Mick

I find that time is a big issue, very frustrating when my aircraft is a 40 minute drive away from home at a private strip and I live 500 meteres from the local airport where there are no hangars available. Weather is also a factor when ducking out for a quick early morning flight before heat / bumps /wind, is not really an option. We continue to lobby the council to make more land available for hangars...................

Just watched the footage on 7 news. I reckon I saw a cross on the strip in a wide shot they showed. Was the strip closed due to the position of the fair & ferris wheel?

Mike, I think the 80 litre tank may be acceptable in NZ, but I think many Australians would consider that still on the small side. I know I had alot of trouble selling our first aircraft, an early Evektor Sportstar, because it only had a 65 litre fuse tank. The Dova Skylark that I now fly has 90 litres and many consider that to be only just enough. Personally I think that the 90-100 litre mark is ideal as any more fuel eats too far into useable load figures. One other thing that was a factor in not going with the Breezer ( and I was looking to set up as an agent / importer ) was that the earlier model had a small baggage space that was only rated to carry 15kg. Baggage space and load capacity is another thing that is a considerable factor in the Australian market. Other than the fuel and baggage the Breezer is a great aircraft, very nice to fly and like most things German, very well made. I just decided at the time that maybe it was not the right aircraft for the Australian market.

As has been said about the Skylark with it's large winglets, not sure if they are an efficient aerodynamic device or a clever marketing ploy but either way they work!!!

I flew the Breezer in Germany a couple of years ago and nearly bought one. This was when they were marketing through Comco-Ikarus. Very nice aircraft but the small fuel capacity turned me off. At that time they only had 65 litres in a fuselage tank. Has that been increased? As the Breezer has been accepted in the USA for Light Sports it should be relatively simple to get it on the Australian register for Light Sports here.

Many of you would have read the poor article this magazine ran some time ago bagging Rec Flyers, well now they are getting it wrong again. Last week a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber was invovled in an emergcny landing which was carried successfully but unfortunately then burned as emergency services watched as they were "unable" to get equipment close enough to put the fire out. The following is from the operators of the aircraft...... Unlike the sensational photos that you have all seen of the completely burned B-17 on the news, you will see from photos taken by our crew that our Liberty Belle was undamaged by the forced landing and at the time of landing, the wing fire damage was relatively small. The crew actually unloaded bags, then had the horrible task of watching the aircraft slowly burn while waiting for the fire trucks to arrive. There were high hopes that the fire would be extinguished quickly and the damage would be repairable. Those hopes were diminished as the fire trucks deemed the field too soft to cross due to the area’s recent rainfall. So while standing by our burning B-17 and watching the fire trucks parked at the field’s edge, they sadly watched the wing fire spread to the aircraft’s fuel cells and of course, you all have seen the end result. There is no doubt that had the fire equipment been able to reach our aircraft, the fire would have been quickly extinguished and our Liberty Belle would have been repaired to continue her worthwhile mission. However Australian Flying magazine has opened it's report on their website with the following..... One of the few remaining flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses has crashed and burned while making a forced landing in the US. The article does go on to talk about the forced landing but I think it is pathetic that they chose to open the artilcle with such a sensationalistic line. This is the sort of cr*p that you would expect from the general press, but I would expect the aviation media to take a more factual approach to reporting such an event. Read the whole Aust Flying artilcle here........ http://www.australianflying.com.au/news/boeing-b-17-flying-fortress-burns-in-forced-landing The whole story from the operators of the B-17 is on their website http://www.libertyfoundation.org/.

Be very careful how you go about solving this problem. I would suspect that your Sportstar is registered LSA. As such you cannot carry out any repair or modification without the manufacturers approval. Go against this rule and your aircraft is both unregistered and uninsured. Peter is usually very helpful and receives great support from Evektor who are only doing the right thing by their agent ( Peter ) by not wanting to communicate directly with you. I would be very confident that Peter and Evektor will do the right thing and have your problem sorted promptly. On this I speak with experience as a former Sportstar owner. Hope you get it sorted soon.

Hi Ryan, We are planning on going too, have a look here for more info http://www.maryboroughaeroclub.com/wwwgeneralinfo.html Cheers Mick

Hi Matt, The Flying Bulls are a Czech based formation aerobatic team sponsered by Red Bull and operating 4 Zlin Z50LX's. 2 of the pilots also own Skylarks. Here is a link to the profile of the guy I flew with http://www.flyingbulls.cz/team_krejci_e.html And the aircraft http://www.flyingbulls.cz/start_e.html

The Skylark ( see my avatar ) I fly is really suited to tall people, I am 6' 2" and don't have the seat all the way back, I am currently 115kg and still have plenty of room. As it happens I would like to sell it ( read the wife would like me to sell it ), PM me if you are interested.

Man!!! How can you narrow it down to just one? So here is a few of mine.......... - Hiring a C172 and instructor out of Queenstown NZ and flying through the mountains around there. - Flying over Southern Germany and Lake Constance. - Flying over Lake Michigan USA -Flying as Pax in a T-28 Trojan in close formation with another Trojan with my wife on board. -Going to fly-ins in our Skylark with the wife in trail in our Sportstar. ( Really wish we could afford to own 2 aircraft all the time, beats having to share! ) -Flying in a Skylark in the Czech Republic with one of the Flying Bull aerobatic pilots.

