Moneybox

I find navigation over here quite easy, perhaps because there are less landmarks to follow. I've flown several hours north and south here and on almost all flights the iPad has failed either from battery charge or overheating. Then it comes down to compass heading and providing visibility is good I can usually pick out the airstrip at about 10 miles. You'd have to be a long way off to miss finding you desired landing point. The problem will arise when I head into unfamiliar territory and terrain. That's when I need to be sure of my position. The trip we're likely to take to Lake Eyre will likely be basically flying VIFR anyway because Mrs M will be in the camper heading to the same location each day. The big advantage there will be the fuel support and not having to worry about getting from the landing strip to town. The idea was only hatched yesterday and I'm already excited. 🤪

I hadn't considered that but I think we'll do quit a bit of arial sight seeing along the way.

When I jumped out of the plane and grabbed the iPad to see if it tracked me the iPad had overheated. Sure it was sitting on the passenger seat but it's 20°C today. There's no way I'm going to trust my navigation to an iPad even if it has a cooling fan. I've just gone onto the Aircraft Automation website and asked for a price for the SuperEco AP and ADSB in and out.

I didn't realise it was a hex.

The calm weather is still hanging around even if it is a bit wet so I headed back out to the airport this morning. I've wanted to balance the carburettors since I got the plane so I took the Slack Tube Manometer and a few bits of hose. The whole job would be a lot easier if Rotax would have attached the equalising tube in a way that it could be easily slipped off. Anyway that job was simple enough but I couldn't get the idle mixture screws because each carburettor has a very nicely designed drain tray preventing me getting a screwdriver near the screw. Another job was that trim tab I meant to fit yesterday. It's a very thin piece if aluminium that I gave a little bend 15mm on the front edge. I went for a quick trip down over Lake Austin to see which way I had to hold the stick when cruising, it needed to be held left always so I used some double sided tape and adhered the trim tab to the underside of the RH aileron. The first impression on a quick trip around the circuit shows it made little difference but it was a wee bit bumpy up there so it was hard to tell. Once over the lake at 4000' I backed the throttle off to idle and attempted a stall. After a couple of minutes floundering about at about 1800rpm and 33kt with the nose poking up I gave up, did a couple of 45° steep turns and headed home.

That doesn't quite explain why OzRunways shows YECL an illustration of various runways but shows a different layout in OzRunways Airfield Guide. What does the autonomous vehicle use as a reference?

Yes I know you'd prefer to land up wind but if you or the autonomous plane were looking for runways 9, 27, 18 or 36 as listed in OzRunways you might have a problem even though there are eight to chose from.

Perhaps sometimes we don’t need to dig too deep. Today I wanted to fly but I had a bit of work to do on the plane as well. I took a look at the wind, it seemed quite calm so then I opened Flightradar 24. This is not the image from this morning but much the same. It showed wide spread calm weather, in fact that seemed to be the case right across Australia. Half an hour after the shower passed I looked up into a near perfectly blue patch of sky. What more do you want? I wasn’t taking off on a cross country flight, just a few circuits to keep my hand in. Flightradar 24 told me to avoid the busy morning and afternoon fly-in fly-out traffic and that I was unlikely to strike wild winds and with a nice big patch of blue sky, that was enough for me.

What do I do with my pilot's license? Well, I want to fly to places I haven't yet been and places best seen from the air. My brother knew that we're due to head off on a holiday north but sent me this link tonight. I made the mistake of showing Mrs M. She immediately said "Why are we going north? We should go there instead". The problem is that she doesn't want to travel that far in the plane because she suffers from motion sickness. This is my answer to that... The flights over Lake Eyre work out at nearly $1000 an hour for a couple and I think there's a lot more to see. My fix is for Sandra to drive and I fly each leg. 7 days drive, 3000km CUE > LEONORA 5 hrs 459 km LEONORA > NORSEMAN 4.5 422 NORSEMAN > COCKLEBIDDY 4.5 437 COCKLEBIDDY > NULLARBOR 5 468 NULLARBOR > MINNIPA 5 468 MINNIPA > PORT AUGUSTA 3 296 PORT AUGUSTA > MARREE 4 379 MARREE > LAKE EYRE 35 MARREE > MARREE MAN No road..... This way we can see other attractions along the way and spend as much time as we wish around Lake Eyre. Perhaps October/November sometime? We can meet up at each location along the way and take a local flight if it's in a location of interest. She can carry enough fuel to keep the plane topped up and when we eventually make it to Marree in SA we'll have both a camper van and a plane to see Lake Eyre and surrounding areas. Some of you might be interested in joining our trip. We'll most likely find more comfortable accommodation some of the time but the little Hyundai camper will add a level of convenience.

