Phil Perry

Has anyone performed a 360degree turn and run into their own wake? It is very surprising how much effect it has.

Phil

You been watching Air Crash Investigation Phil, that episode aired over here this week on one of our many secondary repeart channels.

Phil

Hmmm - yet another Cirrus comes down under canopy. They spent so much time, money and energy convincing people that these planes don't bite that folks have taken it quite literally and these 'crash-proof' planes are rapidly getting the statistics that indicate they're more prone to incidents than other types.Unfortunately their 'stallproof' claims are probably the reason people have flown them in fatal 'low and slow and tight' maneouvres, and have frequently shown that they do bite, often in the circuit. Not only that but the BRS seems to be becoming an increasingly good excuse for some people to push on into bad weather or over tiger country, when they most likely wouldn't do so in a non-BRS equipped plane. The chilling aspect that's causing upset among flyers in USA at present is that the 'saved lives' are likely to become the Regulators' excuse for making BRS compulsory, in case they be accused of not correctly managing the 'safety' aspect of aviation. There's also considerable anecdotal evidence floating around that the BRS manufacturers themselves have been putting up a powerful and convincing lobby to the FAA.

 

In terms of this incident, I wonder what's with the bent prop tips? Looks like a pretty serious prop strike rather than just an idling engine. So was the engine running under canopy? It looks more likely he had a prop-strike on take-off or landing and did a go-around, and thought better of continuing when the vibrations got bad. It'll be interesting if we ever get an explanation.

Hi Alan,. . .

Because it wasn't a fatal, it will probably pop up in the AAIB crash comic with a "One Paragraph" report fairly quickly. I saw this one in the newspapers but have not really looked into what actually happened. Shame,. . .nice aeroplane.

Phil

IFR seems to be the easy way to navigate. No, not the usual IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), but the easier one:I Follow Roads

I Follow Railwaylines

 

I Follow Rivers

 

Good luck with the flying.

I'm a POM still in Pommyland, although I HAVE served some lovely years flying in "OZ" I KNOW you'll enjoy it.

I like the "I follow Railways bit too Joey,. . .I once followed one somewhere in France,. . . .but TWO tracks came out of the hillside, going in different directions. . . and I followed the wrong one ( Naturally. . .) or is it Naturellement ? dunno. If you have to get lost though, France is a nice place to do it as they all seem to LOVE things that fly ( including things with Pommie drivers ) Probably just as good in W.A., but I didn't do much over there, was based first in Melbourne, then Brisbane. . .

Phil

Possibly the kind of design anomaly which readily attracts errors when ground crew fasten things on an aircraft where the fastening is a little. . . "odd" or awkward, . . rather like the old problem with the baggage doors on the old DC10 aircraft, which had a rather poorly designed door locking mechanism which, if not locked correctly after loading baggage, COULD open in flight causing a sudden decompression of the atmosphere in the hold, which actually led to a couple of horrendous accidents where the cabin floor deformed downwards, thereby deforming, or fracturing the flight controls to the tail surfaces,. . .plenty of stories available about those incidents.

The scuttlebut over here in the UK is that the cowlings are not fit for purpose, and they (probably ) won't be redesigned until there is a major fatality or two,. . .( Not my words ) which was exactly the situation with the DC10 stories, . . .too much cost and bother to alter a design,. . .let's save money. ( again. . .not my words. . .)

Then there was the "C" lock on the forward baggage door of some Boeing 747 types, which had no electrical isolation during flight mode, and if one of the toilets overflowed, ( or whatever the daft reason was,. . .and it WAS daft. . .) this could cause a short circuit which actuated the "C" lock motor and opened the door, on one occasion causing a cabin floor collapse and a couple of rows of seats containing several passengers to be sucked outside the aeroplane and through the engine. . . . it's possibly ( POSSIBLY ?) a similar story. . . the "cost versus safety" equation. . . . ?

Fly safe . . . . ( check the cargo doors and engine cowlings before you get on . . )

Phil

Damn......."they" used to say it was the Chinese that were inscrutable!!............Oh! then there was Vietnam!

Hmmm, Yes, . . .a lot of people got "SCRUTED" in Vietnam. . . . .

I just did the bungees on my Auster because it was sitting a bit like that on one side. Certainly put the bounce back into the old girl!Kaz

Hi Colin, and welcome as well.

Sorry to hear that the local flyers are a bit, er,. . . not forthcoming with obvious social interfacement,. . . I find that hard to understand, as we're all into flying anyway. . . ? weird that. . . Welcome anyway, you won't get any problems on this forum, most of the blokes and blokettes on here are really close to human I've found. . . . . ( ! )

Phil

Sagging a bit from the full tanks and 1/2 dozen Gerry cans.......LOL:laugh:

Phil

Fair enough. If you say its wake turbulence then I wont argue. Im probably one of the for mentioned fixed wing pilots that dont take trike wake turbulence seriously, although I do take the regulations on flying in close proximity to other aircraft, approaching the runway when its occupied by a proceeding aircraft, and general common sense really, so Ive never landed up the butt of any type of aircraft so im going to have to take your word for it. We are all aware of the rules regarding landing on an occupied runway aren't we?

Maybe we should rename the turbulence effect describede here as "THRUST TURBULENCE" . . . ? I've seen this effect many times with aircraft carrying out a "Follow - on" take off, especially in low or nil wind conditions, without wating a short while for the rotary effect to disperse and lose energy and it can be qhite violent. Some time ago, carrying a cameraman for BBC local, I followed a trike on takeoff froma position echelon right, and we were supposed to film the takeoff for a local documantary programme. All was well until the target airvcraft turned gently left to follow the circuit, and as I followed him, still slighly behind and on his right side, I suddenly lost control authority of my aeroplane ( Also a trike ) which rolled violently to almost a 90 degree bank to the right. . . . and this happened very quickly indeed. I had obviously flown into the raw rotary disturbance from the other aircraft, as it pulled away from me, being" inside" of the formation turn so to speak. . ., causing me to turn more tightly to keep up even though there was no appreciable surface wind at the site that day.

You are right of course with your comment about general "Wake" turbulence, which is created by the displacement and disturbance caused by a whole airframe, whilst it is in the process of producing lift and thrust, the bigger the airframe, well. . . the bigger the disturbance . . . ( I wonder if it's linear or logarithmic ?? I ought to know that, probably forgotten now ! well.. . .no matter here. . .) but the "FLYING CLOSE BEHIND A TRIKE ON THE POWER" effect is darned lethal mate. I would imagine that, perhaps to a slightly lesser effect that if you did the same behind a "Pusher" configuration machine of any type, that a similar situation could arise. Phil

In the air and cruising on auto-pilot. Flight Crew don't have much to do except keep a wary eye open for some-thing interesting( other planes....fool!)

If I were assigned a safe level to fly, from Oceanic control,. . . . . I SHOULD NOT have to look for other aircraft ( ! ) and even if I did, how much reaction time would I have to react to a possible collision travelling at 540 odd knots if there was another aerial appliance inadvertantly placed upon at the same assigned level on a reciprocal heading ( calculators out. . . .) even on a night leg,. . . . I wonder if I'd see the wingtip lights coming at me at a closing velocity of around 1,080 Kt, and have time to do something about it. . . . THANK ALLAH FOR TCAS I say ( Or is it CASA I should be thanking. . . .). . . . . ( I just LURVE new technology don't you ?? )

I'm very pleased that I don't have to worry about such things any more,. . . . . all the new pilots have the technowizardry nowadays . . . ( sigh . . .) Won't be long B4 it's all autobloodymatic matey. . . . . . And then all us HOBBY pilots will be regarded in the same vein as train spotters, and those strange people people who go to closed down airfields and RAAF displays to collect registration numbers and chat about how good it used to be in the Old Days. . . . . .

Phil ( ! )

Spilling coffee is more dangerous. Nev

I was having a bit of kip in my seat, when I was rudely awakened by the stewardess, (who, incidentally looked a bit like Ernest Borgnine,. . . .) spilling part of the contents of a kettle of boiling water over my shoulder as she struggled up the aisle stepping over goats and dogs, plus baggage left in the aisle,. . . and tripped.

