AusJets - Australian Online RC Jet Store - Your Australian Online RC Jet Store

Hi

Found the site and the forum and it looks quite good, looking forward to contrubuting.

FYI, just getting concertedly back into R/C for the last few years after a 20 year hyatis. You know what it is like, with the advent of wife, mortgage(s), many kids , schools etc.

For the record I NSW based.

The engineer in me, has a few safety and reg question. Apolgies if they appear naive.

Assuming cost is not an issue.

1) are there any Federal, state, or local government persmissions, licences needed to buy an R/C gas turbine ?

2) are there any Federal, state, or local government persmissions, licences etc needed to operate an R/C gas turbine ?

3) are there any Federal, state, or local government persmissions, licences etc needed to transport and store R/C gas turbine fuels ?

Thanks
Harpoon

There are no restrictions in Australia regarding purchasing Jet engines and parts.
Jet A-1 fuel is essentially Kerosene (it might be a slightly different boiling point to the stuff from safeway, but safeway kero will fuel a jet engine no problems). Local airports will sell A-1 by the litre, probably a lot cheaper than buying it bottled. Kero/A-1 is a much safer fuel to work with than petrol.
Turbine oil is also available from local airports. It has some handling precautions (like don't get it on your skin) as some of the chemicals in it are irritating/hazardous over the long term but it's not restricted for sale.
There's no restriction on operating turbine engines on the ground (say in your shed etc), however to fly a turbine aircraft at a club(within MAAA guidelines and therefore to be covered by MAAA's member third party insurance) it is required that the aircraft be inspected by a MAAA appointed turbine inspector, this inspection including a flight demonstration to confirm the flight behaviour of the aircraft etc. If the aircraft is up to requirements (see MAAA website, Manual of procedures section for more details) then a certificate is made out, valid for three years (unless the plane is damaged or sold on, in which case re-approval is required).