ron dunn

Know this aircraft. Resides in our hangar at Pirie. Has the aero power VW in it with a Hofman in flight adjustable two blade prop - full fine/ full course. Quite fast l am led to believe - around 140 knots odd. The cockpit looks roomy and comfortable.

I think so, considering we were only charging 75 dollars/her 10 years ago when we had our school. OK - that was only an LSA 2.2 Jab but we had a lot of ongoing head repairs in those days and insurance cost the earth back then.

I am unfortunate enough to have lost almost all of my hearing in my latter life due to a family hereditry problem and have a cochlear unit fitted to my right ear. Using their custom made cable I plug that into the receiver unit of the cochlear and the other end, which has a normal 7.5 mm jack into the headset plug, using an adaptor. Works fairly well for lower density traffic operations but would not be good enough for high density traffic areas. I estimate I get about 70 percent readability with this. Do not know if the latter day hearing aids have such a facility.

I have been to most of the RAA-us fly-ins over the years and enjoyed them all. Took the caravan to some and flew to a few as well. I do not fly to airshow's anymore as I too have a hearing problem- like all gone! I now have a cochlear implant and hardware the the earphone jack to it. Gets me around 70 percent back- I am still able to fly but more at the country airports that do not have too much traffic to contend with. The biggest blow was that I had to close my flying school a few years back as I could not hold the required medical.

Boy- things have gone up over the years. When I had my flight school here on the Spencer Gulf in South Australia nine years ago we were charging ninety dollars dual and seventy five dollars instructional solo. This included pre briefing. Solo hire was sixty dollars. This was in the older LSA Jabiru and Lightwing 582 . Yep I know a lot of things have gone up but we were paying close to two dollars for Avgas toward the end and hangarage and office fees were close to two thousand a year. Insurance was not cheap those days either, with only one broker in the game. And I was paying fifteen dollars/hour for part time Instructors. If I remember correctly, a new Jabiru was under 50 grand and factory engine rebuilds were two thousand five hundred dollars.

Started playing around with free flight and control line models at around 14/15 and have been in and out of models ever since.( latter years being radio control) Took my first glider flight in 1969 and went on to do around 800 hours, a lot of that instructing. Did around 200 hours with GA and then found the old ultralight federation not long after it became of age. My membership number is 2311 so says something. Have over 3000 rec aviation hours now. Started my own school in 1992 and have had a wonderful 46 years or so of flying activity. About the best of it was when a group of us went to WA and gained our diamond height awards. (Soared mountain wave to 22000 thousand feet!!)

If you want to appreciate what balanced flight is about, some glider training (thermalling) will give you a good insight. To maintain a climb in a thermal, balanced flight is a must. Quite apart from the fact that you are usually flying near the stall in a thermal most of the time and departure into a spin is real and can happen quite quickly.

Until you get your pilot certificate and get a few hours up I think talking about an instructors rating and getting paid is a little premature. I was a gliding and Raa-us instructor for 25 years before I retired and found that a lot of very good pilots did not/ would not make good instructors This was more so when all they were thinking about was making a buck! I am not saying that being able to make money from this activity is not a good thing but being able to teach people to fly takes a certain sort of person. Anyway, best of luck with flying training if you take it up.

RIP Howie. Met him and his family when we came over from S.A to pick up our new GR 582 Lightwing in 1992. Have owned another 2 in the past since. Great guy-great aircraft.

Back in the eighties, we had two gliders hit on the leading edge of the wing by wedge tail Eagles. This caused a fair amount of damage to the leading edge but fortunately both were able to make a safe landing. One occurred when the glider was around 6000 thousand feet in a thermal and the other was during a ridge soaring camp. It is my feeling that the bird does not attack you in most cases but is trying to dive out of the way after being surprised by your presence and misjudged it. I have had the pleasure of having a wedgie sit on my glider wingtip for several thousand feet in a thermal with his head peering at me in the cockpit. I have had others do a half roll when they meet you thermalling the wrong way to them.

I think it's a good idea (regardless of battery type) to run a trickle charger full time if the aircraft is not used for long periods. They only pump a few milliamperes in and then keep the battery topped up.

Good luck to them. They are pretty well looked down on in most other respects. Says something for aviation.

Most of the early standard lightwings were fitted with band brakes - and you don't rely on them for anything! particularly if they are wet. But like Doug said - the Lightwing is draggy, has a low landing speed and short ground run anyway. Cheers Ron

Welcome back. We all grow too old too early so get in all the flying you can. I am 72 and still lucky enough to be flying.

We have found the information that we were looking for. I have owned 2 other Lightwings in the past - a new GR582 and an older LW1 with a 582 fitted and found these to be no problem re a forward c of g. This aircraft has had a 618 fitted some years ago and also a Warp Drive 3 blade adjustable prop and it looks like the tires are a larger profile than the standard. The flooring looks like it has been carried further under the seats than I seem to recall. The seats are not the original sling type but are individual fibreglass units. The aircraft flies nicely but computes out a little forward of the forward c/g limit. Cheers

This is a W1. The aircraft was on floats early 1990 and was badly damaged. was rebuild around 1996 and the 532 was replaced with a 618. Have rung Howie and got some figures re c of g limits and he told me that the engine changeover was not done at the factory and that he thinks this would be the only W1 with a 618 installed. Work seems to be carried out with job numbers so it must have been a level 2 or above. When we purchased the aircraft earlier this year the previous owner had it re registered in his name as it had expired. RAA -as wanted a photo of the placard in the cockpit stating 480 kg all up weight. We sent this and they re registered it. It will be interesting to see how they react when we apply for transfer next week. Would love to hear from anybody that have information re this aircraft. The registration number is 25 -0230 Cheers

Hello all. We have an LW1 Lightwing 25- 0230 and I am trying to find out the fore and aft C of G limits for these aircraft. W have removed a lot of useless junk that the previous owner fitted and will need to do a weight and balance. I know I could rind Howie but he seems a little reluctant to discuss the old LW1.

Hi all. Can anyone help me with the fore and aft C of G limits for the W1 Lightwing. Could ring Howie but the last call I make gave the impression that he was a little reluctant to discuss this side of things.

No - born and bred in South Australia. Started up a RAA-Us flight school on the Spencer Gulf with a new GR 582 lightwing and then with several LSA Jabiru's - and before the usual jibes kick in we flew over 6000 hours with the Jabby's before retiring and very much like flying them. Would buy a little LSA for private use if I could afford it. Cheers Ron

Hello Flyerme, Even though ours is listed with RAA-Us as 480 all up I understand that Howie has not sanctioned an increase to the LW1 without modifications to fuse and wing. We could live with the 400 if our recent attempt at weighing were not so high. Doug Evens has stated that his is fitted with a 582 and has an empty weight of 205 kg. Ours has a 618 which may be a few kilo's heavier than the 582 and has 2 thirty litre fiberglass wing tanks and a small car battery. otherwise is a standard LW LIghtwing. We will have to back and check our weighing system/equipment May give you a call one evening Doug. Cheers Ron

If there are any LW1 Lightwing owners still reading these posts, I am looking to get some general empty weights of these early aircraft that have had the old 532 diced and 582 or the now obsolete 618 fitted. We have recently purchased Lightwing serial number 039 that had a 618 fitted in 1996 after a factory rebuild and also 30 litre wing tanks forward of the main spar and have got a bit of a shock with our attempts to weigh it - Even adding 30 kg for the mods it's still miles over the original factory figure of 207 kg. (that's if the factory figures were not understated) If the AUW is still 400kg this makes it a single place!!! Cheers Ron

The serial number is 039. Have spoken to Howie, not much interested in this sort of problem. As it is already registered, his advice is not to rock the boat. Have looked at the Lightwing site and is good reading but no real answer to our problem. Will go back there and post a thread. Cheers

Hi. We recently purchased a WL1 Lightwing. This aircraft has had a 618 Rotax fitted in 1996 and also 30 litre wing tanks forward of the main spar on each wing. Are there any LW1 owners out there that can give me some general details of empty weights of a early Lightwings that have had larger engines and other mods fitted. Would like to Know if there have been general AUW increases for the type as ours is placarded at 480 kg. I understand that the original type had 207 empty and an AUW of 400. Cheers Ron Dunn

Hey, is that green Lightwing on floats registered 25-428? I purchased a new lightwing back in 1991 to start our flight school here in S.A. with the same rego and it had identical colour scheme. ran it for around 800 hours and sold it to one of our students. He later traded it in for a new Lightwing 912.

We had a lot of dealings with Jabaru when we ran several LSA aircraft in our school here at Port Pirie several years ago. Always got on well with Rod,Phil and Don plus their staff. That,s not to say we did not have a lot of trouble but keeping it on a friendly footing seems to have paid off a bit. Cheers Ron