RetiredRacer

All's good guys, thanks But I'm still not sure what to think about FT's or should it be :faint:And BEX I had to say that, I could not help myself!!

Robyn really is an easy going person and it is rare for her to "complain about anything". For her to get this upset about something means it really rattled her. Robyn uses very little make up (if any) when she is flying so she wasn't expecting to find beauty products under a tab for pilots. You and I being males might not understand her getting upset over something simple like this, but the day she got her pilots certificate she was as proud as hell (and rightfully so). So I guess she thought Clear Prop's idea of a pilot who was female was put them under a separate tab and sell them make up!!! But she is happy now that Ian has explained things. Thanks Ian. For you guys that gave her some support, thanks. I think she needed that after some of the other remarks and "BEX", I thought you would have known"BETTER"!! Dutch, my next door neighbour who has a boy and a girl, and is what you are talking about. He bought a trail bike for his son and when his daughter said she wanted one too he told her girls don't ride trail bikes, they help their mum's out in the house!! Blue sky's guys. Bob

Hi David, We regularly do that trip from Watts Bridge to W'bool and back. You would have enjoyed that trip with it being in your new toy. Was that Sportstar bought from the school or was it a private one owned by a farmer who used to hangar his in Frank Harrington's hangar near the school? That one was GA registered the last time I saw it. Enjoy that beautiful bird! Bob

Congratulations mate on your journey, well done!! Bob

He did a better job of parking it than the cops did parking the 4x4. But I shudder to think he may have man handled it into the parking spot swinging on the "LIVE" prop!!!!!

Ok, I thought it was about time I reported back on 396 hrs of flying in the 4 1/2 years that we have had our RV9a in the air with some numbers etc. The Rotec TBI we had on the 0-235 for the first 100 hours was out of the first batch that Rotec produced, since then we have replaced it with a later model (instead of having the old model upgraded) and have learnt to fine tune it to get the most out of the small 0-235. I also replaced the original exhaust that was fitted when I built the aircraft with the new lighter smaller tubed exhaust that was designed for Lycomings new 0-233 LSA engines. To help keep running costs down I designed the fuel system when I was building the plane to run on mogas without having to worry about vapour-lock. our 9a has an electric "push" pump mounted next to the fuel tank in each wing root and does not have an engine mounted mechanical fuel pump. A small "dyno" type alternator was mounted on the accessory case along with a tiny battery to supply electrical back-up for the fuel pumps (if the need arose). But with testing we have found the TBI is happy to keep supplying the engine with fuel by gravity feed only (no pumps), not only for normal cruising but also for 500'-600' a minute climbs and this is with minimum fuel in tanks. Because of this I removed the back-up alternator and battery and along with this weight saving and the lighter exhaust system I fitted earlier I was able to fit wheel pants and leg fairings and still keep our aircraft under the minimum weight required by RAA. Fitting the leg fairing and wheel pants resulted in a win win situation, not only did the 9a cruise at a 10 knot higher airspeed at the same rpm but it also did it using 1-2 litres less fuel per hour. This means we are now able to travel further on the same amount of fuel or, carry less fuel to travel the same distance. Ok, now some figures. Please keep in mind this may be a RV but it was built to be able to register it RAA and to achieve this a small light low compression, air cooled Lycoming 0-235 CTC engine was chosen. This engine is plated @ 108hp and according to Lycoming has a t/o hp of 115, Take off and climb out with two up is around 1000' a minute to circuit height then the nose needs to be lowered slightly to allow speed to build up to around 110kts to keep the air cooled engine temps down while climbing further. Short local flights with take off and a cruise between 2500' and 4500' at around 2300 RPM will give us 120 IAS and a 22 LPH ROP average fuel consumption. Cruising at altitude above 5000', we can expect at the same RPM and IAS a 138-142kt TAS and a 20LPH fuel flow. 55% power ROP gives us 110kts and 18 litres per hour while 55% power LOP still at 110kts will shrink the consumption to 16 LPH. Pushing the 9a over 130 kts IAS will push the fuel consumption up around 30 LPH or more. Cheers. Bob

Welcome back Scott, I'm looking forward to checking her out.

Thanks Frank, you hit the nail smack bang in the centre of the head!!

My wife has her certificate so that's covered for us, but we took it a little bit further. When I designed the instrument panel I designed it so the aircraft could be flown from either seat. Then before she started training I booked time with the instructor to do some right seat flying and now she has done the same. So now we share the flying and it does not matter which seat we are sitting in we are just as much in control (and as tidy). Bob

Awesome Scott!!!

You DON'T!!! YOU LOAD TO WEIGHT AND BALANCE!!! The same as you would with GA aircraft like a c150 and others like it. There are other aircraft types in RAA where a pilot has to be RESPONSIBLE and load to WEIGHT AND BALANCE not just RV's!! Yes, but that was because of falsified weights of 100kg or more from a certain person and I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to falsify their aircraft's weight any more, even for one or two kg's! You NEVER risk running short of fuel no matter what type of aircraft you fly. Knowing your aircraft limitations, you LOAD and PLAN for a SAFE trip.......... LEGALLY!!! Cheers Bob

Rob, the guy with the red -4 from Vic is Russell Arther. I'll PM you his details. Cheers

Congratulations Geoff, well done. Nearly 200 hours mostly in duel and hired aircraft!!! You certainly are committed to your goals. Well done. Bob

Mike, I can't confirm what it is now as there 's nothing in print that I've been able to find. When I registered our 9a it was in clear print on their web; 80 kg per seat and 23% of the engines rated horspower converted to Kg's. In our case our Lycoming 0235 c2c is plated at 108 hp and 23% of 108 is 25 and this becomes 25kg. 80+80=160+25=185 kg. Our 9a weighed in at 406kg so our 9a's total weight to their formular was 591kg so it was legal to register it in the 600 kg class as a two seater. Bob

Mike, let me lnow if Yenn is not able to help you. There is a red RV4 (registered single seat) in Melbourne, which is probably the one that Yenn is talking about as he comes up here a lot. And I'll dig up some contact details and PM you. Are you still in Kununarra or are you back in Bundy now? Bob Dennis

Congratulations Rob, I've been waiting for this post from you

What an awesome collection, WOW!!!!!

Nice poteroo, you would have to be very pleased.

When I was building our RV9a I was unsure I could build it light enough to register it RAA. So I reserved a VH number I liked just in case. It was VH-VRN. To me that was RV (in reverse) and the "N" was for nine but as it turned out I didn't need it so I let it go. Bob

Hi John, I know when you are doing a trip spending $$ on fuel and Accommodation etc, you don't want to spend on something you may never use again (especially if your a pensioner). We're members of the SE Qld club but we are not doing that trip. We have two life vests we can loan you

Congratulations Raizo!! Now enjoy your hard work!!

Chris, I didn't have much luck with Michael (Gold Coast) but if you Google XCom they have a tech support number (Brisbane) but I can't remember his name. He's the one to deal with.

I had the same problem with the Bose and the XCom. Get in touch with XCom technical support (in Brisbane). He readjusted my headset and have had no more problems.

Congratulations Geoff, well done!!

There is a doctor in Ipswich with the name Dr Careless.