F10

If your engine does something it normally doesn’t, like cut out 3 or 4 times…it’s trying to tell you somthing!

Seems strange the engine condition at 1200 odd hours. Broken rings, damaged valves, detonation, as a result of running it too lean will cause that. Pitting of the tappets probably from metal debris from earlier damage due detonation. EGT gauges are a good thing to have! I remember flying an aircraft with one, had a injected 200 Hp Continental, can’t recall the serial. EGT was super sensitive, a whisper of change on the mixture showed. I tell you now, laugh if you will, below 500ft AGL, I will not turn back, even in the Gazelle. If close to 500, 30 deg either side. You need to concentrate on landing, not load yourself up with trying a turn back. Nor get caught out turning downwind. When you are in danger and in our case, your pride and joy is heading for a damaging…without even realising it…you will instinctively ease back on that stick…Dan Gryder had a good suggestion, stick a 2mm wide strip of red pin striping on your ASI glass, at 5 Kts above your stall speed. It’s a strong visual cue/wake up call, when your getting slow, because your ASI needle goes behind it….somehow that shocks you a bit into reality.

Some interesting points! The Brits seemed to stick stubbornly to tail wheels, the Lancaster, Halifax, all their fighter types etc, even up to the early 1950s Shackleton models. The jets changed this, Frank Whittles experimental, Meteor and Vamp, but mainly forced on them due the jet pipe position. The Yanks seemed pretty open to nose gears, way back late 30s, the Havoc or Boston, P38, P39 Aircobra, B24 Lib, PBY, many more. As for flipping over, I would have to say a nose wheel would be more resistant, if it didn’t collapse. A far bigger problem is flipping over in a low wing and being trapped by the canopy! Many of today’s sport aircraft have lovely big canopies…but upside down…not so nice! Especially when accompanied by the attention getting sound of sizzling fuel drops. I will always be a fan of a rearward sliding canopy…these warbird pilots who take off with closed canopies….crazy in my book. Try breaking your way out an upside down Hurricane, Harvard, P40 (birdcage canopies) or a canopy about 5mm thick….no way Jose. The bubbletop Spitfire has a heavy canopy, works on a winding handle on RHS of cockpit wall, which can’t lock back…it will slam forward on a forced lob. Trick here was to pop the cockpit door open a tad. The door locks have these sort of double slotted ends, allowing the cockpit door to be locked slightly open. This puts a step in the canopy rail, locking it open. Even the standard sliding canopies didn’t lock in the open position. Strange!

The Tri gear Skyfox Gazelle. An affordable and honest machine. Has no vices and benign in the stall. Conventional controls, with a center stick and toe brakes. The Gazelle the Junkers style ailerons, effective at low speeds. Not a tourer, due to cruise speed and load capability, but great for a swing around the sky on a clear golden afternoon. Easy to maintain and cheap to operate. Second hand ones in good condition are very affordable. Would also be a cheap aircraft to re-build to new condition.

Not surprised, when you see how nose up attitude is restricted by the tail wheel!

Yes…I know this is an old post….but I was really interested to see this title, nose or tail wheel, didn’t seem to raise pages of heated debate! I’ve been watching these crazy STOL guys on UTube, and it’s been interesting because the tri gear Zeniths, seem to have some advantages. The Raul wheel guys on take off, have this drama of flying the tail, before brakes release, then the seem restricted by the tail wheel, when rotating, often slamming the tail wheeling the ground. The Zenith just sits there at full power, and then the pilot can rotate to a high angle of attack, unrestricted by the tail wheel. With landing, again, both aircraft configs land on the mains but the Zenith can climb on his brakes, without nosing over. I would have always gone with a tail wheel for bush flying, but now, I really would consider a nose wheel. Taildraggers are very traditional and look good. But I’ve had my time of zig zag taxi and the added handling issues. More than happy with my nose wheel thanks!

Wow, what in the water in the Czech Republic? They seem to be responsible for most of the great designs in Sport Aviation. Just recently in a magazine I read about a great new model, can’t recall the name of it right now. Impressive!

Escotthendry, that Legend 600 looks very nice, very Cessna look about it. Who makes that? Rotax engine? Very nice!

Don't apologize! I should have stated that, but as I said, the other aircraft look great!

Bernie, wow! Nice looking Fox! It looks in fantastic condition. You do know it will tow much better with the wings folded....Haha, I see you have the turtle deck removed so unfolded for the pic. I see you list as a non pilot, are you going to learn on the Skyfox? If so good idea, its an easy and friendly aircraft to fly and fully conventional, center stick and toe brakes. Good choice!

In my SAAF career, I knew of two Impalas that had in flight fires. Both caused by a faulty gasket in a fuel control unit (the BFCU), causing a severe fuel leak. Fuel pools below the engine, then she barks like a dog…whoof! The trouble is the elevators and rudder of the Machii, are controlled by aluminium torque tubes or push rods, that run through to the tail under the engine, right where the fire is. One pilot landed seconds away from the rods melting, the other said shortly after a night flying take off, he saw the fire and overheat warning lights come on, then shortly after, he felt the stick “go dead in his hands” and he ejected.

Very nice, love the Colt, RV12 is a very nice machine, indeed, they were all very nice, what a pleasure to own!…My bad, but, I was hoping on this Gazelle thread, to get pics of any other Gazelles….but hey, who cares, these were great! I am just curious as to how many functional and well maintained Gazelles are still knocking about.

