eastmeg2

Here's a couple of shots taken just after leaving our property near Goulburn, taken just before dawn showing my old trike on the trailer. I was headed to the Wangaratta Trike Gathering to hand the trike to it's new owner.

Hi John,

We did manage to get in a few hours flying in the 912 on the Sunday 10th June. Popped over to a friends place 20Nm east of us, then North past Neriga (On Nowra-Braidwood Rd) to overfly the Endrich Falls. They were in full flood flow and unfortunately the camera batteries couldn't handle the cold or went flat so we didn't get any shots of it. From there we flew west a bit to check for our mate that the Oallen Ford was not flooded and then followed the High Tension powerlines 25Nm SW back to base.

There was some mild bumps on the way back which I guess would have been more unsettling with the older Streak wing but which I've become comfortable with after a few Megafauna's. Like walking on the deck of a yacht I suppose.

I'm going through my ASIC application at the moment.

Previously when I was only flying 582 trikes I didn't have any real need for an ASIC, but now, having the 912 I can see that I'm going to want to fly this trike much farther a-field and that there will be RPT airports along the way I'll want or need to land at. In the past with the 582/Streak-1 I've flown to Moruya a few times. Now I need an ASIC to land there and with the 912 I can go further down the coast or get in some coastal flying to Albion Park/Wollongong before returning inland to complete the triangle.

I'm hoping that some day, given enough time off work, alone or with a group, I'll be able to fly the 912 coastal to Barwon Heads or to Hervey Bay and perhaps further. The 2008 Megafauna to Broken Hill should be a good trip. Maybe I'll have better luck with the weather to be able to fly all the way next year, rather than having to start with a 3 hour tow on the road like I did this year although at least I was able to return in the 912.

Maybe next years Wang Trike Gathering will provide some better weather and I'll be able to fly there and back 200Nm each way. See you there either way.

Cheers,

Glen

That's a lovely dream, I suppose that even 95.10 wouldn't allow it. Imagine putting one of these babies on a Sapphire or Vampire.

BUT, where are the spec's & numbers on these?

Weight?

Fuel burn rate?

Hrs TBO?

Will it run on old banana skins, "they will run on any type of fuel" - Just kiding

Hi John,

From your other post in the "Just Landed" section I'd say we met at the Wang trike gathering at the end of April, I was the one handing over my trike to it's new owner from Tassie. That's a great setup you have with your trike in the caravan.

The mention of the jet on the inlet side of the measurement unit was refering to the fuel flow meter on the XT, not the Mizer we have on our Edge X, so I'm not sure if that advice would apply to the fuel mizer or not.

It's also nearly 3 hours drive for me to get to our trikes as well, so I have not had the chance to take Mc Guyvers advice yet on the XT.

The problem you're having certainly does sound like a problem with your measurement unit though. I sometimes wonder if the units being used are meant for much bigger & thirstier machines, ie, need a greater flow to keep the impellor turning properly.

Rgds,

Glen

Hi Thomas,

I did the same flight from Heck Feild to Caloundra in a 582 powered Airborne trike a few years back. I'm sure you will have no troubles in a Jabiru.

With the extra speed and range you will have I also thoroughly recommend doing the Gold Coast flight to the Casino before turning north again.

Cheers,

Glen

Got mine on Friday 8th after sending a reminder email to RAAus last week. Unfortunately we had the biggest storm in 30 years and it was waterlogged in spite of the thoughtful postman wrapping the plastic wrapped June edition around it. Yes they both arrived on the same day.

Maybe that explains why I got 4 more enquiries about the trike I sold within days of taking a deposit.

The previous time I looked at an ASIC application form from CASA I also tossed it into the "TOO HARD !!!" basket.

Just last week I came across the RAAus version of the application form and have to say that it has been greatly simplified and have just finished filling it in, just have to get 2 passport photo's and have an authorised RAAus person (CFI who already has an ASIC) sign it before I submit it.

Hi Numptie,

Sounds tempting, though I assume that Moruya still has ASIC requirements in place.

I am filling in my ASIC application at the moment, with the expectation of being able to start doing flights to Moruya and other nearby ASIC airports again in the future.

Any chance we might still be able to fly in without an ASIC card if we restrict ourselves to certain areas of the airport away from the passenger terminal, or is just having lodged an ASIC application with RAAus sufficient?

I have to disagree about the screw-on type of connectors being a PITA. Yes they do require some extra care to instal, but anyone with a pair of wire cutters, precision screw driver set and a delicate touch can make these perform just as well as the crimp on version, without having to go the the expense of buying the right crimping tool or geeting a professional to do it.

I have forgotten to disconnect the coax cable between my wing and trike base a couple of times when de-rigging in the past and the screw-on type is far easier to repair after these little mishaps.

What you do need to know is exactly how far you should be trimming back each of the dielectric, outer conductor and outer insulation in order to make the connector work properly. A little bit of knowledge goes a long way - and weighs nothing.

Cheers,

Glen

Well, I'm glad that somebody cleaed that up about Gazelles versus Skyfox's.

Unfortunately my experience of them is limited to the time (Sept 2004) I was on route from Heck Field to Cooloola Cove in my trike and landed at Caloundra to refuel (2-stroke trikes don't go very far on a 44L tank of fuel against 20kt headwinds).

Anyway my Skyfox experience was that as soon as I parked next to a taxyway, "SkyFox 757" promptly taxied out and did his engine warm up with prop wash blasting my trike from a mere 10 meters away. It took 3 radio calls to get the SOD to move . . . and both pilot and pasenger to hold the trike down until he did.

Sorry for the grumble, but you just don't forget stupidity like that.

I didn't get my RAAus May Mag, though did see it in the newsagent a couple of weeks back, so sent an email to the RAAus admin email box today to ask where it is.

