Mike Gearon

Great story to share. Last light is a problem as the season changes. All the time in the world summer daylight saving. Glad you’re safe.

I think this is worth sharing… just found that my Garmin watch thinks I ran 235km yesterday and shared it with my running group. Only found out when a friend congratulated me on the “run” posted to Strava. Hold racetrack was more impressive in my recollection than the actual ground tracks.

That’s a good point. 1. My situation involves an American wife and a deal to spend time in USA each year. So… while I’d like to be in Australia we have a 98 y.o. American mum and Deb has an operation coming up that has to be in USA. (Long story) what to do in USA? Fly! 2. It’s also a little cheaper to fly in USA and huge aviation resources everywhere you go. 3. I’m converting FAA PPL to CASA as well. I’ve been jumping through appropriate hoops including an English language proficiency test. (Yes, it seems crazy but we want to be politically correct) I’ll bring tail endorsement, night VFR, float plane and hopefully IFR. I’ve asked the question on IFR and can’t see why it won’t convert. It happens all the time for commercial overseas pilots. Glider won’t convert. I know this for a fact. Pity! That was a gruelling 5 hour exam and checkride last year. Yes, same inputs and in time allowing fairly wide latitude on mistakes. Early in my training with young instructors on their way to the airlines they’d always flair the Cessna. It was so frustrating not getting to feel the inputs. Re instructor preflight and post briefing. Huge benefit. In training after PPL if I wasn’t provided with this I’d ask for it. “Please brief me and are there any things you expect I’ll do wrong and can we talk about them now?” First IFR training flight in late 2021 I asked this. Instructor refused. We started flying hood on. I’d tried preparing with YouTube’s… I had 3 hours IFR as part of American PPL..Still my corrections were way too big. Incredibly frustrating. A pre flight brief would have helped hugely. Turned out this instructor was notorious for being a dick. Enjoys belittling his students and you can’t get to do that as much if you’ve prepared them.

I’ve just come in from 1.4 hours IFR holds to VOR fix and 1.6 hours total.Huge headache during this because of flying instrument stress and late afternoon but couldn’t be helped because of aircraft breakdowns. I’ll always fly morning if possible. I was rock solid on attitude, altitude and headings and wind corrections in hold with instructor help. Flew that warrior in to a nice landing. I’m pretty happy 64 year old bones held up well. Might complete IFR while here.

Even later same can happen..3 years in and over 300 hours now…. I’ve just moved from the unbearable heat of Phoenix to Rapid City South Dakota IFR training. Long travel day to Rapid then an hour under the hood with a new instructor and worn out….Hood off (Sim IFR to VFR) and turned base and final and had everything perfect then…. I wanted the Piper Warrior held off and we didn’t. We gently banged into the runway. I knew instantly what had happened. I can still picture the skid marks where we touched down. I was all the way back to where you’ll be. We all get fixated on the spot we aim for. I was 100% looking at the touchdown point and didn’t know how high we were. We learn to get our eyes up as the instructor will tell you. Look down the runway. I’m bringing in a little mid final now. Gear fixed/ Gear down/(gear up amphibious) wind direction check and eyes up after round out. That’s pretty cool you remember that. I had no interest in returning to the runway area and wanted to stay up in the circuit. Seemed much safer and peaceful up high. Hope your flying goes well. I nearly gave up a few times. I had an awful instructor. Only awful because I was his first ever student and he had no clue. Give the young guys a go and move to older if any problems is my suggestion. I have a 27 year old for IFR. We are same hours and experience. He’s a pleasure to fly with because what I’m learning and the mistakes I’m making are fresh to him.

I know it’s early days to be talking paint… still, this is likely paint scheme. First pic is another S21 mural scene. Pretty cool. Reality is we likely will be the red, white and gray of the S21 pictured with the Rans green substituted for red. Notice the VH reg on that aircraft. Early Aussie build.

Here’s Mike Starkey and his wife’s completed build with an amazing paint job. I was following their build last year in an American flying magazine. Lots of clues on electrics and I was worried about these more than anything else. Nic being an electronics guy fixes all this! Might borrow some of this great airbrush concept with a koala island theme as long as the koala has goggles and a machine gun. (Cuddly cute koala isn’t going to work) Nic is onto the wings… D leading edge now has light hole cut and we air freighted the lens and lights.

