Planechaser

I have been doing my own servicing( up to 200hrs so far) for the very reason this post was put up. How ever, if I am the only person to look at the plane in 1000hrs, it's a fair bet that I will have missed something continually. There is no substitute for another pair of eyes, because everybody looks at things a little differently. My plan is to take it to someone with a good rep, LAME or L2, and get them to do one of the bigger services(like 400 or 600 for Rotax with the carbs) and then go over the whole thing myself as if it hasn't been done. Anything I have missed should be in the report, and anything they miss I should find, in theory..... It's good to have a theory! I should point out that I maintain vehicles and motor bikes but I am by no means a mechanic. With Service books, some handy walkthroughs from the internet( found a great one for 912"s the other day and learnt a few things!!) and plents of time, it's very doable, but in my opinion time is the key; lots and lots of un interupted time!!

So my uncle is about half way through getting his chopper licence to use on on their properties, mustering, checking waters and so on. And of course he would be buying an R22 for this purpose, right. Wrong! He has thrown a curve ball by looking seriously at an imported 300CB. But everyone uses R22's for ag work, I hear you say. We that's what I said. In fact, to show my ignorance I had never even heard of the Schweizer( now Sikorsky)! A quick Google showed a debate to match Ford vs. Holden! The 300c actually looks like a really good platform, with plenty of pros and cons vs the Robinson, and I wondered to myself why it is that I had never heard of them for Ag work. Could anyone here shed some light on the subject?? In an interesting side note, one Helo training site said that word from Robinson was the the 22 is being fazed out( because of declining sales vs the 44) and a stripped down R44 in a 2+2 w=configuration will be offered in it's place. Seeing as the 22 is $230k new and the 44 is $400k+ they would have to strid it down quite a ways! Here's the link: http://www.bluehillhelicopters.com/helicopter-training-boston/helicopter-training-articles/why300.html

www.worldaircraftco.com

Just having a look on WAC's site and reading about the Sentinel. As a Foxbal LS owner, it seems like the US military has asked them to reinvent the wheel. The specs, and price, are almost identical, as are the descriptions of superior views from the cabin. I guess the US Law enforcement/Army could hardly equip themselves with a plane built in the Ukraine!!

And it is not offen that the French will pull the rug out and stop selling arms to someone. They may not have the very best gear, but they are reportedly a very reliable supplier, even under international pressure. Also not much point them buying the very best if it won't handle the conditions they want them to opperate in or they struggle to keep them airworthy. I am thinking here of Landrover 4x4's here; the most able 4x4 on the planet, if only you can keep them running.

Neat idea with the surround. I hadn't even considered that! The Foxy has dual throttles down the outside of the seat, and because of the nature of most of my flying(low and/ or technical) I fly with my left hand resting on the throttle. Because of the placement this is not as inconveniant as it may sound. I started mustering/spotting in a 172 A. Holding on to that dash throttle was a real pain!! Larger passangers do have a tendancy to move the throttle around with their leg, or try to. They usually know they are doing it( like your pax Gary) but usually don't say anything. Don't know if I would be game to take the lever right off. If the pax needed to manitulate the throttle for any reason it is a long reach over my to use mine, especially if they are trying to keep the plane under control.

For me, the check list is the fallback position once you have checked what you think the problem will be, and setting up for the glide should probably be going on sub contiously. But unless your mind is absolutly elsewhere, (like in your ipod music or talking book!!) it really does depend on how the motor stops. I was trained that everything red goes off in an engine failure, presumably to lessen the chance of dammaging the expensive engine more or blowing the aircraft up when you "touch down". But this was really training for the student flying your plane, or someone flying an aircraft they have no knowledge other than what is printed on the laminated A5 page in the cabin. Engine starts to choke, in the real world, check your fuel taps are on, but make damn sure your nose is aiming for 60kts as you do it. Even in aviation, it is usually the simplest explination, I have found. I have also found that the deciding factor in any situation is hight! If my motor coughed in a mustering turn, it would be flattened out and on the ground before I could take the next breath. Aviate is always the first. Fly, or land, the plane, and everything else comes second, even checks. May I also say, on a side note, that if you are mechanicly minded and do your aircraft maintenance your self, or annoy the person doing in by hanging to them like a bad smell, you just know what is happening to your ship. And when you don't, you make it your business to find out. Something I missed in my short stint with GA ships.

