petercoota

I use the full Breezylog system & I'm very glad I do. If you have a used aircraft, as I do, the initial setup is long & laborious. However the people at Breezy are really helpful & patient & committed to getting a newbie onto the system. I can't speak highly enough of the support.

I was amazed at the number of Service Bulletins, Airworthiness Directives etc that had been issued over the 5 year life of my aircraft, for the Rotax, airframe, chute & instruments. The Breezy system initially produces pages of lists of these issues that you have to work thru yourself, to decide which apply to your setup. Some of these you may have to get guidance from whoever does your maintenance, L2, LAME etc. Each item on the list has a link next to it, so it's just a click to the document that the item refers to, then you have to read each & decide if it applies to you.

When you submit the list back to Breezy, annotated with your comments, they then load that into the system. Once you're up & running, the system then enables anyone connected with the aircraft to logon & see all the completed, outstanding & upcoming maintenance items, all noted with either hours to run or time & date expiry.

You have to have the discipline to log on & off the system at the start & finish of each flight, to keep the system log accurate. This process can also then produce your personal flying log too.

When maintenance is due, the system can produce a worksheet of the work needed & as the work is completed, it's signed off & automatically updates the records with the new due date/time.

New SBs, ADs etc are auto added to your record for you to check their applicability.

Administrative items can also be added, such as dates for BFR, ASIC, RAA, AVMED, Insurance etc.

As an ex RAAF tech I was surprised when I started out in the RAA world at the standard of quality & extent of record keeping, compared to what I was used to in the military. The Breezy system isn't anywhere close to the military system, neither does it need to be. However, it is a huge step forward in maintaining records & improving safety, compared to much I've seen in the RAA world.

As a bonus, think what it will do for the resale value of your aircraft if you can produce detailed, comprehensive maintenance records, supporting your claims about your wonderful aircraft to a prospective buyer!

Of course, Breezylog, or any other system, paper or computer, will only be a reflection of the owners attitude towards maintenance & record keeping. If you're the type that's interested in this stuff, Breezylog is a welcome tool. If that's not you, save your money.

Finally got the job done. Biggest issue in an LSA cockpit is finding some room. I wanted a hanger to store the headsets when not in flight. When flying solo I'll still engage the unused headset with the unused seatbelt. Flyboy1960 gave me the idea originally, THANKS. I used a P clamp from Speciality Bearings Canberra & 10 x 70mm SS bolts & nyloc nuts from Bunnings. Shrink wrapped the assy with the shrink tube normally used for electrical work. I've put a nyloc nut on the end to stop the set slipping off, but I think this is overkill. Some pics attached, thanks for all the ideas

By all reports, there are some gaps in what is available in the Garmin Australia VFR databases. Truthfully, it doesn't worry me as I have a SkyView system, but in saying that, I wondered if I could narrow those gaps somewhat, given I have made a series of files available that list every Australian ALA and Certified airport for those of us running the Dynon SkyView system.

 

After a little r search and playing around with Excel today, I think I have manag d to produce similar files for the Garmin crowd, which I've somewhat cheekily uploaded over at the Dynon forums. Hopefully they won't mind too much. So if you have a Garmin G3X system,p and you would like a listing of the airports in Australia as sourced from the May 2018 DAH, nip over to my post at the Dynon forums, and follow the directions. Hopefully the files will work for you.

 

No promises made either way, good luck!

Hi, I've recently bought a FK9 with Garmin G3X system. I've bought the Garmin Oz database pack but miss the Country Airstrips supplement subscription that I had with Avplan. Do you still maintain your database? Is it available for others If so, what's the deal?

I followed the link to Dynon in the post above but it just led to a Dynon site.

Great initiative, Garmin stuff is OK, expensive as hell. I have to say in my first few months of ownership that Tony at garmin support has been really great....Peter

Downunder, I'll post a pic of my effort when I'm done....

Thanks, I appreciated Downunders link, I don't have local electrical/plumbing/hardware supply stores where I live

Downunder, thanks for the link, knowing the correct name for the item is half the battle. I've ordered some from the link, thanks for taking the trouble.

FlyBoy, It's a neat solution, Downunder provided a link. I can't get something machined here, but I thought I could cover the bolt used as the hanger with some shrink-wrap plastic sleeve, as used to cover electrical cable joins. This would protect the headband.

