eastmeg2

FT, Are you referring to the fuel efficiency of the R503 versus the 447 or the 582? I've noticed in the Rotax engine manual there are some graphs for these 3 engines which plot grams (or mL) of fuel burnt per kW.hr against engine speed. The R503 appears to do its best burning 550grams/kW.hr at about 5,800 rpm and the 447 and 582 get down below 500grams/kW.hr . . . food for thought. Are there similar graphs for Hirths? Cheers, Glen

I'll be spending a week near the "taller granite" after Oshkosh.

What are the USA altitude rules for UL's & Trikes? (N - Numbered) I'm going to Oshkosh this year. If I were to line up a Trike CFI with an N-Numbered Airborne or Revo or P&M 2-seater trike, what are the limitations besides any FAA altitude time limits without bottled oxygen?

Good article, Thinking how this could apply to trikes even though the article is about 3 axis machines with a much greater speed range. I know some trike pilots pull the bar in for more speed in rough air to increase their roll control authority and reduce the effort they have to put in to keep wings level, but, I've thought about the other side of the coin where we need to consider the gust loadings on the wing being greater at higher air speeds, so tend to fly my Streak3 at no more than about 60kts IAS (VNE = 85kts IAS) knots in really rough air, rather than pushing (pulling) it over 70 kts. Cheers, Glen

Speaking of OAT, that's one of the joys, or curses, of the open cockpit. I've had my ambient temperature gauge read as low as -10c and I didn't need the gauge to tell me it was frigging cold.

600kg . . . 10,000ft . . . in the next 8 weeks. I wonder if Mick will put on a Santa costume to deliver the good news at Natfly. On the serious side though. Many of us will need to become more proficient at knowing the Area Frequency where we're flying and making the approriate calls when above 5,000ft. Cheers, Glen

I expect the converse would also be true, and that having a CTA qualified PPL as a Pax in your RAAus aircraft doesn't help with a legal CTA entry, except perhaps to improve your chances of getting a green light by writing to CASA 28 days in advance.

Sydney is not thee main problem. There is Victor-1 VFR route if you don't mind flying just 500ft above water 2km out to sea, or there is the western Sydney VFR route which I would consider safer. I have been through the western Sydney VFR route, playing "Map Boy" for a friend in his Cessna-172. With the amount of traffic going through there I would strongly recommend having a transponder, strobe and a Collision Avoidance System. More difficult to get around further north on the coast will be Williamtown and Coffs Harbour. Apparently the inland route around Coolangatta isn't too arduous.

This probably falls into the gray areas of everything we do is the same as what GA does, apart from the limitations and exemptions written into the CAO's. One example according to my limited understanding: 2 GA pilots (PPL) flying a Cessna/Piper together, 1 is PIC in left seat, the other actively assisting with Nav & Radio in the right seat. The PPL in the right seat can apparently log 50% of the hours. The CAO's don't specifically exclude this, but (currently) the RAAus Operations Manager does. In my opinion, common sense in regards to Crew Resource Management and Human Factors would say that you can use all available resources in the cockpit. I have both HGFA and RAAus trike pilot certificates and trikes registered with both organistions, but only keep a HGFA pilots logbook. Though this is probably less contentious since both organisations administer trikes under the same CAO's (except HGFA is working on getting (re)included in 95.10 at the moment after being told they were never in it, despite previous advice that where you read RAAus that means HGFA too). Cheers, Glen

Hi David, Actually I've never flown in Gippsland. Alf does and can give tips on getting from Gippsland to Mt Beauty and Yarrawonga, from there, there are plenty of places to stop in western NSW going north to QLD. With all the control zones up the east coast I'd recommend the inland route unless you're GA and fluent on your CTA. You could fly around the coast to Moruya if you can get through Sale airspace, then go inland to Goulburn - Cowra/Forbes/Parkes/Narromine etc . . . Cheers, Glen

It's suprising how useful landmarks on a WAC chart can be. Flying from Bushpilot's place near Bathurst to Narromine for Natfly 2009 my Garmin 296 refused to lock onto satellites so I had to fly 110Nm x-country on WAC chart, compass & clock. There was an abondoned railway line marked on the WAC about 20Nm south of Dubbo which I found, followed for a while and followed a fresh compass heading to Narromine. If such landmarks no longer get published on new WAC's, what is there to replace them that are uniquely identifiable. Not much else I could do about having to orbit a few times upon arrival over Narromine to find a slot in the busy circuit and then still go around 3 or 4 times because I couldn't get a slot to turn from base onto final. At least at Temora there are more runways to choose from . . . Back to topic. Cheers, Glen

Hi Kev, This is a GRS but the principle's the same. The Rocket is housed in the smaller cylinder mounted on the larger one. Egress is to the right in this particular installation and there is a sticker advising the direction of rocket egress on the smaller cylinder. [ATTACH]13195.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]13194.vB[/ATTACH] Cheers, Glen

Well done Jason, about time too. When can we expect to see you drop in? Cheers, Glen

Keep in mind, that if it's within, say 15Nm of a registered airfield which is in the ERSA it may be on the same frequency. That was the case when I dropped in at Towrang north of Goulburn last year to have a chinwag with the glider folks.

