spenaroo

The way I see it Skippydiesel. You have an assumption that price is a large component of the deciding factor - I put more importance on convenience and least risk. Matching specifications and parts, and finding cheaper alternatives for customers was what I did for a living the last decade. And I was good enough to have been repeatedly head hunted. I don't shop for fuel on price, I value my time and energy as being more valuable then what I see as a $3 saving once a fortnight. (5c a liter, on a 60L tank is only $3) I refuel when needed at the most convenient BP or United (personal preference, found shell gave running issues in some motorcycles). oh and for future reference only 91 and 95 has a fuel standard in Australia, 98 just has to meet 95 standards I don't Disagree with your thoughts, but I have different thoughts on the issue why do I stick to OEM parts on the Ducati and VW, because its guaranteed and reliable - it fits, it works, it is correct. there is no questions, no delays its peace of mind. more then willing to pay that bit extra to not think about it. this is especially important to me with something like a timing belt that its tried and tested. this peace of mind is more importance to me then risking an aftermarket alternative. I have seem too many special cases. I agree in the vast majority of times simply getting an equivalent of the same specification will work. but I have personally seen enough of these outliers and the damage they caused over a decade of being a workshop parts person. That I personally will not take the risk on a vehicle that I hold in high value. I would rather pay the premium to know its all just going to work. I've had too much pain with aftermarket manufacturers catalogue's being incorrect with fitments. inaccuracies in models and years, or just flat out wrong. dealt with enough returns and delays. further to this I gave you the example of the oil and coolant where the specifications are not necessarily the whole story. Ducati used certain materials in the heads of the 1198 motors, that reacted with existing coolant. they had AGIP make a coolant for them to combat this (after it was an issue - they were fitting replacement heads for a while - they originally used a shell coolant) now you can use a coolant that has the same rating - like the original shell product. but that doesn't guarantee it uses the same additives to achieve that rating. very easy to go online and check the specification that coolant lists as meeting (now Ducati specify the lubricants by product not specification, so only the ones used in the factory are in the manuals - not a minimum spec). but that just shows the industry standards it meets for performance not representative of additive packages (here is that 98 Fuel example again - as long as it meets 95, you can add as much detergents as you like) same with the oil. I Highly recommend Motul to everyone, in my opinion it is the best motorcycle oil - just don't use it in a Ducati. both it and the Recommended Shell advanced ultra meet the JASO MA2 specification and are 15W50. but still every Ducati I saw that had main bearing issues used Motul, and never saw any of those issues from the bikes running Shell (yet I don't use any other shell product) P.S. 2000's model Suzuki's would slip the clutch if fully synthetic oils were used - just another example of these idiosycracies and then you have items like clutch discs, brake pads, brake discs, seals - for which there is no industry specification. some of these are better then OEM, some much worse. sticking to OEM is the safest bet. The Vstrom, despite it being a newer bike. like you I prefer the cheaper alternatives because I just don't care as much. if it has an issue its of lower personal value (Ducati has sentimental attachment). I can afford to write it off as a worst case. Its far easier for me to walk into my local shop and get a K&N then to drive to a Suzuki Dealer. Happy to experiment with performance of parts on it too. same with the Midget, I can afford for it to be off the road, The Amorok I can't its my daily drive. I feel like an airplane engine is the last place I would try to save a buck. I'm not confident enough that if it goes Bang I wont get injured it doesn't align with my personal risk assessment. but obviously yours is different

I think we have very different mentalities when it comes to servicing. I treat different vehicles differently. believe it or not more expensive and higher performance usually means more care is needed with different tolerances. My Amarok for example gets a high quality oil - as it has to be a specific oil grade to work properly in the VW engine. properly expensive stuff but I haven't had any issues. My Ducati gets only genuine parts used and shell oil. it is sensitive to oil in the main bearings and the belts will grenade the engine if they go wrong. I know from my time in the dealership that if a certain popular brand of oil - even with the same viscosity is used then it cause the bearing to skid instead of roll. (another fun Ducati fact, wrong coolant will corrode the heads) My Vstrom gets aftermarket K&N filters (nut on the end easy to remove) and quality aftermarket oil (funnily enough the same brand the Ducati doesn't like, is loved by the Jap bikes). the Midget gets a reputable brand filter and basic mineral based oil - not used enough to hit a service interval. but still changed every 12 months

here are some examples I found on the net of oil filter crushing, both are from Rotax powered sea-doo's (the ones I physically witnessed were in this application) easy to see as this is a cartridge type instead of a spin on, where it would be hidden by the outer case. still see the same damage with spin on's as the inside wall collapses - but harder to photograph this is the oil system - risking major engine damage if anything goes wrong. for what a $10 saving? will never understand why people cheap out in this area

Interestingly there are no cross references through the regular options, I used as an automotive parts interpreter.

