S.Drifter

I can't wait until drone's with up to 6 or more hours of duration are developed at an affordable price. I'd love to be able to muster either from the office or the cab of a ute parked out in the paddock. There is huge potential here.I can see no reason why you couldn't use it on your own place or do it on a commercial basis. It would be a lot cheaper than running an aircraft as is done now and not to mention safer.

No argument here. That type of operator is a very small minority and there are clowns in all walks of life not only in primary industries ripping off the system, but what pisses me off is being tarred with the same brush as them. If you aren't prepared to look after your animals and land you have no place in the industry.

Damn I'm one of the ones that bought the neighbor's out, do you mean if I sell out I may even be a multi millionaire who would have thought, but it still doesn't answer my question. What would be your long term plan be to stay on the land and stay viable? Other than chuck the towel in.

. What would be your long term plan be to stay on the land and stay viable through 3 or 4 years of dry times after a couple of marginal years following 4 dry ones?

Have a look at a new DRIFT. wristband remote has a screen, Pic quality is excellent. My old HD has been in all sorts of places around the world and hasn't missed a beat unlike a mates Go Pro. Quite streamlined, lens rotates through nearly 180 degrees and doesn't stand out like a pimple on a dick

No rain here yet, looks good on the radar up round Cloncurry so hoping it gets down this way. Geoff I am and I know everyone else out here are humbled by the generosity and support of you and others in the general public have given it is truly overwhelming especially when most are not doing it so easy. Thanks. The old saying about "empty vessels" was penned by a wise man.

I think a long bow has been drawn here. Not all livestock owners out here have that plan, in fact they would be in a very small minority and probably won't be here to see the next drought ( I hope not anyway ). In our case we destocked all cattle at the beginning of the dry (about 3 yrs ago)and bought our sheep numbers back to ewes only , under 2000. We usually run 500- 800 cattle and 5500 sheep. Even only running 2000dry sheep ( haven't joined for over 3 yrs ) it is not only the dry, we have been eaten out of house and home by macropods which have been in plague proportions for a number of years because of the resistance to sustainable harvesting of roo's. Mother nature has done it for us in the most inhumane way possible, by starvation. I would estimate over 5000 have died on my property alone. Nothing is more depressing than going on a water or feed run and near dead roo's trying to drag themselves up then collapsing again then having to put them down or pulling dead ones out of the water troughs because they've fallen in and haven't the strength to get up and drown.This is a death you would not wish on anybody or anything. I just ask one question . What would your drought plan be to still be viable after the drought breaks? Me I'd just buy my stuff from Woolies and pretend all is well and tell others how to do it

My deepest condolences to Wayne's Family. I have been away from civilizeation for a few days and have just found out this tragic news and I am still stunned. What a loss, he had forgotten more about Drifters than most of us will ever know. A humble man. I first met Wayne in the mid 90's when I was looking for advise on rebuilding a Maxair Drifter I had bought in bits and was given his number. I rang him and asked if he knew much about drifters and his reply was "a bit".After a couple of long conversations I loaded all my bits up and drove about 1300km down to Lismore only to find his "bit" of knowlege was a vast understasement. We have been friends ever since I have flown over 10,000 hrs his planes and did my biannual with him recently and could still make me sweat. After a few beers one night in 2000 we decided a 912 Drifter would probably make a good mustering plane Wayne did the designing and I did the building under his supervision and I am still impressed with the results. Wayne and I were planning on building a super drifter later this year but unfortunatly that will now never happen What a loss. Max

What is her address? I should be able to help her with some of the $11,000,000 my unknown Spanish uncle so generously left me in his will.

I have the oppitunity to travell to South America later this year and will spend some time in Chile and trying to find out if there are active ultralight clubs or industry there. Thanks

Is there a list of all JAB models made including specifications eg. fuel capacities,cabin widths and other physical and performance figures? I see one on this site but it has models and nothing else. Thanks

Interesting reading. I must say the 912 doesn't windmill when you switch it off, it just stops. I would just like to say one should be aware that you can flood a 503 in a heavy RH side- slip, doesn't seem to do it in a left hander and have never experienced it with the 912. I can gurantee it will concentrate the mind when you slip from 500'agl to tree top to bolck up stock and there's only enough there to to keep you level untill she clears her throat. How do I know this??

It's not necessary have the throttle springloaded to open, it's a very simple fix to have springload to close . Its already there from factory. Check balance every 100hrs, need to adjust every second blue moon .

I got sick of 160 to 260km a day chasing stock through thickly timbered and rocky terrain while mustering on a bike and having to do rebuilds on a regular basis and not getting clean musters.Not that I don't like riding bikes it's just that I can utilize my time much better. My current work bike is nearly 10 years old and I did its first top end rebuild last year a far cry from needing a new one every year or two . After 10,000 hours+ air time I still find it extremely rewarding working stock from the air.For me the more hours I do the more cautious I become and the learning never stops.

