peter

I have the Belite slip indicator. LED’s arranged much like an analog gauge, have found it extremely good to use, turns red when slipping and green when balanced, if you checkout the YouTube video, cockpit view landing the Onex, you can see it working. If the gauge you have highlighted had been available when I built I would have bought it instead. In fact next time I pull the dash out I may well change over, thanks for sharing, Peter

Most aerovee powered Sonex use the aero carb, it gets a lot of talk, pros and cons on the Sonex forums. I run one in my Onex and am pretty happy with it. It is designed for gravity feed systems which is what I primarily use however I also have an alternate electric pump driven system using a 1-2 lb pressure regulator which works perfectly well in all attitudes including inverted.

Hi BirdDog, My plane is registered VH experimental, one off registration fee, one off license fee for RPL, I do all my own maintenance. I am fit and well so 2 yearly medical is pretty cheap. My plane weighs only 283kg, is a single seat and you would think RAAus would be the way to go but I prefer to be GA. After years of RAAus I have gone GA, the opposite of your experience. I went to Adelaide Biplanes to do the RPL, they were great, minimal number of hours, acknowledged all my RAA experience. The number of things RAAus has done with no evidence just staggers me, such as mandatory 4 build inspections whereas GA is only 3 recommonded visits. Why 4? Why not 27? There is no evidence to back up the change. Will compulsory HF courses stop idiots from being idiots? Minimal number of structural failures and no evidence that engine failures have been related to poor maintenance but suddenly L1 privileges taken away. I hate changes being made in the name of safety because management think it’s a good idea even though they have no evidence to back it up. I have given up my RAAUS membership. Things will have to change before I will go back, Cheers Peter

I own a half share in a hangar at Goolwa, have done for years, on a 25 year lease. It is a private airport and the owner Geoff Eastwood has been really proactive in improving the whole airport. Main runway has been lengthened (and is sealed) , 2 grass crosswind strips have been improved. I trust him, he has given me excellent advice, has loaned me equipment. The benefits of having a “benevolent dictator “ are huge. The benefits of owning the hangar are being able to modify it, solar power, work benches, tables chairs gas cooker for cuppa’s. Keeping all tools on site, very helpful if you do all your own maintenance. Extremely useful when finishing my homebuild aircraft. I have no regrets about having bought in, Peter

Would love great visibility, especially downwards, to be able to take photos of scenery and for general cross country viewing. All Perspex doors? Can you avoid struts which detract from photos? ability to carry enough baggage to allow for camping. Minimum 3 hours but preferably 4 hours endurance Just thoughts!

Back to the original question, yes I would be interested in a small 2 seat electric plane even with limited range. Any shape would be fine with me, exotic, like the facet, would capture my interest. Many posts assume you are aiming at a market like Australia but I have not read anything you have posted that indicates that. There are many markets other than ours. I also would be happy for it to be non certified, fit under experimental VH rather than RAAus so weight would not be an issue. Keep at it, I love following your builds, your imagination and your get out there and give it a go attitude. Thanks

A cheap etrex, mobile phone or ipad with GPS is enough to give you a ground speed, a look out the window at an air sock in the circuit, and you then have a good guestimate of your airspeed, know your plane and you can fly perfectly well with no analogue/digital back up. You should, with not that much practise be able to land with no instruments at all , unless you are IFR/IMC , the instruments are really only a guide. Perhaps I am lucky because my plane is light, responsive and you can feel by how crisp or mushy the controls are as to your approx. airspeed, and after all is that why we practise slow flight at altitude? To learn how our plane feels and responds. If you are sideslipping down final all the instruments become a very rough guide only. I am about keeping it cheap and simple.

The evidence is overwhelming that exercise at any age is beneficial for both mental and physical health, keep going to the gym! Resistance training and high intensity interval training are the most beneficial. Just look at Chris Sperou, pulling 8-9 g's and still doing air shows and he must be close to 80 and he is incredibly fit.

Ian, the assumption that is constantly being made is that a medical examination picks up significant risk/causal factors that allow an adequate risk profile to be established. There is simply no evidence for this. Medical examinations for diving/flying/driving have been demonstrated to be extremely ineffective. The example you quote re diabetes being picked up by urinalysis is a good one to look at. There is significant evidence that your risk of a cardiac event is markedly raised by the time you have impaired fasting glucose, long before any urine or normal blood sugar test is altered. You would need to measure insulin resistance not test urine. The urine test was developed a hundred years ago and is simply no longer valid. The CASA avmed department does not make consistent decisions. The risk of a significant sudden incapacity in someone with stage one prostate cancer is close to nil and yet people are required to submit multiple specialist reports and be monitored incredibly closely, no medical sense in that at all. If someone has had blocked coronary arteries then what does that suggest about their other arteries? Do we make people who have had bypass surgery have their cerebral arteries scanned? Why not? The answer is simple , the overall risk remains low. Most other countries are coming to the simple conclusion that medical examinations don't provide the information needed but are expensive and time consuming. For recreational flying they are a waste of resources. I have spent considerable time discussing the pros and cons of far more stringent medicals used for Antarctic service. The avmed standards are archaic and don't stand up to rigorous inspection. Peter 35 year career in rural, remote and expedition medicine

