old man emu

Clunky Ford A model engines went out with button-up boots. Even the Pietenpol family moved over the Corvair engines in the 60's.

I reckon a Corvair in a Pietenpol would be as smooth as a whore's silky drawers.

Try this mob in Perth for details on your local supplier, or someone who uses the stuff

WA Polystyrene - The Leading Supplier of Polystyrene in Perth, WA

Paul,

I think that the best bloke to contact is Bubbleboy. Haven't heard from him in a while, so he must be out flying his Pietenpol.

He was going to fit a 6 cylinder Corvair engine to his. I think that he would be the bloke with the most up-to-date knowledge on building one of these fine airplanes.

OME

It is not very hard to cut ribs from styrofoam using a hot wire cutter that you can make yourself for a few dollars.

Hot-wire foam cutter - Wikipedia

This video relates to making RC planes, but the process is the same. The video provides a very simple, clear description of the process.

Hot Wire Foam Cutting

The only things you might change are the temperature control method and power supply. To control the temperature, you could use a volume switch ($3.00 at Jaycar)

the Nichrome wire costs $5 for 4 metres

and for a current source you can use a 12V car battery.

I recommend that you use 3mm plywood for the rib templates (cut two - one for each side of the foam block), and that you try to use the DOW Bluefoam which is available from hobby shops and industrial suppliers all over the country. The advantage of this foam over the white "ESKY" type is that it is composed of finer particles; is denser, and much more resistant to deformation. It cuts a lot better that ESKY foam, too

OME

This guide will assist in the deciphering of markings on the heads of bolts, and on the flats of washers. The markings are used to identify the grade of bolt, and the manufacturer. The information is probably not essential for day-to-day work, but you never know when it might prove its worth.

OME

fastener identification guide.pdf

fastener identification guide.pdf

fastener identification guide.pdf

Any idea what happened?

Fairy Battles in the RAAF

ADF Serials - Fairey Battle

Lancaster NX611: History of Lancaster NX611 - Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre

The background to my question is not really to do with aviation, but simply management of the air/fuel mixture that is being supplied to an engine.

The air/fuel mixture supplied to my motorcycle engine at low engine speed is easy to change because the slow speed mixture control is close at hand. I find that on cool to cold mornings, the engine seems to run better that it does later in the day when the air temperature has risen. In other words, during the 20 minute ride to work in the morning, the bike seems to have more power than the return ride in the afternoon.

I'm about the set the mixture as per the book, and the current QNH is about 1005 and temperature 15C. I'm about 75' AMSL.

If I get the bike running nicely in these conditions, come summer and air temperatures around 30C, should I be making the air/fuel mixture or leaner to get the same results as I'll get now?

OME

It is essential that those actively involved in aviation around centres like Benalla raise the awareness of the local community to the need to positively support local aviation.

This means button-holing the local newspaper editors, shock jocks and TV reporters and telling them how the presence of the aviation centre bolsters the local economy.

Much must be made of the emergency need for the airport. Benalla profits from the motor sport at Winton. How would emergency services cope with an incident where a V8 Supercar launched off the track into the spectator area and caused 20 - 30 serious injuries, requiring quick air evacuation to Melbourne? What about its use as a staging point for fire-fighting aircraft?

Get the local travel agents on side. How are the good people of the Benalla district going to get to their overseas holiday places without pilots? Dreamliner pilots don't just appear from the ether. They are planted as seed in local airports and nurtured in these local nurseries until they have developed the flying skills to handle a commercial heavy in an emergency situation. Heck! any iPhone worth its chip has the computing capability to fly incident free from Sydney to London, but it takes the homo sapiens brain Ver: 1.0 to deal with the unexpected.

What about enlisting the aid of the Chamber of Commerce? The presence of the airport and the activities carried on there must bolster the incomes of small business in Benalla.

Finally, demand that the local council provide details of the way in which Federal and State monies, in the amounts listed above, have been spent. If a cent of this money has been spent elsewhere, take the council to task for misappropriating funds.

If a council wants to play hardball with users of airports they got for nothing, then the ball should be smashed back at them to deal with.

OME

Dey's jez doin' da boogieboard bag boogie

It is ironic that over 120 years after the writing of the Australian Constitution that this dual nationality matter has arisen in a nation of immigrants.

How many of the first parliamentarians were first generation immigrants?

Take one of the shining lights of Federal Parliament from 1903 to 1917 - King O'Malley. He claimed to have been born in Canada, but more likely to have been born in the USA.

He didn't arrive in Australia until 1893, and after sitting in the South Australian and Tasmanian parliaments, was elected in the Tasmanian Federal seat of Darwin in 1903.

His record in parliament is mainly positive - Trans-Australia Railway, selection of the site of the capitol, promotion of a government run bank (Commonwealth Bank). His only sin was making the ACT a dry state, since he was an evangelical teetotaler.

