Vorticity

The net can be great for a company but also spread bad info very quick. I notice someone in the pprune thread stating that general consensus is that jabs lasting for 600hrs. This was based on info from this site. I would love it if jabiru would actually do themselves a favour. If the mods are so effective and the engines are doing well then get usefull data out there!

I would want serial numbers, dates of production, incorporation of mods and enghrs. Not old matey telling me his engine blew at 230hrs but no mention of age, mod status or maintenace program.

If I had a bad experience with my falcon/commodore 6 models ago could I really bag out the current model? If you don't think it is similar than get a brand new jab 2200 and compare it to an older one as I got to do earlier this year. Even the hard core rotax lover among us gave jab points for how much they have improved. He will never convert, but he has at least toned down the sermons about 'those jabirus'

People from all over the world read this forum, I wish they could see accurate data about this Aussie product before making a decision

I only have a few ours in both the super echo and eaglet. The only thing I find difficult with the echo is access and visability as my head is basically in the roof. I also cannot see the wings in the echo as opposed the the cockpit layout in the eaglet. That said I would say the echo might have slightly better forward vis as you seem to be sitting up a bit further.

You caan pay up to $185 solo and $253hr dual for a tecnam in Brisbane...

I came to the same conclusion and am using the self etch primer (protec). ICP and Sonex both say that you dont need to apply blanket surface protection. I contacted sonex because I was concerned about the 6061 holding up in tropical areas. The CEO got back to me saying that if I was really concerned I should coat the matting surfaces and the spar.

As part of the process I did a few trials with the 6061 with no protection and with different self etch primers. The bare metal held up very well (I have a friend who has some in his shed that has been there for many years, looks new) but there was some differences with the primer quality. The main difference was in how I prepped the surface. With nothing, adhesion was poor and the finish was 'gluggy', I was most happy with the bits I scrubed down with scotchbrite before drying and painting. Anything that I will never see again will be coated but easy access areas for inspection such as wing skins and fuselage skins will be bare and treated with ACR50/corrosion X every 2 years after a good inspection.

Also consider the amount of time, weight, money and toxic chemicals involved with some other methods out there. I got a price to coat my sonex with zinc oxide and it was scary. I also spoke to builders who had used it in the US and they where not fans, reckoned that if they build again they will use a self etch primer.

The only savannahs that I could find with corrosion was where drainage/air holes had been sealed up and moisture could not escape. If anyone has found different I would love to know.

I thought flying an unregistered aircraft had mandatory gaol time against it???

Yeah, I had been trying to get hold of them withou luck. I bought a sonex instead. Bringing it in yourself isn't so bad. My shipping was $1200, fees at the wharf here in oz $900 and the 10 percent GST. I can only speak for sonex but with a quality company, email and phone calls it is ok. Will take some time though. ....

Hi Thruster, we also trained on helicopters, (even though the ARMY had taken them over ). Well surprise surprise, i ended up doing a stint on the Blackhawk, Repair and overhaul of undercarriage and Rotor head components. THAT IS WHY I HAVE TRIED TO EXPLAIN IN THE ABOVE THREADS, WE COVERED ALOT OF THEORY ON ALL AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES. INCLUDING FABRIC, COMPOSITES ETC. CHEERS

I'm interested, does the training and experience journal for the LAME certification cover fabric and timber now? If I am getting a LAME for anything on my plane now I do a fair bit to suss them out, I made the mistake of implicitly trusting a LAME/L2 and I won't again.

It was my first aircraft, a great deal, drifter for $10k. It had a good engine but the airframe was a bit tired. I had experience with metal and composites but not fabric. During the condition report the L2 commented that the skins look kind of faded and asked me what I thought. I didn't have anything to add so he signed it up as servicable.

I flew from Gatton to Lismore a few weeks later to have Wayne fisher overhaul my new beast. On arrival he came accross shaking his head. He stepped up on the wheel and put his hand through the skins!!!

The guy servicing virgin 737s or king airs might know nothing about fabric just the same as Wayne probably can't be put to use on that 737. It's all about what you are experienced and current for.

Its not weather you are over tiger country its if you can glide away. I have been amazed the last 2 times I have flown Gympie-Kilcoy. Each time I was up quite high and watch an aircraft well below cutting accross some horrible terrain. I guess it is up to you but I dont want my last conversation with a passenger being an explaination of why the tecnam has turned glider and we are heading into the timber.

Maybe its those of us who learn to fly in 2 strokes that have a fear for tiger country!

They are an amazing bunch of guys. It is such a great example of a brilliant local club. Even though I am only down there occasionally I joined up. Their newsletter is good and numbers are always a good thing.

I learnt to fly out of some rough strips. The only thing I had drummed into me in a plane such as the Tecnam or J160 is to keep the nosewheel up and maintain back pressure while taxiing just like the taildragger.

Sounds like a job for a product called Prekote. It is used by the US miliary and has approval from a range of aircraft manufacturers. There is good info on the website do a google search for Jeff schultz sonex. This is an amazing builders log that he made. He preped the fully built plane for painting with prekote.

Good luck if you do, let me know how you go as i am interested for when I paint my sonex once complete.

How has it gone as far as corrosion on the unpainted 6061?

I was cruising around the net the other night and found this:

Carb & Induction

It seems to be an alternative for anti-ice of bing carbs.

Has anyone tried it? What do you reckon?

Thanks, at this stage I will be trailoring it out to Gatton.

I was having some pretty serious second thoughts a while ago but now that my other plane has sold the pressure is off and it should be good.

I need some feedback from all those 100s of very happy savannah builders out there!

After checking out the savannah site in the US I noticed that the kit is supplied with a non toxic paint for application to the joining surfaces within the structure. On the website they say the same thing as sonex; 6061 doesnt need the protection but they apply this grey paint anyway. The same is said in the rudder assembly video for the CH-701 and they also apply a non-toxic compound to the joining surfaces.

Ive been in contact with the Oz savannah agent and there is 1kg on its way to me.

As final piece if mind, how are all your savannahs going out there? They would have to be a great fleet of aircraft to collect info from as there are so many flying from all types of locations. If there is anyone from up north I would be particularly interested.

At this stage I am very happy to go the ICP method on fuse and wings as I can get access to apply ACR50 or corrosionX type compounds....just wondering about the small bits like rudder, flaps etc.

I'd love to hear from some of you savannah owners out there:wave:

My beloved fisher mk1 sold yesterday and will be heading home to casino again very soon. It seems that 'dudly'was only taking a 1 year sabatical in QLD before heading home. My sonex kit arrives in Brisbane this week. Im like a 4 year old waiting for christmas day!!!

Hi, just wondering if anyone out in Brisbane can help me out.

My new sonex kit arrives next monday but I wont be moving into a place where I can store it until December. The plan at the moment is to store it at a friends propertey just west of Gatton. This will cost $400 for delivery and then I will have to move it back to brisbane in December.

Is there anyone out there that has empty space at their business/shed that I could use for a couple of months? It would be storage only, I wouldnt be building.

Check out skykits.com for a great build log of the savannah, pretty impressive!

I'd watch the attitude about tourists wasting you time. If I see an add that makes claims of 'no tire kickers thanks' or so on, as a buyer I think 'sure mate, I'd hate to waste you precious time with questions...'. I have had the opposite experience of late with a

mate trying to by an aircraft. It was like he had to prove his worth to them, he had the money and was super eager to buy! Yet owners where being a complete pain, even having the arrogance to demand if 'he was really interested'. When I sold my first drifter I had a call from a guy with a couple of hours on drifters and was on his way home overseas. It was an hour drive to the field but I thought, well, gotta give him the chance to buy it. I ran itfor him and he asked if $10,000 was enough deposite! He had been in contact with others who blew him off, all the better for me. He had $30,000 to buy a drifter and was getting sick of dealing with sellers!

Put it out there in the raaus mag and make the enquiries count. Of the 2 aircraft I have advertised the enquiries came from the mag, nil from this site unfotunatley..

Yeah, I plan to bet at watts early on Saturday and depart early Sunday. Should be a good time.

You dont have to do the 18 months at RMC to become a pilot, you can become a Specialist Service Officer by completing a 6 week course. You wont become a LT until you get your wings at Oakey.

The day of an army pilot is quite varied, there are probably very few 'standard' days. The closest thing would be Physical Training in the morning, Flight prep, fly, debrief, other duties (you may have other responsibilities such as unit security etc), afternoon orders/parade and then home. Other days may start at 1am for the right moon conditions to train under night vision goggles. Your posting locations will be Darwin (Armed Recon), Townsville or Sydney (troop lift). Make sure you are happy with these locations because that will be it for at least the first 4 years.

Army aviation is going pretty nuts at the moment, there are new Tiger and MRH90 helicopters coming into service and more chinooks, on the news the other day they announced that the Tiger will be ''made available'' to go overseas soon, the chinooks and blackhawks are already doing rotations overseas...very busy but very rewarding if that is what you want. Remember though, if you cannot see yourself flying a helicopter looking through night vision goggles with people shooting at you, jetstar maybe a better option.

I have a fisher mk1 sport for sale, its in the magazine and there are some photos on the forum. To answer the post above (which is fantastic advice that I learnt the scary way):

Full maintenance log

290hrs TOTAL only 6 years old, this isnt some 20+ year old aircraft

never used for training as it only has one stick

And it will out climb/turn/glide any 503 Austflight drifter

Also, if you contact wayne fisher at www.spectrumaviation.com.au he keeps a list of drifters for sale. Mine is on the list with a handfull of others. He can also give you the good oil about the aircraft, what they are like and how much any work would cost. His prices for any maintenance work are exellent value. I am sure that there will be something on the list that suits you, even if it isnt the variety I am peddling.

If you want anymore info let me know.

I feel filthy doing this but I have to defend jabiru here.

Engineering data. I don't blame jabiru for being tight. Why do you need detailed engineering data? Are you qualified to interpret it? Zenith where very open with information for the 701.....worked great for ICP, now we have the Savannah!

2. Engine support, try getting detailed fault finding support out of rotax in Australia. Responses such as 'the 912 doesn't have that problem' to an owner doesn't do it for me. The one thing that all the jab owners in my club rave about is the responsive support.

I tried to fly out to cecil plains on sunday but the cloud was making things difficult, I'm sure there will be another day!

And a nice bonus of creating the same lift with less wingspan is you can park more planes next to each other in the same space, could be an advantage for hangers filled with LSAs??

I don't aero mine because it's RAA registered and I would most likely kill myself given my relativly low hours and lack of aero training. Drifter driver and I both have clones of VSI, exact same design. Mine has a canopy and a few other bits. The good thing is they are still very light while having double sleeves and thicker cables than the normal fisher mk 1 where nessesary. The handling is also very nice! These things go go exactly where you tell them too and stay there as they are pretty much neutrally stable.

When I sold my austflight drifter I had to move it to another airfield to have it shipped to hawaii, it really reminded me how much more sprittly the fisher sport is. The fisher also glides way further than the austflight, I get caught out every now and then because I go into drifter mode when cutting power and drift over the top of the field....

Wayne can still sell you a fisher sport kit but the 503 has been replaced by the 582...another 15hp....:clap:I would love to take one for a run!!!