At 07:50 AM 26/09/2013, you wrote:
snip
The rule wasn't handed to Moses by God on stone tablets. It is the
GFA MOSP, written by people and can be changed by people.
Now you may have a little trouble running that by CASA to eliminate
the compass(I'm told a while ago that it wasn't required in gliders)
but it is worth a try. After all the whole GFA operates under
exemptions because certain CASA employees were too witless to write a
reasonable Part 103 in 8 years.
Likewise, I'd still like to know where the 20 knots above Vne
requirement for ASIs comes from. It isn't in conformance with CS22,
the airworthiness standard under which most gliders are certified.
What is it about NEVER EXCEED that is not understood?
CS22 says the ASI must read 5% over Vne. This lets you know if you
did, indeed, exceed Vne and the glider requires an inspection before
further flight which surely is the intent. So we have yet another
unique Australian requirement where we substitute standard
manufactured parts with special ones for no good reason. Not
necessarily a problem on new gliders but what about imported used
gliders that have ASIs that conform to CS22?
I skimmed FAR23 and CS23 the airworthiness standards for powered
light aircraft this morning. I couldn't find any requirement that the
ASI read over Vne at all in either (they are almost the same and the
FAA has a nice document that shows the differences)
For those who don't know, the prime reason for the formation of the
GFA was to prevent the imposition on gliding of unreasonable,
inappropriate or even counter productive rules and regulations. That
seems to have been forgotten.
Anyone who thinks they are going to find themselves with a compass
and map after the GPS fails is dreaming. The map will help but the
compass is likely useless. Maintaining electrical power in your
glider isn't all that difficult and a redundant back up power supply
is almost essential nowadays. Use two batteries, cycle one in normal
use, charge the other once a month but don't use it except to check
that it is OK. When battery one fails, switch to battery 2 and use it
in the main battery position with a new one in the standby position.
If the main won't do for usual flights of up to 8 hours, use higher
capacity batteries. With all the electronic equipment in gliders you
may find that flying without electrical power isn't a lot of fun anyway.
FUN is in fact why anybody flys gliders anyway, something that TPTB
seem to forget. When the fun/hassle ratio deteriorates people stop
doing it. Simply look at the numbers (people have left in droves) and
you may get a clue.
Learning new interesting things and learning about sailplanes and how
to fly them, meteorology, rules of the air and becoming an airman is
fun. Dealing with irrational, chickenshit rules that are unable to be
sensibly justified isn't.
Mike
Borgelt Instruments - design & manufacture of quality soaring
instrumentation since 1978
www.borgeltinstruments.com
tel: 07 4635 5784 overseas: int+61-7-4635 5784
mob: 042835 5784 : int+61-42835 5784
P O Box 4607, Toowoomba East, QLD 4350, Australia
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