onetrack

Danny - UL Power is perhaps the engine company you were thinking of? The subtle potential problem with UL Power engines is their quite low CHT limit - 180°C.

As with all European products, they probably work just fine in European weather conditions - but in Australia, our harsher climate would have to see this limit tested regularly in Summer.

https://www.kitplanes.com/the-new-old-aero-engine/

I have yet to see any European-origin engine or product that is "economic". Every single European-origin product I have ever been involved with, seems to come with added major cost burdens.

I'm convinced anyone who buys a European product is effectively subsidising the extensive welfare and generous pensions of the major European states.

I see no reason not buy local, where your product has local design, local support, and employs Australians.

Perhaps a little surprisingly, either Silastic or Urethane sealant makes for a good, simple, thread lock. These products also have the advantage of sealing the threads against corrosion starting.

The Rojone headset product line.

https://www.rojone.com.au/category/communication-headsets/aviation-headsets/

Downunder, I reckon that's the Russian copy, produced from stolen Vauxhall-Bedford plans. But it's well known that the Rooskies also stole a pile of Vauxhall Viva plans at the same time, and there was considerable confusion over what part fitted where, once they got back to Moscow. 

Facthunter, the flutes were removed on this machine, because it was found they interfered with smooth airflow at speeds over 120kts.

I notice no-one has commented on the amazingly compact powerplant. Those cunning Vauxhall engineers obviously shrank the Bedford truck engine down to a size where it wasn't much bigger than a Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine - but it obviously still produced more than adequate power. 

....major investigation into Starlights activities was commenced immediately. This led to the discovery of a whole range of other creatures (other than delightful French creatures) that had been killed by Starlight, in his murderous lust.

"It's become obvious to us", said Inspector Montal-Turbine, "that we have a serial killer investigation on our hands here - a ruthless killer who has the curious affliction of desiring to see his victims die with a smile on their faces. This is absolutely outrageous, and we will stop at nothing, to........

I made a rare aviation discovery recently, in the backwaters of a small country town in W.A. This was truly an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime find. 

It's a little-know fact that during an earlier period of low demand in the automotive industry, the well-known commercial truck builders, Vauxhall-Bedford, turned their hand to the construction of helicopters.

The design criteria was that the machine was to be built utilising as many Vauxhall-Bedford truck components as possible. While sounding a bit outlandish, there was some degree of merit in the criteria.

Of course, as this was during the Cold War period, the whole project was hush-hush, and these Vauxhall-Bedford helicopters were designed, built, and flown in secret, and few people have ever seen one.

However, it appears at least one of these ultra-secret helicopters escaped destruction by the British MOD - and somehow, it was smuggled (under cover of darkness, obviously) to this rural location in W.A.

Even now, visitors are discouraged from inspection of it, and it is difficult to spot it, unless you indulge in the cunning habits of the paparazzi. I did exactly this, and I hereby bring you a photo of this extremely rare machine.

It is obvious that the machine has been abandoned in a great deal of hurry, as they left all the refuelling arrangements in place. It would be interesting to discover the reasons behind this sudden abandonment.  

....way out of a concrete-walled safe room, such was the strength of his long tongue. But speaking of tongues, it was only when one of Starlights French lady friends turned up, looking for him, was it revealed that Starlight also possessed an amazing tongue, that.....

..... bottle, checking that the ingredients weren't adulterated, and that the vinegar wasn't French before he added some to his salad.

But it was only when he found the torn letter from Capt Starlights French ladies connections, cast aside in the hedge, that things started to add up.

It was now obvious that Starlight had been holding out on his French dalliances - but when he was spotted walking a French bulldog, it all.....

.... has the NES suddenly all gone totally Froggy?", said Onetrack, who had a deep and abiding suspicion of Frogs - and even more so, now they were building our new Submarines.

"Just look at terrible quality of the Froggy products!" railed OT - "Their cars are crap, their aircraft are dubious, and now we're going to have dodgy Froggy submarines as well!"

"But their wines and women are delightful!", said the Personable Jedi Rat.

