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KRviator

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Everything posted by KRviator

  1. KRviator
    Similar in concept to the Seabird Seeker - but I fear the rise of drones will ultimately replace these aircraft for visual-observation-type missions.
  2. KRviator
    If you're in Newy, you won't go wrong with the crew down at Warnervale. I do my BFR's there, and training over the lake is enjoyable. Close to Bankstown too for your CTA stuff. You have the option of the underpowered C150, a 150 with 150HP (better) or an RV12 with the G3X system for basic stuff and a Tecnam Twin for your MEA rating. I've also heard good things about Phil Unicomb too. Avoid anything at Bankstown - you'll waste thousands of dollars taxiing and simply transiting to/from the training area. By all means do your CPL - but, depending what you do for a crust now - be aware you're going to spend north of $100K on training to earn bugger-all in the short to medium term. I earn more than pretty much every QLink, Rex, Link or Ruffdus pilot just playing trains, that funds my flying and I'm not in debt for it. If you want to fly for fun, don't fly for work. If I CBF flying today, I don't have to - the RV stays in the hangar. Be wary of turning a hobby into a job...
  3. KRviator
    The protections of the Australian Consumer Law may come into play here - just because something is outside a manufacturers or statutory warranty doesn't mean your SOL. We're going through that kerfuffle now with our pool - turns out the builder we used wasn't licensed to actually do pool installs and royally phucked the pavers and fencing which is now failing. His response? "Not my problem, it's non-structural and only has a 2 year warranty!" - so we're pursuing him under the "Not done with due care and skill;.." section of the ACL rather than the Home Building Act.
  4. KRviator
    Just pointing out the discrepancy in logic. Landing fees aren't always in ERSA but can be found "elsewhere". Airport conditions of use documents definitely aren't in the ERSA but are often found "elsewhere" and they occasionally have ridiculous requirements in them. Such as the extra $150 fee for "refueling on council land" (Warnervale) or requirement to wear a plane-proof vest when refueling your RV at the bowser (Cessnock) - or the requirement for stupid insurance coverage (Goldy, Townsville, Isa , Longreach, Launceston...)
  5. KRviator
    The landing fees may be shown in OzR but are the other conditions of operating at the airfields? For example - anyone lobbed into Longreach or the Gold Coast lately? Launceston? Have you checked your insurance policy to make sure you have the requisite $50M (USD) insurance coverage?
  6. KRviator
    If you can tolerate the Council, Scone now has the Kittyhawk Cafe in their WOFTAM Warbirds museum. Good tucker, reasonable prices and good people. You can park on the apron right outside and the gate code is the CTAF.
  7. KRviator
    A slight correction - they gave access to AvData (and individual Council's as well) - and then they told their members it was happening and updated their privacy policy after I called them out on their existing PP not allowing such use. I - and a few other members - lodged formal complaints to the OAIC about that, but it went nowhere.
  8. KRviator
    Of course it is... Come back to me when you get stung paying a toll to drive through the Dubbo CBD. That's not a valid comparison. Paid parking - particularly in regional centers - is to encourage turnover of vehicles in the limited amount of parking spaces they have, thus preventing office lackeys and workers simply parking out the front of a business for the day and preventing actual shoppers from being able to park.
  9. KRviator
    I "owe" hundreds of dollars to AvData in landing fees after they've tried to charge me for landing at places I've never been, or the asshats charging for individual landings at my local, when I'm entitled to an 'annual' landing fee and they consistently refuse to remove the bull$hit charges. So their invoices line my cats litter tray. AIUI from letters they've repeatedly sent, they don't have the authority to involve a collection agency as the debt is not with them, but with the individual airports. Anyway, some of the overdue charges go back years. And on that note, I've had one of the airports legitimately owed some coin ring me up - after getting my contact details from AvData mind you - asking when I'll pay it, and when I said "When AvData stop sending me fraudulent invoices - but if you want to send me one of yours [invoices] to pay, I'll pay it this afternoon". They did, I did and everyone lived happily ever after. Though the cost for the "Business services manager" at the large Queensland Council to find my phone number, make contact, listen to my spiel, generate an invoice and email it would have in fact cost more than the paltry amount they actually received for my single landing at their airport...
  10. KRviator
    Saw someone leaving my local runway with "SNOOPY" as their ADS-B output. Not just on FR24, but directly logged in to both my ADS-B receivers, so it wasn't lost in the web-translation... If CAsA were serious about "the safety of air navigation", they would outlaw collecting info on landing fees from radio calls and/or ADS-B to encourage their use and try to limit fraudulent calls or callsigns.
  11. KRviator
    Paul Birdett?? 😆
  12. KRviator
    I present the time Jonn Deakin nearly landed a perfectly good 747 gear up. With - if you go by the article - probably one of the highest time 747 crews on Earth with him... If he could do it, I know damn well I could. That being said, I don't (or at least, try to avoid) doing stupid shit, like aero's with an approaching storm front.
  13. KRviator
    At least he can't forget to put the wheels down on that one.... We had a shindig in the back yard with a bunch of friends and neighbours. Pretty much my entire circle of relatives and friends has a chronic dislike of people so that seemed the best option - and the two previous shows had done their reversal turns to the north, directly overhead us. This time they did the majority of the turns to the south over Kurrajong Estate, annoyingly. The only time I went down to the airshow itself was to tell them to get on their PA, find the owners of two cars who parked over my driveway and tell the asshats to come back and move their vehicles so I can get out. And this was after my neighbor and I had roped it off to avoid precisely that - we learned the necessity of doing so from previous shows....And it still didn't work... A bunch of locals were not impressed about the (lack of) traffic control that ultimately resulted in a couple of accidents on the NE Highway due to traffic backing up coming off the bypass or first turnoff, or that it took 45-60 minutes to get back from town - a journey that should take less than 5 minutes. I can see a bit more community opposition to the show next time if they don't demonstrate improvements to the traffic flows. That being said, it was a perfect weekend for the show, and Saturday especially seemed chokkas. Traffic started around 0730, was queuing back to back from 0830 and didn't really die down until lunchtime. I had to work Sunday so missed out there, but the only difference AIUI was the Vampire flew Sunday, vs the Strikemaster on Saturday. I'd be very interested to see how much of a profit Paul Bennet Airshows was able to make versus the last two shows where the Council lost about half-a-million putting it on....And why they were able to make a profit putting it on themselves rather than being contracted to put it on by Council that cost ratepayers a motza.
  14. KRviator
    If I was a betting man, I'd put a carton of beer on him rushing to beat the approaching storm front after leaving his practice too late... The KRviatrix and I were talking between ourselves - a "WTF is he still doing up there?!" kind of thing given what we were seeing at ground level - when I said I'm going to go watch him land and we saw him come in and put it down with the gear firmly in the wells, no indication of any problem and certainly no emergency services waiting in anticipation of a gear-up landing.
  15. KRviator
    In a sad twist less than 48 hours before Warbirds Over Scone, one of the Spitfires has just landed gear-up on Runway 29. Wind at the 29 threshold was ~ 270 @ 11G25 - check out the pool stuff moving about and the windsock 'socking' as Mini-Me refers to it. No prior warning was given of any problem, the emergency services went past well after the noise stopped.
  16. KRviator
    Spot on. Use the mixture as your new throttle lever. Pull it well beyond LOP to reduce power, increase the mixture if you need more. Do not, under any circumstances where you have a pilot-adjustable mixture control, compound your 'emergency' by adding an engine failure to it, even if such an action is generally considered reversible.
  17. KRviator
    Another option is to put the call out on your local FB community group or ask around for someone who has a Cricut. The KRviatrix has one and it's a good bit of kit for stuff like that, it'll cut out pretty much anything you can imagine, so all you have to do is select what kind of 'sticker' you want, load your file, and press go. 30 seconds later, it's ready.
  18. KRviator
    Warbirds Over Scone has been bleeding cash for years and the only reason it's on again this year is Council handed the reins to Paul Bennet and washed their hands of it. Upper Hunter ratepayers are sick to death of paying through the nose for shindigs like this (and the WOFTAM that is Hunter Warbirds...) that only benefit a few - while at the same time, being bent over and shafted with a 30%+ rate hike. If PB can't make a go of it this year, it may not return - though I suggest he'll simply default to their 'prepackaged airshow' that does the rounds and seems to be fairly successful.
  19. KRviator
    That'll do it, every time...
