icebob

Hi Pelorus32, I set myself up to fail by flying best glide and therefore trading height and the old "I will make this home" kicked in. One error compounding the other. not sure which one crept into the head first but reasonably sure the get it home thought kept cropping up. I worked it out that at 55kts i would land short some 107 meters + or - 2 meters(on paper) with the 3-5kt headwind giving me enough time/space to turn and not hit the rough ground just before the fence, the high grass(knee high) would have washed off speed quickly. Forgot to add at VS1 I am at a tad under 700 fpm sink, like i said like a Grace Bros. lift??? Bob

Hi Merv, you are correct although i stayed at 55kts, my best glide speed was 52kts at the last 600 feet i did resort to best glide speed(52kts) and paid the price. at 55kts i would have indeed landed short, way short(meters) off rough ground in front of the fence and i would have been able to steer/swerve away from it and not hit it. The "got to get it home" nearly killed me. Bob.

Hi Maj. Miller, I was not going to put the VP back together, however medical issues for my wife have gobbled up my savings and at least one medical specialist has a brand new BMW thanks to us:laugh:. As there was a couple of potential aircraft i was looking at mid last year and now can not afford, i may indeed resurrect the VP1, however a couple of friends are giving me a hard time and want me to buy a trike - A TRIKE??????. Bob. PS maybe we could cobble both together:laugh:.

Hi gofastclint, No my crash was at the back of Blacktown near Richmond 541A(1Km away) on private property. Yes was there Sunday,I was in 530 doing my "get over the fear of fences" thing. first two landing we well, someone said they would loan me a stepladder to get out of the hole:laugh:, but the last three were good to very good. At the end i still left a little uncomfortable on approch and the last 200 feet were the most difficult but in all my years i have never let anything over come me and this is no exeption. Only down side of the day was a sunburnt neck and a nagging wife(I didn't eat lunch til 2pm);) Bob.

Hi Facehunter, Yes did that and some computer modeling a whole bunch of what if's too. The old back to basic flight training still gave the best results. In theory I should have set up 52kts in decent (3-5kt head wind)to give me maximum length of glide but it would have put me on the fence + or - one meter not a good outcome, I would have been better off landing at a higher speed in the paddock below me and fast/slow taxi as close to my home paddock as i could get, would have been a short walk anyway. The paddock i should have landed in is 150 hects, the home paddock is 90 hects. Oh for high drag a VP-1 without engine descends like a Grace Bros. lift wheeee! Bob.

Hi, Mine was February last year in a Volkplane(VP-1). Cause of engine failure, no electrical power, defective fiberglass battery box allowing the battery to fall through and fuse the electrical cabling. I was at 65kts at 4000 at the time and 0.7kms from the paddock i took off from, maintained 55kts did a look at the paddock before the one i took off from and thought too long a walk and tried to stretch the glide, I know a gutsy/foolish thing - the old got to get home mentality. Well ended up short, landed in the paddock about 8 meters short of the fence at 40kts, no brakes and one almighty bounce on the rough ground, left wing and left undercarriage caught in top strand of fence and broke off, the 2100cc VW engine parted company from the firewall, my helmet went clung on the roll cage, tail half snapped off. Fuselage and remainder of tail stopped about 4 meters into the home paddock. I got out sore and red faced while the aircraft bits in and around the fence caught on fire(engine rolled back to the fence and it or the auxiliary gel battery,set some grass alight after spraying fuel everywhere). That left me with about 1/2 of a aircraft and a "thing" about fences. things i would do differently. 1. more thorough maintenance checks particually those hidden items. 2. land straight away the location below me was fair/good. 3. review thoughts and logics of event to improve the next outcome. 4. Overcome "fear" of fences. 5. Get a flight review. Bob.

Hi Welcolm to this forum to you both:welcome:, many good people here:thumb_up:. Must pick your brains about your trike, am looking at one now. Bob.

It is in pranks:faint:

Hi, I saw it on that web site about six weeks ago, I think it was in the current hoxes section. Bob.

Hi Tomo, don't worry I sent him six copies:laugh: Bob.

Hi, Sorry a hoax. try www.hoax-slayer.com. Bob.

Well done Ryan, :thumb_up:big pat on the back, you will not forget this day. bob.

Hi Clint, I too go to Dave's so see you there some time. Welcolm to the group. Bob.

Hi, The flight school i go to had the same problem and got the alloy one last June from Jabiru and it works fine. I gave it a good workout yesterday with a couple of heavy landings and it survived, ha, ha. Bob.

E10 Hi All, The crash of this volksplane in England was attributed to E10 fuel reacting with the fiberglass tank and passing chunks into the filter, blocking it and subsequent engine failure as by-products of the chemical reaction reached the engine cylinders. Bob.

Hi Tomo, we tried that too but it is the plastic aging because of the heat, then cracking, there is some apparently that are plastic and will resist the heat longer but you will need to dredge all through the auto supply warehouses and suppliers to find them. It was quicker to get one made in aluminum. Bob.

Hi, if it is any help my old VP-1 with a 2100cc VW motor was 3550 rpm max and 2850 rpm cruse with a fixed pitch wooden prop. Bob.

Hi Jeff, On some motors yes you can, however you need the spacer to be exactly the same thickness as the plastic one because that could be used to adjust the pumps stroke length and therefore pump pressure. The one we made was very slightly thicker and the pump pressure jumped 2 psi, not a great deal but enough to make us take care next time. it took some extra machining to get that right, you can also over stretch the return spring in the pump behind the diaphragm with over pressuring, some springs are fun to change too:yuk:. Bob.

Hi Ross, No he left about 20 -30 minites after you. No i was in the Jab behind the yellow canary, I was doing my dive bomb practice,ha,ha. Sorry I missed you, we were parked in the big red car right down the bottom end near the tractor shed before i went flying. If i had seen your cheetah i would for sure have pestered you for a look inside but the droole would take some time to clean off.. Will, weather permitting be back out there in two weeks on the Sunday. Bob.

Hi All, Had a wonderful day at the Oaks today. It was very bumpy made double worse by the over indulgence of hot,hot curried lamb from last night, I got to taste it again and the BTM was working overtime:yuk:. I would hate to be the next person in that aircraft. Anyway with all the bumps and things i was having real trouble landing, that is keeping the centerline. There was a moderate cross wind but it was not constant and right as you turned onto final about 300ft of sink, put you off no end! At one stage I had full right rudder and the right wing down and still crabbed left. The other thing was while flying the old Jab I felt like i was on a push bike i was constantly on the peddles! I was told i have GA syndrome - not used to using the peddles much - maybe so. Have I been too long away from flying and "lost" something or maybe it just was a bad day? The only spot on landing was the one T&G and my last one so go figure??? no one brought out a step ladder for us to get out of the hole so the landing must have been ok,ha,ha. I also think that i was having some sort of flash back/mental block after my prang in early 08, that boundary fence looked hellish big. however i am proud of myself for overcoming this hurdle in my flying and hope i can get back to enjoying much more flying. Bob. PS if the owner of the Vampire is on this site that took off around lunch time today all i can say is WOW love your aircraft:thumb_up: I was on downwind when you took off and i think my wife took a couple of photos of you taxing past and just off the ground.

Hi K-man, That was just one of five or six reasons i left the first school and looked in other directions. I have been now to three schools(2 RAA and one glider) all acept the logbooks and all three ofered me flight time to demonstrate my skills. I guess i just picked the one bad apple first timethumb_down oh I was so lucky:laugh:? Bob.

Hi Farri, Thanks for that, it clears up a few things for me. The only other thing i was interested in is quite a few schools do not even have a business plan, maybe I am being extra critical but that sort of thing is what i do as well as teach to the general public and likewise maybe i am critical of some methods of instruction by some instructors. Instructors for the organization(national) i work for do a two yearly face to face "workshop" day to verify competency and update on techniques and new equipment. Bob.

Hi everyone, I just thought there was a method of checking the schools qualifications and renewals that sort of thing as well as a "recommended price per hour". Like say getting your car repaired you get a quote of x$ per hour labor. I understand there is a large selection of aircraft to train in but there must be a start point for pricing? Or is it if the price is too high no/few students sort of thing? I was surprised traveling around the country the variations in pricing for flight instruction from as low as $89 to $207 per hour. There appears to be no uniformity with common training aircraft pricing, surely one brand of aircraft costs reasonably close to the same amount per hour to run regardless of your location in Australia. Bob.

Hi Nathan, just did my fifth flight at Camden over this last weekend in a DG1000. Nailed the landing on first 1/3 of strip and right at the nominated point but was told i am a little harsh on the spoilers. Will have to go back and ask him what he was talking about. Forgot how wonderful it is spending all day pushing gliders for a single flight:sad:. Bob.

Hi Ian, yes i found that too. Although i have been with RAA a very short time and this may be a loaded question? What type of quality control is in place to curb the schools who are just in it for the cash or wander away from the prescribed syllabus? I have no objection to a school making some sort of profit, we all need to do that but frankly some schools look like they are just in it totally for the cash, I could be wrong and they are just slick.. but?????? Bob.