Bruce Tuncks

My Jabiru SK has the short fuse too Yenn, and they made the fuse longer on later designs. But I too am happy just to have a plane to fly, and I like the way it flies.

The extreme thing is the flying wing, where the tailplane is attached to the trailing edge of the main wing. The flying wing has been given lots of chances but it just doesn't work well enough. Or maybe we are so fixed in our ideas that we reject the idea too quickly? Is there a flying wing among our planes at the moment?

It was a full-size glider turbs. The speed astir came late on the scene for 15m class, and it was promoted as a world-beater. It had an Eppler wing section, and later Eppler said that the factory didn't make the wing accurately enough. The glider suffered in the climb from turbulence-induced higher drag for some of the time.

There is at least one in Australia. Grob no longer make any gliders.

The basic thing about tailplane size though is simple. A given pitching moment is the tailplane downforce times the moment arm. Doubling the moment arm means you need half the force and therefore have less induced drag from the tailplane.

well said pylon. There was a glider ( the speed astir ) where they did a redesign with a longer fuse and a smaller tailplane to get some more performance.

On our planes, I reckon the thatcher looks better than the corby because it is longer.

Kaz, I reckon South Australia has handled it better than Vic. Less restrictions in SA, but the important ones are there and being supported by the populace.

Red, my Jab kit came with a Yuasa battery and I did a start with it just before a 3 month layoff. During this time, the battery was connected to a cheap solar charger. Next time I tried a start, there was nothing much there. I blamed the charger and not the battery, but I replaced it with an Odyssey and never looked back.

And those WW2 russians were the offspring of those who killed the aristocracy and established the "workers paradise " . They didn't do good huh.

My understanding was how after years of being herded into battle, the WW1 russian soldiers revolted and went back to Moscow, trying their generals on the way, and forming the Red army when they got home.

I have to agree that an autopilot goes against the kiss principle. ( keep it simple, stupid ! I think it means).

Bugger, I feel myself being persuaded to forget the idea.

You are right Yenn, but I just like having lots of washers around. I didn't know you could get thick and thin ones as AN washers.

If a bolt is not quite right, you can fix it with washers up to 3 per bolt.

As for the bushing material, I stand corrected . The bushes in question are on the flap-horns, and they fit the AN3 bolts on the wing brackets. A tiny bit of wear and you can feel it as play on the flap trailing edge.

What I do is to replace the bolt and this helps, but I would like better and closer-fitting bushes as well.

How about some rod-ends in the pack too?

The stuff I looked up indicated there was more concern about how trying to reset tripped circuit breakers could start a fire.

If they never trip, why would you want circuit breakers instead of fuses?

I tried to look up about how they certified circuit breakers. The only thing which could be tested is whether they still worked when hot.

The parachute business is one of several reasons I say that the Germans were a less-bad lot than the poms. Not that the Germans were good enough to fight with. But they sure killed fewer of their own with firing squads. Australia killed none, and thanks to the legacy of Breaker Morant we didnt let the poms kill ours. My grandfather would have been killed by the poms I reckon.

One of the conspiracy theories of WW1 was how the pommy artillery lowered their guns on an attack to speed up the stragglers.

I don't believe this for a moment, but apparently the Russians did it.

I'd like to make up a spares pack of nuts, bolts, washers, split pins and whatever else might be useful. There is no point in carrying things which will never be used, so standard assortment packs are not much good.

I'll get things started by listing:

AN 3 nyloc nuts - 20 only

AN4 nyloc nuts - 20 only

AN3 thin washers -10 only

AN3 thick washers - 10 only

AN4 thin washers -10 only

AN4 thick washers 10 only

AN5 thick washers 5 only

Bolts: AN3

AN4

AN5

Split pins:

Bushes: ( the ones used on the flaps , they are AN3 bore and just cut from a tube. I reckon better brass ones if they can be found )

??? Other suggestions welcome, comments too.

Thanks Onetrack, I'll get one of those boat pumps.

I agree with that Octave. We need to make sure that front-line people are protected . I wouldn't stint on that.

That's why I reckon they should be free to catch the virus Octave. If you choose it and are prepared to risk it, why should you be stopped?

I think you should be free with your own life.

Good point Flight, the setup would need a disconnect which was quick and easy, just to avoid that. Or it would just work on the trims like downunder shows.

This is advertised by banggood for about $65. I wondered if it could be used on a Jabiru. Yes I am a cheapskate and would like an autopilot as long as the price is under $100 and the weight under 200 grams.

What's a prop filter Roscoe? I've never heard of such a thing... it sounds a bit like the interruptor they invented in WW1 so you could shoot through the prop.

But I'm sure its not that in this case.

gosh, the next thing they might decide is that flying our small planes is too dangerous and so we should be banned from flying.

Please don't suggest this to that premier.

But you and I can avoid contact with suspect people. I would have just supported front-line workers and those who wanted help with their own measures.

It is a step too far in the nanny state to protect people who do not want it or see the need.

kg, you have nothing to lose although I recommend that you do the plug as well the first time just to make sure you are getting the tube right down.

Yes I reckon I got the idea from a car service place.

The other thing I do is to use 3 super-magnets on the oil filter. I hold these down with stainless lock wire and then some electrical tape. This idea came from an aircraft maintenance book. There sure is some fine black sludge on the inside of the filter where the magnets were when you cut it open, and this can only be ferrous wear-metal from the rings and cylinders.

When I asked the guy at the auto-parts shop why filters didn't all have magnets in them, he told me that there used to be such filters.

Thanks OME. A good mate of mine's father did that job and I think he will really appreciate knowing about this.

Liquids: while I don't know what liquid is in the skid ball, once I asked an aircraft instrument place just what liquid was in the compass. The answer was white spirits, so I got some from Bunnings and it has been fine for years.

The sensitivity would depend on how closely the ball fitted the tube and the viscosity of the liquid. White spirits is not very viscous.

I just put the receiver ( an old oil container ) on the floor and syphon it out. You gotta be careful you don't get oil in your mouth at the start.