Ultralights

a few pics of the items found on the non airside of the hangars

I didnt know Honda made a V twin in this configuration?

when i was young, my father had one of those Valiants!

Ford Fairlane! Great movie! ;)

though the MGB is more My style of car, having owned a Austin Heally MkII Sprite... but thats another web forum...

hmmmm Special..

and the once Car of the year, the Torana.

and for the most amazing part of this these posts, every photo was taken on my little mobile phone... and i did get some looks snapping away with a mobile in hand while everyone else had a "real" camera....

all in all i think the Inaugural Kempsey New Yrs Fly in was a success considering the short notice of it going ahead.... and well run by the local SES crews.

will Kempsey become the New Evans Head? or will Evans Head be back next year? and if so, what will happen to Kempsey?

I think the weather kept quite a few away, especially from the south, but the air was calm, and warm, and the ugly looking storms and rain never moved! and looking at the live weather radar, there was also very little rain in the entire coastal area dispite it looking very grey..

If Evans head is back next year, and Kempsey misses out, how about organising some fly away rallies or a poker run, Nav competition etc to Kempsey for a BBQ ??

Rob..

Ps, all the pics i took of the weekend can be found here

http://pamuva1.smugmug.com/gallery/2304386/1

Finally back to a PC, and have all the pics uploaded from the camera.

The 2nd day was similar to the first, a good crown of locals and kids, though not as many aircraft, but a lot of different people flew in for the Sunday, Over the 2 days there was a good variety of aircraft and people. though again sunday was more the VH fleet with Cessna 180's 172 etc. Surprisingly there was also a Thruster T500 on sunday and more plastic fantastics.

A surprise visitor was the Strikemaster Jet that gave a short aeros display over the field before landing and quickly being mobbed by all the kids with parents in tow. anyway, pics..

The main entrance, and food and drink supply.

pic from same spot looking left, Line up of Austers and the occasional Tiger Moth

A closer look at that tiger, VH-DAD obviously, UN-restored...as in original condition...

Front Cockpit, Love the static free Intercom...the white plastic funnel.

an Auster..J1B

Now THATS an Engine. in the Auster J1B

While looking over the Austers and Tiger Moth, something else arrived......

The workmanship on the restoration was stunning

Being a sheety myself, i can appreciate the work that has gone into making the spats..

Beautiful from every angle..

No comment needed.

Time to continue the walk up the line, the biggest wheels i have ever seen on a trike!!

then i spotted the Australia's first tail dragger Savannah!!!

only to discover Ian had suffered a puncture... or was he secretly testing a stealth tyre that produces its own lift?

The chicken run ? ?

A Brand new Citabria Adventure.. this aircraft only had a total of 12hr TTIS

a Trinidad Tobago? a beautiful leather interior though, and sounded terrific with a big 6 cyl continental.

a Beautifully finished Zyper.

and a drew plenty of attention, unfortunately the owner/pilot had a birdstrike at about 50 ft AGL during takeoff. no damage though, and sadly the bird suffered the indignity of falling to earth in a lifeless death spiral in front of numerous witnesses.

A late afternoon arrival was this V tail Bonanza, which has circumnavigated the globe the proper way, as close to the equator as possible.... a lot of spectators found it hard to believe such a trip was possible in a light aircraft..

another late arrival, and only the 3rd to camp overnight..

another overnight visitor. Auster..

Arrived Sunday Morning to find this! brilliant workmanship in everything he had in the hangar, from BBQ benches, Canoes, and of course aircraft, both real and models.

Panel of above aircraft...

the one and Only Jabiru! overnighted as well, so that adds points. why is it that on the western side of the ranges they are like flies? yet on the eastern side?? only 1 ?

another Sunday arrival, Thruster T500. and sadly the butt of many a joke from the viewing crowd. someone even called it a beach umbrella tangled with a ride on lawn mower.. now thats not nice.. good to see a showing from the more traditional of the ultralight side of flight..

A very nice Piper Pacer arriving Sunday..

Inside the Pacer... is it true that the Piper pacer and Tripacer are eligible for RAAus rego??

one of my favorite aircraft of all time the Cessna 180, well i do have a GA background.

A Glassair arriving

with a panel that means business!!

Sunday arrival.

even some bigger stuff was on display. a piper seneca. it was opened up on saturday.

The arrival of this was a favorite with the kids! and parents alike.

I found this lonely trike in the back of a open hangar..... Trikes can dream too!! ;)

Just arrived back on the beach after enjoying the first day of the kempsey fly in.

First impression. Where were all the Raa aircraft? though there were cam and ians savannas a nice flock of trikes. Even a gazelle, 1 jabiru yep just 1. And a visit by a zypher who had an interesting departure. but that was it. We were outnumbered by the VH fleet.

Weather was perfect. Nil wind. Enough high cloud to keep the sun at bay. though on the positive side the trikes were airborne all day as was the brand new citabria and the simply stunning Dhc Dragon.

the best Part was the large crowd of non flyers and young kids. Looks like a few more pilots in the not to distant future.

