microman

Really - 100-110 knots - thats outstanding for a 601 - I'm guessing its the 100hp Rotax?

Riley - I have an early model Sapphire which I rebuilt last year. I found making a canopy which worked a frustrating exercise - I ended up with a 3-piece side-hinging affair which is just barely satisfactory. I really need to come up with something better. Any chance of emailing the manual you have to me? [email protected]. Cheers Graeme

Hi George - welcome to the forum - I am at Rolleston, but fly from Rangiora ( Canterbury Recreational Aircraft Club) - you should call in sometime and check us out. I have seen the Eurofox and it is a very good aircraft - of course its a microlight , but registered LSA so that you can log your hours towards a PPL.

The Challenger in particular would be well worth rebuilding - you shouldn't have any problem finding the bits you need, including the sails which are readily available in the USA (www.barnstormers.com) . The other alternative would be to cover it with Ceconite or something similar - much superior to the pull-on fabric.The Quicksilver is a bit of a relic but someone might be interested in a bit of history. The 277 motor is really not capable of much - it could be used to power a Minimax/Himax but most builders would look to install either a 447 or 503 for the extra power. The new Rotax 503 you have acquired is worth at least $3-4000 - they are out of production and hence becoming quite hard to come by now, but still an excellent engine.

Thanks for that - will try it.

Points - and we reset them.

Not me, but I'm hoping that even though the 503 has been in storage for some time it will still be ok - my experience of 503's has generally been very good - once you get the carb settings right! Judging by the amount of pull needed the compressions are fine.

Seems to me one or two of you two-stroke experts might be able to help with a problem I have. My newly constructed Himax has a single carb, single ignition 503 - which had been in storage for many years. When I came to start it, I found that the only way I could get it started was to spray "Start ya Bastard" into the carb first. It would then start but refuses to idle and bogs down when the throttle is advanced. I have checked and reset the idle (and jet), checked the main jet, and the circlip on the jet needle is in the middle position. Carb floats seem to be ok, but something is clearly wrong. Any ideas? I did fit NGK BPR8Es plugs rather than the usual B8ES - gap .015 - to help counteract the upside-down engine installation.

We at Rangiora had the same problem as Pete at Whakatane - the council owns the airfield and had been ramping up landing fees ($6 to $10 for casuals and $100 to $200 pa for aircraft on the field). However unless the council were prepared to spend truckloads of money on a full monitoring system there were many users simply ignoring the fee (they only had one camera and if you landed short and turned off immediately they couldn't clock you), so we went to the Council and said we will collect the fees for you, but in exchange you need to be realistic about it. They agreed and all airfield users now pay $60 pa to the club which then passes it on to the Council - casuals still $10 - a win/win we think - no need for the council to pay for expensive monitoring equipment, and we now pay a reasonable amount.

Hi Alpipete - do you have a separate GPS or does the tablet have an inbuilt GPS good enough to quickly pick up a signal? My Tab 3 (SM210) is often reluctant to get a signal which can be very frustrating.

The D18 exhibits all the traits of a real taildragger - if you are not pedalling furiously when you land a groundloop is always on. I always tried to three-point it - much easier than a wheeler. Otherwise they have wonderful flying characteristics - great vision out front (except when taxying). I loved my D18 - it had a 100 hp Rotax which enabled a 100 kt cruise at 5000 rpm - and a fuel burn of 12 l/hr. I only sold it once I had built the Alpi - similar performance and a bit more stable in turbulence.

Even if most of them bear very little resemblance to the Queens's English! I also can't quite understand why he has such an obsession with fuel return lines!

Post deleted. Insulting to member. If you wish to pontificate, do so with first hand, qualified knowledge and not, as appears in this case, hearsay. If you have proof, put it on the table with qualification. Until then ..post deleted. (mod)

Thats Garry Morgan's explanation too, but If it were that simple I dont think there would be the number of landing incidents that have occurred. Three I am aware of happened with very experienced and capable instructors on board.

No issue with tipping up that I am aware of.

Virtually all of the landing mishaps have been with 2 POB and at least 1/2 fuel so C of G should have been ok - problem lies with the position of the main gear - the Sierras and a Cheetah here have all been modified to shift the main gear forward 7-9 inches. Problem solved.

I agree that the Sierra does fly very well - excellent performance etc, however we here in NZ have identified a couple of quite major issues - firstly the noseleg is not substantial enough, and this problem is exacerbated by the second issue - the main gear is too far back, meaning that when landing with a load of fuel in the front tank it is quite difficult to flare sufficiently to have the main gear touch first, with the result that the noseleg tends to be placed under undue strain with disastrous results. I know of two Sierras that were damaged in this way, both now repaired and modified and there have been no further problems. Another was recently written-off before the mods could be carried out and the owner/builder was very quick to use the insurance proceeds to buy something else - in fact he stated that the pilot had done him a huge favour! I suggest that Greg does some research himself in relation to these problems before test-flying his build. A great pity in my view that Garry Morgan does not appear to have acknowledged that there are problems.

I think composite skins is a great idea - firstly it would be a bit lighter and secondly it gets rid of the horrible drumming that metal-skinned aircraft are susceptible to - I am guessing that once the various glass panels are all on you would simply join them together by using micro filler in the joins - sand it back and hey presto!

Thanks Bruce - as it happens I had read your posts on the ETLB forum and actually replied at one stage (Jetranger). You really have made an effort to reduce drag and I imagine you will have a very good cruise speed as a result. The MZ202 is a great little engine - my 503 came with the partly-built aircraft so stuck with that, but it should do the job ok. I will certainly be copying many of your drag-reducing mods - looks like you have very good fiberglassing skills. Loved your rant about your licensing problems - our CAA here in NZ can be frustrating enough to deal with at times, but nothing like CASA or the Brit authorities. Cheers Graeme

Lovely little plane - what engine? I took over a Himax build some months ago as a project (you have to have a project) and its progressing well. It will have a Rotax 503 - inverted, and I have built a 35 litre fuel tank to go behind the seat - should balance out the heavier engine. Also looking forward to doing some drag reduction - they perform well if cleaned up a bit with faired struts, droop wingtips, spats etc. I have joined the Lonesome Buzzards forum based in the USA - fantastic amount of tips and mods that various builders have done.

That is huge - how many stops Rick? Any issues?

Its important to note that the costs quoted above apply only to PPL pilots flying GA aircraft. None of them apply to those flying microlight aircraft (such as the Alpi 200 on the left). Microlights in NZ are administered by the Recreational Aircraft Assn of NZ (RAANZ) - CAA only have a a monitoring role (thank God). The result is that GA pilots (having for years been dismissive of our aircraft) are now migrating to the microlight ranks in droves. My fixed costs consist of: club sub - $70, RAANZ sub - $70, annual rego for the aircraft - $150, and biannual medical - $45. Thats it.

Its quite simple biggles69, fly a 3rd generation microlight, either hire it from your local club at about half the cost of an aero club aircraft, or buy your own, do your own maintenance, fly on a drivers license medical, use about half the fuel of an aero club aircraft - at about the same speed. The only real limitations are 2 seats max, and VFR day flight only.

Unfortunately the propmaker you are referring to, Brent Thompson, has motor neurone disease and was forced to sell the business a couple of years ago. It has since changed hands again - not sure of the present operator. Brent made the best wooden prop in the world - and thats no idle boast - everyone who got one of his props found that it performed better than whatever it replaced.

We had exactly the same problem when building our Alpi - solved it by cutting holes as suggested and put wire grills in the holes. Looks ok and provides better cooling!