Not the most comfortable flight I've ever had. . . . and I wouldn't reccommend the airline either. . . . as, when we disembarked after what was possibly the worst landing I've ever experienced as a passenger in a commercial aeroplane,. . . It bounced three times,. . . . I mean REALLY" BACK SHATTERING" BOUNCES. . . rather heavily in my view. . . .( having SOME experience flying similar sized types. . .) I saw that the Pilot, or perhaps his Co-pilot, ?? had his entire family in the cockpit with him, . . . ( I'm being really serious here. . .) there was Mum, and four small kids in there, with Two crew and a flight engineer as well,. . . I saw all this as I exited thru the front door. . . . Have you ever been in a 727 front office ?? it really isn't very voluminous. . . .

This was in 1989,. . . . I hope that nice Mr. Putin has put an end to all that nonsense now. . . .? Oh,. . . Hang on,. . . .That part of the world has left the Russian Federation,. . . . so maybe not. . . . and from what I have gathered from the "Aircrash Investigation" documentaries on SKy TV,. . . .they recently lost their President, in a total loss crash, using a similar aircraft, where the investigators have alluded to the possiblitly that there was "Political Interference" with the pilot's wishes, ie,. . . undue pressure upon the commander to continue his attempts to land where the destination airport was well below IFR minimums . . . . resulting in no survivors, and a general election. . . . .

Phil

Here there would usually be someone on the Committee familiar with risk management, who would assess that dogs and children under the age of 7 (who are legally non-cognisant) would be the biggest risk, so would probably specify a swimming pool fence. These are now mass produced, are about 1700 mm high with flat steel top and bottom and vertical tubes close enough that an infant can't fit through. Gates have a concealed pull latch that only adults can reach, and they are usually powder coated, so tyhey are attractive, cheap, and the black ones blend in with the surrounds quite well.Having said that:

 

(a) I think there's a fence nearly identical to yours, and just as ineffective very close to home

 

(b) Following 9/11 the Australia security reaction was wildly inaccurate and we have quite a few two metre high chain mesh fences stretching a few hundred metres each side of the country terminal, then ending. Please don't tell any terrorists that they can walk around the ends.

As you can see from the pic, that fence is simply not fit for purpose and is merely decorative, so it will have to be replaced as soon as possible. The signs, along with the "Stop engine if you see a loose dog / child rule" are going to be a short term stopgap measure only AND. . . .we can't fence the ENTIRE site, as this would create an obstacle for an over-running landing aircraft. . . so you can also walk around the "Ends"

Phil

I didn't know,. . . . because nobody told me,. . . .that we had a Health And Safety Inspection at our airfield during last week,. . . ( I was away ) and the people came up with a suggestion that we make some MORE warning signs to ( Hopefully ) ensure that parents keep control over their small children at all times. . .( Yes, I know,. . .I've mentioned this before,. . . ) A board meeting decided that we had to act, since the outgong management had removed all of our safe fencing because it wasn not "Pretty" ie, it was made from standard steel scaffolding tubes, erected at a height above ground of four feet six inches. . .( What's that in French measurements,. . .er,. . . 1370 mil 'Ish ) and covered with strong chicken wire.

The Old management decided that this looked a little too "Parochial" and replaced it with the plastic crap you see in the attached pic.

The only problem with the fancy white uPVC stuff, is that if you lean on it, it bends, and it doesn't prevent a dog,. . .or small child from climbing under or through it, and the Gaps left, are only covered by a piece of chain, hooked at one end.. . . this does NOT prevent unauthorised access to the airside reservation by kids and pets.

The outgoing management were not what I would call "Flying" orientated people, they made microlight flying suits and kneeboards etc,. . . and had NO experience of running an airfield at all.

You TRY to advise,. . . . but I got a flea in my ear and was told basically to stick my head up a dead bear's bum. . . .

Well,. . .we are stuck with this fencing, and if we wanted to extend it, each vertical pole ( 120mm square uPVC )costs £37,50 pUS 20% vat. I don't want to Know what the 2 metre cross planks cost. . . .

Doncha just LURVE 'Elf 'N' Safety ? ? ?

Cargo flying, mmmmm (said in Homeresque voice)!

