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sfGnome

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Everything posted by sfGnome

  1. sfGnome
    Has it always done that, or is this a new thing? Knowing that may help to ascertain whether it is a build problem (like unshielded mag wires) or a failure issue (like an old cap or a crook earth, etc).
  2. sfGnome
    While I couldn’t go this year, I did join the Rich Stowel webinar yesterday morning. It was recorded, so I think it is worth watching if they make it available. There was nothing new and startling, but it did serve as a good reminder of a few things. He gave two statistics that I found interesting. The first - that 70% of accidents occur in takeoff, manoeuvring and landing which only accounts for 17% of flight time - was no surprise. What did surprise me was that the cohort with the lowest accident rate were students, including those flying solo (so their low accident rate cannot be attributed to having an instructor next to them). His theory was that they were also the cohort who spent the most time circuit bashing, so they actually had more recency in that aspect than most ‘experienced’ pilots. Food for thought. How much circuit bashing have you done recently?
  3. sfGnome
    They sent out a message a little while back that phone renewals won’t be available in future (as of some date that I don’t recall) as you have to agree in writing to the new document. They’re basically trying to stop people doing stupid things (ref the Mt Beauty crash) and then blaming RAAus for it. I haven’t seen the document yet, but the concept seems reasonable enough.
  4. sfGnome
    The gremlins must have got it. Glad to hear you’re home, but you know the old saying - no photos; didn’t happen. 😁
  5. sfGnome
    I will admit that my diseased imaginings didn’t include a constant speed prop (that would be more like a dream), but Neil hit the nail on the head. The issue isn’t what to do right now (apart from “don’t panic”), but what to do when you get to a suitable airport (hence my “plenty of fuel” specification in the original post). We all train for engine failure (don’t we?), so landing dead stick from above the strip shouldn’t be a major issue, but the only other thing I would add is, after cutting the engine and while still at height, attempt a restart just to see if it is possible so that a go-around is an option if the landing goes pear-shaped.
  6. sfGnome
    This thread is just a result of a diseased imagining in the early hours of the morning, but if it prompts some useful questions and discussion, then the restless night was worth it. 🙂 Imagine that you’re cruising on a long distance flight, say at 5500’, plenty of fuel, CAVOK, then the engine goes to wide open throttle and you can’t reduce it. What would you do?
  7. sfGnome
    To make lots and lots and lots of money. Nothing else matters. 🫤
  8. sfGnome
    You’ve just mover a shovel full from your bucket of luck into your bucket of experience. Thanks for putting this out there. It’s really important that we learn from each other.
  9. sfGnome
    Silicone hump hose might help. The intent of the hump in the middle is to allow movement between the two ends. I don’t know whether the right size for your application exists, but it’s worth a google.
  10. sfGnome
    Yep, but that process won’t fill the radiator if the thermostat is blocked (and yes, it is fully blocked at low temperatures, unlike the coolant thermostat which does have a small bypass).
  11. sfGnome
    I’ll second (third?) the RAM mount on the longish arm. I used to have an iPad mini on a 75(?)mm arm and it worked well (and that was in a low wing - never had a problem). On your panel, I’d look at putting the mount below the Hobbs meter. It doesn’t matter if you can’t see it in flight, and it’s easy to move the tablet to check it at flight’s end.
  12. sfGnome
    For those of you who have a Rotax with a thermostat fitted, how do you do the initial fill? When cold, the radiator is bypassed, so it won’t get any oil. I have worked out a method, but I’m interested to see how others did it. Note: I’m not asking for people’s opinions on whether thermostats should be used. That already been thrashed in other threads. 😛
  13. sfGnome
    I used to (and hopefully will soon be able to start again) fly from Sydney(ish) to Bairnsdale (eastern Victoria), and there’s no direct path there that doesn’t go over some very ‘ordinary’ country. I used google maps in satellite view to pick out a path between Delegate and Nowa Nowa that had consecutive sequences of “light green patches” following a slightly circuitous route, on the basis that the light green was more likely to be some farmer’s paddocks rather than remote heavily wooded stuff. That, combined with staying as high as possible, made for a comfortable (ie not buttock-clenching) trip.
  14. sfGnome
    Wow! And I thought plans-builders were nuts dedicated. 😀
  15. sfGnome
    CASA’s VFR Guide (free to download) has a whole chapter on dealing with emergencies (plus it just notes that in DRAs, you are required to carry “appropriate survival equipment for sustaining life” without attempting to define what is considered “appropriate”).
  16. sfGnome
    Well, I enjoyed it, but I’m not an expert so I guess it was aimed more at my level.
  17. sfGnome
    Google’s take on it is “Flightradar24 primarily relies on its huge network of ground-based receivers picking up ADS-B signals from aircraft transponders, but it also uses other data sources like MLAT (Multilateration) and official radar feeds for better coverage, especially over oceans or for flights without ADS-B. While ADS-B is the main source, other technologies fill in gaps where ADS-B coverage is limited, giving a more complete picture of air traffic.” That would explain why it was showing Skip’s plane as 1200 - it was picking up his transponder, not his ADSB (which, of course, raises another question…)
  18. sfGnome

    Northrop Alpha

    sfGnome commented on red750's aircraft in Airliners

    Wonder what happens to the balance when the pax in the front seat decides to have a chat with the bloke at the back?
  19. sfGnome
    Welcome to Venture Capital takeovers… 🫤
  20. sfGnome
    One of the issues with patents is that if you release them gradually, and a competitor issues a patent that references one of your earlier ones, then your later patents can be claimed to be dependent on your competitor’s one. Hence, some development companies with a big new idea will hold the info really tightly against industrial espionage and then file an enormous set of patents in one sitting. A company I used to work for did this, and one time they walked into a patent office in the USA with two trolley loads of new patents.
  21. sfGnome
    Well, I’ve just ticked over 1000 hours building, and that’s just the time in the shed. All the hours on the computer investigating options and sourcing parts are not included. Probably about another 1000 to go. Funny thing I noticed yesterday. With the heatwave, it appears that all my heat shrink tubing has shrunk a little. The size that used to slide over a spade connector now just doesn’t. Now all I need is for the heat to help my gut to shrink a little… 😛
  22. sfGnome
    I reckon that if you had asked that young pilot what he should do if the nose was pointing up and airspeed was dropping, he could have told you, no worries. Knowing what to do is not the problem. Dealing with the startle factor is. In my training, I’d done heaps of touch and goes. Wheels on the deck, trundle along resetting the flaps, power up and away. However, the first time I had to go around from near ground level (and I was solo), I discovered exactly what that young pilot discovered; you pour on the power and the nose points skyward. In my case, I hit the stick ‘real quick’ and all was good, but was I well trained or just lucky? It’s not like there weren’t other times where I froze.
  23. sfGnome
    Interesting question with, I believe, much disagreement between the experts. Australia used to have some fantastic megafauna which all died out about the time that humans arrived in country. However, whether they were hunted to extinction or died as a result of the same climate variation that provided the human access bridge from Asia is not agreed.
  24. sfGnome
    Have you noticed that it seems that the majority of new ‘light’ designs are coming from Europe. Most of the ones listed from the US were designed in the 60s and 70s. There seems to be lots of different companies designing small aircraft in Europe, whereas in the US it seems that there’s just Vans, Sonex, Rams and Zenith with Vans dominating. (Disclaimer! This is just a thought bubble. Happy to be corrected).
  25. sfGnome
    Highly misleading title on that video. It wasn’t the fact that it was 3D printed that caused the crash; it was the material that caused it. It would be like using cardboard for spars, and then after a crash implying that you should never have spars…
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