– Steve Hitchen
I was reminded again this week what flying is really all about. My flying club, Lilydale Flying Club, took off in brilliant weather for Bathurst (yes, we even had a tail wind), then endured two days in the Blue Mountains in weather best described as "sodden". Then, in clear blue skies we departed Bathurst on cup day for the long haul home (head wind this time). The next day, e-mails flooded in from all the flyers enthused about the great weekend we'd had. But hang on ... the weather whilst we were in the Blue Mountains was hideous! Why would people love such a great time when there was little to go and see? We spent hours in the minibuses and sheltering in cafes! The answer is because the company was fantastic and a lot of laughs echoed through the restaurants that hosted us each night. Yes, it reinforced my opinion that flying is about people, not aeroplanes. It also showed me that the destination is not as important to a succesful fly-away as the people who make the trip. More evidence came in the help we got from both Temora Aero Club, who provided a great place for lunch on the way up, and Bathurst Aero Club who greeted us with coffee and a nice selection of cakes and biscuits ... all whilst trying to set up the club rooms for their annual awards night. We did not expect it, and the hospitality extended to us was somewhat humbling. Thanks Temora and Bathurst; it's people like you that make flying what it is.
TAAAF has released three policy papers, which they sent through to CASA CEO Shane Carmody three weeks ago. The papers cover perhaps the three most vexing issues facing the general aviation community at the moment: engineering training, flight training and GA revitalisation. The timing of these three papers seemed to be to coincide with another internal restructure at CASA, and also to get in ahead of the next Aviation Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) meeting due in a couple of weeks. TAAAF has managed to position itself as the primary aviation lobby group in Australia, simply by applying commonsense to issues, and in most cases, articulating the forum's position clearly. I hear regularly that both CASA and the Department are pleased to deal with them for two reasons: they are seen as a professional organisation with a lot of street credibility, and TAAAF represents the best chance for both CASA and the department to get the consolidated position from the industry that they so crave. Greg Russell and the TAAAF team are working the ropes of ASAP to get the industry's points of view into the heart of the change process, which is possibly the best avenue the industry has to get itself heard. It is true that not everyone agrees with the positions TAAAF takes (not even all TAAAF members), and the 457 visa issue is but one of them. What the industry doesn't need now is for the dissenters to take their bats and balls and go home just because they didn't win on one issue. Sometimes you have to take one for the team, and in this case "the team" is general aviation.
Have you had to use your first Graphical Weather Forecast (GAF) yet? The Bureau of Meteorology introduced them for the first time yesterday, superceding the old Area Forecast (ARFOR) that had confused us for many years. Are there others out there like me that are still a bit bewildered despite the reams of training material available? There is still a lot to get used to, and slowly the confusion will disappear, but there is one immediate thing that perhaps could be looked at. The ARFORs always had the area data at the beginning, with the TAFs and NOTAMs coming next. Now it's reversed: the GAFs and Grid Point Wind and Temperature (GPWT) come after the long stream of location-specific material. As navigators, the thing we need to know the most is the area winds, not the winds in the TAFs, which are ground-level only. So why aren't the area winds at the beginning? It would save a lot of scrolling. I am still to delve deeply into the GAFs and GPWT charts, but am sure with a bit of homework it will all become second nature.
The 2018 Outback Air Race is now officially open and waiting for you to nominate your team. This event has become somewhat of a fixture on the Australian GA calendar every three years, raising both hell and money as they charge across the vast Australian nothingness in aid of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Next year's event departs from Archerfield on Sunday 19 August and finishes in distant Broome, WA, on 31 August, covering over 2000 nm, and including overnight stops at some of Australia's most iconic aviation destinations, including Bundaberg, Longreach, Adels Grove and Kununurra. If your sense of adventure could do with a good fix, log onto the Outback Air Race website and nominate your team soonest. If nothing else, it will guarantee you a lot of yarns to tell at the aero club when you get back.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch