Newsdesk – General Aviation

The project calls for the modification of an ex-USAF F-111F simulator – already acquired by the RAAF to faithfully represent the function and performance of the aircraft in their post AUP configuration. The simulator must also represent the physical attributes of the regional environment as well as the characteristics of the Australian military aviation . The upgrade is closely linked to the F/RF-111C Avionics Upgrade Project being undertaken by Rockwell Systems Australia. The existing RAAF F-111C simulator was delivered in 1969. Due to the absence of flight data for the unique Australian aircraft, the simulator performance was based on the FB-111A aerodynamic and F-IIIA engine models. As such the simulator never achieved true F-111C performance characteristics and has not maintained configuration currency with the aircraft as later generation weapon systems have been introduced such as the Pave Tack targeting unit, etc.

Hornet Sales Looking Up:

Following the firm sale of 67 F/A-18 Hornets to Finland and the announced intention of Switzerland to order 34 aircraft, McDonnell Douglas is looking to sell between 270 and 470 examples of its multi-role fighter to foreign countries over the next two to five years.

Germany, Israel, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia are identified as potential customers. Kuwait is already taking delivery of 40 Hornets and could need up to 35 more, Israel is seeking 60 aircraft of this type, Saudi Arabia is showing interest in up to 80 and Malaysia and Singapore have at need for about 24 and 18 aircraft, respectively, in the Hornet’s class. Malaysia is also looking at the MiG-29, the General Dynamics F-16, the Mirage 2000 and the leasing of ex-RAF Panavia Tornados.

However, the real prize could be Germany, which is having doubts about the forthcoming European Fighter Aircraft (refer Newsdesk this issue) due to its very high cost. McDonnell Douglas believes Germany will not purchase the EFA and therefore sees a potential sale of up to 200 Hornets to that country. EFA, like the French Rafale, is up to 25% more expensive to acquire than even the latest F-15C and F-15E Eagle variants.

Spies Wanted!

Do you work at an airport and are handy with a camera and would like to see some of your aviation photos in print? If so, then we may be able to help each other. AA has dedicated ‘photo spies’ at a number of airports including Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart. However, we are a bit short in Melbourne, Sydney (both the primary and GA ports). Brisbane, Cairns and Darwin in addition to the various military airfields.

If you are interested in joining our team then write to us today for more information on this most interesting opportunity.

General Aviation Atc Control Zone Reductions Free up Airspace:

The CAA has advised that changes in Southern Queensland, which took effect on June 25, have reduced the size of controlled air-space in that area by about a third of their original size.

Coolangatta airspace at ground level is now down from the previous 12 miles, to seven miles. As a result, traffic in the Jupiters Casino area, the most popular joyflight area on the Gold Coast, is now outside controlled airspace. There have been similar reductions in military airspace requirements, principally at Amberley and Oakey, which have resulted from the CAA, the military and the industry working together to achieve sensible airspace allocations.

These moves follow on from a similar rationalisation of airspace in the Sydney Control Zone which has enabled a new, low level, coastal route to be established for use by GA aircraft without an ATC clearance being required. Improvements to a light aircraft access lane through the Richmond (NSW) control zone have also been introduced.

Briefing Axis Establishes Office:

Training and charter operator Axis Aviation has established its own briefing office at its Bankstown Airport facility, for use by clients who hire its aircraft. The office offers full weather and flight planning facilities and adds to the extensive FBO services already provided to customers and visiting aircraft.

Axis is also offering some incentives for student pilots. Any student who flies 10 hours in a calendar month will receive a free navigation bag, while any who man-ages 20 hours in a month will receive a free pair of Softcom headphones. In addition, a 10% discount on theory courses is offered if they are paid for one month in advance and a further 10% discount is there for the taking if a second person-a friend or family member is signed up at the same time. Axis now has a fleet of 30 training and charter aircraft at its disposal, ranging from Cessna 152s and Piper Warriors to a Citation jet.

FAIRCHILD SALES UP: Fairchild Aircraft is looking to a much improved 1992 compared with the previous year and expects to deliver at least 43 of its Metro family of 19-20 seat twin turboprop commuter/utility aircraft. .

Just 12 were delivered in the 1994 fiscal year. The total includes 23 C-26 special mission aircraft for the US Air and Army National Guards. The C-26 features a quick change passenger, cargo or medevac interior and up to 53 are required by the US military. Foreign nations are also listed as potential customers.