Yes, I’ve paid attention here. The tiny orifice of the return line necessary to maintain pressure and obviously to limit fuel return flow. Say 30 minutes and 10 litres to a wing tank as acceptable and 20 litres as way too much. Balancing act between keeping the fuel cool/ vapour exit and not returning an unmanageable amount of fuel. Bottom line the small orifice can’t be avoided and unlikely still but still possible to block hence fuel strainer should be before the orifice. I’ll be checking and changing if needed on mine. Magical thinking. 🙂 That was sure a dumb idea with that line. Not a shred of critical thought. Even if it went forward to cool airflow and through a little fuel radiator you’d still be left without an exit for vapour/ bubbles. Just has to go all the way back to tank with breather.

Well, that out a smile on my face. Really enjoyed. Missing Australia and that little slice of Nynja flying heaven was really cool! Nice to see Old station as well and what goes on.

I think more than a few of us aviator types will chase a problem hard to conclusion. Working out what’s actually a problem is as Ibob mentions the key point. I dare say we also,have to know when to put the problem away and just get in with it. So much going on as airmen.. airpeople? I’m doing IFR at the moment and hold entry is driving me nuts let alone all the rest of IFR and just plain flying the aircraft Here is a Rotax thread where 2 guys have engine problems solved by fuel pump being turned on (pressure fixed) and in at least one case no return line. https://www.rotax-owner.com/en/912-914-technical-questions/4950-engine-missing-low-fuel-p-must-be-vapor-lock 100% need the return line. Don’t return to tank feed line by T or to header. Bad idea. Return to fuel tank. Ideal world it’s split into say 20 litres per hour going equally to your multiple tanks. We don’t have that so just pay attention and don’t throw your reserve fuel out the return tank breather port. I threw near an hours flying time out. I’m 100% certain I’ll never do this again! I’d rather not learn through experience. I screwed up a few ways on the New Mexico trip. 1. Flew over desolate ground and 2 I had a late departure to my destination and didn’t contact Robert. He emailed if I was coming and I’d missed it. I’d have got the plane down just fine. 99% landed it and worst case pulled the chute. Problem as Robert mentioned was I’d end up with no coverage at an abandoned farm house in the desert heat. Oh yeah…3rd problem. I didn’t have Center on radio and was so bumped around I couldn’t hold the iPad still enough to sort. I was very aware I didn’t have emergency frequency set up…. Again… never again. Paying it forward… COVID in Taiwan and I was stuck for 9 months. I knew this site was struggling as I was and gave it 1k. Yes, I was the crazy bastard did that! I’m happy with the advice on this thread and not sticking my (to be manufactured header tank) with included return line t. 1k of advice. Done! I was a little annoyed my glider airport recently had a miscellaneous charge of $350 from 2021…It was storage of a few boxes of crap and a few weeks my motor glider was there. I told the manager I’d happily pay just for the advice. 2021 he watched me taxi over some rough ground and advised I was lucky not to get a prop strike. …. New tail wheel pilot and I’d not thought of it. Tundra tyres coming btw will fix this.. Advice…..350 dollars well spent.

I’m heading back to just dumping it in the one wing tank. Simple is best. UL is the engine Jabiru should have been! Rotax are pretty well sorted

Rotax comverison….? I’ll have to go back through threads and catch up. I recall you spent a lot of time on airflows with the jab. I’d go UL if you’ve not got to the buy stage yet. Those engines are so simple. More like a lyc/ cont engine. I’m very happy with our kit plane decision to go UL520 turbo 220hp. Re PROP STOPpED as relates to the tanks/ headers/ return lines. I didn’t realise a few things until both that read and a few helpful private discussions. The more I learn the less I know! I had a discussion with a very knowledgeable guy here who mentioned vapour lock. Also mentioned how that return orifice could be easily blocked. I guess you could drive yourself crazy looking at all the “what if’s” but… now knowing this I’m thinking the rotax return line should have a flow meter. 1. The fuel pump is creating bubbles… methane bubbles and vapour. These aren’t a big deal in the carburettor bowl because it’s like a tiny vented header tank. Not so great for fuel injection. Not so great to return to a header tank that isn’t vented. These bubbles also go back into solution under pressure. 2. I now understand the return has an orifice! Below lifted from rotax discusion on why the return line has an orifice/ restrictor. THE REASON The fuel return line's purpose is to prevent vapour lock, by simply keeping a small amount of fuel always moving thru the system. The restrictor's job is to prevent the fuel pressure in the system from getting too low, while still allowing a small amount of fuel to pass thru the system, and be returned back to the fuel tank. Without the restrictor, fuel would flow at max rate, which might be too much for the fuel pump to handle. This would be similar to turning on your garden hose. Unrestricted, water gushes out of the hose, and the water pressure inside the hose is not very high. Now, place your thumb over the hose. Water still flows, but you have reduced the amount of water that flows, and you've raised the pressure inside the hose. THE AMOUNT of fuel flowing in bypass (yes, you really can empty a wing tank out the rotax return line wing tank vent….I’ve done it! At 5gph (US gallons) that’s pretty easily done. related to restrictor orifice. 0.3mm (0.012") to 0.7mm (0.028) have been used sucessfully. The larger sizes would be more appropriate for the lower fuel pressures seen in the UL engines. The smaller sizes would be more appropriate for the iS engines with 45 psi fuel rails. Once you get it installed, Test it! An unrestricted fuel system can pump ~30 gal per Hour. You want to bypass ~5 gal per hour. Not too much more. 5 gph is one quart every 3 minutes. Run the bypass hose to a quart jar. It should be about half-full in 90 seconds.

