Methusala

Saw a piece on ABC - may have been Catalyst, that talked about using nano-tech to create capacitors that used much less mass to store electricity and could be charged quickly at high rates. This is the type of advance that will unlock potential in electric flight.

Battery power assisted flight.

G,day All, Interesting read! Mate and I are building a Mike Sandelan GOAT4 ulrtralight

primary glider. Launch means are under consideration and we are quite interested in the developing model a/c technologies which utilise Li/Po energised "outrunner" motors. The

most powerful example to date is eqivalent to a 20 h/p 2 stroke! This weighs around 2.5kg and with enough battery capacity to run for around 15 minutes will only weigh twice this.Of course the mission will be similar to that described in the foregoing article,

not a cruising sport plane. This type of power unit would have been unthinkable not many years ago. Let the march of development proceed apace. Regards, Don

G'day all,

Political blame shifting can go both ways! Look at the connection between John Howard and a company called Manildra. This was a prime shifter in the decision to give a tax payer subsidy to the production of ethanol for auto fuel purposes. Havagooday, Don

Thanks Joan for your timely addition to the resources available from this site. Yesterday I was landing the Thruster with my lovely wife and fellow Thruster lover. I came in a little high so the glideslope was steeper than usual. At 50kts we were coming down at about 800fpm. Plenty of strip ahead so no panic but I just misjudged the roundout stalling at about 1m above the ground and arriving heavily enough to bend the right hand gear leg a little. Perhaps this has to do with ageing or possibly not flying enough.

Market for budget priced aircraft.

G'day all, Back in 1995 I was in need of a basic aircraft just to have something to fly, you know. I saw posted in the showers at Mangalore an offer to sell a Volksplane in flying condition for $10,000. Long story short, I bought it , re registered it as AUF and flew it, 50 h/rs a year for 11 years. It was honest 60kts, well built (like the proverbial BSH!) and very safe. Went to Mang twice all around N/E Vic and sthn NSW. Narromine 8x and enjoyed the learning experience. It cost about $25/hr and wasn't very pretty. It could have been tarted up but all I did was to build a simple fairing for the turtle deck which improved the aerodynamics over the tail. Now the point of the story is that when I tried to find a new owner I got next to no interest! I know that most people wish for a fast modern plane and that the VP has some issues but hey! Isn't that what character building is all about? So there maybe some cheap alternatives to hiring if one is prepared to "think out of the box". Regards to all, Don

Have you tried Mt Beauty?

G'day, Mount beauty has a great grass strip and may be a little closer to Bright. Just putting it out there, as they say. Cheers, Don

G'Day All, I was thinking that flying a plane is like a mystery bag, you never know quite what you will get. I was landing on my mate's uphill strip in the Thruster today and needed all the travel in the rudder to keep it straight! I don't know why it was like that but the strip is rather undulating in both dimensions. You have to keep on to these tail wheel aircraft!

Thruster training

G'day All, I don't think that Wally Rudin is still in business. Last I heard from him was when I did my last BFR. Anyway he does not own a Thruster anymore. He said that he was moving from Nerrandera to the Latrobe valley. I also concurr with Nev about there being no aircraft quite like the Thruster. Because of a design

glitch (flaw?) the stall does not occur in ground effect until the deck angle is quite nose high. This means that the flair must be timed to the moment before it runs out of flying speed. It can be quite unnerving and has caused some learners to give up before mastering the technique. Never the less, I am in the Tony Hayes group who believe that there are few better planes out there. Regards, Don

The enemy(ies) as I see them

I've flown Gliders, ultralights from the Pteradactyl through Tyro, Jeep, Javelin, Robinson B1rd, Cessnas, Volksplane, Thrusters (both single and 2 seaters), Piper Aerostar , RV 4, Karatoo etc, etc. and they are all aeroplanes! The distinction is simply in the minds of them who seek to control us.

Now I don't mind a bit of sensible rule making (our late sainted CFI used to say that rules are made for the guidance of wise men and the observance by fools) which probably puts me firmly in the anarchistic group - but so be it! I read somewhere (don't quote me) that Mark Twain said that those individuals who sailed small craft on the oceans were a special breed because they took responsibility for their lives. I regard air pilots to be in the same league.

Today we had a very special flight from our base to the nearby place owned by a freind who has built 3 planes and 2 ocean going cats. This took 28 mins airtime by Thruster. I feel privileged to be in the Tony Hayes cohort who regard Thrusters as one of the best aircraft ever built.

The point that I would like to make is that the airplanes that we fly put us in a special place. It matters little what we call them but we must all do our best to preserve our lives and those of our passengers by taking responsibility personally and by doing this we can avoid the worst of name calling (by our shallow detractors where ever we find them)and the "overcontrollers" (we all know who they are!). Regards, Don

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,679980,00.html

G'day all, Try the link above for info on this tragedy.And, as usual Nev has nailed another part of the puzzle by questioning whether limited fuel was a factor! Don

G'day all, I once had a skylark on my pteradactyl. Terrible engine based on Victa 160. It had an ignition system that came from the Victa 170 twin and possibly used the same crank case and c'shaft. Had a crank break on me at about 100ft and nearly landed on a cow! I think it was manufactured in someone's garage down near Frankston but I have forgotten his name.

