Carbon Canary

Yep- gotta love the use of the metric system at least in GA........ Runway distance in metres, altitude in feet horizontal separation in metres, but vertical separation in feet Oil in the engine in quarts (Lycoming) Fuel in the tanks in litres Speed in knots air pressure in Hpa Tyre pressure in psi Glad we've got that all sorted. Good thing I'm bilingual. I flew a LSA in Germany last year and the ASI was in km/h. It was quite disconcerting to approach a grass strip at "100" !

I recall having to put the butane canister inside my sleeping bag while camping in Kosciusko NP in winter, otherwise the flame was barely a flicker in the morning. Clapeyron equation for calculating vapour pressure....or 'clap your eyes on' equation as it was colloquially known back when I was young and foolish,...... but anyhow, I've since forgotten more than I ever learnt.

Fair point, although beyond the CubCrafters, I believe Flight Design (German) is the highest selling in the LSA category. However LSAs sales in the US are miniscule compared to GA and GA is where I started this discussion I also suspect that Americans don't wish to admit that the highest selling GA aircraft in the USA - Cirrus, are wholly owned by the Chinese government.

Skies were clear but there was a strong westerly for most of the day peaking at around 1pm with gusts to 28kts and the incident happening around midday. There is an east/ west grass strip but the main bitumen strip is 05/23. Unknown which strip they were using but the aircraft appears to have finished up on the grass. Aircraft maybe a Morgan ?

Early reports of a plane crash at the end of the runway at Armidale, northern NSW from Armidale Express newspaper Two male occupants 23 yrs old and 53 yrs old are injured. Emergency services are in attendance. Let's hope they are OK.

ATSB initial report now out. Too low, too slow, nowhere to go.

A bit of thread drift here, but right on cue, an article about improved battery technology and its influence on aviation. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-05-03/catl-announces-battery-to-make-electric-aviation-possible/102289310?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

Coming back to my original observation, first the Tecnam P2010 and now the F4 both are cheaper than a C172 / PA28, go faster, carry more weight and fly further on a tank. Will Textron and Piper ever respond with a ‘new’ product in this market segment ?

I’ve heard complaints that the Bunnings fuel containers leak around the lid. I’ll need to buy some (red) plastic jerry cans soon - can anyone suggest which brands to stay away from ?

When the site was up for sale back in 2019, the AFR ran an article on it. Here is an excerpt….. “The entire property is heritage listed but the "heritage item" is the historic runway. It's understood that to unlock the development potential of the land, an improvement would need to be made to the airstrip.” AFR Sep 4, 2019

A website has been developed, not sure if anything else has happened though. The Oaks Airport - Destined to become Sydney's premier aviation club.

Glyphosate containers are expected to be made from HDPE. HDPE will tolerate direct contact with petroleum for a minimum of 30 days (that’s a standard exposure test period) Glyphosate thermally degrades to ammonia, amines and some phosphorous compounds at engine combustion temperatures. If you triple rinse the containers (as required) the amount of glyphosate remaining should be negligible and hence the concentration of degradation products will also be negligible. if you have an abundance of empty chemical plastic drums, these can be delivered to drumMUSTER collection sites.

Got to love thermals although your pax may not ! Left Narromine on a 38C day heading to Bourke and got some amazing thermals a few years ago. The C172 was climbing at 1000fpm with the nose pointing down…..until you fell off the other side. My glider co-pilot was loving it ! Pax in the back seat was slowly turning green though. Nice pic of the Warrego R. - good to see it full.

Friedrichshafen is generally where you get a sniff of what the future of aviation looks like. A tremendous amount of effort is going into various new propulsion means. Of course, many of the prototypes on display at Aero 2023 will remain just that. Lots of electric motors, hydrogen fuel, mini turbines, SAF. A couple of flying car/gyrocopter/ rotor hybrid concepts and autonomous flight. The Rotax 916is is a commercial outcome of exactly what you describe - more performance/ efficiency from essentially the same engine. Car engine capacities have shrunk substantially just in the last decade while still delivering more performance and fuel economy, so it is do-able. Carbon fibre propellers are another obvious innovation that is delivering weight savings and performance gains. Looking back at videos from Aero 2013, electric propulsion was just beginning to appear in prototypes. Just 10 years later we have electric aircraft in flying schools in Australia ! Yes, there is still a lot of work to do in that space, but without innovation we would still be driving horse and carts.

Textron and Piper will probably milk their metal designs for a few more year yet, but will ultimately have their Kodak moment. At least Textron has Pipestrel as a composite platform to play with.

Freidrichshafen saw the announcement by Flight Design to build a true 4 seater. The likes of the C172 and the PA28 are getting attacked at both ends of the market now by composite aircraft. Will Cessna and PIper eventually respond with something new in this space ? They've had half a century to think about it or is it still a case of if it ain't broke don't fiddle with it - they are still selling well. FLIGHT DESIGN F4: THE 4-SEATER TO CHANGE THE GA GAME - FLIGHT DESIGN

OK, I'll be generous. I'll say halides, rather than chlorides in relation to aluminium corrosion.

Chlorides are the main culprit for aluminium corrosion. If you're not near the sea, the hull has already been undercoated and painted, and its only for a few months, you shouldn't have too much of a problem.

Attach a sacrificial magnesium anode to it.

I note the 916is also has a 2000 hr TBO

At least the Cessna 150 was only a few years old back then ! 😜

I'm aware of a Farcebook (sic) page called "Aussie Fly'ins", but is there any other on-line resource that collates and updates all the recurring aviation related events across Australia ? Such as regular aeroclub fly-ins, breakfasts, airshows, etc, etc.......all on an annual calendar ?

With training at Bankstown listed at $443/hr + $25 landing fee for ab initio training in a 47 year old warrior, one would think the demographic that can afford this is severely limited…….or the Bank of M&D has deep pockets. https://global-uploads.webflow.com/636a17b81f72224488d65b95/636d7aa692fb7b9a19721eb3_SFC Aircraft Rates-September 2022.pdf That said, this particular school has invested heavily in a new fleet of Archer TX aircraft (with a hire rate of $520/hr) so I admire their optimism. As OME indicated, once the new WSI / NBW airport airspace comes into play, Bankstown aircraft will most likely be forced further south for training. This will only add to the expense of training. Interestingly, Warnervale flying school on the Central Coast is booming (using 45 year old C150s) at $355/hr incl landing fee. I personally feel very fortunate that when I began my flying training it cost $35/hour and no landing fee - but that was still bloody expensive !!

First the Cub and now the VL3 powered by a 916is. VL3 claiming 2700fpm climb rate as a result. Launched at Friedrichshafen.

FK9