Regarding fuel tanks/ reserves/ returns… I’ve just received an education re return from Rotax. seems you can’t do the obvious and connect the return to header tank. I guess a few here already understood that from some helpful messages I received. . Even returning to a wing tank has its potential problems. https://www.rotax-owner.com/en/912-914-technical-questions/6329-mandatory-fuel-return-line?start=5

He did great. Made his emergency call. Got the aircraft down and walked away. Immediately called authorities to let them know he was okay. I like to listen to AOPA podcasts “There I was”. So much learning from others. I have my retractable now and listed to a gear up landing and how it happened was an eye opener. . Last one was a helicopter forced landing due to weather. Episode 31 I think. He forgot to call authorities as he’d not wanted to declare an emergency even though they asked him to. Finally Center got hold of the guy and they were pissed! They played back to him the last few minutes including “unable” when they requested a frequency change. Telling him if wind turbines straight ahead and the weather from really closing in… they had every right to be angry. He was very apologetic and said he should have declared an emergency.

It should be a regulation. 6 litres is a nice amount to run a tank dry and get a warning light with of course preference to keeping an eye on the low tank and then keeping an eye on the receiver level. Biggest benefit is the rotax return has to go back to the ON tank. Almost as big a benefit is being able to completely empty a tank. If you’re half way to destination and a tanks empty then plans need to change. If you’re over half way and empty a tank and check your calculated distance and you’re short then work out what’s wrong and plans may need to change. Usable fuel on 2 low tanks that can unport is something you don’t want to be flying. I have a plan to put in a 150x150x600 stainless reserve. Approx 12 litres with sight gauge and warning light in dash. Feed the 2 tank lines in and reserve return in with a bottom line out. Takes up a bit of room in storage area with the BRS and arguably more useful.

I’m in USA doing IFR training in stinking hot Phoenix and Nic is back in Australian cold soldiering on with the build. We jointly completed most of the back end. Nic has since completed ailerons and moving onto wings. We have Aerosport carbon dash and parts ordered for inclusion with August 20’ container to Australia with my Pipistrel tail dragger. I sold this so many times and it fell through that I’m now going to cut its 50ft wings down to 31ft and big bore the engine. Being done by an expert in New Mexico and I’m the test pilot and will help. I’ll just fly it out to a speed that is just below flutter and see if anything breaks off. UL Power USA is supplying UL FWF and I’ll meet Ray at OSH Kosh to take delivery of engine mount with hopefully tricycle option. Note… Rans changed the design to include Tricycle mount incorporated in engine mount. Makes sense. I may receive as tail wheel only. Ray did say many people want to order with the tricycle either because of prohibitive TD insurance. Say up to 12k USD due to all the crazy STOL stuff people do an apparently aren’t very good at! Or, as in our case we build tail wheel and have our own option to change or resale value advantage. Ray will have the UL520 cowling as well. There have been delays on this. If neither are ready for OSH Kosh delivery we just wait until they are. Ideally we pick them up and wife and I drive them back to Nebraska hangar or Kansas Rans factory and throw in with other stuff. pics here. Nic is going great and occasionally gets a hand such as rolling from our retired airforce A&P. I believe we are getting the trim tab done again at the factory and shipped complete. Nic has been keeping the one we built in “the corner of shame” I think our completion date is possible as long as the container ships in August/ September. I’m torn between enjoying? IFR training and glider flying and wanting to be back there building. Counting down. We plan to leave early August back to Oz. That D is the wonderful RANS wing leading edge. Great innovation. Makes it very difficult to stuff up. Hopefully.

