Gforce

Well done GForce, you got my girl, look after her please....

Yes mate - The deal is done. We were very impressed with the seller, he was a very nice guy who is very well organised and we liked that alot. The Highlander was built extremely well and is just immaculate. Flys very well although my landings will need some much improvement but them, I'm not current any more so will be going down to Adelaide biplanes and spending some time down there to get comfortable and finish off my RAA ticket before taking the highlander out. I'm a very cautious type of pilot.

Hi Guys, Just wanted to thank you all for the input here.. flew down to view and fly the aircraft in question and it is like a new aircraft. Or should I say " my new aircraft now "

Thanks for all your help again.

G

........I think this has really been, and continues to be a really interesting discussion that in part, has giving me some insight in to how people will perceive electric Aircraft, specially the FlyNano when I'm able to bring it to Australia in the next year. However, No one has been able to answer my original question. I`m taking it as a No.

Mine is nothing like a record, I know people with at least twice that number, that's how things were in the early days when we used converted mower and stationary engines in aircraft. My first ten failures were in my first ten powered flying hours ... and as I said that was nothing unusual in those days, in fact a flight of half an hour's duration without a problem of some kind was a talking point.I've never run out of fuel, though headwinds have brought me close enough to have me sweating on a couple of occasions, so there's not been a fuel quantity management problem among them, but fuel has played its part, as has a multitude of other things. Some examples, I'll start with the fuel ones -

 

Left the Drifter tied down at Yeppoon private strip during cyclone Charlie circa 1987, it rained for a week, fuel check afterwards was Ok, engine quit at 50ft. Fuel drain turned out to be ALL water which got in through the vent via the rear wing support tube. Was sufficient fuel in the hoses, bowls, filters and header for warm-up, taxy amnd take-off ...

 

Jetranger flamed out in the hover due to clogged filters from bacteria growth in the fuel, not uncommon in the tropics.

 

Carby flooded on Drifter due to small piece of fuel line sliced off by the carby inlet barb when fitted at the factory. Half moon shaped tiny piece held the float valve open.

 

Some others - apart from a dozen or so early failures of modified mower and stationary engines as described before, and those mechanicals mentioned in previous post -

 

Inflight magneto drive failure on C172 (Continental), noticed the power drop, then had fouled lower plug on one cylinder, on other mag, during descent.

 

Jetranger tailrotor blade tape came unstuck one side and wrapped around the other side of blade causing major vibration, precautionary landing with 5 PoB.

 

R22 clutch light on during cruise, autorotation forced landing, was only a blown fuse to annunciator, nothing wrong with clutch.

 

R22 broken tailrotor drive belts, autorotation landing.

 

Rotorway Exec, broken tailrotor drive belt - auto landing

 

Rotorway Exec failed t/r tensioner - auto landing.

 

Jetranger failed hydraulics twice, standard forced landing once, continued to close to destination second time.

 

Drifter - two broken cranks, one gearbox failure.

 

Drifter - failed coil

 

Drifter - throttle cable detached from carby slider

 

Drifter - failed plug, at least twice.

 

J3 Kitten (similar) R277 stopped, wouldn't restart in the air, no explanation, never found out why, ran perfectly after that.

 

KH4 helicopter, engine and rotor tach sender simultaneous inflight failures, lightning suspected.

 

J3 Kitten (similar) aileron flutter.

 

J3 Kitten similar - windshield detached.

 

J6 Karatoo, oil cooler hose burst spraying oil on exhaust (lotsa smoke)

 

Jackeroo VW powered, carby ice, no carby heat.

 

KH4 helicopter, tailrotor controls failed in hover after rebuild.

 

J3 Super Cub, big vibration - prop bolt failures after rebuild.

 

Forced down by weather twice.

 

I'd have to go through my logs to find a few more but you get the idea, if you fly over a long period of time things do happen, especially if using converted engines that weren't meant for the purpose. But none of the above were really anything to be too concerned about, except the inconvenience, there's nothing there that basic training doesn't prepare you for and if you stick to the 'fly safe' rules there's always a way out of the situation. I never bent anything (yet) in any of those inconveniences.

I have had one and one two many in our 1942 Auster.. lost a mag and we put it down on a golf course. Made the news ! Oh dear.... My Dad has had another in his CT4 where the engines literally started to disintegrate, I think it was a conrod that came though the cowl. I'm hoping that's the only one but of course, will always plan for one.

I dislike flying over Tiger country and my new plane will be powered by a 912... until my FlyNano Gets here then I can really start to prove that electric " personal aircraft " have a real place in our hobby.

Of course, nothing is bullet-proof, and the wise flyer always flies in a manner where a sudden power-train failure is no more than an inconvenience. I've been 'inconvenienced' more than 50 times in nearly 40 years of flying, mostly in the early days of ultralights but also about ten times in helicopters (even three times in turbines, but not due to engine stoppage) and GA planes, so I tend to be scanning for forced landing sites whenever possible ... [ATTACH=full]21540[/ATTACH]

You have had 50 forced landings ??? This must be some kind of record ! You are putting fuel in the fuel tank right ?

