metalman

Yeh I know that it's prudent to think along those lines , but I veiw my plane in the same way guys with boats, motor homes , racing cars do, the plane will never 'make' money and yeh if I sold it I could buy another property, but then I'd spend my weekends watching the other guys play around in their planes and get sh1tty, probably kick the dog, yell at the missus, and end up in divorce court, makes the plane a real bargain when I think of it;-)

Yeh I know, just being a smart a55

$1800 per year insurance $3200 per year hangarage $500 per year airfield maintenance fee $5500 fixed costs Per hours costs $30 per hour fuel PULP $12 per hour engine replacement ( 2000tbo) $20 per hour maintenance cost $5500 per year converts into $55 per hour if I do 100 hours per year( will do more than this easily) $62 per hour plus the $55, $107 per hour( it does make the $150 per hour for our local Tecnam look pretty good) I've never actually sat down and worked it out ,but at $107 per hour it leaves me a bit of room before I'm cheaper to rent, and if I find someone to share the hangar( at YCEM ,anyone???) my costs come down a fair bit again. For this cost I get the plane whenever I want it ,exactly as I left it ,I never have to wonder what the last person has been doing in it, and if I want to do a trip and divert for whatever reason ,for whatever time I have no "next renter" to concern myself about, pretty good value really If I've missed something in the figures ,do tell, it's interesting to look at what it all cost, I generally just do what " floats my boat" and then work my ass off to pay for it, maybe not the best way but I've had some fun with toys, Cheers Met

I've never had any trouble calling them up, 118.1 or 123.0 will do it, never tried on the phone though. It would be pretty worrying to have something like that drift through Melbourne CTA , turned out alright but,,,,

Here's a pic of the panel so far, I ended getting it water jet cut, not really successful , it worked fine on the bigger holes but the bolt holes didn't come out so nice, still usable but it would've been better with a CNC router,

cool looking plane mate :-)

I,ve got a few plans sets at home, all paid for from the suppliers, and really the plans would be the cheapest part of building a plane. Plus if you do it the right way you will have the option to talk with the designer on any issues you might have , if you've got a set of pirated plans you may save in the short term but you loose out in the support scenario. I've got a couple of different MiniMax palns that they're giving away free at the moment, would be a great way to get airborne for minimal cost!

Geez your a dark horse DJP, any photos of this aircraft?

iPhone four Dwb, my daughters boyfriend did the filming , he did well I reckon, he's a black fella (part Vanuatu ,part aboriginal) ,maybe he used some emu stalking skills [ATTACH]1785[/ATTACH] Great kid ,I'd love to get him into flying, he's pretty sharp and keen to do new things [ATTACH]18403[/ATTACH]

Interesting, hope it works out, is it in a jabiru airframe?

It can be when your just starting out but the more different types you fly the easier it is, apart from how it behaves in the air I like to just sit quietly and learn where everything is , and read the POH, its the best way to get on top of a new type. With checklist my instructor taught me off a written list to start with but then moved onto a set system that works for every aircraft. Try and get your bum into as many different types as possible, it is challenging but also builds confidence and you soon realise that they are all vaguely the same , Cheers Met

It has a couple of Skyfox bits and a lot of hand made parts

Any pics mate, how has the performance changed, cruise speed, rate of climb, take off distance?

Interesting job you have there!

What are you building mate?

Hi all, here's a utube link of my plane, after about three years building I did the first flight on the 10 of march, so far I have had some issues getting the trim to work properly but otherwise it's been hassle free. The cruise at 4800rpm is 80kias and climb at 55 kias is 950fpm, it seems to be nicer to wheel land and I've had a couple of goes at three pointing it and ended up doing a bit of a kangaroo impression, not sure if its just me or its stalling the tail plane ,but either way I'm really loving it. There's a series of utube clips from painting through to taxi testing and then a flight, cheers

Could imagine it floating past your hi rise, you'd think ET's mum had come for a visit

Geez how's that Steve Runciman , what a norty bugger!

I have found it bloody annoying to rent an aircraft that is dirty in and out, if a car hire mob handed me a car in the condition I've rented planes in I'd throw the keys at them, I understand its not possible to wash a plane every flight but when a see the same crap on the floors and the half dead bugs know me on a first name basis it's time to clean the damn thing.

Yep, sounds like a nicely balanced woman, naked, with a six pack in each hand

Good idea, I think I'll take a cordless and some hole saws out on the weekend

Just registered, some good links and info there

Got some prices back today, Perspex (acrylic) tinted grey in 3mm $145+tax, lexan grey tint 3mm $225+ , or I can get the acrylic in 2mm with no tint, I'll probably go with the 2mm Perspex and see how it goes( I would like the tinted stuff though) ,its cheaper ,harder and I think it'll handle the fuel drips better,no matter how good the drains are I think they'll still get the odd drip, the prices are for full sheets to so I'll have enough to do the job twice over

I'm in the antiquers assosiation , not sure what TAVAS is

I've looked at the figures and both sides of the owning against renting argument ,and it makes perfect financial sense to rent until your doing a certain amount of hours a year,,,,,then I finally got my own aircraft and I have to say, all the debate is pointless, there is nothing better than being able to head to the airfield after work and just do a half hour , there is nothing like knowing the plane will be exactly how I left it, there is the nicest feeling of being able to just saunter around the sky without thinking of how much this'll cost, there is no financial reason for owning your own aircraft but I am lovin it . As for a syndicate I reckon it's a good way to share the cost, but it would depend a lot on the people your in with, and the number, three would be about the most, and being crystal clear on responsibilities and expectations. It also depends on what you want, you can buy a real nice older plane ( lightwing, gazelle ,drifter, jabiru) for about the same as a third share new aircraft,