73-year-old x-kiwi aviator Ben Buckley from Gippsland in Victoria had "Buckley's Chance" of a successful outcome as the pilot of an re-enactment flight of the first powered and controlled flight in an Australian-designed and built aircraft


The event was held in the central Victorian town of Ballarat over the week-end and after some difficulty getting the replica airborne it landed and veered off the runway and ended-up in a large pile of chicken manure

A 36-year-old helicopter pilot and his 39-year-old male passenger escaped serious injury after the rotary-wing flying machine they were in crashed in far north Queensland

Police advise that the crash happened on a remote property several kilometres from Georgetown after what was an apparent engine failure

The pilot of a Jabiru declared an emergency about 0925hrs yesterday after the Jabiru's engine failed resulting in a forced-landing in a farmers paddock around 3km north of Kapunda in South OZ

During the emergency landing the light-weight 2-seater ended up inverted - the uninjured pilot was able to extract himself and was able to emergency services on his mobile phone

Media reports have the FAA with incomplete records for about 119,000 of the 357,000 registered aircraft in the United States and are now requiring all aircraft owners to re-register their flying machines


The process is expected to be phased-in over the next three years with aircraft owners requiring to renew their registrations every three years thereafter

A similar re-registration of aircraft was carried out here in OZ back in 2006 with similar results and compliance period


There were over 500 OZ aircraft de-registered out of the 12,686 on the register including several historically important machines - 160 aircraft had their certificate of registration cancelled or suspended in June alone

Tasmanian Primary Industries Minister Bryan Green along with six other passengers escaped injury after the pilot of a chartered Tasair Chieftain forgot the lower the under-carriage on landing at King Island in the Bass Strait


The twin-engine PA-31 had departed from Devonport earlier in the day - the weather conditions at the time of landing were reported as "terrible"

Research by the News Desk has established that the Kingaroy manufacturer of the 2-seat Whitney Boomerang has had "Receivers and Managers" appointed indicating that the light aircraft manufacturing industry here in OZ is in deep trouble


The Boomerang took to the air in 2006 after many years of design and certification compliance required to meet the stringent FAR-23 specifications required for student training for most of the world's legitimate airlines