Regards, Don

G'day all and to Factfinder in particular. I enjoy these forums very much and learn from them. When I post it is only to share information that may be of interest and a little use to like minds. I put all of us in that category. I don't ever mean my comments to be taken as an insult or a comment on any one in the forum. At the worst we can agree to disagree. It is also possible to argue that mention of EFI in a thread that started out discussing a type of carburettor is off topic but I think it is relevant. Anyway, I repeat that my "experiment" with EFI over 550 almost trouble free hours in a Volksplane showed that the obvious advantages of this system translates well to aviation piston engines. Good thread, I like it! Don

G'day All, blue head 582's come with a thermostat and a bypass as standard equipment, Don

G'day Again, These engines, I believe are fantastically designed to provide the kind of reliability that they do. But they are not too complex when you come to strip them down and reassemble them. Just 2 strokes. There are available on dvd good guides to this process and as long as you are careful and conservative then you can do it. The best thing is to replace the rings and the con rod small end bearings and the gaskets. The centre section of the engine which contains the rotary valve and water pump may be in good enough condition to not need overhaul. Of course the bores must be checked for wear and scoring and be honed to provide new metal for the rings to bed into. Pistons also need to be looked at carefully. If you are competent with hand skills then you can do it. Don

Yes but....

G'day again. Seriously, I wonder how many incidents that we see called "landing mishaps" are related to induction icing? A friend of mine who is normally a very cautious pilot ended up tangled in a fence because he was approaching in a 503 powered plane on a trailing throttle and had unexpected sink just before the threshhold. When he eased the power lever forward the engine didn't respond. Oh dear! I really appreciated the simplicity of not havingthat carby heat control to worry about. And then there is mixture... another one that had been done away with by clever electronics. Once upon a time cars had manual advance, mixture and the accelerator was on the steering wheel. We can do better than to simply not trust modern technology. Don

Hey Pud,

I have just rebuilt a 582 and the cases looked like new! I'm just an amateur aviator but I don't realy like the look of your cases. best to be sure! Don

G'day All,

I'm just putting it out there as information. The system ran, as I said, without problems, needed no carburettor heat and through a manifold pressure meter, adjusted mixture automatically. The thing about EFI is that it can use the same electronic technology that we rely on to drive everything from pacemakers to fly by wire aeroplanes to deliver the precise amount of fuel needed to each cylinder. After all the reason for this thread is to investigate whether there is a better way to do things. Don

G'day All,

I ran a VW conversion in my Volksplane with EFI based on original Bosch hardware off a 1600 TS and driven by a Haltech computer. Over 11 years I only had one problem which was related to a crook automotive spade type fuse. This was done by a relatively inexperienced amateur. I believe that someone could fashion a similar system for Jabiru. On the question of mixture, I had 2 egts and a 10k potentiometer that allowed me to alter the programmed mixture 10% either side so I did have the option if required. It ran all electrical demand off the simple alternater installed on the Aeropower. EFI is the best fuel metering system. Millions of cars prove the point. Don

La dolce vita...

:chuffed:G'day all,

And far be it for me to boast but... Saturday in the Canberra district was "a pearler", light winds, about 22 degrees and clear air so that you could see the distant horizon with remarkable clarity. What better thing to do than to launch the Thruster with myself and my good lady aboard.This is what the sweet life is all about for me. The air was like silk and so my passenger could see the effect of small inputs of rudder, aileron, stick and throttle without the intervention of stray turbulence or thermals and so she could see clearly what controlling a plane is all about. I love ultralights. Cheers, Don.

Nev,

Interesting point! I once re-built a Tyro and bonded as well as rivetting the splice plates on the fuselage. Sure made confidence inspiring splices. Don

I think that bonding aluminium is problematic because of the hygroscopic nature of the metal. That is that Al has a granular microscopic structure that attracts and retains atmospheric moisture and that this is particularly difficult to shift. It probably follows that other contaminants will also be very difficult to dislodge as well.

In wood and fibre matrixes you do not have the same structure and in fact they are absorbant so the glue soaks in to form a very strong bond. The weakness in this form of bonding is when the joint fails between the glue and the structure. Also, the resin when cured does not bond very well to fresh resin. This is why "peel ply" is used when composites are to be joined. Anyway it is very interesting to think about these issues...mostly on the ground first!

Used araldite K-134 I think it was called on the Karatoo wing. Came with data sheets from Luftwaffe saying it was approved for bonding aero aluminium in structural situations. White and expensive. I believe that T-88 is a good substitute but West System resins are well regarded in marine circles. Cheers, Don.

G'day Ozzie and thanx for the feedback. We don't want them to run for too long, just to get into a thermal. The idea of the bungey launch is to relieve the power pack of extreme effort in accelerating to take off speed. It may not be practical at the moment and in terms of energy density petrol is probably better. Something like a paraglider power pack mounted behind the pilot is also on the agenda. I flew a Pterodactyl for 8 yrs in the 80's but the engineering in the Goat is far better. Do you know the bloke with the 4 engined Lazair? Saw him fly at Narromine 4-5 years ago. Don

G'day, one plan in relation to the basic ultralight glider (google this on videos to see the clips) is to use a couple of big electric outrunners mounted close in on the leading edges a la Lazair and to launch with a bungey! These motors swing 50cm props and give about 15kg thrust for around 12 mins each. Should cost about $1000 incl. speed controllers. Attention aeromodellers. Good thread! Don.

EA 81 conversion for sale

G'day Forumers, I have an EA 81 equipped with a C-type gearbox advertised in the Rec Flying classifieds. It has the Wade 240 cam and is factory fuel injected with a Haltech ECU. Otherwise it is stock. It was installed on our A-Type Karatoo but was too much weight for the relatively light frame tubes. Done 20 hrs. Just puttin' it out there for anyone interested. Don