CASA has issued a denial this week that their community service flight discussion paper will kill the likes of Angel Flight and Little Wings. That was to be expected, but will it calm any savage beasts? It's unlikely to if we believe the Forsyth Report that there is a trust issue between CASA and the industry. Still, it is the only thing they can do right now.
South African manufacturer The Airplane Factory has thrown down somewhat of a gauntlet by building a Sling 4 from kit to flight in only four days. That has eclipsed the effort of Zenith, who built a CH750 at Oshkosh this year in a week. I wonder if other kit manufacturers out there will be inspired to take on the Sling benchmark?
Jandakot's Preliminary Draft Master Plan outlines prospects for a new runway 12L/30R and an extension to the existing 12/30. The new runway is for day circuits, with the older runway expanded to take jet traffic ... and something else. With 12/30 growing to 1508 x 30 metres, it sort of hints that the airport may be after a bigger chunk of the fly-in, fly-out market. Either way, if it comes to fruition it has to be good new for the schools. At the moment circuits are restricted in certains winds because there is only one runway.
As I write this we've just about finished laying down the November-December issue of Australian Flying. It's real mixed bag this time around with some technology, an aeroplane retrospective, modern jets, training, destinations, women in aviation and the customary insights of our regular columnists. Personally, I think the cover is one of the best we've done. You can catch up with it all mid-October when we release it to the world.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch