eastmeg2

Hi Bill,

Maybe it's just the angle of the photo, but it seems you have a short trailer that carries the wing too.

Is that your car in the photo? I ask because I drive a Forester 2.5L manual.

Rgds,

Glen

The movie "The Gods Must be Crazy II" had a Lazair type aircraft in it...Was this what the aircraft could have become? I think the only one you actually see flying in the movie was a model...

I remember the Lazair. That was the plane with a cute set of a ladies hips, buttocks and legs for landing gear . . .

Or was it just that in the movie the floor fell out.

Hi Scott,

Very nice, and in red it should tow faster.

A couple of suggestions you may or may not wish to explore.

Carrying the wing up high on supports creates extra drag, which can become a drag if you're towing log distance with a 4 cylinder car.

I have seen one trike owner lay the wing along the bottom of his trailer. But you'd have to be careful it won't strike the rear of the towing vehicle in a tight turn and would probably want an extra waterproof wing cover to keep the road grime out.

While length is good for stability on the road, a shorter trailer will get the trike more into the slipstream of the towing vehicle. But if you're going to mount the wing on the trailer there probably isn't any scope for any shortening of the draw bar.

The other is that if you have a full set of travel covers for the trike you wouldn't usually need a stone deflector on the trailer, unless you're going to drive a lot of dirt road at highway speeds. A friend of mine did a Darwin trip towing his XT-912, covered many hundreds of k's of dirt road and his rear suspension struts now look a bit 2nd hand, though the rest of the trike is unmarked as it had it's travel covers on.

Wouldn't mind a copy of your trailer plans. Will PM you with my details.

Cheers,

Glen

On 2 occasions when I've been travelling, near Perth & near Darwin, by talking the talk, demonstrating knowledge of the aircraft and airmanship and showing my log book and pilot certificate the CFI will let you fly in the command seat while they sit in the other, closely feeling the dual controls.

One of the CFI's let slip his continued doubt after the flight by complimenting how well I handled turbulence on late final, as if he didn't expect it to be handled that well.

Cheers,

Glen

Hi Ultralights,

Can I ask what made you choose the Vampire instead of a Sapphire?

Was it the resemblance to a historic military aircraft, or the option of HKS 4-stroke being available on the Vampire, or something else?

Cheers,

Glen

I'm not convinced as it's the AM receiver you would have to make operate in the air-band, not the FM receiver as he appears to be doing in this instance.

Even tuned into the right frequency, an FM receiver would not give the audible output corresponding to am AM transmission.

BUSTED . . . thumb_down

What is the best place to get info on the Sapphire ? . . . I think I bought one this morning !cheers, Art

Or maybe it's just that you had a hard Saturday night, or was it on eBay?

My own experience of Sapphires is limited to knowing that they fly faster than (most) trikes and that they are a tidy looking little plane with Rotax 447 or 503 engine options and probably a good candidate for the HKS700E 4-stroke.

And they're a tail-dragger, so you'll need that endorsement to fly one.:gerg:

Cheers,

Glen

The Bolly web site indicates they make the 68" Brolga left & right hand with Dura-Tuff edge (& it's tough!) $380.00 eachBrolga

Careful what you say Yenn, the insurance provider might be reading . . .

If I recall correctly, the shop whose link is given in post #12 can provide new hubs and bolts for Brolga props, but 68 inch Brolga prop blades can no longer be bought - anywhere.

I can say from recent experience when I assembled a new Bolly prop that it would be very easy to over tension the bolts as I was achieving the required torque on my torque wrench and I barely felt like I'd even started getting some tension on. The setting was very close to the start of the scale on my wrench.

Cheers,

Glen

I tend to like to plan things way ahead of when they're going to happen

Hi Darky,

As Maj says, check out as many different aircraft as you can. By the sounds of it you have plenty of years to go before old age is going to slow you down. You might want to get a tail-wheel, or god forbid, even a weight-shift:lol 8: endorsement after you get your X-Country and Pax.

Getting yourself along to ultralight gatherings is another great way to glean knowledge and experience so you should get yourself to Natfly at Easter. You might even find a spare right seat if you start looking.

Cheers,

Glen

Baphomet,

I'm certain you will find that they are "AN" series aircraft quality bolts and you won't find them in a suburban hardware store.

There was a good article in a recent RAAus magazine, Oct 09 I think, about AN bolts and why they are used.

Most CFI's have a healthy stash of them as they buy them in bulk and will usually on-sell them in small quantities to pilots like you and me.

