marshallarts

On 22/06/2021 at 6:13 AM, RFguy said:

Nice to have a bit of weight  (stored energy)

I couldn't agree more.  I'm not a pilot these days, but was back in the 1980s and 90s.  And for a glorious few years we owned an old Beech Debonair - now that had a bit of heft to it!  Built like a tank, it shared a lot of components with the Bonanza, and even a few with the Baron I think (e.g. landing gear).  MTOW was about 1350kg if memory serves, and that weight certainly gave it a lot of stability in the air.  I really wouldn't want to fly anything really light, and the thought of a 600kg MTOW makes me shake my head a bit.

Equator Aircraft is working on this hybrid amphibian, somewhere in Scandinavia I think.  They have flown the prototype, and seem to be progressing quite well.

https://equatoraircraft.com/index.html

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Despite my Jabiru company related engine troubles, I will be sticking with the airframe. 

Just saw this from a while back...  RFguy, I'm sure you are aware that there is at least one J230 around powered by a Rotax 914.  There's actually one for sale at the moment.  So maybe that's an option if the Jab engine saga gets all too hard.

Good grief. That is a near-death experience.  I stopped it at the frame where the nosewheel goes past the photographer's head, and I'm sure it was below the height of his head.  The guy on the motor scooter on the road got a surprise too.

Thanks for all that.  Doesn't sound like it's something that is going anywhere really.  Not anywhere worthwhile, anyway.

Anyone here know anything about the Foxcon LSAs, from north Qld?  I'd never heard of them until I just noted one for sale on planesales.com.au.  I found their website (rather basic), all quite interesting - the Terrier 200 seems to be the mainstream model.  They look quite nice in the pics - about the only thing that doesn't appeal (to me anyway) is the double wing struts, as they would intrude into the view quite a bit I think.  They seem to be pushing the Subaru EA81 engine, another thing I know nothing about.  But they also mention the good ol' Rotax 912.  It isn't entirely clear to me whether they do factory-built, or only build-it-yourself.  There are a few used aircraft for sale on the Foxcon website too, all with not many hours.  Anyway, if anyone here has some experience with these, I'd be interested to hear their impressions.  Not because I'm a potential buyer or builder, just interested to see another Aussie manufacturer.

There's a Brumby low-wing with a Lycoming for sale in Oz at the moment - it's an amateur-built one, looks very nice in the pics.  The ad says its an O-235 but when I enquired about it (just curious, not because I'm a potential purchaser), I'm pretty sure the agent said it's actually an O-233.  Don't know why he hasn't corrected the ad, but there you go.  Anyway, I was interested in the empty weight, which I believe was (is) 360kg.  So not a lot to play with there.  The aircraft is virtually brand new - completed in 2020, only 40hrs TTIS.  The agent said it was built by a "serial builder", who is onto his next project already.  Obviously a builder, not a flyer.  It has been on planesales.com.au for quite a while so it doesn't look like people are lining up to buy it.

What a great project, well done.  It looks fabulous.  You have brought that aircraft into the 21st century.  Enjoy!!

2 hours ago, kgwilson said:

A bargain for anyone who wants high performance and range. Eurpoa's new Elite looks amazing with Spitfire like eliptical wings and excellent performance as well.

I agree, times 2!  The older Europas are something of a "quiet achiever" among light homebuilts.  They have a very low profile in the market, but that is very impressive performance and fuel burn.  And yes, their new Elite looks great, it's a pity that the Covid19 debacle in the UK has undoubtedly cost them many lost months of progress on it.

Ah yes, another (ex) Beechcraft owner here, so I know what you are talking about.  I owned a lovely old Debonair ("Debbie" as we affectionately knew her) back in the 1990s - what a delight she was to fly.  Quite fast, stable, forgiving, and almost landed herself with those big fat wings and the ground-effect.  Glory days.

Footnote to my original post...

I tracked down the aircraft details as listed by the auctioneer.  It doesn't show their age in years, but most are quite high-time, over 11,000 hours TTIS.  Only about 3 have less than 10,000 hours on them.  A surprising number of them seem to be unserviceable - engines and/or props missing or "incomplete", some with no avionics, etc etc.  Some are situated at Jandakot, some at Merredin.  It's mostly the ones at Merredin that seems to be in bits.  So maybe a few restoration projects in store for someone.  These are composite aircraft, so you'd think the airframes should be sound, almost regardless of age.  If only I were about 20 years younger...😁

onetrack, you must have been typing at the same time as me - the list is here -> https://www.slatteryauctions.com.au/auction-catalogue/6151

Thanks Red750, interesting.  For something with an IO360 up front, the performance seems a bit underwhelming.

