eightyknots

No wonder the Skyranger has been eyeing-off the Jimny ... and vice-versa. ?

 

bestultralightengine

 

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An informative article at that link!

Got the hinges cut into the dash panel with a test alu panel. Now it just has to have some filling and rubbing and undercoat. Danny will sort that for me this weekend and then next week I can paint it and get it into the fuselage. Then I can finally lock up the cabin and cabin frame. Once thats done I can get ready to do some painting on the fuselage at least.

 

Got the new wing tanks back today from the welder. Danny made up the tanks and the end caps and did a fantastic job on them. He took them to the local gun welder and boy its a nice job too. Tanks have been pressure tested as well. These will replace the outer plastic tanks. The way they are designed it to work in series with the inner tanks but the bottom area is much smaller and the outlet will be higher than the plastic tanks so should be able to drain every ounce of fuel out not leave quite a few litres like the plastic tanks. I will measure the capacity but we think they should be around 24 litres each so 72 plus 48 gives heaps of fuel for what I want to do and also will require less switching of the fuel. Also 2 breathers on the tanks should allow better flow. My plastic tanks I have to mod yet. I am making proper flush fuel fillers for them so should be less disruption on the wing so no two big caps hanging in the breeze. The new tanks will be mounted similar to the originals you can see the side mounting bosses. Its a 1/2 inch outlet so will take a little extra time with filling but pretty sure it will all work better and still give me much more than peeing range

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I suppose in this way you will be effectively treating this as if you had one very large left wing tank and one very large right wing tank.

I was just wondering why you could not have achieved the same thing by using the two original plastic tanks per side (with the filler cut off and the hole plastic-welded shut)?

90kts is not cruising in a savannah ...its pushing it ...and the airframe lets you know it too ...it changes its sound.

Do you suggest eighty knots is the ideal cruising speed?

I wouldn't advise 80 year olds to build their own plane from scratch. (unless they are supreme optimists) .You don't have the time for that so get out and FLY if that's what you really want. IF you are over 50 even get on with it and don't procrastinate. It's always LATER than you think. and planes take longer to build than you fooled yourself into believing. a while ago. Nev

I am over 50 and building a Savannah now. Even though there is enjoyment in the building process itself, my principal aim is to fly.

☆ anyway...

...back to building!

Radios are now a bit of a issue ..they are all getting a lot more expensive. Especially since the 8.33 khz spacing has been ratified and introduced. Certification of these new radios both by the radio authorites and aircraft overlords make the cost more.

 

Any of the big guys like Trig , Garmin, Becker etc are all pretty good but always have been very expensive and that hasnt changed. Cheaper radios like Xcom and Microair will now be pretty much gone.

 

The next radio I am going to get is the MGL V16 to go into my Rans S-21. It is a very different design internally..its not like a "normal" radio design. Its relatively cheap too. There was a few complaints about engine noise coming through in the early ones but I think they may have sorted that

I would be very surprised if in a not-so-populated country Australia and/or New Zealand they would use all these extra 'channels'. There is also the problems of the many aircraft with legacy transceivers not being able to access the new channels should they become available for use Down Under.

What would be the problem with sticking with the original frequency spacing and buying a radio accordingly?

sorry..the trig will work..they are good quality radios and always have been..my mind was shuddering just thinking about the nightmareair sorry microair :)

If M/Air radios are a nightmare, what is a good radio available at a reasonable cost nowadays?

While we are about it, what is a good value transponder?

Or it could be that fine old tradition of promoting someone out of a job they are useless at.

We're dealing with the results of that at the moment. several of the people I work with knew one of our managers as a tradesperson. As he was useless they would send him away on courses to keep him out of the way of the workers. Now he's kept on moving upwards but never really been competent at anything and it really shows now that he's in a spot to do some harm.

I have worked in a situation like this in a large organisation and it is very unpleasant. Difficult and/or incompetent people were often promoted "out of the way".

The problem is that this "strategy" was only ever a temporary fix, especially when they were promoted to a position where they could cause even more trouble.

I had a prostate problems twenty-odd years ago and luckily it hasn't played up since.

An old health professional, who lived by the adage use it or lose it, told me to "p1ss in morse code".

._ _. .. ... ...

I have fitted a Galaxy Sky chute to a savannah rebuild I am doing. There are 4 straps to each corner of the cabin frame then a pair either side of the cabin that attach to the undercarriage to make sure the cabin frame can never depart the airframe. Mounting the chute can be problematic in some aircraft also how it exits the aircraft. Most ballistic chutes come back to earth between 6 and 7 metres per sec so lets say its a "arrival" but the straps are set to make the aircraft have a nose down attitude. My chute in this aircraft is a 600kg chute..be carefull as eurpoen aircraft usually only have a 450kg chute. My Rans S-21 will have a chute as well but it will be for 750kg

Do you happen to remember the weight of the Galaxy Sky chute?