Cheers,

Glen

The requirements for throttle lock are absolute bull**** and luckily nobody seems to be policing them. My plane complies, but that was because I was tipped off that DOTARS would be at a fly in I went to. I took the trouble to get them to inspect what I did, now I have it word for word tha I comply, but I don't think a wire round the prop is acceptable. they said that someone could remove the prop and replace it to fly. Bloody beaurocrats.

What about trikes, there is no throttle lock design that I've ever heard of, besides the hand throttle could still be operated when the foot throttle is locked. That just leaves the steel cable around the prop and gearbox solution . . . or is turning the key to disable the starter motor circuit and removing the key adequate? Probably not.

To me the argument that the fine stands because "someone could remove the prop and replace it to fly" is up there with a cop smashing your tail light with a baton and issuing a fine.:baldy:

Where does one stop with this kind of mean argument?:dousing:

Removing a prop and replacing it requires knowledge, tools, skills and pre-meditation. With those ingredients there is little anyone can do to stop anyone from flying their aircraft in their absence, short of hiring 24 x 7 security.

Something to think about . . .

A replacement throttle cable and throttle mechanism are cheaper and easier to carry and fit than a replacement Prop.

Cheers,

Glen

if they have to run Windows, thank goodness they're still using XP. Who knows what could have happened with Vista.:spam:

A while back I got talking to a couple of PG pilots who were ridge soaring off the bluff at Longreef in Sydney.

Upon mentioning I am a Trike pilot and how portable PG's are the reply was that Trikes are about as transportable as a caravan. I have to admit there's some truth in that, though they're a bit easier to tow.

Having towed trikes as far as Fraser Island and Yarrawonga and with future plans for longer trips an enclosed trailer is on the cards.

Cheers,

Glen

An interesting quirk of Airborne's XT range of trikes is that they have two ASI's. One in the Glass dash display and a separate "steam guage" style backup.

If I recall correctly when I asked about it the answer was that it was a legal requirement. Maybe that only applied to some countries where they are sold - can't really remember that well.

Cheers,

Glen

Hi TFC, (DJ?)

I was going to mention someone as likely to achieve that in the near future, then realised it's probably you, going by your location and your 2 aircraft.

Cheers,

Glen

In May last year a friend had just completed his trike pilot certificate in Tumut and wanted to get it back to his home strip east of Goulburn, but he lacked his RAA X-country and Pax endorsements at that time so I did the 100Nm flight with him as my Pax in his XT-912.

Squeezed my Garmin-296 into my knee board with a WAC chart and borrowed a compass from my own XT-912.

Since adding an RAA WM pilot certificate to my HGFA certificate a few years back, the only opportunities I've had to fly other trikes have all been RAA registered, so I'd have to say it was worthwhile joining RAA.

Cheers,

Glen

bit like Holden v. Ford

There are plenty of good valid reasons why you might choose either, like $$$ and ease of maintenance.

Cheers,

Glen

Well done Ray,:thumb_up:

Now that you've got your certificate, it is when the real learning begins since you now have to make your own decision about whether it's safe to fly using any and all information available, rather than relying on your CFI to make that decision for you.

Now it's a matter of getting your hours up and continuing to hit the books for your X-Country and Pax endo's. Only when you have those will you be able to enjoy the potential of your trike, like flying to Natfly for example.

Cheers,

Glen

This may help...my notes from the last Board Meeting after McCormick say: . . .Some CTA corridors will be looked at for safety

. . .

 

Hope this helps!

As far as CTA goes, if more G-Class VFR corridors through CTA, similar to Sydney's Victor-1 can be made available for coastal over-water-transit at places like, namely, Coffs Harbour, Gold Coast and Maroochydore then I think you'd find RAA requests for CTA would mostly evaporate.

It would be a great step forward and a good win for RAA members.

Slightly higher CLL between Bribie Island and Tangalooma resort (Moreton Island I think) wouldn't go astray either.

Cheers,

Glen

Can't say that going barefoot would help with rudder feeling, in a trike. But the thought of stepping bare-footed onto the soft sand of a beach after a precautionary landing sounds appealing.

Many years back another trike pilot recommended trying sans-helmet at least once but I've yet to try that.

Hi Bluey,

If you're planning to keep your Edge-X with the Wizard-III as well as get a new XT-912 I'd be looking at making the 2 trikes as different as possible to maximise the variety of flying that can be done so I'd be getting an XT-912 with the new SST wing to compliment the Edge-X with the Wizard-III.

Another alternative would be to sell the Edge-X and get an XT-912 tundra with two wings, a Merlin (slow wing) and an SST (fast wing).

I presently have XT-912 Tourer Streak-III and an Airborne Buzzard Tundra (2 or 3 generations before Edge-X) 503 Wizard-II.

HGFA allows you to register two wings with your trike:thumb_up:, not sure about RAA.

Cheers,

Glen