M61A1

Yes Nev, I was only referring to it in a depth/pressure relationship.

Apologies, I misunderstood what you were asking. Walrus explained it I think,

There is less manifold pressure available as altitude increases. If you think about the atmosphere like water, on the ground at sea level you are at the deepest point with the highest pressure available to fill your cylinders, as you rise the pressure available to fill the cylinders reduces.

That’s what a constant speed prop does. It varies the pitch of the prop to maintain a set rpm. If the engine is losing power it will fine up the pitch to maintain rpm

You probably won’t feel any roughness until about 10:1, but I’d lay money that at those altitudes if you could lean it out you would be making better power.

I wonder if it might change how their next aircraft was built. I have one of those and I made sure I kept the coolant pipes out of the cockpit and went to a fair bit of trouble to ensure a good firewall seal. The fact that the 60l fuel tank is under the dash has always been a concern, but I've fabricated a new tank out of 0.050" aluminium instead of the 0.020 one that was with it. That said, the structure seemed to handle the crash better than I would have thought. There was an article in the oz just the other day about what the PC crowd might think of Paul Hogan"s skits involving Delvene Delaney with her short shorts and men having smiling heart attacks when she bends over.

A friend has strobes on his wingtips, another has a single strobe on his vertical stab. I find that they increase their visibility significantly. Been a few times that I would have seen them if not for the strobe, not in a collision situation, but flying together it makes it easier to spot the other aircraft further out, especially on late afternoon and early morning flights. But no, they aren't a requirement.

Does the dark make the air too dense?

It's not particularly difficult to manage. We deal with Oakey and Amberley all the time. If it's your local area it might be handy to keep the local "Ops" phone number on your contacts list in your phone and have the local ATIS frequency stored in you radio. ERSA says williamtown reverts to CTAF outside ATS hours. RAAF Ops people are usually quite friendly and easy to deal with.

Do you want nav lights or strobes? Try a boat shop for 12v nav lights or Jaycar for a strobe kit.

I think you misunderstand the issue here. The transmissions appear to be correct format and would be just fine if you could actually understand the very heavy accent and mispronounced words.

Yes, most of them are ok, but there a few around here that are completely unintelligible. The transmission is crystal clear but appears to be almost gibberish. Some of them make mistakes and then correct themselves as most us do occasionally. It's ones where you can barely comprehend a single word of the transmission that worry me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkJpWekIOlU:7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt51FnFfad4:6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSzU2aNKVe8:6

Sounds good, but some of us don't get that luxury. It may mean no more job or it may mean considerably less money which might mean no plane. In the current circumstances it may also be difficult to find a replacement job with better hours.

It depends on the installation. some of the European designs do not have the Rotax recommended return line which isn't such a big deal in cooler climates. Some that do have them only return back to the gascolator so that their fuel flow meter will work. There are many possibilities with this sort of event. Possibly took off with out the boost pump on, or had the fuel selector off, which will give you just enough to get airbourne if you a starting from hot and have a very short taxi to the strip, or just serious heat soak. The Sportstar is tightly cowled. An acquaintance has a different aircraft with close cowling and he can't run mogas even with return lines because of poor exhaust design which heats the float bowls on the carbs excessively at high power settings. There are many possibilities here, usually to do with the installation and not so much the engine itself.

It's not airframe related is it? I had some funny sounds coming from the back originally and it was sheer arse that I found it was thin sheetmetal vibrating in turbulence off the canopy at certain AoAs. Some VGs on the canopy sorted that.

Sounds like he needs a gas turbine. Is his vibration worse than anyone else's?

No extension on mine.

Do you have any comparison on the CH601? I swapped from a three blade Warp Drive to a two blade Sensenich and it was a big improvement on a CH601HD.

If you look at the images of the aircraft whoever built it located the radiator under the fuselage and a long way aft. It's the big draggy looking box under the fuselage. Zenith often have he radiator underneath, but most I've seen are just aft of the firewall. I would guess that they also chose to run the coolant pipes through the cockpit. I could have done the same for a tidier external look, but didn't want coolant pipes in the cockpit. I have seen a few light aircraft with coolant lines running through the cockpit, I don't really like the idea.

Cut and paste from 9 news... Teen pilot tells of moments before crash landing into trees A teenage pilot has described the moment he and his grandfather almost lost their lives in a light plane crash in eastern Victoria. Andrew Ottrey, 17, and 74-year-old Ken Bathurst were flying in South Gippsland yesterday when the aircraft's engine began to fail while the teenager was at the controls. "The engine lost a bit of power and we saw coolant dripping down to the floor," Mr Ottrey told 9News "Smoke started to fill the cabin soon after." Within moments, the pair resorted to searching for somewhere to emergency land the plane, aiming for a paddock after radioing Yarram Airport to say they were experiencing difficulties. Mr Ottrey was forced to crash land the plane but came short of the paddock, with the aircraft coming to a stop while dangling in trees metres from the ground. Mr Bathurst is tonight still recovering in hospital from injuries he suffered getting out of the plane. "He'd actually released his harness (and) fell about nine metres out of the plane to the ground," Mr Ottrey said. The teenager was released from hospital today and has said he is still shaken by the incident, but otherwise okay.

Can we blame EMS for helping them live to try again, along with our OH&S legislators?

The tug pilot and glider pilot that were killed in a mid-air over wide open plains at Jondaryan might tell there is still some risk.

No-one thinks an inadvertent stall/spin is going to kill them, but it seems happen a lot. I don't know how many people bought a motorcycle to ride it slowly in a straight line on a highway. I don't know many, just one. I think perhaps the same is with flying. How many do it just to take off and fly in a straight line at high altitude? I saw a magazine article some years ago, and I don't know if things have improved. It basically asked how any group of people would be treated if 100% of them had been in a traffic accident, Then went on to tell us how the QLD police motorcycle unit was one such group. I have always maintained that you can make a lot of your own luck, and with motorcycling I have only ever had one close call that I could do absolutely nothing about. Scared the hell out of me, as previously I'd had close calls and always left myself a way out.

And at nearly midday other day I placed an order for carburettor parts with a Motorcycle shop in WA. I figured they would show up some the week after. Wrong! They made it to my door in SE QLD in less than 24 hours. I have never had that happen before. I certainly understand the cynicism though. I was told we mellowed as we age. I just get crankier every day.