Week in brief August 19 2011

The Sydney branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society has announced that the 2011 Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Lecture will be presented by Rodney Stiff, managing director of Jabiru Aircraft, at the Society’s formal annual dinner at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney on Wednesday November 30. Stiff will join an esteemed list of aviation luminaries to have given the Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Lecture that includes, amongst others, the likes of Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor, Sir Hudson Fysh, Astronaut Dr Andy Thomas, Qantas Alan Joyce, and former RAAF Chief of Air Force Mark Binskin.


Cessna has delivered its milestone 100th C162 Skycatcher, which went to Sporty’s Pilot Shop in the US, who will use it as its 2012 Sporty’s Sweepstakes prize. To read our flight test of the very first C162 in Australia, see our July/August 2011 print issue.


Slovenian aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel has for the first time flown its Taurus G4, a four-seat electric aircraft that the company says is the first aircraft of its kind in the world. The flight happened in Oshkosh on August 12 after the Taurus G4 made its public debut at the EAA’s AirVenture 2011, where an informal vote by attendees saw it labelled one of the 10 most attractive aircraft on display at the event. The twin-fuselage aircraft was created by combining two Taurus G2 fuselages, connected by a five-metre long spar. A 145-kilowatt brushless electric motor, developed for Pipistrel’s new four-seat Panthera model, is mounted between the passenger pods and drives a two-blade prop with a diameter of two metres. The Taurus G4’s wingspan is about 21.36 metres (75 feet). Pipistrel has developed the aircraft to compete in NASA’s US$1.65 million CAFE Green Flight Challenge 2011, to be held in California from late September. With a retractable undercarriage, the Taurus G4 is said to have a very high glide ratio. Pipistrel hasn’t made any announcements regarding potential future production plans for the aircraft.


CAPTION: This photo has nothing to do with any of these brief news items, but Australian Flying reader Jon Herd forwarded it to us for a laugh. And we certainly did laugh!


The ATSB is currently investigating a breakdown of separation incident at Moorabbin Airport that occurred on August 11 and involved two Piper PA-28s, VH-BZE and VH-PVL. One of the Pipers was cleared for take-off on Runway 13R, but inadvertently began to roll onto Runway 17R, which resulted in a breakdown of separation with the other Piper, which was taxiing across Runway 17R’s holding point. While the ATSB has classified this as a serious incident, neither pilot was injured. Watch this space… .


Sunshine Coast Airport celebrated 50 years of operation last weekend, opening up its runway to more than 4000 members of the public on Sunday August 14. A Royal Australian Navy S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter, a Cessna C34 Airmaster (owned by Aeromil Pacific’s Steve Padgett), the AGL Action Rescue helicopter and Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting equipment were on display at the open event. The airport officially opened on August 12 1961.


A US court has upheld its decision to convict an aviation enthusiast for drinking driving at last year’s EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. 40-year-old Matthew Miller was arrested by a local sheriff’s deputy after racing into the warbirds area from the EAA campgrounds on a 1940s Harley-Davidson at 0300 on August 1 (what a way to make an entrace), the final day of the event. Miller had contested the charge on the grounds that he wasn’t subject to arrest because the warbirds area and EAA campgrounds are private property and Wisconsin law states that drink driving is only prohibited on highways and areas open to the public. Guess this proves that anything and everything can happen at AirVenture… .