old man emu

Could just be the English weather. I wouldn't want to be flying around the UK in December.

Sounds like to weather in eastern Australia hasn't been too bright either.

 

Until I find an airfield, I'm going to be travelling like an emu. The only birds moving in England at the moment are the ducks and swans.

 

OME

 

 

Let me be the first to wish everyone who gathers on this site the very best wishes for Christmas 2012.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

Phil,

 

I know Dave Squirrel. He was doing our magneto overhauls and assorted alternator/generator work. He was a bit crook last year and stopped doing the work. As far as I am aware, he's still alive and kicking. He lives in a village called Wilton which is just off the Hume Highway, south of Camden, New South Wales.

 

OME

 

 

I'm not bagging GPS units. I'm just saying that despite all their whizz-bangery, I wouldn't use them as my primary navigation tool.

 

OME

 

 

Recent experience has convinced me that I will NEVER use a GPS as my primary source of information for navigation.

 

I've been driving here and there in England in overcast and rainy weather. So far I have not been able to determine satisfactorily from sun sightings where the Cardinal Points are. Also I haven't got the mental picture of the location of towns and cities on a map that I have of places in Australia. I have, however, been using a Tom-Tom for getting from place to place.

 

Although roads in England are very well signposted with their number A1, B146, etc, and there are signs which tell the distance to the next town, if you are going 50-60 kilometres from point to point, the signage is not much help because it doesn't give the distance to distant points.

 

I have found the GPS to be very accurate over the short distance, but have had to purchase a book of road maps so I can have an idea of the route of my whole trip. Now I can plan a trip using the GPS, preview it by running a simulation while cross-referencing it to the map. Being able to do this has increased my confidence in the GPS, but has not convinced me that I should ever abandon the printed map. The GPS is great for navigating round-a-bouts, which proliferate here, and for time estimates, but if it ever fails, the piece of paper with squiggly lines on it will bring me back to hearth and home.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

I hope the marriage lasts. If not, God help the poor bugger who gets to deliver the divorce papers!

 

OME

 

 

That's a bad diagram, for sure. If you look at it, it seems to have introduced prop wash into the story and labelled it "Thrust". The position that indicates C of G appears to be where the Datum Point for Weight and Balance calculations is likely to be for this make of airplane (at the firewall). Facthunter is correct in saying that in a balanced airplane the CofG is located about 1/4 of the chord from the leading edge, which is where the CofP is located when the airplane is flying straight and level.

 

The Lift Force generated by the tailplane is about zero at straight and level, but when you move the elevator down that flying surface generates Lift which upsets the straight and level equilibrium and pushes the tailplane up (causing the airplane's nose to go down), or if you move the elevator up, the opposite happens.

 

If the CofG is well ahead of the CofP, the airplane will pitch nose down and you will run out of back stick so you can't get the airplane to fly level or climb using elevators only. This means that you would be unable to level out or flare for landing (nose first into the ground).

 

If the CofG mis well behind the CofP, the airplane will pitch nose up, and you will run out of forward stick so you can't get the plane to fly level or descend using elevators only. This means that the airplane will stall. This is the usual cause of stall after take off crashes.

 

OME

 

 

Good question, Solomon.

 

The Centre of Gravity of an airplane is a theoretical point through which the Force of Gravity is said to act. It is taken to be a point for the purposes of calculations. The C of G of an airplane can move fore and aft, side to side and up and down by altering the mass and location of loads.

 

The Centre of Pressure is a theoretical point through which the Force of Lift is said to act. It, too, is taken to be a point for the purposes of calculations. The C of P can move by the change of Angle of Attack and airspeed.

 

The confusion you have is due to the misrepresentation in the diagram you have. What is the horizontal stabiliser at the rear of the airplane doing? It also produces Lift. This Lift counteracts the imbalance between the Force of Gravity, acting through the C of G, and the Lift force acting through the C of G.

 

Ask your instructor what happens when an airplane is incorrectly loaded so that it has an aft C of G.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

Yeah. While I'm all for free speech and a wide range of topics, I can't see how this thread advances us. Why wasn't the question, "Are you a (Muslim/Budhist/Hindu/Liberal/Labor .....?)

 

OME

 

 

Greetings from Heathrow Airport. Arrived here at 5.30 pm Thursday (Sydney time). Not too cold, but cold enough to see your breath. Spent the day in a hotel, but the wife wouldn't let me sleep because she said if I did we wouldn't sleep overnight. Did take a nap and woke up at 4.30 pm, in the darkness.