Apart from him, Billy Hughes wasn't born here. Henry Parkes, the Father of Federation, wasn't born here. And the list goes on.

I think that the idea of persons being strictly Australian citizens did not become law until the Hawke/Keating Labor years. Prior to that, most parliamentarians were native born, British Empire/Commonwealth born, or naturalised from other countries. At those times, I doubt if much notice was taken of the effects of one's parents not being native born.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to lower yourself into the role of politician, then as long as you are either natruralised, or born here, I don't care how big you passport colelction is.

OME

It certainly is faster from my end

Had the TIF. I want to ensure I have the aptitude to successfully complete all the training before making that investment. Simon

OME

microman,

you'd probably won't have a better time in any other town.

SEARCH ALERT! INFORMATION REQUIRED!

The RAAF is currently searching for relatives of Pilot Officer Middleton in order to invite them to a memorial service at Wagga in November 2017.

Anyone with leads to the whereabouts of relatives is asked to contact the RAAF (I suspect at the Wagga Base)

Middleton was the first RAAF recipient of the VC in WWII.

a young bloke who enlisted in my local area and trained at Narromine: Pilot Officer Rawdon Hume Middleton

I totally agree on the last point about getting a qualified pre-purchase inspection opinion. Did you bring a plane in from the US?

A qualified person from Australia will have dealt with importing planes before and will know who to get to disassemble and crate the plane.

I haven't imported any planes of my own, but worked for a business that dealt with importing planes and getting them on the GA register. Everything is the same for both RAA and GA in relation to getting a plane ready to fly - it's just some variation in the paperwork.

OME

Necessary Processes:

1. Finding an experienced shipper in the foreign country to dismantle and pack the plane into a container so that it is not damaged in the packing or transport. (Relatively easy to find someone if coming from the USA.)

2. Liaison with Australian Customs to ensure that all necessary taxes and fees are paid before you take delivery of the container here.

3. Liaison with AQIS to ensure that the plane is free from exotic flora and fauna.

From purchase to delivery might take about 3 months, allowing for time to dismantle and pack; transport across the water; Customs and AQIS, providing your paperwork is absolutely complete and correct in every way; transport from wharf to airfield.

Planes are coming in from overseas, especially the USA every week. It is hard to estimate a price for the import, but I don't think that you will get much change out of $20K for the process.

You will also have to add the fee for a qualified person to travel to the plane and thoroughly inspect it before you make the contract to purchase. And be prepared to accept the word of the qualified person if they tell you that the plane is crap. You might be out around $5000 to get that information, but you will save many times that amount in the long run.

I wouldn't be embarking on this without the nod from RAA that, all things being acceptable, the plane can go on the RAA register.

OME

It is a good early warning to check pitot tubes and static air vents for mud dauber nests and other creepy crawlies squatting in various aircraft orifices.

AND DON'T TRY TO CLEAR A BLOCKED PITOT TUBE BY BLOWING INTO IT FROM ITS INTAKE SIDE.

unless you have replacement AIS, altimeter and AH close at hand.

My grandson turns five tomorrow. He's already a familiar at the local airport, and with a bit of luck he'll have his first flight this week. Because Emus can't fly, the flight will have to be in a C-172 flown by one of the local flying school instructors, but I can't wait to see his face as the plane gets airborne.

Elephunt is my co-pilot

I live on one of the main internal roads of my suburb. My house is slightly north of the long extension of the centreline of Camden's 10/28 runway, but well out of the circuit area.

What noise do I get? Asthmatic Subarus dumping manifold pressure, Holden utes revved to near burn-out levels, and unsilenced Harley-Davidsons, all of which are attempting to get to the signposted 50 KpH speed limit as quickly as possible, using the traffic calming devices (speed humps) as starting point markers.

Aircraft noise? The occasional four seater tracking into or out of Camden; the gliding club's Pawnees if the wind is coming from the north east; CareFlight tracking to Camden Hospital, and way, way above, commercial heavies coming down the steps to Mascot.

The number of times i have wished I had a length of 4 x 2 to hurl at these ground transport machines!!!!!

OME

Strewth!!

Around here the NOMBYs just write strongly worded letters to the Editor.

OME

NOMBY : Not Over My Back Yard

Some of those girls would've make the perfect wife - cook, clean and build you plane in between.

I see on their site that they make a cover for a Karatoo which is fabric covered.

If your airplane is only going to be outside for a short time, then anything that blocks UV light from reaching the fabric is useful. But you can also consider using it when the plane is inside. Planes gotta hangar, birds gotta sh|t. Also a cover will limit the amount of dust, and maybe bugs that could enter pitot holes.

I'm sure that Punkin Heads will give you good advice as to the material to use, and for their estimated prices, I'd say they were a reasonably priced item.

OME

The problem was not due to carb ice. . After some searching, I finally found the blockage, it was a loose piece of rubber inside the mechanical fuel pump.

Grob 115 Tutor, but the one in the back has got me stumped!