boingk

BRS a gimmick? Wonder what they think about parachutes for pilots... are they a gimmick, too? I would definitely fit a BRS on my craft if/when I buy one, and would certainly consider a personal parachute if I could not easily do so. I'm definitely into second chances. - boingk

Learning to fly in Goulburn, NSW and we're surrounded by mountains, hills and windfarms. It makes for interesting condiions and a still day is rare. My first solo was with a ~10kt crosswind and my first rec flight with similar grade of turbulence and wind. Another interesting fact about Goulburn aerodrome is that runway 04 has a permenant sink across its threshold... can be quite unnerving for those not experienced in that kind of thing! Probably most interesting so far was in the C150 cruising along towards Bathurst at 6,500ft. I didn't want to go higher due to other traffic and was passing underneath a large clound... which then proceeded to vacuum me up at almost 1000ft/min! WOW! I was holding almost full down elevator just to creep back to my original altitude and it still wanted to suck me skywards. I tried levelling her as I passed undeaneath an after a few more upward buffets I was out of the thermal and back to regular flying, although I believe I'd still managed to gain a few feet despite my efforts to the contrary. I don't really mind the bumps/thermals/gusts/winds at all, but obviously I try to counter them as much as reasonably possible and only fly when safe to do so. Cheers - boingk

Thanks for the advice guys, and yeah most of my solo hours so far are navigating cross country in a C150. The field I fly at has a C172 and C172RG - apparently for my CPL they do both CS and RG endorsements, the majority of the time being spent in the non-RG C172. The path I'm being led down through the fellows I'm being instructed by at the moment is to get my 200hr course with a mix of 100hr GA and 100hr RA-Aus, with RA-Aus Instructor ticket and then instructing time thereafter to help with the cost (~$25/hr pay as opposed to ~$180/hr flying cost in a Gazelle). I'm still skeptical about the 200hr inclusion of RA flying time but so long as I end up with a CPL and am flying at a good standard then I suppose I do not mind. Cheers - boingk

Cheers guys, thanks! Haven't done much more flying this week but did go to Maruya and back in the Cessna... had to avoid a few jumpers down there but other than that it was a nice, cruisey, uneventful trip. I'd also highly recommend my new headset to any in the market; the Rugged Air RA900. It has a full flex boom, stereo sound, dual volume adjustment, stainless frame, comfy (gel?) pads, 3.5mm jack in and push to talk button. Very comfortable to wear for long periods and the jack means you can listen to music as well... lovely for cross country. Cheers again - boingk

Hey guys, as a few might know I'm looking into making my own plane with a few basic criteria: Carriage of a single person with minimal luggage Easily constructed in a garage by an amateur Construction costs no more than $10k Cruise of at least 70kt Fuel burn <10L/hr This has led me to consider such designs as the Leeon Davis DA-11 and SD-1 Minisport, both high efficiency designs suitable to being powered with anything from a 20 to 40hp engine. Cruise figures vary from 80kt to 110kt TAS and fuel burn from 5L/hr to 10L/hr. The current 'firewall forward' package I'm considering would be similar to this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221032070447?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Its a derivative of the Briggs & Stratton 18hp Vanguard industrial engine, with twin cylinders comprising a 680cc capcity and ~20hp output over a widish range (up to 3600rpm). Removal of fan cooling would significantly reduce the weight of the engine, as would other modifications such as exhaust tract. They may also increase performance marginally (parasitic action of fan). Before I continue down this path, does anyone have any other kind of idea for this kind of motive power? Criteria are weight of less than 40kg all up for firewall forward, with cost under $2k and at least 20hp sustainable. Cheers all - boingk