Pictures will be posted when i get back to a pc in a week or so. Till then hope to see a few more tomorrow..

just 1 last thing. Was that your gazelle ian?

The new site looks fantastic, but i have noticed, on the top picture animation thingo, the CT isn't that quick, i though they were a quick aircraft?, i mean, 3 birds cruising and slowly flapping their wings are going just as quick....;) :big_grin:

oh, and merry christmas and a happy new year to all!!!

will any one else be visiting Kempsey for the new yrs flyin?

if Only Jabiru would make a retractable gear version, they would start to look pretty good!

also notice a bit of rudder deflection there, is he camera shy?

hahaahahahah i have broken my addiction, as of this month, i no longer have internet access at home.....

just means i work back a little longer, or drive down to syd to use my fathers computer.... like i am now.....on a saturday....

hmmmm maybe the addiction isnt broken........

Thanks for the answers, i was thinking more along the lines of aerodynamic properties of the tail boom, i was under the impression that a spin in a tail boom type aitcraft, eg drifter, sapphire etc, would be more difficult ? or easier to recover from a spin? as a result of its tailboom setup.

i was thinking a solid sided fuselage would help control the yaw movement during a spin? or even in level flight,

i remember the early jabirus had a little tail wagging going on in turbulance! and was thinking was that a fuse shape problem or vertical stab issue?. looking over the sapphire pics, i started wondering the same thing again, but in a spin situation, not that anyone should be playing with spins in ultralight aircraft...

the reason i was looking over some sapphire pics, well the house isnt selling in the depression in NSW, and the Savannah will have to wait a little longer, but i can afford something like a Sapphire or Vampire in the immediate future... i have been grounded long enough..

would be interesting to see just what damage was done to the aircraft by the collision... didnt sound good though, im sure if it was me, immediately after the collision there would have been a lot of bleeped out expletives..

I have been thinking, while looking back over my old Sapphire photos, how well do aircraft with a tail boom recover from a spin? a solid fuselage goes a long way to helping in spin recovery, with some aircraft requiring a lower fuse strake to aid in this area of flight....

i am just wondering, and hope to hear from pilots of aircraft with tail booms just how differently do they handle compared to aircraft with a solid sided fuselage in the stall and low speed area of the flight envelope?

There is a Land me code in FS???? hmm how does one activate this life saving feature??... im sick of leaving wrecked airplans all over the planets airfields...

nice frog! :ah_oh:

dont worry, you will NEVER forget the first solo. i remember mine like it was yesterday, 6 am, Bankstown airport, in a piper warrior.. i was so happy i was laughing all they way downwind , and looking at the empty seat beside me..... and laughed all they way back to pick up my instructor.......

Ill be there as a drive in visitor, as Kempsey is onlya short drive from the Very Beautiful Hat Head village where i will be spending the 3 weeks over the crissy break...

the way i came to a decision was to list the qualities i wanted in an aircraft, and with every aircraft i looked at, ticked the boxes that fullfilled the requirements

mine were

* 2 seats

* aluminium or fibreglass construction, my trade background.

* STOL ability to land and take offat friends properties. about 200mtrs or less.

* Range to visit relatives interstate minumum 400km.

*enough speed to make such interstate trips possible in reasonable time. 85 to90kts min cruise.

* price of approx $40K give or take a few $K for mods, extra instruments

* proven design withnumbers already flying for support base and knowledge

* reasonable cargo carrying abilty

at the end of my list was the Savannah with all boxes ticked.

fortunatly for the Savannah the new VG varient made it the winner with higher cruise speed and better economy.

even though i initially found it an ugly aircraft, but doing my research and talking to owners, i have come to love the design. Ultralights

from what i know, only what i was taught in my training was the ADF reciever picks up a signal from and NDB. ADF is Auto direction finder and the NDB is the Non directional beacon,

the NDB transmits a signal that is recieved by the ADF and the ADF needle will point to the direction of the signal. the instrument looks like a directional gyro with compass headings all around and 1 arrow shaped needle.

the VOR is a VHF Omnidirectional Radio, and transmits a signal on all 360 degrees of heading, a different signal for every degree.

the VOR instrument looks similar to the directional gyro but with a needle that swings side to side with 3 or 4 dots either side of centre. you tune the VOR on your nav/radio to the frequency of the VOR transmitter then turn the heading bug on the instrument till the needle becomes vertical. this means you have tuned in the exact heading to or from the transmitter..

hope this makes sence. i am am going off memory at the moment.

say your flying along happily on a heading of 360 overheadsay Tumut, and you wish to track to a VOR station at Wagga. the card on the VOR should be at 360 as well.

you tune the VOR to the frequency at Wagga, then turn the card till the needle lines up vertical. the heading on the card should read the heading to fly to get to wagga. this is called the Radial. so if wagga was due west, you will be on the090 Radial TO wagga. once you turn onto 270, you are now tracking to wagga. if you drift off the heading the needle will deflect to whichever side you are drifting, and the dots on the guage represent the degrees you are drifting.

once overhead wagga, and you continue on a heading of 270, you will now be tracking the 270 Radial FROM wagga.

The VOR guage has a little flag or arrow telling you if you are going TO or from the VOR station.

again i hope this makes sence, im sure somone could explain it better or find a link to the proper intructions,

VOR and ADF are very accurate for navigating at night or in cloud etc, and are primary for of navigation in IFR operations

so between good map reading, and obtaning confirmed fixes with the VOR and/or ADF, i should be theretically impossible to get lost or not know your exact position at any time..

there is a good explaination of both here

http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/vor-nav.htm

and the second part of the question, because both systems have to be TSO'ed for use in IFR or Night flying, both systems are VERY expensive, just the VOR system im looking at about $5000 US minimum or about $3000 for an ADF.

Flight sim is a great way to learn about IFR navigation, and i use it regularly to practice my nav techniques, buy thinking up obscure routes and flying them in flight sim at night and cloud using only VOR and ADF. though i havnt quie mastered the hand flown ILS approach and missed approaches. something i hope to learn when i go for my PIFR.. Ultralights

next time i am down there i might drop in and see what they have got, hope they will sell some TSOed stuff fairly cheap....

Thanks for all the info so far, very interesting..

is there an aircraft salvage mob here in Oz??

My downwind, or entering pattern checks were,or should i say, still are...

BUMFISHER

Brakes - off

U/C - Down and locked.

Mixture - full rich

Fuel - pump on, tank selection/ quantity.

Instruments - airspeed, altitude, QNH set, align DG.

Switches - correct positions

Harness - secure, seats and hatches secure.

Engine - parameters all in the green, prop set.

Radios - Correct frequencies, navaids correct

I use this list in everything i fly, from Arrows to the Jabiru of course its abbreviated for Jabirus etc but the basics of each one remain...

eg,

U/C welded and bolted.

Mixture, choke in.. stuff like that...

i also find it interesting to note the variances between everyones checks.. trim, carby heat etc... trim will change with flap deployment, and carby heat has been the topic of many a heated debate!

Ultralights

Navigation and Instruments

Having come from a GA background, all my Nav training was done the same way as the RAA, but with the addition of the use of VOR, DME and ADF. my question is, is there a cheaper Non certified version of the same instruments available for use in experimental built and homebuilt aircraft?? i would feel more comfortable on long inland trips with the use of VOR and ADF.

as i intend to install at least an ADF and VOR receiver... but unfortunately these items are very expensive.. do the digital combined flight displays available also provide a VOR? apart from the usual moving map GPS display and HSI?

one option im looking at is registering VH and finishing my gaining my PIFR rating and getting NVFR.

I would love to be able to fly at night and in marginal weather. as flying at night on a warm summers night under a full moon is something every pilot must experience...

Ultralights

Virgin i dont think would care, i have seen cars painted up like their 737's. as for QF and their management, i dont think they would appreciate it..

When i get me Savannah Built and flying, i was intending to paint the rear half the same as my grandfathers Spitfire markings including roundels and RAF number.

at $105,000 ??? it will have some serious competition over here!

yeah i get them every time, even though i have nothing to display, many moons ago went down there with Qantas and manned their display..

hmmmm wonder if i can get a free trip with BAE Systems next year...

just hype, preparing us for another round of brand new taxes!

i myself dont subscribe to the global warming scare stories, aparently (i found a site a while back) that the average global temp is almost identical to the graph of the surface temps of the sun over the same period. and the recent "spike" in temps is matched by a spike in the surface temp of the sun..

not only that, the earth has been here for Billions of years, and we only have historical accurate reading going back 100 yrs or so.... but what about ice cores etc, well they are going back 100,000 yrs or so, still a small percentage of the Billions of years weather has been active on earth...

the story just a few days ago about injecting particals into the atmosphere to reduce the amount of light getting through the atmosphere for a few months, worries my quite a bit. this is DIRECT tampering with the climate with unknown consequences. i think its scary.

dont forget the other responses to the increased greenhouse gasses, trees and vegetation are now growing at a rate faster than ever, more food for trees = more growth.

another thing regarding the drough in OZ, the Southern states have had 300mm less rain this year, but the northern states have had a 300mm Increase in rainfall, so the rain is still falling, just in a different area.

oh, and a funny thing i noticed in OZ, we have Rice farms in western NSW, wouldnt Rice grow better in the wetter Northern regions? and the dry crops such as wheat be grown in the lower dryer half?

I am an Aircraft Structures engineer for BAE Systems In Williamtown, working on Hawks and Hornets. previous to that, 11 Yrs as the same in Qantas, but with 6 yrs as a Composites Structures engineer. i also run a Super Fund for a few clients, and have worked for myself in the transport industry driving for quite a few Music companies, delivering Master CD's and DVD's to head offices and the CD factories.

fortunatly i only work 4 days a week now, and mid year next year will go back to Uni to Finish my Aeronautical engineering degree.