 

How's this for stupidity? Security at Sydney Airport confiscated a small pair of nail scissors from the wife. Then, as soon as we got on the plane, we were served with drinks in glasses. Haven't QANTAS heard of glassing? I suppose I could have kept the glass until dinner, then broken it my hitting it with one of the metal knives we were given to eat the meal with.

 

OME

 

 

My dad would have liked me to join the Freemasons, but I couldn't ride the goat long enough.

 

OME

 

 

Thanks everyone. We leave Sydney at 5:20 pm on Wednesday aboard an A380. We will spend the first four weeks based near Lincoln, and then move down to the Cotswolds for the next four weeks. Four days in London after that then back on the A380 to be home on Valentine's Day.

 

We might sneek in a trip to the USA to visit relatives in Indiana for a few days. I was hoping to visit the Western Front. I might get the chance to pop into some local airfields. I'm hoping to get some leads on sources of metric hardware.

 

Basically we have nothing planned, except being with relatives for the Holiday Season. We'll go where the whim takes us. We saw enough old churches and historic buildings last time we were there. This time we are going to try to track down some elusive villagers.

 

I'll still be visiting this site and will post stories of my adventures.

 

Happy Christmas to all!

 

OME

 

 

I agree that Reg 35 AEs would have the theoretical knowledge, but they probably don't have the hands-on experience. You really need a practical person whose experience lets them see things that are wrong.

 

OME

 

 

"Certifying" is obviously a word with particular meaning in the context of home builts. I didn't mean it in the sense that a Lycoming engine is a "certified" engine, or a Cessna 172 id a "certified" airplane. I meant it in the sense that someone with a sound airplane design and construction has examined the airplane to ensure that it has been put together in accordance with "best procedure", and that those measurements and calculations ( weighing and C of G envelope) have been carried out. Following these examinations, the person signs a document in which he certifies that the airplane to be registered is as described in the application and is reasonably expected to be airworthy. The document (otherwise known as a certificate) can them be forwarded to RAAus as proof that the airplane satisfies registration requirements.

 

{by the way, aeroplane/airplane. You say tomahto, I say tomayto}

 

OME

 

 

I have been to the crash site with Craig and you can see the landing marks in the grass ,

I bet there are some pretty good skid marks somewhere else.

 

A good outcome.

 

OME

 

 

I will be seeking the best approved person to perform the final for me. Someone who is fussy but also practical & preferably who has previously built an aircraft that has thousands of hours up & he still owns it. Kevin

Well, my boss is fastidious and practical. He has built his own airplane which he still owns. He has licences for wood and fabric, as well as licences for airframe and engines. He has over 40 years' experience as a LAME in General Aviation and runs a CASA licensed workshop. Just for kicks he also is an RAAus L2. Why doesn't he become an L4? Simple answer is that is that the money is not in it for him. Also going out to certify planes takes him away from supervising the AMEs who are doing the regular bread and butter work that keeps the shop afloat.

 

Getting back to my original question - who from RAAus is actually going out and looking at these planes during the certification process?

 

OME

 

 

In another thread, Lofty 1 is asking for information about a Morgan Cheetah that has been grounded by CASA. Morgan Aeroworks has replied to that thread in a way that suggests to me that they are not happy to have their name associated with that particular airplane due to modifications made by the builder.

 

My question is: Just who is certifying RAAus airplanes as being fit for registration and hence fit to be flown?

 

I know that this task is supposed to be undertaken by L4s, but if an airplane has been modified from the original design by persons other than the original designer, how much documentation was provided to RAAus to support the application to register it?

 

The workshop where I work carries out the re-assembly, inspection and preparation of documentation for the issue of Certificates of Airworthiness for airplanes purchased overseas. During the assembly and inspection phase we often find faults with the airplanes that require attention to make the airplane airworthy. After we have done our bit, the airplane still has to be weighed and its equipment recorded to set up its weight and balance chart. Sometimes an Electrical Load Analysis has to be done to make sure the electrical storage and generation system can handle the demands of the electricky things in the airplane.

 

All this work can take a month or more to complete. Then all the documentation is presented to a CASA delegate who pours over it, and if it is all OK, issues a C of A. You can imagine the price charged to do all this paperwork.

 

Who is going around visiting builders to see that either they are following the designer's plans; that any modification from the original plans are engineeringly sound, and that all the things that have to be documented have been documented? After that, who at RAAus Headquarters is examining the documentation and issuing approvals for registration (present CASA induced moratorium excepted)?

