NEWSLETTER JULY 2014 Tuesday night 22nd. July was regular committee meeting night with a good attendance of committeemen plus Richard Harrison-Lee one of our newer trainees. With the position of treasurer still in the process of changing, Grant (ex treasurer) and Ross (incoming treasurer) gave a rundown on the current financial situation which is positive. My instructor’s report told of having 10 trainees at the moment with some flying regularly and others not quite so regularly. We have 2 trainees hoping to complete their progression through to Advanced Certificates during the winter months, one of these, Petr Polak (and yes that’s the correct spelling!) has sat 2 exams already and is swatting for his third. Mike Leefe and John Wilkinson are back into their instructing roles and I’m grateful to have their support. Roger Jopling has recently returned from a spell in the UK and I am keen to involve him with instructing. David Leefe is currently offshore and due back about 8th. Aug. and he has a couple of trainees he’s been helping. Aircraft utilization has moved up a click or two which is great given the fact we have endured a strange winter season from a weather point of view, without those hard frosty mornings with the usual calm clear day to follow conspicuous by their absence I thought we might suffer a decline in aircraft use, but no, the training has carried us through to good effect. The maintenance team’s report demonstrated the need for the plans we made some considerable time back to come into play. The gradual increase in utilization plus the increased demands of the Jabiru factory and the fact our machinery is getting older shows up in a heavy increase in the time needed to be applied by the team to keep our gear up to scratch, and they are, both aircraft are in fine condition. A motion was passed a few years back allowing the team to have professional maintenance providers carry out work when the team itself is under stress. We now have a thoroughly likeable and capable engineer based on NZAS and it is envisaged that we will gradually have him take on some of our maintenance. An example has been very recently when both aircraft had to be withdrawn from service for a few days due to the need for regular maintenance at a time when both David and Roger were not available. I’m sorry if this has been a problem to any member but we must acknowledge Roger, Mike and David are all giving their considerable time, expertise and service to us not only without cost but usually at some expense to themselves into the bargain. We are working on this and it’s not likely to happen again. Met Flight Some may already have had brought to their attention the increased fee now required to access Metra-MetFlight weather information. From July 1st. the subscription due will be $98 – 50c plus gst. This is a sad development as the wider aviation industry is currently working vigorously with the Met Service and CAA to have any fees sought for appropriate weather information withdrawn altogether. Given that these discussions are in progress, it seems the two provider players are thumbing their noses at their faithful clients. The lobby body General Aviation Advocacy Group (who’s website anyone can log into) recently ran a survey embodying questions RE pilots still using MetFlight with a frightening outcome showing that a very small handful of pilots were now accessing the only approved weather information source when prior to the introduction of a fee there were thousands doing so! For the sake of the group I feel I’d be irresponsible not to pay the fee annually so have been doing so but now I’ve got to wonder, not just because of this latest increase but more so because we have to while other users such as boaties and mountaineers have access to weather information relative to their activities without any cost at all plus the fact most services provided to aviators have been subject to cost increases lately. A few locals including myself access a site from Norway which has some very good features, go have a look at yr.no/ and you might be surprised. The windspeeds are in Metres Per Second, to convert try – 97 knots equals 50 metres per second so we can reasonably say, just double the MPS and call it knots. Drones At the moment CAA are working on establishing a permanent Restricted Area (RA) on Kaitorete Spit and another near Mt. White. The justification for these RAs is to allow Lincoln University to operate (fly) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems in these areas. The RAs will reach from the surface to 6500 feet in the case of Mt. White and surface to 1500’ for the Kaitorete Spit one, activity will be sporadic and will be notified 24 hours in advance via NOTAM. Whenever I fly any useful cross country I’ll consult NOTAMs and it’d surprise you how often I find something important in there, I’d strongly urge any flier to do this when flying away from their usual home area. All pilots should know about the Area Preflight Briefing site at airways.co.nz and be prepared to access the important information available therein, and hey – it’s free!! I won’t offer the RA placement details here, - that might encourage you to go have a look at the Airways site and in doing so provide yourself with access to important safety information now and into the future. PAA I’ve already mentioned that our aircraft are working well and in tip-top condition, well I can elaborate. Most will be aware PAA has been a bit reluctant to start at times, well the maintenance team has imported a Jabiru approved modification to the ignition system that will generate a stronger spark while the starter motor is actually cranking, hopefully this will overcome any starting problems in the future. JRW JRW has been a bit lazy on cold mornings and jumper leads have been employed on occasions. A new battery has been ordered for JRW and should be installed within the next few days. The People The two trainees I mentioned earlier having aspirations of completing their training through to Advanced Certificate within the winter months are Petr Polak and Richard Harrison-Lee and both are flying whenever they can with John and Mike respectively. Ian Close and his wife are back in their Christchurch home after earthquake repairs had meant a spell away and Ian is readying himself to sit the final two exams. Suffice to say, all is well with the group. Cheers, L. V
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 10:46:25 +0000
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