Mate had a fully enclosed hanger, and he reconed that if the Sav had been in there for a few days all shut up, the fumes when you opened the door would just about knock you over. He thought it was something to do with the tanks being plastic and porus to petrol vapor. I didn't ever go there so to be fair I can't say 1st hand.

A mate of mine is selling/has sold his non-factory built Sav of 6 months because of fuel fumes. So bad he was feeling light headed while flying and went to the hospital to get checked out; he was sure it couldn't be the Sav, he was loving it so much! Was told by the builder to fly with the vents wide open. Needless to say he was expecting a little more for has $90k and last I heard was so disheartened with LSA that he was looking at 2nd hand 172's. Not a problem with the Foxy, but maybe the fiberglass tanks help with that.

I am in love! What a little ripper. It's great when designers think outside the box and then manage to pull it off.

Bushcaddy and scotty, I have found similar things with my particular Foxbat; a touch of rudder before aileron in a left turn will give you the fastest,easiest balance turn, where as turning to the right it doesn't seem to matter what you lead with. This only if you are trying to crank it around though. A mild turn, or a steep turn with a bit of time to set it up and you can take you pick. I put this down to the torque effect. Beware the adverse yaw with the rat however, on an aileron initiated turn; it is of mamoth proportions!! Not that I find this a major problem, it's just a bit off-puting. I never really noticed flying the old 172 A and B and leading with the aileron, but maybe that was lack of experience!!

Then the mustering blokes tell you that the next level up is not the level turn, which we all practiced to the point of tears.("you dropped 10 ft. You rose 5ft. Keep it level!!") but the decending turn, which is the safty net for low AND slow. Like the man says, low is fine, and slow is fine, but low and slow is another animal entirely. I was very proud of my level turns, and he just looks over at me with a look like" If it's a bit dicey mate, try that in the wrong setting and you're dead!" Like farri said, mustering is a different level of skill altogether, requiring a slightly different bag of tools!!

Don't know about only for low hour guys, RD. Old hat is what keeps us alive!! I am always up for a lesson. Something about old pilots and bold pilots....? The harder you are pushing it the more this applies in my opinion.

Flying the water run this morning got me thinking about this. I was taught, by Jack Funnel for those who know him, to initiate a bank for a turn with the aileron. If he told my why not to use the rudder it never stuck; I just knew that you never did. Initiate with aileron and then balance with rudder, then lift it around. Now this was fine until a mustering pilot taught me the other day to initiate with the rudder..... No adverse yaw of the nose before the turn, no nose up before the turn; slip it in, balance it up and then pull it around, practically with no aileron at all( which to read Stick and Rudder is the cardinal sin of a turn, leading to the end of the world as we know it!! His pet hate, I get the feeling.) Strick and rudder holds that intiating with the rudder drops the nose and leads the unwary into a spiral dive. End of story. Don't do it. Ever! The mustering pilot thought that at low level, many more pilots are killed through aileron stall leading to wing stall, than spiral dive. At 500ft or less you are very aware of the ground and a nose down attitude, so to bank with your nose slightly down, building up speed is better than to bank flat or nose slightly up, especially if you are flying close to the stall point anyway. You have less chance of stalling your wing if you don't stall the aileron. You have trouble stalling the aileron if you don't use the aileron!! This made sense to me, and although I probably fly 6 of one and half a dozen of the other at the moment, I am acutly aware of that slight stall of the aileron to initiate a turn. Airspeed building up in a tight turn is managable, airspeed washing off in a tight turn.......... I am inerested in others thoughts on this.