"You actually admit to drinking Froggy wine, too?", said OT incredulously. "Next thing, you'll be telling us ......

Waraton - you might like to check out the thread below. You can buy all types of connectors (plugs and spades and bayonet connectors) from Alanco or Ashdown-Ingram.

That means you basically have to build your connector yourself.

https://www.sportpilottalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=4682

SWER lines vary considerably in Calculated Breaking Load (CBL) according to the number of wire strands, and the thickness of the wire. 

Todays SWER lines are produced utilising specially-made, aluminium-clad, carbon steel wires. They can have 3, 7, or 19 wires, and the wire thickness can be 2.00mm, 2.75mm, or 3.25mm in thickness.

The CBL of a 3 strand wire of 2.00mm wire thickness is only 11.7kN - but a 19-strand wire of 3.25mm thickness has a CBL of 186kN. So you'd better make sure you pick a 3-strand wire to hit.

The 3 strand wire of 2.00mm thickness weighs just 74kg/km - but a 19-strand wire of 3.25mm thickness weighs 1,250kg/km.

A farmer mate in the W.A. wheatbelt was carrying out tillage on one of his paddocks, with an SWER powerline running almost parallel to his scarifier track. In W.A., many SWER powerlines are 2-wire, to supply 2-phase, 480V current for rural welders.

This was a 2-wire SWER line. As he swerved around one pole, he misjudged the scarifier-to-pole clearance, and "just nudged" the pole.

To his mortification, that pole promptly fell over - and as it went down, it took six other poles with it! The reason being, the holes for the poles are only loosely backfilled, the replaced soil is not compacted.

The wires did not break, but the line circuit breakers kicked out as the poles went down. So, a surprising amount of wire strength in that line.

If you hit an SWER, you're hitting a solid object that has to be moved from rest, before it either snaps, or tears through your aircraft frame. So that's a fair bit of inertia to overcome to start with, let alone the force required to break the wire.

The average span between poles on flat country is 400M. So the smallest single-wire cable you hit, contains nearly 30kgs of aluminium-clad steel - the largest cable you hit, will contain 500kg of aluminium-clad steel!

You could try fitting cable cutters to your undercarriage legs, but I'll wager few ultralights have enough inherent undercarriage strength to cut even a small SWER line.

The bottom line is - be very aware of lines of big poles, running across the countryside. You simply need to look for them, all the time.

The problem is, they don't necessarily follow any roads, fencelines or other visual cues - they just cut across country. The advantage is, they are always clear of vegetation, so they aren't hidden by it.

https://www.aflglobal.com/Products/Aluminum-Clad-Steel.aspx

Well, we can take from his aircraft choice, that he knows a good little aircraft when he sees one!   As to being a GA man, well, I guess time will tell what he's like.

I gather from the tone of the article he has a lot of work in front of him dealing with bureaucracy.

OME - Click on the bell notification icon up on the top of the left menu. Click on "notification settings".

Scroll to bottom of settings page, at the bottom right you will find "emails". Below that a line that says "Stop all email notifications". Click on that line.

KGW - Here is the information you seek ...

https://www.australianflying.com.au/recreational/raaus-announces-matt-boutell-as-new-ceo

I presume you're referring to RAAus, not RAA Insurance Ltd. Both have installed new CEO's recently. Using correct terminology removes any chance of error or misunderstandings.

....the trouble really started - when it was reported to CASA HQ, that one of their operatives on a ramp, was "running around like a headless chook".

When the investigation started, it was clear this was to be no ordinary investigation. It was an entirely new process for CASA to investigate itself - and almost certainly, a headless CASA operative was something they had no experience in investigating.

But it was obvious, this was a serious, aviation-related event, that happened on CASA-controlled territory, and no stone would be......

....."From Mohammad with kind regards!" . "That's just awful!", said Cappy. "That's worse than the Brits and Yanks painting nasty things about Nazis on their bombs during WW2!"

"Ahhh, all's fair in love and war!", said Onetrack. "Besides, how crafty is it of them, to use French Nords and make us think they're Allied aircraft? And how did those peasants learn to drive Nords, anyway?"