Phil

I dunno... seems pretty clear who has the better system from what you've posted there.Idaho farmer, has a strip, people visit, visitors responsibility (if there are no charges-free) OR

Stupid Australians, makes strip, has to idiot proof it, so clowns don't hurt themselves, and still risks losing everything.

 

As far as proving negligence, I have seen cases where ambulance chasing lawyers get involved, and the threat is always there that "if you don't settle now, we'll take it to court, and then you'll be up for costs if you lose", so people tend to settle if possible, even if they are in no way guilty, so they don't end up out of pocket for massive court expenses. Money obtained with no negligence ever proven.

 

What sort of common sense legal system awards a man damages because he injured his foot whilst on a fishing boat, because a wave made the deck move unexpectedly? (an acquaintance of mine). The same person also has his own boat and takes others fishing.

M6. . . . . I'm not certain here,. . . . but I could have sworn you said "COMMONSENSE LEGAL SYSTEM" . . . . . . .WOT'S DAT ?

Phil

So you're at a BBQ, knocking back a few stubbies and towards sundown someone suggests you should go up for a fly. It's 30 minutes before last light and you're 25 minutes from the airport, but you decide to take a carload out, and your best friend decides to go up with you. You know you can't make the flight before last light, maybe not even the take off but you can see the sun on the hills and off you go.In the ensuing loss of control and crash, your best mate becomes a quadriplegic, so now will need major modifications to his house, a full time nurse, and an income to support his wife and children for the years he would normally expect to have dependants.

 

Who should pay?

What annoys me somewhat is that, a long time ago, we had not two, but THREE solicitors in our club, who gave us all some very VERY useful information from which we then constructed the guidelines and operator statement under which our Club run airfield operated, and still does. They suggested that,. . .If our runways were X metres in length,. . .then we should advertise that they were in fact, only 3/4 X in length, thereby placing more responsibility upon a Pilot in Command, who SHOULD be conversant with the operating limits of his aeroplane. This way, if someone over ran a strip and ended up in a ditch,. . . with no ATC, the responsibility for this rested firmly with the pilot of that particular aircraft,. . . and no one else. We do, quite often have visiting pilots tell us that they looked at our site on GOOGLE EARTH and measured the strips at quite a bit more length than was published in all the National airfield directories. . . . .

We have tried to make our site as safe as possible, within the obvious financial constraints of a Flying Club, which uses voluntary radio and safety operators. . .by providing up to date fire extinguisher systems, regularly serviced and logged,. . . plus regular training sessions for use of same. . . more warning and safety signs than you could poke a stick at. . . and a Quasi-professional Air Ground radio information service which has a reputation of being second to none, and STILL. . . .we have had aircraft which have over-run runways and ended up in Farmer Fred's field next door as they were patently aircraft types in which the pilot in command should never have even attempted a landing in. . . . and were given NO prior permission to land, on radio nor by telephone call. Fortunately, ( Touch Wood ) we have not, to date, had anyone try to take us into litigation for any damage caused by their own stupidity, and we publish that all aircraft visiting require Public Liability insurance cover of £500,000. This bit isn't policed yet,. . .as it is against a persons' Human Rights in the UK to ask to see private insurance documents when visiting an airfield ! ! ! To be fair, we don't even know if visitors have even got a Pilot Licence ( or a current one at least. . . ) and are only alerted if somebody does something really silly, or sounds somewhat incompetent on an approaching radio call . . . . .

On the "Damaging your mate and making him a paraplegic" front, we had one of those accidents about eight years ago, where a flexwing ( Trike ) pilot landed too fast and long, hit a fence at the end and died as a result of his throat being slashed by the "A" frame to wing undersurface flying wires, and died from his injuries. . . as the weight of his passenger, during the rapid inertial decelleration forced his body forward and sideways over the flying wires. The passenger broke his spine in the accident, and became paraplegic as a result. This bloke was, at the time, a trainee lawyer. The pilot who died in the accident, lived alone in rented accommodation, and had no assets to speak of, other than a small car and the trashed aeroplane.

