Pilot travel during COVID-19 lockdown

Hi flyers, these are my opinions, I’m not a lawyer…

 I would think flying licenses would be treated the same way as drivers licenses, i.e. the RTA is staying open , and service stations are staying open, so you can drive to either for purposes of license renewals or for rego inspection, as there are legal requirements attached to drivers licenses. 

Similarly there are legal requirements attached to pilot’s licenses and airworthiness of aircraft  , so any ground or air travel necessary to meet those legal requirements would be “essential”..
From what I see , it appears all businesses are by default essential, except those carved out by legislation as non-essential after all there is a fairly complex supply chain required to keep essential businesses running.
I would be printing out the AOPA letter, and keeping it with my logbook. Maybe print out the page from ANR regarding license currency. I’d also mark the logbook entry as “currency requirement” . And i would be leaving out the word “recreational” from any mention of the flying club. It’s always helpful to have bits of paper to show. If a discussion developed with the boys in blue you could mention you are part of a pool of private pilots and aircraft that are available to airlift medical supplies and essential items and foodstuffs to remote homesteads, that have been cut off due to closing of most airlines scheduled flights.
Also if you do run a business of any sort, it would be useful to have related paraphernalia in the car (all the time!), this might be supplies for your business, items you have made being delivered to customers, invoices, tools of trade.  Also a shopping basket with a shopping list. Wear your workboots.  Of course you keep a spare facemask and hand-sanitiser in the car at all times.
Don’t forget to put in your face mask if you need to talk to the boys in blue, they have probably been talking face to face with hundred’s of people before you.
(comments welcome!)

1 thought on “Pilot travel during COVID-19 lockdown”

  1. Maintaining the airworthiness of your aircraft by correctly preparing it for storage through the epidemic is considered by RAAus to be “essential”.
    It could be argues that cleaning your aircraft is an attempt to eliminate any trace of the virus that may have become attached. However, that might be an adventurous argument considering if you are not flying it and putting it into storage condition.

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