Gentreau

Thanks Phillip, does the necessarily high cowling it have an impact on forward visibility ?

Well done Q ! .

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I understand that the engine doesn't care, but my question was to Phillip King. In the case of that particular installation, what is the reason for mounting it inverted ? With the gearbox mounted 'right way up' it appears to give a high propellor line.

Scuse my ignorance, but is it obligatory to mount the 582 'heads-down' or is that a choice ? .

I agree Yenn, but I also understand that not everybody monitors their airspeed perfectly. Personally, I think the routine which I learnt is helpful and all based on Vso (since few of us have an AoA indicator) Downwind/base = 1.4 x Vso Finals = 1.3 x Vso Threshold = 1.2 x Vso That gives you enough speed to make 30 degree turns safely and 45 degree balanced turns with care. If you have flaps, you also have an extra margin when they are deployed as your speeds are based on the clean stall speed. Turbo, let's be clear, it's the combination of speed and angle of bank that does it. If you're flying fast enough, you could turn at 60 degrees safely. You would just need to have enough distance to slow down before landing.

Coming back to the topic... Bexr, what would you estimate is the potential domestic chinese market for light aircraft in the LSA/600kg category, once the regulations are in place ? If that market is as large as I suspect, there would be rapid and extensive testing at home on which to base development and export sales. .

Phil, you'd need to do a special version for the Oz market "SHE'LL BE RIGHT MATE"

Which Chinese Phil, there's a few different dialects. I was in Beijing with a colleague who speaks native Cantonese and the had some difficulty .....

The original link works if you remove the '>' character from the end of it http://www.raa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Section-2.13-Conversion-of-General-Aviation-or-Glider-Pilots.pdf

Good point. Just in case any of you are holidaying in France this winter (Oz) I've posted a couple of events at the end of May and end of August. It would be amazing to see someone from here at one of these events. .

The big advantage of two-strokes, in Europe at least, is in machines used for instruction, thanks to the gain in payload. They may consume a bit more (our 2-stroke ex club machine averaged 16 ltrs per Hobbs hour over a period of 2 years) but if you have to refuel every 60-90 minutes due to weight limitations, the "loss" is partly reimbursed by the increased training time. There are quite a few machines available here with either the 582 or a heavier 4-stroke engine. However with our weight limit at 450kg, the extra 20-30kg of engine makes a significant difference to the amount of fuel that can be carried. Also, since rate of climb and top speed are not critical for training, the lower powered engine is perfectly fit for purpose, and even gives the student a little more time to keep up or catch up with the machine during training. The other advantage of course is that the version with a 582 is generally significantly cheaper to buy .

I had an interesting conversation with a French Air Force instructor a little while back. He had worked on initial assesment of candidatates for pilot training and told me that he had noticed a marked difference between candidates who had flown microlights and those who had only flown GA. The difference he noted was in control finesse and feel for the aircraft. +1 for the lightweights eh .

Quite a lot of microlight instructors in France do the same, they teach a "microlight approach" which is done with engine on idle at 1.3xVs, aiming 1/3 along the runway, with the comensurate steep angle. Then just before the threshold they teach a gentle 'plunge' to increase speed before flaring over the threshold. I beleive this helps to reduce the chances of a sudden drop, as you arrive over the threshold a few feet off the ground with decent speed but wings level and the speed bleeding off. The other advantage it has, is if your judgement is out and you come up a bit short on approach, you just continue without the plunge. .

So there is clearly a step missing in their procedure, where they mark the registration as recieved. In any normal system, that would stop reminders being sent. It really isn't rocket science is it ?

You guys might find this data useful as a comparison. It is called the Hawk Report and was compiled as part of the consultation for the design of the European flavour of the LSA (ELA). They looked at different countries across Europe with differing regulations and tried to identify which regulations really had an impact. The conclusion was, you probably guessed it, pilot training. Makes interesting reading if you've got time. HAWK-Final Report 26 Nov 10.pdf .

It seems to be attributed to Captain A. G. Lamplugh, British Aviation Insurance Group, London. c. early 1930's. More info on Skygod.com

Probably because in Europe we are limited to 450kgs MTOW. Diesels tend to come in too heavy. As for the D-motor, the big attraction is that you can get 90+HP from an engine which weighs little more than a Rotax 582. We have one of the original ones on a Sherwood Ranger at out club which is still on low hours, but once I hear some feedback from the owner, I'll post it here. .

Both correct thanks :)

Actually, someone here might be able to remind me of the actual type of the largest aircraft I have flown. It looks like a Cessna Caravan but, I believe it's made in Oz, high-wing, 8-seater single engine propellor machine. The flight however was definitely memorable. It was from Papeete, Tahiti to the island of Tetiaroa, which used to belong to Marlon Brando :D .

Out of interest, is there a published arrival procedure for this event ? As an example, here are the procedures for the big annual microlight event in France : http://ulmblois2012.blogspot.fr/ There are also marshals on the arrival threshold, with green and red flags to 'wave-off' any arrivals too close behind the preceding aircraft and at the entrance to the departure runway, who were there specifically to regulate the traffic to avoid the 'catching-up' problem mentioned above. .

That sounds like a recipe for disaster, how on earth are they allowed to do that ?

The turn onto final seems to be a common point at which these stall/spins occur. They can be avoided if the pilot just holds the standard turn until the aircraft comes back to the extended runway line. So I'm curious to hear opinions on this question. Why does it sometimes seem that pilots have a obsession with "not overshooting the turn to final" ? Is there something drilled into students ? If not why are people so bothered by it ? Sure it's nice to be lined up perfectly from two miles out, but the only time when your exact alignment to the runway (in VMC) matters is as you cross the threshold. .

As one of the proponents of North-up, I'd love to hear how you get on. Please come back and tell us once you've tried it for a while.

Wasn't spin training originally removed from the syllabus because it was causing too many accidents ? I can see the argument for instructors to do it however, as previously said, if you don't know the point of no return, how can you know when the student gets close to it ?

Aren't those documents available to download ? Surely you don't need the entire AIP, only the local sections.