Spin

Normal mythbusters mayhem, nice to see an aviation theme. I was particularly keen to see the Belite flying, it is quite an impressive minimum aircraft, now on sale in Aus I understand. Going to be interesting to see how many people are actually prepared to pay the cost of a part 103 single seater - all too easy to look at it and say; "but I can get a Drifter for $15 -16K"

On Mythbusters SBS 1 at the moment

I see there is a UL Power engine going into one in the States as well, lots of debate about whether the aircraft is engineered for the extra weight and torque. Looking at the Sling and the Europa though, it seems it is possible to give a 912 powered aircraft a more conventional, pretty face. On the other hand that Wilksh diesel achieved what I had thought was impossible, making an RV-9A ugly.... [ATTACH]18112[/ATTACH]

Ok, ok I know, but it's a preoccupation of mine and I am constantly amazed that designers who take so much trouble over the general proportions and look of an aircraft, seem to run out of ideas when it comes to the very front end, the cowl and how it looks from anywhere forward of abeam. This is particularly evident on engines with cooling systems that rely on fluid, rather than direct transfer to air, such as the 912/4 and the Viking discussed elsewhere. Whilst I can accept that getting sufficient air to radiators etc trumps other considerations, you only need look at the RV-12 and TAF Sling, both 912 powered low wing LSA's to see how it can be done (or not). Shown below the Jabiru powered RV-12, a Viking RV-12, the original (912) and a TAF Sling - coming to Aus soon I understand [ATTACH]18111[/ATTACH]

;) well yes they do, if it were as easy as my "short story" version makes it sound, everyone would be doing it..... Maybe it's just a peculiarity of mine, but I do wish designers would pay a bit more attention to the looks of their cowls, it truly is the face of an aircraft - I'd rate the Viking designed ones an "ok", but I saw a truly horrific example on a Wilksh (sp?) diesel engined RV recently - where's the shudder smiley? Maybe worth a thread of its own.

I did a bit of digging after I posted and see that there is some suggestion that Chinese reverse engineering has helped to keep the F-14's airborne. Wikipedia mentions the same thing, but what I found interesting was what is claimed to be complete list of aircraft acquired by the Iranian Air Force over the years, geez they've thrown some money at aircraft manufacturers; 98 MiG-29 249 F-4 Phantom 79 F-14 Tomcat 24 Mirage F1 313 F-5 Tiger 41 Chengdu F-7 24 Su-24 and various other odds n ends including 35 odd locally designed fighters, although I suspect that these are probably more upgraded F-5's than anything truly new. From what I can make out, all the Mirages and a few others were acquired during the 2003 Gulf War when some Iraqi pilots fled to Iran with their aircraft.

Nice link Willie, interesting photos. I wonder how many of their Tomcats the Iranians can still field, quite ironic that a rabidly anti US regime uses obsolete US equipment.

http://www.vikingaircraftengines.com/ You probably found this Mychael, anyhow the short story is they take a second hand Honda Jazz engine and add a reduction drive and a few other bits n pieces. They certainly look the goods and on paper must make the short list. The basic engine is renowned for being a tough and reliable unit, both in the cars and as a powerhead for the Honda 90hp outboards. It wouldn't be fair though not to put the possible negatives out there too - Jan Eggenfellner (owner) tends to provoke one of two reactions, anger or unquestioning faith from customers and his previous venture with Subaru conversions ended in tears for many. My own take on things is that I find the concept attractive and would love to see it take off, excuse the pun. I'm still not sure that I would be putting down my hard earned cash at this stage of things, there are good reports on the few aircraft flying with them, but I would rather sit on my hands and see them rack up a lot more hours before fishing my wallet out. Others may have a different risk profile.

Yeah I'm guessing it is one of those "cool" ideas that is a lot harder to translate into a practical business proposition, than to make it work in the first instance. There is a strange (Kiwi?) contraption that combines a hovercraft with short wings too, looks like a hell of a lot of fun, but again, why not go the whole hog and build something that can actually climb away from the earth. I'm not sure about the big Russian ekranoplanes, but most of these smaller Wing in Ground Effect machines are capable of zooming up to clear an obstacle, before drifting down again. Funnily enough I'm reading a biography about Clifford the Incat bloke from Hobart at the moment, I hadn't really paid them too much attention but see that they were working on something not too different, albeit relying on water propulsion and on a massive scale.

