From the Assistant Tribe Chief, Australasian Tribe

In opening, please accept my apologies for this late Flyer.
Marg and I have been away for the whole of May and only just adjusted to the time zone!

Thank you to Ken, Lawrence and David for the contributions to this missive.

2025 Upcoming Events
The second half of 2025 will be a busy time for the club with a number of events scheduled. Here is a quick run-down of our winter/spring schedule.

June 29th – Extraordinary General Meeting
This meeting is scheduled to discuss our ongoing relationship with the ICS International. It will be an opportunity to question the executive on their assessment of the future of ICS
International. Currently our tribe submit all your fees to the US to fund their operations. The only benefit we receive for our dues is the Comanche Flyer.

Your executive has, over the past 3 years, tried to gain better value for your membership dues through suggestions such as introducing a digital version of the flyer, getting better value from
our appearance at Oshkosh and stemming the membership loss. Our efforts at board meetings to address these issues have been largely ignored.

The Australasian Executive is reluctant to raise dues from our members (A$183.00/head) to send to the US given the dubious benefits we receive from our membership. The executive is
proposing that we form an Australasian Comanche Flyers Group with a membership fee of $100pa and encourage all Comanche owners in the region to join. For those who still wish to
retain their membership of ICS International the AU Tribe will accommodate that wish.

Membership of the new regional group will bring with it all the benefits we currently enjoy as members of the ICS International – Australasian Tribe, with the exception of The Comanche
Flyer Magazine. Membership fees will remain within our own region to support local initiatives rather than being sent to the US to support that organisation.

The Executive sees this as a regrettable move but cannot in all conscience, commit our members to continue to subsidize a failing organisation.

June 20 – Memorial Service for Dr Fred Morgan (OAM)

Fred’s photo is at the top of this newsletter.

All friends of Fred and Marcia Morgan are invited to attend a memorial service to celebrate long time ICS member and proud Comanche owner Dr Fred Morgan who passed away in Kingaroy earlier this year. The service will be held at the Nanango Golf Club at 10am on Friday June 20.

Fred and has wife Marcia collected one of the largest private fleets of Comanches in QLD: VH-FLG (250 – his), VH-EOH (180 – hers), VH-SAS (260 – Spider and Manfred’s) and VH-MDJ (180 – spare). All based at the short one-way uphill airfield in Nanango.

Both Fred and Marcia came to flying later than most, but enjoyed the flying, travel and camaraderie of the ICS. They attended many of our fly-ins and fly-aways, often with their neighbour Spider Webb and friends Barney Davoren and Veronica Howlett. Fred also joined Roy Sneesby and others on many of their pilgrimages to Sun’n’Fun annd Oshkosh and was best remembered for disappearing from the group to haunt the fly-market and book stalls.

In recent years Ill health forced both Fred and Marcia away from flying though Fred continued his dedicated service to the people of the South Burnett region often being the only GP on call from Crows Nest to Murgon and one of the few to always be available for late night house calls.

Please contact either Manfred Melloh or Ken Holdsworth if you are planning to attend.


July 4 to 6 – PPP Maryborough QLD

Our final Comanche Pilot Proficiency Program for 2025 will be held at Maryborough Airport (YMYB), QLD from July 4 to 6, 2025.

Registrations close 5PM Friday June 27 and details are available on the web site or by sending an e-mail to PPP@Comancheflyer.com.au

The club would like to thank QBE for once again sponsoring and supporting this Safety initiative and for the Maryborough and Monduran Aero Clubs for hosting us.
We hope to see you at Maryborough.

September 12 – 15 – Spring Fly-In Central Highlands QLD

Please keep space in your diary and join our hosts Jim Mullett (VH-JMQ) and Clint Veivers (VH-OYL and 2 Cherokee 6’s) for the 2025 Spring Fly-in in Queensland’s
Central Highlands from September 12 to 15.

Friday Sept 12:
Land at Rolleston (YRLL) for lunch at the local pub owned by Ross Smith who has a lovely collection of vintage aircraft including a Lockheed 12.
After lunch we fly to Emerald (YEML) where our accommodation will be The Gateway Hotel and Apartments. Friday night dinner will be at the Maraboon Tavern – one block away.

Saturday Sept 13:
Breakfast down-town at Shamali’s then in the Emerald Coach Tour bus to the Coal Mining Museum at Blackwater for morning tea. After the museum we will go on a mine tour and with luck, should be able to see the drag lines in operation.
After a late lunch in Blackwater we will return to Emerald where the evening
meal will be at the Outback Tavern and Steakhouse.

Sunday Sept 14:
Breakfast at the Gateway then fire up the Comanche for a very scenic flight over the Peak Downs Ranges and the draglines at Clermont and Blair Athol –
some spectacular scenery. After arriving back in Emerald, we head out via coach to the Gem Fields at Sapphire and Rubyvale. After lunch at the Royal Hotel at Rubyvale we will
take mine tours at Miners Heritage and Bobby Dazzlers plus visit several other commercial gem outlets.
Back to Emerald for dinner at the Capricornia Restaurant.

Monday 15:
Breakfast at Shamali’s again and then head for home or places further north or west. Those who would like to extend the trip are welcome to hop across to Monduran and stay at Alister Mullett’s Wild Scotchman’s motel.


October 25th – AGM Narromine and via Zoom
This meeting was very popular last year so we have stuck with the same formula for 2025. More details will be forwarded closer to the meeting.

FAA Changes for Licence Holders

Many thanks to Lawrence for the following information:

IF YOU HOLD A US LICENCE (AND WANT TO KEEP IT) YOU NEED TO READ AND ACTION THIS.
The FAA has a new requirement applying to all US licence holders. All US licence holders must have a valid US address registered with them, or the licence becomes ineffective. This becomes effective in July.

You can read the details at the links below.
If you do not have a US address, you can nominate an agent for this purpose. There are a number of paid agents that have set up shop for this business, including AOPA (which is not the
cheapest, but has the advantage that it is likely to be reliable).

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2025/march/26/make-sure-the-faa-can-reach-you

https://usas.faa.gov/signin

If you intend to register an agent, do not leave it to the last minute as it is a tortuous process. (If you get through it cleanly, allow 1.5 hours, but if you get stuck, it will be a multi-day effort to
clear any issues).

First you need to find your agent, register with them, and pay any charges. They will supply you with their credentials to register with the FAA – they cannot do this for you.
Then you go to the FAA. But before you can register your agent, you need to register in two other databases – firstly to get an FTN (FAA Tracking Number) and then in a system called IACRA.

Armed with all of that, you can finally register your agent against your FAA record. Note, if you hold authorisations/approvals beyond your Airman’s Certificate eg Instructor, you may need to
register multiple times as they are not linked.

Finally the agent will confirm things back to you and advise access arrangements.

This is all to save the FAA $6 per year per non-US licence holder (don’t mention the cost of the new system) so all you can say is “it’s their trainset”, and get on with it.

Fly safely and enjoy it!

Cheers,

Nigel

Assistant tribe Chief