Australian Flying

Pinning our hopes for salvation on a senate inquiry into CASA could be like hailing the arrival of a knight in shining armour who brandishes a string sword: there’s a lot of good intent, but their power to smite our enemy looks questionable. There is

Dear Steve Those recently published tales of instructors deliberately scaring ab initio students witless are indeed shameful. Clearly I was much more fortunate. Those who took me through my early stages to UPPL and later gave me endorsements all had

The Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee (RRAT) will conduct a two-year inquiry into the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to gauge the effectiveness of regulation it has applied to general aviation in the past 1

Garmin International introduced the world’s first auto land system for general aviation aircraft in November last year. The Autoland technology will be made available on select aircraft fitted with Garmin 3000 avionics and has already been confirmed

Airservices Australia will test remote digital control tower technology next year after signing a contract with Searidge Technologies last November. Digital tower technology enables runways to be controlled from remote locations rather than the on-si

The Federal Government will develop a Regional Aviation Policy as part of what it says is a commitment to growing regional Australia. Addressing the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) convention on the Gold Coast in October last year,

Angel Flight Director Bill Bristow has retired from the organisation he founded 16 years ago, the charity announced this week. Bristow founded Angel Flight in 2003 after identifying a need to support rural Australians having to to travel to major cit

It has been said before that you should never meet your heroes. The inference is that you'll find out they are ordinary people with a less heroic side to them that may extinguish your adulation and have you wondering why you ever worshipped them in t

When purchasing an aviation headset there are many factors to consider, some obvious, some not; price and comfort being the two most obvious – we all have different sized pockets and different-shaped heads. Our choice of aircraft will often be a cons

It was like Beyonce had come to town. Waves of excitement and anticipation rippled through the local aviation industry; something very special was on the taxiway at Moorabbin. They said it was sleek, they said it was fast and and they said it was sex

In Australia, the pilot licence system changed extensively on 1 September 2014, when the Part 61 rules came into effect. Part 61 refers to the part of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations (1998), which is a 638-page monster of a legal document. Most

This was one of the few times I went against Zingi’s advice – and survived. I remember him telling me how one of the top South African Air Force chopper pilots had killed himself while evaluating a Minicopter. Not only that, he said that Rusty Russel

CASA describes an air show as organised flying performed at a public gathering or with public invitation. It does not include club events where there is no invitation to the public. An entry fee does not have to be charged, it must merely be a public

When Anna* suffered a period of depression and anxiety brought on by her divorce, she simply stopped flying. A private pilot with a Class 2 medical, Anna had made the assumption that no doctor would permit her to fly while taking Lexapro–an anti-anxi

Dick Smith’s Wikipedia entry contains a long list of awards and honours that mark his greatest achievements. It mentions his Companion of the Order of Australia, Australian of the Year, Centenary Medal, Lowell Thomas Award, Father of the Year, induct

Aerobatics is the science of flying an aircraft around the perimeter of its performance envelope in every available axis, and perhaps inventing a few new axes along the way. It’s flying, gymnastics and dancing all in one discipline … if you do it rig

As part of the US Army’s innovative Aviator Training Next (ATN) programme, award-winning Queensland aerospace company Ryan Aerospace has been awarded a contract to supply 30 HELIMOD Mark III helicopter virtual reality (VR) simulators for the US Army’

Well if you have gotten over Australia’s worst flu season through Winter and Spring and are now ready to head into some Summer flying without the associated allergies, then perhaps it’s a good opportunity to look into the big weather picture in Austr

Sophisticated engine management systems were once thought to be appropriate only in larger aeroplanes where fine-tuning could produce huge leaps in performance and reduction in fuel consumption. Thanks to technology, we now know that paradigm was qui

Narromine, midway between the NSW coast and NSW outback, has broad sweeping plains populated with cotton and grazing. It’s big empty skies make for great flying and so it’s no wonder that Smithy, Nancy Bird and Chuck Yeager all found their way to Nar

The 25th anniversary of the tragic Seaview accident was marked on 2 October last year. Together with the Monarch tragedy, this led to the establishment of the modern CASA in 1995. Investigations into those tragic accidents concluded that the then CAA

This discussion contains extracts from the SACAA’s accident report. It is compiled in the interest of promoting of aviation safety and not to establish legal liability. Aircraft Registration: ZS-OCS Date of Accident: 19 December 2007 Time of Accident

Last month, while having dinner with a friend who is also a pilot–and, indeed an aircraft owner–I heard the words I’d been waiting to hear for nearly 10 years: “Hey, I’m not flying my aeroplane enough. I’m looking for someone who’d like to fly around

The pool of Grade 1 flight instructors that are suitably experienced and qualified, current, medically fit and willing to assume senior roles is rapidly drying up. Why? There are various culprits and, whilst the blame certainly can’t be laid on any o