wanabigaplane

A bit of secret men’s aviation talk passes, and as my glass approaches empty, someone remembers the conundrum I posted earlier.

“Amerikan, eh? What colour, black or white?â€Â

“Colour’s got nothing to with it. You’re on the wrong track. Fibreglass colour, whatever colour fibreglass isâ€Â

“Are you going to put any clothes on it?â€Â

“No, well, I might, but I hadn’t thought of thatâ€Â

“You could dress it like a terrorist, and….â€Â

“But you’re are going to put it in the passenger’s seat, aren’t you?â€Â

“Yes, of course. It would look silly out on the wing…but that wouldn’t be a bad trick, I suppose. â€Â

The people at the next table were no longer listening overtly.

“I know what it is. Its obvious.†says the guy from the next table I met earlier.

“Yea, what?â€Â

“Well, I’ll tell you, but first, there’s a problem.â€Â

“Aw come off it Ken, you and your weak bladderâ€Â

“I wouldn’t say that after seeing what he did to the spider in the urinalâ€Â

“No chancen, you’re not getting a free beer that way.â€Â

“Well, OK then, I reckon its for making a spare tank in the passenger’s seat !â€Â

“Yea, you’ve got it. Bloody spoil sport. Get back to your own table.â€Â

:big_grin::big_grin:

Question

If you are flying from Mudgee, down the Hunter Valley towards Muswellbrook, why wouldn't you choose to fly North around the area R583B, rather than down to Maitland, and up the lane? Is it because of tiger country?

I've flown along the lane once while a westerly was blowing - it was really turbulent, and a challenge to stay that low, and navigate as well.

Looking forward to the Camden Haven trip.

Jack.

Costs : after having flown there and back, the cost of meals and associated amortised infrastructure is not significant. I prefer to have the satisfaction of paying my own way rather than being someone loking for a quick freebie. Who cares if the hamburger costs $100 or $105 ?

Competition: we could stand around on the apron and all join in scoring the latest landing !

“Ahh thanks Julian. Nice drop. Thanks. Cheers.” Raising my glass.” Now, where was I?”

“You were going to tell us what you were going to do with this manikin”

“You’re going to put going to have big breasts on it, aren’t you?”

“No, no, the size of the breasts doesn’t matter, but I suppose if you really think about this application, I must admit that, well, the bigger the better.”

I had to put down my glass to facilitate the appropriate hand action to accompany the comment, and at the same time I was aware of occupants at the next table. They were drinking silently, pretending to be oblivious to our conversation, not wanting to miss a word. A pregnant silence. Then, sensing they’d been sprung, one of the them leaned over and asked:

“What nationality is the manikin?”

“Ahhh,” thinking quickly (well, not as slowly), not wanting to admit I was stumped, and delaying by taking a sip or two from my glass,… “Yes, American, definitely American”

“American?? Why American??”

“Spelling of course, if I used the English spelling, ‘Word’ would put a red line under it and tell me its wrong”

“Blond or brunette?” some one on my table asks.

“Doesn’t matter, I have to cut the top of the head of and fibreglass over to make a flat surface anyway.”

“Like the ideal woman?”

“No, no, this is entirely practical, but I’ll have to tell you in a minute, because at the moment I am working under too much pressure.”

I met one of the other guys from the next table in the dunny, and as he took over chasing the spider along the trough, I asked “That guy asking about the nationality, he’s not a local, is he”

“No, No, he’s a mate of ours from The Oaks. Name's Darren. Yea, he pops up everywhere making comments."

There was a lull in the conversation at our weekly aviator meeting at the local club.

Anthony turns to me and asks, “So what’s your latest project, Jack?â€Â

“Well, I’m thinking of getting a life-size manikin, and making a fibreglass mold…..â€Â

That stopped the side conversations.

“Male or female?â€Â

“It doesn’t matter really, but if there was a choice I would take a female oneâ€Â

“No, no, is the manikin male or female?â€Â

“I see, well I would take a female manikin and make a female mold of it first,..â€Â

“Yes, and then…â€Â

I was aware that people at the next table were listening in too.

