nickduncs84

C'mon Santa does it have to be ra Aus!? I wanna lancair evolution!

Not yet....but I'm only about 30 hours into it....give it time

Geez a few people on here need to pull their heads in. He's not even in the ground yet for petes sake. So you disagreed with some of the things he said? That's no excuse for this carry on. And spare me the my members fee garbage. Would the 5c it personally cost you really offend you? And for the record, adding a disclaimer like 'I won't comment' doesn't mean much if you say it as you're dancing on his grave. Maj was passionate about aviation. There are times when many of us disagreed with what he was saying or even what he stood for, but if you can't distinguish the difference between disagreeing with someone and decent human behaviour, you need to have a look in the mirror.

I like many others I never knew Ross but via this forum felt like I did. It was a shock to me and occupied my mind all day on Sunday so I can't even imagine how those of you who knew him personally feel. Without the privilege of having known Ross, I thought I would share a story of a very similar crash which claimed the life of a family member in Canada. This person was a life long aviator. A safety focused pilot with a huge amount of skill and experience. He was also an instructor and well known in aviation circles. When news broke of the crash, at first everyone assumed it was the student who had somehow caused the crash (it was a tandem open cockpit). As the evidence started to be compiled, it was eventually undeniable that he was flying and that it was a classic efato accident. My point is, as hard as it is to accept, there is a difference between knowing and practicing what the right thing to do is and how things actually play out when that moment is right in front of you. Maybe it was a partial failure, maybe it was the terrain, maybe Ross thought about efato procedures on 99% of flights he made and this was the 1% for one reason or another. One thing I know for sure is that if Maj was here, he'd be the first one to talk us through what happened in an attempt to teach us something. Unfortunately we won't have that privilege ever again, but all of these discussions are good in that they may prompt people to think about things differently and that may make them safer pilots. So as you think your way through what happened, instead of trying to work out which specific thing lead to this accident, think about all the various risk factors that could have played a part and if there is anything you can learn from each and every one of them. If that makes you a safer pilot, I reckon maj would be happy.

I just wanted to clarify for the avoidance of doubt that I am not the builder and that the work was done by a licensed LAME in accordance with the rules! The LAME was the one that tracked down the exhaust parts but in the end derided the resonator was the best option.

yeah that was part of the problem. it's an io-390 with what I believe is a powerflo exhaust system but no one could find the part and there was already a resonator on the other side. It was going to be expensive and a long wait to sort out so whacked a resonator on and it doesn't seem to have effected anything.....the builder was an auto mechanic and had been running it with a resonator, so i assume he didn't think it was an issue. A bit hard to get definitive answers as to whether it's ok or not. All I know is it seems to be working fine. no abnormal readings since install... ?? but what would I know

Yes there were a few issues that came up during all of this. There was a hole in the cabin heat cuff which was no good. Given what I'm using this plane for, I don't need heat and so just removed that completely. The weight of the resonators is also a factor and as such we installed a couple of braces to support the weight. It's not the ideal setup I'm sure. The weight of the resonators alone is probably a good 7 or 8kg. But it's a lot cheaper than the alternative and seems to do the job....

Excellent thanks bex that's the answer I was after. Not worried about losing a couple of hp. It was more the comments about the other side affects of back pressure that was worrying. I think the exhaust system is a powerflo one. And as for price, yes I agree and it's the reason why I went for experimental category vs say a Maule. Quote for the muffler from an aviation company was over $1000. Paid $40 from a local exhaust store.

Yes there is a lot of catching up to do, but RWY is still great as a backup. Maps, gps and taf/metar it does well. I had to use it going into Parafield once when my iPad died and it worked flawlessly. The real benefit of the iOS version even over avplan is the weather briefing screen on long flights. Turns an hour job into a 10 minute one. The other iOS specific features are nice but not necessarily game changers

Backstory is that I recently had a crack in one of the two resonators of my io390 exhaust system. The builder had an auto resonator on one side and what looked to be a more light weight aviation specific muffler on the other which was old and is what failed. I just read the article in kitplanes which mentions the issue of back pressure created by mufflers. So my question is, are automotive resonators ok to use or are their potential issues??

It is just other ozrunways users assuming you don't have adsb in. If you use the adsb in via a raspberry Pi you will see adsb traffic as well

I think he's referring to differences between the android and iOS versions... But yes, get the iPad because oz runways on iOS is far better than rwy on android. As for Apple bribing ozrunways, the reality is that it's far too small for them to care about and the reason why the iOS version will always be superior is that ozrunways isn't a big enough company to justify the expense of developing for both. There are plenty of people who refuse to use apple products for one reason or another but if you're after the best solution, iPad is the only option

Not sure what the current status is. Significant challenges arose from changing to the io540 from io390. Recently pipistrel has won a big govt contract for their trainers so that may also be contributing to the delays. Would be good to see this come to market although the last price I saw was 450k+ usd so it will be right up there with a sr22, so not really a game changer in that respect.

True to a certain extent, but let me tell you, as long as you have customers, you will have unhappy customers. Fact of life. Much like dead animals on a farm. Be true to yourself because you'll never succeed in keeping everyone happy.

