BrendAn

😄😄

  On 23/07/2023 at 1:29 AM, facthunter said:

This is NOT a very  FAST aeroplane It's never exceed speed is about the same as a B 727's clean stall speed. TO runway length required would also be considerable. No mention of pressurisation or deicing. The Macchi Jet trainer has a similar Performance to the Douglass DC 9

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its a single seat kit plane. i am pretty sure he wasn't comparing it to a commercial airliner when he purchased it.

  On 21/07/2023 at 7:23 AM, Garfly said:

 

 

I didn't get the impression that BrendAn was unfamiliar with the specs of the aircraft he's already bought.  Maybe I missed something.

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582

  On 20/07/2023 at 11:46 PM, IBob said:

Brendan, I would say make sure you have a radio that works well in your aircraft, and learn to use it to give and receive clear communication. (We all like to think we do that, but some mumble and do not enunciate clearly, and some speak in a rapid monotone, presumably thinking that makes them sound cool and professional.) Test it by asking for radio checks: some owners fit handhelds, and while they may work okay in some airframes, it's clear that they don't work well in others.
If necessary, get whatever you can to improve your own hearing inflight: I have Lightspeed Zulus, which are a major improvement over passive headsets for me.
Learn to set and use the squelch on the radio: it's not a set and forget thing, if set too high may cause you to miss calls.
And get ADS-B. It won't necessarily be used much to locate you in circuit, but what it WILL do is alert others to the fact that you are there.
 

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thanks ibob. the xair has a good icom radio and new headsets. definately need to get a sky echo i think.

  On 20/07/2023 at 9:42 PM, RFguy said:

ARO said : " The idea is to work out where other aircraft are before you try to be in the same place. "
love it. yes. so true. 

 

As for the Xair, I think you are over worried about any issue.  The Xair wont be any different from any other problem unless you are threading yourself into a circuits full of planes.  and then everybody is on their toes anyway.  If your circuits are tight 500 footers, and your timing is right, radio calling is good,  that should work just fine.   I would have thought in an Xair you wouldnt be spending hours in the circuit either.   The problem with congestion might occur if you fly too deep on downwind, or too wide etc.  But that also goes for aircraft flying 1000' circuits. The other thing, is, if uncomfortable ,  there a strip you can TO and fly to for bulk circuit work? like a croppers dirt  strip somewhere ? The Xair wont need much strip...

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good points. once i have my certificate i will flying over farmland away from most air traffic. west sale and bairnsdale are pretty quiet most of the time . when i was doing lessons at latrobe valley it was very busy on some days.

just when i thought it was safe to fly i read all the near misses in this thread. its pretty sobering. what worries me is i have bought an xair because i decided i want to fly low and slow and land in paddocks so i got rid of the jabiru. now after reading this thread i wonder if i will be a sitting duck flying 500ft circuits at 55knts. i have radio but should i be getting a skyecho .  i am thinking of faster aircraft dropping in on me on final .

  On 20/07/2023 at 7:46 AM, BrendAn said:

it wouldn't kill you to say what a nice plane that is. 

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Maybe this one will put a smile on your dial. Listen to that radial

  On 20/07/2023 at 6:48 AM, facthunter said:

Flying way up is pretty boring though. You don't feel the sensation of speed. . I'd prefer a WACO..  Nev

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it wouldn't kill you to say what a nice plane that is. 

It's just a case Ih Ag chopper

Nothing special.  

  On 17/07/2023 at 9:47 AM, Marty_d said:

I'll second that, Renault had great seats.  My first car was a Renault 16, my Dad bought 2 for $500 and I bought one from him. Shit car but the seats were brilliant. 

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maybe mine was a 16. ugly looking thing.

  On 17/07/2023 at 8:07 AM, facthunter said:

Think I'd prefer to struggle with a P76 V8. You have to fix the Boot seal first and then the metal shavings left in the engines. I've really lost my passion for things of the 70's. Funny that I was offered at Job in motor body design at the place that  BMC stuff was built at Zetland in Sydney. I was going to say the P76 was quite a valiant effort and at least they tried.  Nev

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i remember the old man bought a brand new hx kingswood 202 .3 on the tree. lime green with a brown vinyl interior that burnt the sh#t out of you on a hot day. the pollution gear gave it the fuel economy of a v8 towing a horse float. horrible car. 

my grandfather had the last of the valiants around 79 or 80 model. fantastic car. lean burn 265 was powerful and economical. he had that car for 20 years never 1 problem.

  On 17/07/2023 at 7:55 AM, facthunter said:

A wankel In that car would probably be more thirsty than a giant V8. They also had little torque low down.  Nev

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yes. it would struggle with a hill. i think there were 250 produced. worth a bit now.

one of the most comfortable cars i ever had was an old renault, can't remember what the model name was. had a 1.8 lt motor and 4 speed on the tree. softest ride and the bucket seats layed flat for sleeping.

  On 17/07/2023 at 2:27 AM, turboplanner said:

I'm not sure about Ford or Chrysler, but in GM the divisions fought it out ferociously for the last dollar profit, so if there was a carline somewhere it's products were bought. The usuall killer was low volume in the home country. I went to the US in the late 1970s and walked into a company with an Australian product. We settle on a price and the buyer said I'll make that the lead product for spring, I've got 1,000 shops so I need to have 150,000 delivered within 3 months. We couldn't even get the tooling done by then. The second killer is critical mass for pricing and it's near impossible for the small countries to be able to achieve a competitive retail price even though the product would be badged GM.

However there were always chinks. Holden sold the VF Commodore to GM Chevrolet and they badged it Chevrolet SS, and ran it in NASCAR racing for about 4 years, but US drivers didn't need the winding/rough road handling, so the numbers couldn't save Holden.

