Kiwi Posted September 17, 2011 Posted September 17, 2011 Kiwi, let me know if you are going past Coota. Hi Brian. I don't know if we are going that far south this time but tex me your number, mine is 0438 250 404 Kiwi.
Kiwi Posted September 17, 2011 Posted September 17, 2011 You lucky lucky bastards . I particularly like your long range fuel tanks.How does that rolled up tent affect air entering the prop? Warnervale on the NSW Central Coast sounds good, if you get that far South, ping me and I will gladly meet you and bring you home for dinner, to share dinner that is ... . There are camping facilities at the airport as well. David Thanks for the offer David but we are not planning to go too far east. We just got back from Narromine (by car) where they had the dedication of the Corben Super Ace which "Merc" has put on permanant loan with the Narromine Museum, they have restored it for static display and the motor runs! I will post some photos/videos when I get to another computer. Kiwi
XP503 Posted September 17, 2011 Posted September 17, 2011 It was completely my fault. I had been building brackets for wheel spats all day and had the wheels on and off and then on again and then off again, plus a few other minor jobs on the aircaft and it was getting late in the day, I was over it and all I wanted to do was go for a fly so I put everything back together to start the preflight, including sliding the bush over the axle extension BUT then couldnt find the blot that held it on.....sooooo I looked around for it and kept looking, then something distracted me for a bit then I went back to looking for the bolt, then someone turned up, so after chatting - I said I must get back to my preflight so I started again and checked every little thing before pulling her out and starting up..........or so I thought. Take off down the hill into the sunset and pull on the brakes to stop the wheels shaking, look right to check the wheel has stopped, yep, look left to see the ....OH SH*&^ the left wheel is perched on the very tip of the axel extension like its about to fall on some farmers head. Had a chuckle at rocky stretching his legs out into the sllipstream trying to get the thing to slide back on. Tried flying knife edge so the thing would slide down the axel.....nothing worked so I just took her home landed on one wheel and when we were at walking pace I lowered the leg and she slid around almost a 180.......... found the wheel and pushed it home. I always used to think that I did the most overly thorough pre flights and I feel embarrassed about this, but more so I am dissappointed in myself for letting it happen, as it is not the type of pilot I wanna be. I guess you could say its good that it has happened to me because I dont plan on letting anything like this happen EVER again. 1
c722352 Posted September 18, 2011 Posted September 18, 2011 Hi Dave Peter Stanton here thank you for your honest account, of a distracted preflight when it comes tyo distraction Rocky is the master. Thanks to your story we are now inventing a preflight distraction flag that can be quickly attached to any part of the aircraft when the distraction occurs, that way when Rocky has been told to PO you can continue your preflight at the exact spot you were interrupted at. dont worry about almost losing a wheel Drifters fly cleaner with just 2 even better with one. Thanks to C722352 for the use of his log in. really must join this fantastic site
XP503 Posted September 19, 2011 Posted September 19, 2011 Gday Pete! Thanks, yeah I'm still kickin myself but learned a good lesson. Looking forward to my trip up to Gympie
facthunter Posted September 19, 2011 Posted September 19, 2011 Loss of continuity during a maintenance procedure has been the cause of many catastrophe's. Phone calls, shift changes, someone talking to you while you are working. Very dangerous stuff. Nev
Guest Andys@coffs Posted September 19, 2011 Posted September 19, 2011 Hi Dave Peter Stanton here thank you for your honest account, of a distracted preflight when it comes tyo distraction Rocky is the master. Thanks to your story we are now inventing a preflight distraction flag that can be quickly attached to any part of the aircraft when the distraction occurs, that way when Rocky has been told to PO you can continue your preflight at the exact spot you were interrupted at. dont worry about almost losing a wheel Drifters fly cleaner with just 2 even better with one. Thanks to C722352 for the use of his log in. really must join this fantastic site If Rocky hasnt told you he used to work F111's where inspection criteria for complex and critical jobs require a tradesman who did the job, a trade inspector and an independant inspector. Obviously the independant inspector could not have been involved in working the job.... Changing wheels on any aircarft is critical and its probably good practise to get someone else to look at your work no matter what experience you have if there is someone around to check. Andy
