TEFC

Nice Gyrocopter operating from MKT Airfield

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:03:00 +1000

I took Joe down for a flight to Coomalie Creek a couple of weekends ago and as we backtracked for runway 07 a rather sleek looking Gyrocopter took off. Here are the pictures I took while waiting for the aircraft o pass.

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Darwin CASA Aviation Safety Seminar notice 22 Sept 2010

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:08:00 +1000

Your CASA Aviation Safety Advisors will be presenting an Aviation Safety Seminar;
Where; Darwin Airport Resort
When; 6.30pm on the 22nd of September 2010.
The main topic will be "Weather- flying in the wet season"
There will also be a briefing from a Bureau of Meteorology forecaster.

A light meal and refreshments will be provided.

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Ageing Aircraft study meeting

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:26:00 +1000

From Peter Ball at CASA

As you may be aware, CASA has recently initiated an Ageing Aircraft study.

The aim of the study - The Ageing Aircraft Management Plan (AAMP) - is to scope the magnitude of the ageing aircraft situation in Australia.

The AAMP will determine if there are any safety consequences associated with the continued operation of ageing aircraft, and if so, what actions might need to be taken to ensure appropriate levels of airworthiness are maintained.

As part of the AAMP study, CASA is conducting a series of Industry Consultation visits around the country.

The AAMP Project Team will be visiting Darwin Airport on Wednesday 1 September 2010 where they will be providing a presentation to an invited forum of industry professionals such as yourself and then seeking comments from the floor that will be directed back into the AAMP plan.

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Training opportunity in the Top End

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 09:28:00 +1000

Peter Ball from CASA sent this through - apologies if you have already received it.

Top level training opportunities usually combine the need to send staff away for long periods with associated high cost involvement.

Thankfully this is not always the case;

I have been approached by the International Society of Air Safety Investigators(ISASI) to determine the level of interest in running one of their
"Reachout" courses in Darwin in the October/November period.

You can research "ISASI" and "reachout program" on the ISASI website;

http://www.isasi.org/reachout_tp.html

This would be an excellent opportunity to obtain targeted training delivered locally for minimal cost. ISASI are a not for profit organisation,

as a result the cost of the training will be between 300 to $400 per person depending on number of participants.

This money is used to cover costs of air travel and accommodation for program staff and cost of venue hire.

A draft copy of the course content is attached, the course could be shortened to three days without a dramatic reduction in content.

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Just in case you missed it - we are a RAAO

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 06:22:00 +1000

Which stands for Recreational Aviation Administration Organisations (RAAOs). CASA has been very busy getting all twenty something of these organisations under one roof and ensuring that our governance procedures are up to scratch. For those interested in reading John McCormick's speech. (John is the boss of CASA - formally is the Director of Aviation Safety. I have in this post a couple of very useful and important links that help understand the way the relationship between CASA and RA-Aus is heading.

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Merlin Magic 2010

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:36:00 +1000

Yes, I know we haven't have the Merlin for a while now, but I just love the name, because at Coomalie Airfield on a cool moonless night surrounded by history, aircraft, friends, music, food and a warm fire it is hard to say that there isn't a little magic in the air.

We may not have fire breathing dragons, but we do have knights of the air and saints on the ground.

It was great to see 3 gyrocopters participate in the event, the storch was given a showing and a variety of recreational aircraft from MKT and beyond came for the event.

Joe came down for the flight after a blown fuel boost pump fuse almost put paid to our journey down on the Sunday morning. It was Joe's first departure from our new bitumen strip which he celebrated with a big Woohoo! as we took off.

A single trike was heading back in the opposite direction from Coomalie as we headed down with air that was nice and smooth, unlike the gales that had been blowing over previous weeks.

As we turned across the airfield, the DC3 stood out at the end of runway 17. Other aircraft including John in the red drifter were in the circuit and wondered what Darwin tower or Brisbane must make of this activity on 126.7 around Coomalie.

After we had landed and parked up, Joe headed off with Christian, another MKT youngster and they had a great time inspecting the DC3 and sharing stories.

After catching up and looking around at all the aircraft we jumped back in and headed back to MKT. A little more wind this time, but Joe really enjoyed the flight as I did.

