Old Koreelah

Good point for those of us accustomed to having a quiet runway to ourselves. I once landed at the start of Gunnedah’s long main strip, then realised I’d have to taxi a kilometer to the exit! I’d made the normal calls, but noticed a big twin moving out onto the blacktop. Another call and the pilot finally noticed me, with a “gee you’re little!”.

How much air can get through your oil cooler (is that what you’re calling the “refigerator”?) You might have to increase clearance from the engine sump and ensure no air leaks. That might be your biggest problem; that’s only 54 to 62 knots- a bit slow. Can you test it at 120 km/h? That would be my minimum climbout speed to prevent overheating. (We hear lots about Europe’s heatwaves, so you might be operating in air even hotter than an Australian summer!) Just make sure you have the recommended amount. (They say 2.2 litres but mine won’t even take two bottles of Shell 100+; the Canadian suppliers use those strange medieval measurements favoured in the USA. I think two bottles is about 1.9 litres). Don’t forget that, if your ram air ducts leak any air, you’ll have problems.

Good morning Balázs. Oil should cover the lowest, rippled section of the Jabiru dipstick. As the others have said, your airspeed is important; when I climb out steeply, at 60knots, the heads heat up fast, because they’re getting much less airflow. Jabiru is one of the most intensively-tested aircraft, but I bet the factory only tested their engines installed in Jabiru airframes, which are not designed for slow flight. Therefore, avoid low airspeeds while at full power. Your oil cooler looks like mine, which has been very successful for years. The difference is that mine is mounted horizontally, under the spinner, so it gets plenty of airflow. If yours has been squeezed inside the cowling at an angle, it may not be getting good airflow, unless you carefully design and seal the ducting. You are right to be concerned about overheating the cylinder heads; the alloy Jabiru used is suitable for CNC machining, but not as heat-tolerant as some other engines. If overheated, it permanently softens the metal, leading to the recession of valves and head bolts. My engine has avoided that by staying under 150C. Remove your tappet covers to see the colour of the metal just above the combustion chamber; light brown is okey, black is bad.

Hello, another Australian response: you have a neat looking aeroplane. I too had cooling problems with my Jab 2200, but followed advice to very carefully seal every little air leak, so that all incoming air is forced to go through the cooling fins. That reduced my cylinder head temperatures to safe levels. I can see quite a large gap in one of your pictures- seal these leaks and you might be very happy. Your oil cooler looks the same as the one I’ve used for 12 years. Yours may not be getting direct airflow. It needs to be carefully ducted so no air leaks past it. Jabiru has changed their oil dipstick several times, so it might be a good idea to add the recommended 2 litres and then calibrate your dipstick yourself. If the oil level is too high, Jabiru engines tend to run hotter and spit out the excess.

It amazes me that it isn’t. We’re almost a quarter way through the 21st Century, half the world’s people can afford mobile phones, most forms of transport is closely tracked and co-ordinated, yet we allow people to buzz through our skies with no communications? No excuse if the plane has no charging system. My radio lasts a long trip on internal batteries.

Good idea; the problem is widespread. Being a visual thinker, I draw a little runway diagram showing orientation, numbers and the location of the sock.

Good advice, KG. Even the most skilled and sensible pilots make mistakes, so we should assume they’ll do it in front of us. I guess it’s like driving: be ready for the worst in other drivers. The authorities probably have statistics on the percentage of road users who are impaired, underskilled, near blind, unlicensed, drug-affected, etc. Add them all together and you might be too scared to get in your car. At least it should motivate you to be vigilant.

Aro that’s a good point and shows how important it is to adjust your map scale to the circumstances. Near the circuit, zoom in, so the ten-mile circle fills the screen. That way, you filter out the distant planes that will be no danger, allowing your eyes more time outside.

RF is spot on about the limitations of the human eye. I’m glad we all now have access to affordable ADS-B, so we know where to look for other aeroplanes.

Crickey, is T88 trying to set up a Thruster Air Force? How many does he have now? Didn’t know about that strip. Found it on GE. I guess it’s private, but I’ve added it as an emergency option. Coona Airport once got me out of a pickle. It’s an interesting strip to fly out of; taking off to the SE, it’s quite spectacular how the land drops away. Not the best place for an airport, due to it’s elevation and poor water supply. Was there during the big fires. The place was busy as Tempelhof during the Berlin Airlift! 30plus water bombers cycling through, being loaded with retardant and water that had to be trucked in.

…and darker, contrasting paint on the underside, where the sun doesn’t shine.

…and paint jobs that blend in.

My wife has flown one, when she and a heap of others afraid of aviation, did a “Fearless Flying” course run be some female Qantas pilots. We’re told that’s why spins were removed from the cirriculum; fewer were killed by spins than were killed training to survive them.

These full-motion flight simulators are plurry expensive; is there any chance they’ll be produced in large enough numbers to get the price down within reach of RA flying schools?

Bugger! That was a Jodel.

Damned hangar doors probably cause more injuries than aeroplanes; our club’s folding door once bit me big time.

It can be instructive to listen to long-time residents about the weather; farmers often have a deep insight built on decades of observations (on which their livelihood depends) and can give pretty reliable forecasts. Some local farmers I regularly talk to always ask how much rain we got and compare it to theirs. We’re on the edge of the hills and usually get considerably more that those out on the plains.

Glen is this poor reception in your Jab? Just wondering if SE “sees” more easily through fibreglass and plywood aeroplanes than metal ones.

Too rough for wimps like me! I hate being tossed about and your report has me revising my planned flight to Qld this Saturday for the Superbikes. Besides, the planes’s far from ready and I need a few days of test flying before a trip like that. This is my favourite time of year for flying: weaker thermals and clear skies, but those westerlies carry mechanical turbulance for miles.

I happen to be pretty good at breezing thru written exams, but that doesn’t make me any more competent than the person who struggles with literacy. Much like IQ tests, exams were developed as a cheap way to catagorise huge numbers of people; they are not a very reliable indicator of a person’s potential. After five decades in the education and training sector, I’m heartily sick of administrators over-using office technology to generate reams of bureaucratic waffle. In one role I’m still saddled with, I am required to be on top of hundreds of pages of repetitious piffle, just to train volunteers. These days technology should be able to reliably test an individual’s ability to perform a task. Simulators could help us train and assess recreational pilots; modern cars already use technology to assess a driver’s reaction time and alertness. Perhaps flying schools could as well.

Perhaps the regulators should focus on personality disorders.

Looks like a product of Queensland: a Terrier 200.

The next question: is there some way to divert that energy before it does damage?

Danny I can’t help with current legalities, but when I’ve consulted RAA about my build, they’ve simply quoted the broad rules about 19-reg which didn’t mention such details. Rules aside, having a foolproof way of disconnecting the battery makes sense. (I don’t trust those cheap isolators with a red plastic key: even if turned to the OFF position, a slight press on the key reconnects the current.) I installed a home-made isolator that automatically disconnects the (-) side of my battery in the event of a prang and use it as part of my startup checklist. A lever near my right leg is weighted with a small lump of lead, so that rapid deceleration swings it forward, pulling back on a wooden rod that releases the contact. This is made from the round tip of the aluminium brake lever off my old Speedwell bicycle. When contacted, it sits neatly into a nut on the end of the top right engine mount. Simple and reliable. I have no idea what damage could result if I feel the need to disconnect the battery in flight. The alternator would be spinning without anywhere for its current to go. Any advice welcome.

Did you install it yourself? If so, you’d have needed to peel open the velcroed flap cover to access the harness connector. Mine is military-looking green, but I’ve heard of others being bright orange.