metanoia

Hiyah All,

 

Just wanted to pop my head up and say hi! after a bit of a hiatus...

 

I'm back in the air again, and when I'm not practising stalls or doing circuits, I'm loving it ;) ;)

 

 

Hi All,

 

Have a look at this article about the Pacific Aerospace P-750. The second video gives you an idea of its short field capabilities - which are incredible:

 

FlightGlobal article on p-750

 

 

That was great... I found another snippet on youTube about Vmu testing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwQMXz9PbrY&feature=related.

 

Now... to find the rest of that documentary :-)

 

 

It is a hardy aircraft, even if it is somewhat cantankerous to start - I hope that when its career is over it is given an honourable sendoff :)

 

Flying is out for me this week, and probably next as well. Oh well...

 

 

The first 18 or so hours of my flying career were spent in the venerable 55-0940, a rather old Jabiru LSA/55.

 

Today, I had a flight in the new Jabiru 170 that has turned up at the flying school.

 

Even though they're from the same stable, there is a world of difference between the two aircraft. The J-170 is a much more comfortable aircraft, and it is obvious that a lot more thought has gone into its ergonomics.

 

This makes a big difference for a pilot/student like me - given that I am a little on the short side. Four things stand out:

 

1) The throttle is much better placed. In the Jabiru LSA/55, the throttle is placed between one's legs - and I always found that my view out of the windscreen changed when I was moving the throttle to or from full power. The J-170 has a panel mounted throttle - which I am still getting used to - but the beautiful thing about it is that my perspective does not change when the power does. Excellent :)

 

2) With a decent (and Jab-supplied cushion), the rudder peddles are much easier to reach and use. I used to use two cushions in the Jabiru LSA/55 and still found that it wasn't easy to get full rudder. In the J-170, if anything, I am finding that it is too easy to get full rudder.

 

3) The J-170 comes with a Y-shaped stick that does not seem to travel quite as far in the pitch or roll dimensions as the stick in the Jabiru LSA/55, and it seems that the controls are quite a lot more sensitive - something took quite a bit of getting used to.

 

4) While it can be a little more difficult to see what's happening in a turn to the left due to the longer wings, one gets a much better view out of the windscreen - especially if one is of shorter stature such as me. The view as I was turning from base to final for first time kind of shocked me actually... I didn't realise that there was so much to see outside! :)

 

If I have a complaint about the new jab, it would be with the placement of the flaps switch - in this aircraft. It is just forward of the stick, which means that setting flaps for landing means that I have to move my left arm across my body to reach the switch, whilst looking left occasionally to see where the flap is. If I had a choice, I think that I would have placed the flaps switch next to the throttle - and having two switches (one for the left seat, one for the right) if needs be. Having said that, it is much easier to use than the crappy flaps lever that is found in the Jabiru LSA/55.

 

All in all... while I hope to love a lot more aircraft yet, I have to say I want to spend a lot more time getting to know this beautiful aircraft :-)

 

 

It could be a Horton H. IV: There's a rather nice snap of one in Wikipedia: Horten H.IV - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

At SJFS?

 

If so... Yes, go the J170 path - it seems a much nicer aircraft than the old J 55/LSA!

 

 

So, I wonder if height of the pilot has anything to do with flaps preferences?

It could...

 

On the other hand, I'm short (5'6), and I have to say that I prefer landings with 1 stage of flap rather than 2 stages. I find that my visibility is fine, and the Jab is much easier to handle.

 

I've not actually performed a flapless landing as yet - once I have, I'll let you know what I think of them.

 

 

this[/url]. As BigPete said, there's plenty of fuel available. I used to use one when camping under the bike. Haven't been on long enough trips in the plane to worry about stoves. I can eat my rats cold for a few days.

You'd definitely want to be using MOGAS and not 100LL :)

 

 

The F-22 Raptor, obviously. If it wasnt such a failure of funding (not that I care about what the US spends it money on), or needed 30 hours maintenance for every hour of flight.. It looks like it was ripped straight from a game.

Hah! :)

 

Have you seen Stavatti's proposed SM-27? It's pretty cool - it's a fighter with two contra-rotating props in pusher configuration. They've not built one yet, but apparently they have pitched them to a few airforces.

 

(AND you can fly one in x-plane :))

 

The plane that I most want to see is an Ion:

 

 

 

Up until today, I've been using full flap, except for when there's a lot of turbulence and/or crosswind.

 

Today I set 1 stage of flaps in late downwind and maintained 65kts all the way through base and final. Guess what? My first very nice landing. Even my instructor was impressed.

