policies to align with 149 requirements, and also standardising and consolidating RAAus’ processes and procedures.

WHAT DOES PART 149 MEAN FOR MEMBERS? RAAus has worked with CASA to ensure that Part 149 results in no material change or financial impost for members. This means that most members will be able to continue to operate with no change to their daily operations. Part 149 provides assurance to members that RAAus’ processes and procedures are standardised and consistent providing protection for both members and the

As of 31st March 2021, updated versions of both the RAAus Flight Operations Manual and Technical Manual came into effect and members are encouraged to familiarise themselves with these documents. Changes to these manuals create alignment with 149 requirements and in many cases offer increased visibility to members of RAAus’ processes and procedures. Importantly, most of the updates relate to clarity of language and internal procedural changes however there are some changes which ensure consistency of decision making.

RAAUS PART 149 EXPOSITION One new addition to the RAAus documentation suite is the CASR Part 149 Exposition document. This document provides a head of power for RAAus and describes the systems RAAus has in place to satisfy the requirements of CASR Part 149 and also sets out who it is that we are and what our function is. RAAus’ 149 Exposition is available from the RAAus website.

WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION? RAAus has created a listing of changes to RAAus’ manuals, based on authorisation type, available from the RAAus website. We recommend all members familiarise themselves with these changes, particularly higher authorisation holders including L1 & L2 maintainers and instructors. Our website includes a list of the functions RAAus is approved to perform under CASR Part 149.

INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS Recreational Aviation Australia is pleased to invite members to nominate for election to the board. With almost ten thousand members, we are the fastest growing group of aviators in Australia, and the role of our Board is to supervise overall business and compliance performance. There are two director positions available and nominations are called for from the membership to fill these vacancies. Directors required to stand down are eligible to renominate. All candidates must ensure they are available to attend the 2021 RAAus Annual General Meeting in Canberra due to be held in November. Nominations open: 3rd May 2021 Nominations close: 31st May 2021, 5:00pm AEST. Members can download the 2021 Nomination Pack by logging into the member portal. For more information please email Maarit.Maher@raaus.com.au

For more information go to: raaus.com.au/149

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

HEROES, ZEROES AND LIGHTNING A SHORT HISTORY OF THE RAAF Words Mick Sowry

ISSUE 99

It’s impossible to squeeze over a hundred years of Australian military aviation into a couple of pages. If you take some license and include the First World War it encompasses the entire 20th century and into the 21st, includes: the only two world wars in history, the evolution of the merest of hops in attempted manned flight to the militarization of the skies, and the beginning of our exploration of space. It’s easy to forget the profound social change, too. Women have gone from not even being able to vote, to a presence in the modern armed forces sharing command, combat support and air combat roles, and have risen high in the ranks of all services. The following cannot do the beginnings and history of the RAAF justice. But it does give some signposts for your own deep dive into a story that is, of course, still being written and is compelling reading.

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

ISSUE 99

The history of Australian military aviation begins at the 1911 Imperial Conference in London, where it was decided there should be aviation divisions within the armed forces of the British Empire. Australia was the first dominion to do so, with the Australian Aviation Corps, as a branch of the Australian Army, being formed later that year. By the outbreak of the First World War, in 1914, it had become the Australian Flying Corps (AFC). It was not a large force through the War, consisting of just 880 officers and 2,840 other ranks with only 420 serving as pilots and a further 153 as observers. Casualties of flight crew, mostly on the Western Front, were listed at 44 percent, just slightly lower than the approximate 50 percent front line ground troops suffered. This is attributed in a large part to the policy of not issuing parachutes, which were seen as detrimental to the performance of the aircraft due to

battle, but with a considered awareness of the absolute peril you are flying into, gives a grand magnification to the gallantry. At the end of World War 1 most AFC personnel returned to civilian life, but those that remained were part of the establishment, on March 31st 1921, of the Australian Air Force. Soon after it became, by Royal Decree from King George V, the Royal Australian Air Force, or RAAF. Much of the credit for this can be handed to Sir Richard Williams, widely regarded as the ‘father’ of the RAAF, who became the first Chief of Air Staff. The years between then and the beginning of the Second World War featured the formation of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, which filled both a repair role, parts supply and later the development of Australian designed and built aircraft. With the advent of World War 2, the RAAF served

“Flying was a mix of instinct and learning on the job, with some acquiring enough of what it takes to see them survive the war.” weight and bulk, as the cockpits were not designed to accommodate them. It was also an official British Air Board view that the use of a parachute would “impair the fighting spirit of pilots and cause them to abandon machines which might otherwise be capable of returning to base for repair”. The horrifying reality was the prospect of burning to death prompted some pilots to keep a hand gun at hand in the cockpit for a less painful end. In combat, two main types of aircraft formed the core of AFC air power. Two seat recon aircraft, armed with machine guns and crewed by a pilot and observer, and the fighters, the fastest aircraft in the sky, fighting dogfights with enemy aces high above the trenches. The reality of these duels was actually a free-for-all at high speed in an environment of learn quickly or die. The flying was a mix of instinct and growing skills as they certainly learnt on the job, with some acquiring these skills in enough abundance to see them survive the war. The AFC had just one Victoria Cross recipient, Flight Lieutenant Frank McNamara won his in a daring rescue, while severely wounded, of a downed airman behind Turkish lines near Gaza in March 1917. The idea of the VC for a rescue, not in the instinctive heat of

in Europe and the Mediterranean which included the North African theatre with the Desert Air Force. Australia’s Department of Aircraft Production, or DAP, was formed around this time to supplement the British supply chain which was under increasing pressure from the Luftwaffe. As the RAAF was part of the Allied war effort and under an overarching Allied Command, the RAAF’s most notable of many contributions to the European war effort was as part of Bomber Command. Though only 2% of enlisted personnel served there, the 3,486 men who died accounted for 20% of those killed in action in the entire RAAF. 460 Squadron had an aircrew contingent of 200, but suffered 1,018 deaths, effectively being wiped out five times over in the course of the war. In the Pacific, at first underprepared and underequipped, the RAAF rallied as squadrons were transferred from Europe following the Darwin bombings and the emergence of a clear Japanese threat to the Australian mainland. RAAF 75 and 76 Squadrons also took part in the battle of Milne Bay, which was the first major battle of the war where allied troops, largely Australian, defeated Japanese forces on the land. Throughout the Pacific War the inventory of aircraft

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

RAAF TIMELINE

1939-45

1912 Australian Flying Corps established

1921 1914 Central Flying School set up at Point Cook, Victoria

The Air Force is separated from the Army and the RAAF established following the approval by King George V to use the “Royal” prefix.

World War 2 From just 3,500 staff and 12 squadrons in 1939, the RAAF grows to be the fourth largest air force in the world with 6,200 aircraft and 219,000 personnel having served. Almost 10,000 RAAF personnel are killed during the war and many more are injured. The RAAF serves in the Defence of Australia and New Guinea, the war throughout the Pacific and the war in Europe and North Africa.

1935

1914-18 World War 1 (The Great War) The Australian Eighth Flying Corps joins the Australian Imperial Force. Australia is the only Dominion of the British Empire to form an Air Corps during WW1. Eighth Air Corps operate in New Guinea, Palestine, Egypt and the Western front with four squadrons of aircraft on active service.

CAC Established Led by former Squadron Leader Lawrence Wackett, Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation would build key aircraft for Australia’s defence in WW2, including the Wirraway trainer, the emergency Boomerang fighter and later the Mustang under licence. In the postwar period, CAC would go on to build the Sabre jet.

1946 Jets Arrive The arrival of the first DeHavilland Vampire Jet Fighter marks the arrival of the jet age in Australia.

ISSUE 99

1962-73

1950-58 Malaya The RAAF supports the Malayan Emergency with 80 Squadron Lincoln Bombers, leading to the establishment of Butterworth airbase in Penang for the next 20 years.

The Vietnam War RAAF forces operating in Vietnam include helicopters, transport aircraft and Canberra bombers. At its peak, over 750 RAAF personnel were stationed in Vietnam with additional forces in Thailand on peacekeeping duties.

2003 Iraq The RAAF provides F/A-18 Hornet fighters, which fly over 350 combat missions over Iraq. Hercules aircraft provide airlift capability and P-3 Orions assist with maritime patrolling.

2021

1950-53 The Korean War The RAAF 77 Fighter squadrons P-51 Mustangs are the first UN Air unit to see action, quickly followed by support squadrons. 77 Squadron upgrades to Meteor jet aircraft and provides ground support throughout the conflict.

Peacekeeping The RAAF provides aircraft and personnel to support peacekeeping activities in Bougainville, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Somalia and the Sudan.

The New Generation On the 100th anniversary of the RAAF, the force is undergoing a transition to new aircraft and capabilities with the F-35 fighter arrival and the imminent arrival of remotely piloted and autonomous air vehicles.

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

A CAC Boomerang Photograph Argus – State Library Victoria

naturally evolved to combat the effectiveness of the deadly Japanese Zeros. Fighters, and fighter bombers like the Brewster Buffalo and Lockheed Hudson made room for the Curtis P-40 Kitty Hawk, the superb North American P-51 Mustang, and the Australian-developed CAC Boomerang, which proved to be an effective ground attack and support aircraft but was not fast enough to be a dedicated fighter. A variant showed Spitfire-level capabilities, but this was too late in the war and was not developed further. At the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, Bristol Beaufighters, with their speed and effectiveness as ground attack and maritime strike fighter bombers, were able to operate despite the presence of Japanese fighters, which they were able to outrun. As the war advanced, the urgency of the conflict saw the main arm of the RAAF in the Pacific, the First Tactical Attack Force, grow to 21,000 personnel, with planning looking forward to an invasion of the Japanese mainland. This did not happen as the war ended with the devastating nuclear attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. By war’s end the RAAF had grown to become the fourth largest air force in the world, only behind the US, the USSR, and the UK, with 182,000 personnel and 6,200 aircraft in over 61 squadrons. A staggering growth given the size of Australia’s population at the time. Postwar, the first major RAAF operation was the

Berlin Airlift, an ultimately successful effort to break the Russian blockade of West Berlin. This averted a potential humanitarian disaster, secured Berlin as an allied stronghold and arguably was the first western advantage in the Cold War, one that led to the fall of the Soviet Union and the at least partial democratisation of Russia and many of its satellite states. Actions since then have been in conflicts including the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, the Vietnam War, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as countless humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. Throughout these years the RAAF has evolved, keeping pace with the exponential growth of technologies and systems over the 75 years since the end of World War 2, from the introduction of jet fighters in the 50’s, through to the Joint Strike Fighter of today, and beyond. It can’t be understated the role the RAAF now has in non-combat roles in times of natural or humanitarian disaster, and the affect this has on our international relations. Its service emphasis is on the South Pacific and SE Asia, but ranges as far away as Northern Iraq. Rescue efforts like the RAAF’s early response during the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 in Sumatra deploying aircraft supplying relief in the form of food, medical supplies, maritime search and rescue and more did and does a great deal to bring nations together despite, at times, differing ideologies. Looking to the future, the RAAF is developing fifth and

ISSUE 99

sixth generation combat capabilities - initially with the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35 A Lightning - commonly identified by stealth technologies, internal weapons bays, and vastly improved situational awareness through network-centric environments, while planning to adapt itself across its entire structure to become aligned with this level of strategic competency. Through the Boeing Loyal Wingman project, Australia is also developing its first combat aircraft in over half a century, an autonomous drone designed to accompany a combat aircraft, accomplishing tasks including scouting, the absorption of enemy fire if attacked, and attack, all under the control of the parent aircraft. It will

also have advanced AI capabilities. Now at the forefront of Air Forces globally, the RAAF possesses all the skills and support systems expected from an organisation where lives are at stake every day. It’s quite a history, to look back on in this, its Centenary Year. One hundred years of development from a rag tag post-colonial air corps, just the second to form in the world, and its place - now - as the Royal Australian Air Force, the advanced air arm of the Australian Armed Forces, and arguably the best small air force in the world.

“It can’t be understated the role the RAAF now has in non-combat roles in times of natural or humanitarian disaster, and the affect this has on our international relations.”

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SPORTPILOT / PILOT TALK

PILOT TALK

REGULATORY UPDATES AND SAFETY DISCUSSIONS FROM THE TEAM AT RAAUS

NEIL SCHAEFER TRAINING DEVELOPMENT

BUILDING BLOCKS OF AVIATION LEARNING TOGETHER The aviation landscape has gone through unprecedented change in the last 20 years from top to bottom with opportunities and threats around every turn and every level. We often reflect on our place in the industry in this constantly changing environment. This constant state of change has been highlighted in the COVID-19 era with collaboration, innovation and flexibility key attributes for flight training schools to continue to prosper. With training being such an important platform to start your aviation journey, let’s take a closer look at how RAAus is growing and changing in this dynamic environment.

FLIGHT OPTIONS The pathways available to become a pilot today are vastly different to those available to our grandparents. These pathways are also more diverse for those who wish to fulfil their dream of flight. Recreational flying, initially a pursuit for the adventurous and an inexpensive alternative, gradually became part of the professional aviation world with increasing costs and complexity which appear to be the domain of the rich and fortunate. Even formal flight training was selective with a major focus on career progression from military or commercial backgrounds with the lucky few who could work their way through the hoops to get a commercial licence and that elusive airline job. “Hour building” was predominately the domain of the “GA” sector, with charter

and specialist operations serving the vast needs of Australia’s geographically diverse transport network. But quietly in the background, behind the hills of the busy metro airports, the maturity of sport flying was becoming evident. Early aircraft designs were giving way to innovative and sleek ultralight designs. While at the same time, an emerging manufacturing industry in Australia saw Jabirus, Lightwings and Drifters amongst others filling the skies on weekends, training an ever-growing nest of fledgling pilots who had almost abandoned their dreams due to costs, complexity and regulations. Fast forward 20 years and general aviation is now embracing the modern 2-seat ultralight and Light Sport Aircraft with a plethora of aircraft options which sit side by side on the flight line with Piper and Cessna aircraft at many established training facilities. Learning to fly in recreational aircraft has created a rebirth in fundamental flying skills with light low-inertia aircraft rewarding pilots who learn good stick and rudder skills and the fine touch required in take-off and landings. Once banished to the back blocks and paddocks, recreational flight schools now operate at the majority of busy metropolitan secondary aerodromes, within controlled airspace and easy accessibility to the greater urban population.

Neil Schaefer has been involved in General and Sport Aviation for over 45 years. A qualified instructor, examiner, accident investigator, auditor and SAFA Senior Safety Officer, Neil has had a vast range of experience in the aviation world. Currently serving as the Head of Training Development, Neil previously spent 4 years running an RAAus flight school and worked 7 years as Assistant Operations Manager at RAAus. neil.schaefer@raaus.com.au

ISSUE 99

Caption: Recreation training integration growth White Star Aviation - Ballina

As RAAus continues to mature and occupy an increasing part of the flight training landscape, the industry is recognising our place in supporting sustainability, growth and accessibility. Adding to this success, secondary and tertiary education facilities have also embraced the academic options available in aviation. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs are now blended into an array of education and vocation options that are provided to students with practical pathways into aviation careers. Finally, many new recreational aircraft are equipped with modern fuel-efficient engines, avionics and technologies that are at the forefront of design with performance. The operating costs also provide an affordable option for sustained lower cost training. These aircraft are now capable of matching their bigger and more sophisticated cousins, giving advancing pilots an insight into more complex single engine operations involving retractable undercarriage, autopilots, EFIS and EMS avionics and variable pitch propeller systems.

The convergence and collaboration of traditional training options with RAAus flight training is the shot in the arm that a waning General Aviation sector has needed. As RAAus continues to mature and occupy an increasing part of the flight training landscape, the industry is recognising our place in supporting sustainability, growth and accessibility. With the support of the regulator in accepting aeronautical experience and theory competencies for transition to a recognised licence, the future for this new multi-layer training platform looks promising. RAAus has formed part of this growth, expanding and maturing our training, documents, standardisation and more, as the aircraft improved in performance. But despite this quiet achievement which has grown over 40 years in Australia, one thing has never changed. Recreational aviation is always about the fun – now, that’s seriously worth considering no matter where your flying journey takes you.

SPORTPILOT / PILOT TALK

CODY CALDER INNOVATION AND IMPROVEMENT

THE ULTIMATE BALANCING ACT BALANCING SAFETY & INFORMED PARTICIPATION Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) was founded on the principle of informed participation; a culture of enabling a set of privileges for our members that could not be afforded within the risk appetite of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). But what does this really mean for our members, and how do we balance the safety of our members whilst protecting the freedoms they have come to enjoy?