I'm with BR, tell us about the plane! That's great to hear that you finally got around to getting another set of wings. If she only flies at 48 knots, youre a good candidate to be the first 3-axis visitor to our humble airstrip. Talking of the tyres you're asking about though, it's more likely your tyres are 11 x 4.00 - That's 4 inches rim width and 11 inches outside tyre diameter. My Pursuit10 trike has one on the nose wheel. Like it or not, most LU and Trike tyres are from golf buggies and ride on mowers. Tread pattern K401 is the most common used by our type. You can even find them on eBay. I flew over your place last Sunday. No sign of an airstrip yet . . . did a 270 degree left turn to keep away from the 4 horses I spotted from 700ft AGL. Cheers, Glen

I had to update my Pacific Aviation Database on my 296 a few months ago after the GPS decided to wipe it. You should be able to register with a logon from the Garmin website: http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us/intheair/ Once you've created your logon account you should be able to purchase a new database for your Garmin GPS, from what I remember when doing it you're using your PC to download the new database directly from the website onto your GPS which makes it kind of hard to keep a backup on your PC. I suppose this is to protect their copyright. Cheers, Glen

The serial number of the trike base in the latest accident was given as XT-912-0131, which would make it a 2006 build, so would have had a streak3 unless its been retro fitted with an SST.

What is the requirement for warming up a Rotax503 before takeoff? All I have to go by are the CHT gauges, so would 200F on those gauges before taking off sound sensible? For the 582 I was taught 130F coolant temp before takeoff. For the 912 I was taught 50c Oil Temp before takeoff and it's placarded on the panel. I may find a minimum operating temperature in the Rotax manual, but keeping in mind that on my Buzzard trike with it's Wizard wing the CHT's rarely get over 300F compared to the max allowable 450F. Just found the Rotax operaters manual on the web and normal CHT is between 350-430F and maximum is 480F. Is it likely that the engines life will be shortened because it's not running hot enough? Should I replace the Wizard wing with a Streak wing to make it run hotter, or reduce the pitch on the prop - currently max static revs are 6,400rpm and it maintains altitude at 37kts IAS at 4,800rpm. I had similar queries about my friends C172 which is also air cooled and has a very basic engine temp gauge and the rule of thumb with the Cesna172 was to just ensure it had 5 minutes of taxying/warmup before takeoff from what I remember from about 18 months ago.

Indeed . . . missed out on the Pursuit10 3 years ago but got it this time and am "Rocketising" it as one person put it, by replacing the 40hp R447 with a 50hp R503 (Discussed it with Steve Bell first). The wing is rather old so I have to tread carefully with it. I've already had the sail off it for checking and repairs by WingTech, put it back on and flown it Mid-Dec and again on NYE but the wing still needs some re-tuning. So once I've completed the R503 installation (some more wiring, fuel plumbing, change throttle cables and re-fit propeller) and completed the Rotax run-in procedure and some taxi tests I can think about rigging and tuning (leading edge tension) the wing again then eventually if all goes well, fly it again. It did come with an Icom A-20, PTT and headset which all work fine. But since I have a Vertex220 with a PTT and headset why wouldn't I use that instead? Since having this Pursuit10 trike I've been surprised to actually find several other Pursuit10 owners - 2 on this forum (in SA & QLD) and another in VIC. Now me in NSW (With occasional incursions into ACT). I don't think I would have taken this on if I hadn't already had the experience of completely refurbishing my Tundra Buzzard before. Cheers, Glen

In the process of organising my trip. Flying to Toronto and meeting 4 friends there for a Great-Lakes road trip to Oshkosh, a week at Oshkosh and another road trip back to Toronto. Almost 3 weeks on that bit. Also to spend a week or 2 in Colorado visiting my Mother before that and that's the difficult bit to organise at the moment trying to fit in my significant other.

It was one of the photo's doing the rounds in the office this morning, so I don't know. I suspect another forumite might have more info . . .

This is more relevant to the Brisbane floods but I couldn't find that thread. [ATTACH]13136.vB[/ATTACH]

Hi Lance, I've used the trusty A22 in the past, but when I started flying distances found it was only good for about 15Nm, so got the Microair M760 a few years back and haven't looked back. MacGuyver uses a Vertex220 and swears by it, he's used Microair and Xcom before so the Vertex220 must be good. I also have a Vertex220 but haven't had the opportunity to use it on any distance flights yet, but that may change once I get the Pursuit-10 trike up and running again with its new R503. I had my Tundra Buzzard up for a flight today and got a call from an Icom A22 on the ground at home base about 10Nm away. Heard it loud and clear and the Microair M760 in the Buzzard got back very clearly too. Cheers, Glen

I like the look of that Monopan. Could probably even retro-fit an existing open frame trike trailer with it. However there was no mention of how well it holds up to UV exposure. I have the Burketown Morning Glory on my Bucket List. One of these years I intend to get up there with a trike in tow to surf that wave, unless I've done like Alf in the meantime (Dark Side) and wing it all the way. But I don't think I'll be towing a trike that far with the i30. A man's gotta know his (cars) limitations. I'll need room to stretch while driving. If I'm still Triking at that time I'll likely get a 2nd hand Falcon wagon and resell it afterwards. Cheers, Glen

In the past few months I've done 2 trips to Victoria towing trikes with my new i30 turbo diesel. It's only a 1.6L engine but it really pulls for its size. Even though the temperatures on those days conspired against it, getting into the mid to high 30's both times, it didn't miss a beat, towing the trike at over 100km/h on the flat and back to 4th gear on the big hills doing 2,500rpm at 90km/h though it could have done 100 I was just preserving the engine a bit. Not towing a trailer it normally drinks 5.0L per 100km at 110km/h on the expressway. Towing a trike at 105km/h it drinks 8.0L per 100km. I use a Scangauge plugged into the OBD port to monitor the engine parameters including boost pressure. It can't measure EGT's though which is a shame.