I heard the same report. I fly through Moree reasonably often and use it as a fuel stop. If they did clip a tree they must have been way too low or short of the strip. It's a long way from the threshold of 19 to the trees. The approach to 01 is about as clear as you could wish for. If it was dark 05/23 is not lit so unlikely to be using it. Wish the 2 that got through it a speedy recovery.

Is the fuselage tank in the Morgan aicraft fibreglass or metal? I used to own/fly an early Sportstar with the fuse tank. It was a metal tank located behind the seats and seperated from the cockpit by the floor/bulkheads. I gave this fuel position alot of thought while making the decision to buy that aircraft. One postitve about not having fuel in the wings is if you have to make a forced landing amongst trees and you line it up so that the fuse goes between trees and the trees take the wings off there should be no fuel spill. I think I would be more hesitant about fuel up front where it would be more vunerable to damage as the fuse crumples in an impact. Hope the pilot makes a quick recovery.

From many years flying R/C aerobatics one of the best colours to stand out against a range of different sky tones, earth backgrounds etc, and in varying light conditions is a bright HOT PINK. Having said that my aircraft is white & blue even though I share it with the wife. I had a scenario a couple of weeks ago were I got into close proximity of a Savvy that has a dark purple nose & leading edges. I knew from the radio that it was at a similar height and coming towards me so I was looking for it but did not see it until it was closer than I would have liked. Even after I had sighted it, once I had looked away then looked back it was hard to re-aquire.

For those of you that don't know, the folks at Old Station have run plenty of fly-in's in the past. The last one was held in 2007 but for various reasons have not held one since. We attend the 2005 event just 3 days after I got my X-country endorsement, as such it was my first trip away in our plane. It was well worth the effort and I still rate this as one of the best events I have attended. We also went in 2007 and were even more impressed. Although from what Ian has indicated there will be no airshow this time it will still be well worth attending. Facilities are great and the hospitality the best you will encounter. If this event goes ahead I urge everyone who can to support it so hopefully it will become a regular on the calender again. Cheers Mick

This project is listed for sale in the classifieds here on this site - http://www.recreationalflying.com/classifieds/aircraft-recreational-1/original-aircraft-manufacturing-assets-461/ I believe it is in Maryborough Qld.

A rise of $25 equates to how many minutes of flying? Not many! Let's face it, the most expensive part of flying is flying!!!! As outlined in some of the other posts above RAAus provide alot for not much cost when you break it down. The magazine alone costs $66.00 per year.

Count us in Ian.........

For what it is worth, in our Sportstar we used the three "C's" to determine when the electric fuel pump was used - Climb - pump on Circuit- pump on Cruise- pump off The Sportstar being Rotax powered the engine has a mechanical fuel pump built onto it. The electric "boost pump" is there to take on the job if the mechanical one fails. An essential item in a low wing where you won't get fuel gravity feeding if a pump fails.

Hi Kev, If you PM me with exactly what you want by early am tomorrow, I am flying the Skylark up to Rodds Bay ( Gladstone ) from Bundy tomorrow. I can take whatever photo's you want. Can you please include your current e-mail ( might not have it as we are having some computer problems at the moment, also do not have access to the hangar1 e-mail address ). I can get shots of the break away panel and you can see the most of the unit from inside the cockpit. I have recently fitted a new warning label as my original had faded badly. The new one was supplied by RAAus, came with my last rego card / label. RAAus must be sending them to all aircraft owners that have chutes fitted so no excuse for missing or faded labels - good work RAAus! If I don't hear from you before I go in the mornng, I will take a few pic's anyway so please still PM me your e-mail address. Happy to help with your mission here because we still plan on flying into Maryborough now and then. Your work with these guys might save a butt one day and it could even be mine!!! Cheers Mick

I guess the worry for the Sportscruiser / Piper Sports is that the manufacturer has been in financial trouble and had management issues before Pipers involvement. Without Piper's endorsement will they go in the same direction again? I know the original Sportscruiser agent in Austrlia ( based in Gympie ) took a long time to get their first demostrator, for nearly a year they ran ads in the Aviation Trader saying it would be arriving next month and then it did not arrive. I do hope the aircraft succeeds as it is a really nice machine. Spin, the arrangement with Cirrus you mention was with FK Planes of Germany. Cirrus were talking to them about a deal to market the FK 14 as the Cirrus LSA. I wonder if part of this not going ahead was that Cirrus were only interested in the low wing FK 14 as it fitted with their low model ( like Piper with the Sportscruiser ). This would have left FK to do their own marketing for the high wing FK 9 and bi-plane FK 12. I would imagine this would not be an ideal scenario for FK.

Since I have not flown lately I am......... GOING BATTY!!!!!!!!!! Have moved to Gladstone and due to no hangars available my aircraft is still in Bundy, have not flown since January 2 ( not that I am counting! ).

Maj, This is exactly what I was thinking when in my post #28 I said I would like to know what oil was being used in this engine..........

I would like to know if the gearbox seized and if so what caused it? I would also like to know what oil this motor was running on.

To my knowledge you do not require an ASIC at Maryborough. No mention of security there in the current ERSA. The fences will stay there I guess. Some may say they will keep kids and animals out but I have seen large dogs go under these fences even when YMYB was still a security controlled airfield. Also before the security rating was removed the clubhouse which is airside was broken into...............