old man emu

TP,

I hope that you didn't just look at the page the link went to. If you had a look at the whole site, especially the "About Us" page, you would have seen that one partner claims to have a lot of experience, and that his partner is responsible for updating the material. I'd say that they have the competency to keep up to date of the ever-changing regs and procedures.

I don't know these people, so I'm waiting for the Sandgropers to get out of bed this morning and answer Nev25's question.

OME

Met,

What is the part number of the O-ring that you used? The correct one for fuel is MS28775-(i.d.).

What brand and size is the fuel drain?

OME

Then there's the question of heat.

If you cold bend, then the metal will tend to "spring" back a bit, but if you heat it cherry red, the metal will align itself as it melts and will not spring back.

OME

Scotty,

Does this help?

http://www.nirvanatec.com/support/bend/kfactor.htm

OME

Could be one of the Beavers was over at Bankstown for servicing.

OME

Tomo,

I'll be at Camden on Thursday and Friday at work. Tomorrow I'm at home, slaving under the gaze of Old Ma Emu.

OME

Is this going to replace the Suppliers' forum?

OME

We use a product called Shift-it which we buy from a local auto parts shop. There is also X-it which is supplied by Aviall.

OME

Awww! Belt up!

OME

A few things if you are importing an airplane, or wings as in this case.

1. Have the exporter give the items a really good wash and get rid of all accumulations of dirt, spider webs, rodent droppings, insect pupae cases etc.

2. Specify that only new wood is to be used, and that the wood bear grading marks.

3. It is best to crate wings so that the trailing edge is up in the air.

4. Some people remove the ailerons and flaps and use the brackets they attach to as points to hang the wing from the top beam of the crate.

5. Use the wing attach brackets as another point to support the wing.

6. Support the leading edge in cradle that is cut to the outside shape of the leading edge.

7. Use new carpet underlay as packing between all uprights of the case and the wing. Pack the wing firmly, not tightly.

8. If you choose to use the open frame method, make sure that use attach plywood between the end upright and the next inner upright at both end and on both sides to prevent the frame from twisting. If the wing is long, consider plywood panels in the middle of each side.

9. Wrap the whole shebang in heat-shrink plastic, and put plenty of "Fragile" and "This way Up" notices on it.

If you have the exporter pack the wings in a crate, you'd better have plenty of mates around to help you load and unload the crate because teh Yanks make their packing crates s heavy as hell.

OME

None of my navs went to plan, wind out by up to 180 degrees from forecast,

OME

It's not so much knowing how to melt metal together to make a bond. The most important thing about welding an airframe is knowing how to fit a number of pieces of tubing together to make a cluster, and then getting every piece of tubing welded correctly to the ones adjacent to it.

OME

Yeah.

Experiments - go for it yourself, or bet a tradesman welder mate to do it.

Certified aircraft - CASA certified welder. (It costs about $3000 each year for a person to retains a CASA welding approval.)

OME

It all depends on ...... heaps of things.

First is weight. The tailwheel is a long way from the C of G, and exerts a large downwards Moment. You can use this to your advantage if you want to bring your C of G backwards, but it is a problem if the C of G has to go the other way.

Pneumatic or solid? Depends on what you usually taxy over. Pneumatics roll well over grass, where a solid may dig in a bit. However, a pneumatic tyre assembly is more complex and may be heavier than a solid wheel.

Castoring or Non-castoring? This relates to ease of ground handling. By non-castoring, do you mean steerable? I would prefer the positive control that a steerable tailwheel gives.

Lockable or not? Definitely needs to be lockable for take-off and landing. That gives you more control, and less need for the Quickstep for directional control.

Size? That is dictated by the design and location of the airplane. The angle formed by a line drawn from the ground contact point of the main gear tyres to the ground contact point of the tailwheel is usually set to be below about 15 degrees so that the tailplane is at a suitable Angle of Attack at the start of the take off roll to let it get flying and raise the rear of the airplane.