Just saw a heap of Grob G115-C2s appear on the auction market here in WA.  China Southern pilot training school apparently went into liquidation back in December, and all the assets are now being sold off.  They operated out of Jandakot and also Merredin.  They bought the Merredin airfield from the shire back in 1995 for $1, then spent about a million on upgrading it.  Another Covid-19 casualty I guess - their primary mission was to train Chinese pilots who would then return home to take up a career in aviation.  But with little or no international travel, no students = no revenue = big problems with all those aircraft sitting on the ground.  I don't know much about the Grobs, and I don't know how aircraft auctions go, but there might be some nice little 2-seaters going for attractive prices in the next month or so - 38 of them!  All quite sad to see really.

4 hours ago, onetrack said:

current ROI in the network infrastructure to the Telcos is 65%. I don't know why the Telcos are getting out of infrastructure ownership with that kind of return

Neither do I!  In 2021 most CEOs would give an arm or leg for anything close to that level of ROI.

I do think OME raises a good point here.  And it's not just the billions being thrown at the F-35 fighters.  What about the multi-billions being peed down the toilet for these ridiculous submarines?  The Collins class subs which will apparently be retired soon have been a huge money-hole too, both to buy and to operate and maintain.  My question is - has ANY submarine operated by the RAN since WW2 EVER done anything of any strategic significance?  I suspect not, and I just don't buy this line that we need them as a "deterrent".  So we will pour these billions down the same hole again, and these subs will spend their lives doing training exercises or "war games".  What a joke.  Except it isn't funny.

Does anyone here know anything about the Whisper aircraft, out of South Africa?  They have a 2-seater (all-composite I think) called the X350.  Looks pretty good on paper (or on screen) - fast, fairly spacious, quite good useful load.  I'm not a potential builder, just curious to know how good (or not) they might really be.  Their website is at https://www.whisperaircraft.com/

29 minutes ago, onetrack said:

But those islands are riddled with Tiger snakes.

Hmm I did the boat trip out to Woody Island just before Christmas, and on a guided walk was assured by the guide that there are NO snakes on that island.  Seems odd that only one (or few) islands in an archipelago of 100 or so would be snake-free.  Don't know what to think now!

19 minutes ago, turboplanner said:

However, for your information ATSB don't normally investigate Recreational Aviation accidents, unless for a specific reason, when they announce they will investigate, so unless you see ATSB advise (not the press or a local club member) that they are sending people to the scene of an accident, don't expect any information from them.

What makes it a Recreational Aviation accident?  Just the registration of the aircraft?  If so, this one wasn't an RA incident - the aircraft is/was VH registered.

This is just awful.  It's not clear to me how the PIC fits into the picture here.  I know VH-SIP has been for sale for a long time, because I've been sort of half-watching it since I live just 30 or 40 minutes from Serpentine, and if the lotto numbers ever lined up well enough, it just might have been something I would be interested in.  The Aussie register still shows the original builder as the owner/operator, so unless Mr Brady bought it very recently and the details haven't been updated yet, he doesn't seem to be the owner.  If he was just doing someone a favour, then it almost makes it all even worse.

For those who don't know, Serpentine is operated by a very vibrant club of owners and builders, and there are over 100 aircraft based there, many of them amateur-built.  This will hit that community very hard too.

Yes thats correct. I was on the $50 deal for years and when i renewed recently it was gone!

How very irritating. That $70/35GB prepaid with 6 month expiry suited us very nicely, what's there now somewhat less. Oh well, by the time we need to recharge it will be different again! I can hardly wait....NOT.

I use my phone Bluetoothed to the Ipad you don't have to pay twice for a data connection.

Similar here. Our tablet becomes our own private Wireless Access Point when there is no free one around to use. Or even when there is - free public wifi is not necessarily secure, so I would NOT recommend doing your banking on it.

ALDI has a $15 prepaid data plan, 365 days expiry, using MOST of the Telstra network.

I strongly recommend that you compare the coverage maps. The key phrase with ALDI is "MOST of the Telstra network" - you will note for example that while Telstra has coverage almost all the way across the Nullarbor, Aldi has NONE. Zip. Zilch. We use a Telstra simm in a tablet for our road trips, because in our experience Telstra has the best coverage, hands down. Our current one is a prepaid for $70 which lasts 180 days and gives 35GB - data only, no calls or texts. But things change all the time - I can's see that one on the website now.

Thanks from me too, kgwilson. The Canstar scores confirm my (generally bad) experience with Varta rechargeables, both AA and AAA. They were OK for the first few charge/discharge cycles, but it didn't take many before the capacity started going south. Won't buy any more of them.

Ah, so it is the turbo engine - I thought that was the most likely candidate. Not surprised to hear that parts are getting difficult to come by. Also interesting to hear it is one of the Serpentine fleet.

I recall seeing a Jab here in W.A. with a Smart car engine.

Crikey, I wouldn't have expected that as a choice of aircraft engine. I just looked up specs for the Smarts, and looks like there was an 800cc diesel and a 1-litre petrol., with and without turbo. None of them would exactly give neck-snapping performance, I suspect. It would be interesting to know how that turned out.