Thruster Photos

[pgpete]

circa 1988

[Guest striker]

This T500 is still being enjoyed flying around Central West NSW. I believe it to be a early development of the swift design by Tony Hayes and was used in the flying school with Wally Ruddin.

 

 

 

[Methusala]

Wally Rudin was a great CFI. I remember flying a BFR with him at Holbrook in strong winds. Thrusters can handle strong conditions and we weren't out there too long. Hope he is enjoying his retirement. Don. BTW: a Gemini on Gumtree at the moment for $4500 (what a bargain!).

 

 

[octave]

This T500 is still being enjoyed flying around Central West NSW. I believe it to be a early development of the swift design by Tony Hayes and was used in the flying school with Wally Ruddin.[ATTACH=full]46502[/ATTACH]

wow, unless this rego number has been reused this is the aircraft I got my first pilot certificate in (1989 at the Oaks NSW) Still the same colour coverings but the pod was blue and then or black after a couple of mishaps (not me) or perhaps it was black an then blue, so long ago.

 

 

[octave]

This T500 is still being enjoyed flying around Central West NSW. I believe it to be a early development of the swift design by Tony Hayes and was used in the flying school with Wally Ruddin.[ATTACH=full]46502[/ATTACH]

1989 at The Oaks NSW

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest striker]

It was great to see the pictures from the oaks octave. What I know about this Thruster is that it was flown until 1990 until it was caught on the ground in a hailstorm, shredding the skins. It was then sold as is , but remained in storage for over 12 years until purchased by Wally Rudin and Tony Hayes and rebuild as a Swift prototype and used in their Flight training school Brisbane Valley leisure aviation center. Then in Holbrook and Narrandera with Wally.

 

Good chance it would be the same aircraft.

 

 

[eightyknots]

wow, unless this rego number has been reused this is the aircraft I got my first pilot certificate in (1989 at the Oaks NSW) Still the same colour coverings but the pod was blue and then or black after a couple of mishaps (not me) or perhaps it was black an then blue, so long ago.

Those were the days: "ULTRALIGHTS AVIATORS ASSOCIATION"

 

 

[Capillatus]

 

My TST with new wing skins from wingtech.com.au

 

 

[The Baron]

My TST with new wing skins from wingtech.com.au

That'sa great looking TST Capillatus

 

 

[Capillatus]

That'sa great looking TST Capillatus

I bought it from UK in August, it was in quite ok shape. I have only changed the wing skins and redone all the electricity as well as installed some new instruments.

 

 

[microman]

Interested to know how the whole importing thing went - was it very expensive? I have been looking at importing a plane from the UK but thought it would probably be prohibitively expensive. Presumably you used a freight forwarder to pick it up and load it into a container?

 

 

[Capillatus]

The seller arranged the shipment through uShip, It did not cost much, and after a day the thruster was delivered to me.

 

 

 

[eightyknots]

The seller arranged the shipment through uShip, It did not cost much, and after a day the thruster was delivered to me.

I wonder if U-Ship will transport larger aircraft too?

 

 

[Capillatus]

I wonder if U-Ship will transport larger aircraft too?

uShip is like eBay but you are bidding on shipping instead of things.

Here is the uShip link to the shipping of my TST:

 

Transport THRUSTER MICROLIGHT AIRCRAFT

 

 

[eightyknots]

uShip is like eBay but you are bidding on shipping instead of things.Here is the uShip link to the shipping of my TST:

 

Transport THRUSTER MICROLIGHT AIRCRAFT

That's a very interesting concept which I have never heard of. Thanks for sharing this.

 

I wonder if U-Ship will transport an aircraft engine from the United States to New Zealand?

 

 

[Capillatus]

We got just over 30cm of snow last week, so this weekend my little TST got a pair of skis :)

 

It worked quite well but the tailwheel have a tendency to get stuck in the snow so I think I have to mount a small ski on the tail.

 

 

 

[shafs64]

Its a T85.Give-aways are:

 

1. Rotax not Robin (not definitive)

 

2. side rails outside cockpit between the two cross members (not definitive - but it was a retrofit to the T83 as the boom supports came direct off the front crossbeam at the tube cluster)

 

3. the uprights for the A frames and the engine support go to the side of the fuse tube not the bottom - this is definitive, the T83 had all A-frames and boom/engine supports coming together under the fuse tube

 

4. tail boom support struts com onto the fuse tube as part of the the tail group mount - definitive - the T83 had the boom supports coming onto the tube forward of the tail group

 

5. the tail fin is the later T85 type with the frames bolted into end caps after rolling the tube to make a right angle joint - definitive - the T83 had riveted straight leading edges to the tail fin and had wraparound ali plates.

 

6. it appears to have the 25ft short span wings with under-surface batons that are profiled - this is definitely a T85 wing, the T83 - in all its lengths of span - had flat under-surface batons and very few of them.

 

7. it has a tail spring - T83's had a shopping trolley wheel welded up with a SSteel rod for steering and was pivoted off the lower fin plates with bungee shock through the lower fin (a cutout). Many got changed to proper tailwheels but the tail group lower fittings appear to be proper T85 without the early pivot bracket - T85's were originally a mix of pivot/bungee and later full spring

 

The T85 and T83 fuel tanks were and remain a mixed bag. The T83 started with the 20L plastic drum with a simple flop tube and it was mounted on short straight extensions of the two longitudinal floor tubes in the fuselage, later T83s had longer rails that were slightly bent up (to keep clearance on a full undercart use arrival!) and moved to the moulded fibreglass tank that was shared with the Gemini - not really retrofitted because the Gemini came from the TST glasshouse which was a 'fat' and beefed up T85. where and how the T85 tank was mounted depended on which tank they used - the fibreglass one needed high mounting (as per your pic) as it was too wide to fit lower between the tail support struts, but if they had the welded ali tank instead they remained within the booms and fitted lower on the lower floor tube extensions.

 

It appears You had a short wing T85 with R503

Hi kasper thanks for the info. i knew very little about the aircraft as i didn't own very long and was. but i was aware that he was a short wing version. I am going to call the holbrook club to see who owns it now.

 

 

[Blueadventures]

That airstrip was near Townsville were we bought it from....its in mackay now in the shed half pulled apart. ..ive got a fair bit of things to fix on it including fabric replacement...im a fair way off flying it i still have to finish my licence fix the thruster and find somewhere to hangar it in mackay or close to it...but yeh its just no $$ holding me back to broke atm

Hi How's the thruster rebuild going. There may be a spot comming up for a few months at Marian if you still need a place. Nothing confirmed just a possibility. Cheers Mike

 

 

[shafs64]

Some one had a thruster on face book in mackay for sale.

 

 

[Thruster88]

A well travelled Thruster any body requonize it

 

 

[propfarmer]

Yep, I learned to fly in it. First Thruster I soloed in! It has moved from that location closer to where you are based, but you probably know that?

 

 

[Thruster88]

David ?

 

 

[propfarmer]

Yes

 

 

[Thruster88]

[Thruster88]