kgwilson

I knew Rick Duncan (original owner of Airborne) back in the 1980s when we were both Hang Gliding. Was a real nice bloke then. Is/was he still involved with Airborne? Their products used to be good quality.

Excellent pun

The UK gave up the requirement for medicals in 2015 & implemented self declaration of medical fitness for a GA PPL. Then of course their decision was based on evidence and logic. Of all the crashes causing death in the past 45 years they found 6 that had a medical issue involved but not one had a medical issue as a primary cause.

The weight of a Rotax 912 ULS including its exhaust, radiator, coolant etc is 194.69 lbs from the Zenith website not including the airbox. The weight of a Jabiru Gen 4 with everything except the airbox is 180 lbs. Why do you seem to think a Rotax is lighter? You cant use it without all the coolant and parts.

ASIC is a total crock. I have been challenged a couple of times but telling the security to get stuffed in the nicest possible way has worked for me. Mostly nobody cares.

It probably is around the RPT area but that's not where any of us GA & RA types go

Nothing. The Tower is closed from 5pm & airspace reverts to class G till it opens at 8am. GA & RA aircraft are not allowed on the RPT apron or terminal but use all the taxiways. There used to be grass taxiways around 10/28 but these are now closed so you have to taxi up the runway. ATC always direct you to the GA area where the aero club is & also 10/28 if there is no other traffic around using the main runway 03/21 & there isn't much crosswind. If you are new to Coffs the taxiways can be a bit confusing. Taxiways are numbered A to H with E having 4 sections E1 to E4. During ATC hours you are directed obviously.

Good grief, what on earth is the purpose of that. Sure does look like it had a stroke or the designer had one.

It is required at Coffs Harbour but in a sense not required. First fly in & get permission to land (only when ATC operating), then taxi to the Aero Club, miles from the terminal. Exit to the clubhouse. Simple. Then to leave ask someone for the code, start up & get ATC clearance (only when ATC operating) & go. One of our members wife had to renew her ASIC. It took ages & then they decided her name was wrong. Eventaully after I don't know how many months it got renewed in her MAIDEN name. How stupid is that!!!!. Apparently because she got her PPL before she was married. Every other document she has is in her married name by virtue of the marriage certificate 20 years prior. Are these ASIC providers morons or idiots? Both I reckon, one and the same.

There is new CEO. It was all explained in the last Sportpilot.

Waterjet cutting is the preferred method where parts being cut are susceptible to heat related issues. I'd have thought they would have used this process rather than laser cutting. Laser cutting can't cut some materials (metals are no problem) but it can also engrave parts it cuts which is an advantage for example cutting machine parts. Each part can be engraved with all the relevant material, part, batch Nos etc.

The statistics since the industrial revolution are irrefutable and the climate and weather changes are what science is telling us is happening over time. Deniers love th cherry pick individual events to prove their point. Every one is debunked.

Nuclear power stations are also extremely environmentally unfriendly to build, take up to 10 years and while operating costs are low once running, take many years to recoup the initial capital cost which is in the $billions. Australia has more sun than anywhere else on earth and it is free. Making the most of it is blindingly obvious. We have the most and fastest uptake of rooftop solar on earth so even the general public are beginning to understand

