wanabigaplane

predicting good weather? I am planning on flying up on Friday from Tumut - weather dependent of course. Looks like there might be a window. Jack.

Another approach Is the soft start module a non-standard, extra device? When having this sort of problem it is advisable to get everything back to standard. Re-introduce them after the problem has been found. You say you replaced one of the modules, then it worked. Then you put the old one back and it worked too. To me this indicates the problem might lie in how the devices are mounted / connected rather than the devices themselves. Everyone knows you need a good earth connection between the motor and the battery, especially across the rubber engine mounts. But you also need a good earth connection between each ignition module and the engine. I don't know whether this connection is made via the mounting lug onto the engine, or via a separate earth wire. Either way you should determine how the connection is made and confirm that you have not compromised this path by a non-standard or temporary mounting - as is often the case while you are doing tests. Hope this helps. Jack.:):)

Feasibility study My understanding is that all we have so far (and its a big advance over what we had before) is an allocation of up to $50k in the budget for a feasibility study. The airfield being at at Williamstown is a possibility, but not a given. A deal being considered is that the government will allocate the land if it is within the ACT, and put forward development costs dollar for dollar. From there on CRAA will be fully responsible to manage and fund the field. Jack. :):)

Duplicated That's right. Being a tandem pusher, the normal shrouded exhaust would be harder to implement. All I am concerned about is that it works, and that I know it to be exhaust free. Jack.

exhaust free heating In my Tornado the water radiator is duplicated in the cabin space just beyond my feet. I can switch the fan behind it, or close the water off. I certainly need it up around the Snowy Mountains. Jack. :thumb_up::thumb_up:

Cancelled anyway Because of the doubts and unknowns I opted for alternative activities on the June weekend. I started doing some maintenance on my plane this weekend, and as often the case, a simple task has turned out to be more difficult than expected. So I'll stay with the alternative. My plane was not built with ease of doing maintenance in mind! Jack.

Obama or Monto ? I was planning a trip from Tumut to Monto for the RAAus flyin mid June, but then I received this by email tonight. There will be flying restrictions mid June within 100NM of Canberra and Sydney. Even model aircraft within 45 NM will be banned! Does anyone know any more? It looks like we don't get much notice. Jack. 100526 - MASS AIR BRIEF FLYER.pdf 100526 - MASS AIR BRIEF FLYER.pdf 100526 - MASS AIR BRIEF FLYER.pdf

Thomas! THOMAS! Friends tell me that their mother would use their full Christian name when scolding. So it’s “THOMAS”, not “TOMO”. I read your article “Our first Natfly” in RAAus. Quite a good read . You captured the essence of a first attendance at Natfly, and a first major cross country very well. In fact, I read your article a second time just to make sure. You did not mention Recreational Flying at all! Tch tch! Jack.

What? Asking about Sapphires? That's great news! I started at The Oaks in the SRFC. I am still a member. :thumb_up: I have a Sapphire. I love it. thumb_down Glides forever. When landing I could side slip it till just before the stall. :thumb_up: Got my certificate in a Lightwing, then stepped straight into the Sapphire with no troubles at all. thumb_down Two stroke powered with belt driven fan. 447 :thumb_up: I heard Tim Winton took the motor out of one and went slope soaring! thumb_down The long wings make hangerage a challenge. :thumb_up: 83 knots cruise. No wheel pants, no flaps. thumb_down Stock standard elevator is very sensitive. :thumb_up: My spring centring mechanism worked a treat - could fly hands off.. thumb_down Fuel capacity limited for cross country :thumb_up: I once flew it on a trip half way around Australia. thumb_down The cockpit is just big enough for an ordinary person and a credit card :thumb_up: But with great effort I could pack in enough gear to go camping. thumb_down I use AOPA, but ERSA is a legal requirement in the cockpit. :thumb_up: ERSA is much smaller when you tear out the unnecessary pages. thumb_down The long wings tend to tangle with road signs if you land on the highway. :thumb_up: Dissassembly to put it on a trailer is not too hard. thumb_down It is stored in bits around the house at the moment :thumb_up: I will complete the repairs one day and fly it again. Wanabigaplane.

