Newsdesk – General Aviation

Qld Aviation Review:

The Queensland Government has commissioned consultants Airplan and Travers Morgan to undertake an evaluation of the deployment, suitability and medium to long term replacement requirements for state operated aircraft. The government owns, operates and provides financial support for a mixed fleet of fixed and rotary wing aircraft including providing funding support for other organisations including the Royal Flying Doctor Service and community based helicopter rescue services. The state’s own fleet of 15 aircraft (operated by Emergency Services, the Police and Ambulance Service) includes two corporate jets, three helicopters and ten twin engined aircraft. The study was scheduled to be completed by late August.

The Breitling World Cup Of Aerobatics

The Breitling World Cup of Aerobatics is now in its second year of competition. The World Cup of Aerobatics is sanctioned by the Federation Aeronautique International, and was set up to promote the art of aerobatic flying, but with a difference. New competition rules mean competitors perform freestyle aerobatic displays of their choice to music and with smoke, without a compulsory programme and repetitions. The aim is to make aerobatic flying far more interesting as a spectator sport, with competitors being judged on choreography, execution, positioning and originality, rather like Olympic figure skating. This year six meetings have been programmed, the remaining three are due to be held in Switzerland in late August, at Farnborough in mid September, and in Orlando in the USA in late October.

Big Citation Order:

US corporate jet operator Executive Jet Aviation (EJA) has ordered 25 Cessna Citation V Ultra business jets and optioned 25 more in the largest single order Cessna has received from a commercial operator. Worth $US150m, the order adds to EJA’s existing fleet which includes 24 Citations S/Ils and 11 Hawker 1000s, with nine more of the latter to come. The new Citations will be part of EJA’s Netjets shared ownership programme, in which a user/co-owner purchases a share of the aircraft and contracts EJA to manage it. EJA is planning to enter the European and South American markets next year, and in the longer term is looking at purchasing some larger aircraft such as the Canadair Challenger or Gulfstream IV.

Golden Oldie:

An 82 years old American pilot flew into Coolangatta in late July, midway through a solo around the world flight. Believed to be the oldest pilot to have attempted such a feat, former airline pilot Fred Lasby’s Piper Comanche arrived at Coolangatta in order to coincide with the 21st International Comanche Society Congress, the first to be staged outside North America. Mr Lasby says the intention of his flight is not to enter the record books but for enjoyment: “I just love flying and visiting places”, he says. Mr Lasby learned to fly in 1930 and has 21,000 hours in his logbook, some of them notched up during a stint with RAF Ferry Command in WW2.

Slight Rise In Ga Activity:

Statistics recently released by the Department of Transport show a modest increase in general aviation and regional airline activity for the six month period to December 31 1993 compared with the same period of 1992. Overall, hours flown by Australian registered aircraft in these categories rose by 5.1% to 985,200 hours with 1,584,300 landings. The only categories not recording an increase were business flying and test and ferry, with falls of 2.3% and 9.8%, respectively. Aerial agriculture continued to increase (by 27%) but this is still nearly one third below the peak recorded in the July-December 1990 period. Private flying hours increased by 5.1%, but remains down (by 9.6%) against its peak during the pilots’ dispute in 1989, while flying training rose by 5.6% but is also below the peak recorded in 1990. On the other hand, charter flying returned its highest level of activity since the 1989/90 period, with an increase of 3.0% over the last six months of 1992. Aerial work was similarly placed with an increase of 13.3%. Regional airline activity remained basically unchanged overall during the period in question compared with the previous year, although activity was down from that recorded in the first half of 1993. The figures are coloured, however, by a period of realignment. They show a decline in regional airline activity in all states and territories except Victoria (up 49%) and South Australia (up 109%). However, these improvements reflect a change in the reporting base of a major operator and as such can be regarded as artificial.

The 985,200 Hours Flown Were Divided Thus:

Private 135,000; business 101,400; training 219,200; agriculture 46,800; aerial work 145,100; test and ferry 13,300; charter 212,400; and regional airline 111,900. A total of 9159 GA and regional airline aircraft were registered in Australia at the end of 1993, a 0.2% increase from 12 months earlier. These comprised 6588 fixed wing single engined types (including 396 amateur built), 1700 fixed wing multi engined, 207 balloons and 664 helicopters. Of the latter, 583 were single engined and 81 twin engined. Each aircraft flew an average 108 hours during the six month period (up 4.9%) but of the total, no less than 1180 are estimated to have performed no flying at all. Indicative of the lack of new production light aircraft is the fact that nearly two thirds of all flying was performed by aircraft between 11 and 20 years of age. Of all public transport flying (charter and regional airline), 77% was performed by aircraft more than ten years old. For the record, the more numerous makes on the Australian register at the end of 1993 were Cessna (2958) and Piper (1448) in the fixed wing single engined category, while Piper led the twin engined numbers with 500 aircraft followed by Cessna (410) and Beechcraft (365). Of the helicopters, 218 Robinsons were registered along with 206 Bells, 76 Hughes and 51 Aerospatiales. Our annual census of all aircraft on the Australian Register will appear in the October issue.

Not To Be Missed:

The Canberra branch of the Australian Division of the Royal Aeronautical Society will be holding its annual Pioneers Lecture and Dinner evening at the Academy of Science Building in Canberra on Tuesday 15 November. The guest lecturer will be Sir Richard Kingsland and his lecture will be titled “Reminiscences of Aviation – 1930 to 1960.” Non branch members are also most welcome to attend what should prove to be an entertaining and informative evening. Further details are available from the RAS, PO Box 1056, Canberra ACT 2601.