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Smokey

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Everything posted by Smokey

  1. I've been attempting to download some of these since EAA announced its availability. Individual articles are ok but I'm trying to download whole magazines so I can browse them offline, but they keep bogging down and timing out. I've tried on 3 seperate computers through 2 different inet connections. (I've yet to try dialup.) I don't have the time to waste sitting at a computer to download all the seperate articles. Anyone else having similar problems, any solutions ? Mark
  2. I registered for NAIPS about 2 years ago and could never get it working, after half a dozen of emails bouncing back and forth, I phoned the tech support people for help and when they realised I wasn't GA the attitude changed from very helpful to being told very abruptly that I should work it out myself. They obviously haven't looked at the name of their organisation. Mark
  3. Am I the only one to notice the flag at 6min5sec ? BTW Does anyone know what the piece of music is on this video, it's the same one used at the beginning of 'The Hunt For Red October' ?
  4. I read somewhere that some of the newer fly by wire heavies can't handle the (rudder?) loads so the software won't let you cross controls. So you can't slip the B even if you have to to save your life. I presume there is some sort of override but I hate to think how long that check list is ...... oops too late :black_eye: Mark
  5. Who said the thief was rated, if he got caught do I don't think he'd be worried about CASA giving him a rap over the knuckles. Presumably there are a lot of people out there who are unknown to the current aviation community in Australia but have enough training to allow them to pilot an aircraft, maybe not well, but well enough to get themselves on the ground where they want to go, I doubt if they care about bending the aircraft in the process.
  6. They got Polair last night.
  7. Must have been interesting, patting the gators while watching the launch :smiley4: Mark
  8. Hi Jack In 2006 on the way to Oshkosh, I spent 5 days in DC, did the NASM and Udvar Hazy, I'd put them in the must see. ;) There are some piccies in the album at the field and heaps more on the computer if you want to get an idea of what's there. If you want to really travel you could pop down to Florida and have a look at the space centre, I was going down to Orlando for another 'event' and checked out Kennedy and had a ride on the vomit comet just to round things out. I was also going to check out the naval aviation museum and a few others that are down that way but by that time I'd been in the US 6 weeks and was really over it and came home. :yuk: Mark
  9. Peter Back to your query, there is underwing camping on fairly hard ground, bring a good mat, I read somewhere that there is a camping fee for this. There is also a caravan/camping area on the airport grounds nice soft grass :-) possibly a little more expensive but a bit quieter than the flight line if you want to just sit back for a while. Bookings Aerodrome Caravan Park 02 6889 2129 Mark
  10. Peter Apologies for branching off your primary subject, I would just like to comment on the no engine area issue. In the NOTAM for this years Natfly it mentions both the permanent and the tempory tie down areas as seperate areas but only in relation to bringing your own tie down ropes and stakes. It then states 'Note 1: During the period of the fly-in, the tie-down area is a "NO ENGINE" area....', no mention is made of whether this applies to just the permanent or both the permanent and temporary tie-down areas. I would read this as applying to all tie-down areas. I have wandered around the temporary tie-down area under the impression that it was a designated no engine area. Perhaps someone from RAA could clarify the situation, here and on site. Mark
  11. Brett I spoke to the BRS people at Oshkosh in 2006 about fitting a chute to my pup. Unfortunately I didn't have any photos or anything with me to show them what the structure looked like but after describing the pup as a 70% scale cub, they described the structure back to me almost perfectly. The methodology they described was using web straps, with eyes sewn in the ends, with it passed around the spar and back through the eye, one around the mainspar and one around the TE spar carry throughs on each side of the fuselarge. While they recommended that a check be made that the structure would take the load of the chute opening they obviously considered this to be more a formality than a necessity. Presumably the opening load of the chute must be somewhat less than the normal g loads aircraft are designed for. My Pup is a Mk 4 so I have the detachable turtle deck to fold the wings, I was considering fitting a soft patch into the turtle deck and firing the chute out through that, this would mean the chute and rocket would be just behind the pilot so consideration would need to be given to the baffling the exhaust gases from the rocket. Also being just under the turtle deck would mean access for maintenance would be simple. The straps could be (lightly) fixed to the outside of the fibreglass cabin roof so they just pull free when the chute opens and passed through holes in same with some sort of anti-chafing provision. To explain what I mean, a quick and dirty way to do this would be to simply lay the staps on the roof and cover them with spinniker tape As yet I haven't taken these queries any further, I would be interested to hear, if you follow this up, what you find out. Mark
  12. Dennis There's a schedule in the maintenance manual (P10-2) which lists checking clearances/wear on pistons, cylinders and rings every 150hrs, 100 if in dusty conditions. If checks through the exhaust port don't indicate a significant build up before this I'd think this would be an appropriate opportunity. When I bought my Super Pup, the engine (582 grey) had 250 hrs on it, I did a top end OH about 10 hrs later and found a significant carbon build up. I've seen this job done in-situ at the field but when I did my engine I lifted it out and took it home so I could do the work with everything handy in the workshop. In my case I think having the tools etc to hand made up for the few minutes it took to lift out and replace the engine. Either way I didn't find it a particularly difficult job, as long as you have the right guidance if you don't already have the knowledge yourself. BTW There's a book called the 'Repair Manual for 462-532-582 UL' which I found useful but I haven't been able to find it as a Rotax download anywhere. If you need guidance and you don't have anyone to hand, try to get a copy of that. Mark
  13. I have a problem calling anything that weighs half a tonne 'ultra-light', I call 'em all 'recreational'. If I get quizzical looks I explain that they're the planes that outgrew ultralights, also stops most 'ultra-light death trap' comments. Don't see why you can't call them light aircraft, I'm sure the GA types do if they have VH printed on the side.
  14. Redair There are a lot of tyre kickers at Narromine, I'd suggest that if you wish to get some test flights in aircraft up there you contact the manufacturers/distributers well before easter to arrange any test flights, that way they know you're serious. There was a gathering for manufacturers/distributers a little while back, specifically set up so people could test fly multiple types in one place at one time. I think it was timed so people flying to Avalon could drop in. Perhaps they will run it again. I did hear a rumour that it was rather expensive for anyone wishing to display their aircraft so that might mean some may find it uneconomical to attend. Mark
  15. Jan My 2 bits worth. I use BP Ultimate, no particularr reason for brand choice but I always get it from the same servo and have never had a problem with quality, I cannot say the same for two other servos I've tried, one each from the supermarket chains. Fortunately the bad fuel I got from those was only in the car not the plane. I run the same fuel in my car as in the plane, any hiccups and none of that fuel goes in the plane. I also had a specific problem with Shell Ultimate where a bit was spilt onto the wing, the additives they had in it lifted the paint, I don't know if Ultimate's replacement, V-Power, has the same problem, I haven't tried it. From what I've read the octane rating also deteriorates in storage so, if you buy standard which I think is 92 octane and you store it for any length of time, you may find that the octane rating has dropped close to or below the minimum 90 octane specified by Rotax. Also, there are different octanes, research octane (light load test), motor octane (heavy load test) both comparitive measurements which have accuracy limited by experimental considerations and road octane number which is an average of the 2, so depending on which octane is used to specify the fuel you are using you may be using fuel which has a larger or smaller margin above the 90 octane minimum specified by Rotax, assuming that it is above the minimum. I believe in Australia the standard is the research octane number while the US uses road octane number, I don't what Europe uses or what Rotax quotes. The trouble here is not knowing what standard Rotax uses and what measurement accuracy the oil companies work to and don't forget you also have marketing departments here telling people what to say. I imagine this is the reason some people say you should not use anything below 95 octane, gives you a bit of a buffer. Sydney Recreational Flying Club has been using Rotax 2 stokes for over 20 years and has accumulated a lot of knowledge on them, the clubs aircraft and to my knowledge all the members who have a 2 strokes all use premium with no problems relating to the fuel. Mark
  16. Yes, I think everyone is looking forward to it, I got in early and booked it to go to Narromine, before we even decided to buy it Rates will be $110 solo, $130 with instructor. Mark
  17. Darren You'll soon be able to look at a Foxbat a little more conveniently, Sydney Recreational Flying Club are expecting our Foxbat to be delivered just in time for Narromine, yes, it's yellow. This replaces the yellow Lightwing which we sold a few weeks back. Mark
  18. Brett I have a SupaPup Mk 4, folding wings. I bought it initially with the intention of keeping it in a trailer as there was ZERO hanger space, hence folding wing requirement. When we got the plane to The Oaks we found that there was a spot in the hanger, useless to anyone else, that it would go in nicely, with the wings folded. Actually folding/unfolding the wings is not really a problem, less than 5 min a wing plus about 2 minutes for the turtle deck. There are 2 main problems with storage with folded wings. 1. With wings folded the tail is very heavy and can be difficult to manoeuvre. I have to negotiate a 90 degree turn into the hanger to get to my spot which can be difficult depending which other aircraft are in the hanger at the time. A full castering tailwheel would probably fix this problem. 2. Perhaps not a problem with other aircraft, the position of the fuel tank vents is such that you cannot fold the wings with more than about half tanks without it slopping out the vents. If you have significant fuel in the tanks you have to drop it before folding and put it back next time you get the plane out. Apart from the pain in the proverbial transferring fuel back and forth I prefer to keep tanks full to minimise condensation, which is not possible on this plane. There was a post to these forums quite a while back, I can't find it so it may have been before Ian ported the site over, where someone was questioning the advisability of having wings that are designed to fold. I said then and I'll repeat here that I also had some reservations about an aircraft with folding wings but when you look at it, my SupaPup has 3 bolts holding the wing at the fuselage - mainspar, rear spar and the bottom of the strut, the clubs Lightwing that I also fly has the same 3 bolts holding the wing on. The only difference is that on the Pup the rear spar and strut bolts are in line so they act as a hinge when you pull out the mainspar bolt and on the Pup all the bolts are very easy to see when you do your daily, on the Lightwing they are buried in the wing. Oh, if you're still worried about the mainspar bolt coming adrift in flight, I can see the bolt, nut, the R clip through the castellated nut and the mainspar where the bolt goes through all without moving my head more than about 50mm, I could even jam something on the bolt to stop it moving if the R clip and castellated nut came off in flight . In the Lightwing, the first indication of an in flight problem with one of the bolts would be the wing peeling off. Getting wings off and back on can be fiddly on a plane not designed for it, in my opinion a plane designed with folding or removable wings is well worth it even if it's only on the off chance you might need it, unless off course it necessitates major compromises in other areas.
  19. Ange You can tell Lew the Pup is going beautifully, only problem is the one seat, girlfriend doesn't like me flying unless I take her. I've suggested that I could fit roof racks and she could hang on but she's not too keen on the idea, so it's back to hiring the club's Lightwing often enough to keep her happy :-( Mark BTW I went to Oshkosh last year, spent a total of 7 weeks in US, did Smithsonian and a few other places I wanted to see, totally wrecked by the time I came home but well worth it.
  20. Hi Ange Is Lew Mathew going with you ? I bought his SupaPup last year, please say hi for me. Mark Dawson
  21. Try also :- Performance Metals 18 Walker Street South Windsor, New South Wales 2756 Australia Work: 02 4577 7769 Fax: 02 4577 7770 [email protected] http://www.performancemetalsaustralia.com.au He was most helpfull when I wanted some tube, I know he has sheet, not sure about angle. He had a stand at Narromine last year and I think the previous year which is as far back as I go. Smokey
  22. What I really love about these systems is that if the fuel pump fails you don't have to worry about landing. :big_grin:
  23. I hope not, they may not be my cup of tea but there are a lot of people who enjoy that style of flying and isn't that what we're about, flying what you enjoy ? Anyone buying a plastic fantastic to keep up with the Joneses should be in the European car yard, not aeroplanes. (Sorry, that's a bit off topic)
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