Old Koreelah

35 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

...I would like a Balance Master but need to understand how it works. My intuition says a liquid will migrate to the outside and make things worse...

Mine too Bruce, much the same as when we add slime (preseal) to our tyres. I always expected the fluid to migrate to the heavier side of the spinning tyre- increasing the imbalance- but the opposite seems to happen.
My BalanceMaster runs pretty smoothly. 
 

On 06/12/2020 at 8:51 AM, rhtrudder said:

wheels up landing...

I too have fitted one so this has my attention. Perhaps you could clarify your experience with it. Did it cop a prop strike?

On 06/12/2020 at 8:51 AM, rhtrudder said:

17 hours ago, spacesailor said:

 " Will switching to MoGas clean up a Jab combustion chamber after it has run for years on AvGas? "

Try a can of decoke that Subaru use to clean inside their heads. 

Thanks Spacey, have already done that once, have a spare can for a repeat dose if needed. 

17 hours ago, spacesailor said:

Convert to LPG, That's known to run very clean, even on dirty diesels, even makes them go super economy.

Excellent suggestion Spacey. I’ll just install the 100kg steel LPG cylinder behind the seat and extend the engine mounts by 150mm to maintain CoG.

Very interesting discussion, but one aspect not covered: 

Will switching to MoGas clean up a Jab combustion chamber after it has run for years on AvGas?

If so, how many hours till it starts to clean up?

Amazing.
I have much sympathy for those traumatized by this crash, but many of us have been thru similar or worse traumas and recovered to lead productive lives.
Do the courts find the Council has no liability for allowing such a dangerous structure to be placed so close to a busy airstrip?

All my engine stumbles and stoppages have been caused by venting issues. Getting the shape and location of the vent correct is crucial to ensuring reliable fuel supply to the engine. Even a minor change in airflow past the vent can make a major difference to air pressure in the tank, dictating whether it flows or not.

9 minutes ago, onetrack said:

...Cattle have been known to seriously damage aircraft with their curiosity. They can chew on panels and fabric, and they will lean on anything in their way, when they put their heads in for a look or a chew...

Good point, 1T. While flying I make a habit of selecting possible landing sites if the noise stop. Cattle in a paddock is a major turn-off. Not the sort of place to leave your pride and joy while you arrange transport.

2 hours ago, turboplanner said:

J170

30 degree turn to base at 45 degrees from start of runway

Power to idle

When below 70 kts 1 stage flaps

maintain 65 kts on base and final, with elevator

land 1/4 down runway without using power.

Take 10kt off those numbers and that’s what I do in my Jodel.

Every landing is a glide approach; haven’t done what’s called a powered approach in yonks, but I must admit to using a trickle of power on the rare occasion my approach gets a bit low. I always close cowl flaps right down to keep a bit of heat in the engine in case I need it.

22 hours ago, Kenlsa said:

...Last couple of times I have done my BFR, I have throttled to 2k for my “engine failure” so as to simulate actual performance.

Interesting approach, Ken. Not familiar with the SP 500; does it have a six or a four cylinder engine?

At 2000 rpm my J2.2 is producing as much power as the old Starke-Stamo engine did flat chat; my little Jodel can actually takeoff and gently climb. In normal flight this airframe seems to roughly match the performance of a J-120.

26 minutes ago, Downunder said:

...If the return needs a vented tank and the receiver tank is not vented then this may not work I guess.....?

I learned the hard way that all tanks need to be vented. 

2 hours ago, RFguy said:

I think augmented reality glasses would be a much better solution here. Project the horizon and a whole bunch of stuff into your field of view  without disturbing the far field view.

 

They work great on the bike. And in underground work , and in a lecture theatre, and and and. 

 

Or, project an image onto the canopy with a Laser vision projector (they don't have lens, direct scanning spot projection )

 

Or , you could just look at your HSI

....or we could just stay out of clouds.

Pretty impressive video production there, Scott. I can’t compete with that, given my  dirty canopy, crappy camera work and a the random bit of stuff in the lens. 
 

Yesterday morning I got an early start to beat the heatwave turbulence.

Up at 5, in the air by 6:30. Where to today? Let’s follow the Mooki River south across the Liverpool Plains, all the way to its source. It might not look like the Amazon, but the Mooki is a proper River and at the moment even has water in it!

  The pointy one I didn’t climb above is East Bluff (4072’)

Then fly west past Pidgeon Box Rock to the headwaters of the Omaleah and trace it down into the Plains. 
Beautiful clear morning, but pretty bumpy near the Range, as mechanical turbulence from the northerly airstream passes over the foothills.

Plane in hangar by 8, wizzed grass along the fence lines, then home by 9, before the heatwave really hits.