  20. KRviator
    More information about "2016 RV-9A, 220TTAE, $185,000"
    TL;DR = 2016 AUSTRALIAN RV-9A, $185,000AUD, 220TTAE OX-340/FP, SkyView EFIS - or for the longer version, read on... Okay gang, because I am an idiot and didn't listen to the KRviatrix when she said "Build a -10" I have a 4-member family with a 2-seat RV, so I'm regretfully putting my 2016 -9A on the market after finally securing a suitable 4-seat 'family' plane. My -9A was built from a complete QB kit over 4 years, 9 months and 19 days her first flight was the 26th March 2016 under RAAus administration but with the added weight of heavier seat cushions, GNSS, transponder, 2 autopilot servos and the second screen I've since installed, I re-registered it VH to allow a more reasonable payload, but if that's not your cup of tea, it can go back to RAAus, even without Group G. The engine is (was) a factory-new ECI OX-340S-B4J4N4, the suffixes denoting low-compression pistons (7.2:1), electronic ignition & 14mm (automotive) plug bosses in the heads, with ~220TTSN. This is essentially a stroked O-320, nominally giving 185HP, but derated to 165HP to allow Mogas (And keep Van happy). If you are happy to run Avgas, you could swap to standard pistons and pick up an instant 20HP. The rest of the equipment installed is as follows: * 2 x PMag series 114 Electronic Ignition systems, firing BR8ESSP automotive plugs * Sensenich 2G0M7/C72RG composite, ground-adjustable prop. * B&C 410H alternator mounted on the vacuum pad * Vertical Power VP-X Sport electrical management system, tied to the Dynon Skyview * 2 x Dynon 10" SkyView Classic EFIS displays * Dynon EMS module, with full engine monitoring & datalogging * Dynon 2-axis autopilot with Pitch & Roll servos * Dynon SV-XPDR-261 ADS-B-capable transponder * Dynon GPS-2020 ADS-B compliant position source * Dynon ARINC module to allow the KLN-90B to talk to the EFIS * 2 x Dynon Wi-Fi adapters, to allow you to wirelessly transfer your OzRunways (or AvPlan) plan to the EFIS * KLN-90B TSO'd GNSS unit to push the 'positive fix' time out from 30 mins visually to 2 hours if necessary, connected through the ARINC interface to the EFIS. This also allows KLN waypoints to be graphically displayed on the Skyview moving map, gives GPSS roll-steering and HSI auto-scaling along with automatic course updates. * Xcom VHF radio, with the Aux input connected to the Dynon audio output for audible alerts or messages * Rotec TBI 48/4-5 throttle body * Carling Contura-V backlit switches * Infinity stick grips with CWS/AP Disc, pitch & roll trim, PTT, flaps and engine starter functions. * Seat cushions are from a Suzuki Swift Sport- don't laugh, they fit beautifully, are comfy and look great! * Bogert Aviation tow bar * A full set of Bruce's Custom Covers is also included for the fuselage, prop, tail and wings - which also have hail-resistant padding in them if you can't get a hangar straight away (worth $3,000USD last I checked!) * She is polished, with red & yellow vinyl stripes that can be removed if my chosen livery isn't to your taste. Everything, with the exception of the XCom VHF, KLN-90B and seat cushions was factory-new, and has ~220 hours. Also included is a pair of Bison Mountain RV flight bags, in grey leather. One is my everyday flight bag, the other is completely unused. She is almost a completely stock RV-9A however, there are a few little changes I made, these being: * She's set up to fly PIC from the RHS * The EMS can monitor L+R ignition switch state. * The EMS can monitor if the EI's are electrically powered, either with ships power, or internally * The VHF antenna is mounted on the aft deck, not underneath. The Bruce's fuselage cover was custom-made to accommodate this position. * The Dynon system has a custom user database of every certified airport & ALA in Australia, developed by me prior to the OzRunways/Dynon collaboration, so if you don't have a Dynon aerodata subscription, you can still use the internal database. Performance is almost exactly what Van's indicates. I typically cruise at 2,400RPM and ~140KTAS at 8,500 burning 25-and-a-smidgen LPH. Climb rate at light weights & cool days is around 1,800FPM with takeoff & landing distances in the 300m range. A few landing examples can be seen in my Youtube video HERE Apart from a short period after moving to the airport (maybe 4 months?) when she was outside with the covers on, she's been hangared throughout her life, initially at Cessnock & Somersby and now Scone. Now, Given this is an aeroplane that, for all intents and purposes, a bloke built in his back shed, there are a few cosmetic blemishes I want to make clear from the outset. * The underside of the right elevator has a convex dent where I rivetted the last one in the row and it wasn't on the bucking bar. Unless you get on your hands and knees and look up you'd never see it. * The skin over the baggage compartment has a couple of small, similar bumps