kgwilson

Or nothing about everything.

I have a Motobatt MBTX20U 21 AH battery in my aircraft & has been there since 2015. I accidentally flattened it by leaving the ignition switch on about 3 or 4 years ago. I have a smart charger but it is not that smart. As it detected no voltage at all, it decided the battery was stuffed and would not charge the battery at all. I connected an old basic charger for about an hour. The battery had got quite warm in that time but then I put it back on the smart charger which went into pulse mode for a while then trickle for about 15 hours before it said the battery was fully charged. It is not as good as new but still starts my engine every time. Most of my flights average an hour or so and the battery keeps well charged but it never gets to a full charge. I assume this has something to do with the regulator. The same occurs with both cars. I will put the smart charger on occasionally and it will show about 80-90% charged. It usually only takes an hour or 2 to get back to full charge.

The wake turbulence from the helicopter was already almost as low is it could go as it was so close to the ground so that is why the Cessna pilot flew through it at almost the same altitude as the helicopter but that was only 20 seconds beforehand. It can continue for at least 3 minutes after it is generated but begins to decay from the time it is generated. At RPT controlled airports there is usually a 3 minute takeoff separation to avoid wake turbulence and especially if a small aircraft is following a large one. If you do a perfect rate 1, 2 minute 360 degree turn you will fly through your own wake turbulence.

Currently RA-Aus operates under an exemption from CAO 100.7 which is a detailed Weight & Balance Order.. Section 10 of the Technical manual V 4.1 says:- 1.1 The requirements of CAO 100.7 apply to all RAAus registered aircraft. Subsection 1(c) of CAO 100.7 will apply to RAAus registered aircraft when procedures are accepted or approved by CASA for the aircraft. Subsection 1(c) or the order states This Order does not apply to the following: (a) a balloon; (b) an airship; (c) an aircraft that: (i) is registered by a sport aviation body; and (ii) has been weighed in accordance with the sport aviation body’s procedures, as the procedures have been accepted or approved by CASA at the time the aircraft is weighed. So it would appear that there is a review going on because there is virtually nothing in the Technical manual regarding Weight & Balance, just 3 paragraphs (less than 1/2 a page) and a reference to Form 6 which is the RA-Aus weight & balance form & that requires a signature from the owner that W&B has been done & a report is attached either from the owner, a CASA W&B Authority or an L2. Clearly there have been issues previously with poor data or procedures/processes to prompt this review. This does not surprise me based on the quality of some Lames & L2s.

Just like the taper roller bearings for my Matco TSOed wheels. They have a Matco number and exorbitant price but are standard Timken taper roller bearings. The number is right there on the edge of the roller cage.

Personally I prefer PNC over ANC headsets as I can hear the engine note and can detect any little anomaly. I hate foam earplugs & can't see the point of having these as they will reduce the level of radio traffic information being received & this what the headset is for.

One of the guys at our aerodrome went on the Outback air race in his Mooney M20J. We were discussing the benefits of ADSB in. He was unaware that the SE2 interfaced with his Avplan and the latency of the cellular system. He noticed an aircraft on a closing course on Avplan & called Brisbane centre. They advised that they had seen the aircraft & it had already gone past his track.

When I did the W&B on my build I had to get it signed off not with a L2 but a L4 (a highly skilled and qualified (old retired) LAME who also signed off my final inspection. That was in 2015. I did have proper electronic aircraft load cells but at the time I could have used bathroom scales. As mentioned earlier I did another W&B a bit later on with bathroom scales I got from a bloke who had the hangar next door & the result was very close to the original.

In the 70s a friend landed his hang glider in the surf at a beach. The surf won. We folded it all up & but it in the boot of a Morris Minor.

I used a set of aircraft scales I borrowed. I did a follow up later using 3 digital bathroom scales & the difference was f*#ck all. Surely the rumour can't be true. Determine the datum, specify the level reference, determine the CoG & fore and aft limits & do the measurements & calculations. Before you do anything at all download & read the FAA Weight & Balance handbook. It has every minute detail you ever need to know in its 97 pages. Once you have figured it out the process is easy. Mind you I have met some pretty dumb L2s so there may be something in the rumour..

