Brett

Well Finally after all these years and building I have flown my Plane :) When I woke up yesterday I had no idea really today was going to be the day so I had no expectations on me and no pressure at all. I had been just doing a few things on the plane like sorting some radio issues and carb adjustments and went out for another taxi test to see if I had this Aerocarb set correctly. Tail up down the runway,engine running sweet , mild headwind, nice cool buoyant air, no traffic around at all, so a split sec decision was made and off I went around for the first lap. Had a slight left wing roll hands off but nothing really apart from that. So basically I just flew a circuit set up for final ,,came in and wheeled the sucker on then pulled up at the hanger ... I cant say I wasn't a bit nervous and on the ground I realized I had broken out in quite a good sweat considering it was such a cool day but when I was flying I barely even noticed . Just concentrating on flying the plane and keeping the speeds up . So as you can imagine it's been hard to get rid of this stupid Grin ,, but hey ,, why try :) What an amazing rewarding feeling ,,so hard to describe.

Just slightly off topic ,, I have just rang two insurance companies for a quote, One company explained to me that it's general practice that the first 5 hours of a homebuilt are usually never covered even after paying insurance . Is this the general norm ??

Will do ,,unfortunately work keeps getting in the way :( Hopefully next time I'm home I will fly it ...

G'day Greg sorry for the late reply,, I have just got back from work up north W.A. and basically going back again in the next few days. I'm not exactly sure what you mean with the folding of the wings and the site tube. For the fuel site tube I just fitted a 90 degree 1/4" barb into the fuel tank. If you want to have a yarn about it just give me a call ,,I'm here till Friday then back at work :( I'll leave my number in your PM inbox

No problem Greg ,,glad to help. I haven't still managed to fly it yet. I have been away at work and just got back yesterday . Will see how I go this week. Btw I'm located in Geraldton W.A. For the site glass I have just used some brass fittings from the local AG store, the barb size was 1/4 and I have just used some blue tinted fuel line from aircraft spruce . It has had fuel in it for quite a while now and seems to be holding up . The blue tint sux however with the blue avgas but it is still quite readable. When I have a bit more spare time I will try and source some clear fuel resistant tubing. Let me know if you need any other photo's ,, they tended to help me a huge amount when building mine.

G'day Greg ,,yes I too had lugs missing and so on ,,,pained me to do it but I had to grind the powder coating back and have some mounts welded in from a local guy in the tig welding game .( mounts for the right hand front kick panels) I wasn't to keen on drilling into the fuse frame to rivit on the panels and especially up near the front. As for the flap lever ,,I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do for it however Steve fortunately sent me some pics of his set up and basically I just copied it. I haven't flown my plane yet but it seems to work really well. Hopefully very soon I will fly it after the paper work is all sorted. Just finished the weight and balance on wed and checking over paper work and so on now for submission to RAA.

I have so far just used some cheap bathroom scales from bunnings to get a bit of a feel for how it's all done in the first place as this is all new to me regarding weights and balancing. They do only go to 150kg and the plane is weighing in at about 148kg on the fronts and 20 on the rear ,, a nice set of 0-200 kg you'd think would be a lot better as it would be nice to try it full of fuel and pilot to see where the cg changes with weight on board. Also a dial rather than electronic would be handy too to give a full time reading as small movements in tail position affect the weight on it so getting it right on the flying attitude will be crucial to an accurate result. goes from about 34kg in the 3 point attitude to 17-20 kg in the flying attitude. I might just have to weigh it on carpet like you say Guernsey ,,,would give a a better payload if the scales said it weighed less

Hey all ,, I've finally come to that point where I need to do the weight and balance. I was hoping for some feedback on the types of scales one uses for this mission and how other people have gone about it. cheers in advance ..

nice looking machine

cheers for the replies,,, The brakes seem to hold ok to about 2200-2300 rpm also with stick back. I just tied it to a car via a long rope again to get the full power rev's required to tune the aerocarb via there manual. Its seems at full noise it would be quite a of an ask for them to hold. It taxi's well with the individual brakes and turns on a dime so I guess they will be acceptable. Actually I think I'd be more than a bit nervous at full noise if it wasn't tied back the way it buffets around and so on. Nosing it over while running I'm sure wouldn't make my day.

Would it be generally expected of an aircraft braking system to hold the plane in situ under Full power ? Static rpm test .

Hey no prob at all ,,, Was good to have you look over the plane as well ... anytime .

Nice to see you around on here John, I'm just about to head to the airport hanger again today ,,, hoping to have the plane fully ready to go at the end of this 2 week break from work.

I'm the first one to say smart phones are awesome and love all the apps out there for flying as well ,,,but my last flight I had on the weekend , I used nothing ,,,, my HTC remained in my pocket and the flight was Great :)

At Caiguna you can also taxi up to the bowsers

Has anybody had any luck contacting Tuthill in Vic lately???? I have been trying on and off but only ever seem to get an answering machine? Flexible drive agencies can make and replace this bowden cable I'm after but not in the original green type that the other 3 are made of.. they can make them in black,,,, just thought it would be nice to keep everything the same .....

I haven't done any weight and balance checks at all yet either so guess this could affect the trim too,,, its a heavier motor the aerovee than the jab so not sure how it will balance out

I have just made the trim tab as per the instruction manual,,, exact sizes and all ,,, did you find it needed aid when set up for slow or fast flight?

After about 4 yrs at home I finally took my Aeropup to the airport,,, still have quite a bit of work to do on it before it's inspected and flown but getting closer all the time,,,,

Car Mechanic for a really good local company, been doing it for 22 yrs ,but now after busting my arse for for about 7 years owner building a house and just finished building a plane over 4 yrs I'm wondering how the heck I'm going to be able to afford to hangar it at what seems ever increasing costs.

fantastic pics,,, what an adventure ,,if your ever over in WA again please drop by Geraldton,,,

Yes I am aware of the PPL and endorsement requirement ,nothing wrong with registering VH ,, was more curious about what is involved with getting the actual aircraft certified ,how manufacturers go about it . I think after almost completing my first aircraft build (about 3 weeks away) there is no way on this earth I would build another just for aero's,,specially if it was a single seater. If I was to build another it would be a four seater (but then that would be not aerobatic ) for the sole reason I could register it experimental and do the maintenance myself.

I was just wondering what is involved with the certification of aircraft for aerobatics. What got me started thinking about it was reading an article about the Bonanza which even brought out a few aerobatic models (Wooahh Aero's in a Bonanza) and was thinking about something closer to home like the Sierra,,, A fair whack cheaper than a RV and longer range :re feul and roomier than a Sonex.

Perhaps try a different App for playing the music files,, I found the real player App to work ok ,,, generally. I use the default one in the phone to listen to audio books and the other app for music ,,, I'm sure there are probably better app's out there for music that may be easier for you to program.

I wouldn't be too worried about how falcons do their head bolt tension as they use a special head bolt designed to stretch (Torque to yield if I recall correctly) and keep the tension correct in a hot and cold situation ,actually in auto engines I find it all the time,, mostly in head bolts but a lot of late model toyota's and things I have seen on conrod and main bearing bolts ,,,,, I doubt the through bolts used in Jabs would employ this type of method to keep them tight,,,although I have no idea ,, so I guess a correct torque procedure would be critical ,even to following the instructions down to the letter like if it says use oiled threads or something like that ,, I've never seen one of those torque wrenches before that you mentioned ,,, they sound cool :)