 

Second circuit I set 1 stage of flaps in late downwind and then full on final to lose some height. The Jabbie became somewhat more of a handful to fly and land. Once we were back in the air again, I queried this with my instructor. He seemed to be very much of the "flaps as required" opinion, and said that 55/LSAs can be trickier to land with full flap and that for the most part, it was ok to stay using 1 stage.

 

I think that I'll stick with this as it seems to work for me - which is not to say that I won't also practice with full flaps (and none, of course).

 

 

I'm happy to stay with the manual flaps...its just one less gizmo that will stop working when the electrics fail (fuel pump, radio,gps,electrically driven instruments, EFIS , strobes and landing light, trim, intercom and so on)

Electric flaps I've not had the pleasure (or otherwise) of using as yet - I'm learning in a Jabiru 55/LSA which has manual flaps.

 

Have to say tho - the thought of flying in a totally glass cockpit doesn't do it for me. There's something reassuring about all the old steam gauges... If nothing else, they're nowhere near as distracting as some of the glass displays strike me as being.

 

On the 1 vs 2 stages of flaps question - After trying a few landings of each, I have to say that 2 stages of flaps is much more difficult to land in the 55/LSA.

 

 

Yuppers...

 

but it did something even more interesting than crossing the atlantic.

 

(It really does look like a flying bath tub doesn't it? :))

 

 

Ok... how about this one...

 

Ok... a new plane...

 

how about this one.

 

extra points for listing something interesting done in it :)

 

 

 

Um... no... there was a steam powered plane posted a while's back that could reverse with the engine engaged :)

 

 

Chris, I agree about some of the things in Stick and Rudder being dated - but what really amazes me is how much is absolutely still relevant, given the book was written 66 years ago, and only 40 years after the Wright brothers - when we were still learning about flight and aircraft.

I think that the two world wars between the Wright brothers and Stick and Rudder did quite a lot to advance aviation knowledge in general, and the art of flying in particular.

 

Looking at book to of the Fly Better series - there's a picture at the bottom of pg 23 where they have marked a set of dots and a small horizontal line on the left hand side windscreen to aid trainee pilots in judging attitude, and in landing - keeping the aim point in the same place on the screen. This is something that I've thought about over the last few sessions of circuit bashing, as I don't seem to "see" what I'm meant to be seeing as yet.

 

 

Fly Better or Stick and Rudder? That's the flaming question I suppose. (Sorry about the language... not meant to offend, just for emphasis. Regards again, Don

I'm reading both - well, on and off. I prefer the Fly Better series. While there is wisdom in Stick and Rudder, I'm finding myself having to wade through too much verbiage, some of it quite dated, to get to it. Some things have changed in aviation education since Stick and Rudder that make some of the emphasis it puts on certain things obsolete.

 

peace

 

chris

 

 

Someone please help them with their web design and IA!

I'm with BRod - As long as its of the 2 wheel / engine powered variety that's cool - gee I think I'd even let you get away with one of those electric ones just so long as it has 2 WHEELS:laugh:.

Excellent...

 

I've always wondered why other road users don't seem to have moved beyond training wheels ;)

 

 

:welcome:Flying Biker - from one farmer, one pilot & by the sounds of it one biker, to another. You'll enjoy this site. Don't be afraid to join in. You can actually make friendships on this site without trying real hard. Then there's all the info to be gleaned.Cheers

Dexter

So, do those of us who are scooter enabled count as 'bikers'? :)

 

(Welcome btw :))

 

 

Hey!

 

I'm one of us guys and I'm still learning! :)

 

Seriously though, congrats!

 

 

Is anyone in Sydney that would be interested in going to one of these nights in March? It'd be good to go with a few other RAA types...

 

 

Our politicians getting together to discuss the problems of Recreational and General aviation (just as they are in the US) would be a great start. I won't hold my breath waiting however!

On the other hand, there's nothing stopping us writing to members with small aerodromes in their patch about the problems we face.

 

Heck, we could form the Aircraft Noise party with a policy platform of _increasing_ aircraft noise in non-suburban areas :)

 

 

Get busy, go build one. We'd love to be keep up with your progress. It sure looks easy.

I'm probably likely to lose a limb operating a power tool ;)

 

 

Now this may not appeal to all of you but I think you'll enjoy, and learn from, the following link.Go to the final report and bookmark the page because it's quite long. Amazing stuff and cause to think.

 

facetmobile.com

Yah... I came across the facetmobile a while's back.

 

*want* :-)

 

Well.. the FMX-5 if it ever sees the light of day.