BoxFat

Bindoon is definitely your closest place to fly then. About 35 min drive I would guess. Topfun aviation operates the school every sat and sun and also this mon pub. hol. I would have liked to go to Busselton too but couldn't fit it in. Will be at Bindoon Mon morning.

Hi Phil, I did my PPL to RA (PC) conversion last year in Jabs, went to WGF to try a Foxbat and promptly ordered one ! It's hangared at Bindoon now and has just clocked up 50 hours. Flew it to a local farm strip last weekend - STOL performance and tundra tires made it easy. Where do you commit your aviation ? You are welcome to come up to Bindoon (home of SLACWA) any weekend.

Will look forward to seeing you around Bindoon after July then. It's actually the best time of the year to fly here in WA - our winter is much the same as your summer for temps and commonly clear sunny days with light winds, especially up around Bindoon (right now in high summer it's too hot and bumpy most days). The strip is ex WW2 and in Pearce Air force base training airspace and hence closed to training mid-week (with appropriate quals and clearance you can still fly in and out though). Weekends and most pub hols are fine and in Spring and Autumn (also great weather !) there is enough daylight to operate before and after the RAAF zone closes for the day. Once out you have the whole north coast of WA to explore with little airspace restriction. Oh..and...mindful of not getting a Tomahawk sent looking for my house I promise not to mention the cricket :)

Yep thanks - now I know it is nothing unusual. Cheers BF

Just a query, out of curiousity really, for other FB owners out there: To get mine laterally trimmed nicely for operation without a PAX I need a hefty downward deflection of the aileron trim tab....haven't measured it but it looks to be about 45 deg. That results in not too much side pressure on the stick with or without a PAX. But it seems a lot of deflection...what do others find ? I do wish there was an in-flight aileron trim available.

Prices used to be on the website at www.foxbat.com.au and I think the float version was about $20K dearer. Exchange rate variation will affect all these things. Foxbat float training was/is available at Snowy Mountain aviation, Cooma, NSW. http://snowyaviation.com/index.htm. That would be a nice place to spend some time training. Cheers, BF

With the standard 912 and steam gauges (though I look at puter screens all day my brain cannot decipher EFIS displays for some reason) it's about $100k fly away. So more bikkies than a Jab 160 but at the time I bought my FB it seemed that the average life of a Jab engine was about 300 hours whereas a well looked after a Rotax would commonly reach its 2000 hour TBO. Factor in the replacement engine and the price difference goes away. Different kind of aeroplane too - not quite as slippery but gets in and out of more places and a lot of fun when low and slow.

For marriage of said daughter ! Without wanting to further drift the thread, I must say it is one of they joys of getting older and fatherhood to be on the giving, rather than receiving end of the "Scary Dad" treatment. I like the story of the young lady, on the doorstep of the family home after a night out and dealing with over-enthusiastic good-byes from the beau: Daughter: "Ooooh stop my dad might come out !" Beau: " Oh really ? I'd like to meet him. What's he interested in ?" Daughter: "Oh...he likes to pull things apart to see why they don't go" (meaningful pause..during which heavy footsteps in the hall can be heard) Daughter adds...: "I think you'd better go" Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's for tomorrow BF

OK. All my questions answered - many thanks to all who have responded. In case someone else has the same question later here are links to speed up the search: AC43 in hard copy from the RA-AUS shop http://www.raa.asn.au/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=63 for $50. Also downloadable files free (albeit in parts) from FAA here: http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/advisory_circulars/index.cfm/go/document.information/documentid/99861 Found criteria for L2 here: http://www.raa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Section-4.1-Accreditation-of-persons-suitable-to-conduct-maintenance1.pdf. (the replies in this thread have given me an idea what will generally be required by RA-Aus to meet the criteria) Found list of L2 s current to July here: http://www.raa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/L2-July-2013.pdf Cheers, BF

Gee this network is cool for finding out stuff. It's like an aviation Googlepediaaskjeeves

Ahh thanks FH. I will go and get one now, assuming its on the website. Cheers

Yes I am a fully qualified shovel user. All type ratings in hand: Big ones, small ones, long handle or short. I will happily move a hole from one place to another and back again in return for you doing my 100 hourly. I have a lot of experience at this due to my wife's rather fickle aesthetic approach to the wasteland formerly known as "our garden". Thanks for the advice about the AC thingee. I have not heard of it but it sounds very useful. I gather it is a military document ?? I will ask the lad if he's got one.

Mate, if the marriage has already survived the aviation obsession a mistress is probably not a deal-breaker. But as regards my daughters as specific candidates for the role, I say simply this: I have a shovel. You will never be found.

Yep.. Understood. He's one of the latter kind - sees the machine not the manual. He was Dux of his Wagga course but I've seen him work on lots of stuff over the years and he's a fair-dinkum machine whisperer. I would back him to win the Dakar rally with a Vespa and a Swiss Army knife.

Hmmm..thinking ..thinking...smacks forehead ! I have other daughters...what are the chances I can marry one of them off to a bloke who is ALREADY an L2 and save all this fuss ??

