Congratulations to those honoured in the 2017 Australia Day list. Each one of these people has made a valuable contribution to aviation in Australia, and thoroughly deserves their award. This is, however, just a smattering of the people who every year are the spine of general aviation in Australia. They take positions of responsibility within aero clubs and provide a more than a proportional amount of the energy that's needed to keep aero clubs viable. They pick up the slack when other committee members need time away, tend the bar, take out the rubbish and cross swords with the local council when it's needed.
Recognition for their efforts is scant, and in many cases isn't sought; that's not why they do it. But we, as an industry, have the responsibility to nominate people who deserve recognition, and if the list of those honoured for aviation is short, the answer probably lies with the industry letting down the stalwarts, not the other way around.
Next Thursday, 2 February 2017, is the day that many in aviation hoped would never come: the ADS-B IFR deadline hits town. From that day forth, all IFR aircraft not in the private category must have ADS-B or they are relegated to flying visually. ADS-B has been one of the most divisive and controversial issues in general aviation since CASA was formed, and has caused a lot of blood-letting within the industry, and it's not over yet. IFR aircraft in the private category have until 1 January 2020 to go to ADS-B, but only if they operate under some fairly stringent restrictions that in many cases are obstacles that can't be overcome.
One good piece of ADS-B news is the trial in Australia of Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS). If this proves successful, ADS-B accuracy can become as small as five centimetres. Let's put that into some perspective: a Garmin 430 unit is 8.4 cm wide. This should bring us into line with similar augmentation systems operating around the world, like the USA's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). Geoscience Australia is asking for volunteers to take part in the trials now, so if you're interested in seeing what it can do for your operations, get onto their website and sign-up.
With the Australian International Airshow only a touch over a month away, RAAus has negotiated free entry to the trade days for its members. This is a great win as it will save you the price of an entry ticket, but you'll have to register in advance with Eventbrite. Good on the air show organisers for coming to the party for RAAus.
With the start to the 2017 Red Bull Air Race season slated for Abu Dhabi on 10-11 February, its very late for Matt Hall to be changing steeds from the MXS-R to the Edge 540. He put a lot of work into the MXS only to have it suffer a wing failure that scrubbed him from the final round in Las Vegas last year. His move to the Edge 540 will put him further down the learning curve as he admits not everything he and the team have learnt will transfer from the MXS to the Edge. It's a setback, but one this very determined Aussie will work hard to overcome.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch