RFguy

I'm cautious where I do orbits. I am very careful/ concerned on crossing RWY approach and departure headings..... not so bad when there is a wind up and the pattern is a little more defined, IE you can be more confident something isnt going to come up at you from that departure direction...... but I feel for me, alot of tension / stress in a zero wind situation with the potential planes departing off either directions on the RWY. IE each end of the RWY out to perhaps 5nm can be hot with traffic at 1500' and below. In those cases my approaches are always midfield, cross wind , and I am tangental to the RWY heading inbound for at least a couple of miles . but even then that's no guarantee....

ready to get mixed up in someone coming over midfield cross wind.....from one direction at circuit height or the other at 1500' Plenty of choices for conflict ! 🙂

no no no no orbits in circuit, I was referring to INBOUND. sorry for the confusion

I'm talking uncontrolled class G. Not D or C. well you dont have an option in C unless you have a very good reason. and in D everyone is surely expecting you to be proficient and do get it right and stick to the program / proceedures / guidelines ?

My concerns are all about other non commercial GA and RA. I dont find RPT or commercial GA ops any issue. they communicate well on the radio, and you know that generally they'll do a straight in- IE there is no guess to their intentions. If I have ever been in a race into the strip with anything larger like a Caravan I just go and do an orbit . and I dont ask them if they want me to do an orbit, I just ANNOUNCE that I am doing an orbit . if I am running up someone's arse on a circuit I will just tell them I am slowing down to give them some room, not wishy washy like " do you want me to slow down to give you some room ? ". what HAS to happen to ensure SAFE ops is (usually) already apparent so there is no need to introduce any uncertainty.

Traffic displays are excellent as long as your primary task is flying the airplane and generally looking around. BUT We are all taught on the circuit corners- clear right, clear ahead, clear left. that's actively looking. But really its very much cursory looking. I really doubt you are going to see traffic on those brief looks unless you're about to be gunned out of the sky in a collision. Let's be frank- circuits are flying intense, there is alot to do, the only time you get to just smell the napalm is about 30 seconds of the downwind and maybe on the base leg you get a bit of a view of what's going on on final and on the RWY and taxiways. Seeingn airborne aircraft more than 300' off the ground depends so much on the background and lighting. Oh, Comon Man ! (with apologies to Biden) It's unrealistic to think people are going to be gazing around out of their aircraft doing circuits looking for pinspots in the sky against busy backgrounds when they are likely busy with flying especially if there is some wind, or bumps. and more so , students. I mean that with vigour. Oh, Comon Man ! Just like Biden puts it when he points out something obvious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjjoGjh9xM8 So, any sort of traffic assistance that can tell you when you need to be on your guard is useful.

I think you only see other aircraft when you know within a 30 deg cone where to look. and the background has to be cooperative. coming back into cowra last sunday arvo, I was (we were) joining downwind for 33 from the north, and I had two aircraft coming in from the west couple of miles further out. Fortunately they both figured how how to organise themselves and joined one after the other over the top 1500' with a 180 turn and mid field cross wind . nice. so I wasnt worried at all, everybody was aware of everything. plenty of communication. It was good choice for them to come in over the top of me at 1500 (while I was downwind ) and do the 180 down to circuit height- ensured no issues. So alot of this comes down to defensive choices. HOWEVER ! I did see them 5 miles out to the west-----only because I looked where i thought they would be, there there they were !!!. aircraft against dark clouds. One had their landing light on - the low wing PMU , and that was a piece of cake (and they had ADSB on and my flight crew bitch Thruster88 was watching them on ADSB)

I think renewal fee should be on MTOW .

didnt have to find it they got it out of the hanger.. its OK. has been rebuilt. needs skins and a big cleanup. 582 engine (replaced) now 15yrs old and 170 hours. AF 2300h TT, about 300 since rebuild.