So I had Aeroshell sports plus 4 10w-40 in the 912 uls for the first 25 hours, and the oil pressure bounced between 45 psi and 69 psi at 4800 rpm. I was told this was because of my choice of MGL digital oil gauge being too acurate.... They actually had to put an adaptor in the system at Morrabin because it was fluctuating enough to set of the alarm! I just put in VSX 4 15w-50 ( on the general advice of Bert Floods) and the pressure bounces between 43 psi and 47 psi!!! So is anyone else having any oil pump or pressure issues with the 10w-40? And thanks to the team at Floods for the tip.

It's the old addage in a light plane; if you are about to put yourself in a situation, have your hand on the throttle, and if you have to take your eyes away from front and center, be moving it smartly to the firewall!

Spot on Jake.f. Jim who did the RA-Aus with me had not flown one before and was suprised at how nice and well mannered it was to land. He was also surprised at the slight wing drop when you finally do get it to stall properly,(at about 28kts flapped!!) considering it's good manners, but this might be just a particular quirk of 7878. Hope the flying's good in Coffs. I've got family in the area to the South. Beautiful part of the world!

All worthy sugestions for The Rat, but my three year old and her cousin have christened her Big Bird and it seems to be sticking at the moment!! All she needs is the orange stripes down the rear struts.....

Canary Yellow Foxbat LS with tundra's sitting on the strip with 21 hrs on the clock and all I can say is YeeeeeHa! This thing is a blast!! Anyone who thinks that 172's are the only bush aircraft to fly needs to have a whirl in a WolfRat; doesn't matter much what you do, this thing is Solid. Looking forward to getting to know it better. Also thumbs up to Jim Nesbit who did the GA to RA-Aus conversion in Broken Hill; Very talented instructor, even if he does have a magnetic attraction to cross-wind landings! Hours hours here I come.

Guess with EPIRB there is no "I'm ok, just running late" function. The question is, are these things that work on the Sat phone system cheaper than running a Sat phone if you want to do the whole "I'm alright" thing? No question that you would still be running an EPIRB, wether you had a Spot/Spider tracks or not for remote operations.

Have heard of a Sat system marketed to adventure motorbike riders. Not sure of the name but I recon it works on Iiridium. Basic 'I'm ok' or S.O.S. buttons for about $150 a year, and a map logger linked to the internet for mid$200's. Have heard of blokes on properties outside of phone coverage using these when they go working out the back on their own. Piece of mind for the one left at home, and pretty good insurance policy for the one out on his own; Just don't leave it on the dash when you go to pull that bore!! As to water, would not even consider leaving the house paddock, ute bike or plane, without a three litre camelback(pretty impact resistant, just ask a dirt bike rider!!) minimum. Another 10lts in an insulated bottle in the ute of course, but a 10lt box/bladder in you kite has got to be the way to go. The 3lts is for sipping, but if you put down/break down, 2lts per person per day is absolute starvation rations if your caught out in the open....

Gday H, Just look forward to the time when you can string a few lessons back to back, with nothing else in between; that is when it all starts falling into place:thumb_up:! Nice to have another junkie in the making...!!

It's funny how when people have a car accident, we usually don't ask what they were driving anymore, but when someone goes down, the first question is "what were they flying?" Summing up the lass 5 years worth of accidents around here, I would have to say it's usually a mixture of pilot error and uncontrolable conditions, pretty much like on the road. In my mind, inherently bad design leading to injury or death seems to be a thing of the past.

Hi Kaz, probably heading down the RA line. I've done the figures on VH, and it doesn't stack up, unless you really need the extra space/weight. She's all fairly open country; couple of prepared strips and then probably just grade out a few hundred meters of track here and there, near waters and so on. Not just enough acres for aircraft, but enough acres for a grader and loader as well! Have got to say Bones, the biggest buzz to date is still running three mustering teams over two paddocks and keeping stock moving in the third. Like playing chess while on a rollercoaster:big_grin:!! Mustering makes x-country nav work feel like the daily grind; I could only imagin it in a Gyro...! Don't kid yourself about the storch David; no fixed wing can groove like that..