OzBirdy

Anythns possable Nobody, but it beet walkn the 60 odd Ks home.

The only thing thats bothered me as I get older is loosen control while up there through sum sort of incapacitation.

It happened a coupla days ago.

Was fat n happy, just cruisen, wen for no reason at all, POP, my back.

Iv had issues lately with the spine, but never thought sumthn as relaxing as flying would pop me back out.

One of the ribs that hinges to the spine between the blades decided I was too comfortable just sittn there.

Was only bout 20 mins from where I was headed so I just humped it.

Couldn't turn me head, could only breath shallow, and found out wen I attempted to land, my left arm wouldn't fully extend either, not without shootn pain out and causen stars to buzz around in broad daylite.

Took 10 mins to exit, 2 hours rolln on the ground tryn to breath and wait for the pissedoff nerve to die, so I could try to fly home.

Not my happiest day out

Conditions and material quality determine how long it will survive.

Few years ago i was camped at an old bore hole here in the desert and noticed a bit of 3/4" mild steal ungalvinised pipe stickn out of the sand. Wen i tryed to pick it up i realised it was part of a full sling of pipe, black wire tyes still holdn it in sling, in perfect condition.

Figured the old man left it there 40 odd years before.

They dont make mild steal like that now.

This new 'duragal' crap they sell now is rusted through in one year sitn on top of the ground.

Found jam tins with 1946 dates, baccy tins and a kero lamp of same vintage buryed in clay/sand at an old fencn contracters camp on our desert boundery. Lamp would still work with a new wick and lens.

Im sure if there wasa dead AC out there, all itd need would be fuel, if it hadnt been burned in the fires.

Oil temp is the nly one you need to regulate.

The coolant is only cooling the heads, and the cooler the heads, the more power/efficiancy gained.

Iv spent days on end with the coolant never geting over 40c, but i mask the oil cooler to keep the oil temp up.

If coolant temp needed to be regulated, rotax would have intergrated a thermostat.

Run a few 9xx rotaxs out, never had any problems.

What got you into flying?

Need.

I like the way he,d abandon an attempt, pop up enough to get a look over the cab at the next wave, then time his next attempt.

The pad should be out frunt so he can predict the decks movements easier, with less wake turb off the boats cab.

I could be rong, afterall, i live ina desert so water/carrier landings are not my thing.

Drip trays double as heat shields.

Wen it gets over 40c, fuel will boil in the bowl from the radient heat off the headers.

Usualy, wen a vdo goes off the dial, the sender wire has parted company sumwhere.

( and no, i cant blame me ipad, i just cant spell propper. ;) )

Oxymoron, definition; compolsery voteing.

Compolsery voteing is just an eago booster for pollys.

Definatly not democratic.

Yep, if your lookn at it, chances are, youll hit it.

Look where you want to go, not at wot you want to miss.

Had a close call years ago, before my flying days.

Was compeating in the Fink desert race.

Bout 1/2 way down the track there is an old rail sideing, and the only thing still there is the water tank and stand, a very hard steal frame, on the outside of a high speed corner.

Theres a million things to run into along that track, but that tank stand looked like it would hurt the most.

I smoked past it at 160-170kmh, aiming the bike to use all the track and just miss the stand.

I felt the contact on the tip of the handlebar and thought ' sh1t, that was close'.

A ES mate of mine was standn inside the stand frame as i went past, and told me later that he heard 'boing ' as i touched it.

Just as well i wasnt lookn at it.

Jonsey still go,n?

Bloodyell, i just did a quick math, 24 years ago, im old now. :(

The reason i got it was coz i cant see through dust of its go,n flat, and usualy cant feel it either. So if it dont register a sudden loss, like a blow out, or a slow leak, wots the good of it?

$700 a tyre you have to stop well before its flat, coz these modern crap tyres will shred in 20'.

Not sure how much range it was sposed to have ( how many trailers you could hitch up), but im pretty sure it aint 50 miles.

Thats alota trailers.

Dont use a 'tyre dog'.

Had one setup on a small truck, all seemed good, till i unhooked the trailer, and 50 miles down the road, the dog was telln me all was still good, with the trailer 50 miles away. :(

Thats odd?!?!

I was sure id get at least abit of flak from my post.

Not even a slap on the wrist.

Maybe you mob are more thoughtfull and understanding on this forum, unlike a few other forums.

Or you all just think, " wots the point, this blokes way beyond help." :)

Oh, nature definatly inventd a million types of wings, but not a single axle.

Thats wot seperates us from the rest. ;)

And im not sure id like a ride ona seed.

Im going to get shot down in a flaming hail of abuse for this post, but im go,n to post it anyway.

