old man emu

Here is a little extract from my Harley's Operator's Manual dealing with the effects of Winter inactivity on engine oil quality and protective ability. Note the comment relating to the build up of acidic elements in sludgy oil.

I reckon the moral of the story is that if you haven't been doing a lot of flying over Winter, you should change your engine oil before you launch into Spring flying.

Old Man Emu

Going by a lot of the responses to you various questions, I'd suggest that you work hard on developing a relation ship with your L2 or LAME and stick to their advice. They are the ones who have proved by examination that they know what they are talking about.

OME

Well, Bugger me. I answered Eric's question based on the knowledge I gained working in a CASA approved workshop which maintains several Jabirus and other aircraft with Jabiru engines. OH, and I'm the bloke who has to go and buy the boxes of oil from the suppliers. So, based on that, I guess my post is just so much crap. Onya Turboplanner. As a dyed in the wool Jab hater, I guess you know it all.

OME

Run your engine on Shell 15W50. You might think Goulburn is cold in winter, but these temperatures mainly only affect your battery.

OME

When you are doing this check, you are looking for play in the wing mount. Just push the wing up and down to see if there is any play in it. If things are OK, when you push up, the plane should immediately lift on your side.

The covers are usually removed at periodic inspections. If you take them off too often, the screw holes wear and you will have to keep putting in thicker screws because you are ripping out the material the airframe is made from.

Once again, don't worry too much about the nuts coming off the bolts. The bolt is subject to Shear Forces, which want to cut the bolt into pieces across its length. If it was in Tension, it would be clamping the wing root and wing root mounting together, and the forces would act on the nut to try to slip it off the end of the bolt. (Poor explanation, but it is the best I can do at this time of night.) Actually, the nut on these bolts is acting mainly as a stopper to prevent the bolt sliding out of the holes it goes through.

Old Man Emu

Eric,

Check the oil level when the engine is cold, as part of your pre-flight. Fill your engine with oil to the full mark. There is precious little oil in a Jab engine, and all of it is needed to help cool the engine and maintain lubrication. If you overfill the engine, it will get rid of the oil (see your other post). Also in some cases, if you overfill the engine with oil, the oil can get whisked up like milk in a milkshake. It will be full of air bubbles, and since air is compressable, you could observe a drop in oil pressure.

If you have been flying, and the oil is warm, only add oil if you see that the oil level has dropped below "Full".

Just check your operator's manual to see if the dipstick should be screwed in or not when checking the oil. (I forget). Also check the part number of the dipstick to see that it is the correct one for your engine. There are different lengths of dipstick made by Jabiru.

Old Man Emu

Eric,

It's not actually an overflow of oil. It is just the condensed oil from the crankcase vapours. If the bottle is full, it usually means that someone forgot to empty it at previous services. All you have to do is loosen the clamp holding the rubber hose from the container onto the crankcase breather tube. Then dump the oil from the container and rinse the container with petrol. Fit it back on and tighten the clamp.

Don't fret. There is nothing wrong with your engine. However, now you know why the oil level in the engine goes down with use. To keep the underside of your plane free of oil, empty the container regularly and don't let the oil content build up in it.

Old Man Emu

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it roller skate.

I believe the RPL has been approved or near approval, and one only needs a medical from your family doctor. If your fit enough to drive a motor vehicle then you can fly. Steve

I was wondering the same thing myself. I was retired "Medically Unfit" from the Police due to stress. I'm currently on some medication - why I don't know because things have come good in my life and I'm very happy. However when I go for my Class 3 medical, I'll have to say what medications I am on. The Class 3 examination will be done by the doctor who I have been seeing from the beginning. He also put me on blood pressure tablets, but my BP is under control and improving as I lose weight.

It's very common to suffer from anxiety and depression while working in some occupations, but as soon as you leave them, and start doing things you like doing, the symptoms abate. However, you've always got this illness lurking in your past, like an adolescent criminal record.

Unfortunately bureaucrats can't comprehend that people can get well, so put a big cross through applications as soon as they see mental health issues.

OME

What people don't understand is that ABS is not meant to shorten the stopping distance. The aim of ABS is to permit the tyres to develop steering forces by momentarily removing the friction from braking.

TOTAL FRICTION = BRAKING FRICTION + STEERING FRICTION.

