Hargraves

G,day Kevb and facthunter could ypu advise who to contact re the event their in august sounds like a great spot cheers Hargraves

Looks great sir, my 500 would fit in with that mob nicely buy the look of types, I can,t wait to get back up their and share some air. cheers Kev

A new manual pump oil can from ebay is less than ten dollars and does just fine at pumping bottom to top, from a mate of mine, cheers

That,s the one sir, I believe it took root around your area as well nimbin and such

Rag and tube is not the issue per se but it is directly related to cost which is what made it possible for a lot of people to own their first aicraft instead of hiring one for their flying and the weight increase while not affecting anyone without the type, would potentially open up more regulations and costs in the authority,s flow on, one reg suits all ease of administration, that is so common in all company,s

Board communique 14/03/2017 " everyone acknowledges that we can always improve how we communicate with members and we will continue to explore ways in how best to do this" their are many views and opinions on the (members wishes) I reinterate that a members only independant mail out poll should be conducted by RAA specifically to address the weight increase issue in a clear yes or no answer format as this is the leading issue that all other attached issues depend on for their inception. I joined RAA soley because I did not want to join the GA beauracratic circus.

Please, Please, someone bring us an alternative to RAA, back to what we started in in the first place. And name me one instance where bigger means better for members, or doesn,t any body remember when banks used to pay us for holding our money, its a load of shit and we need to start again at the start.

The medical reasons (read insurance and ageing) is what the push from RAA to GA operations and weights is all about, the real problem is were trapped in this over regulated australian system, the kiwis system leaves it for dead i,m told but I still want less regulation not more so thats the bottom line for me.

Good point Mike sad but true and I think your right Frank but do'es that mean we should sit back and do nothing about the push to GA

Befor we go putting our faith in pseudo TV like polls that only ask the questions that will enabale the answers they prefer. How about we lobby our board to spend some money on a mailout to members only asking the relevent questions starting with, do you as a member want an increase in mtow for RAA registered recreational aircraft. Yes or no, I would be happy to go along with whatever the majority wants.

Loss of control for whatever reason, engine on or off, very sad to hear.

I have to admit to one lesson learned after a long night shift followed by a short fly ( because the weather had varstly moderated to a cracker of a forcast that morning). All went perfectly normal for a little extended cct flying but I noticed the aircraft felt a bit dragy in cruise so I headed back to land, when I did my downwind checks I found I still had first stage flap deployed. The point being while I felt the aircrafts preformance correctly I was to fatigued to identify the problem, a good lesson learned, cheers

I think Marks hit it squarely on the head, but unfortunately it (flys) in the face of what most RAA pilots are continually up against and trying to maintain that is ,cheap affordable flying and stopping the push towards expensive fake (sorry Donald) GA type aircraft. Cheers Mick

Yes M61A1 it is an unusual choice on the face of it and i would have thought a conventional fabricated beam spar would have been an easyer fitup due to the open nature of the composite end when cut.

That belite two seat inovation has enormous potential Garfly and a material that iv,e often thought would give carbon fiber a run for its money (literally) Imagine the posibilities if the material manufacturer came on line and offered the product in fuse and flying surfaces contured shape with its inherently stronger section when curved and radiused not to mention austetic appeal, the only caviate I wonder about is it limited or one way securing abillity due to the open core ends resulting from each cut and the cross securing through the section in relation to riveting as a result. Cheers Hargraves

Spacesailer they were called, or at least were when I used them years ago, Imex sealed aluminium alloy rivets, and were, when first introduced many years ago the only pop rivet approved by the old department of labour and industrie for double staggered lapjointed riveted pressure vessels up to 100 psi. Which i found then and now amazing in its self. In marine applications the mandril hole was backfilled with sikaflex as was the joint and made for an extremely strong bond. Using any quantity required pneumatic guns or a heavy duty tong or lever riveter, the plier type requiring a gorilla if 3/16" or over is used due to their hard alloy composition. Cheers

Thanks spacesailer I did,nt know of that either, I did know of the lack of inclusion of copper in marine grade alloy sheets though due to electrolysis arising from the dissimilar metals issue and lightspeed is correct regarding the thin (air oxidized) surface coating that takes place and is a very good anti- corrosion barrier and the reason painting alluminium tinnes and larger is a external cosmetic only opperation. I,m guessing that the necessity of excluding or greatly reducing copper content in marine grade may be a reason for its strength and temper abillity possibly. Hargravescheers

Duralium is the only allumininm alloy I,m aware of that can actually harden with age and flys in the face of all the others in this regard, its texture and feel could be described as being on a par with the difference between a cold rolled steel flat bar and the same size piece in high tensile steel ground stock, I think us in U/L flying are fairly insulated from it but due to its huge cost, cheers Hargraves

I,m sure theirs interest their amongst the younger set Mike, we just had a young lady first solo in the gliding club last week. Their may well be a percieved elitist stigma attached to our sport, that would put some off, that is,nt really their, in most of the raa pilots i,ve met anyway, and also the age of most of us raa pilots means were flying our own aircraft (at last) and that is our main priority, understandably, leaving time for enlistment projects a poor second. And the beauracratic process involved an even poorer third. Reducing the cost via this inovation would be a good way to get started but i,m not sure i could get used to the quite eh. Cheers mate

Sorry bex my typo cheers

Yes Box their was a good bit of cross wind drift on this one but all good

Your quite right 5083 H34 tempered alluminium marine grade sheet canot be made from other grade sheets due to their alloy composition but tempering is not an ageing process normalizing (softening) is. 5083 H34 cannot be produced via extrusion due to its composition. I am retired and I may well be behind the times but i know of no tempered alluminium extrusions and i havent seen a temper listing in them.

The problem with the best and strongest aluminiun alloys is that unlike the steel alloys they do not lend themselves to heat treatment in their extruded forms which with the exception of skins would be their main airframe use. Anyone that has worked with marine grade 5083 H34 tempered alloy plate would know how far structurally ahead it is of any of the other series sheet alloy and that the extrusions of 6000 series don,t even come close due to the very nature of the extrusion process itself. Theirs allways a caviate of course and that is any manufacturing processes involving heating reduces or invalidates the structual integrity of the tempered product, and forming or pressing beyond radius limits causes stress fracturing as well, If I were ever lucky enough to be in a position to scratch build an aircraft, the the spars would be based on that grade or an equivelant from the manufacturer, as previously mentioned theirs alluminium and theirs alluminium alloys and using basically the same tools as wood working thats my choice of stuff to use, cheers Hargraves

I think your right Nev, I have heard more than one rpt jet pilot refer to u/l flying as real flying. And my own very limited experience has been that cost is not necessarily related to how much fun and how enjoyable an aircraft is to fly, some are just delightful and a pleasure in their own way, by simple ergonomic design coupled with how you feel the aircraft fly from the pilots position. Been an interesting chat sir. cheers Hargraves

The differance is obviously where you start off from I think Nev, that would obviously greatly influence how we would view the sport ,vis a vis coming down from comercial flying to just rec flying would be nothing like someone just interested in rec flying full stop with no interest or intension of going any further and I can understand your good wife for not wanting to fly in another bird after backseating in the lounge room of a citabria, i don,t know of a more roomy better twoseater for the navagator than those eh.