A nice trike photo has eluded me so far, but here are a couple more, RA reg Spitfire and one happy youngster getting ready to go for a flip. Cheers Carl

I'm in two minds about this; seems that the "unqualified" claims all stem from comments made by Paul Bennett. Although it does seem a bit harsh to be shooting down a bloke that can't speak for himself anymore, Bennett has the credentials and appears to be well acquainted with the deceased and his capabilities. I would hope that he thought the matter through before opening his mouth, because at usual there are plenty of people baying for his blood for suggesting that the pilot was anything other than a saint and a veritable topgun. As with so many other accidents; if anything positive is to come of this sad event, the uncomfortable truth has to be faced that good blokes too, can exceed their capabilities and come unstuck.

Geez, that takes the phrase; "he went farming" to a whole new level! Couple of buttons missing off the seats afterwards I'd think.

Wot - no pedestrians & dogs on the runway, they must have cleaned up specially! Nice video though.

Yup, reported elsewhere as a Pitts S-2S, pilot practising an aerobatic routine for an upcoming competition.

Ah no Peter, saw your post and went looking for more info - according to Adelaide Now the pilot was "doing tricks" before crashing. Once again RIP, thoughts and prayers with those left behind. Can't make out much from the attached photo, but geez, selfishly really hope that it isn't RA related this time.... [ATTACH=full]972[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]18103[/ATTACH]

Was sent this via email recently. It appears to be a composite of several stories, however I found it interesting and hope you will too. Apologies if previously posted. Pardo is pictured left below, along with a painting depicting the incident. LEST WE FORGET

Settle down Davey, rum and the keyboard never mixed very well. I don't know Darren other than through the forum but I believe he is either an Aussie working in NZ or at least has lived here - not really relevant to his expressing an opinion on a public figure anyway. I think if you go back and read the contributions, you'll find that with one exception we all see things broadly similarly, matters not, we can still discuss the incident in a civilised manner. Don and I are almost guaranteed to be at opposite extremes of any political discussion, but still manage to rub along ok.

Was reading the latest Australian Flying newsletter and saw this beauty. Maybe just me, but she is much prettier than the tricycle version I think. Interesting though that a big company like Tecnam would spend the money to re-engineer the P-92, especially when RV, who originally designed only taildraggers, have said outright that there is no intention to make a TD version of the RV-12:(. RV's loss I believe, even if the numbers sold are small, their marketing impact should never be underestimated. Another interesting snippit was that the Tecnam will be available with the O-233 as well as the 912/4 Rotaxes. Nothing like a bit of competition to keep Bombardier honest! [ATTACH=full]968[/ATTACH] Image courtesy Australian Flying

RIP fellow aviators. Thoughts are with those left behind.

Seems you have a good handle on it Willie, the two big brands seem to constantly leapfrog each other in features and quality. When I bought my first SLR, most of the guys that were serious about it were going Canon so I got talked into it and have had no regrets. From my experience, make a realistic assessment of what you are going to do with the camera, set a budget and stick with it. It is all too easy to have the pro's and serious amateurs tell you that the kit lenses are rubbish and you MUST buy fancy grey lenses at several times the cost of the camera body or your photos won't be worth looking at. The truth of matter is no-one becomes an expert overnight and IF you are sufficiently interested and put the time and effort into becoming a good photographer, you'll end up wanting something better, something that would be complete overkill if you are like most of us and only keen to get pretty pictures. Here are a couple I've taken with my Canon 400D and the old kit lens, a 75-300 without image stabilisation. The newer ones have a better lens, a 70-250 with IS, well worth it. I'd love a better lens, say 100-400 with IS, but it will cost me more than my entire camera kit - $1500 odd. One day, until then I'll spend my money hiring aircraft :) [ATTACH]18098[/ATTACH]

Ugh, what a distasteful episode from go to whoa - and a lovely sequel with the flag burning. I hear this morning's claims that a Juliar staffer was involved in inciting the incident were well founded; as I said earlier I'm no fan but do feel rather sorry for her on a personal level, there is simply no upside to this.

Not a fan either, but I'm utterly gobsmacked that a grubby rabble are allowed to effectively hold our head of state hostage and get so close to physically threatening her. Methinks our riot police could do with a little assertiveness training. Try that stunt almost anywhere else in the world and see what happens.

Pity really that they never managed to gain any traction in their marketing, I believe the Czech Airforce is the only operator. I know they punted them to inter alia South Africa as a replacement for the Aermacchi/Atlas Impalas, but ultimately lost out to the Hawks. That may have more to do with BAE's extensive experience of, shall we say third world marketing techniques, than the inherent capabilities of the aircraft.;)

Sent you a few Bas, use all or none, hope it helps. Cheers Carl