“What are you going to do with it?â€Â

“We’re here to talk about aviation…â€Â

“Yeah, we don’t want to know about your private lifeâ€Â

“No, no, this is purely an aviation purpose….â€Â

“Is this something frivolous, or something practical?â€Â

I didn’t plan it this way. In fact, I didn’t plan it at all. It was becoming a guessing game.

“You know that if I am the type of person that would put a handle on my model aeroplanes, it is most likely to be something be quite practicalâ€Â

“Yes, that’s true, but I can’t think of anything.â€Â

“Come on Jack, stop holding out on usâ€Â

“Well if you stop interrup, I’ll explain. But there is a problem firstâ€Â

“A problem? Oh, this is a trick, isn’t it?â€Â

“No, no, but my glass is empty.â€Â

“What are you having?â€Â

“Cascade thanks, Julian. I’ll wait till you get back."

:big_grin::big_grin:

Goulburn !!

Comments on Goulburn

You're looking at $40 pw hanagarage minimum, but plenty available.

When you get those nice big highs coming over and the weather is going to be great for flying, you'll be fogged in till 11, so you cannot anywhere in a day.

Most other times its blowing a gale.

There may be dozens of 'planes hangared there, but if you go there to meet other flyers, forget it !

When I started to learning to fly I gave up trying to start there. I drove from Canberra to The Oaks every weekend.

The only thing going for it at the moment (for me) is that anywhere else is too far away.

Jack.:confused::confused:

It won't happen to me. Actually, the effect of the flash in the cockpit made the outside appear somewhat dimmer than it really was - but, yes it was a bit later than I would have liked. If I had any buttons in the upolstery on the seat, they would have been sphinctered off in this one exercise !

Visit both

If the RecFlying weekend was offset from the Old Satation weekend by one week, then some of us could take the whole week off to fly North and go to both! Jack.

See post "Raglan/old Station" in subject "great trips". Pics included. The message - go if you can. Jack.

Albion Park ?

Trip to Old Station a few years ago. Posted now because of talk about going this year in other posts.

This fly in is like no other I've been to. A big field in the middle of nowhere. All camping in a well provided for grounds. No commercial establishments nearby that I know of, but I flew there and had no transport.

Lots of GA, many ultralights, numbers of gyros, Warbirds, and Lots and lots of people.

Night entertainment put on. There was a rodeo that year. Tanker brought round fuel. Airshow one day, take offs and landing all the time. And this is before the crowds arrived.

Hail, friend. How about wananotherplane? Jack :big_grin:

Bugger! Still sitting on the ground at Goulburn at 10.15am waiting for the fog to lift. After that I worked out I would be arriving too late in Mudgee to enjoy the day.

That's Goulburn - either blowing a gale or fogged in!

Shared the taxiway with three Tiger Moths, also waiting. That's the greatest number of people I have met at Goulburn at any one time!

Google the PIK-26.

Now think aluminium wing on foam ribs

Fibreglass fuselage

45 HP hummel engines half vw engine.

Jack.

How legal is Avadata?

I have received regular bills via avdata, and I have paid because, well, $10 to $11 for an ultralight is fair enough, and it would be unfair of me to shirk my responsibility. But if I received erroneous bills, surely the boot is on the other foot. It would cost them more to prove it and extract their charge through the courts than the value of the bill !

When it comes right down to it, what is the legal status of the bills sent to us by Avdata ? If you don't agree, and don't pay, what is the worst they can do?

Jack.

With a roll up like this it looks like I'll have to join in the fun too.

Only one and a half hours away, so I'll probably return in the same day.

Have you sen that trough in the weather map?

Jack.

Ant Builder

Also seen at Narrowmine - start with a sheet of aluminium...Jack.

Lil Tinny

Saw the above 'plane at Narrowmine.

Built by Richard Faint from Watt's Bridge.

He previously drove a Sapphire which I think exceeded 1000 hours.

There was an article on the Sapphire site about some of his exploits.

Hi BrentC. Thread closed, so answer here.

I bought the Tornado from Sunirmalya, who bought it from Chris.

Arthur Armour taught Suni to fly in it.

I am planning to put it on the market soon and get back to the Sapphire.

I met Chris at Narrowmine last year.

Jack.

Here here ! Don't lose sight of what is important, Ian.

Thanks for your good works so far, and have a good rest.

Remember, you are only doing it for fun!

Jack.

Tony Witlox - the irrepressible!

What a loss to Recreational Aviation.

We flew together in Sapphires half way around Australia. Because of limited range we had to land at many small town fields and walk into town with a 20 litre wine bladder. We would fill the bladder out of sight of the garage attendant, then he would delight in saying "too late, they're filled, now how about a lift out to the airfield?"

Jack.

101 uses for ERSA

In 2004 I was preparing for a flight around Australia in my Sapphire. Now there is not much room in the cockpit of this aircraft, but with careful preparation I had worked out an arrangement that had a place for everything that I had to have at hand during the flight. Then, aghast! When I went to buy the latest ERSA, I found it was a different size - much bigger, and a different shape. It wouldn’t fit neatly anywhere. For most of the trip, it followed Mr Funnel around the cockpit, looking for a place to hide.

Now, ERSA does not cover anywhere as many of the smaller fields that AOPA does. However, it is a CASA requirement that ERSA is carried in the cockpit. So, during some of the longer stretches, my mind fell to wondering what use ERSA was to me at all. Come to think of it - if I removed all the useless pages, the book would be less than half the size. Then you could fit it somewhere !

I will never, ever, land at Sydney airport. The same goes for all the other larger airports too. There is no chance I will be flying to Tasmania this year, and how would you get to Weipa, or Thursday Island, and stay within gliding distance of somewhere to land? Who cares which way I will have to fly around Ayers Rock, and what good to me is 200 pages of a Runway Distances Supplement when I could land on the taxi way?

Here are some of the uses I have put it to, and some that I have thought about. Lets see what uses posters can think of.

1. Lighting a camp fire. There are more than enough pages on Mascot to light a few fires.

2. Use as a wheel chock

3. Wiping the dipstick

4. Emergency funnel.

5. Bookmarkers for useful locations in AOPA.

6. Use pages to stop the canopy rattling.

7. Toilet paper - what pages would I choose for that ?

8. Playing “I’ve been every where man†(during inclement weather you drop ERSA on the bar, and he who cannot make outrageous claims as to having landed at one of the airfields shown, buys the next round)

9. Use a few pages as a feeler gauge.

10. Use the plastic spiral to poke the wasp net out of the pitot tube.

11. Place a few pages under the magnetic catch in the security gate so that you can get back onto the field.

12……over to you.

Grumpy old ERSA owner.

Sapphire

Flew half way around Australia in a Sapphire.

Had enough room for everything to camp out. (except for the Mr Funnel)

Cruised regularly at 83 knots on a 447 (without spats)

For long distance flying you need greater fuel capacity - take the extra fuel tank in the seat option if you can. The bugger is having to walk a few K into small remote towns to get fuel. (Best to take it with you.)

Mine does not have flaps or air brakes. Never really felt the need for them anyway. They side slip beutifully.

Learned to fly in a Lightwing, then stepped straight into the Sapphire with no problems at all.

The long wings are a real bugger for hangarage.

Jack.

Hmm - interesting.

Ozzie - Be aware, LiPos can be dangerous in a crash. Remember just recently one computer manufacturer recalled 4 million laptop computers because some LiPo batteries had spontaneoulsly combusted.

You will need soft start, as well as over current switch off, capability in your two speed controllers.

Fliers of competition models store / charge their LiPos in pyrex cookware, or in metal safety boxes.

LiPos can get hot in operation too, and may have to be cooled. Although you can go up to 20 to 30 C max for short periods, planning on 12 to 15 C max for normal operation is the norm. Also for longevity of the batteries, avoid discharging beyond 2/3 the capacity of the cells.

A set of batteries like this is going to require a specialist charging system, and a specialist charge balancer too!

The leading edge of technology is very close to the bleeding edge of technology.

Jack.

Oh, I get it !!

Modellers talk about 100 watts per pound for solid aerobatic performance. For 8-12 Kw, this means your project aircraft is in the order of 55Kg. Hardly newbie stuff. Sure you've got your numbers right ??

Oh, I get it. You want to electrify and radio control your Lazair !!

Jack.