 

I'm not looking for a list of names of L4s. I can get that off the RAAus website. What I am interested to know is whether this deep examination of airplanes and documentation is taking place.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

Just a note to let you know that I can't be contacted for the supply of stuff that you might need for your builds until 18th February 2013.

 

I'm going to England to have a white Christmas, and to enjoy a cold winter for a change. I'll still be monitoring this site, so I could still pop up now and again.

 

While I'm away I am going to try to find a supplier for certified metric hardware for all you folks who can't divide by 16.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

I knew you'd be the sort of person who'd say that.

 

OME

 

 

And if you were unkind, you could observe that in the event of a chute not opening, the result may be untidy for a skydiver and a paddock somewhere, but the airfield will not be untidied! dodo

dodo,

 

An unfortunate comment at the moment. You might not have been aware of it, but a skydiver died at the Wilton site on Saturday. He was knocked unconscious in a mid-air collision with another skydiver. His emergency chute opened, but he was still unconscious when he collided with a parked heavy duty dump truck at an adjacent real estate development. No doubt had he been conscious as he approached the ground he could have steered away from the truck.

 

I appreciate that you comment was made in good humour.

 

OME

 

 

The failure of the right hand wing is pretty obvious. That initiates a roll with subsequent loss of lift, and at the height he was above ground, impact was pretty close top instantaneous.

 

The Gee Bee did get a bad reputation due to trial by media, however modern reproductions of this model are said to be quite good fliers - provided the pilot is fully alert. If you look at the take off and climb out, the plane appears to be flying nicely. And don't forget, this was his third attempt at a record, so there were previous flights during which the pilot would have got the feel for the plane. Yes, this plane was an engine with wings, but the Granville brothers did build a number of other planes which, although produced in small numbers due to the Depression, were good performers. Around the time that the Z model was built, the brothers were trying to earn money through air racing as sales of their Sportsters had been knocked on the head by the Depression.

 

A GeeBee built airplane started in the MacRobertson England to Australia Air Race, but withdrew due to engine problems, not airframe problems. That plane was at short odds with the bookies to either win or place in the race.

 

OME

 

 

I just looked at the weather for your part of the world. Have you got skis on your plane?

 

Only 6 days to go before I board an A380 for Heathrow.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

While I can see that some would have the desire to establish another organisation to administer what the RAAus was expected to administer, I'd say that setting up another organisation would be reinventing the wheel.

 

Examined closely, I'd say that the current policies and procedures of the RAAus are suitable for it to carry out the authorities that CASA has given it to deal with the classes of aircraft and pilot competencies that are involved in this end of the aviation spectrum. What appears to stand out like a sore thumb is that the Management of these policies and procedures has been neglected. I'd like to think that the office staff of RAAus are conscientous workers who try to deal with the day-to-day as efficiently as possible. However, there can be a number of reasons why their efficiency could have dropped. Chief amongst these reasons is a failure of upper management to monitor the application of policies and procedures on a regular basis and to act to correct short-comings.

 

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THE CEO HAD THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AUDITED?

 

It's all well and good to have the financials audited to see that money is not being wasted, but the money won't be there to waste if the paperwork is not being done.

 

I'd agree that the RAAus is broken, but I know it can be fixed. Employ a Business Manager who manages the business. Have an elected Board whose task it is to develop policies for the Association itself, and propositions to put to CASA to progress the aims and goals of RAAus (which are what?)

 

Take a look at the Federal Government. No matter which Party is the Government, and which is the Opposition, the Public Service keeps beavering away delivering the services it is authorised to deliver. The elected members of Parliament can play their Power Games as much as they like, but in the end, Public Service still enables the People still get what they need to carry on their day-to-day lives. And the People get to chuck out those elected members who don't perform.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

My last two a/c have had the wings held onto the fuslage by two bolts each. Not much room for redundency- if one breaks there isnt another to take the load like in an airliner.

It's pretty standard to have just two bolts to hold each wing on - Cessna, Pitts (Lower wings). You are going to get other things breaking long before the wing attach bolts will shear.

 

OME

 

 

Steve thinks being president is about being popular not about being good at your job.

Perhaps Steve should study Barack Obama.

 

On a serious note ... I wonder what shareholders in a Public Company would do if its Board of Directors and Chairman acted in this way.

 

OME