Australian Flying

Civil Aviation Safety Regulation Part 149 is a crossroad set of rules that has the potential to change general aviation in Australia, we just don’t know if that change is for the better or the worse. Part 149 covers the self-administered leisure and

There’s an old saying that you can’t regulate for idiots. Rules are effective only if people are willing to abide by them, and making regulation to try to curb those that won’t adhere to the rules is a waste of time. The article written by Mr Carmody

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s latest rule set, CASR Part 149, became law on 14 July this year, giving the relevant organisations three years to fall in line. CASR Part 149 governs the self-administration functions of associations such as Recr

Central Coast Council and Central Coast Aero Club (CCAC) are at loggerheads over the future of Warnervale Airport after a council meeting last July moved to investigate revegetating of part of the existing runway and preventing clearing within 200 me

Qantas has stuck with its spiritual home state and selected Mackay as the site of its second training academy. The airline announced in July that Queensland would host both academies after the first was established at Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba. Q

The mission was typical Northern Territory general aviation. The aircraft was a Cessna 210, the workhorse of the north; the flight was from Darwin to Elcho Island, the cargo was a coffin and they were going VFR. What was not typical was that the flig

Consider the act of ballooning and immediately images of romance, couples and champagne begin to percolate; a balloon even looks romantic, like a colourful bubble with a picnic basket attached. So popular are balloon-inspired marriage proposals, ball

Glen Buckley bet his house on CASA. It was a huge risk, but he saw a market for an innovative type of flying training organisation tailored directly to the new and onerous requirements of CASR Part 142. In order to get it right, Buckley enlisted the

When Errol van Rensburg contacted me recently about flying the new Sling TSi, I jumped at the opportunity after my experiences with the Sling 2. Arriving at Gold Coast Sport Flying Club’s Hecks Field, just near Jacobs Well on Queensland’s Gold Coast,

Aeroplanes are graceful machines in the air, but can be cumbersome brutes on the ground. Whereas the design is perfect for its intended operating environment thousands of feet above the earth, aeroplanes are understandably compromised when it comes t

This article is going to be subjective. Some of the aircraft named may well be in the favourites list of some readers. So I should start by stating that this is my list of worst planes, and you may well have a completely different list. Mine is not t

You would think that the Wright Brothers, who were in the bicycle business, would have adopted wheels from the outset, but their first aircraft used skids and rails on the ground. The design stayed that way for years – even the first Wright Military

I mentioned this matter briefly in the July-August issue of Australian Flying. It's unfortunate that I need to raise it again, as very little progress has been made since then. Sydney Airport Curfew Regulations 1995 and nine other Department of Infra

Airbus Helicopters have delivered two new H130s to Far North Queensland (FNQ) tourism operator, Nautilus Aviation. Nautilus recently entered into a new tourism partnership with the Quicksilver Group, based in Port Douglas. “As we have been successful

Don Gordon took lessons at Casey Airfield out at Berwick, Victoria, and within a few years he’d completed his Commercial Licence. Soon after, he joined the Sport Aircraft Association with the intention of building his own aeroplane. It had to be some

Our Occurrence Management System (OMS) turns four in a few weeks’ time. If you are wondering what the OMS is you should check it out (http://oms.raa.asn.au). In a nutshell it is where our members report aviation related occurrences, hazards and lodge

The Australian civil aviation industry touches the lives of most Australians, whether as members of the travelling public or through its broader economic, social and technological impact. Arguably, no other country depends more on aviation than Austr

It is no news to anyone that relations between CASA and many parts of the aviation industry were at rock bottom a few years ago. The aviation regulation re-write had stalled and what regulations had been produced had caused widespread concern in indu