Louis Moore

Now that's negotiating!!!!

Just a news clip on the albatross, owner said it is one of only two left operating in the world! He must not know a heap about albatross'!!!! http://au.news.yahoo.com/sa/video/-/watch/29077952/albatross-sea-plane-visits-adelaide/

Tara is away until Tuesday so will be manning the reception all weekend long. You going flying? Could do the weekend after for taking you up in the Auster?

At first Sue I thought you would make all the fellow husband/pilots on here extremely jealous. Then I realised a fair portion of them will probably have the following reaction "Let my wife work on my aeroplane. ARE YOU MAD?" Truth is though Sue you have let the cat out of the bag. My wife is nothing short of a willing aviation participant, whether it be bashing the Auster with hammers or flying it. She is also fine with me bringing bits of the plane home to adjust or tweak (although admittedly I have not run the whole lounge room workshop part past her!) and she even goes flying with me after which means there must be some misplaced confidence in my ability!!!

Would imagine it is the HARS one based at Wollongong. I have seen it a few times and the pilots seem to like flying close to the deck. Not that I can blame them, I mean what an awesome view!!! Wish I was there with you at the time!

WOW, lucky your father had the sense to let go. Has caused a few fatal accidents (and a couple of AD's) over the years!

Can't see why not Tomo! Do you know who owns the maule out the airport, we could see if he will hire to us (might leave our intentions out!!!). By the way I might wear a parachute, just in case at the last moment I decide to bail on you!

Then after the ASI was re-assembled and drying I set to work on my T&B gauge!!!! I wish I had taken photo's of the disassembled gyro and gimbals but unfortunately I was to busy concentrating on not loosing any of those itsy bitsy free rolling bearing balls!!!! This is a physical exploded diagram of a Mark 1A T&B. So many fiddly pieces!!!! This little return spring was causing most of the grief. The whole gauge was inop prior to this Here is a shot of a freshly installed spring, supplied by a local clock repair shop! I also cleaned out the gummed up dampeners on both the slip an turn indicator. Re-adjusted the gimble clamps and re greased the noisy noisy bearings!!! Works like a charm when connected to my vacuum cleaner!!! So know if any one asks me "Have you seen inside a Mark 1A" I can say yes, yes I have!!!!

Well the idea is that because we run a motel I have to do everything while she is gone. That gives me extra browny points so I figure if I get caught, it should keep us about even! Now I know it does not work that way, but it has given me the bravery to go ahead and do it all the same!! Well dye is cheaper than paint and it will make me look like a Tuskegee Airman!!! I am happy to be teased because rank while you all suffer at your jobs this is what I spent my day doing!! Here is the ASI all hooked up to the Manometer I built yesterday. I am not sure how many people have done this but it was a very interesting technique. Below there is also a graph showing the errors that where in the ASI, between 10-20 knots which is a fair whack of incorrect airspeed across the speeds! I tested it 4 times and it came out consistently the same so I am guessing it should be fairly accurate. Wonder how many other aircraft have gauges reading incorrectly? Of Course the measuring was easy, the adjusting was a lot harder! Ever seen the inside of an ASI!!! You should all note I am only going this far because I have a fresh, brand new ASI in a box coming from USA as we speak!!!! My make shift dial to facilitate adjustments while connected to the Manometer, will test the unit again tomorrow and see how close to accurate I have made the gauge!

Know what I am going to try next time I'm in a maule!!!

MMMMMM A nice thought Turbo but I fear if she comes home early I would be on the receiving end of the blows! (especially considering I just spilled red food die on the carpet:augie: ) Here is how I have spent the first morning of my 6 days alone. This is my alternate source of vacuum suction. Originally I had planned to bring the venturi home, attach a long line to it and run like bugger while holding it in the airflow to get the gryo's to spin to test them all. This seemed like a far more innovative solution!! This is the ASI Manometer I whipped up this morning also. I suspect I have a fairly inaccurate airspeed gauge and soon I will able to actually test it to see!!!! I love rainy days!

HAHA, well picked. It was my birthday earlier this month. Turbo all I can say is THANKFULLY my wife does not go on face book either!!!!!

It's an empty sarsaparilla bottle, I do not mix alcohol and fine instrument adjustments!!! djp, it's for the finer tuning and adjustments on the instruments, isn't it the recommended tool for such things?

