kgwilson

When my PPL BFR was overdue in NZ years ago I was till allowed to fly solo till the BFR was completed. I'm not sure if this had approval from CAA but the club CFI was OK with it.

The unsealed runway with sand and gravel surface was reported to be in good condition. I don't know the design but for the fork to hit the runway it must be somewhat below axle height & presumably be sprung so if additional weight from whatever source allows the fork to hit the runway, then the design is poor. Maybe the sand was a bit soft when it came down a second time but even so there should be a limit to stop the fork hitting the ground IMHO. The fact that the owner had modified the system to try to prevent this is a good indication that the design needs a rethink.

The Jab 2200 is the simplest, lightest, easiest to maintain, direct drive, air cooled engine in the world. Like all engines there were issues with various things since inception which have been fixed. The bad reputation which they got was ill deserved and due to a couple of ex RAA Executives who had Flying Schools and did not maintain the engines to Jabirus specification & with an axe to grind left RAA & joined CASA. 40 engine failures reported led to CASA imposing restrictions (nowhere else in the world was this followed). The 40 evaporated to 12 & then CASA was severely reprimanded in a Senate Enquiry. This resulted in the 2 ex RAA employees being quietly let go (sacked).

That's history but mud that is slung sticks no matter what the truth is .

Yep instant warmup.

I can't imagine them using the same prop as everything with the electric setup is different and also there is now a streamlined cowl replacing that huge flat front that they had to push through the air. Almost the entire prop can produce thrust whereas before half of it was producing cooling air.

These guys are on to something that will save them a fortune. Most of their flights are short hops so if they have a 5 minute battery swap the reduction in maintenance and fuel costs will be enormous as well as the quiet operation which will impress their customers and those living near their takeoff & landing areas.

Mine took 11.4 hours and included incipient spins & low flying as well as everything Skydog mentioned. Total number of flights was 14 with 9 of these being circuits. Several were flapless and also with EFATOs on all legs & before takeoff. After first solo there was about 5 hours of solo circuit consolidation with the first 1 or 2 with an instructor & the rest solo with the number increasing to 7 by the end. It was at a fairly busy Hamilton airport (NZ) so radio work had to be correct with the odd international flight so orbits were ordered every now & again. When first flying in Australia I was quite astounded at the poor use of correct radio phraseology and long winded calls with a lot of extra information only useful to the caller. Still happens all the time in CTAF and is quite annoying.

Ampersands appear as &AMP when posting in earlier threads for some odd reason. Funny it has in a new thread as well. See RV Ownership costs post 6

Modern factory manufactured Gyros are safe and reliable in good hands and when maintained properly. There does seem to be a tendency for them to be abused by "Cowboys" who flaunt the rules and cause problems for those who try to do the right thing. We had the Gyro nationals at our aerodrome a few years ago. There was some pretty dodgy flying by some & a few hard landings in competition. They had a spot landing comp & it became pretty clear that many pilots do not practice power off landings. The complaints we have had regarding gyros is low flying over private property, accusations of perving etc & failure to adhere to circuit procedures.

That could be defined as "Pissing with the wind" I would think & your shoes will stay dry. How did we get here from a Crash at Aratula? I'm just happy that OTTO is home and recovering. I'd like to see him come back & visit us once everything is fixed.

Propolis honey is available in most Chemists in Australia & some in capsule form so you don't have to use a spoon. Propolis is a resinous substance collected by bees from leaf buds and barks of trees especially poplars & conifers. It is used to support a healthy immune system & has antioxidant properties to help fight free radicals. I have never used it but it is widely accepted in Western complimentary medicine.

The fear of litigation in Australia (originally imported from the USA) has spawned a huge public risk insurance industry. We are now constantly told that 10 million is not enough so the standard is now 20 million and likely to go to 50 million in the future. Event insurance costs are through the roof now. Try & run an airshow and the so called safely requirements and costs associated with insurance usually mean the event gets pulled.

Another thing that NZ got right was when the Accident Compensation Commission was set up back in the 70s. It covers compulsory insurance cover for personal injury to everyone in NZ whether a citizen, resident or visitor. The right to sue was removed. It is paid for by a levy on employers & car regos. Sports groups get it for free. The scheme has its detractors but it has kept everything sensible. Car rego in NZ costs about $109.00 a year (recently increased from $80.00) including the ACC levy. Here the CTP is often 2 to 3 times the rego fee due to the costs associated with massive claims. If we had a similar system here, all that PL BS would disappear.

