Week in Brief 28 October 2011

ATSB chief Martin Dolan told this week's Safeskies conference in Canberra that private pilot operations in Australia have the same proportion of fatalities as motorcyclists have on our roads - and that's 30 to 40 times the fatality rate of motorists. And what concerns him most is that his organisation is investigating the same sorts of fatal GA accidents "over and over again". Food for thought indeed.

The Australian Association of Aviation and Aerospace Industries has issued an invitation to listen to CASA CEO John McCormick speaking on curent industry trends and issues. It will be held ay Thales Australia, World Trade Centre, Concourse Level, Siddeley St, Northbank Wharf in Melbourne from 6 to 8pm on Thursday 10 November. The entry will be $50 for non-members and $15 for students. Enquiries to Geoff Bowmaker [geoff@aaaai.org.au]

Australia’s only example of an Antonov AN-2 has relocated to Victoria from its long-term home in Queensland. The AN-2 is the largest single-engined biplane ever designed and will base itself at Lilydale in the Yarra Valley running joyflights over the summer months.

Usually in aviation the term “ageing” is applied to air frames. But next week in Spokane, Washington, the FAA will conduct a series of seminars on the ageing of pilots!  As people age, skills, decision making and judgement can decay, eroding the ability to fly safely. This can be exacerbated by the effects of illness as we get older. The idea of the seminar to is to identify the markers that can lead a pilot to determine themselves when is the right time to hang up their headsets for good.