Safety is core at RAAus with a commitment to our membership that we will embed a safety culture that is just and fair, yet accountable. Safety is core at RAAus with a commitment to our membership that we will embed a safety culture that is just and fair, yet accountable. We set out to minimise the risks associated with our aircraft operations to a point that is low as reasonably practical. However, the qualifications to maintain and operate an aircraft are seen

as lower than that required within the CASA regulatory regime. So how can this be? After all, aren’t we operating the same aircraft in the same sky as our CASA counterparts? One primary difference is that RAAus operates on the basis of informed participation. As you climb into any RAAus aircraft, you will be greeted with a warning placard on the firewall: “This aircraft is not required to comply with the safety regulations for standard aircraft. Persons fly this aircraft at their own risk”. The pilot may have a self-declared driver’s licence medical and may also conduct their own maintenance. Whilst RAAus has demonstrated a history of safe operations with these simplified requirements, the warning placard acts as a reminder. It is there to remind a pilot or passenger of the aircraft that you are not confirmed the same level of assurance as the equivalent aircraft within the CASA system, maintained by a Licenced Aircraft Mechanical Engineer (LAME) with a pilot who has likely undergone a more rigorous medical examination. As a pilot

F O R T H E J O Y O F F LY I N G

Cody has been with RAAus for 2 ½ years as Innovation and Improvement Executive. He holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Transport Safety Investigation, Diploma in Aviation, Diploma in Business, Commercial Pilot Licence and a Multi-engine instrument rating. Cody is passionate about all aspects of aviation, with experience in skydiving and charter operations (Fiji/NZ), gliding, aerobatics and warbirds. cody.calder@raaus.com.au

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or passenger of an RAAus aircraft, you are informed of these differences and therefore may assess the level of risk you are willing to accept. You also have the ability to adjust your risk tolerance which may include operating a factory-built aircraft compared to an amateurbuilt machine, or electing to have your maintenance conducted by a level 2 maintainer. As an RAAus member operating within the model of informed participation, it is important that this does not affect the safety of other airspace users. Imagine that when operating within the informed participation model there is a bubble which encompasses the aircraft. Within that bubble the occupants may have accepted a higher level of operational risk, however informed participation must be limited to the confines of this bubble. Everywhere that aircraft travels must comply with the appropriate ruleset to ensure the safety of other airspace users is maintained.

SO, IF THE RISK APPETITE OF RAAUS IS HIGHER THAN THAT WITHIN CASA, HOW DO WE MANAGE THE ONGOING SAFETY OF OUR MEMBERS? Safety is intertwined in everything we do at RAAus, yet we must balance this with our founding principles of maintaining access to a simplified system of lowcost aviation and protecting the privileges of our membership. An example of this is based around the proposal by Airservices Australia to lower class E airspace to 1,500ft AGL on the East Coast of Australia. Whilst this decision would undoubtedly increase safety for operators within the proposed class E airspace, it imposes a high level of cost for the fitment of transponders and radios which remains out of reach for many RAAus aircraft owners. Of course, there are two sides to this safety case. With only 30% of RAAus aircraft equipped with a transponder, this proposal will undoubtedly push many of our members into operating below 1,500ft AGL, minimising options for the safe transit and operation of aircraft, resulting in a significant reduction in safety for our membership base. What we must accept is the organisation must grow with the times. Gone are the days of operating only below 300ft and not over roads. Much of our membership base now operate highly advanced aircraft within high density areas of airspace. With airlines increasingly operating Regular Public Transport (RPT) flights into regional

airports, it is important that our members ensure they complete appropriate procedures and communications when operating around these aerodromes. It is highly possible that increased requirements such as transponder use around these high-density areas may be mandated at some stage in the future and that some members may need to upgrade their systems to maintain the privilege of operating in this space. However, RAAus will not support a blanket rule change that takes away the privileges of a large portion of our membership or increases the cost of participation unless there is a reasonable need for this. We must work collaboratively with industry to find a solution that benefits all airspace users whilst keeping safety front-of-mind. Every year RAAus reviews hundreds of reports submitted through our Occurrence and Complaint Management System (OCMS). These reports result in a number of safety actions, many of which take place beyond the visibility of our everyday membership. We work with manufacturers to implement important service bulletins, we review and educate members to improve the safety of all airspace users, and we may need to suspend or remove the privileges of some members where there is a clear disregard for the rules. We work to prepare safety publications and update members with safety information. We contact aircraft owners where an immediate safety threat is identified. It is through the dedication of our membership in improving this safety culture that we have seen a large reduction in fatal accidents over the past 10 years. So where does this leave us with the balance of safety versus informed participation? RAAus does accept a higher level of risk compared to that of the regulator. In some cases, we operate identical aircraft to our CASA counterparts, yet we are not the same. As RAAus pilots, we accept that our level of risk may be higher than those operating an aircraft with VH- markings on the side and our organisation places increased trust in members to operate safely. As a result, our operations are limited to day VFR flight with only one passenger. However, if we continue to take ownership for our own actions, increase awareness of our accountabilities as pilots and maintainers and improve the safety of our operations, then we will continue to demonstrate to industry that we are much more than amateur aviators. We are a cohort of pilots and maintainers passionate and competent in taking ownership of the privileges we have been afforded with RAAus.

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

KIWI F LY I N G EXPERIENCING THE AVIATION WONDERS OF NEW ZEALAND Words Tom Lyons

The Maori name for New Zealand – Aotearoa – translates to “The Land of the Long White Cloud”. Not exactly an enticing name for pilots, we know. Nevertheless, New Zealand remains a bucket list item for many of us. Rolling green hills, spectacular bays, islands and beaches, pristine fjords and snow-capped mountains entice Aussie pilots looking to experience a different type of aviation – one that can’t be found within our borders.

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SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

Flying in New Zealand. Chances are the thought has crossed your mind at least once. There’s just something about the pure, unspoiled and exceptional nature of the New Zealand landscape that is appealing, and seeing the country from above is an experience like no other. However, there’s much more beyond the scenery that makes New Zealand unique. For pilots, there’s a whole range of new experiences to discover.

Of course, the main difference – and the major drawcard for many Aussie pilots – is mountain flying. It’s a requirement of the PPL syllabus in NZ, but something us Aussies never really get exposed to when flying. “You need to be more aware of the differences in terrain,” said Cody. “Operating in valleys, conducting saddle crossings, you need to be so much more aware of updrafts and downdrafts”.

Cody Calder, Innovation and Improvement Executive at RAAus (and resident Kiwi), spoke to us about flying in NZ. Starting out flying Piper Cubs around the North Island, Cody has previously worked towing gliders and dropping skydivers over Lake Taupo and the Bay of Islands. He spoke of just how different New Zealand flying can be, compared to hitting the skies over the vast Australian continent. “In many places you fly in New Zealand, you can see the coast,” he said. “In fact, in many places you can see from the east coast to the west coast”. This makes navigation a whole lot easier, not having to trawl over seemingly endless desert and bushland.

So how can I experience Kiwi flying? Let’s take a look.

Now unfortunately, an Australian RPC is not recognised by New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as valid for flying in New Zealand. This makes arriving in New Zealand and immediately jumping in the cockpit impossible, however your options don’t end there. There are several other ways to sink your teeth into some flying without being the PIC. The most obvious solution is to simply book a charter or scenic flight. Scenic flight operators, like Milford Sound Scenic Flights, are often based in some of NZ’s most spectacular locations, making them the perfect option

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to experience some of the country’s most unique locations from above. Up north, you can hop between white, sandy beaches in the Bay of Islands or peek into the crater of NZ’s largest active volcano, Mt. Ruapehu. Down south, get up close and personal with Mt. Cook and the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers with flights over the Southern Alps, or explore the cascading waterfalls, steep cliffs and serene, blue waters of Milford Sound. From a pilot’s perspective though, this might not be enough to satisfy that itch.

“Many clubs dotted around the South Island are more than happy to accommodate Aussie pilots chasing a taste of mountain flying, with instructors willing to take you up and show you the ropes.” Just like in Australia, there is a strong community throughout New Zealand surrounding recreational flying. Aero clubs can be found right across the country and are always welcoming to any potential visitors from across the ditch.

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

“Down on the South Island where things aren’t as highly populated, there’s plenty of aero clubs that will welcome you in, make you a coffee and talk about aeroplanes,” said Cody. He recommends getting in touch with some of these local clubs and finding out what they can offer. Many clubs dotted around the South Island are more than happy to accommodate Aussie pilots chasing a taste of mountain flying, with instructors willing to take you up and show you the ropes. Some clubs, like Otago Aero Club in Dunedin, actively encourage overseas pilots to come and fly with them. A statement on their website reads, “The Otago Aero club encourages foreign pilots to come flying with us, no matter how short your stay is. Under the guidance of one of our experienced flight instructors you are able to fly yourself around some of the most stunning scenery in the world. You will also have the opportunity to learn some of the basics of flying in this unique environment.” Aside from actually flying yourself, New Zealand has a strong aviation scene with events and museums to check out across the country. The Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in Blenheim and

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the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Christchurch both offer stunning collections of aircraft and stories of New Zealand’s rich aviation history spanning over a century. Collections include WWI & WWII aircraft as well as modern exhibitions, showcasing the country’s aviation journey. Additionally, New Zealand is renowned for its world-class warbird restoration services and is home to a large collection of flying WWI and WWII aircraft. This includes the only original two-seat Spitfire available for joy-flights outside of the UK. Many of these aircraft are sure to be found at the iconic Warbirds over Wanaka, the largest warbird airshow in the Southern Hemisphere, set to run again in 2022. Simply put, flying in New Zealand offers opportunities for breathtaking experiences, unbeatable scenery and the ability to learn new techniques. Not only are you guaranteed to fill your camera with dozens of images worthy of any computer desktop wallpaper, New Zealand flying allows you to grow as a pilot, gaining a better understanding of wind and weather conditions in a way that just isn’t possible in our own backyard. With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing, New Zealand seems like the only viable option for international travel for the foreseeable future. It might just be the perfect time to experience it for yourself.

SPORTPILOT / PILOT TALK

PILOT TALK

REGULATORY UPDATES AND SAFETY DISCUSSIONS FROM THE TEAM AT RAAUS

JARED SMITH AIRWORTHINESS AND MAINTENANCE

EASY DOES IT THE IMPORTANCE OF RECORDING A HEAVY LANDING The purpose of pneumatic tyres, shock-absorbing landing gear, and other devices is to cushion the impact and to increase the time in which the aircraft vertical descent is stopped. The importance of this cushion may be understood from the computation that a 15cm free fall on landing is roughly equal to a 340fpm descent. Within a fraction of a second, the aircraft must be slowed from this rate of vertical descent to zero without damage.

can be caused by poor decision making during the approach phase, aircraft being overweight, mechanical issues or the prevailing weather conditions. Heavy landings are a reportable occurrence, and most manufacturers have a heavy landing inspection schedule. If no schedule is supplied, there is a schedule in the RAAus Technical Manual at section 12.3.

During this time, the landing gear, together with some aid from the lift of the wings, must supply whatever force is needed to counteract the force of the aircraft's inertia and weight. The lift decreases rapidly as the aircraft forward speed is decreased, and the force on the landing gear increases by the impact of touchdown. When the descent stops, the lift is practically zero, leaving the landing gear alone to carry both the aircraft's weight and inertia force. The load imposed at the instant of touchdown may easily be three or four times the actual weight of the aircraft depending on the severity of contact.

The heavy landing inspection is to be recorded in the aircraft maintenance logbook along with the name, signature, date and RAAus membership number of the person inspecting. You may have got away with a heavy landing on the rare occasion; however, you may not get away with a greaser of a landing during the next 10 to 20 occasions. Look after yourself and your fellow aviators who will operate the aircraft on future flights. Carry out the heavy landing inspection when required and record the inspection. Notification of heavy landings is especially important in the flight school or hire environment where many pilots will use the aircraft. Notify the CFI/ L2 of heavy landings.

There is no exact definition of a heavy landing, however, for most pilots if they have to question whether a landing was 'heavy', it probably was. Heavy landings

Notifying of a hard landing is not something to be embarrassed about. It happens to everyone. Reporting it is called airmanship.

Jared Smith is Head of Airworthiness and Maintenance at RAAus. He holds a Graduate Certificate of Aviation, Bachelor of Technology (Aviation) and Business Management, a CPL, an instructor rating and L2 maintenance authority. Jared has been with RAAus for the past five years, initially working as the Assistant Technical Manager for three years. jared.smith@raaus.com.au

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JILL BAILEY FLIGHT OPERATIONS

SHARING THE AIR WHO ARE YOU SHARING YOUR FLYING WITH? Sharing airspace and equitable access is topical at the moment, thanks to the recent Airservices proposal to lower Class E airspace to 1,500ft AGL across the J curve of the east coast of Australia. By the time this article is published, RAAus expects to have a clearer understanding of this proposal and a way forward. Suffice to say now, RAAus and our sister sport organisations are keenly and thoughtfully interacting and responding to this proposal. A proposal which has the potential to severely limit non-transponder equipped RAAus aircraft by either

cross-country flights in Class G or E, Australia certainly has large variations of possible operation types for recreational pilots. The locations also result in a variety of traffic. A private strip may be used by an occasional homebuilt or ultralight. Or the farm strip may be utilised by the family to conduct inspections of fence lines, water troughs, crop and stock health checks. That same strip may be used seasonally by aerial application aircraft, with the aircraft rarely operating above 300’ AGL. The CTAF airport may have an aviation estate, with all the possible aircraft

Jill Bailey has been Head of Flight Operations for over 10 years. Jill holds a CASA PPL (A), has RAAus Pilot Examiner and Instructor Training Approvals, was a former RAAus CFI and has been an instructor with RAAus for over 15 years. Jill and her husband Norm previously owned a music store for 20 years and built a Jabiru taildragger kit which they flew all over Australia. jill.bailey@raaus.com.au

If pilots give some thought to what the other pilot’s operation and aircraft type may need, more collaborative, professional and safe operations will prevail. requiring conduct of unsafe flights under 1,500ft AGL or imposing a requirement to fit and maintain a transponder, resulting in serious additional costs to access the airspace. The proposed airspace change may lead an attentive pilot to consider the challenges and variations of airspace and flight operations possible in this country and indeed in the world. As pilots, we fly a variety of aircraft, operations, locations and in a variety of airspace. From a private farm strip in G airspace, to non-controlled CTAF airports, controlled airports in Class D or C or

variations from RAAus, CASA, gliding, warbird, flight training and parachute operations. It may be surrounded by farmland with private strips or have been almost engulfed in suburbia with all the inherent neighbourly challenges. Pilots could be flying for fun, conducting charters, flying cargo, conducting aerial surveys, taking photos, the sky is literally the limit. There may be a variety of training organisations with variations in circuit size, school expectations of what radio calls and procedures should be conducted, and solo students or test flights by a manufacturer.

SPORTPILOT / PILOT TALK

The common areas for traffic convergence in the circuit results in a wide variety of standards in calls, procedures and conduct, which also leads pilots to form tribes. It’s a fact of human nature that tribal alliances invariably lead to a lack of empathy for the other person and their airborne needs.

DO YOU CONSIDER WHAT OTHER PILOTS NEED TO SAFELY CONDUCT THEIR OPERATION? As HFO of RAAus, I have seen several situations develop at airports and in airspace that appear to be a direct result of the lack of operational understanding, compliance or empathy for the other pilot’s operation.

VISIBILITY AND MANEUVERABILITY Private pilots and commercial flights have operated in proximity, due to lack of understanding of each other’s operational needs. This includes factors from the private pilot perspective of poor or late radio calls, lacking familiarity of IFR arrival points. For the pilot of the heavy, this includes poor radio calls in relation to VFR references, lack of interaction and expectations that pilots will get out of the way. Large passenger carrying aircraft also operate with limited forward visibility and cannot easily manoeuvre in a circuit, resulting in a preference for straight in approaches where possible. Non-powered aircraft have been reported as thermalling in the circuit area, not broadcasting intentions to other pilots and being cut off by powered aircraft. Powered aircraft have taken off over the top of gliders who have just landed and have not yet been able to clear the runway. Regardless of the circumstances, a key factor for many of the examples is a lack of understanding or compliance along with lack of consideration for the other pilot’s operational needs or safe flight limitations.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS Other factors include pilots not building a clear picture of the traffic in the area, from radio calls and understanding of normal procedures. While VFR pilots are not required to research the IFR waypoints

and arrival procedures at shared airports, some understanding of where an IFR heavy might be tracking to approach a runway would be useful in helping to build the picture. Likewise, an IFR aircraft broadcasting an IFR reference point at a non-controlled airport will not assist a VFR pilot to understand where they are, where they are going and how to get out of the way. References to distance, bearing and height AMSL are AIP recommendations when mixed traffic operations exist.

THE NEED FOR A NATIONAL AIRSPACE STRATEGY The Airservices proposal mentioned earlier may lead the thoughtful pilot (and organisation) to consider why the proposal was put forward. Presumably Airservices (and possibly the airlines) have concerns about safe mixed operations at airports, just as any pilot would hold concerns when mixing it up with the big end of town. RAAus is keen to explore an overarching national strategy for airspace use, particularly when an expected and massive increase in traffic because of drones, VTOL and other unmanned, beyond line-ofsight operations are actually already here and gaining momentum.

SO, WHAT DO OTHER PILOTS EXPECT FROM US AS PILOTS? As RAAus pilots, we are privileged to have members with a huge variety of experience levels, occupations, training and expertise. Just like on the roads, we could be sharing our airspace with smaller, larger, faster or slower aircraft. The pilots of the other aircraft may need specific flight path minimums, larger or smaller circuit sizes, have speed limitations or inertia issues. They may have priority to land due to lack of engines, lack of manoeuvrability, lack of visibility or other criteria. While most RAAus pilots are flying for private purposes with no imperative to land quickly as a result, commercial operators often have time, fuel and landing slot limitations. If pilots give some thought to what the other pilot’s operation and aircraft type may need, more collaborative, professional and safe operations will prevail.

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WHY ARE PILOTS TRIBAL? Over the years of working for RAAus and as a CFI and private pilot, I have noticed a distinct tendency for pilots to form tribes. I am not talking the Ford versus Holden or AFL and NRL tribes, although at an aero club bar on a Saturday night, the tail wheel versus nose wheel tribe is definitely evident. I am talking about the tendency for pilots to assume that pilots who operate aircraft, which are different to their aircraft (be it RAAus, CASA, gliding, warbirds etc.), don’t operate as professionally, or don’t make radio calls as they should, haven’t been trained correctly, or don’t operate in the circuit ‘the right way’, or don’t think ‘the right way’. To make this issue worse, pilot tribes tend to socialise within their own circles, leading to more misunderstanding, more mistrust and greater expectation bias. Pilots, regardless of the aircraft they are in, are human. And humans, as we know, make mistakes. These mistakes can be simple. An oversight, poor training or lack of understanding, resulting from overload, distraction, stupidity (we have all been there!) or poor judgement. However, mistakes in aviation have the potential to be serious or even fatal.

A simple solution could be to have a discussion with other pilots or arrange a shared briefing night where operators explain their operational needs and expectations. This will go a long way towards helping pilots understand each other’s needs and will help make the skies safer and friendlier for all pilots. Likewise, an airport flight operations safety meeting, leaving the tribes at the door, to discuss interactions at the airport – agree on common procedures, discuss incidents, brief each other on operational needs or get together to chat without the tribal influences would remind each other we all generally fly because we enjoy it. We should be able to interact professionally to keep these flights polite, respectful and most importantly, to keep each other safe. The loss of any pilot or aircraft hurts us all. In the end, we all fly because we love it, we should interact in the air with each other and talk to each other on the ground. If we don’t, proposals like the Airservices Australia broad-reaching change to Class E airspace has the potential to force us into airspace we don’t need. This will result in additional equipment which, while it might improve some aspects of visibility for aircraft, may result in pilots watching screens instead of keeping their eyes outside the cockpit and using the radio. It is up to us all to remove the tribal limitations, reach out and talk to each other.

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SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?! FLYING AB INITIO WITH MICK SOWRY As a non-pilot, the idea of writing about a first experience in a light aircraft was impelling. With the flight some weeks out, however, it also gave me a little too much time to think. I did have preconceptions of sensation and the flight process, but come the day the experience was as expected, and in so many ways not. Words Mick Sowry

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We’re all used to flying in an air travel sense. Check in, security, the waiting lounge and boarding. The vague sense of the aircraft outside the windows of the airport but not really taking a lot of notice. A tense routine. I’m ok with air travel, mostly. In the past, other things like family life made the prospect of anything bad happening a recipe for anxiety. Not so much now that the nest is empty, with the ‘what if’ factor falling far into the background. I had been up in a very small helicopter a couple of decades back for an advertising shoot near Alice Springs. I think it was a Bell 47, with the view from the cockpit close to a 360-degree panorama of land and sky. This effect was pivotal to the antics of our pilot, an ex-Vietnam jock with a death wish. He’d taken us up the shallow side of Mt Undoolya at about 2 metres, only to tip the bubble over the northern face, and dive at the rocks 100 metres below. Terror had another name, and its name was Adrian, my boss, sitting next to me and coming as close to soiling himself as any man I’ve seen from that day to now. Sighting the bubble canopy of the Vans RV6A produced a similar tightening in my nether regions as my first thought was, ‘If my pilot attempts to go upside down, it ain’t going to be pretty…’. This time, however, process was the saviour of my misgivings. My pilot was Ed Jones, a young Ad Exec and friend of SportPilot’s editor Nick Heath. In fact, this was Nick’s own plane. The way Ed went about the external check, a check that very clearly showed prior experience of this particular piece of machinery, was reassuring. Every little rivet and hinge was examined, engineer-drilled cracks double checked, new faults or damage looked for - and happily not found. I watched myself questioning whether I would be so diligent – my in-built, default attitude of ‘she’ll be right’ reflected by the number of car engines I’ve murdered in my life when forgetting to top up the oil, and whether I could ever feel safe in an aircraft I was in charge of. My eyes were opened even wider to the need for procedure in safe flying, to check and double check, leaving nothing to chance. This was echoed once in the very tight cockpit, where the cliched array of dials – of course there’s lots of dials, it’s a plane – had me naturally wondering, ‘How

the hell do you read that lot in an emergency?’. Surely there must be a way to have a great big screen with a sign saying, ‘EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT’. Manoeuvring out of the hangar was so easy. Light aircraft are flimsy. I think we are so used to the solidity of land transport, but the comparative frailty of a modern aircraft comes as a shock. Clearly, they are not built to survive collisions, or cushion impacts. All the structural strength is engineered to be where it matters, and to stay as light and efficient everywhere else. It amplifies how important weight and adhering to load capacity is for safe flight. Further checks before taxiing, several attempts to start the engine with choke and fuel mix corrections, not having the starter motor under load for more than 10 seconds, then finally a cough and splutter before it roared to life and we made our way smoothly to the runway. Just prior to take off, Ed signalled his intent on the radio, hit the gas and at an absurdly low take-off speed we were airborne. From there the smooth climb up and off for a short cruise east towards the Mornington Peninsula, before a U-turn to the west as far as Aireys Inlet, then home. Once at cruising altitude, I felt the control stick softly as Ed went though some gentle turns, my feet feeling the pedals as well, and I was stunned by the sensitivity. I’m not sure what I expected but it threw me. The coordination of hands and feet, working in a three-dimensional space while maintaining control and airspeed was one of those moments of

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

Being able to get a completely different perspective on a coastline I’ve explored for my entire life, cliffs and bays, seeing erosion and slumping landscapes, an aerial aspect filling in so many gaps on what you thought you knew like the back of your hand. 46

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SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

complete unfamiliarity, like riding a bike for the first time. Ed demonstrated what happens when you bank to about 60 degrees while turning and diving slightly. I almost instantly felt a marked head rush, nearly lost my coffee, and realized it was because it was so unexpected. When he repeated it, I was ready. It became another experience entirely, something I could happily get used to. Returning my attention to the array of instrumentation in front of me had me reflecting on the evolution of flying - from the first controlled glider flights of the Wright Brothers, through the Wars, including the Cold One, and on to today. All provoked advances in aeronautics, but the modern light aircraft seems to still have an, albeit distilled, element of the early days. You can feel the aircraft in a visceral way, through the seat of your pants if you like, and different flying styles can be accommodated. There will be times when you need the instrumentation, when roll, pitch, yaw and altitude can only be perceived with any accuracy through the dash in front of you. But the joy, I think, must come when you are just in those moments of pure instinct, when it is all feel and experience. A wisdom of the air. Of course, over time taking in the instrumentation would move from a confused scan to a knowing read, an absorption, in a broad sense, of the anomalies, instantly. It must become a seamless experience. You, as sport pilots, would get that. I can only surmise. One control puzzled me, as it was between our seats. Ed reached to adjust the trim occasionally and while I knew what trim meant technically, having some boat and surfing experience, to see it as a separate semilockable control had me intrigued. I had to look it up and realised it, in the simplest terms, made it all a bit easier as you had less to think about once trim was set. Or something like that.

We are so used to local journeys by car, time compressed for sure compared to even motoring speeds, but once in the air, and seeing the horizon receding with altitude, thinking of all the other lives out there, with all their complexity and fragility amplified by scale. We are all bacterially small compared to the immensity we see from up high. It is almost overwhelming. Observing a couple of hundred miles in a quick scan of the horizon provokes some very quiet moments. It would also be easy to grow accustomed to the intimate but otherworldly view of familiar places.

The coordination of hands and feet, working in a threedimensional space while maintaining control and airspeed was one of those moments of complete unfamiliarity, like riding a bike for the first time. Being able to get a completely different perspective on a coastline I’ve explored for my entire life, cliffs and bays, seeing erosion and slumping landscapes, an aerial aspect filling in so many gaps on what you thought you knew like the back of your hand. Heading back for a landing my last great surprise was the secret life of clouds. That pilots, up to a certain level of experience, had to be at pains to avoid even the slightest cotton bud of vapour, because they might, and often do, signify turbulence – well, I didn’t know that. I came to understand that avoiding clouds is good thing. My daydream of flying between canyons of clouds found fertile soil in this realisation. I’d instinctively been drawn towards the right thing to do. As for our landing approach, a couple of long loops of the field to line it

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all up and then we were in for a butter-soft touchdown and roll to our hangar. Landing was far easier than I thought, not that I did it. Perhaps it was just that Ed was great, but there was an inevitability to it. Like planes were designed to do it. Which, on reflection, they are. Before I knew it, I was back in the car and on the road, perhaps 10 minutes from flying at 1,000 ft to driving in light traffic and wondering when I might get the next chance to shift into another dimension. I nearly have the bug, but me, a pilot? A bit like me and my only motorbike, which I cartwheeled on my first day. I’d have to be very, very…careful.

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SO YOU’VE HAD A CLOSE CALL? Often the experience is something you’ll never forget and you have learned from it. Why not share your story so that others can learn from it too? If we publish it, we’ll give you $500. Email fsa@casa.gov.au Articles should be between 450 and 1000 words. If we publish your story, we will not include your name if you ask us not to. If you have video footage, feel free to submit this with your close call.

Please do not submit articles regarding events that are the subject of a current ofﬁcial investigation. Submissions may be edited for clarity, length and reader focus.

ISSUE 99

ANGLE OF ATTACK

GETTING RED CARDED Words Ed Jones

GET THE ALL-CLEAR BEFORE ACCESSING A SECURITY CONTROLLED AERODROME Want to access a secure airport and look like a real pilot while doing it? Then you need a ‘red card’ to complete your outfit. Ed Jones provides a bit of background about the process and what it all means. That red card is called an ASIC, or Aviation Security Identification Card, and it’s necessary if you want to go into security-controlled areas of particular aerodromes. The system came in fairly suddenly after 9/11 and a worldwide attempt to tighten security around airports. The ERSA tells you if an airport is security controlled. Take a look at YBHI (Broken Hill, NSW) for example, or YMIA (Mildura, VIC), or any towered aerodromes and you’ll see something like this: “This AD is a Security Controlled Airport”. It’s usually under the aerodrome ‘Remarks’. What you might not know is that airport security isn’t only a CASA conversation – it’s overseen and audited by the transport security area of the Federal Department of Home Affairs, and they’re cracking down on their airport checks as you read this. This means airport managers have to be on their best behaviour – and ultimately, we as pilots, need to know our responsibilities. For example, if you have a passenger under your supervision and they step into

an area of conflict at an airport (such as walking off a designated walkway and onto a taxiway), they’re your responsibility. The airport has to log anything that is reported to ensure they’re compliant when they are audited, and if someone like a Rex pilot sees it, they need to call it in. Another fun fact you don’t want to get wrong: an ASIC is not an access card. It does not give the holder the right to access secure areas and zones without the permission from the relevant authority or facility owner or operator, so it’s always best to call ahead to a security-controlled airport if you’re unfamiliar or unsure. There are a few variants to an ASIC, but the two main types for RAAus purposes are a Regional Card for use at one specified airport, or an AusCard, which is for two or more airports. You can also get Red or Grey, the difference being that Grey can go to Secure Areas and Landside Secure Zones, but not Airside Secure zones.

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If you’re like most of us in RAAus, the Red AusCard (or a ‘Major Airport Card’) is the way to go: it’s the same process, and it’s a bit like a ‘VIP’ in the way that you have the option to get a broader security clearance (subject to demonstrating your requirement - we’ll get to this in more detail shortly). As an RAAus pilot, the main reason you’d be applying for an ASIC is if you’re a person with an operational need for unescorted access to the secure areas of security-controlled airports and the security zones. Your application undergoes an ASIO security assessment, an ACIC criminal history check and an immigration check (if required). Yes, that’s right – you will be vetted by ASIO. This does not make you a secret agent…. Unless you were one to begin with. If you buzz around your local airfield or visiting non-controlled regional airports, the only reason you might want one is to feel warm and fuzzy that you look legitimate, or maybe to try your luck at a bar. However, you

Passport quality photograph of the ASIC holder

ASIC Kinegram security feature covering part of the card holder’s photograph

probably wouldn’t be demonstrating an operational need that justifies your application. There’s a cost for the card too, so stay tuned. Once upon a time, CASA and RAAus both issued ASICs, but between a combination of legislative changes and sticking to their core operations, you now need to go elsewhere. There are suppliers such as Security ID (securityid.com.au) and Verotas (asic.net.au) who take an online application. It feels a lot like a passport application when you do it, all the way to visiting an AusPost outlet to certify your documents and ID. The process goes a bit like this: You jump online to create an account, answer some questions and upload your identification documents. It’s the old ‘minimum of one original document from each of Category A, B, C and D’, much like a passport application. An easy combo would be a birth certificate, driver’s licence, Medicare card and a utility bill. Plus, change of name documents if it applies to you.

AUS

Australia wide or IATA airport code

Discretionary issuing body identifier

Temporary ASICs will include the letter ‘T’

A white ASIC will have the letter ‘A’

Month and year of expiry

ASICs can be red, grey or white

John CITIZEN

AUG 18 XYZ 123456

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If you buzz around your local airfield or non-controlled regional airports, the only reason you might want one is to feel warm and fuzzy that you look legitimate, or maybe to try your luck at a bar. There is an offline component though, as your application and ID needs to be certified by an agent. For most people, Australia Post has almost 400 outlets around Australia and the staff there will process this for you. Check with your flying club/school, some CFOs, instructors and administration staff can do this as well.

demonstrate that you have a need for the card you apply for, so there’s little point getting one for fun. Cost-wise, you’re looking at around $230 for the application. Another good reason not to get one for fun. It’s valid for two years, then you renew. The process is pretty quick, and most people have their approval within 10-14 working days.

There’s a self-reporting model that you need to read about, addressing things like if your details change, if you were to have a convicted offense, if your card is stolen or how to go about returning your old card when you renew. You also need to upload some operational documents (which airports you fly to, and if applicable, a letter demonstrating employment requirements), to

At applicable airports, you must visibly wear your valid card and you’re good to go (remember, it is not an access card; it is an ID card). Access is controlled by each individual airport. The reality is that you’ll very rarely be asked to show your card unless you’re at a larger or controlled airport. The first time I was asked to show my card was on a flight back from Canberra. I’d landed the

SPORT PILOT / ANGLE OF AT TACK

plane and walked out for a meeting. Upon return, the plane sitting in the GA parking lot and ready to depart towards Brisbane, the Canberra airport staff wouldn’t let me through to airside if I didn’t produce the ID clearance. Glad I had it on me! On another flight, I bumped into an airport manager that had a quiet word with me on my way out. He’d told me that we were wandering from the official designated walking zone on airside when my passenger and I had stuck our heads inside a hangar to peek at some King Airs, and a Rex flight spotted us too close to their designated tarmac. The Rex pilot was doing their job, and so was this airport manager – but I mucked up when I should have been doing mine. I was very apologetic and there was a clear lesson learned, I realised that I’d become a bit complacent with the rules. It had to be logged, fortunately not going any further. That same Rex pilot kindly extended his downwind leg just so that he could give way to me departing for Victoria! I called the airport manager up a

week later still feeling terrible, I apologised again and thanked him for his explanations and treatment. Still, I won’t be making that mistake twice. Finally, it wouldn’t be much of an article if I didn’t leave you with some sideways parting advice, so here it is: if you’re looking to get a red card and fly into some security controlled airports, it’s useful to brush-up on your radio calls. In my early flights, I had the primary radio calls written down and I’d marked on my map where to call them – just so I wasn’t paranoid about missing a beat before I built some confidence. I’d trained at a regional airfield and wanted some practice still. There’s a good chance you’ll need to communicate with some RPT pilots at some point – both reporting your position and intentions, but also coordinating right of way and keeping an eye on each other’s position. They are easier to spot, but we’re only little, so don’t be afraid to communicate – they’re very nice when you do, and talking to the ‘big guys’ is a bit of fun.

