Ultralights

and a good approach begins with a good circuit!

sure, its 0732452579

to be honest, the do look a LOT better than the timber props, almost gives it a Real Serious aircraft look! and would look the part in a hangar full of Bonanzas and Mooney's etc.

though i HATE the tail shape of all jabirus! needs a bit of work there i think! :)

No idea where the one Above is, looks very dry and flat! in stark contrast to my submission......

just an excuse to post a few pics of this afternoons flight to see how my carby adjustments went.

oh, by the way, the BEST time to fly is the last 2 hrs before last light! you get some great lighting and smooooooooth air! though, sunrise has its merits as well..... just i like to sleep in

Climbed directly north from Cessnock runway 35, tracked direct to the Hwy at Branxton then headed off into the sunset. shot looking north from above Branxton.

Nice farm country, and a bend in the Hunter river

airfield?

Off into the Sunset! brilliant time to fly!

the town of Singleton.

when i go back to work i will snap some pics for you. the dies can be made easily by most good toolmakers, the dies we use are made here to our specifications as required and are solid steel.

the Dies we have in stock for the F18 Hornet are no good for Hawk aircraft, as the edge of the hole, and the flange has to end at 90 deg to the flat and be a constant radius to the flat part of the rib, (like the side profile of a skateboard ramp) whereas the ribs on the hornet only require a 45 deg bend in the flanged section

is it a new blend or is it just the old Optimax rebranded?

I have access to a nice puch made for making lightning holes, just drill a 1/4 hole in the rib where you want the hole, place the punch dies over through the 1/4 hold, stick the whole lot in a press, then BANG! remove dies, and you have a perfect round and formed flanged lightning hole...

i will ask next week where they can be sourced, but i know we have the technology to make the dies in house..

I think the purpose of the flanged lightning holes is not so much weight saving, but the stiffening properties of the round flared edge of the hole.

This is my first flight in the Vampire away from the Cessnock pattern.

Todays trip, track due east from Cessnock, over Newcastle to Nobbys Head, then track coastal along Stockton beach at 500 ft to Nelson bay, then west over Lemon tree Passage, where i am currently living, then south to Stockton and return via Nobbys head, Newcastle to Cessnock.. Total time was 1.5 hrs.

Departing Cessnock, flying East at cruise altitude of 1500 Ft..

Levelling off, the Town of Kurri Kurri on the nose. and a bit to the left.

Kurri Kurri off the left wing

and the town of Maitland off the right wing, some distance away though, no problem looking for a forced landing area here!

Kooragang Islnd, coal loaders and swamps.

The Newcastle 'burbs!

The hears of Newcastle itself! still very much an Industrial town... but slowly improving...

The View the other side, Stockton beach

Low and slow along stocko beach, plenty of fisherman out....

The famous Stockton Shipwreck.

Big puddle to my right!

Lots of people camping on the beach! lot of fish being caught i presume.

The town of Anna Bay! great swimming surfing and fishing spot, and also great for snorkeling, as the next few pics will show..

Boat Harbour, my favorite snorkeling area

the spit. well, the northern side of it.

Does this headland have a splitting headache? :clown:

flying down Port Stevens looking over at Nelson Bay township.

looking straight ahead at Soldiers Point.

looking over and back at Nelson Bay!

My current residence, Lemon Tree Passage.

View over the wing.

Stockton Shipwreck again.

cruise back to Cessnock.

Airstrip at ???? wallsend!

the rest of the trip was Uneventful,

yes, i know the CHT is very high, but for some reason during the flight the CHT on that one side decided to become the earth for the beacon light, and bounced between an accurate reading and the top of the scale as the light came on and off. oh well, more niggling little issues to sort out..

all in all, i am very happy with the performance, though a little annoyed at the erroneous ASI, as you can see, a vampire cruising at 5500 RPM indicating 100 kts..... if only it were true. GPS showed cruise speed was about 75 Kts..

just hope tomorrow is as good as today! ;)

I have ordered a Prop from Richard Sweetapple! $420! Very happy with that compared to the other options, at the moment i am still using my old 3 blade bolly prop, that has been repaired last week at work, and i want to get a few hrs in it so i can compare the performance with Richard when we fit the new prop when it arrives.

