Peter Anson

I had a grumble to an RAA board member about my last delayed ASIC and was told that I could have used the reply letter that they sent as a temporary ASIC. It had occurred to me to try that but since it was nothing more than a receipt for my application I find it hard to believe that it would stand any scrutiny. Question for Bennyboy. When applying through RAA, there is a final delay of a week to 10 days because they won't send you the new card until you return the old one. How does this part of it work when you make the on-line application? Peter

"Yes I have a valid ASIC which was just renewed, like all my previous renewals (three) it was seamless & took about 10 days to receive my new card from the renewal request, why change things if it ain't broken." My last renewal was not seamless. I applied as soon as I received the renewal, but the CFI who witnessed the papers forgot to write the little essay on the back of my passport photos. The person who handles these at the RAA office could have phoned me or emailed me to point out the error ( my number and email address appear in three different places on the application ) but instead they simply posted everything back. By the time I managed to track down the CFI again I had lost another two weeks. I ended up being without the ASIC for about 2 months. As for avoiding security controlled airports, good luck with that. I did a trip from Vic to Queensland last year and EVERY fuel stop on the way up was at a security controlled airport. One of those was totally unattended so there was no-one to ask for the security code so after visiting the terminal to use the toilets I jumped the fence to get back air-side.

Looks like a farm strip just south of Mount Vince. You can't be far from home. Looks like a nice day for flying.

I have also found Skyfuel good to deal with. Home - Skyfuel I have just the BP and Mobil cards and they seem to be all that are needed. On a recent long trip I was able to use credit cards at about half the stops but had to have the Skyfuel cards at the rest.

Another interesting report Réné. Got to say it looks pretty crowded on the ground compared with Australia.

3D printing is still very limited at the bottom end, which is what most of us can afford. I make these NACA intake vents for Sonexes from PLA. The screw is printed in nylon because I needed a flexible part, but that's also the problem with nylon - low elastic modulus. These vents take about 8 hours printer time and with my el-cheapo printer, failure rate is pretty high. For more information on these go to http://www.ansoneng.com/sample-page/products-summary/fresh_air_intake/. (Note that it is a commercial site.) Nylon printed parts would probably be OK for many low-strength structural parts such as bearing blocks and cable guides, but those sorts of parts are often commercially available or easily and more accurately machined. I think one area where cheaply printed parts could be useful is for making cast aluminium parts in a process similar to lost wax casting. There are a couple of you-tube videos showing the process. (search lost PLA casting) At present, a more useful process for home-building aircraft is CNC routing. I had a large number of parts made for my (scratch built) Sonex by a commercial company and they were perfect; so accurate I couldn't measure any error and with a better edge finish than laser cut parts. Peter

Another wonderful report Rene. Looks like you judged the weather well. The scenery is spectacular and those open cafes look very inviting.

For a great wartime memoir I'd recommend Don Charlwood's "Journeys into Night" about his experiences as a Navigator on Lancasters. It is very well written. He had earlier recounted his experiences in "No Moon Tonight" but the later book covers his life leading up to the war and the training period. Only six of the twenty men in Charlwood's navigation course in Canada survived the war and he obviously wrote the books as a memorial to his lost friends. "No Moon Tonight" is available through Amazon but the later "Journeys into Night" might be harder to find. I bought my copy at the RAAF museum at Point Cook and must have read it at least 5 times making it pretty good value. Incidentally, when Arthur Browett (Shag), the English rear gunner in Charlwood's crew died at the age of 90 in 2011, the RAF honoured him by flying a couple of modern jets over his funeral. Peter

The Grampians is a great walking and climbing area and there's plenty of wildlife. It's only about 80 km by 40 km and consists of several ranges running roughly north-south so I guess you could get good lift along the ridges with the prevailing west winds, but most of the range is less than 3000 ft. I would guess that in December there will be plenty of thermal activity up to 7 or 8000 ft. Horsham, where the sailplane GP will be held is just to the north. Peter

As Nobody says, it depends. As an example, I did the paint myself for a few hundred dollars. If I had a professional job done it could have cost more than $10,000. I sometimes wish I had spent the extra money, but usually only when it is parked next to a good paint job at a fly-in. On the other hand, I was able to build my complete aircraft for less than $35,000. It's a scratch-built Sonex with Jab 3300 engine and a very basic glass panel. I probably spent $6,000 to $7,000 for instruments, propeller, battery, fuel system parts and upholstery. It's basic and looks it. Peter