I wonder, what sort of money that young lawyer could have made, had he become qualified, and joined a good practice ? Maybe he DID from his wheelchair ? ? ? I don't know. . . The pilot did not have any passenger insurance, although this is now absolutely mandatory in the UK, and is attached to the aircraft registration at CAA headquarters,. ie, no insurance ? AIRCRAFT GROUNDED. ALSO. . . . Weightshift ( Trike ) manufacturers came up with a good FIX for this problem, ie, they designed a very simple harness, which has a loop which is is slid down the monopole ( MAST in OZ ) through which the passenger must then pass his arms, producing a shoulder harness thereby making it impossible for his body to be projected forward and into the front crew operator in the event of a sudden high "G" deceleration. The harness does not prevent the rear seat passenger from operating extension, or training bars either.

Sorry to go into so much detail, but the PASSENGER INSURANCE bit is now so really important, and I wouldn't dream of flying without it. You can get £2 Million now for quite a reasonable premium.

With one of my jobs being a supplier / manufacturer of industrial safety signage and accessories,. . I regularly have to attend building sites, and in ALL cases, I have to attend their " Induction" course, which describes all of the obvious or perceived health and safety issues which that site may present a visitor with. . . even though I've got a ticket, and all the safety gear, hard hats, reflective waistcoats etc...etc. . . .etc. . . it DOES get to be a bit of a bind sometimes and wastes a lot of my time, BUT every company is now SO TERRIFIED of legal action that this is now the norm, and it seems to get more stringent by the month. ( And YES . . .I even supply the current laminated 'Elf 'N' Safety" posters too ! ! ! ! ) Well. . . .If yer can't beat 'em,. . . . . .Join Em.

Phil

Wasn't there a case some 10 years ago or so, where they've arrested some guy in Austria at an airfield when he was about to go for another flight but someone has asked him about his license and he was surprised that you even need one (all his training was on a simulator).Also:

 

I loved the superimposed text in the video where the "PILOT" muttered . . ."WHERES THE FLAPS. . .?" followed by "silence" from the instructor. . .! ! ! CLUE. . . it's that little ivory coloured flat control sticking out of the lower panel which looks for all the world like a little . . . F L A P ! . . . They probably have not got one of these on the various sim panels. . . . ! but although they start life as white plastic,. . . after a few thousand hours of fag smoking crew members,. . .they go ivory coloured ( ! )

I've even flown appliances which have sticky out panel bits which look a bit like a W H E E L as well,. . . . . does the team think that these things are "Aides Memoire" for partially sighted pilots OR. . . . just a bit of humour from the designers of the aircraft I wonder ?? ! ! as the last spitfire I flew had a button in the middle of the stick ring which was definitely NOT shaped like a .303 machine gun. . . . Maybe the lads in the Battle of Britain were just TOLD that this actually caused eight forward facing firearms to make a bit of noise for about thirty seconds or so. . . . ?

Good post anyway Zibi, Thanks.

Phil

Hey Phil! thanks for all the posts, sorry I'm replying just now, that's because usually I'm away from the computer at weekends.First, let me tell you that I got the typo, 20-something degrees C for the engine would be just too cold. :)

 

I'm having between 55 to 65 degrees C, I think that I should be getting at least 70 don't you think? Many on my airclub put some kind of paper of plastic to partially block the radiator. I think this is an awful solution and would like to know why I should be doing it if I don't live in a cold weather region.

 

The oil I've been using is ESSO Aquaglide outboard oil, because almost all pilots on my airclub use it (including the flying school). As I've said, many decisions I make are because someone with more exprience in the field has told me. This Aquaglide oil has been discontinued and now they have changed to some nationally produced oil that I'm not aware of its features, and I have a bottle or 2 of Aquaglide left.

 

I've been adviced on another thread to change to Castrol 2T red bottle, and luckily it seems to be available on my country.

 

About the plugs gapping: The 532 manual says that it should be 0.50mm (0.02 in), is that the maximum or the ideal value?

 

About RPMs: Until recently I've installed a faulty RPM gauge (it readings were higher than the true values), so I installed a new one and my only tests for the moment were on the ground: I got 6400rpm on full throttle. The manual says that the maximum recommended is 6800rpm (the same as the 582, am I right?) and I suppose that this kind of revs are to be used on full throttle on take offs only, is that a mistake? Why the 532 don't warn about not using the engine above 6350 RPM?

