Marty_d

Nice paint job Charles! Welcome.

You can admire military aircraft while deploring war. As my avatar hints, I think the MkIX Spitfire is the most beautiful aircraft ever built, while fully aware that it was built as a platform for guns to shoot down other aircraft. I take your point that in comparison to Apaches and Warthogs they would be a fraction of the cost, and yes the engineering was done very well.

Before you get excited about the cheapness, read the article. The aircraft cost them the better part of a million each, they spent god knows how much modifying them, and in the end they're stuck in hangars in Africa somewhere and the company has written off the cost. As a slow-ish attack aircraft it's not bad, but I can't see it being able able to outrun or outmaneuver anti-aircraft fire, SAM's, fighters or anything else advanced militaries use. When you see what these blokes were up to, it's obvious the intended use was for tinpot despots and warlords to fight off poorly armed and organised rebellions.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-14/the-fighter-pilot-the-mercenary-boss-and-the-warlord/12644052 https://theintercept.com/2016/04/11/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-drive-to-build-private-air-force/ Interesting couple of articles there (the Intercept one is a bit more complete). Besides the entertaining read about extremely dodgy private army owners, I found the aircraft very interesting. Based on a Thrush 510G crop duster, they fitted surveillance and laser targetting, bullet proof windows, armoured cockpit, engine armour, anti-explosive fuel tank mesh, and wing mounted pylons for external stores including 23mm guns, rocket pods and dumb bombs. All without permission, certification, or even a full testing regime...

Hi Skippy, Any tips on where to source the lightweight carpet and firewall blanket? I have to start thinking of cabin finish soon. Thanks, Marty

Way to turn a beautiful aircraft into a fugly one. Plus it says it failed to achieve certification so had to go back to original. What the hell was the point of the exercise??

Pretty sure that's a fake. Looks like a rendered game-type Tiger instead of a real one.

Worth what you didn't pay for it then!

190,000 euro according to STREAM PRICING | tl-ultralightwa

Don't know about enclosed, but a simple floor/stone guard would probably be a good idea.

I got mine on Wednesday - first one as I only joined earlier this year. I didn't read that you only get the first one free, but anyway guess we'll find out!

Pardon my ignorance, but if you're taxiing along the centreline of a marked runway, can't you compare your compass reading with that?

I might have to talk to you soon about what would work for the 701.

Are you the Australian sales rep Mark?

Like this?

So the alternator issue - what's more common, flying with or without? Assuming that if you don't have one then the battery is handling the heavy duty of starting along with all the other things without being recharged. Do you then bung it on the battery charger at the end of the day/flight? Alternator I believe is 3kg, but guessing there's some heavy duty cables from it to the battery?

Hi all, Having bought a 2nd hand Microair m760, I've started thinking about the electrical system. I also have a set of Savannah instruments with complete wiring harness. Had a look at this article - http://www.microair.com.au/admin/uploads/Typicalaircraftelectricalsystems.pdf - seems like good advice to me, what do you think? I'd be grateful for any advice about setting up the electrics. Some of these questions may be a bit stupid so please bear with me, I can wire up a powerpoint but the finer points of electrical systems escape me. - Does the Rotax 912 usually have an alternator? As far as I can tell there doesn't seem to be one on my engine. - Where do people mount their bus bars, fuse panels etc? - For W&B the battery could potentially be a fair way down the fuselage. Does the extended cable run affect the current? - Any general hints and tips for wiring? There seems to be some care needed especially with radio wiring - they mention noise filters, ferrite clamps, and capacitors for strobe systems. Any others? - What were the traps that got you, and how did you overcome them? Thanks all! Cheers, Marty

"Badly damaged" is an understatement...

Thanks - the position of the lugs is set by the muffler which already has lugs welded on the ball holder stub thingies. So - there's no standard spacing or stretch for the standard Rotax muffler springs?

Thanks skippy, everything is held on a jig while he welds it, so if he does the lugs after welding the bends in the pipes there's no excuse for it NOT to line up...

Hi all, Can anyone tell me how far apart the spring lugs should be when the muffler pipes are in position? Or failing that, how much should the springs be stretched? I'm taking the stainless steel lugs up to the welder tomorrow, but it'll probably be a while before he gets around to it anyway. Thanks! Marty

They're just washing them.

I love the shape of the Gooney bird. Just looks right, somehow.

He just made doubly sure to get high.

When I was hang gliding I knew a bloke like that - he had a habit of getting stoned before flying and then forgetting to get his legs out of the bag before landing.