bushcaddy105

Have you checked whether Foxcon are still making belt drives? I've been flying behind one on a Subaru EA81 for the last 11 years

Greg has already PM'd me for information about my EA81'd BushCaddy.

If the winds at Clare last night were anything like they were here, only a large buried concrete tie down point would have had any hope of holding a lifting surface down. A huge blue gum in our front yard was torn out roots and all, and that was growing in rocky ground. Went out with SES this evening to a farmhouse which had 70% of its roof dumped in the yard, timbers and all. True cyclone conditions. As a fellow 19- builder, I share your heartache at seeing the above result.

Many thanks to all who have contributed to my initial post. Now for an update - I have been using the loan aids for over a month, and last week bought them. They are just so good! I keep hearing subtle noises that I hadn't been aware of missing (like hearing my boots crunching on gravel, and the variety of bird calls in the background). Conversations with a table of people in a noisy pub are now easy, and the aids aren't just focussed on where I am looking. I hear conversations behind me as well. At first they were not good with the ANR headset, producing a background hissing noise. The Audiologist added an automatic feedback suppression program and all is well now. The only minor issue remaining is that my own voice sounds different to me. I'll have to get used to that. As a bonus, I have set my phone to ring and send audio straight to the hearing aids, (great for flying) and music bluetoothed (now with correction for my hearing) straight to the aids sounds fantastic. The biggest regret is that I should have done it 5 years ago when aids were first suggested, and not listened to mates who told horror stories about how impossible aids were.

Anyone having trouble getting access to the L1 on-line learning site? A week ago I tried to have a look at what it is all about, but the username and password sent to me wouldn't work. Assuming I had stuffed up I requested another password, which also didn't work. Next step:- I sent an email to RaAus with their automated password message attached and requested help. As of today there has been no reply to my email. My current train of thought is that I made an honest attempt to use their imposed system (which I consider to be a slap in the face for a 19 builder who previously held an L2 rating), so I will just wait for the reply and carry on regardless doing what I have always done - even if past the required date next year. Any thoughts?

I flew over on Thursday, had a great day Friday, but chose to leave on Saturday morning rather than Sunday as planned due to South Australia's weather forecast. Glad I did! Today's weather here certainly would have made it difficult to say the least. Two other upper Spencer Gulf flyers who attended made the same decision. We had 30 knots on the nose as far as Cobar, but it progressively dropped off after that. We listened to the radio traffic while on this leg and it was non-stop arrivals, so Saturday must have been huge. My impression was that it reminded me of the early Natflys at Narromine - the place was just buzzing and the freedom to wander amongst all the aircraft in an easily accessible space was welcome. The catering by the Aero club, the Gliding club, Rotary and private vendors was excellent and affordable, the trade displays were well presented and well attended, and the showers were steaming hot no matter how well used. The two forums I attended were well worthwhile. Even the brown snake we chased away from between aircraft must have been having a good look! Well done organizers, we have been missing an annual event of this calibre.

Thanks all for your input Yes, the wizzbang aids I've ordered have 16 programmable frequency bands and will be adjusted to provide the amplification needed for each of these bands. They also have some mechanism for being able to adjust for sound direction. I will also be able to use an iPhone app to adjust them myself if I need to. I'm pleased to hear that I should be able to wear them under my existing ANR headset. I'll let you know when I've tried them.

Many thanks Frank. I appreciate your efforts.

Thank you for the offer, Frank. Please may I have a copy. Having flown in to Maralinga from Coober Pedy I can appreciate the terrain and how easy it would be to lose ground reference. [email protected]

Old age and industrial deafness have caught up. With not inconsiderable nagging from the family I have at last ordered new wizz-bang hearing aids. Can anyone help with advice about how to best incorporate aviation headsets with hearing aids? I currently use an ANR adapted Pilot brand headset run from aircraft power, but without Bluetooth. The new aids are designed to work with iPhones and iPads via Bluetooth. All ideas gratefully received!

Saw it 2 days ago. If you take it for what is intended (a great story BASED on fact), it is extremely well done. Meant a lot to us as Sully and Skiles were guest speakers at the International visitors welcome at Airventure 2009 - barely 6 months after the event. It was awe-inspiring to hear their story first-hand.

Some sections now coming up, others e.g. food, underwing camping still not found. Bed time, so will try tomorrow!

Anyone else having trouble with ozkosh.com.au? All I get is "This website can't be reached" Given the advertising in Sport Pilot and the links in Ra-Aus emails, I would have expected info to be available by now. I had planned to go, but without any information available I am re-considering.