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ISSUE 99

THE PHYSICS OF A GOOD LANDING WE ALL WANT TO KNOW HOW TO STICK THOSE CONSISTENT LANDINGS. NICHOLAS HEATH GETS SOME HELP WITH THE MATHS FROM HIS SON. When a non-flyer asks me how hard landing is, I say to them “Imagine angle parking at 60 kilometres an hour and you can’t slow down until you’re in the park”. Ok, so it’s not a great analogy, but they understand what I’m saying in a way they can relate to. The funny thing is, a lot of landing is practice, not theory. But a deep understanding of what is going on in the landing phase gives us a better understanding of what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong.

Whether the landing will be hard or soft is decided long before the plane nears the ground. Having a better understanding of the physics of landing can assist the pilot in visualising the forces at play when flying and landing an aircraft. 55

SPORT PILOT / ANGLE OF AT TACK

VECTORS A plane’s movement through space is multi-faceted. At any time, a plane may be moving in three directions at once; ascending upwards, propelling itself forward and maybe even a light crosswind causing a sideward drift. If you asked a physicist to express the above, they would tell you that a plane’s movement can be described as a vector. A vector is a quantity which has direction as well as a magnitude. To illustrate this, imagine if you are walking north at a steady pace. The vector used to describe your movement would be north (direction) at 5km/h (magnitude). Vectors are generally drawn as arrows on graphs with three axes: x-axis (forward and backward), y-axis (left and right), z-axis (up and down). The length of the vector corresponds to its magnitude – velocity in the case of aircraft. This single vector can be broken down into three constituent parts which correspond to each axis of 3D space. This means one 3D vector is made up of three 1D component vectors (see image above). Breaking up a 3D scenario into its 1D counterparts is exactly what enables a physicist to calculate where a stone is going to land before it is even thrown. In an aircraft, this means that we can think of each of the velocities, such as the sideward drift and the forward movement, as completely independent of one another.

Since we’re all now thinking like physicists, we can imagine a smooth aircraft landing analogously to a crane slowly lowering the aircraft to the ground. The slower the aircraft is lowered, the smoother the landing. The physicist in us would then say that “the smoothest landings are when we decrease the magnitude (speed) of the vertical component of the vector as much as possible”. Conversely, the pilot in us would say “that is far easier said than done”.

KINETIC ENERGY Slowing the aircraft down effectively reduces the kinetic energy of the system. The kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. You may have heard the expression that the energy of a moving body is equal to one half of its mass times its velocity squared (E = ½MV²). That is why a car’s stopping distance increases almost exponentially in proportion to its speed. For example, a car travelling 60km/h has a stopping distance of around 20m but a car travelling 80km/h has a stopping distance closer to 40m. Drag on an aeroplane is the only means of taking energy out of the system to set up for a smooth landing. A plane with no drag will hypothetically glide forever. At constant cruising speed, the engine is producing exactly the right amount of kinetic energy required to offset the energy loss by drag at that specific speed. Pilots use flaps, angle of attack and reducing the throttle to decrease the total kinetic energy of the system.

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vortices, less downwash. The net effect of the above is it makes for continually changing physical conditions as you approach the ground – which can make landing slightly unpredictable.

TURNING ALL THIS INTO A GOOD LANDING

THE GROUND EFFECT Flaps aim to change the shape of the wing to make more lift at lower speeds. This means a lower stall speed and consequent landing speed. Less energy on arrival. At the same time, they produce drag. They also change the angle of attack, which can give you a better view of the runway. Engaged flaps force more of the incoming air below the wing creating a pocket of high-pressure air. Because the wing has a significantly higher pressure below the wing as it does above, this generates more lift. However, as you approach the ground, this high-pressure air acts as a cushion of trapped air which can lead to floating before landing – known as the cushion effect, a part of the ground effect. It happens to the best of us. You begin your flare for landing, you wait for the wheels to touch down, still waiting, still waiting, now we have eaten up half of the runway. This is the ground effect. Or maybe you were still travelling a bit fast? The ground effect occurs when there is less than 1 wingspan between you and the ground and primarily involves the size of your wingtip vortices. The wingtip vortices are a circular pattern of rotating air left behind the wing generating lift. When you approach the ground, these vortices cannot get as big as they would at altitude. Because the vortices spin around the wing, they collide with the ground resulting in downwash. Downwash is the change in direction of air deflected by the plane’s wing. Obstructing wingtip vortices and interrupting the downwash causes a decrease in drag. Putting it all together as we approach the ground, we have more lift – cushion, smaller wingtip

We talked about the three directions of travel – up/down, fast/slow, left right – that make up our composite vector of movement. As pilots we are trained to use a different mechanism for each of these. One of the least intuitive is the balance of speed and descent. Common sense would dictate that you control speed with the throttle and height with the elevator. The first lesson we all learn is that the reverse is true. Rate of descent is controlled on approach with the throttle. Airspeed is controlled by attitude via the elevator. Drift left or right is controlled by a crosswind technique – either a crab or a dipped wing or a combination of both. The fact that we humans are able to juggle all of that still amazes me. The same skillset that enables us to catch a thrown ball (an object moving in three dimensions subject to all the above forces) enable our homo sapiens brains to do this. The key to any landing is to have yourself in the right position and speed at each stage of the landing cycle. If you’re not at the right attitude, descent rate and position then it makes it very hard to ace the landing. Having said that, I’ve made some of my best landings from crappy approaches. But it wasn’t pretty. Not every aircraft flies the same. When I transitioned from the Tecnam P92 to my Vans RV6A, I struggled most with the landing. The Tecnam flew like a smaller, lighter, Cessna – which was what I had trained on. You can really point a Tecnam and tell it where to go. Like a Cessna, they are a bit floaty and it is a question of holding it off just above the ground until the aircraft settles (hopefully) gracefully to the runway. The RV6 is not like that. First, you have to keep off the nosewheel unless you want a wicked shimmy. Secondly, if you hold off long enough it will drop like a rock and the suspension does not have that much give. The RV6 likes to be flown on. The point is, every aircraft is different and you need to be very familiar with it before you go flying. You need to know your numbers. The first and best thing my father told me about landings was to look at the far end of the runway on flare. He was right. I do it and it helped me a lot. Like every pilot. I’m searching for the perfect circuit. Instruction and practice make for the best landings.

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

The Cape Wickham golf course, a beautiful welcome at the north of King Island. Credit: Cape Wickham Golf Links

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A DOSE OF VITAMIN SEA TOURING KING ISLAND, TASMANIA Sitting my first cross country training session in my early 20’s King Island was perched right at the top of my wish list. But when the time came to finally fly there from Geelong, a very ‘green’ pilot was stepping into a light aircraft over water with a passenger. Recognising my limitations was critical to a making my experience as seamless and comfortable as possible – It’s a trip I’ll never forget and an incredible journey I’d recommend to all recreational pilots. Words Ed Jones

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

Currie Boathouse, the restaurant with no food. Credit: Stu Gibson

I had a Great Uncle who passed away many years ago, in an aviation incident that should have been avoided. It had stuck with me as a reminder of the consequences of complacency or overestimating my capabilities. Statistically, I was an ‘at risk’ pilot by default due to my age, gender and limited hours. To a young pilot, flying from A to B can seem more straightforward than it really is, because there’s a good chance you haven’t had much exposure to in-flight issues that require quick thinking and agile decision-making. When experience isn’t on your side, you can quickly overstep your capabilities if you don’t think twice. Recognising my limitations helped me look for information and advice. The first step was asking around. Online pilot communities and groups, friends, Facebook groups, instructors and even an online student study group were my go-to sources. I had to check their views against facts but asking helped fill in the gap of the proverbial ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’. I loaded my flight plan into a group and before I knew it, advice flowed in from fuel plans to car hire. A couple of tips were particularly useful. First, minimising your distance over water reduces the risk of ditching. Simple. For me, that meant flying to Cape Otway then due south. Food and water on board was a must, plus a first aid kit and an EPIRB (and make sure you know how to use it!). Lastly, I needed to talk to car hire and airport operator on the

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ground. I had been lectured many times that my generation likes to “do everything from a phone but won’t actually ever make a damn phone call!” (read this in the voice of SportPilot Editor, Nicholas Heath) – Now I never hesitate to make a phone call ahead of a flight. In the same way that I call ‘unfamiliar’ into a controlled airspace I’ve never entered, I did the RAAus equivalent and let the airport know I was inbound and not familiar with the space. The operator even took my number so that they could keep an eye out. I made similar arrangements for my accommodation and car hire – they were very flexible with the bookings, and it took any pressure off my young mind to make the trip if I wasn’t feeling up to it. The best piece of advice I received was to formulate “go and no-go” metrics, and then communicating them with your passenger. I do this for every flight. The idea is that you are committed to cancelling if anything on your ‘no-go’ list comes true. And the key is to be specific. “Weather not safe” was too ambiguous, so wanting to be safe and conservative on this particular flight I wrote down “if it’s not CAVOK, we won’t go”. I wrote down visibility minimums, winds, and gut feelings about being comfortable with the flight. The same for my passenger. One of my instructors once said to me, “if the weather report is longer than a couple of lines, stay home and watch the footy”. That was CFI Graham Taberner, who signed me off originally and I absorbed

An insight into the beautiful cooking by Ana at Meat Your Beef. Credit: Meat Your Beef

everything he said like a sponge. He’s one of the voices that pops into my mind from time to time. His advice is frustratingly accurate, but it has never failed me. The final call on departing Victoria was over Cape Otway. I’d even flown to this point a few times for practice, making the flight as familiar as possible – again, knowing I was inexperienced and wanting to hedge my bets. It’s a wonderful world where you can look at your destination airport and surroundings with Google satellite-view and become familiar before you’ve jumped in the plane. I ticked everything on my ‘go’ list, and we flew south at 7,500 feet. Arguably unnecessary, but I felt the extra gliding range and visibility couldn’t hurt. The final consideration was being limited for alternative airports, so I carried enough fuel to make it home. A lot of my flying now is around regional Victoria, New South Wales and a

“Aviation had planted a seed about travelling and sightseeing within Australia – I’d begun to realise how much fruit that seed would bear.”

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE Ana. Credit: Meat Your Beef

“Recognising my limitations was key to an incredible journey – one that I’d recommend to all recreational pilots.”

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bit of Queensland – and there’s a surprising amount of air strips around. Enough that I keep an eye out on long hauls knowing there are good options if you need to go down due to unfavourable weather, in-flight issues or simply a tea ‘n’ pee stop. Plus, there are plenty of paddocks, some freshly ploughed depending on the season. Over water, your options are much thinner and ditching isn’t ideal, so I took extra precautions. Some Facebook group pilots tipped me on what life jackets to take. There are some exceptions, but generally you need to have life jackets on board if you are out of glide range from land. If you are below 2,000 feet you must be wearing a life jacket, or if you are flying over water greater than 25nm it’s mandatory to have life jackets on board for each person. Read up on the details before you go anywhere, it’s important to know. There were many mentions of marine life jackets and ALDI sales coming up – but as it turns out, CASA stipulate life jacket standards and most of those suggestions didn’t comply, so I had to shop around to find what I needed. I hired a Tecnam from Golden Plains Aviation, fuelled and packed. A final check of the weather and off I went – maps, flight plan and all, putting that cross-country endorsement to work. As I reached Cape Otway and joined my next track, I had a silhouette in sight about 50nm off – and a grin from ear to ear like a kid in a chocolate factory. Engine time was 1.8 hours, which included a scenic tour of the coastline before calling to join circuit at YKII, north of the Currie township. I’d already toured Tasmania a couple of years prior, but wow – I was blown away (figuratively, of course) by the most beautiful coastline and countryside I’d ever

The ‘insurance photo’ I take whenever I travel.

seen from the air. When you’re welcomed back to land by Cape Wickham Lighthouse and nearby lush, worldrenowned golf course, you’re reminded that aviation is a magnificent privilege. After I pegged and tied down the aircraft, I walked back a few feet to take the usual ‘insurance photo’ of the plane safely secured, jumped in the car and the exploring began. The surf report was great, unbeknownst to me, so Victoria’s surfers had made their way down and pinched all the 4WD hire cars, so a Nissan Tiida it was…I wasn’t precious and didn’t need to go beyond its capability. I found the overhead tour to be most useful in navigating the island, but then again there aren’t too many roads to get lost. You quickly realise that the old one-finger-acknowledgement over the steering wheel is a thing – with almost every car passing, so I quickly felt like I’d waved at half the island’s population before I’d reached Currie. It’s one of the few places you can go where locals really embrace visitors. The first stop was Currie Boathouse – an adorably colourful seaside shack that is setup as a mismatched restaurant for casual use, the ceiling covered in fishing nets and buoys, asking only a donation for use of the facilities. It’s the sort of highlight that needs to be seen to be believed. With only one friendly gentlemen in there working on his laptop, I’d never felt so jealous of someone’s office. I tackled a wallaby pie and seafood pie (I was hungry…) from the Currie bakery and looked over the outdoor chess boards taking in the scenery. As I toured down south to lookouts and the calcified forest, I swerved in the Tiida as a male peacock flew through the left tree line and down the valley to my right – my inexperience once again, I literally didn’t

SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

A view across Ana and Tom’s farm and Black Angus cattle. Credit: Meat Your Beef

even know they could fly! Moments later I was stopping to let pheasants and turkeys cross the road, finally recalling that there are no foxes on King Island. Suddenly the bird life was making sense (and if you’re a twitcher, you’d better make the journey to YKII!). Before long, I was left unattended in the King Island Dairy tasting room with copious amounts of amazing cheese and a scorecard. I still don’t regret the amount of cheese I consumed that day. I reached the farm of Ana and Tom from Meat Your Beef Black Angus farm tours. They hosted me for an Airbnb ‘paddock to plate’ experience, welcoming me into their home, and Ana’s knowledge was incredible. As self-made farmers, the two of them have a great story starting from 30 head of cattle to what they have today. The ‘foodie’ in me enjoyed the full connection to the grass roots of my food – quite literally – hearing of their transport and meat

industry challenges, their profound passion for sustainable agriculture and the caring of animals that was second to none. I was there during calving, Tom being in NSW at the livestock auctions, and I had the opportunity to roll the sleeves up to get a monster of a calf out of a struggling cow. It’s a special moment when a calf lands on the ground and gets a small thump in the lungs, taking their first breaths in a brandnew world. We had one calf that day, who the kids had named Ruby. She’d been left alone, skinny and struggling. I followed Ana around like I was another child as she prepared electrolytes that slowly brought Ruby to full energy a couple of days later. Seeing Ruby energetically trotting around with the children the morning before I left was heart-warming, when we thought she’d pass, and it spoke to me in volumes about Ana and Tom’s family and farming operation. When you meet the very people

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behind the food industry, particularly those leading the charge to sustainability and best practice, it makes for amazing memories.

KING ISLAND (YKII)

Ana insisted we visit Penny’s Lagoon for a swim, followed by a visit down to the north-eastern beach, lined with state reserve and conservation areas. She’d also mentioned a Chinese cook that operated from the kitchen of the Currie golf club house. He stuck his head out the window of the kitchen to take orders, and it was the best Chinese I’d ever had – including a visit to China a few years prior. As I said my goodbyes before packing and refuelling for home, I realised I’d cut myself short by thinking I could experience the island in just three days. What a magnificent place. This authentic, peaceful island off the south coast of mainland Australia had left its mark on me. It had planted a seed of travelling and sightseeing more within Australia, and I can’t wait to jump in the plane for the next experience, uncovering more of Australia’s hidden secrets and experiences. Around 1.5 hours of engine time, taking a slightly indirect coastal route along the Great Ocean Road and I was back on the ground at home. As I cleaned up the cabin and loaded my gear into the car, I put in the call to mum to let her know I was safe (my mother makes for a reliable SARTIME service), and I found myself speechless. Even though I’d spent a few years chipping away at flying lessons, this was only the beginning.