as for rotation, i just hold the stick back and wait for it to lift itself off when it gets to flying speed, about 65 Kts on the dial. i have pretty much been ignoring the ASI when flying, fortunately it has good feel and translates what its doing through the stick well, so the ASI isnt needed that much

There is reports that the controls jammed on this one, but i think its more like the Pilot froze up! and held the controls in 1 position..

well, its been a long few months, with numerous things going wrong and needing attention but today, she Flew!! logged 2.5 hrs this afternoon at Cessnock! and nothing went wrong or broke......:big_grin:

except the choke cable snapped.......

but a quick check everything was ok, and the now removed choke cable will cause no issues, the flight went well, climbs at about 800 FPM with the 18 deg prop at 6300 RPM.

the air was calm with a slight crosswind, but she feels very firm in the air, control forces are pretty heave considering, about the same as a Piper warrior or similar. she can be trimmed up to fly pretty much hands off, but there is still a slight roll to the Left but no where near as bad as the first time.

Steep turns are a breeze being very easy to maintain height, though the roll rate isn't the fastest!

Aileron Authority isn't too bad, as said before, about the same forces needed as a Warrior, and the trim on the stick makes it uncomfortable to move the stick side to side to get full deflection

Rudder is about the same as a Jabiru, but only move through a range of 15 degrees, so sideslipping is difficult.

Elevator authority is Fantastic! especially at low speed with flap, as the power increase provides plenty of prop was over the elevator.

Landing is easy with power on at Full flap, and with the wing being so low to the ground, the ground effect is very noticeable and makes for smooth landings!

now for the niggling issues to be resolved....

1, the roll issue, wont take long to fix with a adjustment of rigging

2, it tends to steer left when on the ground, again, some adjustment needed of the control linkage to the nose wheel

3, ASI Over-reads terribly! rotate at 60Kts indicated, cruise at 100Kts indicated and at speed below 60 Kts there is noticeable rapid sink,

according to my GPS its over reading by about 20 Kts. though there was a slight easterly today and the GPS wont be that accurate.

the solution i am told is to change to a more accurate ASI, the old one is from 0 to 160Kts, my new one to be installed tomorrow is 0 to 120Kts. and over the next few weeks i will move the pitot tube from the gear leg to the nose of the pod.

the Pitot static tube passes through the engine bay and i am told the heat in the engine area effects the reading... but apart from that...

Im HAPPY! tomorrow i cant wait to take her all over Nelson bay area, and if everything goes well, i might head off to Hoxton or The Oaks during the weekend! ;)

could you imagine the carnage if the motoring masses make it into the air?

Can i smell a destination for the first recreational flying Flyin??

Just a quick video demonstrating when you should go-around! especially when you are too High and too fast...

so i gather from that, the UC, and elevator are nothing but excess weight?

Would that be This aircraft here??

and Built for $10K!!! :;)2: great effort. looks like a really neat little airplane!

.

Hope you enjoy ..

Nice rate of turn there without Aileron!! :ah_oh: bit of slip though;)

My suggestion...

CESSNOCK!

No asic, and smack in the middle of wine country with restaurants nearby! good condition runway and nice clubhouse!

just a thought...

i was hopeing to spend up to about $700 on the prop, but i need a 50 Inch Prop. its diameter is limited by the tail booms.

MR Sweetapple is doing the prop for $420! for that price i will order a spare if it performs well.

Thank you for that, I have called Richard, and he has started work on my new Prop! and he is interested to see how it performs on the vampire, as this will be the only vampire flying with one of his props!

cant wait for it to arrive!! YAY!

From looking at your photos darren, i must have walked through or past your camp are numerous times! from where you were, if you looked towards the road, and up against the back fence there was a white van and green tent right beside it, that was me!

is the technology up to allow similar tracking in OZ airspace??

When i was looking for my aircraft, i spoke to Tony about the sapphire and its flaws and highlights! very sad loss, but there is some solace in the fact that he passed doing something he loved and was passionate about and of natural causes.

Though i barely knew him, i have heard of him for a long time and his reputation for quite some time.. a sad loss indeed...

My condolences to all...

if you have just started and cannot afford to go every week, there is still plenty of cheaper options, i see from your info thingo on the side you are starting in a warrior? you can go to Hoxton park, near bankstown and start in a Jabiru for quite a lot less than in a Warrior at bankstown, then when your ready, you can then go back to the Warrior to complete your licence tests and then you will have a Private license for a considerable saving!