You mean the giant hammer?

My wife headed off today for a week trip to Sydney. So what was the first thing I did after dropping her off at the bus station? Why I converted the lounge room into an aircraft worksop of course!! (Luckily my wife does not read this forum!) Even prepared by bringing the rudder of the Auster home to begin a re-paint!!! I also bought the dash due to instrument problems, what is the legality of an L2 working on ultralight instrument internals, anybody know??? Want to re-work my Mark 1A Turn Indicator and check the ASI for calibration. Going to be lots of fun had here this week!!!

I am about to try a vibration activated engine timer. Any one else have any experience using one of these???? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/VIBRATION-Hour-Meter-Motorcycle-ATV-Snowmobile-Boat-114-/160699519730?pt=AU_Gadgets&hash=item256a7012f2#ht_3028wt_1156

Alright I need some people to help me find a good engine VDO for the Auster. I have been slowly resurrecting the panel to be a little more like it would have been when it was built in 46 and finally got my hands on a nice looking RPM gauge. Problem is there is no engine hour counter on it so now I am looking for a good engine VDO. I want to avoid a volt counter, hate those nasty VDO's that start to tick when the master is on! Also trying to avoid the oil px counter as well, although that may be my only option. I have tried two various types of the wrap around the spark plug lead type but the shielded ignition harness stops the gauge from counting. Any one have other ideas of a good option????

David: I really agree 80 knots seems a very high figure to be the line for high and low performance aircraft. Makes it hard for me to define if the L2 is a HP or LP type!!!! Power to weight ratio would make more sense, but then we would all have to figure out how the hell to work out what the P/W ratio for aircraft is!!!!! I do not see why there is not a nice hour limitation in the regs somewhere so that if you have done "x" amount of hours in both LP and HP types of aircraft than just one the BFR will suffice, as it has been stated in here already it is just a check up on overall flying capability. If you fall under "x" in a category then you need to get a BFR in whichever category you are low in to fly that type again i.e. go back to needing two BFR's to fly both types. How ever I guess when it comes to writing regs it is hard to define the spot where the line in the sand should be drawn. Once it is I am also certain there will be those it suits perfectly and those that want it moved, just an inch or two, either way! I also think that line is placed hard and fast across the sand they think of a thousand counter arguments that need lots of new little lines drawn around the original one to try and effectively tie up those loose ends. RAA have done an outstanding job all things considered, so I am happy to put up with a few inconveniences that are bound to arise when trying to draw up any legal documentation, especially under CASA.

Yes, but it still looks like fun

I want five of them!

It's usually for Aileron Control during the stall, called Washout (as in thats the name of the wing twist). Stops the disturbed, stalled air from ruining your aileron control. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washout_(aviation) Wiki can say it better than me so there you go!!!!! I thought all aircraft had it, except maybe super old ones, but do not quote me on that fact!

Flying it legless Dazza, you should look up the girl in the states who flies one ARMLESS. Uses her feet to control the lot, pretty amazing! Put me to shame for sure!!!! There are Youtube vids out there some where of her doing a circuit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Cox

Volksy the reason I think you will find people here push for close circuits is the majority of pilots seem to fly predominantly RAA. With out the inertia of the heavy planes ultraights really tend to glide very steeply, meaning you need to keep rather close to the runway to glide into it after an engine failure. Warriors glide surprisingly well and you can take a fairly wide circuit without ever worrying about not gliding back. I proved that point once with an instructor who kept telling me to haul it in closer while in an Archer during a test flight to join a syndicate group. He had not flown the Archer much himself and I kept telling I was more comfortable with the wider circuit in this aircraft. Eventually he got so annoyed he said "Fine I will show why it is so dangerous to fly such a bloody wide circuit!" after pulling the power he added "now lets so how far away your going to crash from the runway". I calmly went through the glide procedure, flew the rest of circuit and still required a lot of slip to hit the runway close the threshold. Do not be intimidated by what you hear all the time, every aircraft is different and us such every circuit size will vary accordingly. As a side question, where are you learning to fly?

Gympie is not so far away, may have to make a trip for a run in one myself!

Motzartmerv, do you mean type as in HP or LP or type as in make of aircraft?