"They went to the Mustapha Turbine Flying School (avref), of course", said Turbo loftily. "Our family has a long and illustrious history of teaching anyone who has a burning desire to fly, to bring their dreams to fruition".

"I suppose that's why we rarely see Muzzie pilots in Muzzie enemy aircraft", said Cappy. "They couldn't afford the fees! I'll wager the fees are astronomical, with all the various Turbine Enterprise businesses needing substantial support".

"Well, it is true the aircraft are serviced by Turbine LAME's and fuelled by Turbine Fuelling Services, and the office is contracted to Turbine Office Services, and the simulator is owned by Turbine Simulators - but it's not fair to say our flying fees are outrageous - everyone knows that flying and learning to fly isn't cheap!"

"That may be so", said Cappy. "But I'll wager when the Muzzies found out that their flying activies were governed by the Turbine Aviation Safety Authority (TASA), they weren't happy Muzzies!"

"Well, it is true we did place some onerous conditions on their flying operations", said Turbo. "But even though we banned Muzzie frocks for Muzzie pilots, they seemed to take it in good humour - that was, until the day we found......

....didn't think to pick up a white Muzzie frock while you were there, did you? I'm in need of one for an upcoming fancy dress ball".

"I didn't even have time to think about what I was going to wear next!", said Cappy. "The air was full of lead, and those AK-47's pack a punch! In fact, if it wasn't for.......

Just raising an older thread again - I see where the FAA has finally approved the return to service of the Boeing 737MAX.

However, every other country is still to review the FAA decision, and the steps Boeing has taken to satisfy everyone that the aircraft is finally safe to operate again.

This process is a far cry from the days when every country outside the U.S., basically rubber-stamped FAA decisions. It shows that virtually every other country in the world lost faith in the FAA, as well as Boeing.

The reported cost to Boeing is being put at US$20B. I reckon that figure is possibly understated, because the long-term cost to Boeing of its cavalier and purely profit-driven decisions, is immeasurable.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-19/us-lifts-boeing-737-max-flight-ban-after-crash-probes/12898504

A lot of these people are simply adrenaline junkies with a basic death wish. I think they all secretly harbour a desire to find out what it's like to die.

Very few of the "extreme sport" members (such as wing-suiters, jet-suiters, base-jumpers, and those who balance on ledges, on towers or buildings, dozens or even hundreds of metres up, with no fall-arrest provisions) seem to get past 40.

I see where another jet-suiter (Vince Reffet) died in a "training" accident in Dubai a couple of days ago. No-one has revealed the precise reasons behind the accident event.

......certain to never reveal the truth of, due to his confidentiality agreement with Starlight, which also encompasses the events surrounding some wild parties in the Gumly RSL Hall, during which Cappy is known to have stripped off in front of a group of ladies, and done a....

......grove of palm trees", said El Capitaine.....

....1968 Bedford trucks are a direct fit for the Commode! "Ahhh, that can't be right", said Turbo, "Why would Holden be using 1968 Bedford truck doors?"

"It's because GM and GMH always used up surplus designs for many years afterwards", said Onesie with a knowing look (and only he knows that 1952 Chev, Pontiac and Opel doorhandles were used on FE and FC Holdens - and the FC rear door chrome trim was a '55 Pontiac door trim, just inverted!)

"Oooh", said Cappy, "That means there must be a lot more interchangeable GM and GMH parts! I always wondered how Holdens kept going! It was because they were built from surplus parts!"

"Well, it could be worse, I suppose", mused Turbo. "They could've all been Friday parts - and we all know that's how the P76 came about. In fact, just the other day......

....were mostly from countries where a round bat was seen as being effeminate. But when the Foundation brought in an aerodynamics (avref) expert to explain via colour cartoon drawings, that the aerodynamics and easier swinging abilities of a round bat, were far superior to a straight length of 4 x 2, the players all then agreed that round bats would be the standard, from then on.

However - back to the fight - it started off as verbal abuse then descended into wild swings, then glasses, bottles and chairs were being thrown. It was all going Cappys way, until he copped a.....