06-13-2025, 07:09 PM
The Last Minute Hitch: 13 June 2025
13 June 2025
– Steve Hitchen
About every six months I go off on a rant about the lack of recognition for aviation people in the Australian honours system. With the King's Birthday list released last Monday, now is the time for a repeat performance. Aviation is one of the largest and most critical industries in Australia, and like any industry, its power lies in its people. Whilst at commercial levels most people are in it for the career, that can't be said about general aviation, where if you don't have the passion, you don't play the game. Flying schools, charter operators and aero clubs thrive on the people prepared to put in day after day, and in most cases don't extract anywhere near as much as they contribute. It is the difference between what you put in and what you take out that defines your service to the industry. One of the criteria for, say, an OAM, is that you contribute to your field more than could be rightly expected. That means the field of candidates within aviation is immense! But still so little recognition. Perhaps we simply aren't submitting enough nominations? In that case the solution is pretty simple and very obvious: nominate. Congratulations to the four members of the aviation community that were awarded OAMs this week; you are rare beasts indeed.
"..the effort the Morgan family applied to breathe life back into GippsAero is absolutely.."
Yesterday was a watershed moment in Australian aviation history, when the Airvan production line at GippsAero's[b] [/b]Latrobe Valley factory began rolling again. It has been dormant since 2020, and the factory floor had effectively been converted to storage. Key hangars had been repurposed and skilled workers had found other industries to employ them. There's nothing special in that; many aircraft manufacturers have closed down over the years in a bespoke industry famous for consuming dollars. What is special about GippsAero is that it has risen again. Very few GA manufacturers have been resurrected after the shutters were put up, and the effort the Morgan family applied to breathe life back into GippsAero is absolutely immeasurable. The keel-laying ceremony yesterday is evidence their work was worth it; the GA8 is back its band of loyal operators around the world are applauding like their livelihoods might depend on it. Among the audience that watched the first rivet set in the floor structure of airframe #263 were people who in some way were heavily invested in the Airvan story. Employees, customers, operators, suppliers, politicians, dignitaries ... each one in no doubt what the moment meant. But I fear the government could be doing more to help the Morgan family. In a time when the government is spruiking an Australian-made agenda, they could be turning handshakes into hand-outs and contributing to developing a vibrant manufacturing capability in Australia. They are spending payload-launching dollars on a sovereign space capability when only a fraction of that is needed to get GA in Australia building again. But like they did before, GippsAero will survive on their own passion and ingenuity. It's just that the Federal Government could make it a lot easier for them.
Helicopters and aeroplanes have been operating alongside each other at airports since there have been helicopters. Both communities understand the special risks of that and have been dealing with it for years. CASA, while trying to understand how VTOL-capable aircraft (VCA) have found that perhaps special designs are needed to mitigate those risks. The consultation CASA launched this week has immediately triggered me thinking about three things: that a problem has existed for years that has only been recognised now, that VCAs, despite their utility value, will be operating from airports in large numbers, and that downwash from VCAs may be as significant as that of helicopters. Although fixed-wings and rotaries have co-existed at airports for years and the risks of such long understood, CASA feels now the need to create guidelines for something that has been going on for decades. I feel this may be a scenario where we are trying to change the aviation industry to suit VCA operations, when still so much about VCA operations remains unknown. At the time of writing, there are no EASA, FAA or CASA type-certified VCAs. Development is still ongoing. Whilst I have to support CASA getting ahead of the game, I do wonder if we know enough about the game to start changing the existing goal posts to suit it. I will be guided by the helicopter and airport operators on this, and look forward to reading some of the feedback.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
13 June 2025
– Steve Hitchen
About every six months I go off on a rant about the lack of recognition for aviation people in the Australian honours system. With the King's Birthday list released last Monday, now is the time for a repeat performance. Aviation is one of the largest and most critical industries in Australia, and like any industry, its power lies in its people. Whilst at commercial levels most people are in it for the career, that can't be said about general aviation, where if you don't have the passion, you don't play the game. Flying schools, charter operators and aero clubs thrive on the people prepared to put in day after day, and in most cases don't extract anywhere near as much as they contribute. It is the difference between what you put in and what you take out that defines your service to the industry. One of the criteria for, say, an OAM, is that you contribute to your field more than could be rightly expected. That means the field of candidates within aviation is immense! But still so little recognition. Perhaps we simply aren't submitting enough nominations? In that case the solution is pretty simple and very obvious: nominate. Congratulations to the four members of the aviation community that were awarded OAMs this week; you are rare beasts indeed.
"..the effort the Morgan family applied to breathe life back into GippsAero is absolutely.."
Yesterday was a watershed moment in Australian aviation history, when the Airvan production line at GippsAero's[b] [/b]Latrobe Valley factory began rolling again. It has been dormant since 2020, and the factory floor had effectively been converted to storage. Key hangars had been repurposed and skilled workers had found other industries to employ them. There's nothing special in that; many aircraft manufacturers have closed down over the years in a bespoke industry famous for consuming dollars. What is special about GippsAero is that it has risen again. Very few GA manufacturers have been resurrected after the shutters were put up, and the effort the Morgan family applied to breathe life back into GippsAero is absolutely immeasurable. The keel-laying ceremony yesterday is evidence their work was worth it; the GA8 is back its band of loyal operators around the world are applauding like their livelihoods might depend on it. Among the audience that watched the first rivet set in the floor structure of airframe #263 were people who in some way were heavily invested in the Airvan story. Employees, customers, operators, suppliers, politicians, dignitaries ... each one in no doubt what the moment meant. But I fear the government could be doing more to help the Morgan family. In a time when the government is spruiking an Australian-made agenda, they could be turning handshakes into hand-outs and contributing to developing a vibrant manufacturing capability in Australia. They are spending payload-launching dollars on a sovereign space capability when only a fraction of that is needed to get GA in Australia building again. But like they did before, GippsAero will survive on their own passion and ingenuity. It's just that the Federal Government could make it a lot easier for them.
Helicopters and aeroplanes have been operating alongside each other at airports since there have been helicopters. Both communities understand the special risks of that and have been dealing with it for years. CASA, while trying to understand how VTOL-capable aircraft (VCA) have found that perhaps special designs are needed to mitigate those risks. The consultation CASA launched this week has immediately triggered me thinking about three things: that a problem has existed for years that has only been recognised now, that VCAs, despite their utility value, will be operating from airports in large numbers, and that downwash from VCAs may be as significant as that of helicopters. Although fixed-wings and rotaries have co-existed at airports for years and the risks of such long understood, CASA feels now the need to create guidelines for something that has been going on for decades. I feel this may be a scenario where we are trying to change the aviation industry to suit VCA operations, when still so much about VCA operations remains unknown. At the time of writing, there are no EASA, FAA or CASA type-certified VCAs. Development is still ongoing. Whilst I have to support CASA getting ahead of the game, I do wonder if we know enough about the game to start changing the existing goal posts to suit it. I will be guided by the helicopter and airport operators on this, and look forward to reading some of the feedback.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch