Lowflyer

Thanks Pud, hope to get my final inspection done this weekend, then wait for the permit to test. Looking forward to hearing all about your first flight in the T500, she really is a great looking plane. Wishing you nothing but happy and fun flying in a superb machine. Yes it would be good to get into the 3 pointers, so that if landing on rough unknown ground, it would be a safer bet as she would be a lot less likely to pitch over if you hit a bad hump. Will watch the forum along with many others to hear your news. Cheers. Roly. Pom flyer.

Hi Pud. I had a T300 for 7 years and did a full rebuild as you have. sadly she is sold now and in Penang. I am on the other side of the pond in the U.K. I tried 3 pointers relentlesly as everyone said that if you were a real taildragger pilot that is what you do!!!. That is absolute B******s in my honest opinion, it is all about getting the plane to the ground with as little abuse of the airframe as possible and it was only when I converted to wheelers that I felt totally relaxed in my Thruster flying. I used to take off and fly around worrying that I had to plant the plane back on the deck as best I could with a 3 pointer, this resulted in some horrendous bounces and some bad airframe abuse. This all ended when I read Tony Hayne's fantastic article about landings and then I timidly tried my first wheeler and never looked back. The great thing about a wheeler is the fact that the plane is in a good flying mode all the way to the ground and it is as simple as reducing power, holding off until the mains just touch, nudge the stick forward to keep her planted and rudder all the way until the tail wheel comes down and keep ruddering until she stops. ( it ain't over until the fat lady sings as they say with a Thruster) Also with a cross wind you are in a good flying state all the way in. Anyway there are plenty out there who will disagree, but it transformed my flying !!! You have done a superb rebuild and I wish I still had my T300. I moved on to a Tecnam P92 and have been grounded since February with fuel tank issues Happy flying . Roly Pom flyer.

re flying an Echo with the doors off. I did a photo shoot with a friend this year and had a wonderful flight with doors off. The cockpit turbulance was fine and not severe at all. Handling was as per normal As it was a hot day shorts and T shirt worked well. I was told that 60 Knots should not be exceeded with the doors off. A great experience in the warmer weather. Happy flying. Roly P92 U.K.

re flying in the U.K. Another very friendly airfield to visit is Weston Zoyland, only 4 miles east of Bridgewater. This is an old WW11 airfield like Dunkerswell and a friendly lot of aviators, you may find one or two would take you for a trip round. Cheers. Roly Tecnam P92

re uphill routing of oil vent. Thanks Qwerty, will give it a go. The idea of a mesh inline also sounds a good one, just finding something stable with no loose particles etc. Great engine just an annoying problem with the oil breather. Roly (pom flyer)

My Tecnam P92 always runs on Aeroshell 15/50 but still spews out quite a lot per hour into the breather collector bottle. Very annoying. I just put it back into the engine as long as there is no mayonnaise in it. Roly pom flyer

re oil useage Just adding my penny's worth. I have heard that if the oil breather at the top of the dipstick is ground off and a breather tube ally welded on in its place that is the diameter of the dipstick tube that this cures the ever annoying pulsing of the oil into the overflow bottle. Has anyone heard of this remedy? I also have to keep a regular check on my overflow bottle, otherwise I get the oil all along the underside of the plane. I keep my oil just above the lower mark and am told that my engine number 1158 has a dipstick that suits this oil level. Roly (pom flyer) Tecnam P92 Jabiru.

re fuel contamination. Many thanks Ozzie, a very interesting listen, scary as well. Kind regards. Roly.

I have been using Mogas in this plane since owning her and the previous owner had done 150 hours using mainly Mogas. This could be a problem with the fiberglass tanks,but I think this would have shown up earlier as the plane is 7 years old. A friend who flys a flexwing had fuel starvation and found that the filter gauze was covered in a chalky substance. This was definitely an additive problem. Over here in the U.K. I do not buy Mogas from supermarkets as it seems their suppliers are adding more ethanol than some of the major companies like Esso and Shell etc. The Jabiru runs very well here on Mogas,so I am not in a hurry to change, but if I get much more problem with the idle jet blocking, then I would have to think again. Roly (tecnam P92 Echo) Jab 2200

Had exactly the same as this with my Jabiru 2200 in my Tecnam a couple of weeks ago. Engine stopped on pullback for final, glide approach was o.k. On start up on the ground with throttle all was well, but on pullback for idle she went way past my normal 950 rpm and stopped. I went for the slow running jet straight away and low and behold it was blocked. There was also some very strange looking stuff in the bowl. I have a very effective gascolator and a new filter ,but this seemed to be something that had slipped the net looked maybe like something in the fuel additive. Anyway after blowing through the idle jet with an airline and cleaning the bowl she came straight back to tickover. I used to have this problem very occassionally with a Rotax 447 and the idle jet was nearly always the culprit. Pleased that you found the answer as I did. Roly Tecnam P92 Echo (pom flyer)

re Jabiru engine problem reporting. Just adding to the thread. Distributor caps removed at 200 hours and the rotors were as sloppy as they could be. Has been said that this is because they are horizontal rather than vertical. Purchased two new ones and they were very tight to get in, but good and firm now. Will replace every 100 hours or when needed. Engine number 1158 2200A The distributor caps seemed o.k. some white deposits on the contacts but cleaned up fine. Roly (pom flyer)

Recently bought a P92 Echo with a Jabiru 2200a engine, not being used to the plane was surprised after landing that the tickover seemed fast, went to do the shutdown and as I hit the mags she flicked back and ran the other way, only for a few rotations. After my initial shock I realised that the choke was still on and yes I had done the whole flight with choke on full, very difficult to see as the lever is hidden under the panel when applied. Now written a good check list. Have been running on 95 Ron Mogas since taking delivery and she seems to run fine, guess the richness did not help on the shutdown. Always a learning curve. Roly (pom flyer)

re heavy ground steering. Hi Bruce, yes will definitely give it a go. Thanks for the feedback The Ultralight P92 in the U.K. called the P92EM Echo was only able to get get into the Ultralight category (450KG) if it used the Jabiru engine. Mike Rudd the then importer looked at this market and did the work to get it accepted. These Ultralight version planes were all homebuilt and there are quite a few in the U.K. happily flying with the Jabiru 2200A engine. I bought mine recently which had had two previous owners and was built by the first. The General Aviation version with the 912s Rotax is also available here and I believe they are mostly factory built and come in the (570KG) range. It is reassuring to know that the Ultralight version has the same airframe and although in a lower weight category is certainly strong enough to carry weight up to the 570 if not quite legal over here, thus giving a good safety margin. Thanks again for the feedback. Roly (pom flyer)

heavy ground steering on P92 Thanks Brent, yes they are 22 on the mains and 15 nose, which I think is about right. I will have a bit more time soon to get to grips with this, so will report back if I come up with anything. Thanks for the input. Roly

Heavy ground steering on a P92 No such luck with my plane Bryan, only me on the pedals and gaining leg muscles by the minute. Crafty old CFI keeping you covered on the pedals !!! Thanks for the reply. Roly. (Pom flyer)