JG3

I think if you trawl through the old threads when natfly (or whatever it was called) was on at Easter time you will find plenty of people saying they couldn't come because of family commitments.

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Good point on family commitments at Easter.....

 

Also, Easter moves around a lot.

 

So choose a weekend in that time of year based on the the best weather history.

 

But focus it like the old Narromine Fly-Ins.

 

No emphasis on the wide public, but make a special effort to appeal to those interested in getting involved in our sport, and want to spend their time browsing the flightline up close and talking to aircraft owners and maybe going for a ride or two to experience our world. That's a treasured memory that I have of the old Narromine, feeling like I've helped someone into our sport, and I'm sure that there are some flying now whom I've encouraged at those good old fly-ins. That's a far more effective way to ensure the future health of our sport.....

 

Compromises trying to please too wide an audience seldom work well for anyone..... Let those who just want entertainment go to the airshows, but leave us the airspace and freedom to visit with other flyers and prospective flyers and take them for a ride whenever it feels right.......

 

 

I did mention a 6 month spacing away from OzKosh. Easter is a good idea.

What a good idea!

Easter is when the traditional Narromine Fly-In used to be held, and that was very popular, with 200+ aircraft flying in.

 

Narromine is still the best venue, with very convenient facilities for camping or soft accommodation, and locals who welcome such an event and have experience how to host it.

 

 

REX flys into Moruya so that will be a 'secure' airport!

Moruya is the most secure airport I've ever visited. Double electric fence plus a light beam!

And Twice required to show ASIC card up close for detail.....

 

 

G'day All,I want to have a peek at the sprag clutch in an E gearbox that I don't have any history on.

To get to the clutch I need a pin, part number 876-640. Apparently the pin comes in the tool kit with every new Rotax motor - it is inserted into the pulse port to prevent crank rotation when removing the small drive gear situated inside one of the shafts. My CPS info (Part#55 - C and E Gearbox Maintenance) tells me that using any other kind of pin can have disastrous results.

 

It's only a $5 buy but I thought if someone has one laying around they could help me out here, otherwise I will order one from young Bert.

 

cheers for now

 

BP

I have a spare pin you can have. PM me and I'll send it to you.

JG

 

 

I'm so glad that I experienced 11 years of the old Narromine flyins. The greatest memories! We spent the whole days wandering around the aircraft, kicking tyres, visiting with other flyers, learning from their real life experiences with those aircraft, and swapping rides. It all worked so well..... Low cost and minimal organization and NO AIRSHOW.....

 

Let's remember that those old Narromine flyins weren't in decline they were still thriving, until they were suddenly transferred (some would say stolen) to Temora. The format changed and the advertising was, "...come and hear the Spitfire and watch the airshow...", but then it quickly declined and failed..... Changing the venue back to Narromine isn't the solution, the format is the problem.....

 

I don't know if it's possible to resurrect the old style informal flyins at Narromine. Once momentum is lost due to all those disruptions, it might be hard to recover. But sure does seem worth a try. Minimum cost so minimum risk, but sure needs a different approach than present.....

 

Once again I'm very thankful that I had the chance to enjoy those early Narromine Fly-Ins......

 

 

I've had excellent experiences with trailerable aircraft in the USA, as shown in my website stolspeed.com. I've also done lots of Xcountry travelling in fixed wing aircraft, but having to camp under the wing in bad weather and having no transport from airfields into town is a nuisance. Towing an ultralight in a trailer with a camper van gives a comfortable bed and wheels to get around. But very few of such aircraft and trailer rigs around. One of the best would be the Kestrels, designed and built in Brisbane, with a long history of safe flying. I once flew such a Kestral from SE Qld to Horsham Vic, and it went well.

 

Now I note that there's a Kestrel with an excellent trailer for sale in the classifieds. I've seen that particular aircraft flying many times years ago and know it's well looked after.

 

Kestrel Recreational Aircraft Cat 95-10 | Recreational Flying

 

I'd grab it myself except that I've just finished building my own design and trailer to do the same sort of travel around flying.

 

JG

 

 

This cable, especially designed for the 912 dual carb engines works really well, and carbs stay in balance long time. Top quality construction and really easy installation. I've used one for years and several other 912 owners have also found them to be excellent, three more owners at our airfield are installing them right now. Only have one throttle knob in the cockpit, but the pax can reach across if needed.

 

McFarlane Aviation

 

McFarlane Aviation - Rotax Throttle Controls - Panel Mount

 

You need the six foot model to reach the far carb properly.

 

 

Seen one airshow, you've seen them all.I'll wait till someone organises a 'flyin' for pilots and planes.

We can talk to fellow pilots about building and/or flying our planes, not just what colour they come in.

