January-February 2019

Australian Flying

Australia's premier General Aviation magazine

Australian Flying2 min read
The Professional PPL Paradox
Years ago I sat down in a class at Moorabbin. It was a one-off weekend course entitled “PPL Refresher”. My PPL certainly needed refreshing because my bank account had forced it to go stale. The opening statement from the instructor had me thinking I’
Australian Flying4 min read
AirMail
Andrew’s letter expresses a growing concern in general aviation that bickering and in-fighting is overshadowing the desperate need for reform progress as strategies to out-manoeuvre rivals become the primary focus of organisations. Hi, Steve, I am re
Australian Flying4 min read
Self-assessed Medicals: Is It About Money?
The advocacy battle for self-assessed medicals for general aviation pilots appears to have become one of finance, which sees Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) concerned about the implications for their balance sheets and the Australian General
Australian Flying2 min readAutomotive
Sonka wins 2018 World Championship
Czech pilot Martin Sonka clinched the 2018 Red Bull Air Race World Championship with a tense victory at the final round in Texas in November. Sonka beat Australian Matt Hall, the USA’s Kirby Chambliss and Briton Ben Murphy in the Final 4 to finish th
Australian Flying2 min read
Diamond Aircraft tests Hybrid Twin
Diamond Aircraft has test-flown a hybrid twin-engine aeroplane developed in conjunction with Siemans. The modified DA40 flew on 31 October from the Diamond headquarters in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. During the 20 minute flight, the aircraft was flown
Australian Flying2 min read
Trainers lead Piper Rebound
Piper Aircraft’s third-quarter 2018 figures showed the highest number of aircraft delivered since the onset of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. The company delivered 65 aircraft for the period July-September 2018, totalling $US69.5 million in sal
Australian Flying9 min read
Seating Arrangements
How often do we stop and take notice of our changing lives and amend our aircraft to suit? Pilots who once needed an aircraft to carry the family often find themselves with empty backseats once the kids grow up and start their own independent lives.
Australian Flying7 min readWorld
Russian to Market
Escaping Melbourne’s winter is always appealing, even if just for a few days to check on progress of Southern Sun 2, taking me to a mild summer in the Russian town of Samara, east of Moscow on Europe’s longest river, the Volga. Hosted by the Chaika A
Australian Flying11 min read
A Tale of Two Twins
Standing nose-to-nose, the two twins looked like they were eyeing each other like boxers at one of those weigh-ins staged before a fight. Silently they just glared, engines ready to strike the moment the other one flinched. Clearly one was larger, bu
Australian Flying7 min read
A Web of Skies
According to a recent ABC poll, the average Australian spends nearly seven hours a day on the internet. The poll ranked the top 50 websites in Australia, according to time spent browsing. Surprisingly the number one place where Australians spend thei
Australian Flying10 min read
The Worst Landing Ever
A pilot’s logbook is far more that just a record of dates, times, places and flights; it is also a history of a pilot’s flying career and a chronicle of the lessons learnt that makes them the aviator they are today. Jim Davis takes a look back throug
Australian Flying8 min read
A Session in Camera
There is no question, the digital revolution has changed the photographic world, delivering into the hands of anyone the artistic and emotional experiences of how we capture and view pictures. Photographers were once trained professionals, but, as a
Australian Flying8 min read
Flying by George
More than anything else in modern aircraft, autopilots evoke wonder and bewilderment, often at the same time. The first thing to learn about any new autopilot is which axes it controls. An uncomplicated single-axis autopilot just controls roll. They’
Australian Flying9 min read
A Doctrine of Aged Care
I vividly recall the reaction from my wife when I told her I was going to start flying lessons; although her comments were a little less harsh than my mothers who wondered whether I had developed a deathwish. Imagine the reaction when I told her that
Australian Flying4 min read
International Movements
The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) represents 14 business aviation associations (including the ABAA) around the world. IBAC is conveniently located in Montreal, Canada, in the same building as the International Civil Aviation Organisa
Australian Flying4 min read
Products & innovation
The GoPro camera has added a new dimension to general aviation since its invention. We now have the ability to record our own flight and replay the footage to simply enjoy it or to learn from it. Cameras are nowadays regularly placed inside the cockp
Australian Flying4 min read
Army Aviation Achieves 50 Years And Farewells Kiowa
Aceremonial parade and flypast which marked the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Australian Army Aviation Corps was recently held at the Army Aviation Training Centre at Oakey in Queensland. Head of Australian Army Aviation Corps, Brigadier S
Australian Flying3 min read
It’s Partnerships that Pay
RAAus has a long history of forging positive and lasting partnerships. We see value in sustaining partnerships, which is essentially how the aviation sector functions. Imagine a runway without any planes. Imagine a plane without a pilot. Imagine an e
Australian Flying3 min read
Eating the Elephant
I’d always been fascinated by flying and had a few flights in jets but it wasn’t until the year after high school that I got in a light aircraft. I was on my way to central Queensland to work as a jackeroo and flew from Winton to Central Qld in a Ces
Australian Flying3 min read
Regulators Under The Pump
In the last year or so certain regulators have been in the news a fair bit. And the news hasn’t always been good. We’ve seen the performance of the financial sector highlighted by the work of the Royal Commission into the Banking, Superannuation and
Australian Flying5 min read
Never Give Up
Aiming to make safer pilots of us, here veteran instructor Jim Davis looks at extracts from official CAA Accident Reports from his homeland of South Africa and analyses why things went wrong and how we may all avoid making similar mistakes. Date of A
Australian Flying3 min read
Check the Checklist
Over the last decade, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has investigated at least 11 accidents where the lack of, or the improper use of, a checklist was identified as a contributing factor. Of these, three accidents resulted in fatalitie

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