Ultralights

amazing how strong those aircraft are, they can take a plunge into the river at 300Kph, and stay intact, as well as their cockpit safety cell, i hope hes well enough to fly and compete during the weekend. might have to borrow a aircraft though.

i remember a few yrs ago now, Peter Besingnei crashed into a light pole at Montegi. destroyed the aircraft, cockpit safety cell remained intact

i quite often listen to my ipod while flying, i have a ANR headset though with separate audio inputs for music players, whenever there is a sound from your own microphone of receiving transmission from the radio, or intercom, the sound volume drops to a inaudible level, and for 2 seconds after the last sound is received, at which point normal music volume is slowly restored.

wow, fuel lines, electrical wires and bare aluminium edge. potential for disaster right there!

i would fix it with a loom stand off to hold the lines and wires firmly and away from any chance of chaffing.

in all my years with Qantas, and now the NAVY and RAAF, Araldite is rarely used, mostly on cabin interior parts like window surrounds and seat parts. araldite K-134 is used extensively in airliner Galley assembly.

the Brand HYSOL is everywhere though especially types like HYSOL 9309.3 (bonding adhesive for metal and composite structures), 934, bonding aluminium alloys, 956 high temperature resistance (used in wet layups for engine cowls etc) 1751 for bonding steels titaniums and teflon. and thats just the adhesives, some can be used as resins in fibreglass/carbon fibre and other reinforcing cloths.

the RAAF have devised a method of surface preparation that pretty much guarantees the bond will not fail, but the cohesion of the resin itself will fail before the bond to the component. just to do the prep work requires a 5 week training course, and has to be done to very strict temperature an humidity conditions.

the short short version is MEK scrub, for 30 mins using a clean scotchbrite every wipe, and change gloves every 5 mins, followed by grit blasting of the surfaces to be bonded using soft aluminium oxide medium, then MEK wipe for another 30 mins using clean cloth every wipe, then GAMMA surface treatment, followed by water wipe, then oven cook at 110DegC to evaporate water for 30 mins. only now can the adhesive be added and the parts bonded. the entire process cant be stopped when started and takes nearly 9 hrs to complete when done by the book.

its a long drawn out process, but in some tests the bond has held up and the original metal has failed instead.

the key is good surface prep regardless of the resin/adhesive you use.

how much baggage can you get in the back of the J120? did you get all your camping stuff in the back of it?

oh, and a SP6 wih the J170 wing would be awesome!

owl cutouts only work on starlings for about a week before the smart little buggers figure out the owl never moves.

also a beed of clear sealant along the top of the vertical tail helps keep birds off as well.

its no problem if water gets into the airframe, it will evaporate away, but dont get any stripper in there as it will start severe corrosion.

In the airline/military game, most aircraft requiring a repaint are just lightly sanded, prepped, and then repainted over the old sanded paint. this preserves the protective qualities of the paint, and minimises chances of exposing bare aluminium and damaging its surface.

PAint strippers are very bad news for fibreglass parts as the solvents in the strippers will dissolve parts of the resin structure and destroy the resin bonds. Not good.

I have spent many hours hand sanding 747s for repaints, its not uncommon to repair an aircraft and find 10 or more layers of paint! even the NAVY Sea King helicopters still have the Light brown colour under many layers of grey,as they were bought second hand from Israel.

Dont sand rivet heads as you can grind half the head away and reduce the rivet strength. scuff rivets with scotchbrite.

personally if i was to repaint a metal aircraft and strip it back to bare, i would remove and strip each skin and piece from the aircraft and strip it

separately. Residual stripper hiding under skin joins and fasteners etc can be a real pain in the butt and cause problems long after the paining is done.

Dont forget MEK is a known carcinogen.(in california only apparently) when we use MEK in the hanger, we clear the hangar of all unnecessary personnel, wear full protective clothing and supplied breathing air.

i really like the SP6 model, basically for their performance, but my concern is baggage space as we are planning a red centre tour with it. (or whatever we buy)

do tell.....

most i got from our schools 40 Hr old 170 was 95Kts at 2900rpm

Gday, over the anzac long weekend i am planning a trip to look at a SP6 to possibly purchase,

what i would like to know is there any SP6 owners near sydney or within 2 hrs drive of syd, that we might be able to go have a look a the aircraft so i know what im looking for, check cabin size etc etc. before i drive 2000km to look at the one for sale.

Thanks in advance

Rob.

we have a new J170 also, and to stop the float on landing, aim for 60 over the fence, touch down at 55. no more float. remember it has a lot bigger wing and flap area than the 160. with full fuel and near MTOW, i aim for 65 over the fence and on the runway at between 55 and 60

after the base call a C210 that was inbound came over the radio blasting my friend's use of the radio saying that so many calls were unnecessary, the pilot was extremely rude and pretty much yelling through the radio, I have never seen such a lack of courtesy over the radio.

all calls there are correct, actually the less aircraft in the area means i make more calls, if your arriving at a CTAF and hear silence, then assume there is no aircraft, then how do you know 3 other pilots have done the same thing? it happens quite regularly, you hear silence on the radio, somone else starts and taxxies to the closest runway and starts rolling, he makes no calls as he hears none and assumes no one else is there, the aircraft inbound does the same, next thing you know your turning final only to have your windscreen filled with an aircraft departing from the opposite direction.

so make the calls...