Yes, a big difference between a LAME who has spent his entire life working on Cessnas/Lycomings/Continentals and an enthusiast who has built and rebuilt many engines, runs a non standard engine, perhaps even something a LAME has never seen before. I used to fly my Cobra with a Subaru engine, aftermarket computer from the states, gearbox from New Zealand. Who is going to understand that? This is experimental, I love tinkering, I get help from others, I spend a lot more time on things than I could possibly afford to pay a LAME to do. We are recreational, fun, experimental, yes tinkerers even and that's what I like about it. I am not flying in CTA, I don't take passengers, I fly over countryside devoid of kindergartens, children's playgroups and huge shopping centres. I want to be able to my own thing!

Didn't vote as I have let my membership lapse. RAAus to me is heading into defacto GA so I have voted with my feet and gone GA even though my MTOW is less than450kg, my engine is not certified, I don't have CTA endorsement, my panel is as simple as it gets, and I just fly for fun, ie recreation! As an owner builder under the SAAA/CASA my build required less inspections than an RAAus plane, which to me is bizarre. A weekend course to understand the paperwork requirements and maintenance is my responsibility. What does RAAus offer other than an easier medical to get?

the best thing about spin training is seeing the rate of descent, how fast it can develop in a steep turn, and because of that experience it has made me fly the last part of my circuits so much more carefully. It has also made me recognise a lot quicker just what my plane is trying to tell me. I believe that at least in my own plane I recognise the onset of stalls much quicker because I have flown it a lot more in and around the stall and that is a direct result of the aerobatic endorsement.

The Warrior may be faster, more reliable and more comfortable but for me the Jabs are more "fun", a bit like choosing a mini or a commodore! I'll take the mini every time

Hi and welcome Ash, what is Project Manager- Aviation capability? which was more fun the Piper or the Jab?

How do I vote no to most of that?

Hi Tony, I etch primed all mated surfaces and of course the plane is painted and lives in the hangar. Will be interesting to see how it goes given the salt environment down here Peter

Kit planes did a review of the Onex which I thought summed it up pretty well. I have posted a YouTube video which gives a good view of my plane flying. "Onex flying over the Coorong ". Stalls dirty in the low 30's Kias, clean in the mid 30's Kias, stalls with some buffet, tends to mush down with no wing drop, straight and level 120kias, on the basic normally aspirated aerovee, climbs minimum 600fpm, Well balanced , hardly ever touch the trim, 2 fingers on the stick is probably 1 too many, easy to fly, easy to land, responsive. It was my first build and I found the kit and instructions/plans straightforward. It is only capable of basic aeros, (which is very much the limit of my ability), so far I have done loops, barrel rolls, aileron rolls, slow rolls,1/2 Cubans, hammerheads, spins. VW parts are cheap, running costs low. I think of it as an honest little plane with modest performance. Many people are put off by the looks of the Sonex range but I like them. Anything specific you would like a photo of? Cheers Peter

I have a stack of silver and copper clecoes sitting gathering rust in the shed (enough to build a Onex!). Free for anyone wishing to collect them from Hindmarsh Island (Goolwa), SA Peter

Saturday or Sunday? Do you know what time? Say hello to Ed from me, Cheers Peter

No, away at the moment, back Thursday, should be around on the weekend. Are you based in Goolwa? Peter

Congratulations, my hangar is just down from the run-up bay if you ever feel Ike a chat, Peter

Compilation of the last few flights, please ignore the sloppy flying, busy playing with the camera! Didn't go anywhere, didn't go near spectacular mountains, no super short field landings,,,,,,,,,,BUT it is possible to have a lot of fun in a kit built plane with a kit built engine, Cheers Peter

Bex, Thankyou for keeping us updated on your progress. I have no knowledge of aeronautical engineering, I have no knowledge of manufacturing processes, my mechanical knowledge is at best basic. I built my Onex from a kit including assembling the aerovee by simply following the manual. I loved the building process and my little plane brings me joy every time the wheels leave the ground. I genuinely hope your project is successful and applaud you putting it all out here on the net for basic punters like me to observe the process, learn a little and enjoy. Thankyou, Peter

Perhaps a good start to this idea would be to sell the Canberra office and buy/rent somewhere like Narromine. To be saying we need airports of our own whilst steadfastly holding on to an office in the worst possible place to fly to is somewhat amusing.