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What give you the idea that two strokes can't be supercharged. The big GM diesels that the railways run have a dirty big Rootes blower feeding air into the cylinders. It might be a bit harder with a carby, but still not impossible. David

If you want to work out the vapour pressure go to http://www.s-ohe.com/Vp_calc.html David

I notice that Van has an RV12 in the works for the LSA category. He tried VG's to try and get the stall speed down, apparently because the initial wing was a bit short, and he reckons they didn't work. Looks like it will be a nice aircraft when he gets it sorted out. David

The other interesting thing is that GM are selling them the same cars we use here to run on their alcohol. David

Bob Miller looks like a bloke who knows what he is talking about. David

You beat me to it. I was about to suggest that that "There are those who have ground looped and those who are going to ground loop". As I recall, they used to have a bit of trouble with the tail spring assembly as there were a couple of lugs welded onto each side of the spring and because the whole deal was not re-heat treated after welding, one of the lugs would break off. If you had wheeled it on, that might not have happened. David

They were probably only using half power as it didn't appear to have much load on the wings. The pilot may have overestimated the amount of runway available. Perhaps he was trying to save fuel. David

In the Gemini, I always did wheelers, and kept the tail up for as long as it would fly. That seemed to introduce enough drag to slow things down. I always felt that I got down on the ground closer to the fence, whereas trying to do three pointers, it wanted to float into the paddock with less control over the touchdown distance. There was also less chance of hooking the tail wheel on the top wire of the fence if you flew it on. With 200 metres to the next fence and no brakes, it was sometimes necessary to do a controlled ground loop if you got it wrong and that seemed easier to do with the tail off the ground. Less damage to the tail too. David

I thought it might have been P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough. S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft. David

" By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident." Not so. http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/ups774/photo.shtml David

HPD. On the contrary, although come to think of it, aren't all gyro pilots dangerous. David

That is exactly the same comment that I was going to make before I scrolled down and saw what you put. I remember some years ago at a GULF meeting at Bairnsdale when it was that windy, all the birds were sitting on the fences, we heard the sound of an approaching aircraft. It was Trevor Taylor in his Gyro, coming in as though there wasn't a breathe of wind. David

It used to be like that around Griffith. I wasn't game to take too many breaths in case what I was inhaling was going to get me even higher. David

Someone said earlier that "I believe that comes about because of lack of exposure of inexpensive planes, giving the impression that they have all gone away, & very few ads & articles about rag & tube." This is one of the disadvantages of having the annual fly-in at Narromine. You need to be very dedicated to fly your Trusty Thruster there from one of the eastern states capitals if you are going to do it by yourself. A couple of years ago, I accompanied a mate who was flying a Quicksilver GT400. I carried some of his spare gear and extra fuel. It took us a couple of days which was no problem as we are both retired. He took off before me and arrived later. There needs to be more of this type of thing happening, to get more exposure of some of the Rag & Tube aircraft there. The fast glass owners in general are the ones who are still working. You need to be in order to be able to afford them. They probably don't have the time to accompany a slower mate in a cheaper, slower craft. Please give it some thought for next year. David

Those interested in props might be interested in the comparisons of a few props done by John Gilpin at http://www.stolspeed.com/props-comparison/ David

There is no longer fuel at West Wyalong as I understand, but you can get fuel at Forbes, Narrandera (need an ASIC), Yarrawonga, Tocumwal, Finley (weekdays) and Shepparton, all user friendly. David

Where else would you get thorns Patrick? Welcome aboard. David

The main problem with all the endorsements is that there are only a limited number of instructors out there who are qualified to instruct to those levels, just as 20 years ago, there were a few instructors who were not too hot on the nav side of things. It will take some time for them to catch up with all the new syllabi, particularly the ones who don't have PPL. David

I had the same problem. It went away after I tightened the bolts a bit more. Can't remember how I did it now, but from experience you get to know what is pretty close to the right torque. Don't use too big a spanner. David

This might be slightly off topic, but is a good demo of vortex generators. I'm perplexed as to why Rod Stiff says they don't work on a Jab 160. http://www.stolspeed.com/601-hds-video/ David

Yenn, those figures look like they're off a dynamometer, not what you get with a propellor. Is that right? David

Facthunter is pretty close to the truth as far as power versus revs is concerned. The graphs for a dynomometer don't really apply when you attach a propellor. Fuel flow is also a good indicator, provided the mixture is correct. 20 litres per hour is approximately equal to 70 HP, 15 liters equals just over 50 hp in a Jab or a 912, regardless of what the manufacturers might say. David

Macnoz, I think you forgot the square root in your calculation of the power with a propellor connected to the engine. David

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_drag Also have a look at the graph at the bottom of the page. David

Why would you want to fly a trike around Goulburn in the winter. Brrrrr. Last time I overnighted there it was -9 in the morning. David