 

As far as I know, the prop pitch should be set testing the full throttle RPM: I have to get close to (but no more than) 6800rpm on the air, so maybe on the ground I should aim for 6600rpm at full throttle. This could explain why I'm getting low EGTs on cruise (no more than 1000F on one cylinder, and 950F on the other): I've read that if the prop has too much pitch, it will impose in the engine a higher load and this higher load produce lower EGTs (and higher CHTs, but those I cannot measure because I don't have the instrument), is this incorrect?

 

About the prop balance: I haven't detected vibrations but I'll take your advice if I change its pitch as both blades are indepent of each other.

 

About the plugs and carb setting: I'm getting somewhat black plugs but the carbs have the correct jets and needle as the manual describe, maybe the blackness on them are because I wasn't pre-gapping (newbie mistake, nobody told me and I didn't look at the manual... OUCH!) them until now?

 

About ethanol on fuel: In Argentina there's a law that says that the gas suppliers must add at least 5% of alcohol. I've checked this on the Argentinian's Shell website and there it says that their gas have between 5% and 10% of ethanol. I'm aware of the effects of ethanol on plastic fuel lines and tanks, my ultralight has a steel tank so I'm safe on that side.

 

Well, the message got a bit lengthy, thanks for you time and help :)

 

Best regards,

 

Lucas.

I'll try to address your questions sequentially. AND. . .I'm glad you were perceptive enough to notice my typo regarding the temperatures . . .! 1) Coolant Temperature. All engines love heat. . . they like to be run at the right nominal operating temps otherwise something will not work correctly, and you are right, . . . the temperatures you have quoted are TOO LOW. 55-65 degC is really NOT warm enough, and I can only assume that either your radiator is too large for the engine installation, and therefore will overcool the engine system,. . in which case you really WILL have to partially "BAFFLE" part of the radiator facing the airflow so that the coolant temperature rises to a more sensible figure. Operating at too low a coolant temp will not do the engine any good over time.Experiment with a small piece of thin plastic and partially cover the radiator core, then fly and check the results, adjusting as neccessary.

2) I have NO EXPERIENCE AT ALL with either Aquaglide nor Castrol 2T red,. . . just bear in mind what Neville ( Facthunter ) said regarding the fact that some oils can actually reduce the octane rating of the fuel you are using.

3) Plug gapping. . . the setting you have quoted is right in the middle of where it should be, BUT . . . . remember the ideal terminal colour,. mid brown NOT BLACK !!

4) The Rotax factory obviously want you to replace your engine as often as possible, and MY experience, backed up by my friend Ronnie Rotax ( Ron Bates Rotax, Stoke on Trent. . . who has just retired after some 30 years repairing and servicing these engines, IS that a manual reccommendation of 6800 RPM on a 532 is EXTREMELY OPTIMISTIC . . .and likely to cause the reduction in engine operating life and other problems I've already mentioned., Mainly due to the fact that, if you run an engine at extreme RPM, then other factors will determine the outcome,. . ie, if the mixture is not quite right, or one day you hve to use oil that isn't bang on correct,. . .you are running at the Extreme edge of the operating linits, and, unless everything else is absolutely OPTIMUM,. . . it will not take much to spoil your day. So give the engine a little leeway and operate it GENTLY.

5) Ron and I agree that your STATIC RPM, ie, that setting derived in a GROUND RUNNING TEST should not exceed around 6,150-6,200 RPM, you will never achieve full rpm in a static test anyway,. . ., but this should produce 6350 in the air. . . .if it does not,. . .then adjust the prop accordingly for a slightly FINER pitch angle setting. ok, ok, if this produces 6410 RPM, then THAT WILL DO ! ! ! ! HOWEVER. . . If you feel that you are simply NOT getting sufficient thrust from the propeller at these settings then it is possible that the size of the propeller is too small in diameter, or it has insuffficient overall "Twist / horizontal push or lift""It's only a couple of aerofoils after all. . . . to produce the required rpm at a given power setting. Thus far, you have not mentioned what the propeller specifications are, . . . and I am unfamiliar with the aircraft type / weight.