3 hours ago, old man emu said:

 

...As for attempts at gliding being "abysmal", that could be due to two factors - the plane isn't a good glider, or the pilot is not experienced enough at gliding.

Both these apply in my case.

3 hours ago, old man emu said:

...Practicing in your usual plane will soon tell you what sort of gliding performance it has - a useful bit of knowledge if ever the engine stops for real...

Good advice for all pilots.

3 hours ago, old man emu said:

 

Interesting topic, OME. There have been threads about whether an idling prop is a reliable indication of glide performance if the noise stops. My own experimental results didn’t agree with conventional wisdom; I just know that my glide rate is about 1:9 and I can get to anywhere under the wingtip- in still winter air.

I’ve met pilots who claim to have cut the engine and thermalled in powered aircraft. They must’ve been good, ‘cos my attempts were abysmal. I won’t be relying on any help from updraughts.

2 minutes ago, Downunder said:

Talking in general terms and not directly about this aircraft or incident.

Single fuel valve, dual tank aircraft have crashed in the past because once air is exposed to the fuel pump it will not "pick-up" from the other (full) tank.

I definately prefer selector valves for each tank.

That’s quite topical, DU. Early this morning I was low on fuel in my left wing tank (burning up the last of the AvGas so I could fill it with MoGas for an experiment). I was keeping an eye on the Mizer, ready to switch over to the other tank. It wasn’t the ideal location for this particular exercise, flying among some rugged peaks with plenty of turbulence.

Long ago while doing something similar I got a scare because it took far too long for the fuel to reach the engine after switching tanks. After that I installed a separate air vent in the small gravity tank downstream of the wing tanks. I now have more confidence in the system.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-28/wwii-pilot-trainers-son-hopes-mackay-tiger-moth-war-planes/12748144

3 hours ago, Blueadventures said:

IF I was trying to get a Light aircraft to a decent height I'd use clouds if they were about. There's still an updraft under them. The cloud base is just the condensation level...

From my limited experience, the base is not flat but convex. From the centre you can see everything clearly- except the horizon.

33 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Those nuts n screws are designed to not come loose and so have a deformed thread to make them hard to move. In the fullness of time, with lots of undoing etc, they will become easier to operate..

The AN4 nutplates I use to secure my wing TE to the fuselage seem to have this sort of deformed thread. 
I asked the supplier how many use cycles before the treads wore out. He said hundreds: they wouldn’t wear out.

I don’t quite believe that.

Ah, those clever British!

3 hours ago, KRviator said:

Makes me wonder if they snagged the glider as U/S for an engineering inspection. They pulled enough G's to lose the camera mount - and I know sometimes it doesn't take much to do that - but the G-meter shows nearly 8G's on the recovery and that looks to be over the redline on the G-meter.

Good point, KR. Perhaps some form of G-meter should be mandatory, especially on aircraft for hire. I suspect that quite a few hard landings and other incidents are not reported; some may cause enough damage to increase risk for subsequent users.

5 hours ago, Wirraway said:

Hoping tokeep my Griso 1100 AND an aircraft. 

What's your Guzzi????

Heavily modified (improved) 1984 Lario 650.
One I can still can pick up up when it falls over.

35 minutes ago, facthunter said:

OK ..You haven't got a pile of dough tied up in your aviation  which fit's the bang for your buck test.

Compared to some, my aviation investment may be modest, but it’s consumed a huge part of my available funds; I had to choose between the plane and keeping my Guzzi registered; the plane is cheaper.

35 minutes ago, facthunter said:

... The newer" Buy and fly stuff' is  not cheap and is now a bigger  % of the fleet. which rules out a lot of people... 

Nobody is forced to buy them; there are lots of decent flying machines on the very inexpensive end of the market.

2 hours ago, NT5224 said:

As I mentioned a while back in a discussion about hangars, we are throwing up an arched shade structure for ours.

 

Alan
 

Alan you have some serious hold-downs there! 

Plenty of positive talk; flying for fun seems to have a secure future.

As one of the lucky ones, I went for my weekly fly this morning. Out of bed at 6, leisurely breakfast, plane out of hangar and airborne by 7:30. This time, forty minutes of flying along some creeks and rocky escarpments frequented by the Old People for ages past.

Then back to airport for our club’s monthly breakfast gathering, which is helping a whole lot of isolated, mostly old rural farts stave off the Black Dog.
Lucky? Yes, enjoying the fruits of all those years of working towards this.

33 minutes ago, lee-wave said:

 

Probably discussed before but what are your thoughts re flring up the motor for ground runs every now and then...? 

As Roscoe says, ground runs might do more damage than good unless you get the oil properly heated. That takes quite a while in cooler weather and you risk overheating the heads. My solution is a few fast taxi runs along the strip, keeping revs down until the engine warms up. The air flow quickly equalizes CHTs and you get some useful low level trading into the bargain.