At Temora I saw Brumby are coming out with a high wing version. What is a Savvy XL ? Jack :):)

Have you looked at... I had an ignition problem on my 912 that had me puzzled for a while. The wires coming out of the alternator are covered with a fairly robust shield. This shield ends with a plastic cover that makes a neat but tight exit for the wires that power the ignition modules. Over time the wires had flexed at this point and broken the copper wire inside the PVC cover. The break could not be seen from the outside, and when testing for continuity, the act of pressing the multimeter probes onto the ends of the wires re-made the circuit, so that I could not see the fault. A neat trick for connecting onto a wire for testing without having to cut it, is to push a pin or a needle through the insulation to make contact with the copper wire on the inside. I used this technique to test the wires right where they came out of the alternator, and this confirmed that that the wires inside the alternator were not the problem - a big relief, I can tell you! Remember, the power to the ignition modules comes directly from the ignition winding on the alternator, and has nothing to do with the battery or rectifier. The on/off switch connects in here as well, and if this faulty, it could be the problem too. Jack. :):)

As we gathered in Ian's tent, at times I was searching for the right words to identify the participants in this forum, or users of this site. Pudescon is possibly the closest with forumites - but that does not specify the Recreational Flying. RecFly members RecFly participants RecFlyers Any suggestions? Jack. :confused::confused:

GPS output I know my Etrex and most Garmin products output the NMEA string in a serial format at 4800 baud, typically at 0-5 volt levels. I suspect just about all GPS receivers do. With the Garmin products, you can choose which string you want to output. Typically you get one string every one or two seconds, depending on the length of the string. All strings include the lat, long, and time. The difference between the remaining strings is just a function of their remaining content. Now, if you want to play with this data, you almost automatically have to use a picaxe, or other microprocessor to parse what you want out of this string. If you want to send this data by radio, you need a modem (or tone encoder) to convert the ones and zeroes to tones. At the receiving station you need a similar modem (or tone decoder) to convert the tones back into ones and zeroes. Then you need another microprocessor to process this data and send it to your display device. So, if you are still interested, and need further info, I suggest you get in touch with some radio hams who do this sort of thing for a hobby. They track mobile stations using exactly these techniques. Some accurate clocks just use the time part of the string. Floating buoys use the lat and long to record whre they are, and transmit their position by satellite so we know where to pick them up. Jack. :):)

The smilies were on:- Ian (of course) Ahlocks, Bubbleboy, Bluey the fly, Ballpoint, Byron, Big Pete, Biggles – Bob+Sally Brilinair, Brian+Linda, BlackRod, Bushcaddy 105, Brumby 000 Captain Ding, Decca, DavidC, Destiny Flyer, D Bloggs ? (hard to read scribble) Eastmeg2 (Glen) Geoff Jetjr, Just Fred Kiwi Lachlan Baker Motzartmerv, Moy71, MrH, Methusala Old Koreel h Pylon 500, Papafox, Powewin Robinsm Skydog, Skyhog, Snowman, Smokey, Slartibartfast (with the cheetah) Tomo (with mother), Thommo Codal, The Baron, Tangocharlie123 Ultralights, Watto, Wanabigaplane, Wigg, Whack77 Also reported, Bush Pilot Heon, Howard Hughes The Wolf Planedriver Jack. :):)

Hi Ian, Last year and the year before that while in your tent at Narromine, I watched many aviation related people come and go. They would have seen the banner, looked through the stock for a bargain, and wandered off. I wondered what impression those with no prprior knowledge of Recreational Flying thought, and what they learned. My guess is that most of them thought your setup was an e-shop with an associated website for sprucing your wares. I wonder how many realised it was really a website with an Australia wide (and some international) community, enjoying a common bond of aviation- with a wealth of information at their fingertips, partly supported by the shop. Mostly what a person sees in your tent is the shop. There is little to draw the attendee’s attention to the website, and the wealth of community interaction and information it contains. Hence my earlier post suggesting a screen, projector, and a laptop displaying the website. From your response, regarding the lack of a spare laptop etc, I gather you are fully occupied with other things, so I decided to look and see what I could do. I cannot source a projector – and if I had one, I would be reluctant to power it from a generator. But I can do the next best thing. I took a screenshot of the home page and printed it out one of the bigger colour printers at work. I have also printed out a few other pages A3 size. If you like, I am prepared to put these together on a cardboard backing, or on a large piece of plywood for a free-standing display. I am driving to Temora on Thursday, so I can bring this and anything else you cannot fit in. So, please let me know if you want me to make up the display, and how you want it made up. Jack.

