TechMan

No..!

In the best voice of Cartman as the Jabiru - "You will respect my authoritar!" On a serious note - glad to hear no one was seriously hurt. It must have been quite a bang to turn the 206 around 90 degrees. Chris

Thanks for the info Andy. Have taken it up with Jabiru for the moment to see if they have any alternatives available. Chris

Arthur, while I agree with you, you actually know the answer. It is a certificated aircraft. It has been mentioned to me that Tonini's are somewhat out of balance from the factory, so if you have one, best balance it properly. It would be wise to undo the bolts every now and then anyway to release any possible pressure increase during the changing seasons. On the other hand, get a REG35 to sign out a 3 bladed for your Tecnam and away you go, otherwise, build a Tecnam yourself from a kit and you can put whatever prop you want on it. Chris

I take it the aircraft had the relevant Engineering Order to fit the VG's onto the lightwing, if it was 25 registered? ;) Chris

For those interested in more info about fuel injection can view: http://www.experimentalfuelinjection.com/default.html Chris

Ian, I am no expert in this, but if one buys something that does not do what it has been marketed and sold to do, then we have protection under consumer affairs or Dept of Fair Trading. If an importer is refusing to assist a person and the aircraft fails to meet the marketed hype, then you may have a case against the importer as Pelorus has already pointed out. Perhaps once people actually want to only deal with the manufacturer and not the importer, and tell the manufacturer that if they have to deal with the importer they won't buy the product, then perhaps self regulation will become the power that is missing? As has already been mentioned, it is a small industry and word gets around fast. Chris

That is correct to a point. I would not look at Importer as importers come and go. It is the manufacturer you need to look at, because if they go belly up, then the "factory" built aircraft drop down to experimental and cannot be used for training anymore, unless someone else (does not have to be a manufacturer, can be a person) picks up the pieces and 'acts' as the manufacturer. CASA AC21.41 and .42 have the requirements for LSA. Chris

Its a difficult one Ian. Generally it is between the wannabe importer and the supplying factory to make the determination whether they will represent their product the way they would hope. You would think that the supplying factory would be most interested in hearing about any negative experiences that include their product and thereby getting the supplying factory to make the necessary 'adjustments' in behaviour / attitude etc or give it to someone who will represent their product accordingly. The authorising body (RA-Aus for eg) does make it clear that any continuing airworthiness requirements are to be made aware of by the importer. The authorising body however cannot interfere with whether or not the importer has enough money to be able to carry a complete aircraft in spares. That is between the importer and the supplying factory. Just my thoughts. Chris

Narromine will be holding an Air Show on the 29/30 September for those interested in coming along to see 'Aviation Promotion'. The aviation sub committee are also inviting those that would like to put on a static display or put up a stall, to contact Murray Feddersen from the Aviation operations committee. Those interested in contacting Murray can PM me and I will send you his mobile number. There is a slight possibility that demonstration flights may be available, though being an airshow, it is not as open as NATFLY. Part of the line up will be: Wright Flyer, one or two of the Roulettes, Pip Borman turning himself inside outside again, glider water dumps, mass balloon launch, formations fly pasts etc etc. Food will be available and stalls selling aviation equipment will also be there. RA-Aus will have the tent there as well. All are welcome, so see you there. Chris

The Govt has already indicated that they will be jamming the mobile phone network in the area that the mobsters are in. Whether the US will fly theirs too, just to be sure I do not know. Personally I can't see why they would...

Hi All, Dave Caban and Ron West have been elected for NSW Jenny Taberner was elected for Vic as Nick Kasperovic is not running again Myles Breitkreutz and John McKeown have been elected for QLD Chris

Just to update you so far on what has been received by the office: We have received a total of 907 valid votes from the 3 areas. 343 votes from ACT/NSW from total of 1953 members eligible to vote equals 17.56%. 289 votes from Victoria from total of 1713 equals 16.87% 275 votes Qld from a total of 1808 equals 15.9% 63 Invalid votes (mainly no member no. stated, invalid member no. or expired/invalid membership) This was at 12.00pm today. Last ballots will be collected from the mail at 4.00pm after which counting will begin. To see it the other way round 84% of members in the election states chose not to have a voice or don't think that any of the candidates are worth voting for no matter how much they are bombard with unsolicited emails with voting preferences! :confused: (The 63 invalid votes can be called the remaining 0.4%. At least they tried) We are still a little behind the 28% which is supposedly the 'norm' in other elections - according to Middo. Well done to those that voted. Counting starts after 5.00pm once all the supervisors have arrived. Will be able to post the results once the new office bearers are made aware of their positions. Chris

Man and his Harvard Thats all for this month...

DC3 This time from my own files..

