KB59

You might also like to re-shape the rudder ribs so one side is flat and the other side curved a bit like an airfoil on it`s side. I did this on my drifter when i recovered it some years ago. It totally eliminated the need for a fixed trim tab. Can`t quite remember but i think the top of the foil went to the starboard side. The tape is a Signet part number 10511 ( Cross weave filament tape )

Best of luck with your drifter

Ken

Thanks guys

I will give them a call

KB

Hi All

Anybody have a drifter tail wheel spring they want to sell or know where we can get one.

A friend of mine, that now has my old dirfter found a cracked spring when doing per-flight this morning.

KB

Hi Ian

Any chance of a couple of screen shots pics of both orientations.

I am re-formatting the dash in my Pulsar at present and would like to fit the 7"unit, but the only way is to stand it up.

Anyone else tried this.

ken

Hi Ian

This might sound like a strange question but can you orientate the screen to read it at 90 degrees to normal like the iphone

Ken

Hi Keith

Thanks for the tips

Hi Pud

Have you given Wayne Fisher a call. He makes skins for them so he should put on the right track

Thanks Qzzie for the tips

Does the discount from EAA membership cover domestic flights in the US.

I`m going :clap2:

Who`s going and how about tips from people that have been in the past.

Hi Ian

Good to see you building.We have a guy building a Sav in Ayr as well. I have lost your phone number so if you pm me I will pass his number on to you if you like.

(possibility of corrosion)

Have a talk to Maj ( Ross ) He has been down working on those Beavers for years

and they swim in salt water all the time.

KB

Talk to any pilot that has dropped onto a Navy Carrier over the last 50 odd years.

They work

Thanks for the info JB69

Was the break clean as in all surfaces clean like you would see if the fracture all happened at the same time.

Hi Tomo

Where did the other leg brake

in the same place.

ken

Hi JB69

I am also a Drifter pilot. ( 582 WB )

That broken leg looks nasty. Was it a new leg. Do you know what material it is. Do you know if it was tempered.

I have just finished putting my landing gear back together. Mine was starting to sag a bit so i pulled them out and reset the legs. While I had them out I removed all the old paint so I could do a good inspection for defects. All looked ok but now that I see your problem ???.

It would be good to get some background.

Ken

Hi Maj

Let me know when you get to the glass stage.

You could put a training wheel on the front

ken

Hi Maj

Good to see you catching the bug again and getting the grey matter working.

As you know I have been working on a new design for over 3 years now.

You pod with a tail boom is not that different to what I started with. Although I was going a pusher with twin booms.

As you know my design has now taken a different approach but still not too far from your design criteria.

Anyway enough of what I am up to.

One area that you may like to have a close look at is the back of the pod. I looks like from your sketches that it is quite short from the back of the seats to the rear of the pod. I found this could be a big problem with a 2 (side by side) seater as it will create a lot of stale air and increased drag.

In your case I belive you are looking at an inverted v tail. Be very careful that with the high VNE you are looking for the vortexes and turbulence created by this stale air is not right on your V tail. You could find that even in normal flight your tail and elevator looses effect.

Remember the old > 1 to 3 streamline factor for good air flow and also allow for when the AC is side slipping.

With the lower VNE of the Lazair it is obviously not a problem.

Ross this is only my thoughts/theory and is not tested by myself in any way.

Ken

Hi Old Man Emu

Sounds like a great idea

I am about to start a alloy build

how about posting some details or PM me. ( cost ) ( postage ) etc

Hire would be one way of looking at it , the other would be buy and then trade back when the build is finished. Other metal building items like solid riveting gear would be handy as well.

ken

Hi Dave

I will PM you

ken

Hi Friarpuk

Depending on your setup you could try ( Steam Boiler water site glass tubes ) they come in different sizes. I have seen them as small as 6mm I think the ones on my boiler are 12mm.

They are made of toughened glass and are sold in about 200mm lengths.

You fit them with a type of compression O ring fitting. By the way you can cut them.

ken

Hi Vorticity

The factor of 5x is a general safety factor used with wire cable where human life is at risk.

