nomadpete

Some Aborigines are drone commanders. I've heard!

Do police drones have wings?

When Boeing say

"Trust me!"

No wonder QANTAS engineers are a bit skeptical.

And no wonder QANTAS (to their credit) started inspections early!

Merkans don't speak English, old mate.

Does anyone remember Col Paye? It seems he ran a crop duster back in the sixties.

This pic was titled 'Col Paye loading his crop duster.'

Do you mean to say that you are down under downunder.........?

The complaints sound just like the noise we used to hear, years ago, about 'those mad clowns who fly ultralights'.

Out in the boonies, no danger to the public, taking a calculated personal risk, under 300' altitude. Probably safer than early ultralights because test flights were undoubtedly undertaken without a person attached.

In the January fires we watched a N.S.W fire 737 make two runs, water bombing just west of our home. The fire had crowned and the police had visited us to ask us to evacuate. There was a small twin turboprop spotter plane circling above, a Hercules, a couple of helicopters, and the 737. A busy time indeed. The 737 came in low, maybe 500', slow, and all flaps clearly hanging out. Hardly any noise (not that it would have bothered anyone). It disappeared over the trees before the drop so we didn't see that. All in all, quite a sight. Our personal airshow.

There is one little trap to watch out for with polycarbonate, as I discovered after replacing my aircraft windscreen.

When the Lightwing factory built the aircraft, they sprayed about an inch wide strip of white paint around the perimeter of the screen, on the inside. It does look neat.

So I copied this, only to find that spray paint can cause shallow crazing of the plastic. This showed up after I fitted the screen. I don't think it is affecting the structural quality of the plastic, as there have been no actual cracks anywhere. Just that annoying slight sparkle in a couple of places.

Be Careful. Lightwings can be addictive!

There's nothing wrong with "crappy" permanent magnet alternators.

Unfortunately at this stage there seems to be nobody making a good regulator for them.

Just to add my limited experience here:

My Rotax 912 powered aircraft was equipped with a fuel pressure gauge and I noted that the Facet pump only raised the fuel delivery pressure by one psi. The pressure remained well below the Rotax recommended Max pressure.

So far, so good.

However my fuel flow gauge showed a significant increase in fuel flow when the Facet pump was on. This remained unchanged after replacement of the float valves.

I mention this for the benefit of pilots who may desire to run the Facet boost pump continuously, without pressure and flow monitoring. The increased fuel consumption could cause flight planning problems when the tanks go dry a bit early.

Cherk,

If you happen to be on that 'other forum',

Please let Bex know that he has a whole bunch of mates over here, wishing him well, and eagerly waiting to heap shyt on him whenever he's ready.

Oh, and there is also a whole bunch of us who are also members of the 'zipper club'. We know how it is. And many of us have been through the hoops in the process, too.

Way back when I worked for Telecom Aust, they had that motto. As they madly "resource rebalanced". 

(That means getting rid of as much of that greatest asset as they can)

I am worried. Until now, nothing has successfully silenced our mate like this has.

The "crowbar" is simply like a switch in between the alternator supply and the battery. (There are two types of scr regulator, the most common is series type)

When the regulator senses 14.2volts at the battery, it open circuits the path.

In that way, it functions as a simple "overvoltage cutout". When this happens, your electrics are expected to run off the battery.

The big electrolytic capacitor (as recommended by Rotax, not sure if Jab have), is important to smooth out the spikes that the regulator produces as it transitions from "switch closed" (direct connection between alternator and battery), and "switch open", (fully charged). That phase is characterised by continuous short spikes of full charge voltage.

None of these circuits I have seen are capable of providing any charge unless the battery voltage falls below a threshold. Usually internally fixed at about 14.2 volts.

Having said all the above, I feel that you have a wiring problem, rather than a regulator one. After all, the regulator shouldn't cause total loss of electrics.

OK,

Your jab alternator is indeed an AC device. However I point out that the Jab regulator is not what one would call "automotive' type. Maybe motorcycle type. It has no form of current regulation, and due to the lithium battery having a amazingly low internal resistance, it is quite possible that the Jab alternator/regulator combination is overloaded during climb out. After all, the battery has just discharged significantly during cranking, the motor is running at high rpm, so the alternator is putting out max power,and the regulator won't be cutting out until battery voltage reaches its fully charged voltage. Until then, the battery will be fully loading (maybe overloading) the charging system.

In the absence of a ammeter, you can't prove or disprove my theory.

This is the 'problem' when using  a lithium battery in a system that was designed for a different kind of battery.

It needs a regulator that limits the voltage and the current. I am not aware of any. BTW, this applies equally to Rotax, as they have a crude Ducati system similar to Jab.

At last!

The media gets it RIGHT.

It actually is a Cessna!

Well done. Great landing, although the local plod called it "he did fairly well". Faint praise indeed.

Never rely on a wood screw to hold terminals together.

I'd be closely examining the earth path all the way from engine to battery to load. Maybe the torque from the engine at max power is moving a part of the cabling, and when you ease back on power it flexes part part of wiring a little less.  I've experienced that sort of problem in a motor vehicle. Very intermittent and mostly when the motor was under heavy load.

Ben Elton probably didn't think his plot was likely to ever eventuate.

But maybe he had a Arthur Clark moment when he wrote it.

Sixty second circuits?

Can't call that circuits. He's doing donuts!

Of course Tasmania is warm. Its got central heating from all those fires. We had to burn 150,000 hectares of firewood to get our temps up above 30. We try to do this every summer to keep the mainland tourists warm.

It'll all have to end 'cos we are running out of forest.

And what if a 'quiet word' fails to achieve cohesion within the board? Does that mean the chairman has failed and must step down? That would only empower the disruptive individual (if, indeed he/she is disruptive - in their own mind that are not). It can be difficult to bring any bunch of people together with a common goal. Our Board members do not get to choose their fellow board members.