Ventus 2cx The most current shape of high performance gliders used for record distance flying and also for speed around tasks. (in vertical format for the cover ;) ) Permission for use available. Chris

How low can you go? Photos taken recently at the pre world championships held in Germany. Pictures taken from www.glidingpictures.com

I hope he has put the different leading edge on too. Simply removing the slat on the original wing is not something that is endorsed by the factory and is certainly not recommended. It has implications on the CG range and the distribution of lift as you are removing a chunk of the wing chord. Then again, it is 'experimental' ... Chris

750kgs is a while away yet, and can be measured in the length of a string. A discussion paper on the increase is circulating inside CASA at the moment and should be out on their website for discussion at some point in time, hopefully sooner rather than later. With regard to increasing levels of complexity - they have been around for a little while now. Aircraft with coupled auto pilots / wing levellers, retracts, variable pitch props, exotic composite constructions and close to 300hp engines. I agree that the competencies of the people that are meant to be maintaining these aircraft can be questioned, yet to date the accident statistics do not appear to be related to owner maintenance worries. The bigger issue is training people in how to use the increase in self inflicted complexity to stop them deviating from the first rule - Aviate - that is the hard thing to get across in my opinion. I say self inflicted because we choose to have a variable pitch prop, we choose to have retracts and we choose to pack the cockpit full of the latest hi -tech gear that ensures our heads are more than often inside the cockpit rather than looking outside at what is coming toward you. Chris

If you are looking to buy a new gazelle, the next best thing is the Eurofox. Otherwise, if you are after spares or knowledge about Skyfox aircraft, contact Tony Kerr at Gympie Aviation. Chris

The July issue has arrived in the office today. Those in the area that cannot wait any longer can drop in and grab a copy, otherwise, the distribution centre will have sent or are sending the mags out this week. It's on it's way folks. Chris

LSA has it's place, but when doing the figures and the way things are going in Aus, then the benefits are mostly felt in the US. It also depends on what you want to to. If you want to buy an aircraft as a tax reducing mechanism, and hire it out to a flying school and not plan to change anything on the aircraft then by all means, a production LSA could be good. If you want to buy a kit of an LSA accepted aircraft, up to any stage of completion, then experimental LSA is the way to go for you. With the changing weights under RA-Aus, the impending Part 103 regulations will see a 600kg limit for RA-Aus. For aircraft that have been designed and tested to 600kg or higher, the LSA category will not be the 'golden carrot' as possibly perceived by some at the moment because they can operate at a higher weight. Those 'factory built' (non LSA) will be able to operate at a higher weight if tested and certified to the higher weight. As some have already pointed out in other threads, just because we have 600kg when Part 103 comes in, does not mean your Thruster or Bobcat aircraft can now magically carry 600kg all up. Aircraft will still be limited to their design weight or type certificated weight whichever is the lower. The beauty about LSA is for manufacturers. They can self certify their aircraft, saving themselves oodles of money and time. Hence there will always be an attraction for building aircraft in that category. There are other disadvantages, such as if the manufacturer disappears, all production LSA become experimental and cannot be used for hire and reward (training), modifications can only be accepted by the manufacturer and if they don't the aircraft becomes experimental. If the aircraft is modified outside the LSA rules, you can put it on a pole as there is no category for it. The USA has recently reworded the undercarriage situation for amphibious type aircraft allowing retractable rather than re-positionable. Retractable is however only for amphibious aircraft. The 120kt speed limit applies in the US, but not in Aus. Aus also does not have a propeller criteria, other than you can only have 1, in the US it is fixed pitch only. Chris

Ahh yes, but if the paperwork doesn't arrive in time, best you plan a trip to Hervey Bay :) Chris

Hi to Challenger drivers (and others with struts) There was an in flight failure of the forward lift strut attachment bracket (Rony bracket) recently on a Canadian Challenger. Fortunately it was fitted with a BRS and the result was accordingly good. It has however given us a reminder to check our aircraft a little more thoroughly if you are sometimes a little lax in maintenance. The attached picture shows the failure point. This item needs to be checked every 50hrs on the Challenger. It is also to be noted that if the aircraft is being de-rigged frequently, that the forward strut attachment bolt only be finger tight and secured with a castle nut and safety pin. If however the aircraft remains rigged, you can replace the castle nut with a nylock until it is just a snug fig. The reason possibly for the failure was being super cautious, yet over zealous with a spanner and managing to squash the lift strut into an oval shape. The head of the bolt had actually initiated the crack in the bracket. Therefore, the lesson here being - RTFM - or in polite terms, Understand your flight manual. I will be asking Challenger owners to check their aircraft and report back any instances of said cracks. Cheers Chris

Hi All, Yes, the July edition will be very late. Apologies to all. If you feel the need to ring someone about it, please contact Zebra Publishing, the girls in the office cannot speed anything up about it. The number is in the front of the magazine (better grab last months copy). As it looks, the magazine will begin delivery from the dispatcher sometime next week. The delay was caused by the inclusion of the board nomination blurbs, which threw the complete layout of the magazine out, so it had to be re-done. The August magazine should be on track again. Regards Chris