Royal Aeronautical Society Event RSS feed

June Lecture - Chris Davey

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Stuart Rawlings on a career in helicopters

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Edith Cowan University, Building 10 room 209/210 2 Bradford Street Mount Lawley Building is next to Building 15 which was our base last year.

Stuart Rawlings is a helicopter pilot who has 14,000 hours on the aircraft.

He will be sharing some of his experiences in a long and eventful career.

Branch Visit to AirServices Australia National Operations Centre

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Canberra City Places are limited, so please advise Martin Aubury of your interest on 6255 2347 or ozaubury@homemail.com.au

This is an excellent opportunity to tour AirServices' National Operation Centre and to better understand their activities.

May Lecture - Val St Leon

Wed, 30 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Rupert Myers Theatre, University of NSW Barker Street Kensington PARKING: Limited parking is available in surrounding streets with paid parking within the University of NSW car park tower, entry from Barker Street. Please observe parking restrictions and allow time to drive to the University of NSW, park and walk to the venue. (Refer map)

PROFILE After two years with No.3 Squadron in the Middle East and seven years service in the RAAF, Val St. Leon joined Qantas at Rose Bay in 1946 and immediately gained his DCA Ground Engineer airframe and engine licences and was promoted to Technical Instructor. He was then chosen by Arthur Baird to head the original 14 Flight Engineers to train at Lockheed and Wright Aeronautical Corporations on the Constellation project in the USA. After seven years as Senior Flight Engineer, he was given the opportunity to transfer to pilot strength, having gained a Commercial Pilot’s licence at his own expense. After transfer, he gained a First Class ATPL with Cat 2a Instrument Rating and a Flight Navigator’s licence. This array of civil aviation licences was unique and never equalled. He was based in SFO for three years, and became jet qualified on the B707/138, in the first group in 1959, and London for one year, where he introduced the B707/338c on Trans Atlantic services in 1968. He became a Senior Check Captain & retired in 1978 with a Boeing B747 command after 33 years Qantas service. He was active in promoting professionalism in aircrew and became Chairman of the Overseas Branch and Industrial Chairman for four years and served in the RAAF Reserve for 20 years as a Flt/ Lieutenant and decorated with the Air Efficiency Award. In 2003 he entered University and gained a M Litt (Distinction) charting the industrial turmoil during the North American Contract negotiations. Val married one of the first nine Qantas Flight Hostesses, Patricia Burke, and has three children.

SYNOPSIS Val will discuss the design of the Lockheed L1049 Constellation, an aircraft which he calls "A Very Capricious, Wayward Lady", with an emphasis on piloting and the two major accidents at Mauritius and Lovelock, Nevada. Val will also briefly mention the L1249 and L1649 and will provide a full listing of numbers built with historical data.

DINNER: After the presentation Val has indicated that he will join us for dinner as the guest of the committee. Members and visitors are invited to attend the dinner to be held at Giovanna Italian Restaurant, 285 Anzac Parade, Kingsford. (approx $35 pp including soft drink wine.)

Airways Museum Tour - Essendon

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

The Airways Museum Cnr Wirraway Road and Shaw Court Essendon Airport Please register your attendance to Stratos Patsikatheodorou (stratos.p@stratosaerospace.org) or +61 401 295 179

Event: Tour of The Airways Museum at Essendon Airport

Date: Monday 14 May 2012
Time: 5:30pm for a 6:00pm Start
Venue: The Airways Museum
Address: Cnr Wirraway Road and Shaw Court, Essendon Airport (Entry via Edgar Johnston Lane)

The Airways Museum is an aviation museum, but with one difference - there are no aircraft! Instead, the Museum houses a collection of national importance that traces the development of Australia's civil aviation airways system through innovation and technical development from it's beginnings in the 1920s to today. The story is told through artefacts and photographs, and illustrates how Australia has often played a leading role internationally in aviation development.

Mayjor areas covered in the museum include:
- Air Traffic Services
    Tower Control
    Approach Control
    En-route Control
    Aeradio / Flight Service
- Air / Ground & Ground / Ground commincations equipment
- Radio navigation beacons & radar
- Airport lighting & visual approach guidance
- Flight calibration of navigation aids

Registration is required for this event as numbers are strictly limited
Please contact Stratos Patsikatheodorou (stratos.p@stratosaerospace.org or +61 401 295 179) to register.

