Here is my summary of what occurred at the GFA ACM held in Melb on Sept 11/12th This information was provided to SAGA delegates. It is provided here as information to this group. It is an unofficial and independent account of the meeting.
Twin/Astir G103 Life Extension above 12,000hrs There are 22 of these types in Australia. 19 have less than 6,000hrs and only 3 have more than 11,000hrs. These 3 are one at Waikerie and 2 at Adelaide Soaring Club. To be able to perform the work to investigate life extension specific data from Grob is required with respect to the steel components. Grob will not release this information and GFA has even asked whether they would even consider selling it. The LBA has this information but will not release it without Grob authorisation. Grob do not want life extension on their gliders due to litigation if a problem arises. To do the analysis without the data from Grob could cost anywhere between $50,000 to $100,000 based upon the cost to do the Blanik some 10yrs ago. At the end of this work there is still no guarantee that a service life extension could be obtained. The only other avenue is when Part 103 is implemented which may allow GFA to authorise life extensions, but again GFA would be reluctant to do this against the advice of the glider manufacturer due to litigation if a problem occurred. GFA will continue to pursue this matter as it has been doing for the last 8 years. Motion was put and was lost based upon the cost to perform the work without the data from Grob. Solo Flying Operations This motion is to look at clubs that do not train or provide AEF flights and where its members are all Independent operators and where they have difficulty maintaining a CFI. Motion was passed and the Ops panel will now investigate options. VGA motions 1. for $5,000 funding was passed 2. for senior GFA membership - motion was withdrawn because the associate membership category meets the intent of what was required. SAGA motion for GFA VP David Conway was nominated unopposed and is now GFA Executive Vice president. Well done David. GFA President Bob Hall and Ralph Henderson were nominated. Bob received 12 votes and Ralph 4 Bob re-elected as GFA President. Airspace Changes Airservices is intending to change the airspace model in Australia on Nov 25th to Option 3. GFA together with Hang Gliding, Parachutists, Ultralights, AOPA are mounting a court challenge to stop Airservices moving to this new model. GFA is committing $10,000 as a 1/5 share with the other bodies to mount this legal challenge. On the surface the impact to SA/NT clubs is minimal but I will ask John Hudson as Airspace Officer to provide a summary of how Option 3 will impact each club. Glider Registrations On the 15th of November CASA will be sending every glider aircraft owner a 7 page form to re-register each glider. GFA will be providing information as to why this is happening in the near future. CASA will be handling all glider registrations from this date. Non-Certified Tugs Legislation is expected to be passed around April 2005 that will allow non-certified tugs to tow gliders for instructional and AEF flights. This is great news and will allow aerotow clubs to put auto engines into its tugs and not have to go through the expensive exercise to seek certification. Tug Engine Overhaul's Apparently there is a new requirement now that if a tug engine has not had an overhaul within the last 12yrs it now must have an overhaul after 12yrs irrespective of the engine hours. Bid for World Comps for 2008 There is an opportunity for GFA to put a bid in for the World 2008 Open Class/15m/18m competition and the Womens/Juniors (2007) competition. There would be about 70 to 80 pilots. World Comp pilots are very keen to have another comp in Australia. Rob Moore and myself will investigate if Waikerie or ASC or both clubs would like to place a bid to host these world comps. Bids to GFA are required by Nov and bid to IGC by Dec with a decision being made in March 2005 Mandatory $1M, 3rd party insurance for GFA sanctioned comps I tried extremely hard to have this decision overturned even though most councillors could not fully understand why GFA was doing this. The implication is that if you want to run a comp or regatta and you want the Comp Director fully protected by the GFA insurance scheme requires the comp to be a GFA sanctioned event and subsequently because it is now a gfa sanctioned event every glider will have to have $1M 3rd party liability insurance. The cost of this insurance is about $630 if you don't have hull insurance. If you have Hull insurance it is about an extra $200. GFA Loans Loans from GFA are now available up to an amount of $50,000. Previously this was only $20,000 Regards Peter Robinson SA/NT Councillor _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
