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Recreational Aviation Australia Inc home page

Welcome to Recreational Aviation Australia Incorporated

Published by RA-Aus for its members, and for those interested in flying in a friendly environment — just for the sheer fun of it — or in building or buying their own aircraft; or maybe just interested in learning about grass-roots aviation.

The RA-Aus monthly journal 'Recreational Aviation Australia', mailed to all association members — and available to the public via the usual retail outlets or by subscription — is our main communication medium. The primary aim of this article-based Web service is to provide an information repository that increases airmanship and safety awareness amongst recreational pilots — world-wide. RA-Aus recommends such aviators review the articles in the Web service tutorials and the index to airmanship and safety matters.   All persons have unrestricted access to all material on this site.

Page revision 188 — the page content was last changed November 19, 2009. See the airworthiness notices box.




Web service tutorials and guides [html]

These tutorials are dedicated to the memory of
Wing Commander A.M. (Mick) Parer
'An operator who had a passion
for flight and a passion to teach'

1935 — 2005


Please note: when reading these tutorials if you set screen width resolution to 800 dpi with a mid-size font, or 1024 to 1280 with a larger font size, the article text will be presented at 70–80 print characters per line, which is best for reading and will also present a suitable image size.

Flight Theory
Learning to Fly guide
Aviation Meteorology in Australia
Flight Planning and Navigation
VHF Radiocommunications
Coping with Emergencies
Airmanship and safety matters
Decreasing your exposure to risk
Builders guide to safe aircraft materials





Aircraft purchase and construction
RA-Aus aircraft register
New aircraft and kits
Used aircraft for sale
Home-builts: building your own

Flight schools, clubs & events
RA-Aus flight school details
Flight school location listing
Ultralight Clubs
Events calendar

RA-Aus manuals
Operations Manual issue 6 [2008]
Technical Manual issue 3 [2008]

Application forms, ASICs, documents, subscriptions, insurance, purchases, payments

Members on-line payment facility
Membership, pilot & aircraft registration applications, insurance and other documents. Please note: the BFR form and individual endorsement forms were updated 4/11/09.
RA-Aus on-line shop

Site map & search

RA-Aus Aircraft Operators!

Latest AIRWORTHINESS NOTICES


November 19, 2009: Airworthiness Notice: compulsory compliance with AMD Safety Alert for Zodiac CH601 XL and CH 650.

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November 19, 2009: Airworthiness Notice: the use of fuels containing ethanol in X-Air aircraft.

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November 17, 2009: AMD Safety Alert for Zodiac CH601 XL and CH 650

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November 17, 2009: FAA Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin: CE-10-08 Zodiac CH601XL and CH650 wing structural modifications

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November 17, 2009: FAA SAIB alerts pilots, owners, operators, maintenance personnel, and certificated repair facilities of reciprocating aircraft engines with float-type carburetors, of potential hazards associated with those carburetors

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November 17, 2009: Jabiru Service Letter JSL007 issue 3; alcohol, lead, compression ratio: fuel guidance

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See the airworthiness notices page.

RA-Aus bulletins

The Notice Board contains the following new notices plus older items which may still be of interest to RA-Aus members.


October 30, 2009. Researchers from University of Western Sydney and Central Queensland University need your input on glass cockpit technology. There is a quick survey to gather your thoughts if you wish to complete it and an introductory letter which explains the aim in more detail.


October 12, 2009. CASA has decided not to proceed with the proposed MTOW increase for aircraft operating under CAO 95.55.


September 23, 2009. The NATFLY location for 2010-2011-2012 is official; Temora, NSW! There is information on the notice board for those who want to arrange accommodation for the April 2–4, 2010 event.

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The CAGIT trophy's last known location was the Broken Hill Recreational Aircraft Club (October 10).

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Gyfts GYFTS program. The Giving Young People Flight Training Support is a member funded program aiming to provide scholarships for flight training. Each year, if every one of our members donates just $2, the fund could support 5 flight training scholarships of over $3000 each.





Jabiru ultralight aircraft

Australian summer: Geoff Hennig's Jabiru amongst the hay bales.

An Australian design two seat 'amateur-built' category aircraft typical of the newer generation RA-Aus aeroplanes constructed in fibre reinforced polymer materials. In December 2005 the Bundaberg, Queensland factory marked the delivery of their 1000th Jabiru and some 4500 Jabiru series aero-engines.
Learn to fly!

It is possible to achieve the RA-Aus Pilot Certificate with just 20 hours of in-flight instruction! If you would like to be able to fly an aeroplane then check out our LEARNING TO FLY GUIDE. It provides a broad overview of what is involved in learning to fly in the friendly, fun world of Australian recreational aviation.



Design, build or buy your own aeroplane!

     At July 23, 2009 RA-Aus had 8885 members with voting rights and
there were 2862 aircraft with valid RA-Aus registration and an estimated market value of $98 million.

The ownership of those aircraft comprises:
  • those enthusiasts who designed and fabricated their own truly experimental aircraft;
  • those who fully fabricated from commercially supplied plans;
  • those who partly fabricated and assembled their own aircraft from a factory supplied kit;
  • those who preferred to purchase a new certificated, factory built aircraft;
  • and those many members who chose to buy a pre-owned aircraft, whether factory or home built.
     Pre-owned aircraft are advertised for sale in the 'Member's Market' while you can view a few home-builder projects in 'Home-builts: building your own'. New factory-built aircraft and aircraft kits, currently available in Australia and accepted for registration by RA-Aus, are listed in the 'Buyer's Guide'.




Next - History of ultralightsNEWCOMERS GUIDED TOUR
The material in this site is wide-ranging in content. This short 10 page guided tour will provide a quick overview — the first page we look at is a potted history of ultralight aviation in Australia.


Web tutorials author: John Brandon     (contact information)