Brands? Usually dictated to a great degree by the leather container adjacent to the builder's butt.

Old Man Emu

Ooh, I just tried that and all that happened is a fork came flying out of the kitchen...doesn't work...

OME

There is one word to sum up engine reliability: "Quality"

Quality of raw materials the engine is made from; Quality of forging/milling/shaping practices in the manufacture of components; Quality of assembly procedures for the engine by the manufacturer; Quality of procedures employed when the engine is operating AND between operations; Quality of the maintenance regime. For the majority of aero-engines, the first three on the list rarely occur. However, I believe evidence exists that one manufacturer fails on the third point.

So that lets us point the finger at the way that the engine is used as being the initiator of engine failures.

Give an engine a hard life (lots of circuit work, or frequent cycles between full and low power generation (aerobatics, glider towing, parachutist dropping) and you can expect more rapid travel down the path the component failure. On the other hand, fly only two or three hours per year and you can expect failures caused by chemical reactions between the atmosphere and components.

Failure to follow the manufacturer's maintenance procedures; doing what an 'expert' told you even though it contradicts the manufacturer's procedures; failure to keep up to date with service advice from the manufacturer. An aero-engine is the product years of study of metallurgy, thermodynamics, and various fields of mechanical and production engineering. If you are an expert in all these areas, then, sure, modify your engine. If not - if it ain't broke - don't fix it.

Lavishing Quality on any engine (even a Sino-copy) will keep it operating for the term of its engineered life expectancy. Spare the Quality and spoil the engine.

OME

Crickey! The First of the Month has come around again. Look in your piggy bank on Thursday arvo.

OME

Okay! Okay! Let's stop the China bashing and get back to the topic. Crickey! All I wanted to do was to warn people that buying cheap instruments may be a false economy. I'm sure that the Chinese can make good quality instruments. Has anyone pulled and altimeter from a Nanchang and had it serviced? I'm sure that you would find that an instrument in a military plane was top quality. OME

Whoa! I didn't want to start a Sino-Australian trade war. There was one point that most have missed in my opening remarks. The altimeter in question was labelled with a US company's name and address. It was also clearly marked as having been made in China. I think that the deception here (if there is one) is that the US company was implying that the altimeter was designed with US know-how, and that is what its reputation should rest upon. I think that it is becoming clear that the Chinese manufacturer is making the altimeter and then allowing distributors to brand the product themselves. No hit, no foul, as the Yanks would say. The problem is that the Chinese manufacturer doesn't identify a model number, nor does it provide the necessary technical data and parts back-up to keep the altimeter serviceable. If the manufacturer could do these three things, then their low priced product does become economically viable to the purchaser. Perhaps bexrbetter could do us all an service by explaining to Chinese manufacturers that sometimes planned obsolescence does not breed customer loyalty. OME

OME, are we talking about "Falcon" instruments here or are there other more dodgy brands around?

OME

I want a genuine one with Mickey Mouse on the face. nev

OME

I like the design, font and font colour, but I would like to see the new block on every post as it was previously. The new design is easier to read, but it doesn't help if you want to go to the top of the page and you are near the middle of the posts on a page.

OME

I'm going to stop reading this thread. It is frightening me, especially when my wife was on the computer last night looking at houses for sale in Broadway, near Evesham.

OME

Phil,

Consider this. A bloke who visits a lady for dinner; then engages in some horizontal calesthenics with her, and departs is known as a "wombat". A wombat eats, roots and leaves.

OME

Hmmm

Register a plane on VH and do the paperwork once. No annual renewal, no annual fee. Just get an annual inspection for a new Maintenance Release (which is a good safety practice when all is said and done), and away you go.

If annual renewals were a good thing, and a fine source of revenue, why doesn't CASA require it for VH airplanes? Don't tell Treasury, but it would be a great revenue stream (and that's not a dig directed to Conservative or Labor governments)

OME