bushcaddy105

I'm late to this thread, but my experience was that when building, if everything was working out well in the first hour, I could find myself still hard at it 12 hours later. If things didn't seem to go as desired in the first hour I would walk away and do other jobs until the urge to do more took over, even days or weeks later.. The only other hint is to plan the next session's work by going through the plans/instructions the night before so that the task is fresh in mind. Hope this helps keep you going - believe me, the end result will be an achievement that will will stay with you forever.

Back to the topic - Apparently not enough airport watchers in SA. ABC radio this afternoon broadcast the official announcement that baggage handlers at Adelaide Airport were testing positive and the health authorities were trying to trace potentially affected travellers.

Was GME until 7yr battery expiry date approached. Would have cost more than a new one to have replacement battery fitted. Bought a 10yr battery KTI for less, still meets the same regulatory requirements. Go figure?

Marty, if you are driving from Adelaide to Alice Springs you will be passing close to Port Pirie, my home airfield. You are welcome to have a squiz at the BushCaddy I built and weather permitting, experience our great flying over the Southern Flinders Ranges and Spencer Gulf. PM me for contact details.

I picked up the iPad on Saturday morning to plan a short trip and found the new route planning page quite confusing. When I brought up the old-style one leg-one line plan and imported the winds, the wind direction imported made no sense and was contrary to that shown on Windy. When I left the iPad home and flew the route from memory it confirmed that Windy was spot-on. Anyone else had this happen? As another "old fart" (or at least aging), and a VFR only flier, I also am feeling that OzRunways is going the way of Windows 10 - Lots of whiz-bang stuff that is 80+% unused and only confuses the core role of flight planning and flight following. I support the call for an OzRunways Lite.

Thanks KG Yes, I must have fallen through the cracks, and yes, I have been continuously paid-up since 1992. I have also just done the survey and added my comments at the end in the hope that they will be taken on board. I agree that the options on many questions were insufficient to allow an accurate response.

What survey?? Has it been sent to ALL members, or just a sample, selected by means unknown? I certainly haven't received it, nor have I been able to find it on the RaAus website. I used to receive e-news emails, but haven't seen them for months. Now that there is no longer a monthly magazine I am the classic mushroom! And no, none of my contact details have changed in years. Where is this RaAus that I read about on this forum?

Sport Aviation, the monthly magazine of the Experimental Aviation Association has just concluded a 3-part tutorial on this very subject. Carol and Brian Carpenter write a regular monthly column titled "Technically Speaking" and the August, September and October 2019 editions have addressed this topic in great detail. The magazines are available online, but I don't know if they are only available to members. As an aside, I joined to get cheaper tickets to Oshkosh back in 2009 but have maintained my membership for the wealth of technical info online, and to get the monthly magazine which I rate as the best I have ever seen. My choice of fuel? Nearly always Avgas - mainly because I only have to push the plane out of the hangar to the card swipe pump. I also consider the price premium cheap insurance in that I am buying a known, safe product. I have used 98 Premium Mogas when travelling, but am wary of what it might contain. My 1980's Subaru engine was originally built for leaded fuel and I haven't had any trouble with Avgas. Oil and filter every 50 hours, and check the platinum tipped spark plugs. Never had a fouling issue in over 800 hours.

I stumbled upon this news item in "The Chronicle", August 16, 1962 "6 Pilots Die MELBOURNE --- Six RAAF pilots were killed yesterday afternoon when four Vampire jet aircraft crashed in formation near the RAAF base, East Sale. They were practising formation aerobatics and it is believed were doing a barrel roll when the planes hit the ground and exploded. Two were being flown solo and two carried a passenger." Does anyone remember this accident? I'm not old enough!

At a Cessnock forum I sought confirmation that currently 19- registered 600kg MTOW aircraft would continue with the L1 maintenance AND modification conditions that currently apply, ie anything goes but the owner/builder takes FULL responsibility. This was clearly confirmed. The factory approval (or MARAP) for repairs and/or modifications only applies to aircraft registered under the LSA provisions.

I flew in from Rylstone on Thursday morning (just before the deluge), having camped there overnight due to the strong westerlies on Wednesday and the one N/S strip at Cessnock. Yes, there is no way I'd want to be flying direct. As one local told me - there's good reason why it took 2 centuries to discover the Wollemi pine in that area! Tracking over the Northern end of the tiger country gives many opportunities to duck out down valleys running out to the North. After clearing the Dochra restricted area it's only a 10 nm run down to Cessnock. I reversed the route on Sunday to fly out via Mudgee. It's still a b...... long way from South Oz at 80-85 kts!

As previously posted, I think your expectations for an EA81 are too high, both in weight reduction and power output. I personally prefer a bit more weight and a bit less power for the sake of reliability. This formula has worked well for the 12 years and 750+ hours I have been flying behind my EA81. (This is my conversion, not a commercial one).

If this amount of weight reduction was possible, I would have done it long ago. Even without an alternator and using exhaust stubs and with an aluminium flywheel (not recommended IMHO) I can't see that 165lbs is possible.

No problem getting mine I didn't go last year, but appreciate the efforts to make this year more about pilots and aircraft flying in, so will support it. If I can't get there from SA (weather dependent as usual) I'll be glad to donate the quite reasonable admission and camping fees to the cause.

Thanks Ian I forgot how much better the old site was (is) until it returned! I'm only speaking from the users end - it may well be more difficult for you, so I thank you for your efforts.