And the instructor was surprised that he was responsible after letting the guy fly? Wow. Seriously, "I left it at home" carries no weight. My experience with flying is that if you don't have your gear with you then you don't bl00dy fly! I carry a bag with sunnies, headset, logbook, maps, E6B, certificates and ASIC card with me at all times on the way to an aerodrome... really not that hard. I always assume, too, that if I do not have my logbook or any flight certificates etc then I will be treated as a first-time student. Yes, it happens. Another reason for being a bit anal about maintenance as it could definitely save your life. A lot of people skip over the prop but I always give special attention on a preflight as any small cracks or deformities - easily looked over - could cause sudden and catastrophic failure. Replacing at or before rated time is also a good idea, as is checking RPM limitations or time reductions for specific props. I *would* have ripped her a new one and refused to fly with her anymore if she could not follow the rules - flying is not an amusement park ride and can easily result in injury or death if you don't adhere to accepted procedure. I am in no way encouraging people go crazy at passengers who deem the rules superfluous, but I would make it clear to them that they would be on notice and that I'd be informing other pilots at the aerodrome of their misconduct. Obviously a quite word aside and not in front of a group etc would be the way to go, whatever, just so long as they understand the gravity of the situation. Anyway... hope somones having a good time up there today as it looks grand! Cheers - boingk

Just had my first rec flight today after a bit over 50 hours this year of a GA C150... and it was great! Conditions were moderate winds with a few gusts, initially straight down the strip but later developing a moderate crosswind component. Otherwise fine and dandy. After preflight and runup checks we took off and climbed out to 5,500ft (2,500ft AGL). Initial impressions were of very light control, and overall 'minimalism' - a real flyers craft. When compared to the C150 I've been flying the CA25 Gazelle was a rocketship; 500~600fpm with 2 aboard and effortless acceleration up to cruise speed. I was taken for the flight by a local instructor (also good mate) and we did some stalls, simulated engine failures and forced landings. Stalls were more or less non evident, with a slight mush down and judder of the flightstick. Gliding was very relaxed and it seemed to take forever to want to go down, a really nice experience that I was happy to sit back and enjoy. Once back at the field I had a landing demonstrated for me and then I tried a few myself. The first one was alright but not particularly smooth, and the second and third were much better. The third was a simulated engine failure in circuit so I had a glide approach onto the runway and had a chance to use a sideslip, in lieu of the flaps I've become accustomed to on the C150. Loved every second of it! The goal at the moment (with CASA's impending doubling of required hours for GA Instructor rating) is to get my RA-Aus Instructor ticket and help offset the cost of my flying while also doing the 200 hour CPL course. Eventually I'd like to own my own Rec aircraft, possibly self-built along the lines of the Leeon Davis DA-11. Anyway, just thought I'd share my first RA-Aus flight. Cheers - boingk

So long as we're talking lithium batteries, check out the section on them at hobbyking.com - a large retailer for remote control airplanes. Most RC planes nowdays use lithium polymer battery packs and a pack such as you are talking about would cost maybe $100 posted. Furthermore, I would try and advocate the Lithium Phosphor Ferrous (or LiFe) chemistry for vehicle use as it is more stable over the longterm and does not need to be kept at storage voltage etc. They have longer cycle lives, too, at the expense of maximum output and charge rate. Still, I would feel comfortable using one of half to one-third the rating of a lead-acid battery in a vehicle... providing the startup current was sufficient. Maximum draw rate on these batteries is in 'C', where 'C' is a multiple on the total capacity of the battery. For example a 10Ah battery with a rating of 1C max discharge would put out 10 amps, 2C = 20 amps and so on. Lithium Ferrous are currently around 30C and Lithium Polymer are 60C+... good old lead acid struggle to get to 3C and will have dramatically reduced capacity at such rates. Most LiFe/LiPo batteries will retain at least 90% capacity at stated maximums. One last thing... if looking at RC type batteries always ignore the 'burst' rating. It is not calculated to a set standard and will generally lead to the early degradation of the pack if used regularly. Also, much like lead acid, LiFe/LiPo batteries do not like being fully discharged and will tolerate an 80% maximum discharge only. This is generally around 3.0v/cell static, most feel comfortable with 3.3v/cell static. Permenant and irreversible damage starts to occur at and below 3.0v/cell. Cheers - boingk

