Moneybox

How about the time taken to recover from the spin, almost instant recovery.

I think it's a bit like driving without a license. If you're in a remote location and doing the right thing then it's just a case of gaining the necessary skills and nobody needs to know about it. When we were kids we had two miles, over three kilometres, of dirt road to travel to school. We used push bikes or walked until we got to high school age when my grandfather gave us his old Austin A40 panel van so that we could drive down to catch the bus. Obviously nobody had a license but we travelled safely for those couple of years until my oldest brother got his license. My family were law abiding citizens but this little misdemeanour was overlooked for the sake of convenience. The use of drugs and alcohol changes things. We never experienced either when growing up. I'm talking 60 years ago so I guess some things have changed a bit.

Skippy, If it's meant to announce traffic, don't you have anybody nearby you could spend some time in the air with and sort out your ADSB, Traffic etc?

I visited a guy repairing his plane in a hanger at Northam. It was powered by an alloy Chev V8 but suffered from a belly landing when the gear wouldn't deploy. He said the rubber band connecting to the gearbox saved the crank when the prop struck the tarmac. I'm surprised Honda haven't got into producing aircraft engines. I used to fit out some of their early imports like the 360cc two cyl Zot and 2 speed Civic. They've built some absolutely bullet proof little engines over the last 50 years.

We have seen some crude machinery come from the USSR but they did win the space race and they've built to monster aircraft.

Single blade propellers are often used in our constant air dryblowers. Bellows type dryblowers create fluctuating airflow but constant air flow needs vibration. The single blade produces quite violent vibration separating the gold from soil. It would probably separate your aircraft components in a similar manner.

The Yanks did a similar thing when they produced the HMMWV. It was only ever designed for a quick sortie into hostile territory and back again. Then it was due to be refurbished. The limited life of some of their components was revealed when AM-General Corporation released the Hummer for civilian use. The HMMWV and Hummer were produced on the same assembly line in the old Studebaker factory that forked sending each opposite directions to be fitted with their minor differences. We serviced the civilian version and although it was a magnificent offroad vehicle, some components, those not borrowed from existing production vehicles, wore out after exceptionally short lifespans. They were built for outstanding function over a short dash and never intended for regular onroad use. I had to redesign some of those components for our RH drive models because we were responsible for the warranty of anything RHD. Why spend time money and materials on something you might never see again once it heads into battle.

RAAus offers an owner operator maintenance pathway that puts control in your hands. By completing an online training course, you are issued with a Level 1 Maintenance Authority. This authority allows you to perform maintenance and repairs on your own aircraft, always within the defined boundaries of the RAAus Technical Manual. The authority must be exercised in accordance with the general competency rule, ensuring members only carry out tasks when they have the knowledge, skill and currency to do so safely. That's good enough for me. 😉

It's a factory supplied and approved replacement. 😇

Yes with my L1 I am allowed to maintain my own aircraft.

Once they had noise vibration and oil smell it was obvious they needed to put it down. I think I'd have chosen a decent landing while I still had engine power. I can't say I've ever seen a golf course I'd like to land on.

I know there's nothing like the real thing but what about doing the spirals and spin recovery in a simulator?

I don't think that test quit compares to the fully loaded pelican that went through the Jabiru windscreen a couple of years back. You'd need to add a few fishbones to your gelatin to get an accurate result.

Yes I've been trying to keep that little detail under wraps. 🤑 We're trying to design a new house at the moment and we want digital door locks front and rear. I fitted a Samsung one in Capel and it was so much more convenient than everybody having to carry a key.

I was tempted to just pay the $634.70 but I weakened and ordered the part from Evektor.

Yes 24-4149 but running the Rotax in MYRAP due to it's 20 year age.

How does a water heated intake manifold have any effect on carburettor icing?

How meticulous are you at using the correct components when maintaining a certified aircraft? I want to replace my Sportstar throttle cable. The original is fixed in position until the release button is pressed to allow fore and aft movement. It does have a fine adjustment by rotating the knob but it doesn't work in all cases. If on full throttle, pushed all the way in, the knob just spins without releasing the cable. The fine adjustment only works after the cable has been released from the full throttle position. I did a little research. The McFarlane cable pictured below is US $307.88 in the US. I can purchase it from Aircraft Spruce in Perth for $634.70. I decided to do the right thing and email Evektor. They replied with a part number for the cable and a part number for the two grommets where it passes through the firewall. I have to buy through the Australian distributor. The cable is available here, the grommets have to be imported. I said forget the grommets, I have plenty in stock. The cable price is $1488.30. If I play by the rules this is the price I must pay.