I'm a firm believer in the science through related experience. My 1923 vintage car has wood spoke wheels and 3 1/2 inch wide tyres. When first restored there was a real problem with wheel balance. Not having any shock absorbers made it worse. The front wheels in particular would jump up and down while driving. The traditional approach was to locate an old on-the-car wheel balancer and use sheet lead wrapped around the spokes as weights. Some web trawling revealed that many members of the Model T Ford club in the US were using a system of glass beads inside the tubes as a dynamic balancer. I bought a kit from the States as an experiment, and yes, it works superbly. With the car on a hoist (so no weight on the wheel) the beads are all at the bottom of the tyre and if you spin up the wheel by hand the up and down motion reduces as the speed increases to the point where their is no vibration. The beads are distributed around the circumference as needed to balance the rotating mass and are then held there by centrifugal force until the rotation stops. About 5,000 km later the tyres are worn in a completely uniform manner. From memory, it was only 6 ounces of beads per wheel. I have since heard that steering wheels on prime movers use the same system. A plastic bag of beads is placed in the tubeless tyre when fitted to the rim and it breaks open as soon as the wheel rotates.

I also was asked to send copies of my maintenance logbook (19 rego aircraft) with my last renewal and I happily complied. As I am the only person to have ever worked on this aircraft in its 10 years of flying, I requested feedback as to whether my record keeping was adequate or otherwise. To date I haven't had a reply.

Ian, please add an altitude field to your airfield descriptor list.

2 relevant comments - The only way we have found to get rid of caltrop is a weekly walk-around with a fork and rubbish bag. Lift the whole plant out and then burn the collection in winter. Even still, after some years with negligible new plants the right combination of summer rain and warm days old seed in the ground will germinate. After getting flats at my home airport I bought golf buggy tyres for the mains. The tread is too thick for the spines to penetrate. The downside - they pick up stones on gravel strips and chuck them at the tail plane.

Tonight's TV news pics showed a badly damaged aircraft, although it's hard to know how much of this was as a result of the rescue.

Just found this thread, having temporarily relocated to Adelaide. As one of the retired Baby Boomers I can assure you that I don't intend to "pop my clogs", nor do I have the inclination to buy a "GA wannabe". What does concern me is that there will ALWAYS be the current pathway for those who choose to build and maintain their own aircraft, including engines other than Jab or Rot; that is the 19 category. Already (if I correctly interpret the constantly changing rules) it is now not possible for the purchaser of a pre-owned 19 aircraft to conduct their own maintenance, regardless of how much experience that they can demonstrate, including having perhaps having previously built 19 aircraft themselves. I totally agree that in order to maintain your own aircraft there must be some assessment and accreditation of skills, but this must also take on board the homebuilts. As to getting young people on board - we are trying! During the past 10 years I have been teaching the engineering component of the Aviation Program at Mid North Christian College in Pt. Pirie, SA. This program also teaches all BAK, Nav, HF and Meteorology to Pilot Certificate level and also provides flight training through Spencer Gulf Flight Training. The program aims to provide a wide background knowledge of hands-on aviation rather than attempt to provide industry qualifications. Students gain accreditation in the SACE (Sth Aust Cert of Ed). Over the years many of our students have gained positions in RAAF , gone on to CPL, started their path to LAME or simply continued to fly recreationally. The continued success of this program suggests that it is a viable way to introduce school students to flying.

Welcome Jeff, and I am flattered by my elevation to guru status! You must have been putting some time in to the Celebrity to have completed so much. I must make the effort to detour via Riverton some time soon so I can take a look.

Gooday Jacques If you get homesick while in Oz you are welcome to visit my BushCaddy R80 - A great product of Quebec province. I haven't, however, taught it to understand French.

A Technam Eaglet according to ABC Local radio report this morning

Here's another take:- Turning (too sharply) 180 degrees at the end of a backtrack to line up for takeoff, the Matco locking tailwheel unlocked and there wasn't enough forward speed to bring it back in to line for it to self-lock again. End result - stationary at 90 degrees to runway and having to climb out and push tail back into place. This certainly made the passenger a tad nervous. Thinking about it afterwards, full opposite rudder and a blast of power may have saved the day, but I've never allowed myself to get into this situation again to try this fix.

I treasure the time when Ross camped underwing close to me at Natfly Temora and I showed him over my homebuilt. The wisdom and enthusiasm he demonstrated is what our movement is all about. We all owe it to Ross to keep the enthusiasm alive. My thoughts go to his family- they have lost a great man.