I hear that the winner of the recent STOL competition at Lismore was a Savannah!

 

Against all those tail draggers with huge special wheels.

 

Irony is that the prize was a fancy tailwheel, after he'd just demonstrated that he didn't need one!

Hi JG3: do you happen to remember if the aircraft used in the STOL competition was a Savannah classic -with slats-, a Savannah VG, a Savannah XL or a Savannah S?

Those are a different kettle of fish. I'm talking about the things we fly.

Foxbat: Length 6.3; W/Span 10.1; W/L 1.6

J230: Length 6.55; W/Span 9.55; W/L 1.45

 

 

 

Yeah, costing over $150, RTF. I've got the radios and servos from wayback, I just needed a something to put them in. Don't forget that I'm trying to teach myself how to fly, so I need something cheap, but flyable.

I am building a Savannah S. It works out as follows:

Savannah XL or S: L = 6.6 m; W/span = 9.0 m; W/L = 1.36.

We do not have a monopoly on wrecking the lives of our serving men and women, but sure are world class in destroying them when they come home. Yes, the leaders and generals are isolated and that is a problem but it excuses their shear psychopathic war lust for death. As long as they can get kill numbers on the board, the damage is discarded as collateral damage, even whole countries.

 

Instead of care and support we spend 500 million on tart at the War memorial and grab sponsor dollars from the merchants of death. Glorify war and the "might is right" and bugger the results. Entire populations have suffered for a generation of war and we call that a "win". You can't destroy a country, its public services, health , water, power and education and call that a win for freedom.

 

Today Australia was number 13 in the world on military spending for 2019. Thats weapons and systems we may never see or even be usable. And probably the lowest spending on care for soldiers in the west. And you can bet every dollar they claim they spend, 99 cents goes on paper pushing and 1 cent on making the soldier feel ashamed.

 

Next time we go to war- give the pollies a club each and send them out back, the winner gets life in solitary.

 

That assumes we actually know we are at war somewhere, but these days it is all secret bullshite and "operational matters".

 

We regularly go bomb, shoot and destroy in step with the collation of the killing and never tell the public it even happened. Kill a hundred in a hospital by "mistake" and we blame the dead.

 

My last march was 2008, at the memorial- seeing my son march- never again- just a big pageant calling the young to death and the pollies and arms maker guests seeing dollar signs and power.

 

Next time you see a politician who is pro war or pro spreading the freedom to die by western weapons - they are not your servant. They are mass murderers and war criminals, treat them as such.

 

The Coalition of Killing- Carpet bombing will continue until peace breaks out.

The words "collateral damage" cover a multitude of deaths.

I wonder if our politicians give a thought to those who have returned injured mentally or physically when they piously intone

"They shall not grow old

As we who are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them,

Nor the years condemn."

 

Politicians are full of patriotic fervor when they are urging the population to take up arms, but are noticeably silent when the broken members of the population are carried home to bear the slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune for the rest of their shortened lives.

 

There are no more WWl survivors, fewer WWll survivors, lots of Korean and Vietnam vets, and now our Iraq and Afghanistan returned service people. And still the uncaring Government makes these often willing volunteers jump though hoops in attempts to get the rehabilitation services they need. "A place fit for heroes"? Not bloody likely.

 

Next time our gungho politicians decide that they are going to send members of the population overseas to fight other peoples' battles, we should flood their email and letter boxes with pictures of a military rifle with the message, "I'm right behind you as soon as you pick up your gun to lead the charge!"

The difference is that, from ancient times until the 1600s the monarch ruling the nation led the charge: this was a universal rule. Nowadays, leaders of nations (and politicians) are many kilometres from the conflict and have a very limited realisation what is really happening at the front.

This fact explains the often shabby treatment of returned veterans.

Took our French designed ''Nynja' for a fly late this afternoon after some light routine service maintenance the past couple of weeks and in readiness for an ANZAC morning fly. Will carry a Poppy, colours of the AFC and RAF Sqn 303 in honour of the gallant military who gave so much.

 

With the propeller dynamically balanced (mates 'DynaVibe') and pretty much vibration free the engine has a real growl power feel. Cheers.

 

Thick late afternoon air is always great to fly around in.

 

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As always, B E, a great set of photos!

........but will he get a golden caterpillar??????????

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/14/man-accidentally-ejects-himself-from-fighter-jet-during-surprise-flight

I hope you don't have one of those levers near your passenger seat in your Savannah, Bob!

