Samuel117

Thank you for your help. I will try it on saturday and will get ahold of an inclinometer to try and do it right. I will let you know of the results

Oh, definitely I need to retention the tail! Thank you very much.

M61A1, That is a good point. I have being doing that out of necessity. Really on start if you don't do it that way it really look like it wants to destroy itself but was not sure it was proper way to treat the engine. Question: How to know when the horizontal stabilator is tight enough. They told me to turn the upper wires three three complete revolutions before connecting them but how tense it should be. IMO my tail does not have enough tension but I am afraid to increase the tension and to crush the thing! Any advise about how you do it? Thank you for your help guys.

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Hi Tex, Oh!! I ate that "waffle" already and yes it is quite an eye opener ! Great to hear that it is something associated with the design. I have being wondering if it was my fault when I put the tail back together even when there is good tension on the wires. You are absolutely right and this could be the easy fix that I have being praying for. I will look for a different shape of air filters, a more tubular design as the ones the rotax has are actually quite bulky. In any case I could maybe fly the airplane to your home base for a quick look over! . Thank you again.

Hi Tex, Thank you for the nice video and yes there are vibrations in your video. while I was starting the engine last time there was a terrible bout of shaking that actually made me do a preflight again, then there are the deep indentations marks on the air filters in both sides against the actuator of the flaps. I have to lower the flaps before I start to mitigate it, these vibrations of the engine with changes of power settings should be absorbed normally by the airframe but I am not so sure this banging on the flaps would cause even failure of the bolts that attach the wing. I have to admit my experience with full scale airplanes is very limited but, with my extensive experience with RC models I have run across episodes in which a loose or vibrating engine or a loose connection of the tail plane caused a flutter on flight and it is so crazy it looks like an explosion with sudden destruction of the model. I love how this airplane flys and I would like to fly it without the fear of the thing coming apart without my input. I'll check for pieces of the video that shows this I have describe. I will check again the bolts that hold the engine and try to make a plan to see what I could do to stop the banging from happening in the first place. I have other videos in which the shaking in flight make you think it is a helicopter and not a sweet Drifter. thank you again and I hope you are completely right about it.

In my note I mentioned it is a "modified" Austflight Drifter and thank you for your recommendation about the seat belt. Your right about that.

this is the link to the video

Hi every one, Happy new Drifter owner with a problem. My Drifter is an AustFlight Drifter modified with a Rotax 912. Beautiful job done by the previous owner, the problem very subtle while flying! Caught with help from the Go-Pro camera. on start and while the engine is cold and at idle the engine vibrates a bit and the engine bangs the air filters from both carburators on the flaps lever that are very close to the engine, only noticeable while starting and turning off the engine gives airplane vibrations. When reviewing the videos from the flight I found vibrations that at first I blame the poor camera and changed the position to the right side and then struck me that this subtle issue it is not so simple and at the last approach of this flight while decreasing RPM it looks really bad on video. the airplane loves to fly around 50 and more power and power changes while flying gives a very "mild" vibration. 1- I would not fly it again until I modify somehow the flap lever or even to get rid of a Fancy pair of flaps! 2- lucky me this shaking did not developed in to a Flutter with the result of me going prematurely to the ranks of "The 1000 miles high Drifter rider's club". I look forward to join but still would like to enjoy earth for a little longer if I can. 3- I am posting the video for your review. Consider that during the editing the computer slows down the vibrations and it looks better than the raw video. thank you and every input about how difficult this task will be will be appreciated. Sam

Oh I laughed and laughed like crazy with this one! the problem is at the time I was at a doctor's waiting room full of patients and worse. I was wearing a doctor's coat!

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If you come down to miami we can go flying in the Drifter.

Hey Patrick I'll think about that possibility but I think I will try while the Drifter is still in the hangar. It will be safe and it is true in life you can not have it all!

A black Drifter Hah! Looks great and ominous at the same time. Of course the blue seatbelt does the trick to attract women at the fly in. Smart move!

Today it was the day! Sweet flying bird! Justin How could you? Anyways Justin promised he will come down to Miami to Fly his baby soon. Nothing like flying a Drifter. I am a very happy camper right now!

That is what I call having fun. that forward slip to land was amazing. right now I have my son here babbling about your flight. thank you for sharing it with us.

8000Nm it is quite a Walk About! wow! my respects to your Will. beautiful country on those pictures!

Hi Allan, That's a very nice airplane that you have. This airplane is an Austflight Drifter modified with a Rotax 912 . I'll post pictures tomorrow after my first flight. If you ever come to Miami Florida you will have a Drifter to fly here.

Hi everyone, Imagine a country in which a citizen it is not allowed to become a pilot unless you are chosen one by the government and only as a military pilot. If allowed to fly even a crop duster airplane you will be monitored and will never take off with enough fuel to be able to defeat and fly to the nearest country. I was a citizen of a country like this for 27 years and I was born in Cuba. I always wanted to become a Pilot and even dreamt of building a small airplane. I even made sketches of how it would look like. It was a very difficult dream to have in a country like mine and instead I ended up becoming a medical Doctor. Because of my dream and the terrible situation in my country I immigrated to the USA 14 years ago and faced the reality of starting a new life in a very different country with my wife and my 5 months old son. It was easier to become a doctor again and then pursue my dream of flying and that I did. one day I saw an airplane almost exactly to the one I had envisioned. it was called a Drifter and until a week ago It was a dream. I found a beautiful Austflight Drifter on the internet and I had to have it. The owner a very nice guy from New Mexico, his name Justin Hawkins. I bought it on the internet and without seen the airplane or meeting the person before I wired the money and my trust in people is still intact, he went through to dismantle and sent the airplane to Miami Florida. Here with the help of a drifter builder and flyer Danny Amador we put the airplane together and tomorrow it will be my first Flight. I have to thank you all for all the good info about the drifter and I would like to invite any Australian Drifter pilot that visit Miami, Florida to go flying in this airplane as a way to repay for all the knowledge I have acquired from you all. thank you. Samuel Nodal.