Ok, so no external power required. Seems to confirm why no issue is made in manuals about external power. I have always found this system complex, being an old magneto/distributor/coil/contact breaker man!

🙉🙈🙊

Yes good point! You are correct, it was a CASA requirement for VH. Yes…I will have to try figure out how it was done. I think it may just isolate the battery from the alternator to battery charge input, but the battery can still power other systems? The Gazelle has an alternator switch, and an alternator out warning light…which is quite handy!

Well truth be told, flying back from Leongatha, I noticed when checking T’s and P’s, that the voltmeter needle was fluctuating quite a lot. Soooo, I decided to switch off the alternator which did steady it up. However, I noticed the battery voltage was slowly dropping even after switching off all other services. This seems to confirm the engine ignition system is drawing power…I think you would hit 10 Volts pretty darn quickly! Precautionary landing time with an actual alternator failure! All good when I switched the alternator on again. I think on the next bad Wx day, I might just clean up or roughen with some sand paper, the earths and some other electrical contacts……

Now I have heard that…which makes sense…but like I said, I still thought a current would still be induced. It seems very strange to me that the manual doesn’t give a “warning” or “caution” about this because it means if the alternator (yes I know it’s a different type part of the ignition at the back of the engine) fails and the battery runs flat, the engine will fail. You would think that’s a rather important detail! I think I will have to look at this. Even my Rotax maintenance manual doesn’t even mention the need for constant battery power?

Haha, have I got it wrong, wasn’t that the name of his crazy huge mate in the local pub in Croc Dundee?

Now I have heard that…which makes sense…but like I said, I still thought a current would still be induced. It seems very strange to me that the manual doesn’t give a “warning” or “caution” about this because it means if the alternator (yes I know it’s a different type part of the ignition at the back of the engine) fails and the battery runs flat, the engine will fail. You would think that’s a rather important detail! I think I will have to look at this. Even my Rotax maintenance manual doesn’t even mention the need for constant battery power?

The Gazelle flight manual states that with an alternator failure, switch it off and then “land as soon as practicable”. This means, you can fly to a field, where technical help may be available. In context. “Land as soon as possible”, means basically land at or on the first suitable surface. “Land immediately”, means, get it on the ground right now, even if it results in damage. So it seems the alternator failure is not too serious. However, in the manual, it also says it’s important to keep the alternator on at all times. So, what is the problem switching it off? Of course your battery will run down, but as far as I know, the engine will still run? After all, if you pass a magnet rapidly over or through, a copper coil, it will induce a current? So the engine should still generate a spark, even with a run down battery. The manual certainly has no warning about the battery running down with regards engine operation. Any opinions?

Most military aircraft I have come across in my career,have vortex generators located on the outer leading edge, ahead of the ailerons. They are located on the leading edge radius, in a position where they will only come into play as such, at high angles of attack, where the greater upwash will cause more airflow across them, generating vortices and so energising the boundary layer at low speeds.

Bonza! This is your Captain, Paul Hogan speaking. The last hijacker thought he had a knife…till I showed him mine! Any complaints, speak to Donk, the chief steward!

Another Warrie….! Years back flying the MB326 Machii the SAAF called it the Impala. Great little jet, and pretty quick, she would run up to 400Kts Full power straight and level, if clean. I was flying a tail base with Zandy Greef. Coming out of a loop, I was gaining on him, so throttled back to idle and lowered my nose, to let him gain some angles on me. As we bottomed out, lowering the nose caused me to hit his slipstream. I felt the aircraft roll and yaw, sensed rather than heard the “whump” I corrected and all was good. He was now getting away, so I increased power, only, the %RPM needle went backwards, instead of increasing….a glance at the JPT showed the needle unwinding below 400 degrees. In that instant I realised hitting the slipstream at idle, had caused the Viper to flame out. This was instantly followed by that horrible slide feeling in the gut! Now in the Machii, the re-light (ignitor) button, is ontop of the throttle, just above the transmit button. No prizes for guessing which button I immediately pushed….Zandy said afterwards, he was surprised to hear heavy breathing noises suddenly in his helmet earphones, he thought it was like someone making a dirty phone call! I realised my error and quickly hit the re-light button. With relief, saw the JPT needle kick and the RPM start winding up on throttle advance. The good old Viper 540 was always a good re-lighter! Feeling a bit of a tool…we continued the fun sortie, having a bit of a laugh in the de-brief.

I read a very good statement, by a guy writing about his SF260, one of the sexiest single engine aircraft out there. He said the nose wheel is there for one reason, to attach a tow bar to! What he meant was, often pilots will raise the nose off only on rotation, at times almost wheelbarrowing and on landing, will dump the nose down almost immediately after touch down. Nose gears are sometimes not that strong and are already having to carry the engine weight. Personally, I like to treat my nose wheel gently. On take off, as soon as the speed is alive, I come back on the stick, and you need a lot of rearward stick, because elevator not very effective at this stage. I select and hold, the climb attitude. This allows for a very smooth lift off and the aircraft also lifts off when it’s ready to fly. Can be tricky because you need to co-ordinate reducing back stick, as the speed increase, to hold the climb attitude constant. You don’t want to over-rotate. On landing, same thing, After touch down, I hold the nose wheel off as long as elevator authority make it possible. Yes, don’t let it slam down. This allows good aerodynamic braking and reduces stress on the nose gear. Of course, this is NOT done in a X-wind landing, get that nose gear down ASAP in a X-wind. Anyhow, this works well in my Gazelle and let’s the stronger main gear do most of the heavy lift work.