Actually, a car with ABS will take a longer distance to stop from the same speed on the same road surface as a car without ABS.

OME

Can anyone put me onto a person who is building, or has, a Spacewalker?

I know about Martin's, so don't mention that one.

Old Man Emu

The thing that will influence my decision whether to go Class 3 or Class 2 will be the relative costs of the examination. I enquired and found that a Class 2 examination will cost about $225, and it's only a matter of making an appointment.

I wonder if my GP will charge for a Long Consultation for a Class 3, and Bulk Bill it. If he doesn't, I reckon the cost will be pretty high, given his predilection for charging above the set rate for normal visits.

As for the restrictions on operations for Class 3, I wonder how many of us would fly regularly with more than one passenger. Grey Nomads of the Air don't bring along the kids, or extra friends very often.

OME

There ain't nothing like a DAME! Nothing in this world.

OME

Strewth! That was quick. I was expecting to wait at least 12 months for this to come into effect.

OME

Damn!

I've just sent a parts and price list for an Affordaplane to my computer's rubbish bin. I hope it is still there!

OME

My congratulations, Crazy. With that display of will power, a bike ride to Brisbane and back will be a cake walk for you. Makes my desired weight loss a mere drop in the bucket, but I guess that reaching one's goal is equally important to everyone, no matter how far away that goal was at the beginning.

OME

Notice that the total braking distance when the ABS is "ON" is longer than the distance when "OFF".

That's a danger to the uninformed.

OME

Crikey!

At 55kg I'd look like a pull-through for a pea rifle!

OME

Not if you bought a brand new one. $500 is the price for a used one.

OME

No! A serviceable US made altimeter with Inst 8 certification will cost you about $500 + GST.

That's a sensitive altimeter 0 - 20000'

OME

Here's a tip that may save you, or someone else down the track, a lot of frustration and time.

We recently had to change the starter motor on a Lycoming engine. Nothing too difficult about that, we do it all the time. However, ......

The starter motor has two steel locator pins that go into holes in the crankcase. These pins stop the motor body rotating out of alignment. Usually, the pins just slide out of the holes when you want to remove the motor from the engine. But one of the pins in this motor decided to slide out of the motor body and remain in the crankcase. That meant we couldn't fit the replacement motor until we removed the pin. As usual, this happened on Friday afternoon and the plane was needed for a lot of flying over the weekend.

It took us nearly two hours to work the pin free. What had happened was that the pin is made of case hardened steel and the crankcase is cast iron. There was a bit of a dissimilar metals reaction that froze the pin in the hole. We had to grind some flats into the pin and twist away with a pair of vice-grips. We finally got the old pin out and fitted the new starter and all was well with the world.

Now. Here's the tip: If you are going to put dissimilar metals together, and they will be a tight fit, apply some anti-seize paste to the thing that is going into the hole.

You are not likely to be changing starter motors very often, but remember this when you are putting the spark plugs into your engine.

Old Man Emu

Bad idea, boys.

Stainless steel is not as strong as plain old chromoly, so you could end up with fatigue failures.

OME

I prefer the re-useable ones. A bit more expensive to start with, but they can be rinsed out in cool water and mild detergent, and they save you the embarrassment of having used under pads in the garbage.

In either case, you must heed the warning not to use them internally.

OME

Bloody Hell! The Carbon Tax starts today, and I've just realised that now they are taxing weight loss.

Up until I decided to lose weight, I was doing my bit for the environment by sequestering carbon as body fat. Now that I am losing weight, I'm releasing that stored carbon into the atmosphere, so I am a Nett Carbon Producer, and will have to pay the Carbon Tax.

This is how I figured out how much tax I have to pay:

The average animal fat molecule has Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen in the ratios of C (75%):Hydrogen (12.5%):Oxygen(12.5%) by weight

That means that for every kilo of fat, there are 750gms of Carbon.

The price of Carbon is $24.00 per tonne, which is 2.3 cents per kg.

Since 1 kg of fat is 75% Carbon, the of Carbon Tax value of a kg of fat is 1.725 cents.

For each 10 kgs of weight I lose, I will owe 17.25 cents, and if I lose the 40 kgs I want to, I've got yo give Julia a $0.69-er.

OME