Thanks for all the help, Dave F, i am in syd, so it might be possible to get to Cessnock before the Anzac weekend, iss send you a pm and get details soon,

Jeffry, Leongatha isnt far from where we'll be, so it would be asey to drop in and have a look. thanks again,

At the moment we have cut the list down to 3 aircraft,(JabiruSP* Savannah, or Gazell) as we are limited to a budget of around $50K and looking for something that will take us on our red centre tour later this yr or next. it took some convincing just to get the other half to look at a Savvy, as she places quite a bit of wight on the Looks factor. i love savannahs, but im talking her around.

thanks agin for your help.

The SC103 STROBE is a self contained 12 volt DC operated light designed specifically for Ultralight use where an external 12 vdc power source (battery) is available.I

have these on my vampire.

great shots! send some into Airservices australia and get them on the cover of the ERSA! it was also great to meet you and your mum, cant wait to catch up again

over the Anzac long weekend, i am planning a trip to Latrobe Valley to test fly a Jabiru, but also on the hit list of aircraft to purchase is a Savannah and Gazelle, is there anyone in the lower NSW or VIC area that has a Savannah we can inspect so i can convince the co-pilot they are a versatile and touring capable aircraft?

I am based in Syd.

Thanks in advanced.

Rob.

the pencil is my new invention, zero G pens, so they weigh nothing, all the better for saving weight! but can be annoying when reaching for them as they tend to just float around, can get ugly when you open a vent or 2 :P

Dick smith seams a reasonable sort of guy, whould he do the job of CEO? im sure he knows the ins and outs of CASA, ATSB and governemnt

oh, Maj, the camera i took on this trip is a Cannon Eos 450D. my co-pilot taking the pictures.

The Final leg home, 24 hrs later.

I finally managed to bribe my brother in dropping me back at Goulburn to pick up the Jab we left in the cold the previous day. weather in Syd still didnt look promising, so i repacked the camping gear just in case.

driving down we saw a few cessnas passing Bowral below cloud level and still about 500 ft AGL, so that was encouraging, funnily enough soon after passing mittagong, the cloud cleared and revealed a almost clear sky at goulburn.

Rolling runway 04. into a beautiful smooth sky

goodbye goulburn.

Wasnt long before i was at cruise height of 5500, but the cloud ahead was getting lower and darker... pressing on.. fortunatly the route behind back to YGLB would be clear.

Approaching Bowral/Mittagong gap. i was down to 3500Ft, or 1000 ft AGL, but fortunatly i could see through the gap to the other side, at this point i decided to go IFR, I follow roads, as i dont feel real comfortable flying over heavily wooded terrain or built up areas when there is a perfectly good runway called the Hume Hwy if something should go wrong.

IFR

and the view ahead

fortunatly that was the lowest of the cloud.. yay.

A few mins later i was clear of the low level cumulous and into the sydney basin with a cloudbase of 6000ft.

and safely back home! trip officially complete..

now for the locust removal washing process.

all in all a great trip with pleasant detour overnight n Goulburn where i got to meet Ross on his return from Natfly, and a few others. the guys at Goulburn were very helpful and i am greatful for their assistance and wish them all a very big Thank you! so if its not to much trouble Slarti, can you pass on my sincerest thank you to everyone at Goulburn who helped me with letting me park the Jab where i did, and offered a ride into town to find accommodation.

a great bunch of Guys!!! :thumb_up: it was very much appreciated.

thanks everyone!

Tomo's Jabiru landing light upgrades!

i like em!

Day 2, a beautiful morning, hot showers and a nice bacon and egg roll for breakfast.

who could that be?

spent most of the day looking, drooling and going to seminars, once lunch time rolled around, we wandered back to the tent and decided to check the weather back home, forecast wasn't good, low cloud, rain and cloud on ground at the critical location we needed to cross at Bowral, from 5 pm, and forcast to stay all sunday and monday.

after much umming and arring, we made the call to depart early, packed up, loaded up and refuelled with the calculated 70 ltrs required.

flight home was a bit bumpy cruising at 5500 below the cloud layer

passing Goulburn the cloud level lowered as forcast. sadly to a point where we could no longer continue forward and had to return to Goulburn.

short finals runway 08 Goulburn.... and is that a rough strip or what!

we were fortunate enough to get a room in goulburn, and returning sat morning proved the forecast correct, low cloud, scattered showers and cloud on ground at Bowral.

so now im back in syd less 1 aircraft and a car. hopefully tomorrow will be clear enough to return to goulburn to retrieve the Jabiru, get to bankstown and get me car back. fingers crossed!

well, my first ever time flying in to Temora, and its has been a great experience, all beginning with the radio chatter apon arrival to the temora circuit. that was an experience i dont want to repeat to many times.

well, we departed bankstown and tracked south west to Goulburn then turned west direct to Temora, avoiding all the tiger country, and enjoying the VFR on top of scattered cloud at 8500 ft.

my co-pilot

nothing like smooooth higher level cruising.

20 Nm out i changed to Temora CTAF and just listened to all the chatter! amazing! and shocking as well.

10 miles out i managed to get an inbound call in, then all went quiet, only a few calls here and there, i started to relax thinking we might get a traffic free arrival! how wrong was i! as we arrived overhead it was a real struggle to get just the minimum required calls in, but we got them in thankfully.

descending on the dead side to join at circuit height on crosswind

joining crosswind runway 18

finally made it to short final

nice shallow flare

not to mention the loud impacts of numerous locusts getting smashed into the airframe!

finally arrived! YAY..

tent up, time to relax before getting food and catching up with everyone!

i was really impressed with the camping facilities, nice and clean and powered as well. not bad for $10.

Friday night was great catching up with Slarti, Bluey the fly, Tomo and many others.