YCWR >> YCBB Nice flight to go and look at a Thruster for sale with @Thruster88. Owner did have 900m field , I did an approach but felt it a bit much for my experience with sloped fields. On walking it, the slope seems less intimidating than from the air. wide and smooth. was original Coonabarabran airport from 1958 . .....Went back to the town airport 4 miles away. Nice spot for an airport, very clean and open field with good approaches and a nice surface. First time I've flown around through a line of showers on enroute, also. On way home, improved WX managed to get back up to 8500. If you are going to fly at 65% power, than anything less than 10,000 feet is leaving TAS on the table.

TIME FOR SOME AVGAS

0) Be sure the gauge is connected through its own negative/earth wire back to the engine OR back to a really good common ground/negative bonding point. 0.5) Check the condition of the sense wire over the run, those things are often not well anchored and may rub somewhere. In the presence of high RF, it will act as part of the antenna... 1) I'd check that the temperature gauge , when the radio is transmitting, is still receiving the 12V it expects. 2) I'd check the radio antenna VSWR at the middle of the band 126 MHz. If I didnt have a VSWR meter, I'd check the antenna and cable, and remove the BNC RF connector plugged into the radio and visually inspect to ensure the centre pin is still almost flush (common problem) . 3) Do you get 'normal' range from your radio- Can people 10nm away hear your transmissions loud and clear? Or can someone with a handheld aviation radio with the handheld antenna removed hear your transmissions 100m away ? If all those points are OK, its likely to be RF getting directly into the meer circuit due to proximity of the antenna and engine coolant sensor wire. At the back of the gauge, apply a 0.01uF disc ceramic capacitor across the sensor input and ground. Or change the sense wire to some miniature coaxial teflon cable. ...

The high vapour pressure numbers of auto ULP are not all bad though. You get more vaporization at the carburettor, and less fuel runs into the engine as large droplets , so likely better fuel burning- economy and power---- and this is said to reduce engine wear because droplets of fuel don't end up on the walls of the cylinder (killing the oil film) . On the other hand, more vapourization at the carb leads to higher icing potential . My Lycoming carb is heated/ heatsunk by the oil sump / inlet plenum, so icing is probably more likely initially before everything heat soaks after 10-15 min airborne. If doing circuits, that's probably the first couple of circuits.

Oh and I did numbers for huge gph before try this instead- I meant litres per hour .... Fuel suction tension in 2m of 1/4" tube at 55 lph is ~ 1.1 kPa. at 30 lph, 0.25 kPa. For 7/16ID @ 55 lph 0.05 kPa... velocity is only 0.5 m/s at 55 lph at 1/4" ID. so, bugger all. and each 50mm radius 90 deg bend (constant ID) at 55 lph in 1/4" ID costs about 0.1 kPa.. If the ID in the bend is 4.5mm instead of 6.35mm, drop rises to 0.3kPa / 90 deg bend. There is probably 4 bends in my system .

bugger all. 0.064kPa. at 9 gph only 0.1kPa dont forget fuel filter pressure drop, also. bugger all again at those flow rates.