MEAT YOUR BEEF – KING ISLAND FARM TOURS 0427 118 903 (Ana Pimenta) meatyourbeef@gmail.com meatyourbeef.com.au facebook.com/meatyourbeef instagram.com/meatyourbeef

CAPE WICKHAM GOLF LINKS (03) 6463 1200 golf@capewickham.com.au capewickham.com.au facebook.com/capewickhamgolf instagram.com/capewickhamgolflinks

Elev: 132 ft RWY: 10/28 (sealed, 1585 metres) 17/35 (gravel, 800 metres) AD OPR King Island Council (03) 6283 8603 Start planning your trip: www.kingisland.tas.gov.au Notes: Security controlled airport (ASIC required). Landing, parking and passenger fees may apply – refer to the ERSA. Facilities include the King Island Airport Cafe, public toilets, visitor information brochures, free parking and disability access. Car hire is available on site, too – best to call ahead.

PLANNING A FLIGHT OVER WATER? Take a look at CAO 95.55 7.1 (c) for flight over water requirements, then 7.2 for requirements between mainland Australia and Tasmania. You can also view the CASA lifejacket standards I mentioned in CAO 20-1 5 ‘Flotation Equipment for overwater flights’.

SPORTPILOT / FLIGHT TEST

FLIGHT TEST

REVIEWS ON GREAT AIRCRAFT

HIDDEN GEM

IS THIS THE ULTIMATE LUXURY TOURER?

Recently we heard that a new version of the Topaz Ekolot Sport had just been released, so we jumped at the opportunity to put this aircraft to the test. We headed out at Riddells Creek with Rodney Birrell, who is the Australian importer of these planes and uses them in his own flight school. It isn’t every day that you get to see one in the flesh at your local airport, so we were excited to get to know a bit more about the Topaz. Words Nick Jones

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SPORTPILOT / FLIGHT TEST

The first thing you’ll notice is the aircraft has a fairly long, strutless, high wing. Not quite as long as a glider, but when I found out it has a glide ratio of 17:1 I wasn’t surprised. Upon closer inspection, you will notice a distinct lack of rivets as the wing is made from carbon fibre. It quickly came to our attention that this aircraft has also been stripped of weight wherever possible without sacrificing any luxury.

that all of the hoses are colour coded and the fittings are all stainless steel to avoid corrosion along with a very well-sealed engine bay. Again, it is just these minor details that make a huge difference to the overall result. It is worth noting that the Ekolot comes with the option to install a ballistic parachute. From chatting with GA pilots in the past, I was at first a bit sceptical of the additional maintenance

“What is usually an aftermarket addition on most planes is just the default standard for the Topaz.” After a quick tour around the plane, it became apparent that the Topaz isn’t your average aircraft. There are small details everywhere that demonstrate how meticulous the designers of this aircraft have been to reduce drag and weight. While on the ground, we popped open the cowling to take a look. This particular aircraft had the 100HP Rotax 912 ULS installed but there is an option for either an 80HP 912 or the fuel-injected version. My pick would be the one that is installed on this aircraft, as you get a bit of extra power without having to worry about the fuel injection start-up sequences, additional costs or the small amount of additional weight it adds. Under the hood, you will also notice

and servicing requirements of having this included. However, after chatting with Rodney he explained that it only needs to be serviced and repacked every 7 years and the costs aren’t too bad at all considering the safety benefit that it provides (roughly $3-5K). I was pleased to hear this, as it is often perceived as a feature out of reach for many RAAus Pilots from both a cost and weight perspective, and it is something that I look forward to seeing more of in RAAus. Just before I hopped into the cockpit, Rodney showed me the baggage compartment accessible from the outside. The doors don’t look like much, but once you open up the

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“What is usually an aftermarket addition on most planes is just the default standard for the Topaz.”

“The Bringer brakes are just a dream to use, you have such a wide range of control.”

SPORTPILOT / FLIGHT TEST

“The Beringer brakes are just a dream to use, you have such a wide range of control.”

compartment you will see a massive cavity inside the plane with a 20kg limit per side. Usually, when I see nice baggage compartments like this, I do the maths of usable weight and soon end up disappointed because of the trade-off between storage, passenger weight or fuel and soon discover that touring is going to be just plain difficult. Due to this particular aircraft’s carbon composite build, the usable weight you have to play with is 310kg, which means this is one of the rare planes where you can have your cake and eat it too. To put that in perspective, that’s full fuel (100 litres), 2 x 80kg people and 40kg of luggage – plus room to spare!

As soon as the plane started up and Rodney gave me a run-through of how it worked, I was sold on the flight instruments straight away. I have always found many of the digital flight instruments hard to read at times compared with the ‘old fashioned’ steam gauges and the interface closer to an old ATM rather than a tabletstyle touch screen. This is the first time where I have seen a digital display light up and be a dream to use and without a large learning curve.

Once inside the cockpit, even on the base model of the plane, you can expect the same kind of feel as a luxury sports car. The seats are super comfortable for anyone wanting to fly long distances. The natural flying position is very relaxed with the throttle control down by your side where your hand naturally rests near the door.

The Topaz also has a single centre-stick layout in the middle which I was eager to test out. In many aircraft with this layout, it is a bit awkward with the shared space in the middle tight, making it feel like you are on top of one another. I can happily say that in the Topaz you each have a wide armrest, so when you have your hand on the flight controls it feels just plain easy. The controls for flaps, trim and the radio transmit button are all located on top of the stick, I know that it sounds like a lot of buttons in one place but it feels very natural.

Although you can customise your dash when ordering, this particular variation had dual digital flight displays on each side with backup steam gauges in the middle which is a fantastic setup. I am used to flying with Garmin and Dynon flight instruments, so when I saw that this had the Kanardia Nesis III, I was a bit unsure.

The hand brake for the plane sits vertically behind the stick almost like a motorbike brake. I have not previously flown with this layout but I now prefer it to all other layouts I have used. This way, you have command over all flight controls at the same time without needing to think about it, unlike toe brakes where you

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have to shuffle your feet around awkwardly for the hand brake in the middle of the cockpit. After take-off, we saw a climb rate of 1,200 – 1,500 FPS with a really nice angle of attack allowing you to still have good visibility out the window. In flight, Rodney was showing me the aircraft’s performance when flying in formation with a second Topaz. Even though he was putting it into some awkward manoeuvres intentionally, you could tell how easy it was to handle. After we had exited the formation, he handed over the control and I got to have a bit of a play. I can’t emphasise how relaxed the flying position of the plane feels. With one hand sitting on your lap controlling the throttle and the other resting on the armrest it is a joy to fly and would be fantastic on long touring flights. All flight controls use pushrods rather than a pulley system so the handling is very direct and does exactly what you expect. After a few gentle turns, I then levelled out and trimmed the plane. Once fully trimmed, the plane needed almost no input to fly level and was very stable in flight. Now for the downsides, of which there are very few. I am not a massive fan of the spring-loaded screws to remove the cowling and the door locking system.

Although a clean and tight fit, I would prefer it to have one central latch and lock rather than three located around the door frame. Now, I will admit that these two things are very nit-picky and are negligible at best. When we had finished testing out the plane, I sat there trying to draw accurate comparisons to other RAAus aircraft but the aircraft that kept coming to mind were all GA aircraft. When I think about it, it does offer many of the features typical of a weight class above it and still manages to come in on the light side of things. It leaves me here wondering if there even is another RAAus touring aircraft that can come close to the set of features on offer for a similar price point? Not surprisingly, Rodney mentioned that a lot of enquiry comes for GA pilots looking for a high-end RA plane. Makes sense. In terms of price point, one of these will set you back $140,000 $160,000 depending on whether you want the bells and whistles. Not everyone has that kind of budget. But if you’re criteria is weight load, distance, comfort and style, you’d be very pleased owning one of these. Editor’s Note: Rod Birrell is a current RAAus Board Member.

THE SPECS

EKOLOT SPORT

ENGINE:

100HP Rotax 912 ULS

EMPTY WEIGHT:

270kg

USEABLE WEIGHT:

310kg

MTOW:

600kg

CRUISE SPEED:

115kts (213kmh)

STALL SPEED:

37kts with flap (69kmh)

FUEL CAPACITY:

135L

FUEL CONSUMPTION:

15L/hr at around 115kts (213kmh)

RANGE:

600nm+ @4200 RPM

ENDURANCE:

6.5hrs

SPORTPILOT / FLIGHT TEST

FLIGHT TEST

REVIEWS ON GREAT AIRCRAFT

ALL ABOARD THE CRAZY PLANE

EIGHT OF THE MOST UNUSUAL AIRCRAFT YOU COULD FLY WITH AN RPC

Words Mick Sowry

Inside almost every pilot is the child that dreams of the sky. Looking up to those canyons of clouds and wondering how it would feel to wander Gossamer Mountains. Perhaps there was the odd Superman fan, wanting to fly up there all alone, no visible means of support, or in the most minimal of craft. As a surfer in another life, I often sit gazing up and wonder how the crew in the water would feel if someone (me) came

blasting out of the sky in a wingsuit, skimming to a soft landing on the face of a giant wave. Out there, the aeronautical dreamers that conceive and design aircraft have, for 100 years or more, explored the endless variations of airframe designs that allow controlled flight. Today we look at eight of the most interesting aircraft you can fly, in most instances, with a Recreational Pilot Certificate.

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The Acroez (based on VariEze) of the Patrouille REVA Patrol, Spain in 2019

RUTAN VARIEZE

GOODYEAR INFLATOPLANE

Designed by quite possibly the most prolific and innovative aircraft designer of all time, Burt Rutan’s VariEze is a spin-resistant, stallresistant, long-range cruiser and is equipped with a Continental O-200-B engine with a pusher propeller at the rear. Its maximum speed was 170 knots with a range of 740nm from 91L of fuel. If you research Burt’s history you’ll uncover a catalogue of free-thinking genius that has the common denominator (in my view) of greatness in design. They are beautiful - and throw convention to the winds.

The Goodyear Inflatoplane was conceived as a rescue aircraft, held in a hardened pod to be dropped behind enemy lines for stranded soldiers. It need only be inflated to 8 psi to be flyable, and because it was under a continuous positive inflation pressure it could withstand up to six .30 calibre bullet holes while remaining airworthy. Its range was a surprising 340nm from 20 litres of fuel, from a 30kw Nelson two-stroke engine that was a pull start from the cockpit. There’s a certain hilarity to that image, sort of like flying a blow-up lawnmower. The Inflatoplane never saw actual military service as the program was abandoned.

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Photography: Jack Poelstra

AIRKRAFT SUNNY

The Airkraft Sunny, designed by Dieter Schulz, is in many ways a fairly typical ultralight that takes a turn towards the unusual in its closed wing design. The “box wing” connects a swept upper wing with a straight lower wing, theoretically reducing drag and improving efficiency.

There are arguments running both ways on the theory, but it does have structural advantages over the more traditional cantilevered wing designs. You’ll find many examples of closed wing construction through the ages, but the idea never truly found its place in the mainstream.

Photography: Andrew Downey of Australian Warbird Photography

Photography: Verhees Delta

ROWE UFO

We had to get an Australian on this list, and David Rowe is the perfect candidate. The Rowe UFO (Useless Flying Object – his description, not mine!) has gone through a few design phases over the years but has always lived up to its namesake. This single-seat flying saucer was conceived by Rowe in the late 90s who went on to build a model and then a full-scale aircraft, powered by a Rotax 503 engine. Two more designs followed, all RAAus certified and are surprisingly easy to handle. The UFO Mk. III boasts a pull-start engine inside the cockpit, two small cargo compartments and an eye-catching Wildfire Red paintjob.

VERHEES D2

Designed as a comfortable and efficient traveller, this elegant example of origami actually boasts some big advantages. With a payload (325kg) greater than the empty weight of the aircraft (275kg) and a whopping 970nm range - astonishingly extendable, with some adjustment, to 2,160nm -Belgian makers Verhees Engineering may just be onto something that conventional manufacturers are missing. A cabin width of 146.05cm, an even floor and folding seats mean the D2 is designed to be camped in when travelling, while folding wings make this already tiny plane easily transportable on the road.

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BARBER SNARK

This interesting little plane was designed and built by Kiwi Bill Barber. Designed for high-performance, the Snark (from the Lewis Carroll poem The Hunting of the Snark, an Agony in Eight Fits) features a slim, glider-like tandem cockpit that sits in front of the 80hp Suzuki G13 engine, powering a pusher propeller at the rear. Minimising the wetted area of the aircraft has allowed the Snark to perform surprisingly well, given its 80hp engine. Reportedly able to cruise at over 110kts, this strange design might just be the perfect pick for performance-driven aviators, that’s if you can get your hands on one of the five in existence. Photography: Phil Vabre - www.airliners.net

NEMETH PARASOL

This circular-winged Nemeth Parasol might just be every STOL enthusiasts’ dream. Dubbed the “Backyard Flyer”, the Parasol was said to “land and take off within a 50-foot circle”. Designed by Steven P. Nemeth, the aircraft boasted a 125hp Warner engine, had a top speed of 135mph (117kts) and was able to safely land at a speed of just 20mph (17kts). Nemeth stalled the aircraft mid-air during flight testing, demonstrating the ability to bring the aircraft down “almost vertically”. Despite its exceptional flight characteristics, the Parasol’s grand success in the market never materialised. Photography: Unknown. Source hartzellprop.com

Quickie fly-over, Oshkosh 2005 Photography Philip Lankford – www.quickheads.com

RUTAN QUICKIE

We’re sorry, but we couldn’t get through this list without coming back to the designs of Burt Rutan. The Quickie, a tandem wing taildragger, was Rutan’s answer to what a low-cost, single seat aircraft should look like. Sporting an anhedral forward wing and a slightly larger dihedral rear wing, the Quickie flies on just

18hp engine, to provide “more flying enjoyment for less money”. The landing gear is also unusual; a taildragger configuration with the front wheels located at the tips of the forward wing. Offered as a kit build, the QAC Quickie Q2 (a direct descendant of the original) is one of the easier aircraft on this list to get your hands on.

SPORTPILOT / PILOT PROFILES

PILOT PROFILES

TALES FROM OUR AVIATION COMMUNITY

GET BETTER, NOT BITTER ED JONES TALKS TO NATHAN PARKER ABOUT SMALL STEPS AND BIG VICTORIES. Words Ed Jones

Nathan after completing his Commercial Pilot Licence Credit: Nathan Parker

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An email from Bill Kiernan OAM hit my inbox recently. “I thought perhaps the following may be of interest to your readers”, Bill had said. A short while later, I was interviewing the person of interest, Nathan Parker, in what was one of the most inspirational aviation stories I’ve heard. Bill is a CFI at Northern Rivers Aero Club in Lismore, NSW. He went on to itemise eight achievements for a bloke he clearly held in high regard. That bloke is Nathan Parker. I suspected Bill wanted to list more, but attempting to boil it down, he included: 1. A number of Gold Medals from the Invictus Games. 2. A Senior Instructor RAAus Rating. 3. A Commercial Pilot Licence. 4. A Multi Engine Command Instrument Rating. 5. Is practicing Aerobatics in his AESL T6. 6. Has nearly completed his CASA Grade 3 Instructor Rating. 7.

Was awarded the 2020 CASA/Australian Flying ‘Young Achiever’ Award.

8. Was the 2021 NSW Young Australian of the Year. “In his spare time, he speaks to and mentors young people”, Bill wrote. I read it twice, then a third time. Is this real? He’s only 25 years old! A short time later I was interviewing Nathan and realised there was an achievement that hadn’t made Bill’s shortlist. For me, that achievement was a cross-section of resilience, passion and spirit. Nathan’s story was quickly summarising what aviation is all about. Nathan was a normal kid. From the age of 6, he wanted to be a fighter pilot. He can’t recall what exactly planted the seed, nobody in his family was in aviation, but the seed quickly started to grow as he began to get some aviation exposure. Someone had bought him a TIF for his 10th birthday, and after stacking up cushions to see over the dash, he stepped out afterwards more enthusiastic than ever. The fighter pilot journey had begun. As soon as he could, every spare minute was spent at his local club at Lismore; Northern Rivers Aero Club. He became a familiar face there – filled with enthusiasm and happy to hold a spanner, clean planes, or chinwag about anything aviation.