Thanks also to Bryon for the Enzed idea. What a great example of how good these forums can be....Thanks to all...Peter

[ATTACH=full]51837[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]51837[/ATTACH]

 

There you go

That's a very neat solution, do you remember what the components are? Or, even better, where you got them? I live in a somewhat remote location, so sourcing bits is a real issue for me. The section of my frame, that I can use is only 16 mm OD, so that may be a constraint with the clamp size...Peter

Try a hydraulic tube bracket with a homemade piece of aluminium bracket shaped like a wide channel with a hole on one of the uprights for the bracket bolt

Check Enzed, they have them

Thanks, I'll give them a call to find what pipe OD they can handle. The nearest Enzed to me is too far to visit, but your idea is great, hope they have the size, Thanks for your help...Peter

I've been trying to find an 'off the shelf', hanger/bracket assy to store my headset on. I have a tube frame cockpit, with mainly 16 mm OD tube. Ideally I want something that clamps around the tube & provides a flat bracket, wide enough to support the headband of a headset. The intention is to have the headset hanging in the cockpit, not tangled in the harness. Aircraft Spruce have several, all wrong pipe OD for my job. Any ideas please?

Thanks Skippy,

Progress has been sidelined by events in Mallacoota these last few days. Might be a few weeks before I can progress this project...Hope you have a good New Year, Peter

Thanks to all for such a useful discussion, lots of ideas, many new to me. From all these inputs I’ve decided what I’ll do & ordered the bits & pieces. When its all delivered & assembled into a working system I’ll post a video & links. Given the holiday period & delivery delays, it’ll probably be a couple of weeks. Then I’ll welcome comment on what I haven’t thought of, or fundamental flaws in my thought processes. Thanks again to all,  Peter

Prwood, thanks for that info

yenn - the rope’s a good idea I’ve not seen used... thanks

Prwood, do you have brand name for your yellow screw?  What’s the diff between your type & the Screw It brand?

I've read the forums about the choices available when choosing a Tie Down system. However, there doesn’t seem much new added to these forums in the last two years. Anybody found anything that really works? Links to new or improved systems eagerly sought. I’m also interested in opinions of rope type vs ratchet webbing strap types.....Thanks

onetrack, thanks for your thoughts. I think it could be argued that car static straps don't work precisely because they are not truly grounded. Just as a post in a hanger is unlikely to represent true ground, a car static strap touching the ground is very unlikely to be truly grounded. Which is why you get zapped, your body is doing a better job of discharging the static built up than the strap.

Your comment about mobile phones I agree with. The RF output of a mobile phone is miniscule, the potential energy in a static discharge is hugh by comparison. The fuel companies are covering their asses with their insurers.

I'm over zealous because I have been very close to an aircraft oxygen refilling incident, where the rules were short cut, blew the nose off the aircraft & killed someone.

The link you provided to liquip victoria was really useful. I hadn't contacted them, they turned out to be really responsive & helpful, unlike some others. Must be the onset of Xmas when sales depts don't return calls.

Thanks for you contribution,

Peter

Skippy,

I'm relying on my RAAF training of 50 years ago for my static design.

Your tank may be sitting on the ground, the aircraft is on rubber tyres. Just because something is sitting on the ground, doesn't mean it's at the same electrical potential as something nearby.

A hangar or other building frame may not be providing you with a good earth. Best to get an electrical ground stake, about 3 meters long, made of copper, driven into the wettest patch of ground around your hanger. (Most commercial static earthing systems specify a maximum resistance between the aircraft fuel tank earth point & final earth point as no more than 10 ohms).

From there a 2mm or so, galvanised or SS multi strand wire, fitted with a strong clamp is run to your exhaust pipe. The line to the aircraft may have a Y fitting on it so that the second arm of the Y is clamped to the discharge tank & pump. If you don't have a Y type, a second wire is clamped  to the exhaust, the other end to the discharge vessel & pump.

Finally a third wire is clamped to the discharge vessel /pump & clamped to an earthing tag at the fuel filler on the aircraft.

If you really want to complete the job, the refueller wears a wrist strap connected to any of the points being used.

I haven't seen any LSA type aircraft that have earthing tags at the tank fill holes, so the best you can do in those circumstance is to ensure the filling hose is touching the neck of the tank before you start filling. You can buy filler hose that is constructed with some carbon in it, so that it has some degree of conductivity.

If you wonder why I'm a lot anal about static, ask your local Rural Fire Brigade to run a community demo. Pour a 20 litre can of petrol on the ground & ignite, don't be standing any closer than 50 metres when they do it!

An initial setup of fencing wire or building construction wire may do the job, however the constant movement will eventually cause issues. I think you'll find commercial fuelling setups, such as at airports, have to run a series of tests on the static earthing setup every six months.

You'll remember that my aircraft is a 'plastic' plane, so there is little likelihood of an electrical earth connection between the exhaust pipe & the tank filling point, even more reason to be careful.

