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rgmwa

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Everything posted by rgmwa

  1. rgmwa
    I generally don't comment very often but check the site virtually every day for new posts, and have been doing so for probably the last 7-8 years. I thought the site worked well when I first came across it. It had a lot of interesting content largely because there seemed to be many `well-known' contributors who were posting regularly and generating the activity. I couldn't understand why you were so worried about `improving it' all the time with new features and add-ons, changing platforms, name changes, more complexity etc, but was impressed by your determination to make it `better', although it already worked fine as far I could see. The site is only as successful as the core activity it generates as a forum, no matter how many extra bells and whistles it has. Take Nev, Pete and a handful of others off the site now, and it would be very quiet indeed, so it might be useful to survey previously active and often very knowledgeable and entertaining contributors to find out why they stopped commenting.
  2. rgmwa
    Interesting. I've never flown a constant speed prop or retractable gear aircraft, and probably never will, but at least this description gives me an idea of how to do it. Might come in handy one day.
  3. rgmwa
    Well, it's been a very long time since I thought of myself as cool and groovy - one look in the mirror is enough to destroy that illusion. However, I take your point OME, so Serpentine it is in future. Sounds a lot nicer anyway!
  4. rgmwa
    We have three windsocks at YSEN and it's not unusual for them to all be pointing in different directions! I usually go with the majority decision, although when two of them at each end of a runway are pointing at each other, I toss a coin.
  5. rgmwa
    Brian Lane also wrote a book called `Spitfire'. Well worth a read if you can find it.
  6. rgmwa
    Only two ways for VH registration, either E-LSA (provided it meets the LSA criteria) or Experimental. I believe it's the same for RAAus home/kit built aircraft. I know that few if any RAAus RV-12's are registered as E-LSA's, for example. I think they're all or nearly all experimental. E-LSA is big in the US mainly because builders think that makes them worth more when they sell. The weird thing over there is that having carefully followed the plans so they can register it as an E-LSA, once they've done that they can modify it any way they like, provided they don't compromise the LSA performance criteria. SAAA will appoint a tech counsellor to help a VH builder if requested, and I think they are also happy to help RAAus builders.
  7. rgmwa
    The Panther at Serpentine is a 19 reg. aircraft. It has an O-320 in it, looks great and goes like a rocket. E-LSA's must be an exact copy of the kit manufacturer's S-LSA original. However, an LSA can also be built as an experimental and will remain an LSA provided any modifications don't take it out of the LSA parameters, which are less stringent in Australia than the FAA regs. The registration system adopted (E-LSA, S-LSA, Experimental) is separate from the LSA classification which is about performance specifications.
  8. rgmwa
    Aviation Insurance Australia got me the quotes. They advised that Swiss Re was "not currently quoting any new business". The other quotes they got were from Agile Aviation, HDI Global and 360 Aviation. I'm currently with QBE who are the second cheapest but still about 25% more than 360.
  9. rgmwa
    It's aircraft insurance time again and my normal insurer has increased their premiums pretty steeply in the last couple of years, citing an increase in claims as the main reason, This year I decided to shop around. The cheapest quote I received was from 360 Aviation, but apparently they are new to the Australia market. Has anyone here heard of or dealt with them? rgmwa
  10. rgmwa
    No guesses? Pander E from 1926. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pander_%26_Son#Pander_aircraft
  11. rgmwa
    If the 737 is swooping at low level around houses to put out fires, then the situation must be pretty dire and most people should have left those houses long ago. I suspect that those remaining would be only too pleased to put up with a bit of noise when they can see smoke and hear flames nearby.
  12. rgmwa
    Here's one:
  13. rgmwa
    I usually don't make many landings. That only happens when my arrivals went better than expected.
  14. rgmwa
    RV-10 has been mentioned and would seem to suit your long term requirements. KR might sell you his RV-9 to tide you over if the price was right.
  15. rgmwa
    The two happiest days of boat ownership - the day you buy it, and the day you sell it.
  16. rgmwa
    That's my understanding too. The PPL is forever unless CASA takes it off you for some reason, but it's having a current medical that allows you to `exercise the privileges' of the licence. The medical can now be a Basic Class 2 issued by a GP.
  17. rgmwa
    Thanks. My comment was a bit tongue in cheek, but I find an empty one litre plastic Acetone bottle does a pretty good job. Helps to have an autopilot to keep things straight and level though, and could be exciting if you hit turbulence at the critical moment.
  18. rgmwa
    Out to the heavens or blow-back into the cockpit? Sounds OK in principle, but I'd like to see some more research work to verify the concept first. Placement of the outlet could be critical.
  19. rgmwa
    I also responded properly, but I agree with SSCBD. Drinking in flight isn’t a problem. Getting rid of it is where the innovation is needed.
  20. rgmwa
    Good job! Lucky they had a nice paddock handy. Landing in the surrounding hills may not have had such a good outcome.
  21. rgmwa
    I've wondered the same thing. The centre section between the two fuselages must take a lot of bending and torsion that you would think would be reduced if the tails were joined. Still, maybe there are more complex resonance modes if the tails are joined that might affect its effectiveness as a rocket launch platform. Having just one connection point near the centre of gravity is simpler in that all the forces have to go through one main structural member, and maybe that improves stability. Who knows, but I'm sure there will be a good reason.
  22. rgmwa
    This topic has come up before. Some of my favourites, in no particular order: Fate is the Hunter - Ernest Gann A Higher Call - Adam Makos North Star Over My SHoulder - Bob Buck Weather Flying - Bob Buck Wind, Sand and Fire - Saint-Exupery The Hardest Day - Alfred Price A Man on the Moon - Andrew Chaikin Hustling Hinkler - D.R.Dymock Sagittarius Rising - Cecil Lewis War in a Stringbag - Charles Lamb First Light - Geoffrey Wellum The Flight of the Mew Gull - Alex Henshaw The Man who Saved Smithy - Rick Searle Gallipoli Air War - Hugh Dolan Forever Flying - Bob Hoover Boyd - Robert Coram Killer Caldwell - Jeffrey Watson No Moon Tonight - Don Charlwood The Final Hours - Johannes Steinhoff The Last Plane Out of Berlin - Jeffrey Watson Messerschmitts Over Sicily - Johannes Steinhoff I Flew for the Fuhrer - Heinz Knoke The First and the Last - Adolf Galland Flying Doctor - Clyde Fenton Mustang Designer - Ray Wagner Fighter - Len Deighton The Flight of the Condor- W.E Johns
  23. rgmwa
    True, Galland was a fighter pilot, so he saw its advantages from that point of view. Many 262's initially intended as fighter-bombers ended up being transferred to fighter squadrons (and there weren't many of those), or were abandoned. From memory, I think they built about 1,400 but only had a fraction operational at any one time. I suspect high speed is not as important in an Amy support aircraft as the ability to carry a lot of ordnance, have good endurance plus good acceleration and manoeuvrability. Douglas Skyraider and Warthog are examples. Typhoons and Tempests were pretty effective too. For what it's worth on this idle Saturday afternoon, in my view the FW190 would have made a better hit and run weapon that the Me262.
  24. rgmwa
    The Me262 wasn't very manoeuvrable, which would be a disadvantage for a ground attack aircraft. It was also slow to accelerate and the engines had to be handled gently. However, its speed made it an excellent interceptor despite its rather short endurance. Galland certainly thought Hitler's idea was a serious blunder and misuse of the plane's major speed advantage over allied fighters and its ability to knock down bombers with its 30mm cannon and missiles. However either way, it was a case of too little too late to alter the outcome of the war, so whether Hitler was right or not is probably a moot point. Goering eventually conceded that Galland was right despite initially backing Hitler.
  25. rgmwa
    My download speed is 1.3 Mbps from a Sydney server and 0,2 Mbps upload which probably explains no noticeable difference. We're about 40 km from Perth CBD. What's this NBN thing I've heard about?
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