Category: General Aviation

Speaking to Australian Aviation, RFACA president Lachlan Hyde said Airservices Australia’s proposed "traffic levelling" and 3-minute departure spacing at Bankstown would cut capacity by 37 per cent at peak windows, representing a “fundamental threat to the viability of GA and flight training”.

The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) has excoriated Experience Co and its subsidiary Skydive Australia, which the union says has applied to the government to hire 37 cheaper overseas workers while axing its local training program. The company says it is not looking to replace local workers.

Speaking to ABC’s 7:30, RAAus chair Michael Monck said that one accident does not necessarily point to wider systemic problems. It comes as the organisation faces scrutiny over training shortfalls that allegedly contributed to the deaths of 20-year-old Luke Smith and his brother and cousin.

In dramatic scenes that spread across social media, the Piper PA-28, VA-BUN, crashed on the golf course on Sydney’s Northern Beaches on 17 August 2025 following a mechanical failure, with a student pilot sustaining minor injuries and the aircraft itself suffering heavy damage.