Mick

Maj, Flood's latest ads say "2000hrs TBO Rotax 912/914" so to me that indicates the 914 has been lifted to 2000hrs also. .

"In fairness" most would expect that a majority ( ie at least half ) would at least go close to the TBO. As I said above I did not see one get anywhere near TBO. I think the best I saw was 1200 hours, only 60% of TBO.

Have a look at Tocumwal where they use a Sportstar and a Eurofox with Rotaxs as tugs.

I agree MM, I worked as a L2 with a Lame for nearly a year, working almost exclusively on Jabs. We maintained up to 9 Jabs from schools at any given time as well as lots of privately owned Jabs. The maintainence & checks we had in place meant that we only once had a Jab motor stop. But we did find LOTS of problems that would have lead to stoppages if we had not found them. During this time I did not see one motor get anywhere near TBO. Before doing this work I had heard all the horror stories that we all hear, but working full time on these things really opened my eyes. The reality was much worse than I had imagined. For me I would not own anything but Rotax after what I have seen.

That clip was an excert from a 1 hour show that James May did on space flight. The show was really interesting. In it he also spoke about the Apollo 11 rocket which had over 6,000,000 individual components, he posed the question of how many components fail if they only achieved a 99% success rate For those of you that don't know James May is one of us, he owns a Luscombe Silvaire that would be LSA registerable in Oz.

I just use cynoacrylate ( you probably know this as super glue ). Make sure you use a good quality product, not just some rubbish from your hardware or $2 shop. Loctite make this in an industrial quality. Myself I use "Zap" which is sold through hobby shops for aeromodellers. Again be careful as many of the modelling brands are also pretty ordinary. It is available in different viscosities. I start with the thin which is similar to water in viscosity and will wick into the grain of the timber or cloth that is the structure of the prop. Exercise care with this step as the thin glue will run everywhere & quickly if given the chance. Apply this very sparingly. I then use the "thick" or gap filling viscosity to actually fill the chip. Be patient as on a sealed surface it will take some time to dry. Or you can use an accelerator or kicker that is made specifically to go with the cynoacrylate. This is sprayed on to the glue and will set it instantly. All that is needed is a very fine mist. Overdo the kicker and you will fry the glue - it will bubble up and turn white. Do a few practise runs on a piece of plastic ( eg an ice cream container or lid ) to get a feel of how easy the thin will run and how much kicker to spray. I tend to use the thick to overfill the chip then use a small ( jewellers ) file to carefully cut it back to the original profile. I would also recommend blade tape to help prevent chipping in the first place. Only use tape specifically made for this job, available from aviation supply shops. Hope this helps. Mick

Didn't know of that one, only one in that area that I know is the strip that used to belong to Erol Goodwin on Vanderwolf road. Is it for trikes only?

Hi CB & welcome. I learnt to fly in Maryborough & kept my aircraft there for several years. Great area to fly around, the highlight being Fraser Island. Where is the private strip that you operate from? Cheers .

My question is was she a LAME?

Motz, Have you seen these? http://www.airmasterpropellers.com/ .

To my knowledge it is only with a CFI on board that you are permitted to shut down in flight. I have done it in those circumstances. I certainly did not consider this an actual emergancy. We shut down at 2500 ft above the airfield. This done at the end of a BFR after a really good session of PFL's & EFIC's. I don't think at that point that it was likely that we would bounce a landing so badly that it would be impossible to recover without power. I guess it really is up to the judgement of the CFI as to whether he considers this a risk or not. I do believe it is beneficial as the aircraft will glide differently with the prop stopped as opposed to a low idle. I am certainly glad that I have done it and know a bit more of what to expect when the day comes that the prop really does stop. I reckon it is a good idea to get an idea of the difference in a non emergency situation.

Maybe because this is a full size replica whereas the others are only up to 90% of the original. For me the nose shape is pretty hard to see past, and also the lack of underwing scoops for radiators. But it does remind me of a comment I once heard from Guido Zuccoli when someone had a go at him about his Boomerang being painted in gloss paint ( for ease of keeping it clean & durability ). Guido's response was "When you get your own Boomerang you can paint it however you like!" Congratulations on seeing this to fruition and achieving a dream.

What? Just a request? No offers of holidays

What happens on the farm should stay on the farm

Are you saying Jabiru would be more at home making farm machinery????

Hey Motz, I hope there will be a deffect report on it's way to the RAAus Tech Manager re this. Without official reporting RAAus cannot act upon continuing poor quality like this.

Certainly seems like that!!!!

I saw first saw Dick about 30 years ago when I was still a young kid. I believe the Stampe had not been long restored. It was at Goulburn airport where I was with my father and his mate who owned Tiger Moth VH-IHU. They were doing a photo shoot with the 2 Bipes flying in formation. After the photo shoot Dick treated us to an impromptue aerobatics display, some of which was pretty low level. I still fondly remember watching the Stampe doing it's slow & graceful aero's performing so beautifully under Dick's proficient touch. It made a huge impression on a young fella like me. It was the earliest recollection of seeing an aircraft doing aero's that I have, a very memorable day as it was also that day that I got my first ride in the Tiger. I was small enough that they left one of the side doors open so I could see out! RIP Dick.

Just tried a dozen times to download this document, every time it gets to around the 1.4mb mark and freezes:bash:

Found the same thing when I bought oil a couple of days ago. I could not get a 4 litre of VSX4 but they did have 3 x 1 litres so I bought that. Was going to get in touch with Floods to get their take on this but you have saved me a phone call. The guy at my local bike shop assured me it was only a name change for marketing reasons. I told him that I need better proof than that before I put it in my Rotax. Did Flood's indicate whether this new product is being considered for approval or is it just a straight "no"?

If this was to be applied to the absolute letter then as a qualified pilot you cannot "have a feel" of an aircraft you wish to buy because you are neither the "pilot assigned for duty" nor a student pilot. As I said in my earlier post, demo flights are a grey area when it comes to fitting it into the rules.

Ian I think they are feeding you some BS there, I escort/supervise non-ASIC holding passengers out to my aircraft often enough. The ARO's are aware that they are with me from when they let us through the gate to the GA apron. We have never been asked to fill in a form

No issue with not being an instructor to do demo flights for aircraft sales. A few of the most sucessful agents in Oz are not instructors. The issue was only flying from the right seat. Aircraft sales & demo flights do represent a grey area with regard to being a commercial operation. I guess it could be interpeted that there is no commercial gain from the actual flight, the gain comes from the sale. It would be a whole lot different if one was to charge for the demo flight. I did have alot of people offer to pay costs form their demo flights, never accepted it though, I just considered this part of the cost of doing business no different to paying for advertising.

Nev, this was not an issue with the aircraft, all controls are accessable from the right seat. The aircraft has been used for flying training in the USA and Europe. Proficiency was not the issue, my instructor had spent enough time with me to be happy to sign me off as in command from the right seat knowing that this was for doing demo flights. I did actually do several hours solo from the right seat and started doing demo flights from the right. I was not the one who prompted the mention in the ops managers article in the magazine, but after reading it I contacted the ops manager and queried it. I explained my reason for wanting to fly from the right and that I had spent the time with my instructor. The answer I was told was still no, only a current instructor is permitted to do it. I stopped doing it at that point and no longer have the need to do it - don't do the sales thing anymore.

Almost be like a Carbon Cub with 180hp - serious fun! But a dam site cheaper.