It took me a lot of deciding to choose acrylic over 2 pack. The disadvantages of 2 pack are that it kills you and, mainly, it adds about 5 kg more weight. Of course, 2 pack does look better.

For instance, Solagard?

eightyknots it would certainly be interesting to get a more detailed look at that survey.

 

In particular, I think a breakdown by aircraft type would be essential: different projects/kits require very varying amounts of skill and time to complete, making overall average figures pretty much meaningless, I would think. Or, put another way, I would expect to find a large proportion of aircraft A (very complete kit, simple assembly, good instructions etc) completed, and a much smaller proportion of aircraft B (requires advanced skills and techniques, including fitting abilities).

 

I have also grown wary of things that say 'studies reveal.............etc'. Often, as with the study you cite, the study is US based: they do a huge proportion of studies, so this is to be expected, and I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is the inference that 'this is how it is', as though what happens in the US is necessarily what happens worldwide. It's not: the US is, in fact a highly atypical society in a number of ways, so studies in the US often do not extrapolate well beyond their borders.

 

I'm not suggesting you made this inference: in fact you specifically said 'a US-based study'. I just have a bit of a thing about it!

End of rant.........................

I couldn't agree with you more. I do not want to over-generalise but I have mixed with and worked with people from the United States over a lengthy time span. Two things that that I have noticed that appears to be common to the few dozen US people I have gotten to know (despite the small sample size) are:

1. they often speak a few decibels louder than.other nationalities: and,

2. that they often want 'instant' results. To back up my personal observations we only have to look at the U S: they have invented all kinds of things such as:

* automatic gearboxes.

* fast food restaurants, an idea widely exported elsewhere.

* drive in theatres, churches, weddings, etc.

* Quick Build aeroplane kits.

The people I have worked with -and mixed with- frequently became impatient, frustrated even, if things were not automatic or instant.

Because home made aircraft construction is neither automatic nor instant (as much of US society is), I can well imagine that many projects are left incomplete.

Having said this, I am sure that there are many patient, persevering aircraft builders who complete their aeroplanes (actually, airplanes in the USA).

The United States has a good number of things that has been brought into the world, including aviation itself.

BTW: I cannot find the survey results. I am sure that they are out there somewhere. On thing that I did come across is that home built aircraft typically take between 1,000 and 3,000 hours: Experimental Aircraft Information | EAA .

...But then that is just me. Fifty percent of kits that are started never get finished for numerous reasons. If you decide you don't want to be part of that 50% set some goals for small bits, take specific breaks and do other things & come back with a goal for the next bit & you will get it done. Anyway what else are you going to do for the next 6 months if you can't go anywhere or meet anyone.

I wish I could find the USA-based survey again that I read some time ago. It was something like this: after 5 years from the date of purchase only about ¼ of homebuilt projects had been completed. Furthermore, of those that had not been completed around 50% were less than half done. These are not good stats.

I hope you get your project done soon Danny. BTW: what aircraft are you constructing?

Hi Mark,

I hope that you make a recovery really soon!

All the best.

Well then you have 2 of small 3mm alu plates about 50mm x 40mm going in between the leaves in the main strut attachments at the wing and that increases the MTOW to 600kg from 560 kg ???...I thought it was not enough for a 40kg increase but supposedly designed by the Germans for that increase

That does seem strange: not much beefing up for a much larger increase.

Well every little helps, I decided this weekend to build the flatiron mixer just to get it out of the way and to avoid clearing the garage again. It isn't too difficult but there are times when it doesn't look like all the parts will line up. The only other problem I had was some rather rough rivet holes in the sheet material. I have also decided that some parts I will not paint to reduce the prep time. I will see how it goes and could always spray these parts later with a corrosion inhibitor. The plane will be hangared and will never fly by the sea.

 

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It's good to see you working on your Savannah again. I have hardly been near my build and (due to unforeseen circumstances) was kept away from September till March.

Today, I finished by two outer flaperons. Next job, the inner flaperons.

I will probably start on a wing next but, after reading this thread, perhaps I will have a look at the flaperon mixer first.

And wash your hands before you work on it. Nev

COVID-19?

Jury struts generally function in negative "G"or wing twist situations. Nev

The increase of 544 kg to 560 kg is only an additional 16 kg. Of course, at the ultimate load factor of 6 G this adds 96 kg before catastrophic failure of the Savannah's structure.

Nevertheless, the additional strengthening seems quite substantial for a less than 3% MTOW increase. This makes me wonder if the original Savannah was somewhat 'under designed' in the first place?

Perhaps ICP used that 16 kg increase as an explanation to have this extra strengthening added just to be sure?

Facebook has its problems. In friend terms its shallow. Forums have depth.

ABSOLUTELY!

Welcome to the forum, Squidget!