cscotthendry

According to the WaPo this morning, he cannot reapply for his license for 12 months and says he might quit aviation altogether because of the blowback. I don't think he should have been given the option. Deliberately crashing a plane should be a disqualifying act, considered along the lines of terrorism. There are a lot of stupid stunts carried out for YouTube clicks, but this is probably the stupidest.

I built a Skyranger Nynja.

My last flight was over the big hole in the ground. Oh, and the Hoover Dam too.

Ok, you win. Write to Gates and ask them if their automotive prroducts can be used in an aviation application and post their answer here. I'll wait … “We are poles apart - you have not provided a shred of rational evidence to suggest there is a practical flaw in my argument - just repeated homespun mythology - cant! ” ”You do understand cant ?” I understand “projection” I've provided you with evidence, the aviation manufacturing industry doesn't use automotive parts in aircraft, but you choose to ignore that and instead simply repeat homespun mythology and your opinions as “facts” and accuse me of that - projection. You state that the extra paperwork with certified parts is just “paperwork” and imply that it's just money grubbing without a shred of proof. A claim that I'm sure those who certify those parts would love to debate with you. This will be my last word on this, I will not respond to further posts. I think you are and obstinate and dangerous fool and fear for anyone who chooses to fly with you.

“So many certified aviation components come off the same assembly lines as non cert. Only diff. a lot more paperwork attached - Check out Rotax 912 UL/S.” That's pretty naive. That “extra paperwork” represents “extra testing and inspection of components” not just “paperwork”. An example would be of a critical component was visually inspected for non certified, vs. xrayed for certified. And regardless of your wordy justification of your position, I still believe you are wrong. Industrial components or automotive components are not designed for an aviation application. And I'm certain that if you queried the manufacturer of those types of components, they'd balk at their use in that kind of application. In any case, it's your life that you are gambling with. Just be sure to tell your passengers that you're gambling with theirs too.

LOL and there was RA Aus and some owners wanting to get away from the GA costs thinking that they were going to transfer all those GA planes to RA Aus. This 760kg weight increase has been dragging on for how long now? And only now, they've discovered this stall speed issue? I think CASA is “slow-walking” RA Aus on this. I've spoken to a LOT of RA pilots and not one has said they wanted this weight increase. All the ones who wanted it are owners of light GA planes trying to get away from GA maintenance costs, and the RAAus leadership looking to grow the membership and by extension, the income stream. When I speak to RA Aus aircraft owners and pilots, what THEY want is access to controlled airspace, at least to be able to fly through, not land. But that does nothing for the RA Aus hierarchy and so it was put in the “too hard” basket. In any case, any new priviledges sought by RA Aus will be “slow-walked” by CASA if not killed outright somehow. If they manage to deal with this stall speed hurdle, I wonder what new hurdle CASA will “discover” then.

I can only reiterate that plastic fittings in coolant systems might be fine in automotive and industrial applications where you can pull to the side of the road if one fails. I know the major auto makers use a LOT of plasic in cars, including the coolant systems. But have a look at any major aircraft company's products and see if they use them. Better yet, ask Rotax what they think of them. Also, it's not just the temperature and pressure factors, there's also vibration and stress and temperature differentials. This is particularly true where it applies to a homebuilt plane where the builder usually has to cobble up a cooling system from available hose bits. Those hose bits may not perfectly align (as they do in bespoke parts in cars and industrial equipment) and thus cause residual stress on the joiners. Then add in engine movement on top of that. But I get the message that you're not persuadeable in your opinions. For you to use plastic parts in your plane is fine. I think advocating them for others is not wise.

The plastic joiners that Gates or anyone else make, might be ok in land based vehicles where if one fails, you can pull to the side of the road. They have NO place in the cooling system of an aircraft. I don't think stainless joiners are such a great idea with an aluminum engine, but they're still preferrable to plastic!

When I did my rubber replacement, I took my existing hoses to all the auto parts stores to try and match them. I still ended up buying a couple of hoses I didn't use. The retailers are usually pretty good at taking them back if you haven't modified them. For Rotax engined planes, you might have to A) buy OEM hoses from the manufacturer or B) make a new setup with pieces of hose and home made joiners made from lengths of 25 mm tubing. Plumbing anything, but especially airplane coolant systems is the worst task you can take on. Nuthin' fits nuthin'!

It's been a real education being here at Pima to see all the different ways of solving problems in flying machines. All the planes here are special for one or more reasons and all are unique. This one is one of the types of airplanes I worked on in the USAF. It is an EC-135. It is a Boeing 707 configured as an airborne command post with refuelling capabilities. When the cold war was going, there was one or more of these in the air 24/7/365. The aircraft is full from nose to tail with communications equipment and always flew with line officers from all four branches of the military. One of the interesting features was the VLF radio that could communicate with submarines. It had an antenna that was said to be 5 miles long. It had a big heavy drogue on the end of a long wire antenna that rolled up on a drum inside the aircraft. There was an axe near the drum to chop the wire if the drum mechanism failed as the airplane couldn't land with the antenna extended.

Yes indeed it is a Conestoga, made by Budd. And yes it was made of spot welded stainless steel. Only 17 ever flew. Here's a closer look at the very interesting spot welding.

Saw this today… Something special about this plane!

