old man emu

cows seem to cope with the excitement ok, no damage to the prop?

Not sure about the prop. I'll get the hot gossip tomorrow.

OME

On Saturday morning a Piper LSA operating out of Camden lost its nosewheel on soon after rotating on take off.

The following landing was carried out successfully and no one was injured. The attached photo records part of the action during the landing.

OME

the old pan heads and knuckleheads went out of production many years ago.

OME

Thanks to everyone, will upload some pics as I go.. does anyone have any thoughts regarding the use of the supplied plastic-based locking nuts being used in the engine compartment? I have heard talk of using all metal ones, yet the kit was passed in the UK as supplied (very stringent rules I gather...). Any thoughts?

Old Man Emu

Oops, I guess that's probably not french nail polish then :) Should've gone to Specsavers OME !

OME

I see by the French Tip on the right hand thumb that your good lady had a sit in the right hand seat, and that your son's college fund is now being diverted into your wife's pilot training.

Good on you both!

OME

DM,

I know a bloke who built one some years ago. He's the bloke I got the inventory from.

OME

Yeah. Off the top of my head they are at least 10 thou' and, I think, more.

Those Jab pistons are pretty tight.

OME

Too old at 55? Geez you young blokes are a mob of whingers.

OME

DM,

It's gone to the grat shjredder in the sky, however, I might have a contact who can give me the list. I'll try on Thursday.

OME

If you let us know the make of the tyre, then we can possibly suggest a tube for you. Best places to pick up tyres and tubes are Aviall and Hawker Pacific which are both at Bankstown.

OME

Interesting figure here.

The difference between the piston diameter and cylinder diameter in a Jabiru engine is 0.11 mm or 4/1000". That means that the distance between the piston and cylinder wall at any point is 0.065 mm or 2/1000". That's extremely tight, and if there is any misalignment of the cylinder, you could expect the piston to scrape along the cylinder wall.

OME

We have got our October issue. Yours should come soon.

OME

It does look good. However, I don't think that it would be economically viable for someone to become a supplier as out market is too small, and the competition from Ceconite and Poly-Fiber, the traditional coverings, might beat it. The current importers of covering material are pretty well tied up to US manufacturers.

OME

Actually, the engine involved hasn't been flogged by its pilot. While not being an anal retentive about it, he does make sure that everything that has to be done to it, is done. His flights are usually of long duration (full tank to empty + reserve). Oil changes are done at or before time. He was saying that Jabiru recommend a top overhaul at 1000 hrs, so he is not upset at doing it about 750 hours, considering the speed he racks up the hours.

Compulsion raises a valid point, and one which stops a lot of people taking up recreational flying: we dwell too much on what can go wrong.

Sure we need to know how to make a forced landing, and that low speed, powerless turns are inherently dangerous. BUT once we have trained to handle such situations, the majority of us will not experience them. But try convincing a nervous other half that our planes won't plummet to the ground when all that s/he has heard is that they do.

OME

And that's why you pay the doctor big bucks ...... to ask the right question.

OME

I really like this site and the contributions of the people on it but I am almost at the point of stopping coming here due to the alarmist nature and some of the political B.........T that has invaded this site lately.

I'm basing my posts on day-to-day experiences with this particular product. We have a lot of Jabirus on our books, ranging from the flogged flying school examples to the one owner/pilot weekend flier. When I experience something noteworthy, I'll report it. However there is some commercial politicking involved as we have to have a working business relationship with the manufacturer so we can get parts etc.

It is unfortunate that when we report defects we find to CASA, there is a complete lack of interest. That's because CASA, as the ultimate overseer of aviation, seems to have the attitude that if an airplane is not used by fare paying members of the public, then any service matters are unimportant.

OME

The reason that I haven't said exactly what the news is, is that my Boss has placed an embargo on it until he considers the ramifications. I'd love to torque about it, but if I did, my Boss would have to shoot me.

And when I do post the news, don't think that it's a way for me to drum up sales of the cylinder base bolt wrench that I have advertised elsewhere.

OME

OK! I'll try using sexual connotations.

Fvcken Hell! Have I got some info to pass on to you Jab owners.

(Howzat?)

OME

Scott,

How am I going to get an audience for my pronouncement if I don't tease a bit? I wouldn't stoop to using sex to attract people, or offer outrageous sums of money, so I have to use Suspense.

Just to add some more, we think that an extra bit of work each 25 hours might have an effect on through bolt endurance times ......