That is pure awesomeness! Not a bad timelog considering the scale of the project either. That'll be a hellava rewarding maiden flight. Cheers - boingk

Nice work mate, looking good! Also liking the MG in some of the shots. Cheers - boingk

I'd go with the student mistakenly pushing the PTT while practicing - I've stopped short myself a few times when learning radio calls. As for an identifier... why? To stop people stuffing around or making mistakes? Next thing they'll start getting lax on their calls, assuming people will know its them due to the encoded radio information. I vote no for a radio encoder, and yes to fitting an transponder or ELB to your craft. - boingk

Probably fine - it only takes a few degrees of washout at the tip to acheive the desired results and this may not be obvious even when eyeballing the aircraft. Of course, the craft we're talking about here are lightly-loaded low-power things so really should be fairly docile no matter what you're doing in them. Cheers - boingk

Indeed - I held clearance and flew South until the cloud cleared (the 'gap') and proceeded when safe. No way I want to endanger either myself or anyone else by doing something dangerous. On a lighter note, the return trip was brilliant! I found myself with a tailwind doing 105kt in the good old C150M at cruise power. - boingk EDIT: Fog appearing from nowhere... yeah that'd get a few hairs up for sure. Guessing you just climb out of it? What is the procedure there for VFR anyway - I know theres a 1000ft vertical separation but what about climbing out of forming fog?

Sounds about right. I'm the other extreme - cloud on ground. Going into Wollongong from Goulburn last week for a solo nav exercise I was confronted with a cloud height of 3000ft and a ground height of not much less! Had to pick a gap and make the 10ktm call while in a 500ft/min dive over the drop-off to get cloud clearance... hairy stuff. - boingk

Ah, fair enough. Was going to ask that question myself but you beat me to it eightyknots! I'm currently asking about plans for the Karasport, another smallish Peitenpol Air Camper kind of airplane thats very similar (if not identical) to the Ragwing Parasol. Basic wooden construction, overhead parasol wing, taildragger fuse and open cockpit. Recommended 20~50hp, I'd most likely try and go to the upper end of that scale for best cruise speed and climb performance. - boingk

fly_tornado - I'm sure it is a good option, but at the moment its also outside of my price range. Apart from that I do not favour the look of it, and surely having a personal aircraft is as much about the feeling it gives you as anything else? I sure know my car and motorcycles work that way, regardless of there being better 'real world' alternatives. Still, thanks for the link mate and happy flying. Nev - Yeah I know its a big compromise, but at the same time if I didn't want to compromise I'd also be looking at flying a much more sophisticated aircraft such as a Zodiac or Cheetah. Essentially I'm looking at having a project for a year or two to keep me busy, with something along the lines of this being the end result: Thats a Ragwing 'Parasol' (75% scale Peitenpol Camper) fitted with a Continental A-40. Sure, not a VW conversion but it'd definitely be doable. I could always go down the Rotax/Hirth/etc path and fit a 40~50hp two-stroke but I'd personally be much more comfortable with some sort of four-cycle out there. I've done my two-stroke stuff time on motorcycles and don't particularly want one in an aircraft. - boingk

Still weighing up whether or not to go wood or metal. Thinking metal still but investigating wood a bit more. Have been looking around and ragwing.net offers some good plans. Working from their drawings, they look like they'd be easy enough to convert to polystyrene rib, ply covered wings around the main spar(s). This is as opposed to built-up wooden ribs and fabric covering. Main spar construction looks basic enough with 3/4~1" caps with 1.5~3mm ply web depending on weight of the aircraft. Working around that I'd be able to make a single fairly light and strong spar with 1" square caps and 3mm ply web, then string polystyrene webs along it and cover the lot with ply (0.8~1.5mm) to form the structure of the wing. Obviously thats a fair leap from the original built-up rib design but thats whats flying the SD-1 Minisport (albeit with lighter composite spar) so its at least got a proven track record: I'm also leaning more towards the VW engine conversion as they're easy to pickup & convert and have a proven record. Upside is that they have more power as well (60~65hp) so would allow for a 'less minimal' aircraft design. Not neccessarily one that would carry a passenger but certainly more accomodating for a pilot plus generous fuel and luggage. Anyway, just throwing a few ideas around. Cheers - boingk