farri Posted September 29, 2011 Author Posted September 29, 2011 Just got back from taking Don, the guy in the photo, for his first flight in a light aircraft,of any description! Don is 85 and has wanted to fly all his life!.....His first remark on landing, was........ "Unbelievable! Why have I left it this late"! He reckons he`ll be back as soon as he can. Frank. 1
pudestcon Posted September 29, 2011 Posted September 29, 2011 Jeez I do like a good news story. Onya Frank and well done Don - It's never to late to live life eh? Pud 1
farri Posted September 29, 2011 Author Posted September 29, 2011 There`s a bit of a story leading to Dons flight! A couple of months ago Don and his wife, (whom I`d never met before), turned up here, looking for my parents!.....It turned out that back in the fifties, Don was a traveling Rep. for a company called, "Motor Supplies"!.....At that time my father had an auto repair garage in Tully and Don would call in there on his rounds...He hadn`t seen Dad again since that time and wanted to catch up. Don saw the wind sock and the conversation turned to aircraft so I took him down and showed him the Drifter!... I gave him a copy of our RAA mag to take home and told him that if he wanted to go for a fly,all he had to do was turn up!..... And turn up he did! Frank. Ps, Had another excellent bit of flying fun this afternoon! A guy in his X Air and me in the Drifter! His wife in the back seat with me, taking vidio of the X Air!... They both got their pilot certificate with me, when I was instructing!
av8vfr Posted September 29, 2011 Posted September 29, 2011 Speaking of distractions...(maybe another thread..) I pre-flighted a Cherokee 6 out of YAMB and the curious peers were asking 100's of Qs about the A/C. The PA32-260 has a pitot under the wing and I missed removing the cover due to Qs. During the T/O roll and about 15 secs in, the airspeed wasn't "active" so aborted the take-off. As I taxi-ed off an instructor pointed at the cover which I gave him a thumbs up to remove. The airspace was active as well so very embarrassing! I suppose the point is, if it doesn't look right, stop and check it out. Easier on the ground than in the air!
dazza 38 Posted September 29, 2011 Posted September 29, 2011 If Rocky hasnt told you he used to work F111's where inspection criteria for complex and critical jobs require a tradesman who did the job, a trade inspector and an independant inspector. Obviously the independant inspector could not have been involved in working the job.... Changing wheels on any aircarft is critical and its probably good practise to get someone else to look at your work no matter what experience you have if there is someone around to check.Andy I have "liked " this, but I better explain.I know Davey and Rocky.I "liked" because we all make mistakes.Me included.I like what Andy has mentioned that when we where Teco's in the RAAF.We had other people check our work or became a progressive/independant inspectors and checked other peoples work. Davey is a switched on Guy.He realy is. These things happen.Davey has had the guts to mention his mistake which is the benefit for all of us. Thank You David
av8vfr Posted September 29, 2011 Posted September 29, 2011 I also was a "Teco" on F111s in avionics so I know all about II's and the such.... My point is even the most seasoned pilot can be distracted..hence the previous post.... 1
XP503 Posted September 29, 2011 Posted September 29, 2011 Thanks daz. I appreciate that mate. Yea it sure was a good lesson and wake up call! Also, even though I was distracted, it's noones fault but my own. Chalk it up to experience
eightyknots Posted September 29, 2011 Posted September 29, 2011 Chalk it up to experience We can all learn from these posts. Learning from others' mistakes is very valuable and preferable to finding out things "the hard way" ourselves. Thanks very much for sharing these things. :thumb_up:
XP503 Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Thanks guys. Still shake my head when I think about it. Lucky for my sake the drifter is tough but I've promised her I'll never let her down again due to my silly mistake.