On MOGAS / ULP and flying at high altitude. I was thinking about this with my flying at FL115 with ULP for cruise. The big issue is the RVP, (Reid vapour pressure) and the VP. (RVP is at 40 deg C) The RVP for AVGAS varies between 38 to 49 kPa. For Australian BP Premium 98, it is listed as 30 to 100 kPa . Many states mandate maximum average RVP of 67 kPa and some lower- 55 kPa in summer months ( don't store fuel across seasons) . The air pressure at 3000m is 70kPa (stp) and ~62kPa at 4000m. So we are getting into trouble territory for some MOGAS deliveries / tolerances at higher temperatures or high altitudes .. Take the temperature down and things look much better. There are two regions to think about, tank temperatures, which could be high if the aircraft is sitting on the ground all day in the summer, and engine bay temperatures. In the engine bay, temps are high and the VP may be exceeded just because it is hot, requiring that region to be pressurized with the aux fuel pump. - pressurizing to 5psi (~ 71kPa) using the aux fuel pump will in most cases push the pressure above the vapor pressure if the fuel and prevent vapor bubbles forming between the firewall and the engine fuel pump. Beyond the engine fuel pump, that's deemed 5psi (PA28) , also (is it at all flow rates for your aircraft ?) . Which brings me to : To ensure the fuel between the firewall and engine fuel pump stays a liquid. : a) aux fuel pump may be required at altitude where DA > VP . b) aux fuel pump may be required with hot fuel from the wings at any altitude. c) Use of a low RVP fuel (AVGAS or summer MOGAS) may be necessary any time the fuel between the fuel pump and the carb is > 40 deg C. It's not all bad : The VP does reduce substantially as the temperature falls . (see graph below) But- If the ULP is 'winter fuel' the RVP could be up to 100 kPa. Certainly in the USA. Not sure in Australia, but the data sheet does say 55-100kPa in the Australian datasheet. For the winter fuel, the VP at 21deg C is about 71kPa- about fuel pump/ fuel system pressure. Trouble region. At 10 deg C, its down to around 50 kPa. So there lies an issue - a hot engine bay AND winter ULP - the combination is problematic. I would like to have fuel temperature as well as fuel pressure. For low wing aircraft, or high wing with low mounted collector tank it needs to be drawn through long tube, reducing the pressure as the system in that region is in tension. Fortunately it is not always hot in these regions of the airframe. That is UNLIKELY to be an issue unless you are taking off from a high altitude airstrip (or in high DA scenario) and have hot fuel in the wings. If the fuel in the wings is at 40 deg C, trouble between the fuel draw and the firewall pump is unlikely to occur at DA of below 3000' . Fuel suction tension in 2m of 1/4" tube at 55 gph is ~ 13kPa. at 30 gph, 4kPa. For 7/16ID @ 55 gph 7kPa... so that will increase the effective DA with the suction component for a low wing. Conclusion- TO, climb and land on AVGAS or other low RVP fuel (summer MOGAS) . Footnote- 100% Ethanol is quite good..... more useful info page 40 onwards https://www.chevron.com/-/media/chevron/operations/documents/aviation-tech-review.pdf

well he doesnt know any more than us.

I dont read anything about that in the ATSB prelim report.

I read that as control surfaces were connected. But may not have been functional after hitting something . maybe pitch up due to damage , since the distance between impact and wreckage was a fair way. gust of wind or engine trouble, or both or excessive load and failure to gain altitude. Something like that even momentary engine stumble might be big trouble. You'd expect a tailwheel pilot to be ready for a gust of wind. My wild speculation, at best . arrogant presumption at worst .

WHat does it mean by : " Flight control continuity was established through several breaks to the flight control surfaces." Does this mean flight controls were intact (IE controls connected to the surfaces ) ?

Fuel return is to permit circulation of : heated fuel (changing its vaporization behaviour) , purge / pass bubbles in the line around the system . So, it does provide a very useful job. For a system without a collector, it does pose some issues to which wing you might put it back into. high wing with collector tank for both wings - fuel return is easy. Rotax requires that a fuel return is provided for in its installations . (past 6 years) . Skip, so 5 litres / hour now ? IE something about a bit above idle for that engine . or about 4 tablespoons per minute. , amounts to a velocity in the delivery of (2 x 5 lph) of 2.7mL/second. for 1/4" ID (VOL = 31.6mL/meter ), the fluid is 'changed out' abotu once every 11 seconds. sounds reasonable. I think you could go half that again and still have plenty of return .

golly.

NOTE - this engine and the chinese bits were discussed elsewhere in this webiste/ forum.

In my case of having traffic to my right , turning right would have meant the collision occurs a few hundred milliseconds earlier. My best option would have been to pull up since. I was below or at Va. Now, if they had ALSO gone right right that would be OK if I had also gone right. if they had gone right down , would have been best for me to go up left.

anyone wondering go to the CASA myCASA portal, log in, go to medical, and there you start the process. you fill in your GP name and details and you get a partially filled in 11 pages to take to your GP that does the same examination as a Heavy Vehicle License test, tick the boxes, fill in a few things. If it is "unconditional" then you just say yeah I am unconditional and the class 2 basic med certificate is generated on the spot and you are done....