The Last Minute Hitch: 22 July 2024
22 July 2024
– Steve Hitchen
I could always tell when the pilot was not happy: silence came through my headset. It was usually prompted by me, the bloke with the camera, asking the following aeroplane to do something radical because it might make for a good photo. I have learned to match my shot discipline to that of the pilots and don't ask for something out of the ordinary that was not included in the mission brief. If you need to ask why, read very carefully the ATSB's report into the S.211 crash last year. Nowadays I fly formations myself, and most of my briefing experiences have included a lot of questions being asked, a lot of questions being answered, and the pointed directive "don't do anything that hasn't been briefed!" Sorting out the risks in manoeuvres is always best done without the added brain drain of flying the aircraft at the same time; doing it in the air requires divided attention, which pilots can't afford in a formation. I broke that rule once, inside CTA in response to an errant direction from ATC. Everyone survived, but I learned the importance of not doing anything that the rest of the team is not already expecting me to do. And as for the camera work, much of my air-to-air work has appeared on the front cover of Australian Flying, and not one of the shots was the result of an ad-hoc manoeuvre.
"..recreational aviation is morphing into something it was never intended to be.."
CASA directing RAAus to make changes to their operations manual shows that, contrary to the belief of many, RAAus is not a law unto itself. They operate under a CASR Part 149 certificate, which still subordinates them to CASA regulation where necessary. That's why Approved Self-administering Aviation Organisations (ASAO) are "self administering" and not "self regulating". But be sure that Part 149 approval has placed a lot of burden on RAAus and meant changes that took the organisation from a hobby association to a professional aviation organisation against, it must be said, the wishes of many members who wanted RAAus to shun Part 149 and maintain the status quo. That was not really an option because recreational aviation had grown so large so quickly that the infrastructure and culture couldn't keep up. And I can say this without too much fear: if RAAus hadn't gone to Part 149 we probably wouldn't be getting a weight increase and access to CTA would remain on the wish list unticked for a long time. And you can forget MOSAIC (see below) completely. We must, however, respect the opinions of those that are starting to believe that recreational aviation is morphing into something it was never intended to be. With MOSAIC in place and approved for ASAOs, there will be some very sophisticated and capable machinery wearing six numbers on the side, which was never the intent of recreational aviation in the first place. Keep in mind, though, that CASA just doesn't have the culture or flexibility of framework to do justice to the new recreational aviation that's emerging. It's only through ASAOs that Australia can adopt it, with CASA watching over their shoulders all the time to make sure there aren't too many "divergent views".
EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh starts tonight our time, and one of the main themes running through the event is the impending MOSAIC regulation. A quick recap: the Modernisation of Special Airworthiness Category (MOSAIC) re-designs light sport aircraft to remove the arbitrary weight limits and permit more technology and capability in the category. It has been mooted for some time now and many in the USA were hoping they'd have something for Oshkosh this year. Not so, apparently; the process is dragging on. One of the balls-and-chain attached to the new standard is that several aviation organisations in the USA have thrown in other reforms they want included that weren't part of the original spec. For example, the Experimental Aircraft Association earlier this year asked the FAA to consider a higher stall speed than the original proposal and the ability for sport (recreational) pilots to be able to carry three passengers rather than the one permitted under the current rules. What this sort of thing does to regulators is send them back to their risk matrices to plug in the new freedoms and see how they work as one piece of a larger puzzle. It doesn't necessarily mean wiping the whiteboard clean, but it does add more information to a board that is already strapped for space. So when does the world get to see the new rules? The comment period closed in January this year, having been extended from last October, which means the notice of final rulemaking is due in the first half of 2025. Maybe by Oshkosh next year we'll have something concrete to work with.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
22 July 2024
– Steve Hitchen
I could always tell when the pilot was not happy: silence came through my headset. It was usually prompted by me, the bloke with the camera, asking the following aeroplane to do something radical because it might make for a good photo. I have learned to match my shot discipline to that of the pilots and don't ask for something out of the ordinary that was not included in the mission brief. If you need to ask why, read very carefully the ATSB's report into the S.211 crash last year. Nowadays I fly formations myself, and most of my briefing experiences have included a lot of questions being asked, a lot of questions being answered, and the pointed directive "don't do anything that hasn't been briefed!" Sorting out the risks in manoeuvres is always best done without the added brain drain of flying the aircraft at the same time; doing it in the air requires divided attention, which pilots can't afford in a formation. I broke that rule once, inside CTA in response to an errant direction from ATC. Everyone survived, but I learned the importance of not doing anything that the rest of the team is not already expecting me to do. And as for the camera work, much of my air-to-air work has appeared on the front cover of Australian Flying, and not one of the shots was the result of an ad-hoc manoeuvre.
"..recreational aviation is morphing into something it was never intended to be.."
CASA directing RAAus to make changes to their operations manual shows that, contrary to the belief of many, RAAus is not a law unto itself. They operate under a CASR Part 149 certificate, which still subordinates them to CASA regulation where necessary. That's why Approved Self-administering Aviation Organisations (ASAO) are "self administering" and not "self regulating". But be sure that Part 149 approval has placed a lot of burden on RAAus and meant changes that took the organisation from a hobby association to a professional aviation organisation against, it must be said, the wishes of many members who wanted RAAus to shun Part 149 and maintain the status quo. That was not really an option because recreational aviation had grown so large so quickly that the infrastructure and culture couldn't keep up. And I can say this without too much fear: if RAAus hadn't gone to Part 149 we probably wouldn't be getting a weight increase and access to CTA would remain on the wish list unticked for a long time. And you can forget MOSAIC (see below) completely. We must, however, respect the opinions of those that are starting to believe that recreational aviation is morphing into something it was never intended to be. With MOSAIC in place and approved for ASAOs, there will be some very sophisticated and capable machinery wearing six numbers on the side, which was never the intent of recreational aviation in the first place. Keep in mind, though, that CASA just doesn't have the culture or flexibility of framework to do justice to the new recreational aviation that's emerging. It's only through ASAOs that Australia can adopt it, with CASA watching over their shoulders all the time to make sure there aren't too many "divergent views".
EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh starts tonight our time, and one of the main themes running through the event is the impending MOSAIC regulation. A quick recap: the Modernisation of Special Airworthiness Category (MOSAIC) re-designs light sport aircraft to remove the arbitrary weight limits and permit more technology and capability in the category. It has been mooted for some time now and many in the USA were hoping they'd have something for Oshkosh this year. Not so, apparently; the process is dragging on. One of the balls-and-chain attached to the new standard is that several aviation organisations in the USA have thrown in other reforms they want included that weren't part of the original spec. For example, the Experimental Aircraft Association earlier this year asked the FAA to consider a higher stall speed than the original proposal and the ability for sport (recreational) pilots to be able to carry three passengers rather than the one permitted under the current rules. What this sort of thing does to regulators is send them back to their risk matrices to plug in the new freedoms and see how they work as one piece of a larger puzzle. It doesn't necessarily mean wiping the whiteboard clean, but it does add more information to a board that is already strapped for space. So when does the world get to see the new rules? The comment period closed in January this year, having been extended from last October, which means the notice of final rulemaking is due in the first half of 2025. Maybe by Oshkosh next year we'll have something concrete to work with.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch