pylon500

Good info, thanks :thumb_up: Arthur.

There is a few of us about, check my links... Arthur.

While the Sapphire is probably easier to land than a Lightwing, you need to be aware of the very light controls in the Sapphire, and the possibility of over-controlling. If it's a stock Sapphire, hold the controls gently, but NEVER let go of the stick. An anti-servo trim system is a good mod for a Sapphire. Arthur.

It's not my plane and used to be VH registered. It also comes with a fuel card I guess that's my answer, it did start better after the plugs were cleaned. Doing more flying lately, will have to clean more regularly. Arthur.

OK, a quick one then. I'm running an 80hp 912 on 100LL, with good temps indicated, but have recently been having some starting problems. Unsure if I'm flooding or still dry, I've removed plugs to inspect, and found them to have a noticeable yellow colour? Didn't think to photograph. Is this typical of 100LL?

Watched a couple of the early test hops, good STOL performance, but was having trouble with a dodgy motor. This is being replaced with a small Lycoming (or Continental, I'm not sure) and is nearly ready to fly again. Olle is pretty busy at the moment, but will continue testing soon. Having walked around the Bushman, it is actually a bit bigger than a Hornet, great visibility from the cockpit and plenty of hauling space. Arthur.

As an aside to polarisation, Tint colour can also be important when choosing sun glasses. Typically, common sunglasses tend towards greys, blues and green tints, all of which will just cut down on the amount of light as well as colour being observed. ie, you loose vision and detail. I'm no optometrist, but I find that brown tint lenses cut down light intensity, but tend to enhance colour definition. Back in my Hang-Gliding days a pink coloured tint was all the rage as it was supposed to show dust in the air to signify the presence of a thermal. This may have been true but I found they just made everything brighter and made your eyes feel weird for about ten minutes till you got used to them. Then you felt weird again when you took them off! I just use brown sunnies with a graduated tint and try to find ones with thin arms to fit into headsets. Arthur.

Now do it in a Tail dragger!

G'Day Ian. That yellow BD-5 is now at Canberra, but I don't think it's ever flown?i_dunno An earlier AUF member build one up as a 'BD-5J' (jet powered) and got the engine to run, but then sold it to the US. I know of 3 finished airframes that were in WA, two that actually flew, one of which suffered an engine failure at takeoff and bellied in, catching fire and injuring the pilot. Some good footage on from Serpentine in WA prior to the crash. In the 70's, the BD-5 was my favourite aircraft and eventually I managed to get most of a kit, a year later I got most of another kit, and a set of plans. The BD-5 is too hot to fit into the ultralight category (even the long wing), and I have determined there are numerous little problems associated with the structure (not altogether fatal, but could have been done better) Some time in the future when I'm really retired, I'm planning on reconfiguring the kits into something that will fit the 19-XXXX category, but that's a way off yet.... Arthur.

I recently downloaded the assembly drawings for the Lazair from this Site. A 5 Mb PDF. Many others at the Parent Site. Arthur.

When I changed from a 582 to a 912 in my personal aircraft, I didn't have any props or blades that turned the right way. I had been using a Brolga on the 582 and was happy with it, but couldn't get new blades from Brolga (out of business) and the Bolly ones seemed a bit too expensive so I thought I'd have a go myself. I'm playing with composites at the moment so it wasn't such a big deal, took a bit of experimenting, but I got there. Check out My Site pictures. Only got about 7 hours on it so far but, so far so good. No I don't intend to go into production. Arthur.

That's a shame, the weekend actually worked out in the end. About 40 odd aircraft, no rain and a good bonfire to stand around :kumbaya: and CURRY :stirring pot: A couple of photo's for November (in competition post) Arthur

Gloucester Flyin... Taken early on the Sunday. Arthur.

"CHANGE OF UNDERPANTS PLEASE!!!, make that three pair".:ah_oh:

G'Day Maj., I know of Blue from my Wagga days, but he was an apprentice on a course following mine so we didn't really interact that much. Arthur.

There's plenty of choice if you build from plans, or a Morgan kit is good starting point. If you can stay friendly with the Metal Bashers at Pearce, you could look at something like a Hummel Bird, or a Zodiac if you want something bigger. Metal is much easier to come by than wood and fabric. Have you been out to Bindoon? Have a look at my links below, I was a Metal Basher at Richmond during the '80s. Arthur.

There is the fabric and it's associated systems, and then there's the final surface finish (paint). These days most people are painting aircraft with two pack paints that are virtually impervious to most chemicals. If you try MEK, Acetone or GP Thinners on the surface, you can get a few results; Does nothing, most likely two pack paint. Softens the surface slowly; possibly an enamel paint. Takes the top surface off quickly; either an acrylic paint or a coloured (butyrate) dope. If you have a two pack paint finish, it can be very hard to 'blend' in the repair. You will have to mechanically remove (scrape or sand) the paint off as if you use most chemical paint strippers, they will also melt the fabric! Most fabrics these days are synthetics (polyester), cotton is really rare. Sometimes you can get lucky and the paint stripper will stop working at each layer, just be careful. Once you're down to bare fabric, it doesn't really matter which process you use, they will all stick, just be aware of the weight of fabric used in the local area and provide enough overlap, 2" is good depending on location/type of repair. Would need to know more about the nature of the repair to give any more advice... Arthur.

There appears to be a movement in flying schools to instal permanant cameras on training aircraft, and more so in helicopters. As most of these cameras record to flash cards, short of being burnt, the information is almost indestructible making these cameras a sort of default Black Box. Maybe in the student environment, each student should supply a 2 or 4 Gig card to record all their training for later study or reflection? Probably also a good idea for prototype test flights.. Arthur

From a technical point of view, assuming that an ultralight jet would have the engine in the rear, you would then put the pilot up front to balance it. If however you wanted to carry a passenger, due to the overall light weight of the craft, the passenger would have to sit on the centre of gravity, ie; tandem. You CAN have side by seating up front if you really want, but only if you are prepared to carry around a ballast weight to retrim the aircraft between solo and two up flight. Arthur.

I actually created this image a few years ago with intention of actually building it! May yet happen. i_dunno Arthur.

Always fun to dream up colour schemes for aeroplanes, but never looks real enough if you just draw a picture and colour it in. Now we can use PhotoShop....... What have you done? Arthur.

OK, My bad, didn't put in the number Try this.....

Have read the book, as well as most others by Richard Bach. Was also made as a movie back in 1973 :ah_oh:(yes, they even had talkies back then!). Can now be found as a DVD with a bit of hunting... Arthur.

Actually, the Warp Drive is the only prop with solid blades, some of the early Brolga's were solid (glass), but later ones had a foam core. The new Brolga's being made by Bolly are going back to being solid (so I'm told). The irony of this topic is that, if your prop comes into contact with the ground, would you rather shatter a $1600 prop, or wreck a $23000 engine? I know everyone will say you have to bulk strip the engine anyway, but remember, teh 912 has a clutch.... Arthur.

Filmed at AIRFLOW ULTRALIGHT AVIATION, 4981 King George Highway, South of Surrey, British Columbia CANADA. Visited the field after my trip to Oshkosh in 2002, no flying though. Arthur.