 

We can discuss the pro's and con's of various propellers without someone in a blinding coloured vest going into conniptions if we touched one.

 

If the circuit doesn't look too full, we can take up a mate to show him our great machine.

 

I could go on, but.

Like Narromine used to be.......

 

 

If the aircraft flew properly without the VGs and with slats, the issue appears related to the altered lift characteristics and/or airflow changes resulting from removal of the slats (I have assumed the slats were removed) and the addition of VGs.JG (John Gilpin) - an active contributor to this group - was a pioneer with this modification to the Savannah aircraft. I suggest you address an inquiry directly to him.

You may have seen these articles - certainly a good place to start...

 

http://www.stolspeed.com/slats-v-s-vgs; http://www.stolspeed.com/id/26; StolSpeed Aerodynamics - Performance Enhancement for Light Aircraft (the latter two links connect to JG)

 

Wish I could offer more.

 

Fly safely.

 

CanadaDan

I'm already in direct contact with Fernando, trying to figure what's happening here. Never heard of similar results in any of the many conversions done....

 

JG

 

 

I remember fly-ins.Would grab my camping gear, fly to some remote airfield, meet a lot of old friends and chat about our aeroplanes.

Sometimes we'd jump in our plane and do a few circuits so others could see what it looked/sounded like in flight.

 

If you got yourself well known enough, you could bum a fly in someone else's pride and joy and add it to your logbook.

 

Then you could wander around and see what new gizmos, engines, planes, etc that people were building/bringing into the country.

 

No one seemed to mind too much when said manufactures and importers wanted to put on demo flights (we all remember Nestor demo'ing the Storch), but for some reason, organisers started to think we wanted more aerial entertainment, and before we knew it, we were going to airshows.

 

Now we can watch parachutists open a 'fly-in', but I don't think anyone can parachute out of an ultralight.

 

We now (pay) to watch professional aerobatics pilots put on a display of daring do, although we can't aerobat our ultralights.

 

We watch the Roulettes do their thing while trying to drum up enrolment in the air-force, even though most of the people at the show are older than the Roulette pilots.

 

And of course all this closes the airspace around the field so no-one can come or go, or take their mates for a quick flip around the area.

 

Maybe with forty years of flying I'm starting to get a bit jaded so I probably wont be going to Narromine.

Well stated, my feelings exactly. I went to 11 early Narromine fly-ins, even when in a 50 kt ultralight that took two days to get there. I don't want to go to such an airshow that's being advertised, so definitely won't be going either......

 

 

as expected now need multifocals to deal with long distance clarity and short vision reading. Ordered the prescription specs. They do a good job but what a nuisance..

Yeah, trifocals are a bit of a nuisance. Takes awhile to get used to them, but it will happen. Many of us have adapted quite well, and now no problem. I've been flying with tri-focals for 20+ years now and don't notice them.

 

But I am talking about true tri-focals, with the three sections, not the gradually changing multifocals which I couldn't get used to.... Some manage to get used to them, but I couldn't find any advantage. For my flying glasses I request my optometrist to set the dividing line between the distance and middle range so that I can view the distance over the panel and the instruments in the mid range without tilting my head. I request reading distance to be set just right for maps on my lap. Works really well.

 

I have had prescription sunnies for flying, but now find clip-on sunnies more convenient than swapping. And can change easily from really dark shades in bright glare to orange tint for hazy conditions.

 

Doesn't need to cost anywhere near $1000. Just choose a pair with slim ear pieces so they fit best under the earpads.

 

By all means stay away from surgery except for a bad cataract, which will give brilliant results, but you'd still need the tri-focals cause that new lens can't focus.......

 

JG

 

 

This is the Windyty forecast for Birdsville at 2000ft tomorrow morning 5am.

 

 

Looks like a lively ride......

 

 

on google earth there appears to be 2 airstrips, one beside the birdsville track and the other possibly the property one?

Both belong to the station, and are definitely off bounds, vigorously defended.....

 

I know of a couple of flyers who landed on the highway, and even then she came driving over immediately to abuse them, thinking that they might have used her airstrip....

 

 

I found this clip-on funnel at a King Kong Discount store.

 

It works just great, don't have to hold a funnel with one hand and pour with the other.

 

The inventor deserves an award.

 

 

 

And another question, if you don't mind.Total fuel usage for the trip? 80 kts would be an economy cruise?

I didn't keep track of total fuel usage, but at 17-18 litres/hr at 80 kts for 56 hrs that would be about 1000 litres. I started with about 170 litres of 95 mogas, then carted 20 jerry cans (20x22=440), so about 610 would have been mogas and the rest avgas. A lot of work to cart all that mogas....

