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rgmwa

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Everything posted by rgmwa

  1. rgmwa
    Correct. You need air pressure on the rudder to force it to a position where it counteracts the yaw, and the fixed trim tab does this - at least near enough for most flight regimes.
  2. rgmwa
    I landed at Meekatharra on my way back to Perth last year and stayed there overnight hoping for storms further south to pass. The plane was parked in the open but luckily well tied down with the tail pointed into the prevailing wind. Even tying it down was difficult in the strong westerly because it kept trying to weathervane and turn around. A severe squall lasting twenty minutes came through in the early hours and the wind was howling through the trees. I arrived at the field next morning fully expecting to find a pile of wreckage in the scrub, but although the plane had obviously moved around, the tie downs, brakes and gust locks had held and there was no damage. Had the plane not been tail into wind I’m not sure the tie down ropes would have held the wings against the lift. I knew about the rope along the wings trick to break the lift but of course didn’t have any. I was also lucky that I didn’t have to rely on my own tie downs or I would have lost the plane.
  3. rgmwa
    I think you're more likely to find examples of where not safety wiring has caused or contributed to an accident. If the safety wiring is effective, there won't be anything to see.
  4. rgmwa
    Email received from CASA today: Bushfires: stay away This year’s early and intense bushfires have meant a number of firefighting activities are occurring right around the country. Water bombing aircraft operate low level and may change locations at short notice depending on fire conditions. All manned and unmanned aircraft must stay away from bushfires to ensure they do not endanger the essential firefighting operations. A current combined flight information region (FIR) NOTAM warns of ‘unnotified intense aviation activity associated with firefighting operations’ and requires pilots of manned aircraft to remain 5 nm clear of a bushfire horizontally and more than 3000 ft AGL. Unmanned aircraft should only be flown 5 nm horizontally away from a fire and no higher than 120 m or 400 ft AGL. These restrictions remain permanently in place until withdrawn. This is in addition to any temporary restricted areas that also may be declared near large fires. Before setting off, make sure you check fire conditions in your local area and on your planned route.
  5. rgmwa
    So if I understand correctly, hosting is about $3,000 per year whichever platform you use, and the net saving for switching back to XF would be about $600 per year? I think that at the very least the site should break even. You shouldn't have to find most of that money out of your own pocket to provide us with this service. If a few ads would help bring in more revenue, then go for it. Have you tried getting some sponsorship, say from RAAus or SAAA since you are providing a service that complements what they do and most of us here are probably members of one or both organisations?
  6. rgmwa
    What's the cost of using XF?
  7. rgmwa
    A new BMW would be very nice but the old Toyota takes me to the same places more cheaply
  8. rgmwa
    This document is a submission to CASA, but describes communications procedures that fire-fighting aircraft use. https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwjo26-GkrDmAhXEpOkKHb6gAMsQFjAAegQIAxAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fconsultation.casa.gov.au%2Fregulatory-program%2Fdp1610as%2Fconsultation%2Fdownload_public_attachment%3FsqId%3Dquestion.2017-09-07.5299964057-publishablefilesubquestion%26uuId%3D893220661&usg=AOvVaw1vzJTe3sqkKSihYIdYFF6a Each State and Territory also issues its own Standard Operating Procedures. This one is for WA: https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/tabledpapers.nsf/displaypaper/4011285c9699b744c0348a464825826e0003e3a1/$file/tp-1285.pdf Haven't found any specific reference as to how far a transiting aircraft has to stay clear of fire-fighting operations, but `well away' is probably a good rule.
  9. rgmwa
    Could be wrong, but my recollection is that a 5nm radius control zone automatically comes into effect around fire ops.
  10. rgmwa
    1. Whichever doesn't keep you awake at night worrying about paying the bills. 2. Preferably separate since it's not aviation related. 3. No issue with optional subscriptions (as now), running an annual donation campaign, and commercial sidebar adverts. Compulsory annual subscriptions would probably drive away those who are tight budgets, which seems unfair. I also frequent Vans Airforce a lot, and this site is streets ahead in terms of presentation and the effort you put into improving it. VAF's interface is pretty archaic by comparison, yet it's successful mainly because it has a large core captive audience of RV owners and builders. It also runs fairly unobtrusive commercial adverts and has an annual donation campaign, but in the 10 years of so I've been a member, there has been no apparent effort or money spent on upgrading the site as far as I can see. It seems to do what it does well enough to keep everyone happy, since I can't recall ever seeing anyone posting suggestions for improving it.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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!
  14. 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.
  15. rgmwa
    Brian Lane also wrote a book called `Spitfire'. Well worth a read if you can find it.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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
  20. rgmwa
    No guesses? Pander E from 1926. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pander_%26_Son#Pander_aircraft
  21. 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.
  22. rgmwa
    Here's one:
  23. rgmwa
    I usually don't make many landings. That only happens when my arrivals went better than expected.
  24. 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.
  25. rgmwa
    The two happiest days of boat ownership - the day you buy it, and the day you sell it.
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