Aircraft are being towed around the country all the time in all manner of home built trailers. All you need is a trailer long enough to take the fuselage and wings and plenty of packing, wrap, (old blankets, foam, cushions, pillows, expanded polystyrene etc are great) and be meticulous how you tie it down, cover the whole lot with a decent tarp fully tied down to prevent all flapping and no air leaks. Make sure the front is reasonably aerodynamically streamlined. When I moved my build from my house to the hangar I borrowed such a trailer and spent a day packing, covering and tying down. I got it there without a single scratch.

Usually it is changed to E24 (experimental).

$510.00 deposited in my bank account yesterday so the process was a bit over 6 weeks from submitting the claim to payment. I didn't get a remittance advice though.

This one. https://www.recreationalflying.com/topic/38594-another-successful-gear-up-landing/#comment-533789

Hopefully the ADSB situation will change as more pilots take advantage of the 50% rebate system. For a total cost to the pilot of $510.00-$550.00 having ADSB in and out with a Skyecho 2 is a no brainer. When I put my application in on 30 August I was the 244th applicant. There are plenty of GA with mode C only & RA with nothing out there. Avplan/Ozrunways is OK if you have these but there is considerable latency as they use the cellular network as well as reception issues.

This CASA link to deleted pages has been evident for close to 2 months that I know of. I wanted to check some details on CAR 166-1 and CAR166-2 so googled them and both failed. then I tried some others and the result was the same. Businesses update their websites all the time and this is the only time I have come across such a poor upgrade process. Either they get all the google link data modified or they have a page redirect from the one that no longer exists. Who the hell is running this mob?

You got a good deal on purchase at $894.00 unless that was ex GST. The price I paid was $1020.00 inc GST direct from Uavionix. It looks like the price went up as soon as the grant was announced.

I've seen too many shoddy LAME & L2 jobs to trust anyone else with my aircraft than me. 4-6 seats is GA of course & new will be 3/4 to several million to buy. Cheap 2nd hand will be 50 years old or more and maintenance costs will be very high. Just an annual will cost 5k or more.

Chainsaws are very dangerous instruments and can be purchased by anyone & now with cheap Chinese models cost is not a prohibitor. I am a qualified Chainsaw Instructor for NSW SES and the dangers of kickbacks and jamming binds are well trained so these issues a minimised. They are a great tool in the right hands. Chainsaw pruners are just that, pruners for unskilled and lazy people. There are lots of these available in Aliexpress for a little as $40.00. They have no chain lubrication & the gears are plastic. The Stihl at $299.00 is better but still pretty useless

What's wrong with the original? It is the same diameter as the ASI VSI & Altimeter & you will have a big hole to fill in if you go for a smaller instrument & it will not be as easy to read or set rpm.

Which means the gear mechanism or some other component must have jammed/broken or else he would have been able to manually wind the gear down easily enough.

I'd just take a battery chainsaw. You can cut down trees cut firewood or make a sculpture if you get bored.

I have only ever flown recreationally. I flew 4 seat Cessnas & Pipers for 40 years. Other than club trips when the 4 seats were filled with 4 pilots, about half my flying was on my own & 45% or possibly more was with my wife as a passenger & sometimes the dog & only 3-4% of the time did I take 2 or 3 passengers, mostly family & friends. I built my RA aircraft & first flew it in 2015. 95% of my flying has been solo since. Get all your endorsements & then rent. It will be heaps cheaper & the aircraft will likely be well maintained & hangared.

I started my RAA conversion in a Skyfox Gazelle at Caloundra in 2009 & the radio traffic from Caboolture on a Saturday morning was crazy. Gliders, RA, GA, Helis & students of all persuasions. Luckily I didn't have to make many calls as Caloundra was fairly quiet. If it is busier now it must be hard to keep track of what is going on. I always remember one frustrated pilots comment after some pilot hogged the airwaves by almost reciting his life history when he said very quickly, clearly and in an agitated voice something like "Keep to the point, this frequency is far too busy for idle chit chat". I didn't hear the perpetrator at all after that.

Crikey 5 f*#@ ups in just 8 posts from a small sample of licenced pilots. There are probably hundreds of pilots flying around with endorsements they never got and have not bothered to get them corrected. I wonder if they have any sort of audit process. They don't seem to have a checking process.