rgmwa

I also have checklists printed on laminated cards and use them for every flight. It gets my mind focussed and I know that I haven’t missed anything.

I suspect very few weekend pilots routinely do W&B checks unless the loading is different to normal, in which case you would hope they would. I certainly do when heading off on a long trip and loaded front and back with a lot of extra stuff plus full fuel, but I don't when flying solo locally. I visually monitor fuel usage and fuel flow on every flight, but don't record it for local flying. I do on a longer trip. Of course as with everything, unless you do the paperwork regularly you get rusty. In fact, it wouldn't do me any harm to get my BAK and PPL books out again and get back up to speed, and I'm probably not the only one.

I’m right handed but learned to fly at 59 in the left seat with left hand on the stick/yoke. It felt quite natural from day one and I’d be hesitant to fly right seat now, although I think I’d soon get used to that too if I had to.

That's usually where you'll find me.

How did the fly-in go?

It would be good to have 5 mins to edit a post for some small typo without the Edited by ... tag in bold appear for no good reason.

NRMA recently took over SGIO in WA after moving across here a couple of years ago. Buying out the competition.

Designing an alternative that clearly doesn't work can hardly be claimed to be a safer design. Didn't the manufacturer dispute the claim?

How to they get away with that? Surely the manufacturer had an opportunity to point out these proposed `safer' design solutions that they should have implemented were not viable?

Nice work, Marty.

How would you know if it was invisible?

That's similar to the one I have. I found the serrations in the clamp tended to score the soft aluminium tubing which I wasn't very happy about, but a single wrap of masking tape around the tube helped a lot. Making good flares is definitely an art. The number of pieces of tubing I threw away could almost have built another plane.

Vans supply this for the RV's: https://store.vansaircraft.com/aluminum-tube-035-x-3-8-x-29-coil-at0-035x3-8x29-ft.html

Looks like a pretty decent set for the price. If it's 37 deg, should be fine. You can easily pay $250-$300 or more for a top brand. Edit: Be careful. I zoomed in on the dies in the link and they have 45 deg stamped on them.

When were starter motors introduced? That would be a hard prop to swing.

Make sure you get a 37 deg flaring tool with AN fittings, not the standard automotive one.

I really enjoyed building and ended up with a new plane. Best of both worlds.

Ah yes, but it’s not an RV 🙂

My 12 can take 50lb in the baggage compartment. The current 12’s can take 75 lb as the fuel tank has been relocated. My long trips have been solo so the passenger seat has been available for whatever I wanted to take.

A Sling 2 is good for 700 kg and would be a nice choice for either weight limit. I've never yet been loaded even to 600kg in the RV-12 on any trip.

Just watched the video of the ditching. Great example of how to do it well. Calm ocean and bystanders nearby also helped.

That should keep Lycoming in business for a while longer. Vans will sell you a 160hp Lycoming for US$35-$38k.

Are you a distributor for e-Props?

This link might be useful: https://www.stolspeed.com/nid/46

Yes, but lots of light planes have done similar trips going back to the biplane days without any anti or de-icing equipment. It's just another risk that has to be managed as best you can if you are game enough to tackle something like that.