It is only the last 20% where charging slows and it is not linear. 90-100% is only worth it if you are heading off on a long trip. 40% of our energy is now coming from renewables during the day and this is increasing all the time. Eventually it will be 100%. We are in a transition phase and that will continue for some years but eventually all the fossil fuelled electricity generation will disappear. The poor public EV charging infrastucture in Australia is amost entirely due to the previous LNP governments head in the sand attitude. It is improving though and new charging stations are planned for the outback with the installation of a large battery charged by stand alone solar. The cost to set up is tiny compared to a fossil fuel service station that requires a lot of energy to operate and needs to have the fuel delivered hundreds or thousands of kilometres by huge fuel hungry tankers. NSW has a EV destination policy and is providing grants for installation of chargers. In 2022 EV sales were only 1.8% of all new cars sold. By the end of September the figure had more than quadrupled to 9% and is increasing. More EVs were sold by the end of May than in the whole of 2022. EVs are expensive but the entry level is now close to the cost of the same size ICE vehicle. I am off to Noosa next week, a 550km drive. I'll leave with 100% charge & have the choice of a quite a few chargers on the Pacific highway. Apps tell me if they are busy or not & I'll take a 30 minute break while the battery tops up at a fast charger. I'll get to Noosa in about the same time it took in my ICE car. My old car that I bought new was 12 years old with 225k on the clock so it was time for a replacement. My choice to go for an EV was based on my lifestyle of travel and a desire to be part of the solution rather than continue the problem.

Aerodromes can be vey lonely places. Sometime I go up to my hangar on a perfect day for flying. Get some fuel, preflight and takeoff for a great local flight. I hear little on the radio, sometimes just the odd person at a far away CTAF with a 10 mile or joining call & if I'm monitoring centre just one or two RPT or IFR calls. I make a 10 mile and joing call, land and put the plane away. I have lunch and do something around the hangar, then drive home without having spoken to anyone all day. Then on another day there are aircraft and pilots all over the place. Visiting aircraft come and go and the airwaves are full of chatter. That's just the way it is.

Well that brought all the dinosaurs out. Plenty of opinions but no evidence.

It doesn't have zero emissions though. Diesels are the worst emitters.

There are many manufactures working to produce viable elctrically powered aircraft with plenty at the prototype stage and hundreds of battery technologies under development. I just bought an electric car. It is fantastic. Instant torque power, no noise, no vibration, & more high tech functions than I can count. It will be old tech within a few years due to the massive increase in battery and electric motor technology and everything that surrounds that. 7 year unlimited warranty with CATL estimating 1 milliom kM before battery degradation will require a replacement. 1000 kM range and more is already here. Sodium is replacing lithium at 1/3 of the cost with the energy density now rivalling lithium. Internal combustion is on the way out and fossil fuels will run out in 30 years or so. I predict that many of the current electric propotype aircraft will be in full production in 5 to 6 years. Ignore it if you like but it is coming, like it or not.

You cannot get more energy than you use unless there is some other energy source like gravity or kinetic energy from the mass of the vehicle already in motion. Hybrids generate power to charge their battery but use the energy of the petrol engine to do this. There are huge advances in battery technologies happening right now though most that have huge energy density have problems with longevity. There are many companies working on the issues now. Eventually some of these technologies will enter production. Already sodium batteries are being put in to EVs in China & the cost is about 1/3rd of lithium and an Australian Lithium Sulphur battery promises 500% more energy than existing Lithium ion batteries at half the cost. There are many more.

The Pipistrel Electro Aero Alpha made quite a splash when it was introduced in 2019 in WA. From memory it has about an hour endurance and the battery can be swapped out in under 15 minutes. Good for initial training and circuits etc. They will have made quite a few improvements by now I'd say

Ah the secret of perpetual motion. I had a discussion about this with a bloke at the aero club & he couldn't accept that my electric car would not charge as it is being driven. I tried to explain regenerative braking but he thought that it should continue to charge as it was being driven as well. Even after some time the penny failed to drop.

Polycarbonate is the same. Mr Sheen is a furniture polish & works OK but it isn't anti static and doesn't last long.

The best window cleaners IMO are just a few drops of dishwashing liquid in warm water, applied with a soft cloth or sponge and squeegeed off well. No streaks or smears. Vuplex is good for anti static and cleaning acrylic, lexan & other plastics.

I am constantly amazed at many of these oddball one offs etc as to why they were actully built. Many are just butt ugly and that never leads to production and sales. It is that old saying that they only flew because they were so ugly the earth repelled them.

That is a pretty beefy looking front mounting plate. What does that weigh?