Hargraves

Answer: - much, much more than you would think possible. Several Avalon Airshows ago on the Saturday evening a wind storm went through the row of parked aircraft and inverted many. About 4 aircraft away from mine a Savannah was picked up and dumped inverted about a plane length behind its tied down position. It had 4 tie downs; each wing strut, nose and tail. I helped dismantle it on Sunday morning and one of the strut attachment plate assemblies had been pulled apart in tension. (Not rivets pulling out, but the plates torn apart). A Foxbat close by had been picked up, flown over the top of a Lancair barely touching its prop and then dropped tail down, bending the fuselage into a "J". It, too, had a severed strut attachment plate just below the spar. This plate is from memory about 38 X 6 mm 2021 flat. The break was clean, with no evidence of bending.

A Gazelle tied down 1 metre from my left wingtip was flown up and over the nose of my plane, landing inverted over the rope fence in front of the parked aircraft. It did not touch my wing.

I'll leave it to you to think about how much instantaneous lift it would have taken in these scenarios.

My aircraft was undamaged, the only explanation being that as a taildragger the wing angle of attack is above stall when the tail is down. All other aircraft were nosewheelers and the wings generated lift.

Somewhere I have photos of this event which I could scan and post if requested.

Reality bites eh. i fly a storch muster and had a very severe wind storm event when parked up at my home field overnight while i was away the aircraft was wheel chocked and tied down into wind. The pilots who were present at the time were not game to try and relocate her because of the conditions. On arrival next morning i found her standding on tippy toes with the landing gear legs at almost full extension as when flying, the chocks (one piece fwd and aft ) were to each side of the wheels which had lifted gradually up and inboard. While counting myself very lucky at the time. On reviewing what happened i am convinced that your assesment of the aircrafts attitude being held under the stall angle of attack is the real reason it survived without damage. Ps their were no other aircraft tied down at that time,

cheers Mick

This push to wanabe GA makes me sick, along with a great many rec pilots i suspect, if I wanted the Bullshit GA garbage I would have done it in the first place. Flying strickly for fun dose'nt need this shit.

Yes Phil i,ve been wondering if hes ok as well, i think overall it,s a good time to get out of that country just now eh.

Great work Mark, grouping up with adjustable hard links is definately the go mate, the multi cyl racing superbikes got on to this as well eh, old mate Kiwi must have noticed it is better as well, Well done sir. Cheers Mick

Both my aircraft and flying are just one hobby of mine for my retirement, along with sailing my small trailer sailer (8 meters) fishing in my quintrex hornet (4.3), and a little hooka diving in it, heavy caliber pistol shooting, heavy caliber rifle shooting, blackpowder pistol and rifle shooting, shotgun field shooting, hunting and freshwater fishing. And ahead of it all family and grandkids of course. I probably have too many hobbies but its all religon belief based ( you only have one life and this is it eh) cheers Mick

It probably went something like this, high drag low inertia, not suitable for stunned mullets.

Skip to 7.00 for the crash.

 

Check out the final analysis these two should never have been allowed to fly anything. But they managed to write off the aircraft through the combination of no maintainence mechanical ignorance and no flying skill Is it any wonder we get shit on by regulators.

Registration and pilot certificate are the only reason to be in the RAA/GA wannabe organisation their is no other reason for being a member and I would love to find an alternative yesterday.

Great vid love his stile of presenting it too. Just imagine flying in that in WW2 with nil electronic help and the enemy to watch out for as well

Bought 4 ea brake cyl seals (buckets) off UK eBay just as the CV19 panic struck us. Items were packed in a Royal Mail Intn'l Priority air mail envelope and despatched the day after order was filled at a postal cost of 4.50 quid. 52 days after despatch the item arrived in my mailbox! Virus influences notwithstanding, I reckon the convict ships would have given the Aust Postal Service a close run for efficiency! And my good wife wonders why I get more cynical as I get older. Sheesh!

I think its a lot to do with the companys attitude to customer service Riley. Although an unrelated item I deal with a retailer in brisbane that i can ring and pay for a stock item in the afternoon and recieve it at my door the next day. Their despatch department is a stand alone section that is second to none eh. Ps i,m in reginal Bundaberg (Bargara)

I genuinely believe the most dangerous aspect of my flying is shared 50/50 by the takeoff and the drive to the strip.

When the empire /job builders are allowed to take over the interests of hobbyists the result is always going to be bigger more expensive costs and more regulations, this rule is specific to all sports and hobbies and if their was a viable alternative to RAA i,d be their yesterday

30th / 31st May. . . Absolutely deserted airfield.

