Australian Flying

eneral aviation has been like a 4WD stuck in mud for many years despite the collective effort by advocates to extract it from the mire. In the last 12 months, it seemed that we were gaining traction and GA was slowly moving towards solid ground. Now with a change of government, are we about to be shoved back into the morass again? The power to recover GA has always been there, but political motivation has been lacking for most of the time. With the release of the Coalition’s Aviation Recovery Framework, CASA’s GA workplan, the General Aviation Advisory Network (GAAN) strategy paper and the interim report from the senate inquiry into the GA industry, we had a momentum that we’d never experienced before. The Federal Election in May removed the Coalition government,…

Where Have all the Instructors gone? Dear Steve. In reference to Monica Kade’s article on flying instructors. When I was learning to fly in the mid 1980s, there were flying instructors all over the place. What happened? Why is there suddenly a shortage? Instruction was always a good way to build hours for young commercial pilots. Are we saying that’s not the case at the moment? I understand that airlines are taking pilots straight from the academies, meaning CPLs no longer need to do their time in general aviation to build enough hours to impress the airlines. That’s OK. But what about career flying instructors? Why isn’t anyone doing that anymore? If there’s noone to teach and no-one to teach how to teach, the general aviation industry really doesn’t have much longer…

Although cautiously optimistic about the chances for aviation reform under a new government, leading general aviation advocates believe the Labor government needs to hold off on their promise of another aviation white paper and instead focus on short-term action. When a swing away from both major parties left only the ALP as being able to form government on 21 May, fears began to rise that the body of reform work instigated and completed under the Coalition government over the past nine years would be discarded just before it began to bear fruit. The aviation policy the ALP took into the election promised another white paper, which sent shivers down the spine of a GA community with long memories of the last one. Orchestrated then by the new prime minister Anthony Albanese in…

1 New Frequencies to combat Congestion around Ballina2 CASA opens Consultation on GA Maintenance3 ARWC adds Malaysia to Race Season4 Aeroprakt hangs on in Ukraine5 Aviation H2 signs Deal with Falconair6 Honeywell plans for GPSdenied Environments7 Aviation Hall of Fame to open in June8 Safran to supply Engines for eDA409 CASA calls for Information on Future Projects10 JMB flies Turbine-powered VL3 SIGN UP TO KEEP UP! The Australian Flying website is updated daily with the latest GA news stories. Visit us online now at www.australianflying.com.au to also check out our free classifieds section, photo and video galleries, blogs, flying tips articles and comprehensive Warbird coverage. And be sure to register for our FREE weekly electronic newsletter, which delivers the latest news FREE to your inbox every Friday morning. This is the perfect…

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority published their long-awaited workplan to reduce regulatory burden on general aviation in May this year. The workplan was in response to the Statement of Expectations (SoE) handed to CASA by then Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce in January, and details all the steps and priorities CASA has set to comply with the SoE. “The General Aviation Workplan clearly sets out how and when CASA will optimise the regulatory framework for the general aviation sector,” CASA stated. “This will provide advice to stakeholders when regulatory changes impacting general aviation will likely occur among the range of other priority safety initiatives for government and industry. “Ensuring regulation is proportionate to risk and responsive to implementation challenges identified by industry helps to maximise flexibility for the sector and support commercial sustainability,…

CASA has said it will remove the 45-knot stall speed limitation on ASAO-registered aircraft from CAO 95.55 after 80% of respondents to feedback requests said the change would maintain current safety standards. The stall speed limitation has restricted the ability of aircraft owners to take advantage of the new 760-kg maximum take-off limit to be applied to RAAus’ new Group G aircraft, and removing it has been seen as the final hurdle to the new rules being implemented effectively. Group G is intended to bring GA aircraft into the ASAO fold and will not apply to aircraft with light sport aircraft (LSA) and ultralight approvals. “The focus of this consultation was on the safety aspects of removing the stall speed limitation from the definition of lightweight aeroplane,” CASA states. “The aim of the proposed…