Moneybox

The last thing bought was a good example of that. The throttle cable cost $1480 and they didn't even supply the original as ordered. I returned it but all legally purchased parts are the same, over priced and long lead times with every purchase. However the build quality of the Sportstar was superb when compared to the home built I purchased. That's not to say all are equal, I've seen some beautiful home built planes but the factory built is built to a standard design and quality.

Yes Skippy, after my hazardous flight back from Northam in the Zenith we saw the cyclone had altered track so we filled sandbags and strapped the Zenith firmly to the ground. The Sportstar was back at home just covered by shade shade cloth and a tarpaulin. It wore through and snapped the light rope holding both wings and left the scene. It took on Tonka (the 12T CAT Loader) and whatever else it hit I don't know but it ended up parked with the back of the LH wing wrapped around a small tree about 100m from where it started out. The left wing is totally destroyed, the right wing has about 1m of the end badly damaged, the in-flight adjustable prop lost one blade, the Rotax is pushed sideways damaging the firewall, mounting and exhaust and there are a couple of small holes in the fuselage. The Rotax still runs ok but is out of life, I've been advised to check the crank but I doubt it was stressed, the tail wing, rudder and landing gear are undamaged and the canopy is undamaged but overall it too expensive to fix. I asked Evektor if I could buy a set of wings with wing tanks but they reckon they would have to be custom built. I don't know why when the following year and from then on the wing tanks were a standard fitting. My L2 said it can be fixed but you have to weigh up the cost and the final value after it's repaired. It still has an out of life engine, standard gauge pack and a single 65L tank. I'll never repair it but the Zenith might end up with a 912ULS.

Any structure not sufficiently anchored could cause more damage than a bit hail. Our cyclone last month came through at 130kts. We'd anchored the Zenith with sandbags out at the airport but we lost the Sportstar and its shelter.

Apparently structures at the airport require approval.

I can't comment on the radio before that. I was more concerned with the battery charging. It's no trouble to check out or bypass the wiring. The main difficulty is working out in the wind, sun and flies at the airport. I called the shire again this morning regarding my hangar application. If I can get the plane under cover it'll make work a lot easier.

Not good...

Clinton in a Minnie, doesn't bare thinking about....

Thanks, Skippy's diagram is easy to follow. I'll check it out next time I lift the lid. I have a problem with temporary wiring, sometimes it can hang around for years ☺️.

Maybe, I haven't changed the wiring. Just disconnected the old one a month back and it started charging. Left it without a capacitor until the new one came and I connected it to the same wires. Perhaps it was always wrong because he bought a new rectifier in December and obviously never fixed it. My new rectified didn't work until I disconnected the capacitor. Now it has a steady 13.9v charge.

This morning I went out and fitted the new 40v capacitor. The result was as before, no charge. I then disconnected the negative terminal off the capacitor and straight away it was charging again. I took the Zenith up for an hour flight to YRDY and back and the charge never faulted. 13.9v all the way. The capacitor is connected to the positive terminal but the other terminal is disconnected and will remain that way.

My iPad version 6 has been useless in the plane so I spent $150 and had a new battery fitted yesterday in Perth. Hopefully that and the cooler weather will keep it alive long enough to reliably run OzRunways. I have an iEFIS lite in the Zenith but my old brain is having trouble getting the best out of it.

No not water powered but the difference is that it's burning hydrogen to produce power. Other designs use hydrogen to generate electricity so the machine runs on electric power. There should be significant simplicity and weight savings using a Turbo Prop driven directly from Hydrogen.

I plan on fitting a Trim Tab autopilot like the SuperECO. It's not terribly expensive, easy to install and can be overridden with the controls if necessary. https://www.aircraftautomation.com/products/supereco-autopilot

My compass is not that bad but still difficult to follow because it’s rarely accurate when the going gets rough. When I’m doing my flight planning I note the corrected compass bearing and find the MGL EFIS heading sits steady when the magnetic compass is wobbling all over the place. When I get the time I’ll be installing an AP to make holding a steady course much easier.

I just spotted this thread because we’re out prospecting for gold, came for three days a week ago. Skippy it seems to me that that air box, similar to mine, is too chunky for the space. You don’t need all that air volume so a slimline box would have fitted much more easily, perhaps made from rectangular aluminium tube rather than round. I realise it may be a bit late but I think it would simplify your ducting/vibration issue.

Great way to go for aircraft, might be a bit difficult for powering a street vehicle.

My flight trainer told me to get Chapter 10 of Steward Maddigan's flight training manual. From studying this I really understood the theory and practical of cross country flying. Of course you could buy his entire Flight Training Manual but chapter 10 is all you need and it can be purchased separately. The exercises are WA based but you just use a map of your choosing although I recommend doing a paper study of the course he has noted just to get a clear understanding of each stage of the process. If you need a copy of that part of the chart I can post it here. https://www.amazon.com.au/FLIGHT-TRAINING-MANUAL-performance-Recreational-ebook/dp/B0BYXQNQLM I didn't buy it from Amazon but it comes on Kindle anyway and I thoroughly recommend it.

It won't run in the 912ULS, it wont run in either of the Honda quad bikes or the Honda GX275 on the dryblower so just to protect the environment I burned it off in the 912ul. 🙃

I don't keep petrol in plastic jerry cans, they are porous. If I put plastic jerry cans of Diesel into the boot on our bus we wake in the morning with a headache from the diesel fumes. If I use steel jerry cans you'd never know they were there. Twice I've found plastic jerry cans of petrol spraying a fine mist of fuel into the air. They can't handle the heat, expand and fracture. They are not safe to store petrol in our climate.

I had 60L in the Sportstar for more than a year while I was refurbishing it. It started the first few times then I was having real trouble firing it up so I drained it all into jerry cans and put fresh 98 in. That fixed the starting problem but left me with three jerry cans of stale fuel. It smelt stale too. I couldn't use it any of our Honda motors because they don't like stale fuel. Since then I've used it all in the Zenith running the 912ul. Doesn't seem to bother it at all but I did throw a little 98 into the mix each time. After all the old fuel was used I've filled it with 91, starts well and runs well.

Be careful crossing the Nullarbor. Tesla driver stranded on Nullarbor as charging stations fail | The Courier Mail It's it amazing, we run low on petrol and diesel then you jump into your new electric device to find that supply has failed as well.

Yes Nev, I learned a bit on that flight.

I don't know if mine is a normal fitout but the canopy opening doesn't allow easy entry and exit. It tilts from either side with a gas strut in the middle. If you want to get in the left you release the left and the right remains hinged, same the other side. If you remove the central gas strut then the whole canopy can be removed simply by unlatching both sides. Apart from the difficulty getting in and out it's good as long as you're not a big guy. There's not much space in the cockpit. It sits more steady in the air than the Sportstar and is very easy to land although it has no flaps. Mine has two joysticks, I think some have a central "Y" stick like a Jabiru. Generally a great little plane and so simple with a fixed prop, no carby heat and no flaps. Not a lot to remember on takeoff and landing. I was told it'd be slow with those big fat wings, it's not. Considering it only has 80hp it performs well but you do need more airstrip than needed with the Sportstar.

I'd rather pay a little more for Avgas from the bowser than travel into town and fill jerry cans. So far I've not had the chance of filling from a bowser, it's several trips into town with a couple of jerry cans costing more in the long run.

Bit tight on fuel money at the moment so Mrs M suggested we slip out and see if we can find anything. Fortunately we made some money. It's a bit old but I think it's still ok.