I have recently looked at 2 different seven stage, computer controlled, "smart chargers", one I bought new and the smart bit didn't work - it charged flat out no matter what. I returned it for a refund, grudgingly given. The second one was an up-market (expensive) brand 15 amp unit owned by a friend. Same story, no smarts, only full charge. So I still use an old (probably 20+ years) Caddymate charger from a golf cart. All it does is charge at 2.8 amps until the battery is full charge and then reverts to constant voltage float charge suitable for long term maintenance. It isn't "smart", but just works well without the fancy add-ons -i.e. no computer! Just tried and proven analogue control.

We are in the Midnorth of South Australia, where windfarms are growing like weeds. (And we have the highest retail prices in the world). Plans have just been lodged for yet another one in the Southern Flinders Ranges, the nearest turbine being only 3.5 Km from the main street of Crystal Brook and 2 Km from the edge of town. The development application calls for 4.8 Megawatt turbines, 240 metres from ground to top of blade arc. They are approx. 3 times taller than the hills they will sit on. If this goes ahead we will not be out of sight of wind turbines for the first 100 Km of our drive to Adelaide. Sure, we need renewable energy but where will it all end? General Electric have already developed a 12 Megawatt turbine for offshore use, but about 5 years ago their 4.8 Mw turbine was the largest offshore unit - now used on land. I routinely overfly turbines, but want at least 500 feet clearance. Looks like I'll have to fly higher in future! Interestingly, the Snowtown windfarm often has low cloud downwind, reaching to ground level of the hills. Does the turbulence cause precipitation of moisture? The low cloud only extends to the end of the row of turbines.

Thanks Blueadventures for your reply I don't have the room in my panel for a round or square radio as the Icoms are only about 35mm high. I also find that reading those tiny radios is difficult with my aging eyes - hence the appeal of the much larger readout of the Icom I'm used to using. If all else fails I'll just keep using old faithful until (or if) it dies.

Thanks Mark There's still the question of whether the non-TSO version is actually approved for use in Australia. As you have said, the rules are rather muddy (if able to be found anywhere) and authorative interpretation of them is hidden in the mud!

Picking up on this thread:- I'm considering replacing my faithful Icom A200 with a new radio with dual watch capability, seeing that Icom now list the A200 as no longer able to be serviced. I'm committed to the format of the Icom as my panel was originally designed around that profile without much room for change. The Icom A220 would obviously fit my needs, but there doesn't seem to be any reliable info as to whether it is Australian approved in a non-TSO'd version. These are available for less than half the cost of the TSO'd one, and I haven't been able to find out just what is the technical difference between them. The old A200 is non-TSO and has performed admirably for the last 12 years. Can anyone please enlighten me?

Late to read the thread but I have never used additives after a mate's experience in the early 1970's. Old Landcruiser, 135 F engine (yes, that old!) was starting to use oil. After seeing a demo of STP using the pressure-on-the-roller trick he added it to the engine. Next day the engine stopped with a bang. I got to strip it down to investigate. Short answer - one or more cam followers had seized which in turn reduced the camshaft to 3 pieces. It appeared that the gooey STP had blocked the small oil feed holes from the gallery which fed the followers. Co-incidence? I don't believe so, particularly since this was a high mileage engine which was well run in. To this day I only use a recognized brand of oil of a grade as specified by the engine maker. Never had a problem. It's over-extending the change intervals that does the damage IMHO.

One of the reasons I chose my number was to have single-syllable digits, so "4 5 6 4" is easier and faster to say than " 45 64" . Four syllables against six. Now I'm not sure whether "Forty-five sixty-four" isn't easier to pick up and understand on the other end of the communication. What are your thoughts?

At risk of being accused of living in the past:- When I started flying in the early 1990's, we used to drive to the FLY-INS at Mangalore and then Narromine. After building my own wings in the early 2000's I flew to the FLY-INS at Narromine and then Temora. What corporate funding did these require? Any commercial enterprises wishing to advertise their wares paid for a site, local enterprises and charity groups profited from the catering, and we had hundreds of aircraft fly in and we all had a good time. Any "airshow" was impromptu and cost nothing. Each 2 years we went to the AIRSHOW at Avalon to see the big (read "expensive") displays both static and airborne. I flew in to 3 Avalons and thoroughly enjoyed them for what they were. The 2 events were distinct and separate and served different purposes. The above formula worked well , so how and why did we get to the current farcical situation? I did fly in to OzKosh 2016, and thought that perhaps we were heading back in the right direction. I had planned to be at Airventure Australia 2017 in the hope of it being bigger and better than last year, but in light of recent developments and lack of transparent organization I have cancelled these plans. Sorry folks, but I think we have collectively lost the plot.

Depends on the type of kit - A kit with every last component supplied (RV12?) could benefit from sub-assembly packaging, but with a few extra applicable rivets in each pack. A materials kit would be better off with bulk packaging of each different fastener type. This makes it easier for individual variations on design, eg panel, alternative engines, nav light options, etc. Other issue - Has there ever been a kit with perfect instructions and/or every drawing correctly notated?

My first 35 hours was almost exclusively in a Lightwing 582. This gave me the appreciation of tailwheelers which led to my building one, and to my opinion that the tailwheel rudder is THE most important control. Hundreds of tailwheel hours later, I am still learning from my experiences when conditions are less than ideal.