In twenty odd years, iv had one, only one forced landing coz of fuel starvation.

Since then, iv always filled my own drums, and transfered to the machine with my own drum pump, WITH FILTER.

And to realy rile the punces, the in line plastic/paper filter on the machine now is over 4 years old, and at a ruf calculation, has passed about 20 000L of premium.

At every 50hr service i flow check it, ( hasnt chamged since new) at 100 hours i drop the bowls and am yet to find a single passed speck. ( so its still functioning)

Its protected from UV and well insulated from all vibrations.

Ill soon be replaceing all flexable fiel lines coz theyv gon hard, but the filter will stay.

If it aint broke, dont fix it.

As is rit on the fuel cap of my CAT machinery, " use clean fuel, keep it clean".

Drum pump filters are mandatory here, and if your usen jerrys, NEVER drain all fuel into your tank.

Fire away.

The only thing a man has invented, that billions of years of evolution, or countless gods ( which ever your way) hadnt perfected, is the axle.

Nunthn special, till you attatch a couple of rotor blades to it.

Its a dung beetle.

You dont walk around with your mouth open at sun set.

Theyll take a tooth out.

And dont get me rong Oscar, i dont mind be,n aroused. ;)

You make it sound like its a bad thing. :(

If you can get the engine to start and run, then the pressure drop in the venturi of the carby will cool it rapidly-

Yep, i know this, but im refering to the carb bowl.

Fuel is under pressure to the needle, then into ambient pressure in the bowl ( 912).

If its temp had it boiling in the tank (ambient) then why wouldnt it just vaporise soons it gets past the float needle?

I know thered be sum liquid fuel in the bottom of the bowl where the venturi picks up, but the relative level has to be much lower than it should.

Then again, the needle will stay full open till the level comes up,............, sorry, thinkn outload ere.

Riteo, even tho the fuel boils past the needle, most of it stays liquid.

Where do the excess vapors go?

First time iv actualy pondered this, if you hadnt gessed already.

Maybe i should just shudup n fly.

BTW, sudden engine silence is invigorating for me.

I seem to get aroused by the sound of autorotating rotors. ;)

How does this work?

Your spoton Oscar, the primary/ boost/ feed/first or wotever you want to call it pump MUST be as close to, and below the tank outlet.

This ensures the hole systm is under pressure to prevent excess boiling.

Many times iv refueled from a drum or jerry with fuel that is already boiling.

If its uphill from the pump intake to the bottom of the fuel tank, with no restrictions of any vapor to get back into the tank, you SHOULDNT have any starvation.

One thing id like an expert to clear up for me is, if iv just refueled with boiling fuel, the ambiant is still >40c and you could cook a steak on the cowl, why dose the engine still run fine?

I woulda thought, even with a properly setup system, wen the fuel got past the float needle it nstantly vaporise and, if it didnt die, itd be at least run,n very lean.

I know the first sign of lean mix is increased EGTs for a given load, but iv never seen it with hot fuel.

What's the availability of avgas and Premium at places like Warburton, Giles and Carnegie, please? Bulk or drums?

Buggered if i know Kaz, im along way from there, but id gess itd be a long fly between drinks, like it is on this side of the NT.

Iv never used a drop of that opal s***t, iv heard many storys, and heard a few very sick engines that were tryn to run on it.

Of course all the sperts recon theres nuthn rong with it, but those idiots aint driven across the desert either.

I did try sum to light a fire once, didnt work much better than an oily rag.

Premium only FH, i wouldnt put that opal poison in me mower.

I agree with Neil, the best engineered engine will still stop with air contamination.

Because im rarely above 200', and always lookn outside, iv never been a fan of a gauge for monitering for sumthing as critical as low fuel pressure.

Vaporlock starvation is instantainious silence at full throttle, so youd have to be lookn at the gauge to know sumthings amiss.

I thought id beet this issue by installing a low pressure warning, thatd get my attention no matter wot i was doing, set to just below WOT pressure. My thinking was, no matter the reason, if the buzzer went off, the fuel in the bowls will give me those precious coupla seconds id need to level and put down.

Found out the hard way that, even with the sender unit rigged just before the T to the carbs, and after a mechanical and electric pump, it wont always register a vaporising related pressure drop.

Most times it will, but its dependant on the residual temps and the rate of consumption.

If consumption is low and the fuel gets hot, and sudden bust of power will demand a big increase in flow.

This demand means the pressure in the lines drops fast, the fuel boils under the sudden pressure release, and maintains the pressure, so the buzzer switch didnt trip.

Wen ambient temps are above about 43c the buzzer can be annoying, coz its always 'blipping'.

But at least i know its workn, and if the blips turn to a howl, get it down, now!