Hope he did not trigger the speed camera ! Good job. Stayed calm.

Ok Ill play along....

No argument, just trying to get some market information really. I obviously agree with you. we are seeing some very well funded companies now look at electric power trains as highly reliable alternatives to IC motors. Having been though an engine failure I am always interested in first and foremost reliability.

What we are starting to see if the idea of the " personal plane " come to life now with electric motors and this is very exciting. Sure, flight times are still ( for the most part ) very limiting but If I can go jump in my FlyNano and fly around the lake doing splash and goes for 40 minutes then as a pure flying fun experiences this will be well received.

You said " Your RC power trians are simply not scaleable. "

Thats the thing, Electric motor ARE very scalable. They are also incredible simple when you look at a Brushless motor internals. Alot of us rewind our own motors. t electric power for recreational aviation applications is fairly new, without question Electric aircraft will play a huge part in our hobby. It is coming along in leaps and bounds already and is very exciting.

Any recent news you can tell about the Flynano? It's gone awfully quiet for the last nine months or so. I'm aware of the northern winter issue but we only saw a take-off with a conspicuously absent landing (last seen heading for grassland on the edge of the lake).I'm also interested about the configuration, I guess they must have their IP Applications filed by now so can you tell us anything about what they consider to be patentable? To me it would appear to be much the same as other joined wing, closed wing and box wing aircraft some of the concepts of which have been around since the 1920s, some examples pictured below.

 

Also - do you know what has been done to address the inverted stall issues that seem to plague this general design concept? It seems to be insurmountable in the Stratos and the Flynano looks very similar in layout and probable CG position.

 

Gforce Answered:

 

Sorry, I forgot to Answer your question. Development of FlyNano continues. However, one of there biggest issues has been the weather in Finland. Its a very short flying season for aquatic aircraft so any re development work really does not allow for the right testing time. If it was being developed in a sunny, warn country like most of Australia would provide, I believe they would of completed the V2 testing by now. There is a new motor, esc, batteries and improved wing area with the V2 so like you, I'm very keen to see this begin testing. Once, it has proven to be all that it is capable of being with Safety at the top of the list, I will start importing them. Not before.

Based on 10 minute flights ( which alot of electric models do not achieve ), that is 5 flights a day, every day for 10 years?????

Back to the subject however, one of the best electric conversions I have seen was a Rutan Quickie. Build just for his own use and gets 90 minutes flight time.

Until these engines are proved to be reliable, you will probably be sweating for the entire flight anyway. .Alan.

Im not sure what you mean Alan ? To date, I have OVER 3000 hours of electric flying time with RC aircraft. Never had one issue ! Electric engines are very proven. Have been for over 30 years ! I would MUCH prefer to be flying an electric than an old 337...447...

With respect, have you ANY evidence of even 1 in flight failure of an electric engine ?? If so, it would really help with with my research so thanks if you can ? we have not been able to find even one to date...

Thanks for your input Alan.

No heating issues?? What about cabin heat in electric aircraft? (There are some really cold mornings out Mudgee way)

Thats very impressive - I would love to put my FPV gear in that !

Yes I agree with you, you sound like you have some experiences with them too - The single Seat electric Aircraft I represent in Australia has been designed from the start to be electric so no heating issues have been noted yet. But we are only in initial testing stages. Runs very smooth however.

I have an MX2, both 26% and 20% and I love the way they fly !! I have set this one up to fly FPV aerobatics with, alot of fun.

Gosh I would not be using that paper weight in anything other than a motorised scooter where a bearing failure would only stop me getting home from the pub ! So many bad reviews on that motor. We are using a motor that puts out 30kw of power, so about the same as a rotax 337 !

http://www.jobymotors.com/

Thanks for the help here - I think I will give RAA a call to confirm this. Cheers

Yes agree that Ion`s match the performance but are less volatile than Lipos. That said, I have 3000+ on them and never had any issues apart from a few dead cells and puffing a few in my pylon racers but that was a few years ago when discharge rates were around 30-35. Now I have 65c discharge rates in my latest batteries. Yes, I be using them in my Single seat electric seaplane hopefully end of this year.

Agh what a find !!! Amazing. I live in the city but will be building a Hangar in Rylstone as flying in and around Sydney is not much fun. Apart from Victor 1 but after you have done that many times even that starts to get old. Will you be using Ion batterys ? Or lipos ?

Here a quick Video of my new SkyHunter FPV plane - Its a fairly big plane at 1900mm and that big wing does nice Aerobatics...

Yeah seen that, complete with ciggie smoking pilot !

Yeah I have followed Dales electric development from an early stage, did you write in to Sports pilot about your Lazairs by any change this addition ? It was in the 95:10 question area. You will have to fly in to my strip to say G`day !! Im in Rylstone airpark.