Very interesting, and yet very short-sighted. Four hours in any sort of light aircraft is a long time and yet the thought of fuel didn't cross his mind... thats a big mistake. What happened to '10 mile' or '15 minute' checks? Geez... As for conditions becoming "bumpy" so as not able to land, I'd say that says it all. Inexperienced, unprepared and without a licence. Not terribly surprised that the guy ended up ditching to be honest. Good to hear that he got away unharmed, though. - boingk

If you keep thinking of them fondly, then yes, they were! I'm working for $20 something an hour as a bar manager and flying costs at least 10 times that. Still manage to drink occasionally and chase my girl around the state haha. Cheers - boingk

I'm sure you could configure it however you want, but I believe it was designed as an open in order to meet the weight requirement for Part 103 of 254lb/115kg. Fitting a canopy would most likely require leaving something else off if you were concened about this, but over here in Australia I suppose we don't have to be. Cheers - boingk

Yeah thats what I'm aiming at, moz - my craft to be small light and efficient. Not a superspeedster (although that would be nice) but at least a 60~70kt cruise. I know about the DA-11 and am fairly keen on it, but it was designed for a pilot no more than 170lb and 5'10"... I'm 200lb and 6'2"! Cheers - boingk

Robert - thanks for the link mate, seems like a good online community for the little planes. I'm dead keen to build something but am still tossing and turning between designing my own, building from a plan, and even tube construction vs wooden. Eventually I listed all the pros and cons and decided that I will most likely go with a metal tube truss-style fuselage, ala the 'Legal Eagle'. One factor in this choice is that I can already weld reasonably well, and there is a metal merchant literally 2 blocks from my house where I could easily obtain 4130 chrome moly tubing. The wings will most likely have a wooden or wooden/foam construction as it seems to be reasonably easy to fabricate and source materials for. At this stage the idea is for styrofoam ribs, 1mm marine ply skin and the spar itself - undecided on material for it but I suppose I could put either wooden or metal in. Essentially, I'm looking at making this in a fairly short period and then trailering to the local aerodrome for final assembly and taxi/flight testing. Budget is maybe $10,000 over a few years, or as little as $5~7k over one year if I can scrounge and get good enough deals. Loius - I think it draws from Leeon Davis' DA-5 as it looks very similar. Performance would be on par if you upped the horsepower, too. Cheers - boingk

I'm getting my CPL at the Goulburn Flight Training Centre... not surprisingly located just outside of Goulburn. I believe they are quoting $49,000 for the full 150hr CPL course. Do a search for them in Google and you'll find the home site. I'd definitely recommend them - Class G airspace (training area starts at the end of the runway haha) and Canberra is only a quick hop away once you get to the stage of navigating CTA. Planes include Gazelles, C150 Aerobat, C172, C172RG and a Beechcraft Baron. - boingk EDIT: Missed the 'minus NVFR, CIR, IREX & ATPL theory' part. Wow, those boys over there really are getting a good deal then!

Yep you're spot on... the 'UltraCruiser' is their Part 103 offering. Basically open canopy Bird with reduced turtledeck and fuel tank. - boingk

Louis - The Stratton is a reasonably popular choice in the states and I am fairly familiar with the type. I'm basing my possible choice on that and the fact that spares are readily available and they're unlikely to stop production anytime soon. 23hp is fine so long as you stay light - see the Briggs powering an SD1 Minisport here: Another design I've considered is the Icon/TEAM MiniMax, a very small and simple craft designed to be powered with engines under 50hp. The MiniMax and Eagle are both quite high drag planes, though, so would need modifying for use with a 23hp engine. fly_tornado - Haven't heard of or considered one, no mate. Can you give me a few pointers like manufacturer or a link? Cheers - boingk