Old Koreelah

4 minutes ago, kgwilson said:

The engine will have to be hot to get any carb heat use change. I had to go around when an aircraft cut in front of me on base & I instantly went full power but the engine would not develop any extra power & ran rough. Carb heat off & power was instant.

KG where does your carb heat draw its hot air from?

I wrapped my whole muffler but it’s not really hot enough to achieve the rapid temperature rise expected of a proper carb heat setup. Even with a hot engine, it takes about minute for the intake air to rise to 50C, so I’ve got in the habit of opening the CH valve as a precaution well before icing is likely to occur.

I didn’t want to wrap a hot header pipe to supply hot air because most of the time that pipe would have no cooling and thus conduct extreme heat back to the head.

13 hours ago, RFguy said:

OldK - remember wrapping the bores has to be tight otherwise the air wont go in the fins...

Advice appreciated but unneccessary, RF.

As posted: “I’ve also installed close-fitting sheet aluminium ducts around and under the cylinders to direct air thru the fins.”

4 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Nev, you have just shown that Mike Busch was correct in saying that hours are not a good indicator of engine health.

I was sufficiently worried about lead deposits that I have changed to 98 octane mogas too. It is too early but soon I will have a good look with an endoscope to see if the engine is cleaner. There used to be a coating ( about 1mm thick) of whitish lead looking stuff mixed up with carbon, and this coating flaked off and I guess went out the exhaust.

On re-reading the Limbach cooling report, it stated that getting the cooling improved was urgent for mogas operations. The implication was that a mogas engine ran hotter, but I have seen no difference.

Further, I don't see any reason why a mogas engine should run hotter. But those Limbach guys would know more than me I bet.

Kensla, is the new gen 4 on 98 doing well?

 

Bruce I too am joining the ranks of those disenchanted with AvGas, especially its lead deposits. I’ve been filling my left wing tank with ULP 98 and switching over after takeoff. Early days yet, but the few one-hour flights I’ve done have been uneventful, except for surprisingly low fuel burn: consistently 10 lph at 2800rpm/90kias when AvGas showed 10lph @ 2650/85kias.

After all the discussions on this and the Jab/CAMit forum, I’m also in the process of improving cooling with yet another redesign of my ram-air ducts.

I’ve widened them to encase all the barrels, not just the top 1/3. (I could never understand how those thin fins were supposed to cool hot steel cylinders with no air blast.)

I’ve also installed close-fitting sheet aluminium ducts around and under the cylinders to direct air thru the fins. Three short test flights have been disappointing- no major reduction in climb-out CHTs, perhaps because those hot steel barrels are finally getting some of the air.

Obviously their needs to be more “suction” under the engine, so it’s time to remove the biggest air leak of all; the plurry oil cooler, which dumps its air under the engine.

The oil cooler will soon have its own dedicated exit below the belly, with seasonably-adjustable door.

Whatever they do, let’s hope they get it right the first time, allowing everyone to invest for the long term. If I can trust them to not change requirement for a few years I would be happy to make a modest investment in a safe traffic system in the belief that almost all traffic would show up.

The last thing we need is to leave aviation in limbo, like the decade of indecision we’ve seen with the Fed’s energy “no-policy”.

1 hour ago, Bosi72 said:

I think they were very specific. Wherever you see E LL 8500 on any chart, will become E LL 1500. Other E levels remain unchanged.

Does that mean 1500 AGL? Some inland E airspace is over ground higher than 1500.

1 hour ago, kgwilson said:

...Ballina MBZ which has now been extended to 15NM ...

Bugger! After years of research my mate bought a farm just outside that 10nm zone, so that I could land on his paddock. Now it’s inside the 15nm zone.                

4 hours ago, Kyle Communications said:

Most put their transponder antenna under the aircraft...where in my opinion all antennas should be...

 

I know of one which cops a caning from the vegetation on landing.

 

I have a Canadian-built CO monitor built into my panel and, like Skippy’s, it runs continuously. Even so, the 9v battery lasts a few years. This discussion has reminded me that my monitor had a stated life of only 3 years or so, and it’s been beavering away for at least ten. I guess I can afford a new one, but I couldn’t find anything on the RAA site; which section? Any help appreciated.

46 minutes ago, waraton said:

...Emus are a different kettle of fish and at times have suicidal tendencies.

On a ride to Broken Hill I had to keep my head right down on the tank so that I could see which of those drab, brown tumbleweeds had a long neck and bobbing head.

51 minutes ago, old man emu said:

There are two parts to operating any vehicle...

 

The second part is how to operate a vehicle when travelling amongst other vehicle users. This is where one needs to learn to anticipate the expected situations - like traffic light changes or travelling far enough away from the vehicle in front, and also to be able to "read" the actions of other drivers.

