macedonranges

Any new member is entitled to 3 days Cirrus Embark Training Program.

NEW Syndicate at YMEN Cirrus SR 22 - 2015 model with very low hours - low running costs per hour. Four current members looking to add one or two new members to the group PM me for all the details

Hey Soleair, I'm also interested in getting a hangar there in the near future. Happy to chat PM me ROB

Thanks Nev .. I see you are from New Gisborne .. Where do you fly out of ? Riddells creek or SUNBURY ? Cheers Rob

Wow great replies and thanks to everyone for their input.. its all part of the learning curve and maintaining the plane the best possible way.

I spoke to Gary from Bert Flood imports - distributors of Rotax in Australia and he said the following The spark plug that “looks lean” actually looks OK, and the other one is a bit rich. Did you run the engine at high revs before looking at the spark plugs ? as they do tend to go black and sooty with prolonged low rev running. We normally see different colored spark plugs on the same bank, this is due to the design of the intake manifold and not anything to worry about. When I did the change of spark plugs I had warmed the engine to facilitate the engine oil change so it was probably only at idle for 5-6 minutes so interesting comment - the engine has been running fine and no problems - so will be interesting to hear other peoples comments about what they have found when doing spark plug changes in the Rotax 912 ULS cheers ROB

We have just done our 200 hour service and changed spark plugs and found the two spark plugs in cylinder 3 were very lean compared with the other cylinders .. Anyone have any ideas on when this would be - as cylinder 3 and 4 are fed from the Right carbie. Engine is running well and have had no problems.. so not sure about why it is happening Picture of spark plugs - Left side is from cylinder 4 and right side is form cylinder 3 Thanks ROB

Hey Keith - yes I agree as new things are developed we need to look at these.. one thing I found today was the difference in prices with the Evans propylene glycol waterless being so much more expensive than the 50/50 water based ethylene glycol.. --- By the way anybody doing coolant changes be VERY careful that your pets never drinks the stuff as it is SWEET but will kill them very quickly from renal failure -- My Veterinary tip for the forum

Pete - I think that is an imported fluid - I am going to do a full flush off our system and change to the Castrol 50/50 solution.

Excellent Thanks Maj - that's great much appreciated and good thinking re if you need to top up while in the bush ! cheers ROB

I am confused about Rotax recommendations for Coolants for a 912ULS . Some sites say use the Proplylene glycol waterless coolant others say to use the 50/50 water ethylene glycol coolant. Appreciate recommendations>>

Thanks guys for all the replies. and the links to the STOL site for some good photos and trip info. I know I have a lot of planning and research to do but that is the fun of cross country flying. I've done a couple of longer flights - Broken Hill, Wilpena pound, white cliffs and Kangaroo Island - all different country side. If you ever get to White Cliffs it is an amazing place and the people are so friendly. Once I can lock in some time off from work I might put out a thread to see if anyone interested in joining up in a tour. Phil - we have autopilot in our Texan Sport 550 and boy does that make it so much less tiring to fly long cross country legs. We have done 3.5-4 hour legs easily. In fact our last trip to Kanagaroo island - we flew Penfield, Sunbury -non stop to Aldinga SA in 3.5 hrs GS 110 knts - nice tail wind of 15 knts and only used 49 liters of fuel . Couldn't even drive the car for that economy! And we have been using Oz Runways - love the program for planning and guidance.

I would appreciate everyone's help in suggestions for an around Australia trip plan. Tips and lessons learned from pilots who have circumnavigated australia would be appreciated. I am thinking best time of the year is August / September ???any thoughts.

Thanks Tex Good point - doesn't actually say on the specs, I'll email suppliers. We have tried it in the plane and certainly has enough power to turn over the engine easily .. Have you heard of any problems with overcharging ?

We have been recommended to change the underpowered Cyclon Pb battery with a very light weight Lithium ion battery (only weighs 600grams) - specs as below. As the recommended Pb acid battery is significantly heavier and larger and is going to be difficult to mount in the engine bay.. Does any one have any comments on the use of these types of battery with a 912 Rotax...in RA planes My only worry has been the recent spate of fires with Lithium ion batteries in the dream liner and the recent CASA ruling for removal of Lithium ion batteries from the Cessna 525C's..... Appreciate comments PART NUMBER LTX7L-BS BATTERY TYPE: High Performance Lithium VOLTAGE 12 Volts CCA:(cold cranking amps) 220 DIMENSIONS Length 113mm Width 70mm Height 85mm Terminal Height 130mm TERMINAL TYPE J TERMINAL ASSEMBLY OTHER FEATURES WET WEIGHT (with acid) 0.6 KG REGULAR CHARGE CURRENT 3.6 Amps USAGE Starting WARRANTY Private use 2 Years

Very interested in this discussion. We have just had a problem with our battery on our Texan as being too small only 8 Amp Hour, 12 volt and we have had it blow a linking bridge between the electrodes on the battery - a Cyclon Pb battery. It did this on cranking the engine to start. According to our importer this is half the recommended size needed for the plane and he doesn't know why the factory fitted such a small battery. My only problem is that we will need to work out a new mounting bracket for the battery. Any suggestions on the smallest battery that we could fit that will provide the 16Ah needed and bracket ideas would be appreciated. Cheers ROB

Thanks for that advice - , does anyone have any input about YHEC ?

Hi all my first thread. Been flying a LSA Texan club sport for the last 2 yrs and want to fly to the Gold Coast for a conference in August... Doing planning ok .. But wondering where people are flying into on the GC for a tie down week or so. . ? Heck Field or other... Also appreciate advice on best route over the great divide to the coast... I was planning Sunbury, yarrawonga, parkes, coonabarrabran, tamworth, Armadale, coffs harbour then coastal around GC control space to heck field. Appreciate any comments and advice. Cheers Rob