Aviation Emissions, the Environment and Biofuels - Robin Stanier

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Military Lecture Theatre, ADFA

Last month Qantas operated Australia’s first commercial flight part-fuelled with refined cooking oil! The Airbus A330 flew Sydney to Adelaide using a 50-50 blend derived from recycled cooking oil and regular jet fuel in what the airline hopes will be a step towards a sustainable aviation fuel industry in Australia. Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said "We need to get ready for a future that is not based on traditional jet fuel, or frankly we don't have a future”.

Airlines are buying new fuel-efficient aircraft in record numbers to counter threats posed by high oil prices, oil scarcity (traditional cheap sources of oil are past their peak) and the imposition of carbon taxes and the like. Use of bio-fuels is the only realistic, long term option if the aviation industry is to counter these threats and continue to grow at its historic rate of 5% per year. Thelecture discusses these issues and what is being done by the global aviation industry to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. It considers some technical options for achieving this, and outlines what is being done to trial ;]'drp in' aviation bio-fueld. It touches on a recent CSIRO report that covers the opportunities for Australia to produce aviation bio-fuels.

Before the lecture you can meet with colleagues for refreshments in the Officers Mess and are invited to join the Committee and speaker for dinner.

Wings over Illawarra - Airshow

Sun, 06 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Illawarra Regional Airport Albion Park - Wollongong

Refer to www.hars.org.au and www.woi.org.au

Keeping Australia's Frontline Fighter in One Piece

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Engineers Australia 21 Bedford Street North Melbourne

Presenter: Loris Molent

Title: Keeping Australia's Frontline Fighter in One Piece

Date: Monday 16 April 2012
Time: 6:00pm for a 6:30pm Start
Venue: Engineers Australia Auditorium
Address: 21 Bedford Street, North Melbourne

Australia's F/A-18 Hornets, both the original F/A-18A(known as the "Classic" Hornet) and our ner F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, are Australia's frontline fighter force. When the Hornet was acquired by Australia, it was one of the first fighter aircraft to have advanced aerodynamics, be made of significant amounts of composite materials, and be designed using structural optimisation methods. As a result, the Hornet suffered from structural integrity problems such as cracking, due to unforseen side-effects of the advanced design. Mr. Molent will briefly cover the history of the Hornet in Australian Service, and will then discuss the significant efforts in structural integrity that Australia has had to make to assure the availability of our Hornets. Topics will include the IFOSTP (International Follow-On Structural Test Project). and the more recent "Centre Barrel" Tests.

Mr. Molent has worked in the fields of aircraft structural integrit, structural mechanics, structural and fatigue testing, advanced bonded repair, aircraft vunerability and aircraft accident investigation. He has over 200 publications in these technical areas and is a qualified aircraft accident investigator. He spent time with both the then Civil Aviation Department (1985) in Canberra, and the US Navy (NAVAIR, 1990-1991) in Washington D.C. as an airworthiness engineer. Mr. Molent is currently the Defence Science and Technology Organisation's Head of Structural Integrity (Combat & Trainer Aircraft). In 2010, he was awarded with the Minister's Award for Achievements in Defence Science.

Dr Andrew Neely on “NASA Space Shuttle Program”.

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +1000

ADFA Military Theatre

Latest Research in Space Biology - Dr Richard Wassersug

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Victorian Space Science Education Centre 400 Pascoe Vale Road Strathmore Please register through the email below.

Although not directly organised or sponsored by RAeS, this event may be of interest to RAeS members ....

Proudly brought to you by the Victorian Space Science Education Centre (VSSEC)

Presenter: Dr. Richard Wassersug

Title: Latest Research in Space Biology

Dr. Wassersug is interested in how the space environment affects living organisms. Most of his research has been on amphibians such as tadpoles. He has been Principal Investigator for an impressive number of experiments flown on the U.S. Space Shuttle.

He explains how he accidentally became a space biologist: “I serendipitously got invited into the field some 15 years ago. Back then, a group at NASA was planning to raise frog eggs on the space shuttle to see how gravity (and the absence thereof) affected the early development of vertebrates. The mission was long enough to bring back live tadpoles on Earth. These were the first alien life forms—after all, they were born in space!—to arrive on our planet. In order to tell whether the space tadpoles were normal, NASA invited me in to study them upon their arrival at Cape Canaveral.”

Date: Thursday 29 March 2012
Time: 6:00pm for a 6:30pm Start
Venue: Victorian Space Science Education Centre at Strathmore Secondary College
Address: 400 Pascoe Vale Road, Strathmore

Registrations: Please visit the VSSEC website to register.