We also have a Fuel-Mizer flow meter on an Edge-X 582 trike and have found that it always indicates about 10% greater fuel flow than reality. This is probably a good thing as the low fuel alarm goes off earlier and gives you more warning. Other than that it's been a great gadget to have on board.

We've also recently taken delivery of an XT-912 which has a fuel flow meter built into the glass dash, though it does not appear to be nearly as accurate as the Fuel Mizer. I've read a report from another XT-912 Cruze pilot that a reading of 5.5 L/hr is really 9 L/hr and in my XT-912 with the Streak-III wing I get 6.5 L/hr reading is really 11L/hr.

I've already mentioned to the co-owner that I would not go planning any flights to East Timor based on the XT's flow meter readings.

Rgds,

Glen

I have voted "No - I feel I need more information".

In spite of being more thatn 70 pages the descriptive document for Part 103 I read a few months back was too high level and vague to be able to form any firm opinion about it.

Hey Cazza,

I think you should start heating up the urn now, 'cause there's gonna be a whole flock of us stopping in at Temora on Friday afternoon and leaving again on Sat Morning, including 4 Jabs, 1 Gazelle, 2 C150's, etc etc etc.

Cheers,

Glen

I believe the trusty 912 is an approved engine . . .

Cheers,

Glen

I have heard recently the CTA endorsement will not be made available to trike pilots, that being the case I'll likely let my RAA trike license expire at the end of the year and stay with HGFA. Currently have both, it would have been worth paying both annual license fees to be able to get the RAA CTA endorsement and fly our HGFA regoed trikes (582 & 912), but if trike pilots are to be excluded there's no point.

I know there are some noisy aircraft around but most trikes cannot be heard from 1km away when on cruise power, probably due to the lower revs required to keep a trike in the air compared to a faster 3 axis UL.

We are talking about CTA zones here. Are people who hear RPT's every day going to complain about noise from smaller (quieter ???) private aircraft?

Here's another one - from the Sydney Morning Herald this afternoon.

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A light aircraft has crash landed in a field at Hat Head in northern NSW, the Ambulance Service of NSW says.

Ambulance crews and a rescue helicopter were heading to the area this afternoon.

"The light aircraft is reported to have crash landed in a muddy field, activating its distress beacon," an ambulance spokesman said

The female pilot - the only person on board - was uninjured but she and the aircraft had yet to be located, he said.

It was the third light aircraft incident in two weeks in NSW, he said.

Got the radio endorsement, but that's not legally sufficient in itself to fly in CTA.

I've got no intention or desire to land at any controlled airport, just to transit the area safely & legally. Those two words just don't coincide at the moment.

Something like airspace up to 500ft over water (within glide of the beach) being changed from C-Class to a G-Class Restricted zone requiring ATC radio clearance during tower hours, but without the transponder and GA PPL requirement.

Hi Kev,

With a machine like that (10.5m2 or 13.0 m2 wing?) you're going to need at least 400m for safe ops in the long run.

Mudjeep has just bought into the Tarago area between Goulburn & Canberra. There's plenty of land for sale at the moment in that area. Another area is just north of Braidwood which is even closer to the coast and Moruya airport is right on the coast and just a short hop from Braidwood, if you have an ASIC card.

We have flown our 2 stroke Airborne trikes from Tarago to Moruya and back a few times before the ASIC requirement came along.

Now we have the XT-912 I'm back to struggling with whether or not to get the damn ASIC card and to be honest my memory (I'm not 40 yet) is not good enough for how far back the questions go - 10 years.

Cheers,

Glen

Getting back to the topic of flying in controlled airspace, as a trike pilot it's pretty difficult to think that I could enter CTA to the letter of the law and trikes, being the flying pendulums that they are don't take too kindly to being flown low over mountainous terrain when any wind is blowing.

So, my point is, what can be done to ensure that we can all enjoy a nice flight all the way up the east coast of our beautiful country without having to make dangerous excursions inland or out to sea.

I cannot justify the expense of a transponder in a trike and have not ever seen any hint of transponders for hire for that once in 10 blue moons when one might be useful in a trike. (Apart from endorsement requirements)

Sydney's Victa-1 VFR coastal route is a good example for the other major airports up the coast to follow where there is class-G airspace that as far as I know Ultralight & Trike pilots can fly through with ATC radio clearance and with no transponder, but what about places like Coffs Harbour, Gold Coast and Maroochydore.

There could be some local arrangements for "No Transponder" ATC clearances but they would not stand up under legal scrutiny under the current rules.

Cheers,

Glen

Measured the pitch angle on all 3 prop blades yesterday, although with the wing on the trike we could not get the trike onto a proper flat surface. This introduces a constant error which is unknown, but highly repeatable.

What we were able to determine is that the pitch on the 3 blades is the same to within 0.1 degrees, and that the actual pitch angle is approximately the recommended 20 degrees.

It's weightshift controlled - YAY !!!

Just from watching "Air Crash Investigation" on the pay tv, have seen an instance when a twin engine passenger jet had already lost one engine and let down to 6000ft 40Nm from the airport as per normal procedure and what happened when the other engine failed was most predictable.

They didn't make it did they.

Had they maintained altitude until they were within glide of the airport their chances would have been far better.

Have managed to get in a couple of hours flying yesterday afternoon.

The 912 is now revving to 5400rpm in a climb and performing noticeably better than before. Thanks to Airborne for doing the right thing.

It's still likely that I will be trying to achieve the correct propellor pitch as it looks like one or more blades may still be pitched a bit coarser than they should be, but won't know for sure until I can implement an accurate method of measuring the pitch on each blade, following instructions provided by Bolly at Natfly.

Cheers,

Glen