where I messed up, and decided to keep them rather than de-rivet & replace the entire skin. * The upper left wing skin has a half-dozen tiny concave dents in a row - caused by me bumping the Cyclo polisher of all things! * The canopy has a small piece missing on the aft LHS where it cracked and broke off. I don't know if one of the kids dropped it closed and broke it, or it cracked at altitude and disappeared into the ether, but nonetheless it is missing a 2"x2" piece at the LHS rear, bottom corner. * Part of the lower gear intersection fairing broke off during the initial testing (2nd flight as I recall). It's on the trailing edge on the inboard side, and not visible unless you actively look, so I have not replaced it. Fiberglass work....yuck... * My paint skills are certainly no match for a concours body shop, however, it's 'adequate' if not 'good' but there are several pinholes in the wheel pants and a couple of small spots on the lower cowl where it bubbled slightly. * The KLN-90B database is very out-of-date, but let's face it, airport's don't move...She's not approved for IFR so the lack of up-to-date waypoints isn't critical for the GNSS. Finally, something I am picky about in various ads, the W&B. Initially, she weighed 445Kg (981Lbs) empty, giving a 155Kg payload under RAAus, however, with the extra's now installed and operating under CASA, the current BEW is: 1042.2Lbs / 472.7Kg , and the CG position is 77.65". MTOW is set at 816Kg / 1,800Lbs, allowing a full-fuel cabin load of 248Kg. I replaced the original Lithium battery with a SLA and lost about 10Kg. Why did I do that? I didn't want to wait for a back-ordered lithium. The SLA was in stock, that's all... To replace her today would cost north of $260,000AUD, and that's not even considering the year-long lead time for a QB kit, so I'm thinking $185,000 AUD is a fair asking price at this time. The build log is available on VAF HERE and there's a selection of photos available on my Flickr gallery HERE. The logs will be available electronically, shortly.
  21. KRviator
    Not me...I admire their role in WW2 and the historical value of preserving aviation's heritage, but I have zero interest in a flight in one. Or a Mustang. Now an F4 or T38? That's another story...
  22. KRviator
    It must have been significantly below full power. Most RV's leap off the ground to the extent there's a specific caution in the build manual about doing high-speed taxi runs before your first flight because they can easily and inadvertently become first flights due to pilots thinking 'it's not a full-power run, she'll be right'. and before you know it, you're accelerating through 50KIAS and capable of flight. 160HP is the lowest recommended for the -8 (because any less won't achieve the RV Grin) but it will fly with 120 and probably get even airborne and achieve a positive climb rate with just 80HP, they're not an overly heavy aircraft, even at gross. I had a partial power loss on takeoff in the -9 a few years ago, got to about 30' when she started carrying on and pig-rootin' around. I still had enough runway (1100m long) to react, decide whether to continue or abort, and land straight ahead. 250-300m is my heavy-weight takeoff roll in the -9 in no wind - and she only has 165HP. That -8, with 200HP, yet alone the claimed max of 250, should be going like a raped ape on a normal takeoff. I'd have to feel the difference between "normal" and "What's goin' on here?" should have been evident enough, early enough, to give it away, even at Heck Field. Whatever the failure was, I hope other Subawoo fliers can learn from it and maybe put mitigation measures in place. 3 in a year isn't great odds...
  23. KRviator
    Or a pilot who has actually read The Mothership's newsletter and understands the Vne limitations of the RV series...which is based on the flutter margin, in turn which is primarily concerned with TAS not IAS and so is dynamic based on environmental conditions. 250HP in any of the single-digit RV's is not smart. Turbo'ing to 250 is even worse. Doable, certainly, but not smart.
  24. KRviator
    I had it in my mind this aircraft was recently acquired by the owner and I think I'm right. It was listed for sale at an insane (by RV standards) price by LAS last year and went for just $95K.
  25. KRviator
    Agreed. There's 1,600 -8's flying around the world. Even mine was the 1020th RV-9 completed - the entire RV lineup are very capable and time-proven and up until recently, affordable designs, with very few faults. That Glassair at Wedderburn last year also had a Subaru conversion fitted. That's three EJ conversion's crashes with 4 fatalities (and very close to a 5th...) in the space of 12 months or so, from a comparatively small population of Experimental's in Australia. No sir, Rotax or Lycoming for me. Or Continental if I'm flying something that came out of Wichita.
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