The bypass valves and the micron rating on the filter medium make a big difference. seen a few engines come in with a collapsed oil filter from the pressure - used to have some pictures on an old hard drive - very impressive to see the crush damage. A workshop I used to work for had a motor destroyed by a reputable aftermarket filters with the wrong flow control valve- the filter company covered the repair from memory. had to be careful with the Harley-Davidson filters. the old evo filters and the twin-cam filter were identical looking. but they had different Micron levels in the filter medium (Evo was 10 micron, TC was 5 micron). could use the new twin cam filter on an older Evo, but couldn't go the other way from memory.

should see the price of filters in the hydraulics industry. blew my mind the first time I saw a $300 filter.... and it wasn't that much bigger then a van/truck filter.

$36.50 is a good price, last I checked my Ducati filter was about $45. cant compare to automotive the qty is different. same engines used across multiple models, and same filter used across multiple engines - manufacturing in the millions. completely different economy of scale.

Im assuming CASA has the same brief as the previous ministers gave. "keep it out of the newspapers"

Japanese bikes use JIS Japanese industry standard. just slightly different - most notably in the smaller screws. best example is the front brake master cylinder. which is why they almost always strip out when people do their own services - without the JIS screwdrivers.

Yeah, I just remember an interview with a sea stallion pilot, where he was going through how maintenance hungry they were. and all the hydraulic issues. very much a case of if there was no hydraulics leaks, then the system was empty.

additional point, there has been a lot of talk about it being a complicated aircraft.... but lets not forget that the alternatives are similarly complex. with their own automated folding systems

yeah, the article I posted earlier talked about the Marines loosing 6 sea-knight helicopters from 2001-20012

A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotary wings or rotor blades, which generate lift by rotating around a vertical mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines a rotorcraft as "supported in flight by the reactions of the air on one or more rotors"

hmm it does bring a good question about what makes an engine an engine by definition. is it the crankcase or the crank shaft? and how's that work for stackable options like a Rotary. that can have theoretically as many crank cases bolted together as wanted, its limiting factor is creating a crankshaft that takes the forces.

Once again, its not new technology. was played with in the 50/60's Believe it or not the MV-22 Osprey is the safest rotorcraft the Maines operate https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a7663/how-safe-is-the-mv-22-osprey-8036684/ . and find me a western fighter built since the 70's that didn't have a computer managed flight system.

I dare say its easier to control then a Harrier, or the Lunar lander. its the first generation and has had its teething problems out in the public. just like the F35. its a fairly mature design now and they have the second generation starting to be built with the V-280 Valor

WTF does blockchain have to do with aircraft? its an record/accountancy thing. and AI these days has basically just become the new buzz term for machine controlled or learning. these same guys would say the the F16 and F117 is AI controlled.

what engine was it using, they word is "with standard Rotax ULS 100hp" anything can be a world record if you put enough details on it.

Don't land on the wrong carrier

Its ceremony for the "shooters" to launch their boots at the end of a tour

And a second hand A32 Vixxen is $172k on plane sales....

We all want scrappy's wing. but I doubt anyone wants to pay the cost for manufacturing and development. the Jabiru is a cheap basic aircraft. plenty of other faster and slower flying options available. no point chasing after it - if its going to take away from its primary selling advantage.

still has the supply of parts and services. which probably suits the kit supply of light aircraft, may have the facilities still to do the factory built - or leave as is. with Mahindra's component manufacturing could take the engine build/development back to India and work on bringing prices down. to provide an entry into the light aircraft market. at the moment they have been playing mostly with the bigger commercial stuff

How many aircraft manufacturers are in Victoria? my guess is GippsAero who are apparently backed by Mahindra

i don't know if the low stall speeds are all they are cracked up to be. remember swapping from the Jabiru to the Vixen. sure in theory the Vixen had a lower stall speed and better short field - but get the airspeed wrong and it floated down the whole runway, get it wrong in the Jab, she would still slow so often rescuable.