Thirsty

Bit of a worry that you guys are all dropping pencils inside the cockpit! I haven't started navs yet but I'll definately be tying my pencil to the clipboard. You don't want a loose pencil lodging in your elevator/rudder/aileron linkage!

I think we've all done that :) At least the handy amongst us that do that sort of thing!

It says in the bulletin that this is a mandatory mod for all 170's within 300 hours?? How bad is the 170 now? And why just the 170 - why not the 160? Isn't the only difference the longer wing span on the 170?

Hi Marc, I'm learning to fly in a much older LSA55 Jabiru and I too had some concerns with the controls exactly as you mentioned. I've done 7 hours now and find I'm not really worried about the control response (or lack of it!) and the effort required to move the controls. It's all starting to become second nature now so if you persevere with the Jab I'm sure you'll get comfortable with it. All aircraft have their strong and weak points. I gave up GA flying in the early 90's 'cause it got boring - those Cessna's are way too easy to fly! I'm finding the Jab is keeping my interest levels way up 'cause you really have to fly the little beastie :)

I interpreted Ignitions post to be - find a point on the intended track and point at it - that's where I want to go. Then take into account any crosswind (by pointing in the direction the wind is coming from) and you will fly to that point. This is what Merv is saying too I think so you are in agreeance? I know I could be interpreting Ignition's post incorrectly in which case I would agree that it would be incorrect to simply point at something and fly at it. I think if you did that and could study the trace later you would see a curve bending out in the direction opposite to the wind and finally coming to the destination from a possibly great angle.

At least one of the jabs where I fly has more than 7000 hours and still going strong.

Just proves that engines like to be used (though not abused!) hard.

I remember I was seconded to 35SQN for a month once and while I was there a young newbie arrived from Engine section wanting a long weight. We made him sit down and left him to it. Took him about 3 hours to decide to get up and go back to where he came from. We were laughing so hard we were crying. What made it funnier was you could see him getting mad but he couldn't say anything 'cause everyone around him outranked him!

A recent video post prompted me to start this thread. Please add your own to this short list: When I started in the RAAF it was common practice to send the new guys out for stuff that didn't exist. I witnessed a couple of these but fortunately was never a victim: Propeller Pitch Black and yellow striped paint 3" hole remover K9P (think about it!) Left handed screwdriver My fav - A long weight

Or use non-aircraft tyres eg forklift or trailer tyres.

Gee LS you've run a gammut of planes there :) I also thought about the Gazelle but I really want to travel and the slow cruise/limited range put me off. I also like the Lightwing but again may be a little slow. I keep coming back to the Savannah/CH701. If you like the idea of high wing and great visibility these might be a good choice for you as well. As everyone says though - we both need to get out there and fly all these planes! There's a Gazelle available for hire at MB and there will be a Lightwing (582 2 stroke) available in March sometime (once we get it back together :)) so at least those two are available.

LS - the four strokes commonly available here are the Jabiru 2.2 (4 cyl) or 3.3 (6 cyl) and the Rotax 912 in 80 or 100hp guise. The Jab engines have a rep for unreliablity while the Rotax has the opposite rep. Parts for the Jabs are pretty reasonable while the Rotax bits are quite dear (so I believe). I quite like the Jab engines and believe the rep they have isn't 100% warranted. I think it's all about how they are treated and maintained so I personally would buy one but others may have different opinions. There are also VW, Subaru and other auto conversions around. If you buy a Jabiru plane you will almost certainly get a Jab engine. The 230 has 2 seats because that's the max allowed in RA. It can be registered VH with 4 seats as well.

It's not too late to change. I think the flying you've done in GA carries over quite nicely. Anyway, flying is flying and we love all forms :)

Welcome D. I'm fairly new as well and have found this site a very good resource so far. Just out of curiosity, if you're intending to fly for fun why not pursue your pilot cert thru RA Aus instead of PPL thru GA?

Exactly - pretty scary when you think about it. Probably best not to think about it! Funny about the car overheating - he did the exact opposite to what he should have. Assuming a normal heater setup he should have put the heater on and idled the engine faster. Of course in your car you can just pull over and all is well except your wallet of course.

Acky no - it was yesterday. It wasn't very windy, CFI was just trying to run me through 1000 different situations to see if I was ready to solo. I'm wondering now if he's ready :) (Just kidding, he's a very good pilot!)