I'm still searching for a commercial retractable reel setup at a reasonable price, when I find one (if I do) I'll let you know.

Please feel free to  poke holes in my thinking!

Peter

Hi,

I did occur to me that a rigid intake pipe might work better on a bladder. The company can supply a range of different length intake pipes, all can be fitted with a decent filter at the bottom.

It's a trade off, as you've mentioned. Keeping the pipe in the tank, supporting the bladder & winding the pump, all at the same time.

I'll report back when I've tried it out in the various configurations.

My next issue is trying to find some decent static charge discharge cable reels, the price of these is shocking. I'm thinking of exploring the use of electric fencing reels, the wire & tape wind out reels that horse owners use for temporary fencing. I'll have to look into their electrical properties, they may have much too high resistance.

If you happen to know of a supplier, I'd appreciate a lead,

regards,

Peter

The USA site contains more info than the Oz site, go to www.flofast.com.

The original design was for the racing car world.

The delivery hose is fitted with a clamp that allegedly holds the delivery pipe in position.

The pump fits into a container, that electrically bonds the pump to the container. I'm hoping that I can mod the pump, if needed, to change the input pipe to a flex pipe for pumping out of flexible bladders.

When I get to use it, I'll let the world know if it works or not.

Thanks for sharing your ideas Skippy,

Peter

Thanks for all the input, some innovative ideas. I've decided to go with a commercial product, www.flofast.com.au. Hand operated, high volume pump. Different length intake legs available, pump disassembles into small components. I've found it difficult to source reels of static earthing straps, commercial ones range $800-1500 that I've found, I'll have to make some up.

As I have a 'plastic' plane I'm really concerned with static, so I'm going to connect hanger (or similar) to engine, engine to pump (it has a earth point on it), pump to fuel tank inlet.

I'll post on how it works, or not, in the new year.

This question has been discussed before, I wanted some more up to date info. My age & fitness precludes climbing a ladder with either a 10 or 20 litre container. I need to carry collapsible plastic fuel bladders (20 litres each) & refuel (Mogas 95-98) from them in generally somewhat remote locations. The aircraft is an LSA, high wing, combination of carbon & GRP. What is available in well earthed electric fuel pump or, again, well earthed manual pump. Ideally I'd like to use something like a Mr Funnel as the final stage, however a built in filter, of similar capability would be easier to use. The aircraft capacity is 110 litres, so I'm unlikely to be refilling more than 60 litres at a time, 30 litres per wing. I've looked at Facet, McNaught, Polarn, FillRite, Flo Fast & Jroc.

Some of these are only suitable for pumping from a 200 litre drum, some are OK for jerry cans, very few are portable in that they will fit in the small cargo area in an LSA. Many don't seem to adequately address my concerns about earthing, particularly with a plastic plane.

Any ideas or experience please?

Having only two on the ACT list caused me to put out the question on this site. I've since found an outfit in Yass, FPV, & would welcome any comment about them.

I want to get an RePL certificate to fly a drone under 7Kg. I have an RPL & understand that I just need to do a days practical training, rather than the whole course. Doing the research, it seems a lot of people have jumped onto the drone training bandwagon. Has anyone had a good experience they can point me to? Ideal area for me would be Canberra, then Melbourne or anywhere in between.

 

Thanks for the link. it leads to info about a CASA app that informs about flying zones for different classes of drones. Handy app to have, I didn't know that it existed until your link.

There is an operator in Canberra called Wing, which is developing a food delivery service.

Still haven't found a training company with a good reputation.

I want to get an RePL certificate to fly a drone under 7Kg. I have an RPL & understand that I just need to do a days practical training, rather than the whole course. Doing the research, it seems a lot of people have jumped onto the drone training bandwagon. Has anyone had a good experience they can point me to? Ideal area for me would be Canberra, then Melbourne or anywhere in between.

At my age I will take all the admiration you can dish out without any discrimination (high or low wing).

 

High or low wing will make no diference to the 912 motivation itself. Fuel delivery  & tank(s) may differ.

 

Out of interest  - why so definitely desirous of a high wing??

 

High wing is good for old age & bad back, avoiding stumps & fence posts, reducing sunburn.

Really lousy for refuelling.

Fuel delivery & valving arrangements vary widely. specially in the kit built world.

Thanks, I'd never encountered a Rotax without an airbox, so I was a bit taken aback. Your comments, along with those of Downunder, are reassuring. Again I understand & appreciate the point about carby icing.

I see you're in a Zephyr, I'm only interested in a high wing, but I've admired the Zephyr. Thanks for the comment