OME

Just buy it direct from A/S, reading OMEs post made me weary when I realised how much work he does. Paying someone just to handle a parcel is stupid, I am sure OME has more profitable things to do with his time.

As I said to justify my prices: "I like to think that my customers pay a little bit above the US catalogue price because they are paying for the service I provide in doing their shopping for them. The customer is paying for my knowledge and contacts. I spend a lot of time deciphering exactly what the thingamy-bob is that goes into the whatsit, then trying to source it."

OME

We have a 750 hr 4 cylinder Jabiru in the shop for a top end overhaul. When we pulled the cylinders off because they were wore too far oversize, we noticed something that could modify your serice procedures.

I'm sorry that I can't tell the whole story right now, because my boss wants to confirm his suspicions before letting me go public.

So watch this space. I hope to have something important to tell you before too long.

Old Man Emu

I don't begrudge anyone a fair profit and I realize that sometimes we get caught in a unavoidable 'gouging' situation but the generally ridiculous variance between US and our domestic prices for the same item is very hard to understand and more difficult to accept. cheers

First you have to set up your business. That involves registering the business and setting up a tax account so you can pay GST. Then you have to organise a bank account and get a Visa card and put some money against the card . You also have to set up your office - computer, printer and consumables. This is the very least you have to do. Then you have to decide how much stock you are going to hold, and get a place to store it for easy retrieval. Now you can go but stock.

Unless you can make a large purchase, or can enter into a pricing agreement with the US supplier, you are going to pay the same per unit for 1000 items as you would for 10. Let's say you can arrange a bulk discount of 10% off list price. Now you pay for the goods and shipping by Visa card. Although we are told that the $AU is above parity with the $US, by the time the banks and credit card providers have their bit of the cherry, you are about back to parity. So you don't make anything on the exchange rate. However, when we are below parity, everything goes up.

So now you get the goods to your post office. You may have saved 10% on the purchase price, but you get nothing off the postage. If you are smart, you try to keep your parcel weight to just under 20 lbs so you can use a USPS Flatbox rate of about $US35. Once you unpack the parcel, you have to figure out how to split the postage cost amongst the various items. If you bought a total of 1000 various bolts, nuts and screws, you might add 3.5 cents to each item (3500 cents divided by 1000 items). However, if you had bought a $500 altimeter and 500 nuts, bolts and screws, you would add 7 cents to each item (3500 cents divided by 501 items). So you can see that postage can have a big effect on price.

Next you have to determine what you mark up is going to be, because you have the right to be paid for the work you do, and you need to cover overheads. I can't say how much mark up should be. All I can say is that I try to make sure I am under the big guys' prices, and can show a profit over the CPI. Fortunately, this means that in my case, I don't have to whack on a great deal. Better to make a penny on each item than to make no sale at all.

Once you have set your price, you have to get the sales. You can pay for advertising, or pay for a website, or get know by word of mouth or its digital equivalent. Having got the sale, you have to add 10% for GST and the cost of postage to the customer. If your customers are good to you, they will pay promptly. If not you will have to spend time and money sending out statements, but if you do you can always add a processing fee to cover costs.

So you can see that it is not possible for an Australian retailer to compete with the likes of Spruce and Specialty, or Wicks etc on price alone. I like to think that my customers pay a little bit above the US catalogue price because they are paying for the service I provide in doing their shopping for them. The customer is paying for my knowledge and contacts. I spend a lot of time deciphering exactly what the thingamy-bob is that goes into the whatsit, then trying to source it.

Gouging? I wouldn't call it that. It's bad pricing. I know that one major supplier sells a particular inner tube at twice the price its competitor up the road does. When I tell the supplier the price is out of the park, I usually get told that prices are set at Head Office somewhere in the USA. They lose a sale, but I son't think they miss twenty or thirty dollars.

You also have to know that some parts are very expensive. This specially applies to hydraulic and fuel line fittings. I priced three types of hose fittings recently: a straight fitting, a 45 degree and a 90 degree. The straight fitting was about $10, the other two were $80. The only difference was the bend of the pipe in the assemble.

Old Man Emu

Don't forget to seal the end of the exhaust pipe and the air intake as well as the crankcase breather hole. Simply wrapping a few layers of Glad Wrap will do. This will prevent air moving in and out of the engine as the atmospheric pressure changes as various air masses move across your area.

OME

It's great to see that a number of you have subscribed to LAM. I know that you will get a great deal of benefit from it.

Like all magazines, some months are diamonds, some months are coal. Overall you'll find it's a precious gem.

OME