I really felt for the car guys, they had to make decisions so far ahead without existing data to go on. No matter what Toyota did, they couldn't get a leg in the Commodore market and no matter what Holden did it couldn't sell Holden cars against Toyota's four cylinder models, so they reached an agreement; Holden would buy Toyota's successful four cylinder models and rebadge them in return for Toyota buying Commodore, which they rebadged Lexcen, coinciding with the release of the VN. It was a marketing disaster Holden's four cylinder market share stayed in the forgettable range, and in one NSW town the Holden dealer was selling Commodores above retail price and had an order backlog of months while the Toyota Dealer actually offered his unsaleable Lexcen to the Holden dealer.

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yet the lexan was a great car. toyota made over 200 improvements before they were satisfied with it. ford did it with the xf ute being sold by nissan. best one i have seen was the mazda roadpacer . a japanese luxury saloon. it was a hj holden premier with a mazda rotary engine. you lifted the bonnet and there was a little lump down low instead of a holden motor.

  On 16/07/2023 at 6:23 PM, walrus said:

A TV repairman committed suicide many years ago after a TV station did one of those phony repair exposed shows.

 

‘’Trouble was that the TV repairman diligently went through an expensive fault finding process before discovering. the “ten cent blown fuse” - and charged according to his time as he should, only to get abused by 60 minutes or whoever.

 

Translation:

 

Stop confusing the apparent minimal nature of the change with the cost of the process to determine its safety and pay up. 

 

If you don’t think that’s right, then go buy your aircraft fasteners at Bunnings, after all, according. to you, a 1/4 inch bolt is a 1/4 inch bolt isn’t it?

 

 

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Do you have any aircraft registered with raaus

  On 16/07/2023 at 11:51 AM, onetrack said:

The average car costs $700-$900 annually in rego and CTP charges, in most States today, I don't see what anyone's got to complain about, as regards RA-Aus charges.

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It's 560 P/a with 1 aircraft 2 seat. But some people are paying reg on 2 or 3 aircraft which might only be worth 20 K combined. It's getting expensive for people with limited income and basic ultralights. Not everyone has a 150k plane that cruises at 120 knots.  

  On 16/07/2023 at 9:39 AM, onetrack said:

Australian Car Reviews has a pretty extensive list of faults and recalls with regard to VF Commodores - but I reckon a lot of people seem to forget the regular repairs and breakdowns they have with their vehicle, because they worship the brand. The simple fact that Holden went out of business, shows how poorly-regarded the later models were - let alone the constantly-flagging Holden sales levels.

 

http://australiancar.reviews/reviews.php#!content=recalls&make=Holden&model=Commodore&gen=1142

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i don't have any problems with my commodore.  the last commodore i had trouble with was a new vs 5lt in 1994 i think it was. they ended up replacing a lot of wiring after 3 months of electrical problems. but i must be wrong about my vf because you are telling me i am.  i can only talk from my own experience ,i don't read much about cars because i am not really interested in the subject. 

  On 16/07/2023 at 5:22 AM, Flying_higher said:

Each to their own Derek, and good news you can keep your medical. 
 

I think that the level of misinformation that’s out there, such as the RAA owning a unit block, does keep people away and unfortunately that’s the intention of many. 
 

The way I look at it is VH vs RAA is like Holden vs Ford. It’s often an emotive argument that’s not based on facts. Yes RAA charge fees but I know when I call them to discuss anything about my aircraft or pilot stuff, I get a pleasant person on the other end of the phone (immediately) who wants to help. They return calls, and basically give me the service I’m happy to pay for. Not to mention more than $1500 in insurance as part of the membership fee. I n comparison, I called CASA about trying to find a weight control authority about 6 months ago, when someone was going to call me back. I’m still waiting…. And thankfully I managed to resolve the issue myself. CASA have got a big job to do and dont have the number of people it needs and that’s reflected in their lack of service, much the same as any other govt department you try calling. 

 

Anyway, it’s a choice and like I said, glad to hear you’re still flying because in the end, that’s what it’s all about. 

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i do agree about raa customer service, they are great to deal with and always answer the phone promptly which is rare these days.

worse car we bought new was a havel jolion. it was quite well built but all the gizmos let it down, bells and whistles going off all the time steering wheel fighting to stay in the center of the lane. cruise control was dangerous and unusable. engine was 90's tech and heavy on fuel. after 6 months i sold it back to the dealer for the price we paid minus on road expenses. 

  On 16/07/2023 at 8:26 AM, onetrack said:

If you want to see plasticky, rubbishy construction, start on trying to repair BMW's. The engines are absolute rubbish, with major design faults that a 13 yr old could have picked up.

A mate picked up a "good used" BMW recently, and after seeing the parts he's pulled off it, they're cheaper and nastier than Holden Captivas. And the Commodores from 2005 were absolute rubbish, 3 different engines, each model getting a cheaper and nastier engine, plastic parts everywhere, and nothing designed to last more than about 100,000kms. The last well-built Holden was the All-Australian-designed-and-built, WB series. 

 

https://jalopnik.com/bmw-engines-are-gigantic-pieces-of-shit-1784684330

 

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rubbish. our vf ss is the best holden we have owned and we have had a lot of them.

clicked over 200k now and nothing ever goes wrong with it, and the fuel economy is terrific for a 6 lt motor.

  On 16/07/2023 at 12:47 AM, facthunter said:

THAT property has been  the same one the AUF had as far as I know and goes back more than 20 years.  Nev

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I was told they owned an apartment complex in Canberra. Probably not true going by the replies on here.

Excellent thanks for that. Will go through all those checks.