barandbrew

The Gazelle may be docile but I havn't flown an aircraft yet I would call BLAND any craft that can take you into the wild blue yonder has to be good! I would like to see some of the new high performance skinny wheeled aircraft follow me to some of my favourite landing spots . Horses for courses old feller. John

Our Strip is 5nm from the beach the senary is fantastic white beach's scattered Islands and the view from the uncluttered cockpit of the Gazelle is commented on by all that have a fly. WE quite often pack some lunch and fishing gear and fly to a (secret ) beach where we always catch a feed of fish. The Gazelles easy handling sure makes these trips great fun, would'n sell it for QUIDS. John

Hi Steven You missed one thing Sit Back and enjoy flying one of the best aircraft in Australia !! JOhn

Does anybody know the allowable play in the front attach pins on the Gazelle wings

Hi Brendon I came from the gliding scene myself and now own a Gazelle and a Sapphire. I find the Gazelle a great little aeroplane to fly very easy to handle but still has good light responce on the controls. If you don't want to fly lots of X-country and just want to enjoy the flying I think its a good choice. I havn't flown the taildrager version but apart from the obvious undercariage difference they should handle the same. REgards John

Tony You mentioned you tried to start a support group what would be involved?? Surley with the No. of aircraft in Auz enough support could be mustered. Life limits on wings is 4000 hrs ,most Skyfox airframes would have less than 2000 hrs so an average Skyfox would have many many years of servicable life left before limits would be a concern. Probably why the metal wing option wasn't taken up. My Gazelle has 1780 hrs on airframe due mainly to its on-line life before I purchased it. My son and I fly around 100 hrs per year in the Gazelle at that rate another 20 years will go by before life limits are a concern however I can see great benifets in a support group for Skyfox/Gazelle owners. Your comments please. John

Hi The talk on climb performance reminds me when I was doing my training in the Gazelle.All my previous flying experience was in gliders so the noisy vibration up front took some getting used to. The woodern prop on the aeroplane always used to concern me as it always had cracks on the tips that were glued and reglued when I voiced my concerns to the school owner he assured me that all was in order and this was the norm with wooden props but I still felt uneasy.. The Gazelle had climb performance simular to what has been previously mentioned around 200-250 fpm loaded with two people in summer and not much better in winter. However when the prop was replaced with a carbon prop ( not legal I know, the school does not exist now ) the climb rate increased to round 600 fpm on simular days, says something for carbon props I think. Regards John

CASSA puts a life limit of 4000 hrs on both the wings and rudder spar I was under the impression that was the end of the wings . As I have read articals on the possible replacement with metal wings ect written by one of the certifing engineers for the Skyfox I would be interested to get any information to the contary as I intend to keep my Gazelle for the long term as it suits my needs perfectly. John

I just had a look at the Eurofox website and the airplane looks very much like a Skyfox. What would be of interest is the wings. If the wings and attachments are the same it could be an answer for skyfox owners that are getting close to the 4000hr life for their wings John

Just out of interest I installed a G Meter in my Gazelle as I was courious to see what loads the aircraft was subjected to during a normal flight in our summer as some of the thermals we fly through seemed severe. The results were interesting normal flight with some turbalance +1.4 and -0.8 with just as many negative readings as there were possitive. The largest bump read +1.7 and -0.5 at IAS 65Knt the airspeed increased to 80 Knt as we went through the thermal. It goes to show we should all be carefull during the summer months as the loads on the aeroplane can be quite high in rough air. If I was flying at 80 knt when we went through that thermal the extra 15knt would have put us over VNE and I think the G loading would have increased considerably as well. Regards John

Hi I have a two bladed Brolga prop on my Gazelle which runs much smoother than the wooden prop that was on the aircraft however at 4800 rpm in cruise I have noticed some vibration but its not there all the time I had put it down to the prop unloading in gusts. Maybe there is another reason if other people are having simular problems. REgards John

Re landing on the beach Hi Guys I fly over the area of the crash every weekend it is one of my favorite areas and I can assure you that all of the beachs in that area have good firm surfaces and only at high tide would you have a problem landing on the beach there. Too low too far out is my guess.

Arthur Is there a publication on inspecting chrome molly structures I would like to make sure that our 100hr inspections are as professional as possible Regards John