Piet Fil

Well 11 days after rib 1 was out the jig, Rib 6 is in it, glue drying. Its looking like 3-4 ribs per week is achievable, so about nine weeks of ribbing to go. Phil

G'day from Oz Killian, Welcome to the site and enjoy the knowledge that abounds here. Phil

Might have to watch that (if I'm not building wing ribs). Love his "Grindin the Crack" Youtube clip (mainly due to the soundtrack .. Sail is a great song). Should be an interesting show (worse comes to worse I'll program the Tbox to record it. Thanks for the heads up. Phil

I'm also a big fan of the D-H texts. Found them and particularly the review and sample exams in them really helpful. Phil

So sad an event. Shags, please pass on my respects to the families involved and my thoughts are with all in the Bundy area. Phil

Congrats on the aircraft Steve, I'll have a drool over it next time I am down at Cooma (once the runway dries out). How did you go landing after all the rain?? Phil R

I never had a problem once I was sitting in the aircraft. I have always talked myself through every part fo a circuit out loud whilst walking the dogs (including all radio calls) made it easy to verbalise when flying and gave my instructor a good idea of where I was at and what I was doing. But I have to say that leading up to the solo just as I was falling asleep I was plagued by thoughts of either a) banking into a turn at low level and falling into a spin. or b) losing the ability to set up right on finals with no instructor for fall back. But as I said in the light of day and certainly in the plane ....... no problems. Put it down to human nature playing normal mind games

Well Guessed 80knts, its a 1968 MGB. A present from my lovely wife. Lucky me

Well Rib 1 has been glued and gusseted and is out the jig. Only 31 more to go. Fairly happy with how it turned out as the grin shows. Gusset cutting tip if you are using strips and not the hole saw method: once your strips are cut, use masking tape to tape 10 strips tightly together, mark out the top one and cut them 10 at a time on the band saw or with a good sharp handsaw (use a japanese razor saw if you have one; I'll post a photo of one in the gallery later) Phil

Well done on the Radio Test Ayavner. Whilst the HF is mostly common sense there are the standard ambiguously worded questions which can catch you out so a little study is well worth it. I used the Dyson Holland Text which I liked and was not too long a read. Phil

My 1.5 mm birch ply arrived from the US today. So a long weekend of rib twig cutting and gusset cutting for me. (seeing as the Bl*#dy weather has put flying out of the question)......... Boo for no flying ...but... Yay for building! Phil

A couple of phots placed in the gallery. The first rib has been done (cut and dry assembled) and will be used as the master. Cutting rib struts at the moment did 96 pieces on Sunday and another 96 yesterday. Thats 192 out of 452 pieces cut. Now, just awaiting my ply to arrive, then just 1236 gussets to cut and I'll be into the glue and assembly mode. More as I progress.

Ian, Thanks for all your efforts Phil

If you are a foxtel watcher. They will occasionally re-run the following that are well worth watching 1. A Plane is Born 2. Aviators 3. Martin Shaw Aviators 4. Flight Path TV Phil

I like it better than the old site.

Jeez Tomo, is there anything out there you haven't flown in??? :yes:You amaze me with your enthusiasm and range of experience, keep posting the night flying stuff its a great read and your video footage is good stuff as well. I am looking forward to the day I get to fly in a pietenpol (keep building scotty so I can hit you up for a flight) and then in my own eventually. Thanks for all the encouraging words, now its up to me to turn my noise into action Yay Phil

Scotty, yes I am going up on the sat for the day (maybe o'night and back to Canberra on the Sun AM)

Jim, It was originally designed for the Model A ford engine. Bernard Pietenpol changed the design in 66 to a lengthened fuselage with a corvair 6 cyl engine. The plans set I am using is by Jim Wills (UK) who re-validated and modified the design to satisfy the UK PFA (now LAA). Suitable for engines Corvair, A-65, O-200, Subaru EA 81 etc. I am still undecided as to whether I'll go the Corvair (ex USA) or a Subaru EA81. I am thinking that's something that I can wrestle with after doing the wing, empennage, fuse and Landing gear etc as either will fit on the long fuse version that I am going to build.

Well, my Pietenpol Air Camper project has finally commenced! my capstrip and glue arrived from the states. Capstrip bending jig has been made and two pieces of cap strip were soaked and bent last night. Came out of the jig nicely and are a good match to the curve of the top cap strip on the rib template. Did a test glue on a couple of offcuts and set to cure on the plastic I am going to cover the rib template in. When dry this morning the test piece separated off the plastic nicely, so I'll staple the plastic down tomorrow and start mounting the guide blocks so I am ready for the weekend. Only annoyance so far is the supplier of 1.5mm marine ply I had found in sydney does a turn around and states that although his website states AA-Abond marine ply, its actually AC marine ply. So now I am on the lookout for another supplier of either hooppine marine ply or birch ply (I know of some out there but am trying to balance the transport costs to Canberra. But at least the journey has actually begun Phil

Everyone in this discussion seems to gloss over the fact that that 75 is just a minimum requirement. There is also the fact that there is also: 1. an instructor training course to be done, 2. a competency based assessment to satisfy, 3. a pilot examiner, regional ops co-ordinator, Ops manager or Instructor trainer to put their name against the assessment of competence to instruct, and 4. then a CFI to satisfy to be employed and be able to instruct anyone. It is the spirit of competency based training that if you can satisfy all the other barriers in the minimum time then you should be able to instruct. I think it would be a very rare occurence that a low hour pilot would be able to get through all the requirements and satisfy the competency elements. If they can, then they should be able to instruct under the supervision of a CFI. Just my thoughts. Phil

I used the Dyson-Holland books for my theory study (along with the John Brandon Tutorials) The first D-H book covers BAK-Air Leg and Radio, there is an option to get the Human Factors book thrown in for a discount as well. I have just finished working through the X-Country endo book and passed. Both sets come with revision questions at the end of each chapter and also trial multiple choice exams for each section. I found them really easy to use and being RA-Aus specific I felt they were less confusing as they are targeted at the syllabus. Approx $70 each on the web I felt was a good buy when you think about how much we are investing in ourselves to learn to fly. I hope this made sense and helps in some way, Good luck and enjoy Phil

Good write up Tomo, Its not something in my near future (if ever) so its good to read of your journey. Keep it going Phil

Hi all, Just thought I'd post that I passed my Nav and Met exam today So just some more actual X-country flying to do (if this bl@@dy weather would make its mind up to be clear on the days I can afford to take of work).... never mind the hours will come in time. Till then, still loving it all Phil

Love it!