BurnieM

Parkes Sling porn;

At Parkes; John from Rotax saying they are going to try to price the new XPS oil similar to Shell. Also said he believed Shell were developing their own oil for the 916.

9 degrees and blue sky in beautiful downtown Parkes

I hear there is a guy in Perth. ...

Plus GAP so should be some Slings and Bushcat there.

Its not about reality, its about perception, like NGK sparkplugs. Unless its high volume and they can make a large amount of money out of it 🙂 You never hear this about cars, motorcycles,snowmobiles, jetskis or outboards. Lots more engine failures, some with fatalities and very rarely does anyone sue.

There are a lot of politics both ways ie the CASA delays to group G and then quickly bringing out basic 5 med makes you wonder. Its do-able but there are always Casa rumours. Would require hiring extra staff on a constrainted budget. Annual Casa rego/license fees rumour also floating around but unable to locate source.

Also $240/hr for Evektor Sportstar (912ULS with 6 pack) or $260/hr Evektor Harmony (912IS with EFIS) Those 3 prices are RAAus. He did mention it was time to review pricing so I am expecting maybe $20? bump shortly .

Disappointing, I was hoping for this year. Another reason to go RPL ?

Garmin Pilot displays weather via an internet connection. It only displays ADS-B equipped aircraft via BT to the aircraft ADS-B in (or SkyEcho etc). A more widespread takeup of ADS-B would be very useful. Anything proprietary (like EFB to EFB via internet) is subject to all software vendors getting it right all the time. My iPad mini is cellular but I do not have a phone sim in it. I have to set my phone to hotspot for it to connect to the internet. I believe a lot of iPads are setup this way (no sim) on all EFBs. (Using the cellular iPad version because it is the only one with a GPS in it)

I always think these total numbers for a particular segment are close to meaningless and wonder why they keep being quoted in government reports. Surely the numbers should quote pollutants per kilometre travelled NOT per segment or per aircraft or per litre consumed. I am still trying to convince a friend to use 95 in his car (lowest cost per kilometre travelled) and I keep getting cost per litre back.

As there has been a lack of mobile communication (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G) over large areas of Australia for decades, what is your plan b (communications and survival) ?

Same as ShellHarbour. Real hassle is they changed the gate codes after

Basic 5 med is a motivation to convert to RPL. Then you can fly most 4 seaters (with 1 passenger). Also a chance to get your CTA endorsement earlier. Unless the LAME maintenance changes, group G is on its last legs and it has not offically started yet.

Clarify idle speed; 1400 is with zero throttle Normally we use 2000 for warm up

On a 912IS; connect engine to battery (startup/backup power switch) start engine startup power off once rotating alt B (30A) powers engine (ecu, fuel pumps etc) increase revs to 2500 for 6 sec and engine switches to alt A (16A) Alt B is now available to charge battery So you know you have 2 good alternators and battery is charging before you leave the ground. I believe Rotax reconmends a 1400rpm idle speed

Just because you can download the maps does not mean they are in a format that your EFIS can read. In fact most mapping GPS manufacturers use a proprietary format that only their GPSs can read.

Timing of Basic 5 med may kill group G. RPL and basic 5 and you can fly a 4 seater (with 1 passenger and a lot of luggage and full tanks).

It appears that this XPS oil is not a normal 5W-50 synthetic without friction modifiers. It appears to have a specialist/custom additive package.

ROTFLMAO 😁 Genuine Rotax sparkplug for kart engine (made by NGK). https://kart-store.com.au/collections/electrical/products/rotax-spark-plug

My understanding is that it was developed for the heat levels of the 916. So probably no advantage in using it in other Rotax aviation engines but Rotax says its ok so no harm in using it either. I suspect the price will be higher than Shell so up to you what you use.

XPS is a BRP house brand that they appear to have been using to market oil for their other engines for 20+ years. Looks like Lubetech (US) had some earlier manufacturing involvment but now appears to be sourced from Castrol (US). This new aviation oil was developed for the high temps of the 916 but has now been approved for all Rotax aviation 4 stroke engines. A full synthetic should handle higher temps without breaking down but I do not see it lowering temps at all. I always understood semi-synths were used in aviation for their ability to suspend lead (to allow for avgas use) and a lot of the development and testing seems to be about reproducing this feature in the full synthetics additives package. Odd, unless you have a really significant temperature problem.

Actually, no. I had a friend who worked for Caltex then Shell. Even tho they tried, distributors in Australia/NZ would go out of their way to say absolutely nothing. Oil formulations here have a number of differences to even the same branded product in the manufacturers home company. I agree with going with premium brands. It seems like most 10-40 or 5-50 oils (synth or semi-synth) would work in Rotaxs, obviously no friction modifiers so the car oils are out but all the premium motorcycle oils should work. Unfotunately the mc oils are as expensive as Aeroshell. Big question; what is the legal situation ? No guesses please.

This blog has some interesting articles and some replacement parts; https://pointsforpilots.blogspot.com/ 912ULS with 2400 hours in 28 years

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