An Open Letter From Dick Smith to Pilots Who Want to Keep Flying:

Dick Smith recently circulated the following letter within GA as a plea for co-operation from private pilots to make the new AMATS based system work for them and not against them as some are doing. In the interests of reducing CAA costs further, we reprint Dick’s letter in full and implore every pilot to read it and consider its message carefully. Remember, it is your airspace.

“Australia can only benefit from these efficiencies if pilots shut up”. Surely it is obvious that the major reason the Australian aviation industry is in such dire straits is because of high costs. In countries where efficiencies are greater and costs are lower (such as Canada and the USA) there are twice as many aircraft per head of population than in Australia. Just imagine if we had that situation here – there would be 18,000 aircraft instead of 9,000 and every pilot would be employed, costs would be down and the industry would be looking desperately for more pilots. Despite this situation some pilots are doing everything they can to ensure that the costs remain high.

For example, every time I fly VFR in the Sydney area I hear constant chatter on the flight service frequencies – pilots calling for area QNHs and pilots giving VFR position reports. In fact there is now more radio chatter on some flight service frequencies than before AMATS.

Pilots should understand that every bit of radio chatter costs money and it is the aviation industry that pays.

The key to CAA cost reductions are staff reductions. These reductions (which are planned and can save the industry over $100m per annum) can only take place if the amount of communication taking place on FS frequencies drops significantly. In fact one of the main reasons for the AMATS changes was to reduce the costs of services to VFR aircraft. Under the CAA’s Review of Resources, flight service staffing was planned to drop from 600 to 110 as the efficiencies of overseas systems were introduced.

For example, let’s look at the USA-one of our major competitor nations. At the Arizona flight service station they have 35 FS VHF outlets monitored by three flight service officers. This results in one tenth of the expense of the system where one officer monitors one frequency. This system only works with such efficiency because there is no unnecessary chatter. You can fly VFR all day in the USA and not hear a request for QNH or a VFR position report.

Contrary to popular myth there are also large areas without low level radar coverage in the USA. The FS frequencies are kept free for emergency calls, opening and closing flight plans and weather information. That is how flight service officers in the USA can monitor so many outlets, resulting in very low costs for the aviation industry.

Australia can only benefit from these efficiencies if pilots shut up. Only when communication levels drop on all flight service frequencies can the CAA start to combine many sectors onto one console with one operator. The industry will then reap the benefits of lower cost.

To those pilots who love to hear them- selves talking and who wish to continue along the present way, continually asking for area QNH or giving VFR position reports, do not complain about the costs. And remember, these costs will have to increase substantially in the future as the safety regulation fee hits.

It is also important to understand that even if the CAA flight service officer does not answer your voluntary position report, it still prevents sectors being combined and staff savings as all calls have to be constantly monitored.

I am also amazed at the number of pilots who are filing VFR flight plans with the CAA when they can easily leave a flight note with their business, family or friends. CAA flight plans cost money (probably over $100 each) which the industry pays 100% for. Naturally the CAA encourages pilots to use their services- their job is to make a profit from as many customers as possible.

I know that there are some pilots who claim that VFR position reports for traffic avoidance purposes increases safety, but surely it is obvious that such reports only add to safety if they are compulsory and all aircraft regularly give them. This would be an impossibility because of the communications overload that would occur. When only a small percentage of aircraft give a position report it gives a totally false sense of security and results in other traffic concentrating on a particu- lar aircraft instead of being constantly vigilant to all aircraft which could be in the vicinity.

It should also be noted that any unne. cessary communications on flight service frequencies not only costs money, but could unfortunately block out the most important call. A pilot may only be able to give one Mayday.

At the present time the AMATS cost saving improvements are being undermined by a small group of pilots who lack overseas experience and an understanding of the necessity for the CAA to reduce costs. Let’s hope this ignorance plus a love of hearing themselves talk does not prevent the much needed AMATS cost savings.

 First for Aviation Academy:

The Sunshine Coast’s Fogarty’s Aviation Academy has achieved an important milestone by becoming the first Australian flying school to offer courses which are recognised by the government as being to tertiary standard.

The Vocational Education Training and Employment Commission recently granted the accreditation, which means Fogarty’s is the only aviation academy in Australia whose courses are so recognised. Other schools run courses in conjunction with TAFE colleges. Managing director Peter Fogarty established the academy in 1983 and since then has expanded it and now has agencies in 15 countries around the world. It has also diversified to include Air Maroochy Airlines and a sister company, Temacorp, which provides aviation consultancy services. At the moment some 60 pilots graduate from Fogarty’s each year and a new two storey classroom and hangar complex is to be built to increase its capacity to 150 per annum.