I haven't spoken to the pilot ( I don't know him) but I guess what I would have done is lower the nose if I saw the temp getting up there and let it recover some then maybe climb at a more sedate pace. The installation is totally standard Jab and I think the prop on that engine lets the engine rev to about 3100 or so. On a warm day like that maybe there wasn't much lift around and as the field is at 200' he was probably climbing for around 3 minutes. He could well have been hanging on the prop at 60 knots for all I know and he may also have taxiied for half an hour. I was saying that you can't make an aircraft foolproof simply by propping it some particular way and that the pilots of these hire aircraft need to have some mechanical sympathy. I've flown this plane a few times on pretty warm days climbing to around 3000' and have not noticed any issues but then I tend to throttle back a bit and take it easy 'cause if it breaks I now have to fix it.

I know where you're coming from for sure. With your navs, what methods are you being taught? 6 min or 10 mile? Mostly pilotage with some DR or mostly DR with some pilotage? I think it's interesting that we all learn from different instructors who teach differently. I know the instructors where I am teach slightly differently to each other.

Thanks mate. You know, I remember clearly the terror when I soloed the first time when I did my PPL back in the 80's. I never wanted to experience that feeling again but guess what? I will next week! Oh well, I survived the first time and I reckon I'll be right this time too :)

I don't think you can prop any plane to prevent gross negligence. Any engine asked to run flat out in 36 degree temps is going to get pretty hot - even your car engine I would think. Jabs are air cooled so the OAT has a large bearing on the engines temp especially in a low airspeed max power climb.

This isn't really a mechanical issue but it was a 2.2 jab failure caused by pilot neglect I thought you guys might be interested in. I'm working towards getting my L2 qual at my local flying school. I turned up this Tuesday and found the owner in the hangar with the engine in bits from one of his Jabs. Turned out a GA pilot hired the jab and took off on a 36 degree day and off he went. A short while later a call on the radio to say he was in a paddock with an engine that wasn't producing any power. When asked what happened he said he was climbing out and at about 1500' he noticed the CHT was in the red. He pressed on at full power as he wanted to get to 2500'. Well needless to say the power dropped off and he landed in a paddock. He didn't think there was anything wrong with pushing on with the CHT in the red by a fair margin! One of the pistons was melted through with the other three looking pretty sad as well. I wonder how many school aircraft are treated this way but don't fail straight away - then fail later on for "unknown" reasons. Luckily this guy is going to help pay for the damage he caused so the owner is at least a little bit happier.

Well I've now got 6 hours up and the CFI reckons I'm right to solo next flight! We've come a long way in a short number of hours I reckon. Funny story - the CFI was showing me how to land across the strip (directly into wind) off a glide approach (practice engine failure in cct) - we had just about touched down when he noticed the gardener mowing the grass next to the strip and we were heading straight at him! CFI takes over and shows me a "special" technique - just after touching down he kicks hard right pedal and the LSA did almost a 90 degree turn away from the lawnmower guy. All fine except we rolled the right tyre off the rim!! His punishment was to get out and walk back to the hangar (200 metres) while holding up the right wing with his shoulders while I taxiied the ac back. Note: There was no danger of hitting the guy - he was a long way away. CFI just didn't want to scare the c**p out of him :)

Yeah it's funny and frustrating at the same time! When I got back into motorcycles a few years ago my wife wasn't interested but now she has her own bike, a Learner licence and we do long trips on my St1100 regularly! Maybe I can convince her to get her cert some time :)

Well done Jayz. I'm just about to start navs too and am pretty excited. I also know what you mean about telling other people about it! I tell my wife about my flying for the day and she says - "That's nice dear" and then tells me all about her day at work - as if I care about that!

I looked into hangaring at Goolwa and it's pretty reasonable. You can lease a plot of land for around $1800pa (25 + 25 year lease) then build a hangar and rent it out. To just pay for hangaring there is around $200 per month. Another option fo ryou might be Rollo's (sp?) which is near Murray Bridge. This is a private strip and hangarage might be available. Murray Bridge itself is pretty expensive. BTW - I'm in the Southern suburbs and fly from MB because I like the people there :) It's not all about the flying - a lot of it is social as well.