whack - WHACK US$35 from Leading Edge - ask someone going to Oshkosh to bring one back. I purchased the right driver bit locally. Tried everything - actually put a twist in it! I had to take the exhaust off to get a direct hit with a brass drift. It took an unbelievably big whack to loosen it. The heatsink paste is for spark plugs to transfer heat. I bought some small sample sachets from Leading Edge, only to find it seems to be exactly the same as that you get in the 5 gram Unick tubes from Jaycar in the $6 range. This is NOT an anti-seize compound, so I plan to check the plugs more often. Jack:hittinghead::hittinghead:

Driving and flying Well, I'm driving AND flying ! Do you have power at the site, Ian ? Will you be having the shop ? Suggestion - have a projector and laptop so the uninitiated can see what this site is all about. Jack. :):)

Thanks. As long as food and hot showers are available, and there are other people likely to be camping, then camping will be fine. Otherwise, I'll be looking for a lift into town and a hotel. I'll do some more planning closer to the event. Jack.

I'm in. It's on my calendar. Since I'm flying from Tumut, I'll be looking for accommodation. Hoping to meet yourself and Tomo there. Jack. :):)

You could ask the passenger if they think that crack in he fiberglass is opening up when you rock the wings, and then start going through the emergency procedures ! Jack.:devil::devil:

and Camden approach ? Wouldn't the tower also be in line with the approach / departure lane for Camden ? While training at The Oaks we would meet many aircraft from/to Camden. Jack.:ah_oh::ah_oh:

Wanabethere but... I really would like to be there - it's so close to Tumut. Unfortunately work requires me to be on a research vessel off Darwin. I won't even be able to look at the Internet to read your posts till I get back. I hope you have a good fire to stand around and have a good time. Jack

Once upon a time Once upon a time.. While sub-linoleum reading in a spate of procrastinating the building of my zenith, I came across a copy of the very last issue of Pacific Ultralights. An article by Angela Smith in the magazine detailed the accident at ’98 at Mangalore, where, after George Markey prop stared his Ultrabat, the aircraft got away and gave a young girl in the crowd some minor injuries. George made the point that although there were dozens of people there taking photographs, no one came forward to help him stop it. The photograph shows the Ultrabat after the incident with a broken undercarriage. Quoting the article, “The Ultrabat was purpose built in the Sates to perform aerobatics and was brought to Australia in April ’97.” “George was the founder of the AUF and the first elected president.” Also, quoting elsewhere in the magazine regarding the ’98 Natfly at Narromine, “We said it was going to be the largest ultralight event ever..” “..over 200..” “Immediately evident was the large flock of Jabirus..” Now that was in ’98. I first went to Mangalore back in around ’86, and fell in love with the Sapphire. As soon as I could find the $17,000 it would be mine. I also talked to Charles Ligeti, and saw him fly his Stratos. It was not very long afterwards that both he and Scott Winton had fatal accidents, and I decided to take up something less dangerous, like hang gliding. However, that was new too, self-regulation was in its infancy, and I was deterred by seeing the carnage out at nearby Lake George in a light Easterly breeze one afternoon. The hang gliders were OK, but I could not see how I would survive the learning process. Jack. :):)

Did it sound like someone playing a banjo Slarti?:guitarist::guitarist:

A fresh approach is being made to obtain a recreational airfield in Canberra. I received this email today, and I pass it on for your interest with no changes. Jack. :thumb_up: :thumb_up: -----Original Message----- From: Recreational Airport Canberra [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, 16 July 2009 3:44 PM To: Recreational Airport Canberra Subject: Williamsdale/Second Airport Meeting 6 Aug 5.30pm I hope this email finds you all well and flying happily! I’m sending this notification on behalf of David Edmunds. There will be a meeting at Unit 3/1 Pirie Street, Fyshwick (the RA-Aus headquarters) beginning at 5.30pm on the 6th August 2009 to further the proposal for a recreational airport in the ACT. The major items are the election of office bearers for an association in order to carry the proposal forward, and the formation of working groups. Unfortunately, it’s too late to get an announcement into the RA-Aus magazine although it will be going on the website. We would be very grateful if you could inform anyone else who may be interested about the meeting please. All supporters are welcome whether they are RA-Aus, GA, SAAA or any other type of recreational pilot. You may remember that there was a suggestion that everyone at the first meeting would attempt to bring someone else to the next meeting – it would be nice to try and continue that. You are receiving this email because you are on the mailing list for those interested in a second airport for Canberra. If you no longer wish to receive notifications please reply with “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject line. Thanks! Lani RA-Aus P: 02 6280 4700 F: 02 6280 4775 PO Box 1265, Fyshwick ACT 2609