Ultralights

well the problem of storage has almost been solved, i have secured a spot at Cesnock airport, and it will be arriving there tomorrow (friday) afternoon...

fortunatly, the aircraft and trailer are just 25MM under the width requiring a wide load sign and permit here in NSW.

one you have one of the emergency chutes mentioned above, do you need any training in its use? or skydiving experience? or can it be safely used by someone who has never skydived in the event of a serious emergency?

I love the V1, and have flown it many times, but usually extend my flight to start from barrenjoe lighthouse then turn south. or the same going north, but i usually start at barrenjoe at 500ft.. its a great flight.. even on a windy day it can be very smooth if the wind is off the ocean.

haha it wont work if its in a hangar, you have to wash and polish your aircraft, then leave it outside for it to work..

the storms hit Port Stevens and Nelson bay area where i am pretty spectacularly, Lot of close strikes, plenty of heavy rain, but fortunatly no hail, as my vampire is currently in my back yard waiting for a spot in a hangar at cessnock. i spent a frantic evening covering her with towels and other blankets, in such a way to prevent them resting on the airframe as they soaked up water and to limit hail damage if any. fortunately only heavy rain, and guess what, its all my fault! blame me! i waxed her yesterday evening

I have had an incident recently in the Vampire, but the aircraft is in my yard at the moment under storm covers, so it hasnt been possible to get some images of the failed parts,

i have no issues with reporting anything, just the aircraft sitting on a trailer makes it difficult to get the nose gear off to get pics and info.

oh, how do we go about reporting also? can it be done online?

at 11500 do you need oxygen?

oh and another litte question, do you have a chute and if so what type is it and how much?

i know where i stand with the 25 rego, requires engineering authorities. as for the garage, i am currently renting, so cutting the door is not an option, but fortunatly i have some reasonably priced hangarage nearby for 2 week, the BEA systems hangar sharing with a few F18's, till i can finish a few repairs.

the only modifications i have done is move the radio mount, and replace Nylock nuts with self locking nuts. on the flight control linkages and prop mounting bolts.

as for the design, i have always loved it, but i have to agree, the U/C is a disaster, especially being so far AFT of the CofG, you have to reef it off the runway, and landing, you have to get the stick back as soon as possible once the mains touch to stop the nose thumping down, and doing more damage to the nosewheel assy.

as a result of the constant hard landing the nosewheel takes, the only mod i would seriously consider engineering is an access hatch, or a removable nose section of the pod to allow access to the nose gear and rudder assy for inspections and repairs.

last week on the second landing the nose wheel /rudder pedal link rod failed, resulting in a sever shimmy that destroyed the nosewheel fairing, and the aircraft ran onto the grass beside the strip, as a result of the lack of steering.

during the flyin at wollongong, (i will be flying in if possible if my asic arrives) i will visit the factory and see what wheels have to turn or be greased to get an access mod to the nose wheel assy approved. it is an areai would like to be able to inspect before every flight..

it is a sad state to be in, do we get tax breaks when the airfields are sold? as a taxpayer, we do own the airports! and what part of the profit do we see?

sadly i think the future here will be private airfields and airparks, but fortunately there is a glimmer of hope as some councils have realised the value of their airports!

now if only we had the political clout, the money to establish a airport for the use of all pilots on the land reserved for the future badgeries creek aiport!

would it be possible to lease the land from the govt to develop a simple grass strip airport on the site?

it would take some heat off the govt as it would be private enterprise starting the airfield, and in a decade or 2 when the govt goes ahead with the 2nd syd airport, it will be an easier political pill to swallow as there is already an established airfield there! and will get less public resistance. not only that, but a clause could be written in the contract for the govt to buy out the lease when they do want to build an international airport!

what ya think? could the RAAus help in such a plan?

AS im sure most know on here, i have a sadler vampire.

though today i have discovered a small problem with storage, the aircraft is just 2 inches wider than my garage door!

now i got to thinking, the Vampire has a Symmetrical airfoil shape, and drooped wing tip fairings, as seen here

my question is..

Can the wingtip fairings be swapped sides so that the tips sweep Up instead of down? i am assuming they will look similar to the wingtip of the Cheetah Joey 2 or super diamond.

will this create any aerodynamic changes? or improvements?

if the tips are reversed then they will point inward creating enough clearance to get through the doors, and also reduce the chances of damage while its on the roads.

i have always wondered if it was possible to follow a remote control aircraft with a real 2 seat aircraft, and have the passenger control the RC model....

sadly Aussie airports are

. Perfect level housing estates.

. provide revenue to council through rate charges.

. Create massive profits for property developers, by developing land that was originally owned by the taxpayer

Taken with just a 3.2MP Olympus 10 x optical and pretty good macro i think..

i use flight sim fairly regularly, but mainly before going on a nav somewhere, i will do the flight in the sim, to get an idea of where things should be, what navaids to tune up, that sort of thing. apart from that, i dont use it for anything much else except trying to put a 747 into Hoxton park, or fly a c152 over the himalayas.

and here i was happy with the latests and greatest instrument to go in my Vampire..

:ah_oh:

at 5300 rpm is indicating 90 kts, 5500 shows 95 kts. it has a 503 fitted. 114 hrs old.

Hello all, well, my firsts flight in my new vampire went, well, ok, 40 mins long, and the predominat issue was a strong tendancy to roll left, at all airspeeds and flap settings.. the force needed to keep her straight wasnt that much, but quite a bit of right stick was needed making flight uncomfortable.

thankfully it did turn right pretty well with a bit of encouragement from the rudders...

anyway, after doing a few repairs and upgrades today,(new 10,000ft altimeter and replaced a snapped nosewheel steering linkage) all the while thinking of how to resolve the issues, initial solution was to add trim tabs to both ailerons as both ailerons lined up, with the flap and wing tip, both travelled the through the same angles at full deflection, till after a few hrs, i sat in the cockpit with the stick where i felt it should be, and had soone take some pics of the aileron position... this is what i saw...

As you can see, the Right Aileron is down about an Inch, and the left is Up by the same amount, obviously this is causing the uncammanded roll to the left when the stick is centered..

my question is, being a new vampire owner, can the ailerons be re-rigged so that their deflection is the same when the stick is central, and how do you do this??

thanks in advance...

Rob.

actually i heard the rumour over a few drinks at the local bar! the only place for all good rumours!

from what i heard it was a result of an airspeed indicator failure.... exactly the same failure i had years ago in an Archer..:;)2:

unfortunately the pilot panicked and landed the plane straight away after seeing the ASI doing loops, but by then the gear had already been retracted, as you do when 5 ft off the deck:;)4:

after i had the ASI failure, the isntructor decided i needed a little limited panel work, and we had an uneventful hrs flying, with the ASI pegged at 230kts.

as far as im concerned accidents like this should not have happened...

how many have been taught to fly on a limited panel? even in the arrow days, i was instructed to never retract the gear until its no longer useful, IE, the entire length of the strip is behind you!

Update.... apparently the pitot cover was left on!

as for a name, i like Nosferatu, but a female friend of mine suggested.....

"The Interview"

i quite like it!

to answer a few questions, The trailer, was factory built by the same guys that built the vampire, the only tie downs that secured the aircraft were the winch on the nose gear, and 2 ropes on each undercarriage leg, well the trailing link part of the suspension, to allow the aircraft to move around on its own suspension over the bumpy bits. the rope around the prop hub was loose, and the prop protected with aluminium plate to prevent the rope from chafing the blades, it was only there to stop the engine from windmilling. and wasnt doing anything to tie the aircraft down, the only other fixed point was the fittings made in the wing spar for the attachment of the wing supports at the rear and that was it, the boom supports were not tied to the booms as per the aircraft manual and allowed the booms to move around if need be, all that happened there was the foam polished the alloy where it moved around in it..

another thing i did was cover all joint on the flight controls, engine openings, and canopy with aluminium adhesive tape, its a thin but strong tape that will help limit small movements, and it tears easily so i could see if any part was moving excessively and as evident from the tape condition on arrival, only the forward edge of the canopy cracked the tape, apart from that, nothing else moved.

as for the trailer, yep, it is a tilt trailer, makes it very easy to roll her on and off.

as for not flying her home? well, i had to get the trailer and other spares back somehow! and also its a new to me aircraft, that i have never flown before and was unfamiliar with how the engine would handle or the aircraft itself..

hope these help..

first flight is due on Friday weather permitting..

Departed Adelaide at approx 11 am, with a Sadler Vampire in tow, rego 25-0078, serial number 008..

after a 2 day journey, with an overnight stop in Hay NSW, it finally arrived in the hangar at Hoxton park at approx 2 pm, where it was de-trailered, and inspected for damage, happily to report, No damage whatsoever only to discover the corpses of thousands of insects who sacrificed themselves to the Vampire.. or was it feeding? hmmm...

anyway, here are some pics..

Final touches being done to secure the trailer. old owner very sad in the background... but he has a new Sting to comfort him..

all looks good from here!

Finally ready to roll... only 1350Km to go!

are we being followed??

cost cutting in the train manufacturing business???

place name, hmmm well would you??

Yay! the Hay Plains, 300Km of this!

wow! 100km later.......... booooooring.

Overnight stop, Hay.. 7hrs later..

approaching Wagga, that funny looking car is still following us!

Finally arrived! time to stretch the legs, and wings!

Back on solid ground! hmm whats that in the background?? is it another twin boom pusher aircraft?

My vampire, getting to know the other housemates!

and finally home..... unfortunatly she doesnt have a name as yet! any suggestions...

its also interesting to note, the hangar is now almost entirely occupied by RAAus rego aircraft, only the 2 other twin boom pusher aircraft remain with VH rego permanently.

my baby's new housemates are 4 Jabirus, 1 Allegro, and 2 Optimas. with the occasional Bonanza and Cessna RG Cutlass...

cant leave without a plug for our very cheap to run and strong as an ox tow vehicle, the good old falcon Ute, unbelievable pulling power the sticker says, and i must agree, ;) total fuel cost was about $120 each way, (its an EGas model) :clap:she easily pulled the trailer and the tray full of gear at 105Kmh average! even over the ranges from Wagga to Goulburn! for the 14 hr trip without breaking a sweat, even at 35 and 40 deg. with the air con on,

might have to borrow my fathers ute more often!

the Warick farm aircraft was a Jabiru! VH rego, had a N#4 cylinder fail resulting in a complete engine failure. and the landing was rough and caused quite a lot of damage...

i still cant understand why our government refuses to even TEST some of the firefighting aircraft on offer around the world! like the Canadair ones used in Europe, the big bright yellow twin engined things, or even the B747 tanker! just one pass with that will extinguish a small fire alone! sure the choppers have their place, but the fires in OZ are rarly small, the the govt refuses to test them saying they would rather stick to "tried and true" methods...... which is just keep spitting at it and let the weather change control the fire, sure our fire troops and pilots do a fantastic job, but the rarely control a big fire, just limit the damage when property are in its path..