I wonder how your autonomous aircraft would land at Eucla? Am I dyslexic or just reading it incorrectly? Which runway would you choose?

We're planning on a road trip north to Running Waters region in the East Pilbara so I decided to get a quick flight in first. I decided to add a bit of maintenance in because I've been holding off to get the plane into a hangar. I have a problem with the fuel changeover valve because I'm never sure where it draws fuel from. I removed to lift pump outlet and directed it into a jerry can. I found that when switched to any position there was a lot of air bubbles coming through the hose. Also it draws almost all fuel from the left wing tank regardless of the valve position so I need to dismantle whatever it takes to get to the plumbing so that I can work out what's been done in there. Anyway I needed to go for that flight because we could be away for a bit. I went armed with a little aluminium trim tab that I intended to add to the aileron so that I don't have to constantly hold the stick to one side. I planned to take note of which way I was holding the stick to see where to put the trim tab. Believe it or not, once I took off I forgot all about the trim tab concentrating on my radio calls and touch-an-goes and even now I can't recall if I have to push it left or right. 🫡 It's called oldtimer's I think so i never got to fasten the trim tab, next time will have to do.

danny, it's meant to be read on a Kindle app. You can download it to your tablet or phone.

We've been waiting since we applied in January to erect a hangar at Wongan Hills even though we had a verbal approval to start with. The airport had to be valued so that they could work out the annual cost of a 10 year lease. Eventually they responded with a lease fee of $1200 a year which I accepted, then they had to advertise in case somebody objected. That was some weeks back, meanwhile I've ordered the hangar minus a door that I'll most likely build myself. There are no landing or parking fees at YWOH.

I like to see what's in front when taxiing, taking off and landing. I don't think I'd be comfortable in something like this. 🫤

My flight instructor recommended I download Chapter 10 of Stewart Maddigan's FLIGHT TRAINING MANUAL. It's just $11.99 from Amazon and worth every cent. https://www.amazon.com.au/FLIGHT-TRAINING-MANUAL-performance-Recreational-ebook/dp/B0BYXQNQLM He gives you the theory and practical exercises for a WA location but you just insert data for your own location. That's all it'll cost you to get started and practise what you're learning.

I think the best you can do is have visible security. It'll keep the honest people in order, the crooks will still find a way regardless of the barriers put in their way.

Nearly all WA is crown land. If you were to peg one of these sites you as good as own it for a certain period depending on how you classify your lease. Where I went wrong with my mining lease where I was building my airstrip, it was within the town boundary meaning the shire had a say in what went on there. I'm in the process of selling this lease along with our 1910 stone house and a prospecting lease that had only two years life left. Anything outside of town is just a case of a few pegs, an online application and then a battle over landrights with the local tribe. I have one application 400m from an abandoned airstrip that has been in and out of the Warden's court for two and a half years. It's marked as Pending and that's where I was yesterday digging up a couple of small gold nuggets when I found this strip.

I found an abandoned airstrip today. It's in quite good condition apart from a few weeds. The sock isn't too good. Is there a list of abandoned or disused airstrips? The could be very useful in an emergency.

I might be able to just work with the fuel hoses discnnected and electric pump running into a bucket. I just need to know what fuel valve position delivers fuel and where it's shutoff.

I think I'll have to pull the covers off, seats out or whatever it takes to checkout the plumbing. I can't risk running out of fuel on climb out or any time after that...

Any idea how long it took to stop after the valve was turned off? The reason I want to know is that the Zenith has the fuel valve sitting in one position even though the label shows ON-OF-ON. It's turned to RH tank but when I bought it the guy said you just leave it there. I want to have control of where my fuel is being drawn from. The valve is very tight to turn but it can be rotated. I want to test it on the ground not when I'm in the air wishing I was on the ground. If I can turn the fuel off then run it out of fuel I'll know if each valve position works or not. I turned it to the off position but it was still running after about five minutes.

Mine’s that little one over Cue.

Explosives-laden drone found at Leipzig Airport while a 757 collides with an unknown object Somebody never had an ASIC CARD ? Explosives-laden drone found at Leipzig, DHL 757 hits something on approach German police are investigating after an explosives-laden drone was found at Leipzig Airport while at approximately the same time a DHL 757 struck an undetermined object on approach to the airport. The 757 safely diverted to Hanover, while 19 total flights bound for LEJ were sent elsewhere.

Very neat job but if you want to improve it without doubling the rubber you could just lay a strip of more dense draft seal on the opposite panel. It might be just a simple straight strip of self adhesive rubber on the area with the larger gap. Motor Body suppliers are the best source I know of. https://www.mcnaughtans.com.au/ecatalogue/rubbers/

Are you referring to the fuel valve? Do you actually turn those things off?