Airworthiness

The Airworthiness Panel

What it does for you Who are the RMAs?Standing: Scott Johnson (QLD Incoming), Zac Simpkins (QLD), Dennis Stacey (Executive Manager Airworthiness), Lindsay Mitchell (QLD Retiring), David Villiers (Chair of the Airworthiness Panel), John Wharington (Vic/Tas), JR Marshall (SA/NT)…

Women’s Replacement of Component Course

By Louise Sinclair I participated in the Women’s Replacement of Component Course held in May, organised by NSW Gliding and hosted by Southern Cross Gliding Club in Camden, NSW.Six weekly online sessions ran from 2 April to 7 May 2026, giving participants the opportunity to build…

Canopies and Rigging

By David VilliersChair Airworthiness Various incidents have recently caused GAus Safety, Operations and Airworthiness to investigate the issue of canopies coming open in flight. Unfortunately, these incidents have not been limited to Australia. GAus is aware of at least two…

Glider Maintenance Management

By David VilliersChair Airworthiness Panel cap@glidingaustralia.org It has often been said that an aircraft is not airworthy unless the weight of the aircraft is exceeded by the weight of the associated paperwork. While not strictly true, paperwork is an essential part of…

Daily Inspections - The Last Line of Defence

By David VilliersChair Airworthiness Panel cap@glidingaustralia.org PHOTOS: From 'The Daily Inspection', a series of videos produced by Justin Couch at Southern Cross GC.You can view them all and lots more on the GA Youtube channel tinyurl.com/GA-channel The airworthiness of our…

Glider Weight and Balance

David VilliersChair Airworthiness Panel cap@glidingaustralia.org A Crucial Aspect of Safe SoaringIn aviation, management of weight and balance is fundamental to safe, efficient flight. We are all trained to check the weight and balance of our glider by reference to the placards…

Jantar Control Rigging

Over the years, there have been a significant number of SOAR and defect reports involving incorrect rigging or connection of Jantar aileron and elevator controls, and this seems to be a perennial problem David VilliersChair Airworthiness Panel cap@glidingaustralia.org Over the…

New Chair Airworthiness David Villiers

Gliding Australia is pleased to announce the appointment of David Villiers as the new Chair of the Airworthiness Panel (CAP). David steps into this crucial role following the retirement of Anthony Smith, whose dedicated service has significantly contributed to the safety and…

Weight aand Balance Course at Benalla

Since the untimely death in 2023 of MGC Life Member Roger Druce and Dr Ben Loxton moving to the USA in 2018, Melbourne Gliding Club has not had a member with authorisation to conduct a Weight and Balance Inspection of club aircraft. GGC and Beaufort were similarly bereft…

Piper Pawnee Airworthiness

\ By Anthony SmithChair Airworthiness departmentcad@glidingaustralia.org BACKGROUNDThe Piper PA-25 Pawnee was first designed in the early 1950’s as an agricultural aircraft. Prior to this most agricultural aircraft were converted from existing civil or military designs. Several…

Approvals For New Technologies

The majority of sailplanes in Australia are ‘certified’. This means that a regulatory authority has checked that the sailplane design complies with an appropriate design standard, typically CS-22 ‘Certification Specifications for Sailplanes and Powered Sailplanes’. This gives a…

PREPARING FOR AN ELECTRIC FUTURE

Uys Jonker demonstrating the electric self launch system. Several new electric self-launching sailplanes are expected to arrive in Australia in the coming months, in addition to the handful already in the country. To meet the future maintenance requirements, Jonker Sailplanes…

Weight and Balance for Sailplanes

After considerable investment in time and effort, both within Gliding Australia and CASA, I am pleased to announce that Gliding Australia has been delegated authority to administer weight and balance for sailplanes. This means that we can recommence weight and balance training…

Weight and Balance for Sailplanes

After considerable investment in time and effort, both within Gliding Australia and CASA, I am pleased to announce that Gliding Australia has been delegated authority to administer weight and balance for sailplanes. This means that we can recommence weight and balance training…

IN FLIGHT BATTERY FAILURE

Battery after removal from aircraft. In August 2022 I was flying my self-launching glider. I had decided to do a long power-on climb to about 6,000ft AGL to test the engine performance in a style of flight different to my normal usage. The engine started normally, the climb was…

THE RISKS OF NEW OR DIFFERENT

By Anthony smithChair Airworthiness department One of the major challenges of working in the Airworthiness Department is keeping up with new tools and techniques as they are introduced. They need to be learned, assessed to see if training courses need to be updated or new…

Training and Airworthiness Webinars

Anthony Smith has been adding to his Airwortihiness Webinars with several new recordings online. He has covered subjects including undercarriage incidents, current health of the AW system flutter, flight envelope and propellor departure. They are essential viewing for any pilot…

Rain, Rain, Go Away

The continuation of wet weather across large areas of Australia has caused a number of airworthiness challenges. Sailplanes are being stored in hangars and trailers without being flown for extensive periods of time. These conditions have brought forward a number of reports of…

Rings and Things - TOST Rings

Over the last few years, there have been several reports of uncommanded release events during aerotow with sailplanes fitted with the TOST E22 nose release. This has resulted in the GFA Airworthiness Department issuing Airworthiness Alert 2022-1.The TOST E22 nose release is a…

SHE’LL BE RIGHT MATE!

Too much force applied, and not performed in accordance with the manual. By Phil Dodd She’ll be right, mate! Just get a bigger hammer, that will make it fit. It’s never been a problem before. Don’t worry, it will be okay.These are words of complacency. The online Cambridge…

AIRWORTHINESS AND AGING FIBREGLASS AIRCRAFT

All aircraft begin to deteriorate as soon as it is manufactured. Generally the rate of deterioration is very slow at first, but the resulting damage is cumulative and the deterioration accelerates with age. The term aging aircraft is usually applied to aircraft as they near or…

CG Position For Least Tailplane Drag

This article was developed during the rewrite of the Weight and Balance Manual when the airworthiness team felt a short section on the CG position for optimal performance needed to be included. Anthony SmithChair Airworthiness Department As a result, I did a technical analysis…

Minimum Equipment Serviceability

Every sailplane has a Minimum Equipment List (MEL) that the design is certified with. This equipment is listed on the Type Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS). The equipment on the list is dependent on which standard the aircraft was designed to and the requirements of the country it…

Airworthiness - The Benefits of Being Well Connected

It is well known that people who are well connected in society end up being successful in life. Something similar can be said for connections in aircraft. Those with good connections between their structural elements and well connected controls are going to be more successful in…