PLEASE don't confuse propeller BALANCE with TRACKING, as these are different issues. The popeller blade pitch angle is simply derived from an angle gauge. Whereas the BALANCE must be found by removing the prop, and sliding a Balance tool into the propeller boss ( the hole in it ! ) which consists of a tube closed at one end, this tube has a ridge on the bottom end rather like the rim on a shotgun cartridge. with a central hole, into which is passed a piece of cord or string, knotted at the bottom . It does not matter which way up you "Hang" the propeller itself, but the tube string must be at the bottom of the prop boss, so that you can see any imbalance where the string / cord exits the upper, or open end of the tube.

The propeller is then lifted off the floor or bench with the string and it is immediately obvious if the blades are not of equal mass, as the prop will tilt one way or the other, shown by the fact that the string / cord is not central in the tube. If you have a timber bladed Prop, then it is easy to correct a slight out of balance situation by spraying ( or brushing ) some clear varnish onto the lighter blade,. . . if however you are using a Composite, " Plastic" prop, then you may have to add a different amount of leading edge propeller tape to one of the blades to correct the imbalance. ( Or saw off a couple of mil with a hacksaw ! ! ! ! ! )

6) Ethanol / Alcohol additives to point of sale gas station fuel.

In the USA, they ALSO have Strict rules regarding ethanol additive percentage as well,. . . .don't believe it,. . . . look at the youtube vid I mentioned before, and you will see that in US service staitons, some oil companies /fuel distribution centres are not playing by the rules, and are adding a lot more ethanol than the current law stipulates. This can only mean that they possibly either, save money, or, don't really give a damn, as modern car engines can handle excess ethanol without difficulties, whereas a lot of older technology garden / industrial / generator / boat and even AIRCRAFT engines and fuel systems perhaps cannot.

You have mentioned that your fuel tank is stainless steel, This is good,. . . but be very sure about your fuel lines and filters . . . .It all boils down to a little care and commonsense.

Fly safely ( Please. . . ) I didn't,. . . I was just very lucky. . . . .

Phil

Lucas. . . .

Oh BOLKOES. . . . . . SORRY ! I typed degrees "F" for Fahrenheit when discussing the coolant temperature, I HOPE you noticed that this is an obvious typo. . . ! This should of course have read DEGREES CENTIGRADE . . . not to be confused with Degrees F for EGT. . . . sometimes I confuse myself !

It was a SMALL amount of confusion which caused the British Mars Lander project to burn up in the Martian atmosphere a few years ago, when the technicians mixed up FEET per second with METRES per second velocity into the atmosphere. . . . so it got possibly THREE TIMES hotter than it should have done , unless speed versus friction is also LOGARITHMIC, rather than linear,. . . which means it would have been heated to many times more than it's design heatshield would survive. . . . . . ! ! ! ( I think I'll leave the mathematics to one of the Australian arithmetic technicians to work THAT one out. . . ) Although I'll bet it was a very pretty pyrotechnics display in the sky for the Martians though. . . .

Phil

Control feel is not difficult to simulate. The accelerations that parts of the body feel in flight are hard to replicate. The bodies senses don't notice a slow change, and will interpret the stopping of a particular motion as doing that motion in the other direction. Eyesight is a very primary and powerful input. In the absence of visual cues the bodies sensory "aids" often mislead us into feeling that we are doing something we are not .Nev

A guy I taught to fly many years ago is now an Airbus A320 captain, ( following his airline company selling off all their DC10s ) and tells me that things on the "Fly by wire" passenger appliances are now completely different, there is NO manual control at all apparently ( I dunno I've never flown an Airbus ) all the pilot has is SIMULATED manual control, to make him feel he is actually doing something, even to the point, . . .and Howard may be able to comment on this one,. . .that where us small aircraft pilots would apply pitch up to flare for landing, . . . the Airbus control software will actually pitch down slightly, requiring the pilot to apply a "Pitch Up" input to counteract this. . . . If he doesn't,. . . then the system will immediately step in and do the job automatically. The only thing they DON'T do automatically is keep the darned thing straight on the runway,. . . PILOTS have to do this with feet / Tiller controls. That is, until DGPS improves somewhat OR buried sensors in the tarmac take over, talk to the aircraft computers and remove that problem as well ! ! ! ( He didn't say how well the software copes with ridiculously strong approach crosswinds. . . . A La Youtube " Interesting Landings" . . . . )