Enlisting into the RAAF as a pilot trainee in 2014

By 15 he started his lessons, working toward his RAAus certificate. He soloed, completed nav’s, then dabbled in flying when he could. Upon finishing school in 2013, Nathan signed up for the Air Force as a pilot trainee. He was straight on to the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). Nathan was welcomed by amazing peers, all with different plans and ambitions. He recalled the incredible comradery and his fondness of the experience. His plan was simple; complete ADFA training, complete the degree… onwards and upwards. During ADF Flight Screening, when Defence Force Recruiting staff had asked him ‘What’s your plan if this fails?’, he replied with ‘I’ll come back next year’. He meant it, but that was as close to being a fighter pilot as Nathan would get. Nathan hit a ‘roadblock’, as he referred to it. A bus was returning him and his peers from Jervis Bay to Canberra after a training block when it suddenly swerved right, then left , then rolled. He recalls the grinding noise as they slid along the road, surrounded by screams. When they came to a halt, the coach was on its side, pinning Nathan’s left arm between the bus and the road. Within two hours of the crash, he was being air-lifted to Sydney. “I’d always wanted to fly in an emergency chopper, but this wasn’t how I’d imagined it.” This was the

SPORTPILOT / PILOT PROFILES

first time I’d had some insight into how passionate Nathan was about aviation – he spent the entire chopper ride talking the ears off the pilots and crew, asking aviationrelated questions. He remembers the crew having a chuckle. I’m sure some painkillers were involved, but I realised when talking to Nathan just how focused he was on living an aviator’s life. It was astounding.

“I lost the dream of being a pilot twice, I don’t want to be kicking myself in 10 or 15 years because I didn’t see if flying was possible.” Arriving at the hospital, Nathan was asked by doctors to make a call. ‘Is it okay for us to amputate your limb if we cannot operate?’. He said ‘Do what you need to do’, but the full impact wouldn’t sink in until he woke up with one set of bandages shorter than the other. He realised he’d given the medical staff permission to amputate his dream. “Maybe I will never fly again.” He’d struggled at the thought. Six months earlier, a shark-attack amputee had come to ADFA and spoken about his experiences. It was former Navy clearance diver Paul de Gelder, who spoke of modern technology helping him with his prosthetic arm and leg. Despite the challenge, Paul knew he was going to be able to do something. A shark attack wasn’t stopping him. His story of resilience and determination helped Nathan immensely, Paul even visited him in hospital. Paul’s departing words were something along the lines of “You determine your limitations”. That would soon sink in.

First flight after the accident with the Northern Rivers Aero Club

Nathan was shattered, but soon had his own realisation. “I couldn’t change that I jumped on that bus. I couldn’t change what seat I sat on that day. I had to get better, not bitter. But I didn’t know what was possible anymore. Changing my clothes, showering… everything was a challenge, every day.” One of the first steps was being medically cleared to drive a car. Nathan then returned to Lismore and spoke to Bill, explaining what happened and his doubts about flying. At this point, Bill wasn’t going to accept what Nathan had started to, so he spoke to RAAus. He was told a medical clearance to drive a car and demonstrating the required competency would be enough. “You either can or you can’t mate. Get in the plane and let’s find out” Bill said. As it turned out, he could. A few tweaks to his prosthetics to make things easier, and his instructors at the Northern Rivers Aero Club signed him off. That’s what Nathan kept recalling – consistent small changes equated to small victories, and small victories were progress. At 20 years old, Nathan was a re-qualified pilot with his dream back on the table. Six months later he was back in Canberra at ADFA, completing his training and graduating with the same peers, including those fellow bus passengers. The same benchmarks, same fitness testing, same uniform, making his bed the same way each morning – it was powerful and felt great. “At this point, I thought ‘Let’s see what I can do’”. He completed his Bachelor of Technology (Aviation) in 2017, then was off to Adelaide for specialist testing with RAAF aviation medicine personnel, to find out how to fly again in the military.

Early days after the accident

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Flying in the Jabiru J-170

It all went horribly wrong. Without things like a sense of touch, and the risks involved with aspects such as ejection seats, it was impossible. The dream was ripped away a second time. The Air Force wanted him to stay. He spoke highly of how accommodating and helpful they were the whole way. They encouraged him to consider Air Traffic Control or being an Air Combat Officer, but now that Nathan knew he could fly as a civilian, he wasn’t prepared to give in. “The dream was taken from me twice, but now I knew I could fly. I would have been kicking myself in 10 or 15 years if I didn’t find out what was really possible.” Once again under the wing of the Northern Rivers Aero Club, Nathan completed his RAAus Instructor Rating in August 2018, under the instruction of Sam Todhunter, who himself received an OAM for services to aviation in the 2021 Australia Day Honour List. With that goal completed, Nathan was then discharged from the RAAF to start his new career. Next minute, it was announced that Nathan would be presented with the award for 2021 NSW Young Australian of the Year. Then the 2020 CASA/Australian Flying Young Achiever Award. “It is still surreal having won those awards. I see myself as a normal person that managed to chase my passion. This is all very humbling.” I asked Nathan, what now? “I had to learn some difficult lessons, I thought that if other people can

benefit from what I faced, without having to face it themselves, that’s probably a good thing.’ He was probably right. “If I can help even one person in their toughest time, whatever challenge they are facing, everything was worth it. Bad things happen, but they can be an opportunity.” After everything that Nathan went through, I noticed two interesting things. First, he feels incredibly lucky and fortunate, sensing a need to give back to the world. I was immediately fond of this trait. Secondly, he continuously challenges himself, asking ‘how far can I take this?’. So, that’s what’s next. Pursuing competition aerobatics, possibly even teaching aerobatics, and giving back. When he’s not flying, Nathan’s studying for flying. He’s persistent. For now, Nathan sees the opportunity to share his passion for flying with others and use his experiences to teach and mentor the next generation. When I’d finished talking to Nathan, I was struggling to find words. I felt an urge to congratulate him, thank him… I couldn’t imagine how proud his family and supporters must be. I started telling a few people around my office about the phone call and it hit me; this is why we fly. This is what aviation is all about. And I’ve never felt so strongly about it in my life. So, next time I’m explaining to a non-aviator why I love flying, the story of Nathan Parker and Northern Rivers Aero Club is a story I’ll tell. A story of community, belonging, resilience and passion.

SPORTPILOT / PILOT PROFILES

FLYING TO THE BEAT OF A ( VERY ) DIFFERENT DRUMMER Words: Mick Sowry

Photography: White Star Aviation

THE PILOTING JOURNEY OF JJ HARRIS There’s something about drumming that applies to flying, or so I discovered when I met Jeff “J.J.” Harris, CFI and CEO of White Star Aviation, a new Flight Training Academy based out of Ballina in Northern New South Wales. While we haven’t met, an extended phone conversation from locked down Victoria to sunny Ballina revealed a genial guy with a passion for flying, a passion that began its journey on numerous trips across the Pacific to the US. That was back when he was a drummer with a few Australian bands you may well have heard of, like Gangajang, the Divinyls, 1927 and Bang the Drum.

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Of all the stories he told me, the one that sticks out is of being asked to play a pub gig in Mildura, an out of the blue invitation after a fun gig one night, supporting Fleetwood Mac, in Brisbane. The Bang the Drum boys were up for this - why not? Full pay, board and travel were covered - so off they headed. Quite the drive as you can imagine, to arrive at a blacked out, closed, seemingly empty – hotel. On entering they found the owner and a stage set up ready to go, and no one there except him. The shocked band wondered what the hell was going on. Seems the owner had seen them play the Brisbane gig. “I think you guys are going to be one of the biggest acts in the world. I want to be able to say you played at my pub!”. Hearing J.J. talk of this other life, playing in stadium gigs alongside Fleetwood Mac and Aerosmith had me wondering why he’d ever leave it, but as I came to understand him…I came to understand. Back in the olden days (if you can call the olden days 20 years ago) you could, when you were lucky, go up to the cockpit of an airliner to take in the view, and to meet the pilots. Usually reserved for little boys and girls – as happened to me once – but also for travelling rock band members, particularly if they are a drummer, and the pilot is interested in that rhythmic art. The pilot in question was Cliff Bedser, and through a mutual interest in drumming, came a ‘you teach me the drums - and I’ll teach you to fly’ conversation. How it actually transpired – I’m sure it was entirely above board as from what I can gather of J.J. there is no other way – well, I’m not quite sure. But from those first exchanges on flights to LA grew a passion that saw much of what was earned from music gigs going towards flight lessons that progressed over ten years towards a commercial licence. This journey, as anyone knows, is not an easy one. It has an intense academic component. Beyond the practical flying there is a lot of bookwork. Jumping back nearly 25 years to J.J.’s start in the rock industry might help with how he managed this. At just 16 years old and still in year 10, he backed himself to leave school, heading to Sydney to live under a bush in a park, in the hope of securing an audition with a band and seeing out some dreams. He followed his heart and found himself on a jet to LA a week later. His

main goal was to be good. He loved recording with the feedback of hearing himself play. He acted on that feedback, accepting his own self-critical nature, and became very good indeed. His 25-year rock career was launched, its bookend – a sliding door moment when Mick Fleetwood offered to take him under his wing and help him to fly into the BIG rock world. But J.J.’s heart, by then, was in the sky. The heart of the story is linked by these two events. J.J.’s self-belief, in eschewing school to follow a dream, and backing a dream again when he realised that the rock lifestyle was not for him forever but flying was a way to live a life he wanted. To see that out he had to, again, become very good indeed. In the background was the love of his life, Tracey, who’d been with him for almost as long (now 30 years). The wife of the travelling rock and roller who wasn’t really, but a rock and roller that could read his life ahead, knew what he wanted, and had the ability in his 30s to put his head down and do the hard yards, become a commercial pilot and a flying instructor. He hadn’t finished year ten, but he knew that “you can become anything you want”. Over the past 10 years JJ has held a number of positions with both Charter companies and Flight Schools around Australia and a little over three years ago he decided it was time to bring some fun back into flying with the formation of White Star Aviation. All that has gone before is a preamble to this new adventure in JJ’s life. With Nathan James as Head of Operations and Flight Examiner and Mike Long as Chief Engineer, this unique management team has built a thriving operation covering aircraft maintenance, sales and training through to commercial license, Instrument and Instructor Ratings, using both practical flight training in the air, and simulator training on the full-motion CKAS MotionSim1 Flight Training Device. This platform offers students both analogue and G1000 instrumentation on single and multi-engine aircraft, which provides students with a full flight trainer/aircraft combination for basic training through to Multi Instrument Rating. Our conversation around the simulator stemmed from a conversation I’d had about five months back with Flight Lt Aimee Heal of the RAAF Roulettes. Her

SPORTPILOT / PILOT PROFILES

Credit: White Star Aviation

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journey to flying at that level at just 30 began with an enchantment with flying as a child, and a dogged desire to get into the air professionally. Her Air Force journey was naturally honed within that elevated learning environment, but the core remained the same. High level instruction at a theoretical level, great simulator experience and getting into the air actively right from the beginning. The mix seems to be the key, especially if flying as a career is in your sights. I mentioned my own meagre experiences in a cockpit, with the confusion and unfamiliarity of this new operating space. JJ talked about how learning to fly needs to be fun, that there needs to be a sense of humour about it as a relaxed mindset encourages learning. It was during this part of our conversation that we made the connection to JJ’s drumming, and flying. The controls operate around a three-dimensional space, with stick and foot controls respectively

making sense of the up, down and around that it is to work with your head in the clouds, literally. A certain ambidexterity is developed, but it helps to be hardwired with it, when you’re a drummer. J.J. also spoke of the way aircraft have improved over the years, and the change in focus from aircraft reliability (now almost a given) to flight training, the recognition of threat, and error management. Listening to J.J., and knowing his own very idiosyncratic flying journey, told me there are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to getting into the air. You don’t have to begin as a child. Nor do you need to feel daunted if a life changing career shift to flying is on your bucket list. I know I hark back to the wrong musical era in saying you can go from Shake, Rattle and Roll, to Yaw, Pitch and Roll, and still make a beautiful life, but I think you get my drift.

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SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

PARA-WHAT? POWERED PARACHUTES & POWERED PARAGLIDERS – WHAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU? At the core of everything in aviation is the same basic idea – putting people in the sky. While some pilots are dedicated to finding ways to go further, faster or higher, there are some who want to strip it back, getting as close to that fundamental concept as possible. Words: Tom Lyons

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SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

For pilots of Powered Parachutes (PPC) and Powered Paragliders (PPG), nothing beats being able to fly with as little hardware as necessary. Doing away with large, pricey three-axis aircraft, these pilots take to the skies with little more than a propeller and a piece of fabric. It’s a thrilling experience, and one that’s both affordable and easy to learn. More and more people – seasoned pilots and ab initio flyers alike – are starting to get into this side of aviation, however there are a lot of questions that come right off the bat, so let’s dive in and unpack this incredible sport. PPC and PPG are sometimes used interchangeably by those outside the sport, but are in fact two distinct disciplines. Powered Parachuting involves a wheeled “cart” that can seat one or two people with a pusher propeller attached to a parafoil to generate lift and steer the aircraft. The most common and popular example of PPCs in Australia is the Aerochute which is in fact Australian made. Powered Paragliding – also known as paramotoring – involves wearing a motor and propeller on your back, launching the aircraft by foot (instead of wheels) and steering via a higher-performance aerofoil. PPG setups are

often comprised of a paramotor and a wing from different manufacturers, however there are some – such as BlackHawk Paramotors based in the USA – that offer complete packages. PPC aircraft can be registered with either RAAus or the Sport Aircraft Federation of Australia (SAFA), whereas PPGs can only be registered with SAFA. Choosing to fly one or the other often depends most heavily on age, physical fitness, flight experience and purpose for flying. So, what’s right for you? The first factor to consider is your age and physical fitness. PPC and PPG are certainly not just a young person’s sport, however having to bear the weight of a paramotor on your back for extended periods of time will certainly challenge your physical fitness. Landing a foot-launched paramotor can also be quite hard on the knees, so taking stock of any pre-existing knee or leg injuries before you decide is a wise move. Additionally, foot-launched paramotors take quite a bit of coordination and a quick reaction time to pilot safely, so having quick reflexes and sharp fine motor skills are a must if you are considering this route. It’s not the be all and end all, but for those of a more advanced age, considering a wheeled-launch is a good idea.

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SPORTPILOT / FE ATURE

““Essentially, you can take off and land anywhere - other than controlled airspace - where there is sufficient area, safe landing space and if you have landowner permission.”

The other major consideration when looking at PPCs and PPGs is a simple one, but one that can often be overlooked. Figuring out what you want to do with your aircraft is vital to making the right decision. Many aircraft dealers have told us – whether it’s PPC, PPG or three-axis aircraft – a lot of people don’t actually have a good idea of their flight objectives before buying. A lot of the time, pilots will visualise incredible cross-country adventures or flying their friends and family around, believing this to be their main focus. However, 90 per cent of their flying will end up being smaller, scenic flights around their home. While it’s still important to choose an aircraft with the capabilities for those dream flights, choosing something that is suited to the majority of your flying is going to make you want to use it more frequently and get the most out of your aircraft. For those looking to fly cross-country or with a passenger, a Powered Parachute is your best bet. PPCs tend to have an edge when it comes to range, and the cart configuration is often large enough to seat two people. For those looking for scenic flights

around their home or wanting to skid across a lake low-and-slow style, PPGs are the way to go. While tandem PPG setups do exist, they tend to be clunky, complicated and uncomfortable on longer flights, lending the sport much more favourably to solo pilots. No matter what you choose, PPCs and PPGs offer some amazing benefits when it comes to flying. If portability is what you seek, both options are fantastic. PPCs are extremely portable, with carts able to fit on regular trailers or in the tray of some larger utes. Foot-launched PPGs take it a step further though, and can be stored in the boot of just about any car, eliminating the need for a hangar – or even a garage – to store your very own aircraft. PPCs and PPGs both allow for extremely short takeoffs and landings, enabling pilots to launch without the need of an airstrip. PPC carts like the Aerochute have a take-off distance of 20-30m, while a foot-launched paramotor will take about 10m of running to get you in the air. This allows PPCs and PPGs to explore locations that most other aircraft simply can’t access.

