facthunter

opportunity.

This path is littered with the dashed dreams of so many. The perfect engine has not been built yet so maybe you can build a better one. Piston engnes are a bit of an abomination with so many stressed parts trying to fling themselves assunder and the aviation scene is not a big market, the product has to be of consistent high quality, simple as possible, reliable, easy to service, smooth running, relatively quiet, light weight, use available fuels, with reasonable economy, small in size and cheaply priced.

Would you consider engines built on the wankel principle? Nev

Invitation.

Thanks for the invitation Pete. All Aviation groups should get together more than they do, particularly the "for fun" people and we can learn from each other. Nev

barrell rolling a B707.

NO great skill required there.... Nev

Those who have ..etc.

I have to say that I am starting to find that oft stated phrase somewhat irksome. First of all.... it is not true by a long way... and It implies a certain inevitability which we just should not accept. It is always a POSSIBILITY but the way you operate will go a long way to stop this sort of thing happening to you. Essential actions should be double checked and avoid distractions at vital times. This is why we do human factors so we don't fall into these traps. " i THOUGHT you CHECKED THE FUEL CAP"...( i DIDN'T CHECK THE "cAPS" kEY). Nev

Don't like running cold.

The later fuels do not vapourise as easily as avgas and the older blends because they use some aromatics with very high boiling points. This means that you have to enrichen or warm the charge to keep the engine happy, if it uses a carburetter. Injection, which is what virtually ALL modern vehicles have is not affected, because the injectors operate under pressure. It may not be icing that is the cause, but poor vapourisation. Nev

Looping.

have to eat my words in a previous post. Commencing a loop at the height that he did in that plane is madness really. I'm surprised that it did it. Must be a good lifting wing, .......Nev

Electric/hydraulic?

A bad choice of word on my part. I meant to highlight the hollow driveshaft advantages and that permits a manual variable pitch option, also. As Maj says many more propellers can be fitted due to the reduction gear incorporating torsional vibration damping features. Nev

Rotax Conversion.

one advantage is the possibility of using a C/S prop. A jabiru is fairly slippery and could benefit from the mod. Nev

View of Aircraft Sydney.

You might be able to arrange a visit to the Tower. Nev

"GIGANTIC" plane aero's

GIGANTIC... Would have been ,in it's day. The spin entry is a bit odd but it is a good image of a spin to get an idea of what a spin is. The roll is especially interesting as I reckon that it is a "flick" roll. The. elevators are well back (up), and the rudder is hard over. A flick roll is like a horizontal spin and is entered at a much lower speed than other rolls as the plane is stalled during the manoeuver. The tri-motor is a very slow plane so the loop would test it out. With no payload it is probably strong enough to do this stuff. Ford built them from a Fokker licence. Nev

Weight of Hornet

The time of my enquiry was when the standard engine was a Hirth 2-stroke and the plane would have been quite light. I have looked into building/adapting quite a lot of planes and have come to the conclusion that you just cannot build a 2-place using conventional materials (traditional might be the better term) under about 310 to 330 Kgs empty weight, which will be a "utility' aircraft in the true sense of the word. The essence of the designs were high-wing strut braced tailwheel. There is weight saving in this approach as you do not have the nosewheel assembly, the strutted wing is lighter for higher strength considerations, than the cantilever wing. Tubular steel used for the engine firewall to rear of seats (at least). All this is proven concept.

IF there are as many AAK's on the RAAus register as you suggest there may be, David, I would be both pleased and surprised. I guess it's not too hard to check.

The applicability of a TRUE stol to most of our operations, is something I would like to discuss, generally. Most of the Slepchev Storches that I have known of have ended up with a collapsed leg and wing repair and appear to be NOT the plane to be in when the winds get up. I am not singling out the Storch but ALL VERY slow planes (light with large wing areas) have a bit of difficulty with gusty winds . Nev

AAK Hornet.

the last time that I had a good look at this aircraft, the weights seemed to be a bit beyond the current RAAus limits. My view is that our weights are preventing good aircraft from being available to us. Ole said to me at the time that his preferred way of doing things was to go Exp. GA. (one off inspection cost and less design limitations) This needs a PPL. Nev

Excitement/adventure.

Training a pupil in a DH-82 who had NEVER flown a tailwheel or prop driven aircraft. All his flying had been on jets.

I friend of mine had a similar experience recently. the pupil in this case was Senior airline management and the plane was a replica Bipe and the sale was dependent on being taught how to fly it by the vendor. Nev

Genetic purity.

he was only doing the job he was designed for. Imagine if he had been unsuccessful and your trike had mated successfully.. You were seen as a BIG threat. Nev

Sympathy.

That is sad, Big Pete. Derek was grateful to you for his last trip and you did it when you had your own problems. Regards Nev

Pavement Strength.

Sheesh. I was worried there for a while Ian. Thought it might have some relevence to us. Oh wait. If it does... today, Little planes .. Tomorrow, the world ... Nev

description.

We have a highly punitive system which we have to pay for and have no real say in how it is run, which is getting worse as time goes on. It is particularly ineffective in writing clear concise rules, that can be understood by anybody, and becoming more costly. Enough to make a sensible person quit aviation. ( Maybe they all have). Nev

System logic.

If you go this way get a system that gives a warning and identifies WHICH cylinder is at WHAT temp. The worry with all this is with all this preoccupation with engine parameters who is watching what the plane is doing. This could become a big distraction to the main game. Nev

Hours to Certificate.

Too much emphasis placed on the hours. This has been a selling point and some times a problem with students who feel that they should have soloed at a certain time. No-one should put themselves under time constraints, as variables like preparation, weather previous experience (good and bad), to mention but a few factors come into play, as well as natural ability/aptitude etc. The red Baron did not start off too auspiciously but came good.

To answer the question directly, 20 hours MIGHT be enough for a few but would not be enough for the majority. You only get one chance to do your formative flying right. Once you are let go it is likely that earlier errors not detected will continue in your flying technique. Dual instruction is an opportunuty, not a punishment. Nev

Carb. ?

Fuel injection is not really new. The older "mechanical" systems work well in aircraft but would not be up to what is required for cars, which idle a lot. If they are "tuned" correctly you will get good economy, and you have manual mixture control. You could flood the engine and set fire to the grass if you mucked up the start. Carburettors are very satisfactory if they are set up OK and they are under the engine. You have to accept that you can get carb icing but they are simple. You have manual mixture control as well. ( A feature which I like as you stop the engine by fuel starvation too ).

Neither system requires electricity to operate it.

Both the LYC. and Continental engines under discussion, are suitable for mogas and avgas, and both have high TBO's that make your usage per hour lower than any other engines available currently. Remember that TBO's have to be earned not just stated by a hopeful manufacturer, to be valid. Nev

transfer from GA.

ALL your GA work should count in RAA.

As you didn't finish the Nav, You don't HAVE Nav ( X-country) but your Nav.flying should count. Your real problem is the time that has passed and the fact that the RAAus instructor may have a few different ideas to what you were taught back then and he will want to be sure that you are competent. The 25 miles is a familiarity thing and it relates to the area where you did your training. IF you trailered your plane to some other place I cannot see why you could presume any familiarity with that new area??? so why would you apply the 25 miles? ( especially if it was close to major airports and control areas.). I would get right up on the theory before I spent any money with a new instructor and you might find that the cost ends up being minimal, as you can include a BFR at the same time,or an endorsement on another type. Flying in YOUR plane cannot be assumed to be acceptable automatically either. There could easily be insurance and other complications. Good luck.. Nev

Just converted from GA.

Stixy, what stage were you at with GA? Nev

the type that you have the most hours in.(recently?)

Bass, this is not a hard and fast rule. It would be a good suggestion and FAIR to the pilot as flying in a plane that he/she has never flown might be seen as a bit unfair. Obviously If you have a single seat aeroplane, this would be impossible unless there happened to be a two seat version of it.

I have many times done tests/ checks in aircraft types that I have never flown before or lack recency in and some cases, don't like. You sometimes try to fit in with conditions that are presented to you, but this would not be reasonable if a person had only flown one type and had low total hours. (unless he wanted to, and under some circumstances that could be fair enough, with the right preparation for instance) You can do an endorsement and that will count for an AFR. as does any upgrade. Nev

Lift reserve indicator..

Works on a principle of measuring AofAttack. Jets have had this as a slow-fast indication for years. It gives a confirmation that the speeds you are using are safe. Takes configuration etc into account.( flap settings etc ). While I like the information I am not sure of it's relevance to our ops. Things change pretty quick sometimes, so "feel" for your plane might be more appropriate. If you get a high sink rate suddenly you don't always have the time to look at instruments. Nev

Too late.

OMG. I was going to book it temora. Now it's too late. nev