 Across Australia by Gyrocopter:

A computer customer services representative from Orange, NSW, has put himself into the Guiness Book of Records after becoming the first person to fly across Australia in a gyrocopter.

lan Morecombe achieved his feat in late May, landing at Albion Park south of Syd- ney nearly three weeks after leaving RAAF Pearce in Western Australia. Total flying time was about 40 hours and the flight involved 27 stops enroute in the desert, on the highway, at farms and remote communities and airstrips. The trip gained publicity for World Vision’s 40 Hour Famine fundraiser and Mr Morecombe entered into the spirit of that by fasting during the flight and completing his own 40 Hour Famine whilst airborne.

As no sponsorship for the flight could be obtained, Mr Morecombe paid the $15,000 costs himself, plus the acquisition cost of the gyrocopter. Well done.

 Kit Aircraft to Be Certified:

In what amounts to a major policy decision by the American FAA which will hopefully be followed by the Australian CAA, it has been decided that kit aircraft built in the USA can be fully certified in a way equivalent to the existing FAR Part 23 regulations as they apply to factory built light aircraft. The first such certification is expected to be achieved in August next year Using European Joint Airworthiness Requirements (JAR) as the model, the decision will allow kit aircraft which come under the Very Light Aircraft (VLA) definition to operate in the normal way. The VLA programme is intended to reduce the cost of flying, to pave the way for new training aircraft to enter the conventional

market and to “provide a general aviation base for the industry to survive”, according to Experimental Aircraft Association president Paul Poberezny. Poberezny and the EAA have long advocated this important move.

To qualify as a VLA, an aircraft must be single engined, have two seats, a maximum weight not exceeding 1,654lb (750kg) and a stall speed of not more than 45 knots indicated airspeed. Aircraft will be restricted to daylight visual flight rules operations. Popular types which qualify include the Stoddard-Hamilton Glasair II, Vans RV-4 and Denney Kitfox. An Australian built variant of the latter, the Sky fox, is already approved for full certification under CAA rules.

 Attention All Avalon Photographers:

Those readers interested in photography and planning to attend the Australian International Air Show at Avalon this coming October are reminded that the organisers have initiated a special Photographers Pass for just $150 which covers eight days of the event including the aircraft arrivals and departure period.

The Pass provides admission from Monday October 19 through till the following Monday inclusive and allows access to special photographic areas in non public areas, complimentary photobus and a special photographers ID badge. For further information call (02) 630. 2000.

Airport Could Bring a University Campus, Jobs and Industry to the West, Says Fac:

Quakers Hill in Sydney’s west will become a centre of high tech industry and higher education under a proposal just released by the Federal Airports Corporation.

The FAC has submitted a proposal to acquire Schofields aerodrome and the adjoining HMAS Nirimba Naval Base which is scheduled to close next year. It outlines a range of developments that will be sought for the site, including commercial office buildings, light industrial development, aircraft maintenance, and aviation training and development.

The FAC proposal also offers to make part of the site available to any higher education facilities that may wish to establish in the area. It suggests that this would allow the Government to attract a university campus to the area without having to find up-front purchase funding and would also provide a university with natural links to a centre of high tech industry. The FAC has also committed itself to make some of the Naval Base facilities such ast playing fields, golf course and swimming pool available for community recreation. Mr Barry Thompson, head of the FAC’s General Aviation Division, said the Corporation was anxious to acquire a new airport for light private and business flying in the north west of Sydney. “Such an acquisition was essential in the next few years to avoid future congestion in the Sydney basin,” he said. However, he said the Corporation’s policy was also to develop airports as general centres of business and services. “Light general aviation attracts a range of ancillary support services such as maintenance and training. The FAC policy is to build on this by attracting other technology related industries and general commercial offices,” he said.

“The possible users of the site are vast and not confined to aviation related activities. “One specific aim of the FAC at Schofields/Nirimba was to attract a higher education body to the site. “The local community has indicated that they would like a university campus in the area- and the development of Schofields/Nirimba provides an ideal opportunity to do that.

A Consultative Committee, under the chairmanship of Federal MHR Russ Gorman, is examining possible uses for the Schofields/Nirimba site. The FAC has already submitted its proposal to the committee.