At 10:16 AM 21/12/05 +1030, you wrote:
>
>
>
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>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Mike Borgelt
>
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>>
>>Do you have any material on the period when the then DCA took
>>control of glider airworthiness requirements from the GFA and
>>made gliders conform to a standard? 1956 or so I've heard.
>>
>>Mike
>
>>From my reading of AG's from around that time and club folklore, I was
>always under the impression this was when gliders actually went on the
>register and airworthiness standards were applied at that time. I don't
>know the exact date but certainly late 50s. This may have been about the
>time that minimum solo pilot* age and a few other things were specified,
>but I may be conflating issues.
>Anyway, I think it wasn't a case of any transfer of control, rather
>setting a standard for the first time, recognising gliders as a subset
>of aircraft and bringing them into the "mainstream" of aviation.
>Very comparable to ultralights in the 80s.
>
>Regards
>SWK
>
>*There was a time in Australia when there was no minimum pilot age and
>13 and 14 year olds (and maybe younger) were happily and legally flying
>solo.
Just checked my father's logbook and in late 1957 the gliders had VH
registrations.
I think it did involve a transfer of control because until 1981 or so DCA
and its sucessors handled type approvals, first of type etc. This made
homebuilts more difficult for quite a while (the magazines of the time make
mention of the Backstrom "Flying Plank" and approval difficulties for it)
and effectively stifled glider development in this country. Before anyone
mentions Schneiders, the basic engineering on those was done in Germany.
The Kookabura was a pre WW2 design I believe.
It was far worse than what happened to ultralights in the 1980's and
represented just the first utter defeat of the GFA by officialdom.
Mike
Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments
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