 

I still don't know important it is to avoid avgas, but on a long trip to the Pilbara when I had used a lot of avgas, I did once get a bad mag check and found the first plug that I removed completely covered in lead deposit, couldn't even see the points. All the rest of the plugs had the cavity between the insulator and the shell completely full of lead..... So since then I've made more effort to avoid 100LL (the LL doesn't really stand for low lead, but actually Lotta Lead), and always carry spare new plugs if I'm going to have to run on avgas.....

 

80 kts is my preferred cruise for speed/economy compromise. Best economy cruise is of course nearer to the best glide speed, which is more like 60kts, so a bit tedious.....

 

This is the fuel cart that I made up from an old golf clubs cart.

 

 

Weighs 2.5kg.

 

When towing the weight centers right over the wheels and is really easy to tow.

 

 

Breaks down for easy stowage in the aircraft. These wheels are 200mm diameter and roll really well even over rough dirt. 100mm would be the absolute minimum.

 

 

Must remember that you should always be within gliding distance of the runway, so an ultralight with it's typical glide ratio from 500' is going to be much closer to the runway than a faster aircraft at 1000', so no chance of being run over from behind, and in a position such that it's right in line of sight from the aircraft at 1000' who should be watching in that direction for ground traffic and picking his point to turn base. The only point of conflict on a common flight path would be on final, which is going to be very short for the ultralight, so excellent visibility from base leg for the ultralight looking out the longer final for the faster oncoming aircraft, and excellent visibility for the faster aircraft looking in from base and final to his proposed touchdown point. That ultralight circuit makes for excellent separation.

 

 

Great photos - I would love to make that trip one day.I would be fantastic if you could share any tips etc for mitigating the lack of forced landing areas on your particular route.

I always follow roads if they aren't too much out of the way. Even if the road loops out from the straight line track, the extra distance isn't very much at all, well worth following it. Some say, "If you're following the road might as well be driving it." But not true at all. Driving the road you only see the white lines, the oncoming trucks and the doddering caravan in front, barely time to glance at the continuous bush along the way. From 2000ft the whole perspective is just as good along the road as it is along the direct Xcountry, but it sure is comforting to know that continuous runway is down there.... Some places like Arnhem Land there's no road to follow, and real dense tiger country, so just have to carry on if you want to go there. More altitude gives more options, but over that gulf savannah country it still doesn't give any better options, and the scenery becomes really blah at high altitude.... Of course I'm constantly scanning to watch for opportunities for landing sites and assessing how I would approach them to get it right....

 

 

The pitch blocks that Brolga used are still available from the original supplier in the USA.

Competition Aircraft | Ultra-Props and Propellers for Ultralight Aircraft

Do you have a pic of your fuel cart JG?

Good idea. I'll get some photos next time I'm at the airfield.

 

 

Enjoyed reading about your trip John and going north is on our to do list so you've given us some good insight.Cheers Guy.

I've just added a lot more detail about stopover sites and fuel stops, and an interactive map to zoom in on details.

 

JG

 

 

Looking forward to read (and photos) about your last adventure on your site JG.

A blog with the story and photos is at 2017 Flight to Arhem Land and Centre

 

 

Does anyone know of an airfield along the north coast of Arnhem Land where I could likely get permission to camp overnight????JG

I've since just finished flying the Arnhem Land coast, so can answer my own question...

 

I knew that a permit is required to land at any of those small airstrips. There are dozens of ideal strips, some with only a couple of houses at them. They are considered to be private property, and a permit is required to land at any of them. The process is to apply to the Land Council and then they must contact elders at each site for permission. I applied to two strips to be able to camp overnight without intruding on the residents. Did not receive any reply at all.... Later, I talked to a mission pilot up there and he reckoned no way to get a permit unless knowing someone there and being invited. So I had to fly right through without stopping over....

 

You don't need a permit to land at any of the Security Controlled airfields, such as Gove, Elcho Island, or Maningrida, so long as you don't leave the airfield. But of course, not allowed to camp on such a airfield....

 

 

I was just up that way and learned the real story behind this incident.

 

It seems that a Cessna 206 had hit a couple of cattle when landing and was blocking the middle of the actual strip. The Jabiru was able to land on the remaining portion of the strip, but was doubting takeoff with full fuel, so elected to try the road verge. Didn't work out, but there was a valid reason he tried it....

 

 

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So interesting though this thread is, it doesn't have much purpose in the real world, IMO.

 

Not quite. Some years ago we had an aircraft with an engine failure setting up to land on a golf course fairway, only to notice a couple of golfers strolling away right in the wrong place. They showed no notice of his approach and he had no way to warn them, so he diverted to land on a nearby highway and was killed in a collision with a 4wd.....

 

 

Casa would have a heart attack , must be breaking some regs there , why jump off a perfectly safe aircraft

It used to be performed every year at the Clifton Fly-Ins.