kgwilson

A few feet left or right in a TD & the main gear would have hit it, then a skew one way and the momentum ends up with the wing in the ground possibly hitting another rock & etc etc. No it was bad luck but a good end result.

Commentary stated he hit a rock. If it was big and immovable the nosewheel is going to collapse no matter what aircraft it is.

If I am going to do a glide approach I pull the throttle downwind abeam the threshold at 1000 feet & then turn on to base which I adjust left or right depending on the day (lift/sink/headwind) always keeping high enough to make the runway & then use flap as required to make it happen. I probably do glide approaches about 1 in 5 landings. I more often than not use some power but prefer tight circuits so never drag it in on the engine. If I am high I will do a fairly tight descending turn on to final at about 70 knots & 1000 fpm down, level off, bleed speed & flare a couple of feet off the deck. This is at my home aerodrome of course & I have 1000 or 1200 metres of runway (seal and grass) to play with.

2000rpm in my Jab 3300A powered aircraft is a slow cruise of around 80 knots. For a glide approach RPM  sits around 1000 which is 780-800 rpm static on the ground. It will roll on smooth tarmac at idle as well. This is why I commented that the engine even at idle is producing some thrust compared to flying it dead stick.

If you really want to know how your aircraft glides, turn the engine off. Forced landing practice with engine at idle is not the same as gliding with the engine off. Even at idle some thrust is being produced. It is usually not recommended by instructors or flying schools but turning the engine off on down wind at 1000 feet and landing dead stick is a good way to determine your understanding of your aircrafts glide ratio. You will always need some height buffer in case of sink, unexpected headwind etc but you will learn a lot about your ability and the aircrafts capability at the same time.

I flew hang gliders for 20years and every landing is a forced landing without power. I know many pilots will not feel comfortable about this but it will definitely improve your gliding skills and confidence if the fan that stops you from sweating gives up.

On a good unstable day with plenty of fair weather cumulus I have pulled the power to idle under a CU with good lift and watched the VSI increase. I've never purposely tried to thermal but I have managed to gain considerable altitude on occasions.

It is actually concave as the lift is strongest in the centre and the warmer updraught air raises the dewpoint altitude. This incident has now gone viral worldwide and Juan Brown has posted a good analysis to highlight (yet again) the dangers of entering IMC.

Presumably all the suggested things like sidetone volume, USB interference, coax connections and earth loops etc have been checked. I had similar problems several years ago and found it was a combination of several things. The first was more than 1 earth (earth loop). There should be a single point of earth in the entire system and that is back at the radio & from there to the main earth bus back to the battery. Are all the cables shielded and by that I mean if you have 2 core cable is each core shielded? I changed all my cables to all single core shielded. Do you have a power filter on the power supply to the radio? That will get rid of any power induced noise. Do you have ferrite chokes on the audio cables by each connection like at the headsets, radio and PTT. And lastly are all the connectors good with no dry joint issues causing high resistance.

Once I'd done all these things noise disappeared and my radio is a Microair which does not have a great reputation.

I use Permatex anti seize on my plug threads. One $15.00 tube will last a lifetime. US made and combines copper, aluminium and graphite lubricant blends so is electrically conductive, corrosion, salt, & moisture resistant. Good for up to 870 deg C. Why you need some overpriced manufacturer recommended product just because they have some deal with the supplier is a con.

Nutplates are a great fastener idea for fibreglass panels and for connecting thin pieces of material together and are especially useful when you can't get a spanner to hold or tighten the nut and you can never lose the nut as it is attached to the part you are connecting to. They don't need washers either. I have them to connect the top cowl to the bottom, on inspection covers, the spinner, spats etc. They are deliberately tight and I have removed and replaced the screws multiple times and none have ever come loose. If they are too tight a bit of light machine oil, graphite or Inox MX3 will help. If you get rid of the interference part of the thread and can tighten them by hand, replace them immediately or you will find the screw won't take long to disappear. Another option is Rivnuts but they need a bit more metal thickness & are no good on fibreglass.

I see plenty of them without the nosewheel spat on so others may have the same problem.

Yes Water Dispersant 40th try. I only use it when I can buy a can on special and as a corrosion deterrent. Inox MX3 is better as a corrosion deterrent, a water dispersant and is also a lubricant.

A Cessna 172 is easy to fly and so is a Piper Cherokee Archer PA28-181. The 172 has very upright seats a high panel, controls are heavy and cabin noise is quite high so in my opinion not nice to fly but it does have doors on both sides making getting in & out easy. The Archer has a more laid back sports car style seating position, better forward view over a less intrusive panel, lighter controls (with electric trim) and a quieter cabin so is nice to fly. It only has one door so getting in & out is a bit more of an issue. The C172 has electric flaps & the PA28 has manual flaps. The strange thing is I preferred the Piper (handbrake style) manual flaps. 