I think this is exactly the point. Anyone who runs a business does it to make a profit. That can have implications that aren't always favourable for everyone. While it's noble of you to try and set up a shop to use the community to save people money, from what you are saying, you have now realised that it takes a lot of work and stress to run. This is true of any business and why you need to have a structure that allows you to make a decent profit. If you half the amount of money you think you're going to make and double the costs and time required, it's usually a lot closer to reality. As DrZoos said, there are many valid reasons why businesses decide to do what they do and that doesn't make them bad businesses. In fact it often separates the good businesses from the bad ones. In this case, I can only assume that there are very good reasons why they don't want to accept smaller orders. Perhaps it's as simple as the admin required to fill and support those orders and knowing that it's not worth it for them? So Marty, I can tell you that it doesn't matter what business we're talking about, any business owner will tell you that just because a customer is willing or able to pay with cash or credit card, doesn't necessarily mean that they are a customer that you want. And Ian, if I were you, based purely on what you are saying, I'd either shut the pilot store down OR I'd increase the prices significantly so that you are making a healthy margin on each sale. At least enough to fund capital outlays and make it worth your time. There are plenty of other ways that you can differentiate yourselves other than price. Just my opinion

Are you saying that a part costs $5 more here than the US? Sounds reasonable. It had to get here. What am I missing?

No call out fee Cobar week days. 85 weekends. Can't remember thinking there was much tiger country once over the ranges which happens pretty early on. Would certainly go a different way if I had a few days as there are no doubt better places to spend a night, but the Cobar route was the most direct and safe enough for me.

Yep just did the exact trip in the bearhawk! Not sure what your range and cruise speed are but for us with a 20 knots of headwind we were only getting about 100 kts ground speed. Range was about 400 miles. We ended up stopping Walgett, Cobar, Mildura and on to Aldinga. It was a long day with about 9 hours flying but with an autopilot it was easy to do in a day. If you're going to spend a night, Cobar might be a good spot. About half way and not much between there and Mildura from memory. There are normally good notes in ozrunways about good places to stay. Good luck and have fun!

Hi Schmacko. Is this still available? I am looking for a home for a bearhawk. I live in hahndorf So this would be prefect. Please let me know. I don't need power or water.

have you tried: 1) quitting the app and re opening (double click home button and swipe up) or 2) resetting the ipad (hold both home and power off button until resets) or 3) deleting and reinstalling OzR app if still having issues, have it only been happening since either the latest OzR or iOS update? Or since you started using some other app or some type of hardware like an external GPS? If so communicate that to OzR so that they can get it fixed ASAP and of course in future, best to leave the updates a few days (for the app) or a few weeks (for iOS)

Well even though the EPI guys aren't doing engines anymore, they were more than helpful with both the info on their site (which pretty much covers everything) as well as responding to emails. The long of the short of it is that a ls engine for applications of around 300hp or less doesn't make sense from any perspective. Perhaps the biggest issue is the weight as when it's all said and done, you're looking at 900 lbs or so. Compare that to the 360lbs or so for the 335hp titan r540 and you're talking apples and oranges. So I'm back on aero engines. The options are, a mid time or overhauled o540, a classic style clone like the titan x540 or the titan r540 which from a power to weight perspective looks like a real beast. Originally, I wanted to run mogas, but 50lbs more and 100hp less is a big sacrifice. It's awfully tempting to suck up the extra $20 an hour for the avgas!

Thanks everyone. At the end of the day safety is the priority and is one of the main reasons I've opted for a stol plane over something more slippery. I'll see how I go with the ls route but if I can't be convinced of the reliability I won't be doing it.

Thanks everyone. It seems I've narrowed it to a used o540 or an ls series v8. I never thought I'd consider an auto conversion but it seems like there are quite a few people with good experiences with the ls engine and an o540 isn't as reliable as the 4 banger lycos anyway. Still a lot go through on the ls engines. The epi guys aren't doing them anymore although it looks like there is a seabee guy who is. Progress at least!

Last weekend I flew up to Taree to meet Ole and Brian at AAK. I've been looking at a STOL plane for a year or so and they are the top of my list. Even though I know better, I'm looking at a 4 place. As such, I need 250-300hp up front. This is a bit of a hang up as I ain't spending 80K on a new lycoming 540 series. So I think the options are either a mid time or even an overhauled Lyco or an experimental clone. I've come accross the Titan R series. The R540 puts out 300HP in about 160kg which is quite a bit less than the Lyco. Obviously they are high compression cylinders, but what I don't get is how they are compatible with 91 octane fuel? From what I understand 91 octane is pretty close to BP 98. I was under the impression that auto gas was only suitable for low compression engines. Can any of the resident gurus help me out as my brain is starting to hurt trying to make sense of all this stuff! http://www.titanengine.com/rseries/

I have the rudder pedals, yoke and panel. The issue with the flight controls is that obviously there is no feedback so they just feel sloppy all the time like they would on the ground in a real ac. So it may be a minor help but for the things you mentioned, I don't think it would add much.