Cable is rated ( Breaking Strain ) and then ( Safe Working Load ) with the safety factor being the difference,

In my research I found reference to 8x and 10x but generally 10x would be used where a single cable on a drum is used and human life is at risk ( say rescue winch operations ) cable for this use would also have a use-by or life of some type applied to it.

Ken

Hi

I fly a WB 582 Drifter

On returning from a 2 hour flight on Sunday morning I received a call form Maj ( Ross ) telling me about the unfortunate accident regarding the Drifter. Ross suggested that I should check my wires.

Ross (thanks for the heads up.)

This is the sort of cross checking we should all be doing with our follow flyers.

Anyway more on that in a later post.

Checking some of my text books and on the net I found reference to Aircraft grade wirer.

5/32" breaking strain of 1088kg divided by a standard safety factor of 5 = 217kg

3/16" breaking strain of 1678kg divided by a standard safety factor of 5 = 335kg

1/4" breaking strain of 2902kg divided by a standard safety factor of 5 = 580kg

Now if you look at my Drifter 450kg MTOW x 6G = 2700kg divided by 12 wing attachment points 4 king posts and 8 wires I get 225kg per attachment so if you wanted to static check the wires you should test to no less than 225kg.

Now the wires on my Drifter measure 4.2mm which is in between 5/32" and 3/16" so when they certified the Drifters to 6g+ they got it right but cut it fine in my view.

As anythings age that safety factor gets eaten up so the condition of flying wires is very important.

Now looking at Rudder cables

An average 80kg person should be able to easily squat press 50kg so that adds up to 130kg divided by 2 = 65kg each leg so I would think you could apply 65kg on a rudder cable when the poo is hitting the fan and you brace with both legs against the seat. You might not mean to but who has not done it at some stage.

Am I looking at this the right way or have I got it ass up.

Ken

Hi Dave

I knocked the covers up myself but they are only made out of the sliver polly tarp. The material came with a 12 months sum protection so I hope to get a year out of them. I know there are a couple of different grades in the material.

A coat of roof sliver will help but you have to wait a couple of months first to get the shine off the material.

The material only cost around $150 and a weekend on the sewing machine so a new set of covers a year is better than a new set of skins a year.

KB59

HI All

I just got in from a 2.1h local fly in the Drifter that Maj posted at YAYR yesterday.

Good flying in NQ at this time of the year.

Stats from my flight today

No Wind

No Cloud

Clear air ( at least 30nm )

22 degrees at takeoff ( 7.15 am )

Just perfect

To follow on from Maj pics thought you might like to see some shots I took today from 1500` of the country up this way just at the end of our wet season ( we hope )

Kb59 ( Ken )

Hi All

As a new pilot and just going though the process and cost of obtaining my wings I have concerns to the changing face of RAA. I fly a Grass roots type aircraft (a Drifter) but don`t see all change as bad.

However I think before we all jump the gun it would be good to see what the ratio of student dropout is to the pilot members.

What I have seen over the last 3 years is a lot of people start training and then run into a brick wall for whatever reason.

I know I was one of them.

Flying schools are a business and need to make money but I think sometimes high turnover or should I say high numbers starting training is not the best thing for the big picture.

Quality of training should allways be first on the list.

Also when statements are made, of 23% growth of new members it looks good on paper but what if the pilot numbers are only a small percentage of that growth with the rest new students.

Hi Stol Lover

It`s good to see people having a go.

As Maj has pointed out I am designing and building a stol aircraft. Been working on it for 3 years and now at the stage of just starting to put parts on the bench.

We should keep in touch on our projects.

You may find a weight issue with 2.2 L Subaru if you are building RAA.

I started with using a 1.8 L EA81 but found that a bit on the heavy side. I am now looking at using a lighter engine.

The other consideration you may like to consider is Fuel Burn. As time goes on the cost of Fuel at the pump only goes up so the only way to keep flying at a affordable cost is to get as much as you can out of that litre.

20 litres plus per hour to me for a 544kg MTOW < 100 knots cruise aircraft is just not justified.

KB59

At last after 3 years and 1 day I have my wings now all I need is someone to help me with a remedy to remove the bug stains from my teeth.

Kb59:clap: