It is pretty obviously just another way of raising money. If the high use gliders are getting 100 hour/3 month inspections there is obviously no safety issue here. GFA just wants to charge for another Form 2 pack.

It is just like the brilliant tug pilot tax. Forcing tug pilots to belong to GFA is just another dumb move. The claim CASA didn't want to worry about tow ratings doesn't ring true. They still need to issue them for banner towing. Simplifying the tow rating or eliminating it by just

requiring a proper briefing might actually help the sport.

I've had lots of launches behind pilots who weren't GFA members. At Beverley in the 1970s Dave Woodward organised not just a towplane but a standby one that could be called on complete with pilot. There have been times at contests when ag planes complete with pilots

have been hired. Forcing GFA membership on the pilots will in many cases either result in the pilots saying "screw that!" when required to join the GFA or the club/contest organisers will have to buy a membership for each. Hence the "tax".

Unfortunately there is nothing that anyone can do about either as the GFA Board own the organisation and aren't subject to either adult supervision or the discipline of elections by the "members".

As for the GFA chat forum, why would anyone bother? Anything regarded as controversial by the Board will not see the light of day or if it does come complete with rebuttal/belittlement/denigration of the originator.

Mike




At 08:11 PM 30/07/2015, you wrote:
In the most recent draft of MOSP 3 (19 June 2015), a new requirement has been added in by the GFA. A form 2 now lasts only for the lesser of 250 hours, or 12 months (Section 11.3.2). Particularly for clubs with high use two seaters, this is an extremely expensive burden. For example, at Southern Cross, this means we'll be almost doubling our Form 2 inspections across the fleet in any given 12 month period. Our DG1000 will be probably subject to 3 most years.

Is anyone aware of the rationale behind this change? Considering most of these high use gliders are already subject to 100hrly and/or 3 month inspections, it seems like an extremely expensive exercise that is will not make us any safer. These gliders have been operating for years or decades with a single yearly main checkup.

--
Justin Couch                                 http://www.vlc.com.au/
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