This website is being reconstructed so I apologise for the mess. It will eventually contain much general information about aerobatics in Australia. I will attempt to provide reliable, correct information with references to my data source.
Everything from stalling, spinning, aerobatics to low level competition aerobatics. The key underpinning knowledge as well as the training required.
One of my favourite magazine articles published by CASA is The Unreachables are they unteachable? “the newbie mistake of gullibly believing everything I read was true. …. these largely fossilised creatures …… exist in a cesspit of misinformation, half-baked truths and misshapen facts, fertilised by the manure of their daily postings. … I would come to meet many …… and while it cannot be argued that a great proportion of them were indeed white men over the age of sixty, a surprising number were not: there were females, old and young; pilots of extremely modern aircraft and flying instructors younger than a decent bottle of Scotch. …. the best procedure for safety promotion is a combination of leading by example—stay current; fly regularly; be present at education awareness seminars; keep an open mind; read blogs, publications and opinion pieces; ask questions of specialist experts and those with more experience than yourself; and remain cheerful and in good humour—never resort to personal insult and mind your manners.”
At this website I will address much of this “cesspit of misinformation, half-baked truths and misshapen facts” that is relevant to aerobatics. Do you know of any more?
Note that aerobatic training is not Upset Prevention and Recovery Training. LOC-I accidents continues to be the single biggest cause of fatal General Aviation Accidents and UPRT is the principal way to address it. More information at UPRTA!
The general blog posts from this website have been removed to Substack so you can subscribe there to view them. New Substack posts and others from the Ozaeros Aerobatics Facebook page are displayed below.
The thing about putting a 150 (or even 180) hp engine into a Cessna 150 is the increase in empty weight. I have heard that there is an STC to increase the Maximum Weight but I am not familiar with it. Regardless, the useful load and CG is critical. e.g. one local Cessna 152 will easily go outside the allowable CG range, The dry weight of the Lycoming 150 hp engine is 298 lb compared to the that of the original Continental O-200 of 216 lb. 82 lb more! One common mod is Aero upgrade LLC. STC SA1034SW which changes the engine and prop but leaves the maximum weight the same! Do the arithmetic. "Former Cessna aerodynamicist and test pilot Bill Thompson was not crazy about the O-320 C-150 mod that put the battery box in the tailcone to balance out the heavier engine. After flying one he said it was "no longer a docile C-150" and cited a "noticeably flatter spin attitude" and "rather sluggish" spin recovery. ... Higher polar moment of inertia. ... Part of the O-320 STC requires a placard which states: "Intentional spins prohibited". ... What about the Aerobat?" Indeed, what about the Aerobat? RVAC had one for a very short while. One person on board and enough fuel to taxi to the runup bay is all it could take. They didn't do the arithmetic before they bought it. I'm disappointed that this magazine article did not mention weights at all.
But was that person wearing a high-vis vest? The thing is that people walk into propellers rather than aeroplanes run into people. Any rational risk management would demand high-vis propellers instead of high-vis vests. The same risk assessment would recommend high-vis vests crossing the streets around the airport.