Maybe it's turbulance, have you done any modifications? I put a higher screen on mine and had the same "flutter", cut it down - no more flutter

Just wondering what EPIRB'S others are using,what features and what is the best price? Thanks

Can anyone fill me in on the reason/reasons for recording all landings as per CASSA? Thanks

I was going to suggest Raglan for the northen one for one year as it is far enough north for northen members to get to easily and a bigger trip for southern flyers . I can see no reason not to hold at Raglan at the same time as their annual fly-in if the orginisers are in agreement and also it doesn't necessarily have to be this year.. I think a different place each year would be a good idea, alternating between north and south and maybe towards the west at some time so as to make it an all round thing.

Flying Suits My oppinion on this is save your money and buy yourself some decent layers. If you buy some good quality thermals and some over layers including a windstopper shell I think you would find this much more practical than strutting around looking like "The Michlin Man". With some good layers you can look as if you are dressed casually and be super warm even in the middle of winter when you do before sunrise starts and and the best thing you aren't hindered in your movements by bulk and as the weather warms up you just leave a few layers off.

Have never had to add oil between 50hr oil changes, motor has over 2000hrs on it and runs well. Saying this it has a easy life as the only time it go's over 4200rpm is on take off or if I need to climb.

Depends who it is and what mood I am in, I use a couple of relpys "Everyone dies but not everyone lives'' or I was killed in a crash , but when I saw the light I didn't go and was back flying next day.

Depends on what you want out of a GPS and what sort of aircraft you are using. If you are still learning to navigate why don't you look for a cheap second hand Garmin 12 or the like, there are some cheap one's of these around if you look and will do everything you need to navigate. You still need a full set of current charts especially where controlled/restricted air space is concerned and I think it would be rather foolish to rely on the data base of the newer one's as your sole reference. In the past few years I have covered over 140,000nm using a 12 without a scrap of trouble, even flying the gaap into YBAF ect. All it needs is a bit of homework, the rest is simple. Thats my 2cents worth

Hi J.L Yes that was mine and it has been earning its keep. It is on its way to 3,000hrs and when it gets there I will ascess what to do with the motor ie. keep flying it/ or get a new motor.I won't be rebuilding as I think it has saved me enough money to get a newie I have kept an accurate record since day one on both motor and air frame.Its been running onGPS since new with 50hr oil and filter changes, the compressions are so close to new it doesn't matter andI have never added oil between changes.I've been RYCO filters for a time now even they say not to, never had an issue with them and sometimes its only 10 days between oil drops, it may be different if you are on 100 hr changes , but there's quite a difference in price The 912 is so far ahead of the 503's that it's not an issue,in fact I've had a mates 503 out in the hanger for over 6months and I walk past it every morning to get to mine and I haven't had the slightest inclanation to fly it. The saving on fuel alone makes it a propersition, the only time it gets over 4200rpm is at take off or if it is really windy. On a calm morning 3,800-3,900 is about it and that gives8L/hr and still has an air speed over 60kts. One of the noticable differences other than the difference in proformance is the lack of vibration, nothing cracks, undoes or falls off either on themotor or airframe and you don't have to keep turning the pins on the floats. Another thing is spark plugs (what spark plugs)clean and gap every 100hrs. The only issues I've had with the motor is the temps or the lack of them, and that could befixed by fitting a smaller radiator and thats been addressed with the later Mk11's. Also mines been hard to start from new, sometimessneezes and blows a carby off, have had the carbies back to Floods and still the same, maybe somebody has a suggestion as to what the cause is , it idles at 2,000 and both in sync and cables adjusted equally. I have had no airframe issues as of yet, except routine replacement of cables ect.in fact the only rivits that have worked are 2 either side of the boom above the tail wheel and that was in the first couple hundred hours andhasn't happened since As for how hard do I work it? I find that hard to answer. I treat it as gentle as possible, I try not to land on rough ground. In the airI try not to be too radical, sometimes you just have to wait till you are out of a turn so you can get your jaw back or there are other times when you are merrily flying along and bang ,you have to look around to see if it's still all intact. But normally I use it for water runs ,usually twice a day when it's dry which is easy work, but most of the time is spent mustering and most of the time it is not too hard on the airframe,just on the mind.Some days its not uncommon to do 4-500nm and notget out of a square of more than 20x30km. Actually I do commute between our properties, about 401nm, about 6hrs usually and under 60L of fuel and best part isno landings in between. The 182 does it in about 3hrs and 150L fuel plus all the CASSA crap Thats about all I can think of at the moment

Another suggestion is use a HPC coating on the entire exhaust system incliding the springs, then fill the springs with silicone after running a lockwire through them. I think the coating is well worth the money, not one speck of rust in 6yrs. Mind you it hasn't rained here for about that time and the only time its seen the coast is when it left Lismore when new.