While the V8 cars were belting around Hidden Valley on Sunday, Top end Flying Club pilots and friends of MKT Airfield were participating in our flying competition. With our new bitumen surface less than a week old, it also made sense to combine an official opening by Kath Meyering with the event.

Competition on the day was fierce and so was the Southerly wind that had my drifter and many of the trikes pointing their noses at the airstrip on the downwind leg (which means that we were flying sideways.

Photos in main part of entry...

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Yesterday marked a special day in the history of MKT. The airstrip that has been here serving light aircraft needs (and military, customs, coastwatch, firefighting aviation needs) is now a bitumen strip. This is a very significant event made possible by the contributions of the people who use MKT and the Meyering family who own the airstrip. It is fair to say that the cost of creating that one kilometre of black ribbon was not cheap, but it was paid for by the people, not through a government grant.

Want to see what it looks like/ read on...

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I attended the monthly meeting last Friday and it was entertaining and productive with a great salad and sausage sizzzle to top it off. Thanks to Arti. We learnt that MKT will be covered in 1km of bitumen in about two weeks time and this will be paid by friends of MKT without any external funding from taxpayers to top up, prop up or support this massive infrastructure investment.

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The end of month meeting will be held this Friday at the MKT clubhouse. Lots to discuss as always. I am pretty sure the upcoming bitumisation of MKT will be on the agenda and I understand that yet another helicopter is to be added to the Toy Box.

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Despite some shaky events including the granting of only a formal three year extension by the Government to the existing permission to allow the Top End Flying Club to operate at MKT Airfield (which is not under threat as it is an authorised landing area in the formal and traditional definition of the term) we are still going from strength to strength.

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I went to a CASA safety presentation the other day. John Bradley, Steve Allen, Vince Cassaniti (late again), Ron Lawford, Skippy and myself made up the TEFC representation at the presentation, again hosted by the extremely professional Peter Ball who chaired a great presentation by Mark Richardson (Richo) who is no stranger to Darwin or these presentations.

Follow the more link to find out how to access their eLearning material...

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CASA will be holding a free seminar in Darwin on Wednesday 5 May.

It will cover the changes to rules at non-towered aerodromes, effective 3 June. Also the GAAP to Class D changes, too.

The schedule below is copied from the CASA website, complete with type ( can you find it )

To register, visit the following link...

http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_100087

Northern Territory

Seeing as I am going through this process, I thought it best to share it with you... Firstly for those who don't know, it isn't a card that gets you into the Australian Security Investments Commission... but rather

If I may quote from Fact sheet 13 http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/transport/security/aviation/factsheet/fact13.aspx#1

What is an ASIC?
An Aviation Security Identification Card, known as an ASIC, is an identification card which is used to identify a person who has been the subject of a background check. An ASIC is required to obtain unescorted access to the secure areas of security controlled airports that have regular public transport (RPT) services. ASICs are valid for up to two years.

The ASIC scheme is a layer of security that ensures that only people who have been background checked to a certain level are permitted to be in the secure areas of airports. The ASIC scheme aims to reduce the risk of unlawful interference with aviation, not just terrorism.
 

Why do I want an ASIC? Read on...

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