A big thank you to all who make this event possible - especially Richard Luxton.

Oh, don't forget to check out the newly manicured cricket pitch in the photo album which dates back to the second world war, complete with with sentinel anthills acting as fielders on the pitch.

See you in 2011.

Merlin Magic 2010

End of Month Meeting Tomorrow - Fri 30 July

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:02:00 +1000

Just a little reminder that the end of month meeting is on tomorrow night - Friday 30 July. If you haven't paid your club dues or hanger fees, the meeting would be a good time to pay.

Merlin magic again

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:29:00 +1000

Well it is that time of year again. Details are sketchy but looks another wonderful Merlin Magic night will be held on the 7th of August. If there are any further details, please leave a comment.

If you can imagine a darkened moonless night, flames from engines, aircraft converging on a world war II airstrip, campfires, folk songs and good fun then Merlin Magic is the event.

Aerial - Merlin Magic 2009

5 Jul 2009

TEFC Flying Competition and official opening of MKT with bitumen makeover

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:56:00 +1000

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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MKT Airfield - Back in Black - Bitumen airstrip

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 07:04:00 +1000

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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Changes at MKT

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:27:00 +1000

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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End of month meeting this Friday

Tue, 25 May 2010 22:56:00 +1000

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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MKT future looks bright

Tue, 11 May 2010 20:47:00 +1000

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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New procedures for non-towered aerodromes

Tue, 11 May 2010 20:26:00 +1000

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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Buying wheel rims for your aircraft

Wed, 05 May 2010 22:11:00 +1000

My Drifter brakes are terrible. I am getting a new set of wheels, tyres and brake fittings made. The wheel rims I have sourced from Adelaide and cost 45$ AUD (6 inch) plus postage and handling. http://www.edwardskartwheels.com.au/otherproductsultralightaircraftrims/

Unfortunately the tyres I have on the aircraft are actually golf cart tyres and I may need wider rims (8 inch). The other thing I need to do is measure the axle size to ensure that the bearings are the right size.

There are a couple of important things to note here. Firstly, my aircraft is a a factory built strut braced drifter. This means that any modification to the aircraft requires CAR 35 Design approval by the holder of a CAR 35 instrument which really means that they are authorised by CASA to sign off design modifications to aircraft.

Even though these people are as rare as hen's teeth, it is important that any modifications are signed off. A great bit of news is that like the ASIC processing that RA-Aus provides as a service, we are working on streamlining the design change process. Here is a snippet from the technical manual in regard to modification.

IMPLEMENTATION
3. CAO 95.55 paragraph 1.4 requires modifications to “old” CAO 95.25 aircraft to be approved by a person holding a CASA Instrument of Appointment under CAR 35. This requirement extends to ultralight aircraft types approved to qualified to CAO 101.28 and CAO 101.55 standards. Modifications to CAO 101.55 or CAO 101.28 type aircraft registered with the RA-Aus must be approved by a person holding a CASA Instrument of Appointment under CAR 35. Once approved, these modifications can be manufactured and installed by a person
holding an RA-Aus Level two Maintenance Authority. Both the manufacturer and the installer are to annotate the aircraft log book with the work they have completed, their signature, name in block letters, RA-Aus membership number and the date the entry was made.

A side note...

We all hear stories about that one niggling design problem with a particular aircraft and in the case of the Drifter there are a few... The castor wheel used as a tailwheel rattles the you know whats out of the tail boom on any airstrip that is gravel or bitumen. The seatbelt adjustment connections are hard to adjust and work their way loose in the back seat fraying the join points to the rear support point. And the brakes... The brakes on a standard Drifter are legendary because as is, they don't work that well.

I think that if we move to a streamlined solution for submitting modifications to the owner of the aircraft type approval, there should be the ability for the clubroom comments about a particular aircraft to find their way without fear or favour to a location where they can be reviewed objectively and any that add long term benefit to pilot or aircraft should be recommended and processed. This is not a problem in the case of the newer aircraft with active manufacturers but older aircraft of the rag and wire variety can languish as there is no proactive support for imporovement by the aircraft type certificate holder.