Kiwi Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 You lucky lucky bastards . I particularly like your long range fuel tanks.How does that rolled up tent affect air entering the prop? Warnervale on the NSW Central Coast sounds good, if you get that far South, ping me and I will gladly meet you and bring you home for dinner, to share dinner that is ... . There are camping facilities at the airport as well. David Hi David. Sorry it took so long to reply as we only got back on Monday and had computer problems when we were away. (yes we had a laptop with us) The "rolled up tent" is my Baggage compartment, the tent goes between the rear set and the rear tank (a mattress is on the other side) The bag has my clothes, sleeping bag, pillow, food, metho stove and every other thing that will fit into it! (about 15kgs) It makes no deference to the handling or cruise speed of my Drifter other than climb performance (due to max all up weight) and the strange thing about it is that the inverted 582 runs cooler with the bag and fuel drums fitted, than with them off. it seems to smooth out the airflow under the wing. Also it is less bulky and weighs less than most of the people that I take flying! I will post some info on where we went and more photos soon. Kiwi 1
farri Posted October 10, 2011 Author Posted October 10, 2011 Hi everyone! Recently, we`ve been getting strong Northly winds up here!... Makes going north slower, but that`s ok cause it`s faster getting home! . Yesterday, Ron Biondi, (Ron is 81 years old), and I went for a flight to a private property at Merringa, just south of Cairns, where a gathering of Hang Glider enthusiasts was held on saturday night!...I took my neighbour, John the Ausie Pom, with me!...I called him John the Pom yesterday and he proudly told me, " I`m an Ausie now" , so , in future, John, the Ausie Pom, it is! On Saturday afternoon,Wayne Bagnall, flew his Thruster up from Innisfail. Caught up with a couple of mates, from way back but unfortunately, missed most of them as they`d left to go gliding from the Gillies jump site! Got to meet Waynes beloved,"Gandalf",the flying Cockatoo, the one in the photo! Wayne told me that Gandalf can`t fly so when he was Hang Gliding, he built a perch on his glider and would take Gandalf flying with him. Cheers, Frank. ..... 2
Tex Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Did someone say trip report! Haven't got time ATM to write a full trip report so here are a quick few piccies of a recent adventure I took with an absolutely sensational bunch of aviators. 3 Drifters, 3 trikes, 1 Luscomb, 4 poor land bound souls... Ended up out west past Thargomindah on a lovely private property by the Bulloo. About 840nm return... we stayed a week and flew plenty around the 'local' area. Sorry I can't get to full write up.... I have plenty of video... more than photos but just haven't had the time to do any editing. Support vehicle required, we didn't camp real close to civilization. Fuel, Quad AND the kitchen sink. My ride at Cunnamulla... Dawdled along a bit too much and had to make a stop short of our destination... shearers quarters old stove. Not sure the fire extinguisher is big enough! The 'Mess' OH&S Inspection. Departing camp Day 2 Inbound. The strips. Final ROUGH! (After we cut it as well) Tie down area at Middle of Nowhere Aerodrome. I love this old stuff, went looking for some extra weight as we had to cut a strip over the paddock, found this old buggy axle... Yup.. we were a bit of a circus! Plenty of Yellowbelly in there too...big ones... I am drooling at the memories. "Middle of nowhere traffic, Drifter 123 backtracking 03,.... nowhere traffic..." The Station stables Be afraid VERY VERY AFRAID! One time NASA launch module... now instant hot shower! 30 hours flying over 6 days... lovely! 6
Tomo Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Looks great Tex!! Bit jealous I missed out... next time hopefully I will be around for it
Tex Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Be there Tomo great trip! An absolute privilege to attend.
farri Posted October 10, 2011 Author Posted October 10, 2011 Hey Tex! That looks great! Goodonya! Isn`t it amazing where you can land with a Drifter? Frank
pudestcon Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Bloody good stuff mate!! Particularly liked the radio calls.... There's nothing like a camping trip out back - and what a way to get around eh? Pud 1
Tex Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Isn`t it amazing where you can land with a Drifter? Frank Indeed when we got out there it was quite windy lucky as we didn't have a good strip so just dropped it in the paddock, boy it was rough I was mighty impressed no one didn't break an axle
Guest FlashWayne Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Hi Frank, first chance I've had to get online since I saw you on Sunday. I got back to Innisfail okay although I had the same problem when I was descending and losing power again. I spoke to a guy at Bert Floods this morning and he gave me a clue. He said another guy here in north Qld. had a similar problem with a Rotax 2 - stroke some time ago. It turned out to be a split in the rubber of the foot of the choke cable that seats in the carby. With a little air seeping through it made the carby operate like a little refrigerator. Anyway I've ordered two of them and will replace the two in my carbys regardless, next time I'm down there. By the way, the photos with Gandalf look great, thanks. Wayne
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