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Essentially, you can take off and land anywhere - other than controlled airspace where there is sufficient area, safe landing space and if you have landowner permission. For those looking to explore, both options will let you discover this country in a greater level of detail than just about any other vehicle allows. Affordability is another strong point when it comes to these flying machines, with both styles much more attainable than its aircraft counterparts. At the top-end of the price spectrum, a brand-new PPC will set you back around $25-30K, while a footlaunched PPC will cost you around $15K. Regular maintenance costs are also minimal, amounting to little more than a new set of sparkplugs every 50 hours. While the differences can be confusing, the benefits are clear. Whether you’re an aviation enthusiast looking to fly for the first time or a seasoned three-axis pilot looking to try your hand at a different aviation experience, these para-contraptions are certain to keep money in your wallet, space in your hangar and a smile on your face.

SPORTPILOT / IN THE HANGAR

IN THE HANGAR

BUILDING, MAINTAINING AND DOCUMENTING YOUR AIRCRAFT

WHAT’S THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH? HOW IMPORTANT IS RADIO IN A MODERN AIRCRAFT? NICHOLAS HEATH FINDS OUT. Words Nick Heath

ISSUE 99

When I learnt to fly, the mantra was always ‘aviate, navigate, communicate’ in that order of priority. And let me tell you, there was a long drop-off after aviate and plenty of daylight between navigate and communicate. Radio communication was deemed desirable but not fundamental to flying. So, what has changed since then? Well, the first noticeable change is in the quality and price of radio equipment. In the planes I used to fly around with my father in the 1970s – mostly Cessna 182s – you had a King radio with a speaker over your head and a microphone on a twisty cord. That was it. Headphones were for the professionals. Fast forward to now and we have noise

The most obvious change in communications is around the circuit. Different pilots interpret the requirements and there’s a lot more being said. Of course, all this extra calling has led to a much more crowded airwave. Probably the most frustrating thing on the radio is some people having a good old chat about conditions or the price of fish when you’re trying to make or hear a call. Don’t get me started. According to the Civil Aviation Advisory Publication CAAP 166-01, the correct format for a radio call is •

Location Traffic – Aircraft Type – Call Sign – Position/Level/Intentions – Location

That translates in real life to: “Parkes Traffic, Tecnam 4692, One-zero miles north inbound on descent through 4,200, estimating circuit at three six, Parkes”

Probably the most frustrating thing on the radio is some people having a good old chat about conditions or the price of fish when you’re trying to make or hear a call. cancelling headphones with Bluetooth connection to our phones. Things have really changed. Perhaps the not-so-obvious change is the availability of high-quality radio sets for a lot less money than before. You can buy a Funke ZATR833S transceiver that fits in a standard 2¼-inch instrument hole and puts out 6 watts of power for a little under $1900 AUD. I recently bought an Icom IC-A25NE, a handheld portable (think walkie-talkie) that includes GPS and VOR plus Bluetooth for under $700 AUD. I bought it as a back-up and for coordinating ground ops, but if you add a simple headset like a Pilot PA51 for around $200, you have a full Navicom set up with more capabilities than we ever dreamed of back in the 70s for under $1000. It’s just as well, because radio communications have grown in importance.

That call should take a bit less than 10 seconds. Any faster and it’s a jumble. Any slower and you’re taking up valuable frequency space. The commercial traffic speak at rates that us humble amateurs can’t hope to replicate. When I fly in controlled airspace, I find the speed and depth of communication to be a big jump on what I’m used to. When dealing with ATC, between deciphering the communication, understanding what has been said and then reading it back to them, I’ve found it can be a challenge if you don’t do it often. If there are two pilots in my plane – and there usually are if I’m going into controlled airspace – then one will fly while the other works the radio and nav. That’s how the commercial traffic do it and I can see why. It’s a lot to do while trying to fly an aircraft. The current debate over expanding Class E airspace – which requires a transponder – makes it likely that in the future, more RAAus

SPORTPILOT / IN THE HANGAR

Let’s say you are stooging along with your transponder set to 1200 and ATC asks you to squawk 7421. So, you wind the left-hand knob down the dial to 7, then the second knob down to 4 and in doing so, you have just passed through 7700, 7600 and 7500. Yes, all the emergency channels. That’s not going to make you popular. As if the radio stack wasn’t big enough already, the latest kid on the block is ADS-B, or Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast. This is a clever piece of technology which transmits your position and other important information. That part is called ADS-B OUT. Seems kind of obvious. They call the other mode, ADS-B IN. I wonder how long that meeting took? The unit transmits your ID, your position, height, speed and direction, including vertical speeds. Icom IC-A25NE - Handheld Airband Transceiver

aircraft will have a transponder fitted. Currently, roughly a third of aircraft have them. So why do we need a transponder and more importantly, why in Class E Airspace? A transponder is very useful to air traffic control when identifying aircraft. While you are buzzing around with it set to 1200, it’s talking to secondary radar and giving ATC your pressure height. By having you ‘squawk’ a particular frequency, they can then use this to identify you on their screens from

So, a ground station has picked up your position and fed it in to the system. Here’s where the magic happens. Your aircraft can now pick up the data from other aircraft via ADSB-IN and you can see them on your nav or at least get a proximity warning. In the USA, ADS-B has been a mandatory fitting to all aircraft since 2020 operating in controlled airspace, but it hasn’t happened in Australia yet, unless you are flying IFR. So why is it mandatory in the USA for VFR aircraft in certain airspaces? It’s because of the high levels of traffic

I’ve often wanted some codes for lesser emergencies like ‘I really need to pee’ and ‘my pen fell under the seat’, but they aren’t on the list. other traffic. It also provides a useful tool in a crisis with codes for emergency (7700) loss of radio (7600) and even hijacking (7500). I’ve often wanted some codes for lesser emergencies like ‘I really need to pee’ and ‘my pen fell under the seat’, but they aren’t on the list. An important thing my first instructor taught me was to switch to standby when changing channels or at least be very careful when doing so. Here’s why.

and the potential interaction of small, slow-moving GA traffic with large, fast-moving commercial passenger services. Which brings us nicely back to why in Australia a radio, transponder and ADS-B are more important than ever: traffic. A lot of people talk about the demise of aviation, but the fact is, despite the obvious impact of COVID-19, aviation has grown rapidly and there are more and more aircraft in the airspace than ever before.

ISSUE 99

AN INTERESTING CHAT Some days the radio chatter is more interesting than others. It’s a clear day in late 2005 and the perfect chance to freshen up some skills before my navigation exam.

The good news is that there are some affordable options - but with limitations. The SkyEcho 2 is a portable ADS-B IN/OUT unit accepted by CASA for under $900 with a 12-hour battery. This small unit has a range of about 40NM. That means you’re flying in a bubble with a diameter of 80NM, where you will see any other ADS-B OUT equipped aircraft. It connects to things like your tablet to display nearby traffic. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel more comfortable to know who is out there - provided they have ADS-B OUT fitted. I know a lot of pilots who will say that they didn’t need ADS-B before, followed by a rant. It will be similar to transition from paper maps to GPS. It doesn’t solve everything. Most commercial traffic uses the TCAS traffic collision avoidance system which doesn’t talk to ADS-B. TCAS only talks to a transponder.

I’ve grabbed my trusty steed, a Cessna 172 as old as me, which I liked to fly slightly starboard wing down. We head out of Geelong Airport for an anti-clockwise lap of the Bellarine Peninsula along the coast. There’s a stiff northerly, but it shouldn’t be a problem. I head south to Anglesea and then make a left tracking coastal for Port Phillip Heads. It’s a nice day with a fair amount of traffic about, meaning a lot of radio chatter. The beaches are packed because it’s hot. The parachutists are up and dropping over Torquay Airport. As I approach Barwon Heads, I pick up a call on the radio, “... engine failure over Torquay, one POB…”. Now that is going to get your heart racing! I looked over my shoulder, I was about 5 miles from where they were. I couldn’t see anything. The base responded and told them to go to the company channel. So, they went off the air. As a student pilot, I wasn’t sure what to do. I stayed on course and switched over to what I knew was the local operating channel to listen in. I wasn’t sure if I could help or not. The pilot sounded a bit flustered, but I guess you would be. The ground operator was trying to diagnose the problem. The engine briefly flared again, then died and the pilot reported he was ditching. Ditching? He had been over the airport a minute ago. At this point, I realised I probably should get back to the area frequency. I clicked over to hear my own base calling for me and sounding kind of desperate. Turns out they had heard a Cessna 172 in the area I was in was going down and they wanted to know if it was me! I quickly responded with a position and status. A slightly shirty flight school operator let me know they expected a prompt response in the future. My bad. Suitably chastised, I headed on towards Queenscliff, but my heart was no longer in the flight and I cut short back to Geelong. Meanwhile the other 172, which had been carrying parachutists, had ditched just off White’s Beach in Torquay into shallow water. Thankfully, the pilot was fine. He’d got the parachutists out over the field when the engine failed. Later that day, a tractor tried to pull the aircraft out of the water and succeeded in pulling the engine off the front of the aircraft. It kind of makes it hard to diagnose the issue after that. I’m still not sure how he had an engine failure over the field at 10,000 feet and somehow managed to end up in the water a couple of miles away. Like I said, that northerly was blowing hard. I took a few lessons from this. Listen up to the radio. You never know when the mundane will become an emergency and you might unknowingly be right in the middle of it. Secondly, if it goes down, let people in the area know you are there and what you are doing, provided you are not blocking the channel being used to coordinate the emergency. As a slightly more experienced pilot now, I would offer to assist if required, dependent on the nature of the emergency. But the best thing you can do is stay off the frequency and let them sort it out.

SkyEcho2 portable ADS-B transceiver

SPORTPILOT / IN THE HANGAR

On aircraft that fly in remote areas, you’ll often find a HF radio, a high powered, low frequency radio that has tremendous range. It looks like a normal radio however I recommend staying away from the antenna, it can give you a mighty kick with up to 200 watts of transmitting power. The other radio device you might see is a VOR navigation unit, a system that tracks ground-based radio beacons. Not that long ago, it was a very important piece of navigation equipment, however the induction of GPS has largely relegated it and ground-based beacons are diminishing in number.

ADS-B coverage at 5000ft

You will still need a transponder for Class E airspace. And, of course, you’ll still need to keep a proper watch, but that nagging feeling about a mid-air collision might ease a bit. There’s still a few more pieces of radio equipment you might come across.

So, what does all this mean? It means two clear things to remember for the future. Firstly, as traffic increases, we need to be better with our communication. Secondly, we are about to undergo a similar quantum change, such as the GPS revolution, but this time it is in how our aircraft talk to each other and ground stations. Got an opinion on the changes? Let us know at editor@sportpilot.net.au

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ISSUE 99

WHAT’S HOT

COOL PRODUCTS & REVIEWS FOR FLYERS

Books REVIEWED BY ED JONES / TOM LYONS

AUSTRALIAN WOMEN PILOTS

INSIDE THE CYCLONE:

Amazing True Stories of Women in the Air

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DAN ROACH | Independently published SBN-13 : 979-8669878115

Kathy Mexted’s Australian Women Pilots serves as a tribute to extraordinary stories of Australian women in the air, but the achievements of these pilots are also a modern reminder to young women – and men – to dream big today.

The intriguing tale of an unassuming British microlight, Inside the Cyclone by Dan Roach documents one man’s dream to own his own aircraft. Retelling the intense highs and heartbreaking lows encountered while assembling, maintaining and flying “Harriet” the Cyclone AX3, Roach provides a sincere and candid look at the world of aircraft ownership.

Kathy’s own aviation journey, experiences and ambitions unite with her detailed profiles including the likes of Nancy Bird Walton, Mardi Gething, Gaby Kennard and Esther Veldstra. Their stories are among those almost swallowed by an industry diluted by masculinity, from general aviation to major airlines and war. The author’s words will fill you with pride and awe, with bittersweet tales of pilots who have shaped the industry today and influenced Australia’s aviation future for the better. For a historian, an aspiring young pilot, or for an everyday reader looking for a book to enjoy with a cup of tea, this piece captures real determination and resilience in 10 captivating profiles.

From a detailed history of the type (including its evaluation for use by the RAF!) to the turning of the key in his very own AX3, Roach provides a compelling narrative that is bound to resonate amongst all aircraft owners. For fans of the type, microlight aircraft, or simply a well-told and compelling story, Inside the Cyclone will be tough to put down.

SPORTPILOT / WHAT ’S HOT

On the Web COMPILED BY: ED JONES

YOUTUBE: STEFAN DRURY If you’re looking to load-up on new aviation content, check out out Stef Drury’s channels. You’ll see everything from tech and gadgets, through to answering subscriber questions, flying overseas or outback, and all things aviation – including flying the entire Victorian border just for kicks. Plus, occasionally you’ll see a bit of ‘dream’ flying, like the Cirrus jet!

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AUSTRALIA COME FLY WITH ME Hosted by Justine Clarke, Australia Come Fly With Me explores the history of civil aviation over the past 100 years in this country. A fascinating look at the innovative minds, swashbuckling adventurers and determined souls that have shaped aviation in Australia and beyond, the three-part series is both informative and entertaining, making it perfect for your next binge watch! Available on SBS OnDemand

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ISSUE 99

Gear COMPILED BY: SCOTT PIGDON / TOM LYONS

AIR FORCE 100 FLIGHT JACKET AIR FORCE 100 FLIGHT PATCH This official Air Force Centenary Flight Patch commemorates the 100th anniversary of the RAAF. Embroidered with the official Air Force 100 logo, this patch is approved for uniform wear by Air Force personnel. It’s the perfect addition to backpacks and flight jackets alike! $9.95 airforceshop.com.au

Based on the WWII-era A2 jacket, this goatskin leather flight jacket has been inspected by RAAF and approved for uniform wear by Air Force personnel. The jacket features the Air Force Centenary logo and aircraft silhouettes on a dark blue field in the lining. Finishing the design is the commemorative Centenary logo embossed on a leather patch below the inside pocket. $299.95 airforceshop.com.au

FLIGHT OUTFITTERS BUSH PILOT FLASHLIGHT The Bush Pilot Flashlight from Flight Outfitters is a handy tool for your flight bag. 1,000 lumens of powerful white light with an adjustable beam ensures you see everything during pre-flight checks, while the strobe setting is perfect for emergency signalling. It’s made of aircraft-grade aluminium, is USB rechargeable and even has a magnetic base for hands-free light when you need it! $139.95 downunderpilotshop.com.au

SPORTPILOT / WHAT ’S HOT

GOPRO HERO 9 BLACKK The new GoPro HERO 9 Black takes everything that made GoPro Prro a household name and takes it up p a notch. Capture 5K resolution film and take 20MP photos to get e et the most out of your scenic flights. hts. Also featuring HyperSmooth 3.0 0 stabilisation technology and 8x slow motion capabilities, you’re guaranteed a smooth, crisp video eo o even on the bumpiest of rides. $529.95 gopro.com

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Many flight helmets out there that will set you back thousands of dollars, but the Sky Cowboy Pilot Helmet offers protection and comfort without busting a hole your wallet. Perfect for PPC, Weight Shift Trike and STOL pilots, this lightweight helmet is compatible with headsets from Bose, David Clark and Lightspeed.

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ISSUE 99

COCKPIT

SPORTPILOT READERS’ MAGNIFICENT FLYING MACHINES

BEATING THE HEAT GREG’S JABIRU J430 LIQUID COOLED CONVERSION Words Greg McCarthy

After spending what seems like a lifetime building my Jabiru 3300 powered Sonex, I decided I needed something with a little more utility. After some research I came across a nice four seat Jabiru J430 – this one is powered by the Camit 3300 which is essentially the same billet as the Jabiru engine. The demo flight went well, the price was okay, so I went ahead with the purchase! Soon after, I put the plane to work. The initial few flights went well, but on the warmer days I noticed the Cylinder Head Temperature (CHT) were getting way too high on the climb, so I’d have to pull some power and lower the nose to keep things cool. I spoke with the previous owner and he explained that this is just something I’d have to manage! I noticed the aircraft was fitted with a Rotec TBI fuel system – the TBI-40-S. I have one of these on my Sonex as well and they are brilliant. This got me thinking I could talk with Rotec about making the TBI a little richer at the top end to help keep the CHT in check. I spoke with Tony at Rotec and he suggested we could tweak the spray bar to give just a little more fuel at the top end. Once the modification was complete, it could run much richer – perhaps even

a little too rich, so I had to lean back to get her to perform. By the way, the Rotec TBI affords the pilot fully metered in-cockpit mixture control. It was still way too hot on the CHT, so back to square one! While I was talking with Paul Chernikeeff, the owner of Rotec Aerosport, he suggested that a better course of action would be to tackle the problem head on with a set of his Rotec liquid cooled heads (LCH). At first, I wasn’t so keen on adding the complexities associated with a water-cooled system. After understanding their past success stories and then seeing just how straightforward the kit was to install, I was convinced this was the way to go. Paul explained that water cools at about 30 times the rate of air – hard to argue with that! The weight penalty was negligible, as each of the six heads are physically lighter than the stock air-cooled head so once the coolant, pump and radiator were added, things worked out about the same.

SPORTPILOT / COCKPIT

“We ran the engine with the top cowl off, so no air scoop was in play and no matter how much power I used, the engine did not even look like getting hot.” Rotec offered to assist with the installation and so with that I flew the plane down to Tyabb, Victoria, where Rotec Aerosport are based and spent a few days there installing the kit. It was great having the Rotec team on hand just in case but in reality, the installation went as per the manual and I was mostly left to my own devices. It was suggested the radiator, new and from a Honda CB 1300, be mounted on top of the engine accessories just under the cowl and then employ a narrow intercooler scoop to feed air directly into the radiator. This configuration had been used by other LCH customers with positive results, so it’s a neat solution and I’ve got to say also looks sharp! Though not entirely necessary, we decided to not waste the original incoming air and make a traditional engine plenum chamber. This was made from thin fiberglass sheet which was trimmed to carefully follow the shape of the engine’s perimeter at the horizontal half-way line of the engine. Openings from the stock Jabiru cowl blast into the top plenum, causing high pressure

10 0

above the engine. The air is then forced over the crank case, down through the cylinder fins and into the low-pressure section underneath the engine where it exits around the nose wheel opening. Nice! Next was to mount the small brushless Bosch electric water pump which feeds water directly into 35mm pipe with six 5/8” barbs attached, called the coolant common rail. From the common rail, these six barbs feed water via coolant hoses into each of the six separate liquid cooled heads, three 5/8” hoses on the left bank and three on the right. The six Rotec LCH water inlet fittings sneak coolant in between the pushrod tubes from the underside of the engine. On the top side of the engine, the left and right banks of heads have all the hot water outlets daisy-chained together where they junction on route back to the radiator for cooling. Installing the Rotec heads is exactly the same as installing any stock Jabiru head – the same bolts, torque, valves, pushrods, pushrod tubes, rockers, even the spark plugs – all of these are reused from the

ISSUE 99

original heads. The engine side of things was relatively straight-forward. I had all the heads installed and adjusted by the end of the first day. The slower part of the conversion was dealing with the plumbing, locating and mounting of the radiator and fitting the cooling scoop to the top cowl. That took a good day to nut out. The scoop was attached to the top cowl with some fiberglass and resin, some filler, primer and a quick paint job. With the installation now complete, Rotec suggested we install their Jabiru e-ignition. I had been having difficulties starting the plane in the cooler months, but Paul guaranteed the engine would start first blade or two and that any hard starting would be a thing of the past. Installing the e-ignition was super easy. No timing, no setting gaps. I just pulled one of the stock Jab coils and replaced this with the Rotec Hall ignition sensor, which is designed to pick up the original flywheel magnets. Finally, mount the module, the new high energy coil, then run the new coil lead into the original distributor cap. That’s it! For testing, we filled the radiator and the cooling system with a mix of 50/50 glycol and water. It took a little time to bleed all the air out. As the water pump is electric you can bleed the entire cooling system without the engine even running. For the same reason, you can also run the water pump for a few minutes after shutdown to cool the engine, a bonus. With everything all buttoned up, we pushed the plane outside, tied her down and began some preliminary ground runs. After a quick prime of the TBI, the engine literally started first blade! Yep, the e-ignition sure works! We ran the engine with the top cowl off, so no air scoop was in play and no matter how much power I used, the engine did not even look like getting hot. The highest I saw on the coolant get was about 70°C. During an hour of testing, we checked for water and oil leaks, made sure there was no chafing and for anything that could be loose or out of place. All good on that front. I put the top cowl back on and decided to taxi out for a quick test flight. I lined up runway 17 at Tyabb and blasted off. I was at full power and climbing well, but my old habits saw me nervously scanning for the temperatures. What’s this? A Cylinder Head Temperature of 95°C on the heads, and just 72°C on the coolant? That can’t be right…I continued to climb past 3,000ft still at wide open throttle with no change

to the temperatures. Oh man, I thought this is unheard of! I flew around for an hour or so and was cruising at about 76°C on the coolant. I had a smile across my face like split watermelon. To date, I have around 75hrs on the LCH and I hardly even bother looking at the temperatures today. The head bolts have been checked three times and have not moved, nor has the valve lash, rock solid. Even during summer, the hottest I have seen the coolant is 82°C. To me, the LCH is a game changer and although I know there have been many conversions flying before mine, but there is not much said about it which is why I felt so compelled to write this article. If anyone out there would like to get in touch with me about any aspect of this conversion, I’d be more than happy to talk with them. Heck, I’d be glad to take them up for a ride. Rotec Aerosport hit a home run with this one.

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ISSUE 99 SYNDICATES

PROTECH PT2

WASP #003 FOR SALE

ZENAIR 601HD

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Hangared at YCAB. Overall excellent condition, always serviced,recent 5 yearly done. Total time for airframe,engine and prop 152 Hrs. Rotax 100HP, WarpDrive GA prop. Ideal bush strip plane with excellent visability and big wheels. Kevin Matar 0402 064 384 $35000

Zodiac CH 601 HD Zenair 601HD Rotax 912 80hp 42hrs total time easy to fly owner retiring due to age ring Roy Cox 0438 655 512 $32000

1100 Airframe Hours, 1100 approx Engine Hours, share of 2016 Aeroprakt A32 Vixxen, hangared at Caboolture. Fitted with Dynon Skyview and integrated autopilot, the Vixxen has a cruise speed of 108kts at 17l/hr. $9000 plus fixed monthly and hourly costs. Jim Thompson 0407 590 636 $9000

AIRCRAFT WANTED

SIRIUS TL 3000

KITFOX / AAK HORNET

250 Airframe Hours, 250 Engine Hours, TL-3000 Sirius. Factory built 2010, 100HP Rotax, 100 knot cruise speed, ballistic parachute system, 2 x 60 litre fuel tanks, VHF radio, GPS, dual controls, LAME maintained. No accidents, one owner. Always hangared Heck Field. Robert Zerner 0418 899 257 $89000

or other STOL style Aircraﬅ. Looking to purchase a Kitfox , AAK Hornet or similar. Happy to look at other options, something that can handle oﬀ field landings would be great. James Perry 0434 020 616 $NEG

XAIR HANUMAN 360 Airframe Hours, 360 Engine Hours, Imported, factory built, good condition. Always hangered, easy to fly, very forgiving. See on Youtube. Make an oﬀer. Greg 0488 068 848 $37000

PIPISTREL ALPHA 65 Airframe Hours, 65 Engine Hours, Alpha Trainer Syndicate Membership Opportunity. 30th Anniversary Edition. Restructured syndicate at Aldinga SA - Jabaringa Pty Ltd. Douglas Ransom 0438 822 165 $70000

TRIKES & WEIGHT SHIFT

JABIRU J230 Prefer flying but would consider a J230 without or damaged engine. Brian Stott 0410 401 139 $Neg

SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE 2/3 SCALE 136.1 Airframe Hours, 135 hrs Engine Hours, MK 25 Supermarine Spitfire 2/3 Scale. A great opportunity to own such a great sports aircraﬅ at a fraction of the cost. Please feel free to contact me for any information. Karl Schultz 0427 919 812 $62000 neg

XENOS 197235 300.2 Airframe Hours, 300 Engine Hours, Xenos motor glider. Engine professionally built. 85kt cruise. Chris Dearden 0408 904 887 $40000

PARTS AIRBORNE WINDSPORTS

GARMIN GTN750 GPS ZENITH ZODIAC 601XL

WAIEX SONEX B MODEL FULL KIT HALF BUILT nil Airframe Hours, nil Engine Hours, 50% built fuselage & tail section complete, includes hardware kit & Rotax 912 engine mount replacement cost $45000+. Phone only. John Cott 043451562 $40000

Zodiac CH601XL-B Awarded Best of Show and Best Amateur Build in 2017 at Airventure Narromine. This Zenith was constructed in 2009 and completely restored in 2015 by LAME owner as a long term keeper. Selling now to make room for another project. Doug Toppazzini 0410 184 606 $52000

119.9 Airframe and Engine Hours, original logbooks, no accident history. Brolga 4 Blade. Dash mount base station Microair VHF. Vertical speed indicator plus standard instruments. Airframe, interior and exterior as new. Rotax 582 2 stroke. Located Gundaroo. Peter Wilson 0418 278 012 $15,000

GMA35 Audio Panel Garmin GTN 750 GPS/NAV/COMM/MFD Complete setup with Low Hours and Cycles. Garmin GTN 750. David Macri $8000

HANGARS / STORAGE

AIR CREATION TANARG

HANGARAGE SPACE WAHRING 3608  Hangarage space for rent Available Space for Microlights, Powered Parachutes, Gyrocopters. At present 1 x Fixed wing aircraﬅ Ok, 8 metre wing span. Max inclusions. Concrete floor, lighting & 240V power, fridge, microwave. $340 per quarter all fees inclusive. George Vassis 0421 700 300

World’s most comfortable trike. 2015 Model Tanarg Bionix 13, high performance Wing, 100hp Rotax 912, comfortable 70KTS cruise, VNE 102 KTS, maximum cross country comfort. Kenneth Jelleﬀ 0412 512 457 $47000

10 3

ISSUE 99

CLUBS Part of the attraction of Recreational Aviation Australia is our vibrant club movement. Mainly spread across our regional areas our clubs offer members a great way to connect, share stories, learn, and reminisce. Many of our affiliated clubs offer weekend events and fly-ins, so they are a great way to stay connected with members spread across a wide distance. See our list of affiliated clubs and make contact to get involved, with over 40 affiliated clubs across Australia, there is sure to be one near you.

FEATURE CLUB: – THE WYNYARD AERO CLUB The Wynyard Aero Club is situated at the Burnie Airport in the town of Wynyard, Tasmania. The friendly, community-based club has a flying school operating out of the clubhouse with 19 RAAus students. There are currently 75 club members, 43 of whom are RAAus licensed. The club also owns two large hangars which are rented to members with aircraft. The clubhouse is open each weekend to anyone with an interest in aviation, whether it be for flight planning or a social gathering. The club holds a BBQ on the third Saturday of each month from 6pm with everyone welcome. Fly-aways are also held regularly through the year. wynyardaeroclub.com.au

The Wynard Aero Club

NEW SOUTH WALES info@coffsaero.com

Coffs Harbour & District Aero Club

www.coffsaero.com

Hastings District Flying Club

Rod Davison

www.hdfc.com.au

Holbrook Ultralight Club

Bryan Gabriel

www.holbrookultralightclub.asn.au

Parkes Aero Club

Brett Preisig

www.parkesaeroclub.com.au

Sydney Recreational Flying Club

Greg Davies

www.srfc.org.au

Beau Thornton

www.facebook.com/ASAeroClub

Burdekin Aero Club

Brian Richardson

www.burdekinaeroclub.org

Burnett Flyers Inc

Ralph Percy

www.burnettflyers.org

Darling Downs Sport Aircraft Association

Trevor Bange

NORTHERN TERRITORY Alice Springs Aero Club Inc QUEENSLAND

www.loneeagleflyingschool.org.au www.ddac.com.au/

Darling Downs Aero Club SOUTH AUSTRALIA Adelaide Soaring Club

Karl Faeth

www.adelaidesoaring.on.net

TASMANIA Wynyard Aero Club

Billi Kicks

billie53@hotmail.com

www.wynyardaeroclub.com.au

VICTORIA Ballarat Aero Club

Keith Jeffs

www.ballarataeroclub.com.au/

Cobden Aero Club

Bill Woodmason

www.facebook.com/Cobdenaeroclub91

Horsham Flying Club

Steven Schneider

www.horshamflyingclub.org.au

Bunbury Aero Club

Alex Karatamoglu

www.bunburyaeroclub.com.au/

Greenside Recreational Flyers Club

Michael Donsen

secretary@grfc.asn.au

Narrogin Flying Club

Rod Slater

narroginflying@gmail.com

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

www.facebook.com/GRFCmuchea

10 5

SPORTPILOT / THE FINAL APPROACH

FINAL APPROACH Words Nicholas Heath

THE SKY IS FALLING IN

If you didn’t spot the proposal by Airservices Australia, the people who manage our controlled airspace and airports, to lower the height of Class E airspace to 1,500 feet across much of East Australia, then here’s the heads up. So, what does that mean? Well, Class E Airspace is usually down to a minimum of 8,500 feet. Below that it’s usually Class G or uncontrolled. That allows plenty of room for pilots like you and me to get through. But lowering it for most of the airspace between Cairns and Melbourne on the ‘J -Curve’ removes that Class G space. So, literally, the sky is falling in. Sure, you don’t need clearance for Class E airspace, but you do need a transponder. Currently, about a third of the RAAus fleet has a transponder. That means around two thirds of our fleet would either have to buy and fit a transponder or avoid the area, or worse still, have to fly under 1,500 feet above terrain in some places. Airservices Australia have said that a purpose of the new airspace change is to “Foster equitable access to the airspace”. From where I sit, that statement is untenable. This change, if enacted, removes the use of that airspace from thousands of users without a transponder and potentially pushes them in to dangerous choices. Airservices are proposing that this starts in December 2021. They had a consultation period of exactly 3 weeks. In January. When everyone is on holiday. Even so, they got over a thousand submissions and feedback. I’m guessing a lot of these had just two words in them, and the second word was NO. RAAus staff put together a fairly strongly worded submission on the membership’s behalf. As a consequence

10 6

of these submissions, Airservices have decided to “revise” their proposal. Ironically, one of the other main points that they now recognise is the need to “allow industry sufficient opportunity to consider and provide feedback on the details of the proposal”. Who would have thunk it? The “revision” is pretty much the same as before, with the silly “above ground level” idea replaced by stepped heights that could see you flying at less than 1,500 feet above terrain for extended periods. Last edition I said I am in favour of letting the people responsible for making important decisions about our air laws make them in an appropriate time frame. Some people criticised that view as being too patient. Well, this is what happens when they try to rush a change through. Bad decisions are made without thought for all air users. Changes that could endanger lives. I’ve dealt with Air Traffic Control while flying. By and large they have been courteous and helpful. In fact, flying in to Canberra last year with all the smoke around from the bushfires, they went out of their way to help us on approach. So, I don’t think the problem is endemic. There is a problem though. In 2019 a Mooney M20 crashed in NSW mid north coast after diverting when ATC told them they couldn’t transit controlled airspace. This was despite the Australian Transport Safety Bureau finding that there was “no conflicting traffic, meteorological factors or limiting air traffic control instructions or procedures that would have precluded providing the clearance”. Ultimately it was the pilot’s decision to fly where they did and the report indicates that the pilot was lacking currency. But as the head of the ATSB points out “This accident illustrates the significant influence that air traffic control can have on the conduct of a flight.” This isn’t the first instance I have heard of pilots being denied access to airspace for no good reason. It’s indicative of an attitude about denying pilots the use of airspace. And that is of great concern. I know the team at RAAus are working hard to prevent this sort of silliness. I hope they succeed.

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BERT FLOOD IMPORTS 915 iS A | 141hp

rs 120T0BOh

The new Rotax 915 iS A is the latest extension of the 912/914 engine family offering the best power to weight ratio yet. This dynamic, turbocharged iS engine provides full take-off power and a service ceiling up to 23.000 feet.

rs 200T0BOh The Rotax 912 iS Sport aircraft engine is a further improvement of the 912 iS and offers outstanding performance with low fuel consumption. Pilots will appreciate the improved take-off performance which results in a better climb rate, a shorter take off run and a higher cruise speed.

912 S/ULS | 100hp In comparison to the 80 hp version of the Rotax 912 series, the 100 hp product line offers more power while keeping the weight down.

s 000 hr

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300BhO r T

582 MOD. 99 | 65hp

200T0BOh

912 A/F/UL | 80hp

ENGINES YOU CAN RELY ON.

Distributed in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South East Asia:

More than 180,000 units of Rotax aircraft engines have been sold in total. Since 1989 BRP-Rotax has manufactured more than 50,000 units of the Rotax 912/914 engines family.

Bert Flood Imports Pty Ltd 17 - 18 Chris Drive Lilydale Victoria 3140 Australia Email: gary@bertfloodimports.com.au Visit us at: www.bertfloodimports.com.au Tel: 03 9735 5655 Fax: 03 9735 5699