You seem to be asking how much it would cost to build an aircraft without the aircraft. Are you talking about instruments, a nice paint job, labour costs? Peter

I'm guessing Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. The country around the Grampians is probably not as dry. In fact, by Australian standards it's fairly lush, especially now. Peter

Wow, you do get around don't you. I think even my wife would take an interest in flying if we could visit such places. Like the photograph of the boat lift. Peter

Did the trip recently from Rockhampton to Kyneton,near Melbourne. See http://www.ansoneng.com/sample-page/sonex-trips/kyneton-to-rockhampton-part-2-the-return-970-nautical-miles/ It depends on whether you have a fuel card and an ASIC. If you do, you can go via Moree to Narromine, Narrandera to Melbourne. You need a fuel card for Moree and an ASIC for both Moree and Narrandera. If you don't have either card, you can go via Walgett, Narromine and Temora to Melbourne. Depending on your range, the stop at Narromine is optional. Peter

Spot on, and so is your comment.

I'm too lazy to wade through 35 pages to see if this has been listed before, but to narrow things down a bit, it's in NSW.

The ADSB in receiver based on a Raspberry Pi also works with OzRunways. Here's a link to the Sonex Aus site SonexAus - ADS-B Receiver where I have written up my experience. In the article is a link to the OzRunways site where there are detailed instructions. I'm not sure how reliable the system is, but any extra warning of other aircraft is good, and you already know you have to look out the window don't you?

Can't find a name for it but it's on the coast 5 NM south of Carmila, 21 58 33 S, 149 28 30 east. Doesn't look like it's got much in the way of passenger facilities.

They obviously need the strut because the wing is so thin that they can't get sufficient strength with a cantilever. Thinner wing = less fuel capacity, but that's OK if you are saving fuel. I bet a lot of work went into the strut-to-wing joint. Probably not trying to get lift off the strut so much as reduce drag.

Going back to the original question of getting your prop dynamically balanced - I have had props on my Jabiru 6 balanced a few times by Brian Rebbech. See SonexAus - Dynamic Propeller Balancing for details. The web site for Balance Master claims up to a 50% reduction in the balance factor (out of balance factor?), but the first time Brian did my prop on which I had previously done a static balance, he managed to achieve an 80% reduction in the out-of-balance factor. I think there are a couple of advantages to having the prop dynamically balanced: The obvious one is reducing vibration in the cockpit but the other is reduction of stresses on the engine. It could be that your engine mount rubbers are doing a terrific job of isolating you from prop vibration. If you read through the linked document you will notice that vibration in the cockpit was about 1/3 of the vibration at the engine.

Yes, but because there is so little information this is not generally known. How do you contact the committee? Well, you could contact them through their web site if there was anything on it, but there isn't. I have heard that CASA was requiring an Air Show permit even though there is no air show. Speculation? Wild rumour? Who knows?

Hi Yenn, there you go contradicting my meticulous research which I think consisted of looking up a map and seeing the word "bauxite". What's the bet that when the plant eventually closes down you'll still have the red mud dam? Flew just to the west of Benaraby. I'll try to make it to the Old Station next year. Peter

Here's a link to my blog on the return part of this trip. http://www.ansoneng.com/sample-page/sonex-trips/kyneton-to-rockhampton-part-2-the-return-970-nautical-miles/ I really enjoyed this flight and I'm looking forward to doing something a bit more adventurous but might have to work on building up the good guy points with my wife first. A small correction to my last post - Kingaroy has a credit card fuel bowser. Peter

I was able to use a credit card about half the stops but you really need a fuel card. I have BP and Mobil cards supplied by Skyfuel Australia PL who are easy to deal with and don't seem to mind that I don't buy much fuel through them. I used a fuel card at Griffith and Roma on the way up and at Kingaroy and Moree on the way back. I think the alternative would have been to callout somebody from the fuel supplier and wait for them to turn up. Peter

Here's a link to my blog about this trip, well the going up part anyway. http://www.ansoneng.com/sample-page/sonex-trips/kyneton-to-rockhampton-part-1-930-nautical-miles/ I have done the complete round trip, 1900 nm of it but I write slower than I fly. My Jabiru engine performed flawlessly, good thing too. Got to say, you Queenslanders are a brave bunch. I did a fair bit of flying over land where an out-landing would have been exciting. Couldn't quite do the trip each way in one day. I got away way too late on the way up and was held up a bit by fog before leaving on the way back. That and talking to a nice bloke at Kingaroy about his Cessna 188 crop sprayer and the Corby Starlet he had been restoring. It was an enjoyable trip. Peter