pmccarthy

I was impressed by the gen 4 in the Parkes display. Hadn’t seen one before.

Ring Rod Shearer at Bendigo Aircraft Maintenance. If he can’t help he may put you onto someone.

Saturday morning

Will be there in an hour!

I saw the prototype in 2014. It seemed like vapourware but they actually made it work. A shame it isn’t viable.

I will be there on Saturday. My opinion - fuel type truly doesn’t matter. I run on unleaded, but use Avgas when I must. It is less than 20% of the time.

Commentators say it looked like 50 kg of explosive. A Foxbat could carry 300 kg that far!

I have it done too, they grind it centreless which is amazing to watch.

Did we just hit a silent cop? He is now!

When I saw my first Carbon Cub I fell in love with it but thought $220,000 was ridiculously expensive.

My previous post suggesting 350kg of explosive with standard fuel tanks seems to be right. With that extended range the payload would be 300 kg. A friend tells me the standard autopilot will get the drone to within a few metres of target if GPS is available.

Can I drive in and watch? Will be in the area.

Speaking of sweaty nightmares, years ago when I gave up flying for a while, I used to have a repeated dream where I was flying from France to England over the channel then would suddenly remember halfway that I didn't have a current licence. I cured it by going back and getting current! Still have never flown in France or England.

Have had a couple of Minis and loved them for their quirks. A car for fun but not practical for me, I am more of a Landcruiser type.

It is useful for identifying the active runway 10-20 miles inbound when there is traffic but no radio calls.such as Benalla or Tocumwal glider ops. Just need some plane on OzRunways doing circuits and you know.

Denys Davidov said today that he can now talk about the Foxbat, has known for some time that they were being used. He said they had autonomous versions for surveillance before the war.

I agree with the criteria. The other factor is purchase cost. I am very happy with my Vixxen but appreciate that many people cannot afford one. The equivalent composite airframe might be a CT, also expensive.

The Foxbat is an existing design that works. Remove the non-essential bits and you are left with a reliable drone. I saw one commentary today that said they will hit the bridge with ten Foxbats.

Bull terriers are the best!

As with "mayday" (from venez m'aider, "come help me"), the urgency signal pan-pan derives from French. In French, a panne is a breakdown, such as a mechanical failure. A three-letter backronym, "possible assistance needed" or "pay attention now" derives from pan. Maritime and aeronautical radio communications courses use those as mnemonics to convey the important difference between mayday and pan-pan.

Didn't Bruce want to use Jabirus?

I have been thinking about this. I reckon a stripped down A22 would weigh about 280kg and could safely fly at 700kg AUW. Allow 70kg for fuel, it could carry 350kg of explosives. It would not need instruments, seats etc other than an autopilot and a throttle servo. Range wold be well plus 1000 km. I would paint it in Russian civil colours with a blow-up blonde female doll in the pilot position. Is this how Ukraine has been hitting deep into Russia? An 80HP 912 with 2000 hours on it would cost US$5000 in Europe. You could build the whole thing for $50k, very cheap for that capability.

A video on Telegram shows what is clearly a weaponised A22 Foxbat hitting a barracks about 1000 km east of Moscow, with a big explosion. This is a still from the video.

You should have been warned, perhaps there was a cover up.

I love my Vixxen but even though it is a high wing you have to crawl under neath and lie on your side to do the fuel drain.