Excellent - thanks everyone for all the info. My son-in-law hasn't applied yet - I'm just finding out for him as he is keen to do it. He loves everything mechanical and got just as excited about my Rotax and the design of the Foxbat as he did about the Super Hornet when he first got his hands ("Blackhander" hands in fact !) - on that. So.. If understand correctly he needs to come to an arrangement with a current L2 or perhaps 2 different L2s to do some work and earn the necessary references. He is in the Brisbane valley (near Amberly of course !) so the next question would be where/who would be the best place to go there ? If he does that, I will then fly him over here to WA and get him to spend some time with someone here as well (cunning plan to see the grandchildren !)

Flipping Heck Dazza ! Then what does one have to do get qualified ? Assemble a plane from cardboard toilet roll holder thingees and kleenex and fly it to Tassie and back ? More seriously...is there a course one can do then ? If so, it would probably be cost effective for me to sponsor my son-in-law through one before my 100 hoursly falls due.

Folks, Can anybody advise me about the requirements for registration as an L2 and L4 maintainer ? My son-in-law is a RAAF trained airframe/engine tech and also has part LAME training. From reading the RA-AUS ops manual he would meet most requirements but I don't understand the parts relating to LSA experience and how that is obtained or assessed. I have written to the tech manager some weeks ago but I suspect they have more pressing things on their mind. Thanks, BF

Welcome OPF. Do you know about the former Netherlands East Indies air-force DC-3/Dakota which, in one of it's former incarnations, used to be the Broome Tourist Bureau ? It's now being reassembled at "The Lily" in the Stirling Ranges and fitted out as a B and B suite.

It's amazing how much affection exists outside Holland for the quintessential Dutch foods such as Ollibollen, Applestroop, Stroopwaffels etc. (nobody has mentioned the Haringfest yet). The Dutch are not renowned in Europe for their cullinary sophistication (suggest it to a Frenchman and watch the reaction !) but possibly it is because such affection prospers mainly among those of us brought up on the meat and two veg and kippers-for-breakfast English diet with none of that nasty continental stuff to break the monotony. My mother was a Navy officer's mess cook in the second world war, a fact which makes my brothers and I wonder how the English nevertheless managed to end up on the winning side ! Oh and then there is Genever (gin) and those deadly triple strength beers made by monks (although they mainly come from Belgium I think). Happy times (those I can remember).

Not just airline but military. So, no, I was NOT attempting to give Hans a flying lesson. However, this is an open forum so lots of people - some like me no doubt with less significant credentials and experience - may read it. I have heard of a few newbie FB pilots being caught unawares by the grip of the Tundra tyres, just one of the things to think about when deciding which kit to choose I guess. I have since found out (following up from Hans' last comment) that the nose leg has to be changed when switching from one to t'other so not quite so easy to have both sets and change over for XC trips vs. bush bashing. I have a cruise pitch setting on my prop, the T/O and climb performance being more than adequate for the lower altitude (the DA does get up a bit here in WA in summer too but not to 8000'). It seems like that just about compensates for the drag from the TTs so that Hans and I have roughly the same cruise performance. It's not about that really anyway with the FB...a great aeroplane for looking at big running animals from ! (you don't have any of those left in old Albion either Phil though I'm sure you scared a few buffalo when you were out here in between driving Tiger Moth's into ditches...yes I have a long memory !). Foxbat specific forum should be up again soon btw.

*Chuckle* But I just have to raise the question...if the ejection seat was working why didn't said jet jockey use it BEFORE landing his aircraft on a North Korean airfield ? But maybe he was worried about getting shot in the chute (which I believe sometimes did happen).

Re the ability to fly anything, a good read is the biography of Eric "Winkle" Brown whose job was to test captured German aircraft. This included some of the desperate experimental rocket and jet types thrown in to the air defence late in the war. All he had to help him was advice from a couple of captured airmen who weren't always very interested in his welfare !

Pilots experienced on many types seem to be able to hop in anything and fly it. Not true early in the process though so prob a good reason for ratings/endorsements, especially for big performance jumps, multiengine etc. Things are understandably different in war time - if I heard correctly about 10% of the Spitfire Ladies didn't survive the war.

There used to be a "Foxbat" specific forum but it seems to have dissappeared - I will try to get it resurrected as there are several things I would like to touch base about with you and other Foxbat owners/pilots. My FB, with tundra tires, gives me 85 - 87 kts IAS at 5000 rpm. From memory FBs without fat tires gave about 90 kts at the same revs. Good rudder work is essential when sporting the Tundras because the big nosewheel acts a bit like an "anti-rudder" so you have to be careful to centralise it in cruise. It's also important when landing on a bitumen strip because the fat tires grip a lot and you can shoot off into the weeds if not aligned. These things don't bother me as I think it teaches good rudder discipline which is applicable in any plane. I really like the soft ride they give on the ground and the extra margin against damage if I have put down in a tussocky paddock or rutted road. What cruise IAS do you get at 5000 rpm ?