 

Nobody working on un-locking down aircraft,. . . Weather Beautiful. . . no occasional visitors . . .only three volts used on the Hand held radio. . .

 

Most Odd. for one of the (Formally) busiest LSA airfields in the County. . .

 

Old mate phoned to ask If Id fly with him in his new toy ( A Eurofox ) I said, Sadly mate. . .NO. I'm not current for one. . .and I've never flown the type for two ( Not that the second bit wold have stopped me. . .as it is very similar to a Kitfox, but with a bloody Nose wheel)

 

So. . .. Altogther, a very sad weekend MIND YOU .. Eldest Daughter has invited me to a BBQ in her back garden on June 2nd, since the Govt. have now relaxed some of their rules to allow this, AND that it is also my Seventieth birthday too. . .. and ( I gather ) that I shall be allowed to consume unlimited Alcoholic comestibles all day . . .

 

Whatz not to ;like a lot . . .?

 

Although she baulked at allowing my Old Mate Neville (Ex SAS ) to parachute into the garden and have a pint. . .

 

Neville God Bless him,. . was one of the original developers of the' HALO' jump. But died in 1996. . .

 

Taught himelf to fly a Flexwing Microlight in an afternoon,. . .and then found his way 50 miles to Our airfield,. . .here e were having a barbecue in the fog. . . . They just don't make them like that anymore.

1950 was a vintage year Phil for me too, many happy returns sir of the years and the air, cheers Mick

I can isolate on my little trailer sailer.

 

Comfy, nice warm bed, Esky full of beer and a nip of rum at bed time. Kettle and Tucker to last it out, and constantly changing scenery without human contact.......

 

Safe as houses. Actually safer than houses.

 

Oh, and a bunch of kindle books.

 

And a radio so I can listen (briefly) about the gloom of city dwellers suffering.

Way to go Pete, got a little t s myself and their great for a break, wx permitting.

Ploughing, scarifing and other farming operations that are in progress are a major magnet for lots of bird life and it was due to that, that i had my close encounter while decending to join and looking to check the windsock. I got a good very quick view of an eagles undercarrige as he went over me.

Like i said, in a nutshell its about money.

Very well said Rush but i think i can streamline the cause a little by the use of the word (money)

Very sad to hear of it a real tragedy. RIP

If you just want economical safe enjoyable heliview type flying without trying to be a GA wanabe, go for a front seat fly in a GT 500. They are not the perfect aircraft but with those criteria they are as close as you will get, and have an excellent and ongoing factory parts backup, are a longtime in production, with an excellent airframe safety record. Cheers

Your quite right to have concerns on this issue Alan. Because compaired to private vehicle use, heavy road transport and comercial air travel and freight, our emmisions are in fact miniscule and the way politics and heard ignorance works nowdays that makes us a prime minority target for the oppertunistic scum we call the right honerable  members. 

Sounds like all good news to me Ian. Thanks for your work sir. As an aside i,m feeling despondant with another twin fatality which by all indications is again weather related making the last three crashes 6 people, not counting the C130, all victim's of flying into weather and all avoidable.

Thats why when my instructor asked me what my flying interests and ambitions were i said ,beaches and paddocks eh Mark, the costs are discusting and fraudulent ripoffs eh.

I overnighted my storch at ycds one time using shortened polycarbonate star type tent pegs that were sharpened and hammered in with my (carried) short lump hammer. I backed it up with intergral one piece fwd and aft timber wheel chocks (carried). On returning the next morning my storchs landing gear was at almost full retraction like when flying and looked like she was on tippy toes. But she was still where i tied her, my club mates that stayed the night said they were not game to try and move her once the squall started as it was a very strong cell that came through.

I have twice found broken but retained exhaust pipe springs during one daily and one preflight check. That may well not count as preventing an accident but it sure prevented and damage occurring to the prop. I carry spare springs and HT silicon in both my storch and my 500 as a result.

Ask any pilot of a pusher configured aircraft what lockwire value may be and you,ll probably get a definitive (must have) and no doubt from them especially concerning exhaust pipe hv silicon coated retaining springs and other items.

Welding is the process of fusing of one or more parent metals either with or without a filler rod by heating the parent metal or metals to their elastic limit creating a liquid weld pool which is protected from oxididation and or rapid cooling by incorperating a covering flux or gas sheild during the process. It is not a heat addheasion or surfactant only additional metal such as soldering, brazing (unless brass parent metal is used) or silver soldering.  Their are no trick mirrors, its either welded or it is,nt.