Personally I think Commercial advertisers should incur a charge for their Ads. After all they are in business and it is a tax deductable expense.

If you report an incident or you make any modification to your amateur built RA aircraft you have to scan the appropriate pages and send these to RA-Aus. The same applied when I completed the first 25 hours and certified the aircraft log. The problem lies with owner/builders who have failed to keep proper logs or say that they lost them etc. Then you get people who buy an aircraft off Ebay or Gumtree with no history & then those who build and fly without any registration at all.

I keep my logs up to date for every flight or change but forgot to tell Ra-Aus when I installed a new Bolly prop a year ago. I only found out when I got the latest Rego cert that still showed the old wooden prop. I filled in the form & sent a copy of the installation details of the new Bolly in my Aircraft Logbook & everyone was happy.

An old Cherokee 140 turned up at our airfield 5 years ago & hasn't got any further. The owner is trying to sell it but can't as it has no log books. A couple of LAMEs arrived to check it out & have the same problem. They can check it out but can't provide any certification without any documentation.

Returning from Parkes on 23 September I got about abeam of Tamworth and could see a grey wall to the north east. I was under the 2nd Class C step at 6,400 feet. Once past the zone I climbed to 9,500 & the grey seemed to stretch up to a massive altitude. This was the haze from one of the early fires called Bees Nest near Ebor. I continued on track to see whether the visibility would change noting a diversion to the North may be on the cards. I wanted to be as high as possible over the Tiger country. I found visibility good straight ahead and also straight down but in between it was grey. Once over the top of the range, (tops out at 5,200 feet) I began descending from just under 10,000 feet towards Nymboida and the in between visibility began to increase and I was now in home territory. I planned a diversion but determined it was not necessary in the end. 3 days earlier when I flew down to Parkes a Mooney had a CFIT killing the pilot & passenger in this area in poor weather with cloud below the tops. They did not have a flight plan. Coffs ATC had cleared them seaward side at 1000 feet but they decided to fly inland anyway with the fatal result. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Yet Another Pusher Ultralight

Small turbines have always been thirsty. Power to weight ratio is very good though. They spin at very high speed. My Hangar mates Helicycle has an APU from a Chinook and spins at around 65,000 rpm. He uses Jet A1 Kero and burns around 45 litres/hour. The heat from the exhaust is phenomenal and burns the grass whenever he takes off or hovers near the ground if there is no bitumen or concrete around. What percentage of the fuel disappears to heat I don't know.

YAPU.

Tomcat.

What do Rotax recommend? With a Jab 3300 an airbox feeding through a cobra head into the carb provides optimum airflow which is easily adjusted for each bank of cylinders. In your case you have a carb for each bank anyway so that negates that issue. Individual filters probably cost more but then you don't need an airbox. A Ryco A360 element costs $15.50 & I just replaced one after 100 hours. The original was still perfect but replacement is mandatory. Flying in a dusty environment like it has been out west will require replacement a lot more frequently.

Which aircraft did you build, KG?

The one in my Avatar.

OT yes it did go down the embankment but it broke in 3 pieces exactly like the other 3 did. These broke exactly where the poorly made Fairstraps are designed to strengthen these areas (doors and cargo access ways) to prevent this. See the Wing and a Prayer doco from 26 minutes to 32 minutes. An old 707 was deliberately crashed by FAA to test the fuselage strength at much higher speed than a normal landing & it burst into flames the wings separated but the fuselage survived intact as it should as it had a quality fuselage frame.

There are more Jabiru engines than rotax and I think the proportions of problems are about the same.

Bruce, I think you will find that there are a lot more Rotax engines out there than Jabiru. About 5 to 1 I think.

Welcome Phil, You'll find everything here from fully fledged professionals like yourself to Aviation wannabes. Lots of us have built our own aircraft and there are lots of Blogs in the Building & design plus Aircraft Usergroups Forums.

Apparently about half of the builds started never get finished. Usually a flurry of activity then dribs and drabs until nothing. Yours shows progress every time. I took about 2 years till 90% complete and the last 90% took another 2 1/2 years. Scratch building is a very satisfying experience. Some of the kits supplied these days are basically just assembly with almost everything pre bent, pre drilled and even wings complete & skinned etc. How they meet the 51% rule beats me. You don't build these, you just put them together. That last pic from 18 Dec bears a striking resemblance to a Ford T-bucket. (No offence intended)