eightyknots

That sounds like another mod to develop, Mark

Welcome to the forum Baz. We hope to see you here from time to time.

Welcome to the forum. We hope to see you here frequently. Hopefully your settlement will work out.

Welcome to the forum. We hope to see you here frequently.

Hi Mark, welcome to the forum. No doubt we will hear some more about your flying plans.

I always thought that the range of colour pigments would have been fairly close in weight. Is there really a difference in colour versus weight? And, if so, which are the lightest colours??

I have found a couple of NZ examples, ZK-TIA and ZK-JUG respectively: It is nice to save weight but I think that unpainted surfaces tend to highlight imperfections and panels that have not been riveted on perfectly flat. These pictures illustrate this.

On one of the Zenith threads some time back the oft quoted weight to paint a Zenith CH-701 is "12 pounds" to "16 pounds". That equates to 5.5 to 7.3 kg. The 701's fuselage is smaller than the Savannah XL/S is and the wings are shorter. I think the Savannah probably has 10% more surface area. Using the above estimates that would be (rounded) 6.1 to 8.0 kg. Do others with completed planes think that is about right?

Fantastic Mark. I will see you next month to pick up one (or two if iBob would like one) in Brisbane.

Good advice; the effect of a dark colour on the LE never occurred to me!

Marty, I admire you as well. Building from scratch is a massive undertaking. Next year, I hope to be joining iBob and other Down Under and assemble a kit of pre-formed parts into an aeroplane. Was the link to the partially polished/partially painted Savannah somewhere on this forum? If not, would you be able to post that picture here?

"It is possible to gain access to the luggage van both laterally, through a little door closed by dzusts, and at the back, through a little door fixed , when closed, by two safety fastener and two dzusts" [from ICP website] Does anyone have any idea what DZUTZTS are? Also, what is the load limit on these belly pods?

I wonder if the Zenith ones would fit in a Savannah? I also wonder how much lighter the Zenith tanks really are compared to the plastic Savannah tanks? Are we talking about a few hundred grams?

Is there any data on this? For instance: How much does the belly pod weigh? What is the belly pod's maximum load? How waterproof is this if used flying through rain? Any figures on the aerodynamic performance, belly pod vs no belly pod?

"Chinese characters number in the tens of thousands, though most of them are minor graphic variants encountered only in historical texts. Studies in China have shown that functional literacy in written Chinese requires a knowledge of between three and four thousand characters" source: Chinese characters - Wikipedia That makes our inconsistencies look like a piece of cake.

Great! Love it!!

Hopefully you will be fit to fly light aircraft for many more years!

I could be your first customer (but check with iBob, there could be two going to NZ in December) .

My father-in-law went for his annual checkup with his GP mid-morning one day in 2012. Later that morning he decided to do some tidying up in his back yard in readiness for his mowing contractor to do the lawn. The mowing contractor found him dead. He died of a heart attack only a few hours after the GP told him that his health was "great".

I may be one of your foundation customers. If you have them made by December, I will be in BNE to pick one up: no pressure:cheezy grin:. If they aren't too heavy, I could take iBob's one as I believe he lives in the same region in NZ as myself. That will be my first part towards my 2017 Savannah build!

Do you have any weight data on the various chutes suitable for the Savannah? I take your point about needing one for a low altitude situation. What worries me most is a mid-air bingle. A friend of a friend lost her life in such an event: Crash report 'singled daughter out' Once one of your wings rip off, there are basically no options unless you have a ballistic chute to help you save your skin. If such a chute requires quite a bit of altitude, it defeats the purpose.

abiutI also wonder whatever happened to the spring-operated ballistic parachute that was being developed by someone in Victoria? I understand that it was going to be weight limited to a maximum of 544 kg but, with a bit of a design stretch, this must be able to be extended to 600 kg? The idea of a non-rocket, spring loaded ballistic chute sounded pretty good to me. Apparently, so the rumour went, the spring loaded chute was only 2 or 3 kg heavier than the equivalent rocket-powered BRS. Has anyone heard more about the spring-loaded ballistic parachute development? (This is an important question because my dear wife would like me to put a ballistic chute in the Savannah when I build it)

Wow Mark, you have been busy! I think you could easily have an improvement market for RA-Aus planes. I think that a beefed up version of the Rotax ignition system is a good idea. From memory, someone came a cropper at Kilcoy a few years ago when their Rotax ignition circuitry fried. I also like your much-improved flaps handle: far better for taller Savannah pilots! Are you thinking of bringing them into production? I am pretty sure that I am (finally) going to construct a Savannah in 2017. It has been quite a wait but it'll be worth it. I may be in the market for such a new-and-improved flap handle should you decide to manufacture them. Sorry to hear that the freight cost of a parachute is so extreme. Again, there would be a fantastic market for anyone who could make them in Oz simply because of the freight barrier from overseas. By the way, what ballistic parachute are you getting?

That's like an invalid invalid.

Hi Mark, I look forward to seeing more of this chute being fitted.