I'm sure that a fully automated airliner isn't that far away . . . . whether a "Safety Pilot" would be employed for the first few flights to allay passenger fears is a moot point. . . . I'm certain that it WILL happen somewhere not far down the line, and then. . . we won't NEED PILOTS . . . .NOR flying Instructors any more,. . . and they'll all have to start getting jobs fitting swimming pools ( or heating- - -in the UK ! ! ! ! ) Any problems would be sorted by a pilot on the ground several thousand miles distant, just like the UAV system. . . .

Of course,. . . there may just be a few blokes still around flying toy aeroplanes for fun. . . .?

Phil

My Friend *** ****** ( swore me to secrecy ) has built a VERY good sim in his large suburban garden shed, and very few people in our club get invited to see it. . . due to his panicking aabout security. One half is a Boeing 737, and the other side is a stick and rudder setup. ( I will TRY to get him to allow a photograph to upload to the site ! ! ! ) All nicely wired up and functional with all the bells and whistles. This took him 11 years to complete after his retirement.

The only thing it lacks is some hydraulic rams underneath to provide movement. This would have cost too much, and been a bit difficult to conceal ( his words ) otherwise the daft bugger would probably have done it anyway ! He is a realy nice bloke and regularly lends me his taildragger to keep up my hours, as the microlight time in any control system doesn't count in the UK for upkeep of a G.A. licence.

However. . . . .the point of this post is that he regards the SIM as a TOY. He plays with it to pass the time when he is bereft of something else to do. He says it has no practical value OTHER THAN . . .and I think HH alluded to this, . . . he says that it IS very useful for practicing IFR, holding over an NDB, VOR tracking, and ILS approach practice, thereby helping to preclude "Old man brain fade" when taking his Instrument Rating revalidation tests. . . personally, I don't know why he bothers, as he doesn't fly IFR any more,. . . . just a few taildraggers ! Well, I guess it's HIS pension money so he can spend it as he likes !

Phil

FlyerMe Like you stated ,,,,,,now days (here too )one requires at least 5hrs real flight training...

Phil

At a local gliding club a dog was killed lunging at a turning prop. Engine had to stripped down costing thousands. Yet I still see dogs running around airfields.

One site has a new rule whereby any pilot taxying or running up must shut his engine down immediately if a small child appears to have got onto the airside area, even if he's parked a long way from the fence. . . . It could be argued that this rule is moderately sensible perhaps, but we may well end up with" warning sign overload . . . " "All children must be kept on a lead ?

" ?

Just a couple of additional bits I didn't mention,

Assuming you are not using a fixed pitch propeller of course. . . When checking the prop blade pitch angles, try to make sure they are all adjusted to the SAME ANGLE. ( Yes, I know,. . .this can be a bit of a pain to get right. . . ! ) you can see quite easily when ground running the engine at medium rpm ( Don't forget to tie the tail so something solid and have a competent person in the cockpit ! ! ! ) look at the propeller "Edge On" and you can see if the blades are "tracking" the same arc. If there appears to be a bit of a wobble, then one of them isn't set to the same pitch angle as the other and is leading or lagging in track. Even with a slight difference in pitch this can lead to peculiar vibrations at SOME RPM settings, these "Now it's there,. . .now it isn't. . ." type vibrations can often be mistaken for something else leading to some severe head scratching.

On coolant temperature, I should have added " 85 Deg. Max Temperature at normal cruise, you should be able to allow 90 - 95 degrees for very short periods of full throttle climbing, but limit this to no more than around 5 minutes, especially if you have a fairly high ambient temperature on the day. On one of my engines ( 582 bluetop oil injected twin ) I have a digital engine management monitoring system which is set to flag a large red warning lamp when the coolant temp exceeds 80 Deg.F *ALSO * I echo Nev's comment regarding the type of oil you use.

Phil