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)

re P92 ground steering Thanks for the feedback Sam. Yes maybe the springs are not up to par. I will try lightening the load on them by making longer tangs and see if this helps. If not I will have to do some serious muscle building for my legs. Thanks again. Roly.

re ground handling. Thanks for the feedback Mike the P92 EM Echo is the U.K. microlight version with the Jabiru engine. I am going to slacken the springs underneath the plane and do some taxi trials, will see if this helps. I have a couple of Echo owners not far away and will see if they have any ideas. Thanks again. Roly

Having owned my P92 Ultralight for only a short time I am wondering if I am alone in finding the ground steering as heavy as lead. I find on Tarmac it is heavy, but I guess acceptable, but on farm strip and grass I need an amazing amount of input on the rudder pedals to turn. The springs underneath seem pretty tight and obviously do a reasonable job of keeping the nose wheel straight on landing, but it seems at the expense of very heavy ground manouvering. Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks. Roly (Pom Flyer)

re P92 brake pads. Many thanks John for the time and effort. Look forward to hearing any result. Guess mine are o.k. for a while, but one side seems more worn than the other. Brakes work fine though. Thanks again. Roly. P92 Pom flyer.

re P92 brake pads. Thanks Sam. I am looking into it over here. Will update if i get any news. Thanks. Roly

Re Jabiru engines. Wow guys dont wrap it up at all will you !!! Is this talking from experience or just a mate who had one that was crook? Also as we all saw over here the early ones did have some bad issues. 912 engines have their problems as well. Thought you guys would be a bit more proud of your Australian designed and built engine. As far as performance is concerned no problems. I have flown a P92 non ultralight version with the 912s engine and sure she is a hot little ship, but hey the Jabiru Ultralight version is fine. Anyway keep it coming. I can take it ? Good to have honest feedback. Cheers. Roly

re Jabiru engine Sorry I took it for granted that your ultralight Tecnam P92s were as in the U.K and jabiru powered. I was always a Rotax man and a bit wary of the Jabiru as we had heard bad things about the early ones, however this one runs very sweetly indeed and is a very simple engine. No plumbing, no gearbox, one carb, etc,etc. Has a lot going for it. Unless you know otherwise, would be interested to hear,sad or glad stories. Roly

Re engine switch off. Many thanks for all the replies. I have a jabiru 2200 on the Tecnam. Seems a great little engine and I am slowly working throught the basic maintenance on her, oil and filter change, plugs, tappets, 2x new rotor arms, mine were very sloppy, new carb rubber inlet manifold,slightly splitting from the inside,worth checking. Had a scare when I took the bottom off the gascolator as the previous owner who was very lacking on maintenance had obviously never removed the same and it had about an inch and a half of a mixture of water,rust,sludge etc. Amazingly it must have been doing an excellent job as the inline filter was pretty clear and the carb bowl was spotless. The engine has done 270 hours so I am hoping she will stay sweet up to the 1000 TBO. Does anyone have any fuel burn figures for their P92 echos with a Jabiru or are you all on 912s in OZ ? She seems sweet at 2500/2600 revs at about 8o/85 knots. Thanks again for the feedback re switching off. Roly, happy to learn from those who know!!!

Re disc pads Will see if I have any joy over here in the U.K. I just cannot understand how these small items can be so expensive. Hope between us we can find an alternative. Just another question while I am on here. When I go to turn my engine off I pull the throttle right back to idle and switch each mag swith of seperately. Is this correct or should you switch both off at the same time. Is there any preference for the engine? Thanks for the feedback. Roly U.K.

Will see what the bike shops can offer and if I come up trumps will post the serial numbers. Thanks Roly