My current front runner is the Icom. After experiencing dual monitoring I now understand how incredibly valuable this is.

I’m currently in USA googling Microair to try to understand the intermittent communication problems I’m having. Last was leaving a towered airport and really caused me great stress. Nearly wandered into B airspace. So, I’m googling randomly and return back to Australia to rec flier with a definitive solution…… I’ll Throw out the microair radio!

That’s crazy. I’ve taken a clue from one of the builders I’ve followed on this forum. We will build a temporary spray booth in the hangar complete with air flow and filters. I sprayed cars as a teenager. Hobby rebuilding them. It’s not that hard. Good prep. Correct paint. Good steady even start to the pass, press trigger continue steady even run (distance from surface) with follow through after trigger released. Move down 50% and repeat. It ain’t rocket science.

Just a short note on sucking air. I’d read some 12 months ago about the problem and a Pipistrel did go down some years back and was found to have both tanks open and fuel remaining in 1 tank. The Australian importer had noted on the Pipistrel forum that in their tests they’d empty a tank and prop stop, turn empty tank off and crank start. I relied on windmill start. Twice. I also note the importer discussed how bad air in the lines is. Had about 5,000ft and 27:1 glide so not a large problem. To repeat the experience I’d not have tested it again and put air in the lines a second time. Take home is to reinforce emergency procedures. I redo first aid each year and while it’s always annoying and I think unnecessary there are holes that have developed over the 12 months. It’s well worth installing a reserve tank with rotax return to the reserve. Double or triple fix. 1. No need to switch tanks. 2/ Reserve of some 16-18 litres is another hour Rotax flying time as a bonus, 3. alarm or tube site the reserve and plenty of time to find an airport.

I had to do the math… yes, 500 X 60 = 30000 = 5kn I used the SPLAT calculator on a 100kg person at 500fpm/ 2.6 meters per second.. that’s the equivalent of jumping off a 1ft wall. So many variables of course. Real life a 1ft drop in … meaning your aircraft in the hangar and 1ft off the ground and somebody cuts the rope is going to be quite a jolt. So, in a landing no flare at all it’d be nasty. I think ground affect must cushion all those flight school events like this so they aren’t terrible. As you say though, a 1ft drop is infinitely better at 5kn than a 100ft drop in at 40kn. I had drinks last night with a guy who was at paragliding event last year south of Phoenix. He was unfortunately witness to a motorised paraglided take off and at 100ft the chute tangled and the guy died. Gusty conditions apparently. This is why we have proper wings. You have a fair chance of fixing things that go wrong and obviously work really hard not to be in that position in the first place.

Yeah, we do a version of that on French island. The 3rd generation locals know way more than us recent arrivals. I’m still considered such at 12 years. They run tractor slashers and achieve not quite as much as your guy. They still make a huge difference. One year my job was to hose them down, they’d dive into the fire area for a while then come out for a hose down to get the tractors sorted. I’d oblige 😀 then get back to my blacking out job.

Decathlon has an almost symmetrical wing for aerobatics. Therefore…AOA related lift. Lower surface is exposed to the airflow and lifting force created beneath the exposed surface like holding your hand out a window and exposing a flat edge. Lift and drag. Upper surface is directing the airflow downward. Newtons 3rd law. Downward directed airflow and equal and opposite reaction is lift. That’s all easy to understand. High and low pressure isn’t easy to understand.

Yes. 20 years ago F100. I ended up ripping wires out with my bare hands and burning them. Wasn’t my dodgy wiring! Yes. Hay elevator motor caught on fire (I was a teenager)and I wrapped in my shirt to smother. Recently…Yes, French Island fire and I turned up late. Defended a house by scraping the ground and stomping on flames while gesturing wildly to the slip on and tanker. It’s bloody surprising how little you can do without a rake. Water… it doesn’t take much at all to deal with what I was struggling with.

I just spotted that it can’t be air shipped due to FAA regs! Try googling some of the key words like potassium radicals. I’ll ship some in a 20’ container in September with am aircraft and various bits.