Dick threatens to sue AsA
 

In the Australian today (Tue 6 July 2004)

Don't know what Sydney was using at the time or the weather conditions perhaps someone working at the time could shed more light on this.

Dick, instead of spending all that money on lawyers and the legal system, why don't you use it wisely and set up scholarships at flying schools to allow young people to get their PPLs?

In my journey through life, I have always found it useful to avoid eye contact with certain types of people.:rolleyes:

Ha ha
 

Gotta Love it!!!

I assume that he needed clearance to DESCEND to 8500 from about 150000 ft that he would have needed to be to glide from Lord Howe to the mainland.

This is the problem with this bloke - he only considers part of the risk.

He is perfectly happy flying his family to and from Lord Howe Island, an 800m odd strip in the middle of the ocean in a single engine aeroplane at 8500 ft, an altitude from which he would only have been able to glide into the water for the vast majority of his flight yet gets all excited when a clearance is not available over Australia's busiest CTA at 8500.

Why didn't he make landfall around Port Macquarie - that is closest bit of dirt to Lord Howe isn't it? He would have had a heap of airports to land on then..

What a Dick! (Smith)

Reading between the lines, if the article is correct, there would have to be something more to this. What sort of person would place their own life and those of his family at unnecessary risk in the first place. What is he trying to prove?

A

dehav driver said it all!

What's he trying to prove?..well if the above article has any basis in fact, and it certainly sounds like dickspeak, I would suggest that ds has some serious mental issues. He's not behaving rationally!!!

Chuck.

This sounds like the cheap media grab that his mate BM got some time ago with family member(s?) chucking up in his nice Navajo.

When is DS going to realise that there are others using the airspace as well and that he doesn't have access to purple airspace?

What a fool.

Oh Dick. You should have applied to ****. Your the sort of guy that would slide straight in there with that attitude and persistence you have.

Spoilt Brat Syndrome?
 

Are we spitting the dummy Dick, just because you can't get your own way EVERYTIME?

8500' is a VFR level - could it be that the weather was unsuitable for VFR at 8500' or lower which precluded VFR flight at those levels? What was the destination?

PMQ is also a shorter distance over water, and, if you are really worried about a successful ditching, fly a twin, - oh yeah, we did that to LHI once but it turned into a one way trip if my memory serves me correctly!

Get over it dick, YOU GOT IT WRONG AGAIN!

BSB

PS - Maybe you just pi$$ed off one too many controllers!

Pathetic...Dick, the only cause of action you have is a lost one!

Pull your head in!

Here is the link for those who like to see it in living colour:

Link to The Australian article

Surely a letter to the editor wouldnt be out of the question for those with betterer English skills than moi

FH

And can ya believe that while he's outraged that AsA put his family at risk in such a manner he flew his own single engined aircraft (albeit a turbine) probably twice as far as he needed to over water and waaayyy beyond gliding range of land...instead of buying a couple of tickets on Sunnies to go over in a Dash 8:ugh:

Or perhaps he shouda flown over in his Slowtation..runways a bit short but then it's all about affordable safety after all :ugh:

Oh I remember now...he's had probs with LDA in his slowtation before:ugh:

But doesn't he also own a twin helicopter? Might have been the best option of the lot...multi engine redundancy and no ASDA/LDA problems...not to mention not risking the lives of those unsuspecting members of the public whose houses he might have crashed into instead of gliding clear into various and sundry parks etc.

Talk about desperate:uhoh:

Chuckles

PS. And I LURVE that piccy above:ok:

Plaz, that piccy is priceless mate...... hehehehehe:} :} :}

Pr!ck.

Mind you, I guarantee the feebs running AsA will bend over, grab their collective ankles and take it up the blurter like they always do. Mark my words: out of court settlement to follow.....

Adamastor. I wouldn't be taking any bets on your theory!!

Dick's legals may have a hard time arguing that ERSA flight planning requirements doesn't clearly state that overflights within 30NM of SY aren't possible below A100.

That said, if he'd planned via the normal ERC inbound route from the east (MARLN-SY) there shouldn't normally be a problem coming into BK during quiet periods (unless something unusual was happening at SY, such as an LTOP runway juggle.... ohhhh what a can of worms this could open..... in which case VFR get treated with the appropriate priority according to MATS).

And since when did Sydney have 5 runways? Depending on how you count, there's either 3 or 6.

ps. anybody noticed bindook.com going to a stylish melbourne ho house?

Hahaha. Now the site is just about a different type of pussies.

gg spelling

How many orbits would it take to get from SY at 8500FT to the circuit at BK?

Concur everything above, 'tis a grandstand he's playing to.

And presumably he was IFR from LHI too?

Chuck.

Poor Dick
 

Couldn't get a clearence because he didn't know which frequency to use.

"I may get an engine failure on the last 10 miles of a 700nm flight"

Maybe your fuel calculations were wrong Dick. Should have declared an emergency mate.

No wonder Airservices has to increase their charges - having to pay silks to defend this sort of garbage -

Actually I don't know of any facts and am purely speculating but wouldn't it be hilarious if out of this it turned out that he did not have correct reserves or some such and ended up owning himself.

I remember reading somewhere in some obscure journal I suspect, that one of the first definite signs of pure megalomania is that the afflicted person starts believing their own press releases.
Come to think on it that could also apply to not a few politicians as well.
Come on Dick and admit it. You have blown it big time!!

You only live twice. Once when
you're born. Once when
you've looked death in the face.

tobzalp

There is no such thing as "Correct Reserves". Not since 1993 anyway.

Check your CAAP's.

TBT

Oh well. Maybe the 'or some such' will still happen?.

Nah, 20 says XXXX's charts were out of date......he was requesting clearance on the wrong freq 'cause "his" charts don't have the freq printed on them!

Sounds like the some such. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

Maybe it's a brain tumor???????????

"Is not a Toomer!"

Who said it and in what movie?????

TBT

The Governator, in Kindergarten Cop

Death rattle, perhaps???????

A

I have tried to keep an open mind about Mr Smith's agenda - I figured that he honestly believed that he was doing the 'right thing', for a certain segment of the aviation community at least, regardless of the fact that I disagreed with many of his proposals, and thought some of them outrightly dangerous.

However - this incident (as reported by The Australian) has now seen removed any credibility that Mr Smith should have to all segments of this community.

Is there anybody out there who can explain to me why Mr Smith is in the right in this case? Mr Smith - would you care to enlighten us folks as to why you are coming out with this rubbish? It is one thing to play to the audience of The Australian (allegedly a slightly more educated demographic than the average tabloid rag), but can you let us know your thinking? Perhaps there is a valid argument that I have missed? I would be keen to be educated if that is the case!

The real issue here is the apparently common practice ATC has of refusing a clearances to VFR aircraft which want to transit CTA and have not pre-filed a plan.

I rarely fly VFR but operate through MEL CTA all the time and "clearance not available, remain outside controlled airspace" is one of the most frequently heard transmissions to VFR aircraft.

If nothing else perhaps DS' lawsuit will encourage AsA to think about the safety implications of (in Melbourne) requiring VFR to funnel through the Kilmore Gap and hug the eastern ranges to Sugarloaf at 1000-1500 AGL rather than transiting the open terrain down towards Moorabbin.

No citation jet, the real issue here is that due to the arrival and departure happenings at Sydney, over flight is not allowed at A085. If nothing else comes of this, Dick will learn that there are just some things in this world that he has to suck up and live with. With regard to your ' remain OCTA' comments, with the heap of **** ATC equipment that he himself was responsible for, it is very very workload intensive to input details let alone when doing Terminal control.

He's probably a bit spooked about Lord Howe Island in his Bravo - look what happened last time - I think the strip was a bit short at one end!
His Agusta A109 Power doesn't have the legs to get to that destination with the required reserves.

So Dick is going to write to the acting Chairman of the Board of Airservices Australia. Is this the same Dick Smith who claims not to have any influence? I think writing to the acting Chairman is most inappropriate and hopefully Fisher will tell him so.

CitationJet - no, the real issue is Mr Smith grandstanding to an uneducated audience in the hopes of advancing his credentials as an aviation 'authority'. This despite the fact that he was wrong in so many ways (apparently - unless he would care to defend his actions)

Dear Mr. Smith
 

Fishead,
With you 100% regarding your thoughts. It is no secret that Dick reads these pages. Why has he not responded? One of two things I think is happening here:

1. Mr. Smith has read the thread and realised he's made an absolute tool of himself and is very much so keeping his head low due the self inflicted embarrasment. Nothing more humbling than realising that one is a goose especially in the way he constantly 'puts it out there'...........................or

2. In his own 'world' he firmly believes that he is right in what he says. Although his thought process has been, I think, proven to be not much better than that of a PPL (no offence to PPL holders. Many of you would perform to a much better standard no doubt) he is adamant that he is going to have success in a court of law with his his flipant lawsuit.

I seriously think that Mr. Smith might be having some issues regarding his mentality. I find it almost surreal that he would even bother to raise such an issue with the press when almost all the professional aviation community, be it friend or foe, shakes their head in disbelief that he's carrying on over this.

Ultimately it would be to the satsifaction of the greater aviation community if he would put finger to keyboard and attempt to justify himself to all that peruse these forums.

So there it is Mr. Smith if you're listening, and we know you are, come forward and put us in the picture reference your dissatisfaction with the standard of ATC in Sydney. And while you're at it please advise why you chose the tracking that you did in your single engine aircraft from Lord Howe and enlighten us on your thoughts regarding ditching and perhaps how you can best increase safety margins reference this when embarking on a long overwater sector as you did. I hope you have the internal fortitude to respond and justify your statements to the press (if infact the press got it right and I very much doubt that they did but that's another story).

Happy days to you

Concerned Citizen:suspect:

This is not directed at Dick Smith per se, but is it REALLY THAT HARD to actually lodge a bloody flight plan if you want to transit CTA, and then comply with the requirements in ERSA??

In the words of he much loved & dearly departed: 'Throw me a friggin bone here'