So both are easy to fly but the Archers is nice to fly.

A powered pilot who has flown gliders or hang gliders generally has a far better appreciation and understanding of weather and cloud conditions than someone who is only a powered pilot. The instructor in this video is an exception. Turbulence on a fair weather cumulus day are things to avoid to powered only pilots but things to take advantage of to a powered/glider pilot. Flying in cloud though is just plain stupid unless you are trained, have appropriate instruments and have clearance to do so.

I did a BFR recently and had no problem except the X wind landing. The only aircraft I fly is my own but although it has a centre stick and rudders both sides there are no brakes on the right or throttle so I went with the instructor in a Jab 160. Apart from the long slow climb it was easy to fly and upper air work like stalls and steep turns etc & a couple of touch & goes no problem. The landing back at our aerodrome had a good X wind which in my aircraft is no problem. The first thing I noticed was I needed a much greater crab angle to stay on track, then over the fence & to flare height I kicked the rudder to straighten up & went sideways. I kicked the rudder to compensate but nothing happened except the angle of track. The instructor chucked a bit of aileron & throttle & we landed on the upwind wheel as you would expect.

With my low wing the crab angle for the same wind is about half that of the 160 & my flare is at only a foot or so off the ground and a flick of the rudder & it lands on both mains. The wing is in total ground effect & even with a 10-12 knot X wind doesn't require an into wind wheel down first touchdown. The difference with the high wing being another metre and a half or so higher was quite pronounced. Thinking back to my C172 & PA28-181 flying I had never noticed such a big difference in X wind landing technique & I did a lot of it in windy NZ. Then though I used a combination of into wind wing down & crab angle depending on X wind strength. Much heavier aircraft though.

1 hour ago, walrus said:

KGW, have you logged in to the website and checked your email address recently?

Yes I have checked and also my email address has not changed in 9 years so they know where to send reminders to pay membership & aircraft rego. I just seem to get missed when some announcements are made. Last night I decided to have a whinge so sent an email about the problem to all 6 of the RAAus email addresses I have. I got an automated response from all except [email protected].

Here is a good explanation from a gliding instructor (not the one in the subject glider) including parts of the actual video.

Why didn't they send the email to all members. There seems to be something really screwed up with their distribution lists. I seem to get some things but not everything, this announcement being one of them.

Yeah, I have them all turned off. When we changed over they were all active by default & I was getting heaps of Emails. Notifications on the browser only is much better. 

Thanks OT. As there is no-one at the helm till he takes over I guess he'll have to make his own announcement. A member for 10 years but part owns a GA registered Grumman Tiger. Now what should we make of that?

Well, who is it? There is nothing on the RAA website in latest notices or Enews & I haven't had an email either.

I remember years ago listening to a radio recording between ATC & a pilot lost in cloud. ATC was trying to get the pilot to control the aircraft. The conversation started at a serious point but it developed quickly into panic. The  pilot kept screaming Mayday, Mayday, Mayday & ATC kept saying "You are in a spin RELEASE THE CONTROLS, RELEASE THE CONTROLS". This happened several times then silence. If he'd done that one thing he may still be around today.

If you have stalled and you don't drop a wing there is no need for any rudder during recovery.

Based on previous comments a check of the muffler system should be done during maintenance checks and especially if some loss of power is discovered and then it can't be replicated later. A few whacks with a rubber mallet should give an indication of loose baffles. As T88 says any Lame/Ame would be on to it. What do Rotax have to say given this does not seem to be that rare?

I think the point being made is that Victor 1 could be 1000' for most of its length and drop to 500' for the approach paths. Surely this would improve options for anyone encountering problems while transiting V1. It is only a few years ago when someone ended up in the sea and drowned. All the training in the world and wearing life jackets does not cover all the possibilities of a water landing.

Schools around Melbourne seem to charge $120.00 to $150.00/hour just for the instructor, then there is the aircraft. I just did my RAA BFR. 1 hour flying & a debrief, cost $200.00 + GST= $220.00. Way back when I got my PPL a lot of instructors charged nothing for their time as it was hours they were after in order to propel them into a commercial role. Even then many were on minimum wages until they could land that elusive airline job. Since Covid that has all turned to custard. I'd find another school if I was being charged $120.00 or more for the instructor especially when I just want to learn to fly a RAA aircraft.