Good point, OME. Like many farm kids, I learned to drive at an early age and was pretty much waved thru my driving test. Although quite proficient at controlling the machine, I never was trained to read signs and traffic flow.

For this reason alone, our kids need professional trainers.

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

I'm not trying to stop people pulling caravans Spacey it's just that a few fundamentals should be known by those who do it and how it's hitched and braked. . Nev

Over the years our VRA unit has been called to a couple of caravan crashes.

Big new 4WDs driven by recently retired couples. All their possessions scattered down the highway on the first day of their big trip.

I have a small, very lightweight plastic marine horn fitted under my engine cowl.

It’s wired direct to the battery so it will still work if all else doesn’t. 

Press-button on the throttle so I can operate it with my knee if hands are busy.

It’s a compromise between weight and loudness, but can be heard on the ground 500’ below. I give it a honk just before calling “clear prop” and hope it would alert wildlife, people and livestock to my silent approach if the engine quits.

3 hours ago, Garfly said:

Lucky we still have:

 

 

Wow, it’s great that someone has put Prof JSM’s shows out there; I guess those two young blokes are now old farts like us, perhaps lurking on forums like this!

10 hours ago, facthunter said:

... I think Bill Whitney had a big hand in it's construction. He designed the Whitney Boomerang. Nev

Bill gave me lots of help with a project. He described how moving the CoG of this replica (or was it the Vimy?) forward 100mm made it much nicer to fly than the original.

Agreed, 1T. That’s why all my BFRs have been with different instructors and aircraft. I have enjoyed the variety, but none of them identified any bad habits; either my piloting is okey or they were all pretty tolerant. 

I suspect the latter.

On 15/01/2021 at 9:08 AM, jackc said:

Shame car drivers don’t have BFRs 🙂.  Results on your licence record!

Years ago, while running our library, one of the the most popular study resources was the Motor Traffic Handbook. 

All the 16-year-olds were studying for their learner’s permit test. After most failed their first attempt at the knowledge test, the kids challenged me to do the test.

Despite fifty years safe driving, I failed as well!

4 minutes ago, old man emu said:

After WWII there were lots of these new runways all over the place; commercial aircraft had become bigger, and those original all-over fields had had runways installed.

Is this a major factor in the expansion of fin/rudder area? 

Compare the small tails on early wartime fighters with modern planes, which are more likely to land in crosswinds.

5 hours ago, old man emu said:

Who ordered pilots to fly circuits with strict 90 degree turns?

Good point, OME. I know the reasons for them but I also know new pilots who seem to have been taught to overemphasize the squareness of their turns at the risk of ignoring other, more crucial aspects of their flying.

If beats me why the Southern Cross, arguably Australia’s most famous aircraft, is locked away in a glass case far from view. 
It should be an unmissable display at the centre of Brisbane Airport.

1 hour ago, pmccarthy said:

Instead of internal fins there could be convoluted shapes in the casting to (say) double the internal surface area of the sump. Just a ripple would do. But more weight. Another trade off.

As my engine approaches half it’s TBO, it might be prudent to plan for the big dismantle job.

If the sump can be removed, why not install/weld in a set of fine, deep fins both inside and out, to increase heat transfer? Very little extra weight.
If we do our sums right, we might be able to remove all that external plumbing,.

I can’t find it now, but years ago in discussing oil cooling on the Jab engine, someone said the original oil sump had the cooling fins on the wrong side; they should have been inside,

The idea being that would provide sufficient surface area inside the oil reservoir for heat exchange with the outside air.

It makes sense to me that deep fins both inside and outside the front (and perhaps also the bottom) of the sump would provide similar surface area to the external oil cooler and eliminate quite a bit of complexity. 
 

No more oil lines to check for leaks, a bit of weight saved.

The original engine was elegantly simple, so perhaps, with a redesign of the sump, we could go back there.

My Fuel Mixer gives off some pretty unmissable beeps as soon as it is down to 8 litres.

19 hours ago, Tigershark21 said:

Brigadier Gen. Yeager,

You lived and experienced a truly amazing age of aviation.

Many years ago you wished me luck! Science, math and physics aside, most of us are slightly superstitious... checklists checklists and re-check.. but sometimes a bit of luck also goes a long way. 

Gone but not forgotten.

That goes straight to the Pool Room!

2 minutes ago, facthunter said:

High wing loading just means you have to fly faster. (Design wise)...

Yes, but the the weight and wing area figures would seem to dictate a higher stall speed than the 43 and 47kt quoted.

On 30/12/2020 at 11:11 AM, spacesailor said:

We could club together and put a fiver bid in for Merredin airport !.. LoL

spacesailor

RAAus has a few bob put aside and various people have suggested it set up a fully-owned “home base” for Rec flying.

If it was closer the population CoG of Oz it would be ideal.