The retailer that used to be at archerfield has moved to Tingalpa. They still supply the oil at very reasonable prices. I wouldn't buy it from Floods. They charge too much. To answer the OP's question, look up the Shell distributor in your area. Or the fuel supplier at your nearest GA airport.

Um, I have to pull you up on that little fudge. The thing that sent USPS to the wall wasn't paying PHDs to sort the mail. It was when the Republicans legislated that the USPS (unlike ANY other business or government enterprise) had to find ALL the money for the pensions for ALL their employees in perpetuity (in cash in advance) and pay it to the Fed for keeping. It amounted to billions that USPS had to find and is still trying to stump up. That caused massive cost cutting and price increases and is still going on because that law is still on the books. THAT was the Conservatives way of pricing the USPS out of business in favor of the private carriers who, BTW, donate heavily to Republicans.

Mike; I'll second what Gary said about getting one from the UK. They are the main distributors since Phillipe died.

I watched a couple of your videos. I thought they were very interesting, but the topic seemed to jump around a bit. I was absolutely stunned by the “tape plane”. Thanks for sharing though, it's really interesting stuff, especially for those of us who maintain our own planes.

Since the Jabs tend to fall out of the sky, my vote will be for the Kamikaze option … if they stay running long enough to reach the enemy…

I agree: over the past 3-4 decades we've heard this “low tax” BS from government at all levels. What it really means is that those governments are operating various services “like a business” which means “at a profit”. There is some sense to this in some areas, but it has been taken to the extreme. And the result as Skippy says is that we are paying double and paying excessively for some services because they are being run for profit (with a keen eye to being privatized and sold off to the pollies's mates to make money from). They haven't quite got around to privatizing the police and fire brigades … yet, but private schools, hospitals, electricity, water, roads, airports, prisons, communications … the list is ever expanding. Once these services are sold, it is nearly impossible to get them back in public hands as the leeches that buy them feel entitled to the extortive profits they can wring from captive markets. For a good look at how this privatization can be abused, you only need to look at the American *health care* system works. There are some things that governments shouldn't be allowed to privatize. I'm thankful that the Aus public pretty much kicked John Howard out when he went too far and we still have a semi functional health system, but it was not for lack of him trying to “Americanize” it.

With version 2, if the cooler is above the level of the tank, the oil can drain out of the cooler and create an air pocket in the oil system that has to be purged by the oil pump every time the engine is started. Since the cooler is usually on the suction side of the oil system, this could introduce air into the lifters and possibly cause a valve strike. This is why oil coolers are almost always mounted with the connections facing up and why rotax advise not draining the cooler during oil changes and why they have that involved method for purging air out of the system if you do completely drain all the oil.

I fly in normal clothes (to suit the season) with nothing in my pockets and full cover shoes. Things in pockets are just another source of potential injury if things go sideways and full cover shoes will be useful if you have to walk out of the bush.

Did the 5 year rubber replacement on the Legend last year. I just ordered the hose from Floods and was done with it. Toohard chasing odd bits for Rotax engines and then you might have “under spec” parts that would automatically get the blame if anything happens.

Hi Mike Saw your plane in the latest email from RA Aus😊

I watched Trent's analysis and I agree with him that it looks staged. It makes my blood boil that someone would deliberately crash an airplane for social media clicks. I hope they throw the book at him.

This was the panel I built in the Nynja, there are some things to note 1) The layout resembled the panel of the Beechcraft Baron with the flight gauges directly in front of the pilot and the engine gauges in a vertical line in the middle of the panel. 2) The color was chosen for high contrast between the gauges and the panel. This made visually locating any qauge quick and accurate. 3) The light panel background in a cockpit with a skylight and full height clear doors gave off a lot of reflections in the doors and was a PITA for photography. In retrospect, the light panel in that cockpit had more downside than upside. It works better in my current plane which has a darker cockpit.

The cowling on my Legend matches all the specifications you laid out. It works well on all but the hottest days after a heat soak. There has only been one time when my engine looked like overheating on the ground. The situation was this; My wife had gone for a TIF with and instructor in our plane and had landed. The plane sat for 1/2 hour on the ground afterwards and then we started up and taxied out to the runway. It was 35C on the ground and we were on bitumen taxiways. There were 5 aircraft in the circuit so it took quite a while for us to catch a break where someone wasn't on short final. The temp gauge went up into the red, but as soon as we started rolling at full throttle I could see the gauge dropping like a dead fly. By the time we lifted off the ground, the gauge was back in the yellow and headed south. AFAIK the engine suffered no lasting ill effects from this. However, I have a normally aspirated, carburetted Rotax 100HP. The same style cowling as mine was used on two subsequent Legends with injected engines and they had a lot of overheating issues and had to have the cowlings modified. So the moral of the story is that the cowling design isn't just a straight numbers exercise. The environment and the engine characteristics probably will require some trial and error no matter how much you plan and calculate. Edit:Something to consider. On my cowling and on other cowlings I've seen with the radiator at the exit of the cowling, there is always a flare around the exit hole which I think creates a low pressure area around the hole and increases the flow a little. The flare is always small and not a pronounced angle. I'm guessing that is because at 100Kts, it doesn't take much to be effective. PS, I have never had any cooling issues even in the longest continuous climbs on the hottest days.