My prop is a Kaspar KA-1 set at 11° fine pitch. I never tried maximum revs at standstill but it appears too fine. A couple of notches towards course should prevent easily over revving the Rotax.

It says Carburettor Preheater if required.

In the Evektor Harmony I was taught to test the electric fuel pump and carburettor heat on runup. Beyond that they were never used unless there was an engine problem that needed sorting out inflight. For every take-off, landing and maneuvers both were turned off. I had two trainers, one the LAME and both instructed the same.

Well I did it. I threw the chainsaw in the boot, drove 7hs south to the Sportstar and cut the taproot. She is no longer solidly grounded. 😅 I'd waited months for my compliance engineer or anybody sufficiently experienced to do the test flight. It never happened so I left here on Friday morning and arrived in time to do a little maintenance so that it was ready for Saturday morning. The forecast was for SE winds of around 20kts gusting to 40kts but that's fine on a runway 14-32, directly up the runway. I'd flushed the old fuel and replaced it a few weeks back so this time it fired up straight away. Anybody watching would have thought I took way too long to get underway but I wanted to be sure I'd ticked all the boxes. 13 years out of the air is a long time. The last flight recorded in the logbook was 11/6/2007 but I've found a few loose sheets that added the last 200 hours. I really wanted a more experienced pilot to take the first flight but I got tired of waiting. Not just because it may have faults but it has a throttle control that I find very difficult to use. Anyway I made the necessary radio calls, followed the run-up procedure and lined up for take-off. To say I was a little nervous was an understatement but all I had to do was push that awful throttle control. I set the propeller to fine pitch and gently pushed the throttle button all the way home. It leapt off the mark like nothing I've been in before. I reckon I was in the air in less than 100m, undoubtedly the headwind had something to do with that. I had intended to keep it close to the runway for the first stretch incase something went wrong but by the end of the runway the altimeter was showing 600'. At that point I took a glance at the tacho, a little 2" one on the wrong side of the panel, I was a little shocked to see the little Rotax was singing along at 6700rpm, about 900 beyond the red line. I gave the throttle knob a quick flick anti-clockwise, it did nothing so I quickly pulled some extra pitch on the prop to bring the revs back to about 5000 while continuing to climb. By the time I was over the quarry where we usually reached 500' and turned crosswind I'd hit 1000' so then I had a crack at releasing the throttle. It's awkward pushing the button to release it while pulling it to reduce revs. I can't do it smoothly but it's not so bad when you have time to fiddle with it. From there it got easier. I headed down-wind in the circuit just to stay close to the airstrip but at this stage I was not confident enough to land so I headed for the training area. At 4000' I thought it safe enough to try some stalls. I guess with my light weight and the lightweight plane I should have expected it but it continued to climb at idle until hitting the bottom line on the airspeed indicator, 30kts before a gentle but distinct fall, no stall warning and no vibration. I tried a couple more but next time I'll see what it does with a couple of notches of flap. The L2 who helped me put the wings back on and made out the condition report straightened a couple of things that appeared bent in the travel from Queensland. One was the stall warning switch and the other was a fixed trim tab on the RH aileron. Perhaps neither was actually damaged because now the stall warning doesn't work and it was flying with a heavy right wing. Once on the ground I bent that little trim tab up a little and now it flies level. Anyhow, eventually I headed back to the airport, can't stay up there forever it seems. Even though I was taught to not use the carby heat I pulled it on when turning base and off half way down final. The wind was gusty but still directly down the airstrip. The airspeed indicator was showing 55kts when I touched down but in reality I was probably only doing 25kts ground speed. There was the tiniest chirp from two tyres but no other feeling. My first thought was I'd bounced but no, I was firmly on the ground after the best landing I've ever done. I went out again at 6:30pm after the wind dropped and did a few circuits and some great landings. I don't know if it was just the headwind or the Sportstar eager to get back on the ground but all my landings were soft and so much easier than all those previous. This morning I went up again. I flew down to White Gum Park with the intention of filling up at their 98 bowser. When I flew over the airstrip the windsock was stretched directly sideways, perhaps a good 30-40kt cross wind. I decided I was not ready for that so headed back to Northam, parked the plane and drove back home very happy.

It may be best to keep your rubber hose sections short. The bigger diameter hose will suck flat easier than the original small hose.

With a population of nearly 1.5 billion there are probably plenty of other pilots. He probably knew if he didn't fly it home he'd never fly again.

If you don't get an audible warning that other aircraft are nearby you'd have to be looking at the instrument instead of out the window.