Greetings from Scotland......

[Guest brucet]

Hi all, Bruce here, currently flying an X-air Hawk (Jabiru), lovely machine, from Longside airfield in Aberdeenshire,

 

Scotland.

 

 

[apmurray2002]

Welcome Bruce, just got here myself. How many days a year do you get flying weather up near Aberdeen ? I must admit I've had lovely weather most times I've been up that way but I'm reliably informed, by the locals, that there is a reason why whiskey became so popular in Auld Caledonia !

 

 

[Guest brucet]

Welcome Bruce, just got here myself. How many days a year do you get flying weather up near Aberdeen ? I must admit I've had lovely weather most times I've been up that way but I'm reliably informed, by the locals, that there is a reason why whiskey became so popular in Auld Caledonia !

Hi there ! Yep it can be a struggle to get decent flying days here, but it can't be that bad, I've managed 90 flying hours this past

 

year, and all this cold air is great for that extra few horsepower ! Where are you based ?

 

 

[BoxFat]

Wow 90 hours in the two weeks it wasn't raining ? You must have been tired !

 

Only joking. Having an identity crisis here sorry (aka log-in difficulties). Perth. Not the one down the road from you but the other one a bit further south :)

 

 

[dazza 38]

Welcome Brucet.

 

 

[Guest brucet]

Ahhhhh, the Perth bathed in sunshine, I remember that.........round bright thing in the sky, never seen it here, read about it though....... must be heavenly residing in such a climate.....

 

I see you fly a foxbat ? I took one for a test flight about a year ago with the UK dealer, was extremely impressed with the machine,

 

but less taken with the price. Very STOL machine with a fantastic speed range, amazing visability too.

 

 

[Guest brucet]

Welcome Brucet.

Greetings Dazza, how you doin ?

 

Welcome Brucet.

Welcome Brucet.

[BoxFat]

Yes tis generally but unfortunately not the last few days - half the Indian Ocean has become airborne and is blowing through: loose objects are disappearing in the direction of New Zealand, hailstones like golf balls etc. I'm just waiting for locusts and frog showers now.

 

Yes the FB is not cheap, despite the strong A$ against the Euro. They seem to hold their value well though, which was a sign to me that owners like them. Given the high failure rate of the Jab engines (oops..don't you sit behind one of those ?) the longer term costs would have been the same for a Jabiru I suspect. I did look at a couple of very nice Italian and German planes which have come down enormously in price due to the exchange rate but they weren't the kind of aircraft I want at this point - maybe next time around. The main worry right now is some disorder in our governing body (RA-Aus) which is currently unable to register new aircraft, though I'm told that will soon be resolved.

 

 

[eightyknots]

Hi BruceT, Welcome to the Forum! We look forward to hearing about some of your flight experiences in Ecosse.

 

 

[Guest brucet]

Yes tis generally but unfortunately not the last few days - half the Indian Ocean has become airborne and is blowing through: loose objects are disappearing in the direction of New Zealand, hailstones like golf balls etc. I'm just waiting for locusts and frog showers now.Yes the FB is not cheap, despite the strong A$ against the Euro. They seem to hold their value well though, which was a sign to me that owners like them. Given the high failure rate of the Jab engines (oops..don't you sit behind one of those ?) the longer term costs would have been the same for a Jabiru I suspect. I did look at a couple of very nice Italian and German planes which have come down enormously in price due to the exchange rate but they weren't the kind of aircraft I want at this point - maybe next time around. The main worry right now is some disorder in our governing body (RA-Aus) which is currently unable to register new aircraft, though I'm told that will soon be resolved.

Mercy me ! Hail the size of golf balls etc ? Re the potential frog showers, you wouldn't be the first country to be invaded by frogs, but I digress..... Wots all this about RA-Aus, are they on strike or something ?

 

And yes, I do sit behind a Jabiru engine. I have been a lucky sod so far, it runs really well, but a couple of mates of mine ain't

 

bin so lucky, they had a valve seat drop out on shutdown. Muchos grief...

 

You're running a Rotax, aren't you ? They seem to be well enough sorted, although I hear the sprag clutches on them fail with monotonous regularity..... Another mate of mine is on his third one in under four hundred hours ! So I guess we've all got our

 

Crosses to bear........

 

 

[BoxFat]

Ok thanks that's useful to know that about the sprag clutch failures, not that I know WTF a sprag clutch is. I'll google it. I'm not running anything right now as the bat is still on a ship somewhere. Since I switched from GA to RA and began flying Jabs I have flown four individual J160s in different places and one J230. 4 out of 5 of those individual aircraft have had engine failures in the past 18 months, thankfully not when I was flying any off them (hmmm..what's the common factor here ? Maybe it's me causing it !)

 

 

[Guest brucet]

Hi BruceT, Welcome to the Forum! We look forward to hearing about some of your flight experiences in Ecosse.

Hi there eightyknots, thanks for the welcome ! Scotland's a great place to fly (when the weather behaves), especially over on the West coast, where the scenery is stunning, so look out for some pics as and when I get the chance.

What do you fly, and where are you based ?

 

 

[eightyknots]

Hi there eightyknots, thanks for the welcome ! Scotland's a great place to fly (when the weather behaves), especially over on the West coast, where the scenery is stunning, so look out for some pics as and when I get the chance.What do you fly, and where are you based ?

I'm based in New Zealand and I'm doing PPL training in a Piper Super Cub.

 

I spent three weeks in Scotland a few years ago. It's a fascinating place with much fascinating history. The furthest north I went was Ness on the Isle of Lewis.

 

 

[Guest brucet]

The western isles are just amazing. The wife and I went touring for a week from Barra to Lewis a couple of years ago. Stunning !

 

I did my tail wheel conversion on an L4 Cub, would love to fly a super cub, one of my dreams is to fly a super cub with huge bush

 

Tyres, land on a gravel bar or something similar. One day, maybe ! Good luck with your training, NZ sounds a great place to learn

 

To fly.......

 

 

[Gentreau]

...I remember that.........round bright thing in the sky, never seen it here, read about it though....... ....

You'll have to get an IMC rating so you can go up and see it. :)

 

 

[Guest brucet]

You'll have to get an IMC rating so you can go up and see it. :)

Now why didn't I think of that ?

 

 

[Gentreau]

Or you could just come over to France where the sun always shines

 

 

[XAIRVTW]

Hi all, Bruce here, currently flying an X-air Hawk (Jabiru), lovely machine, from Longside airfield in Aberdeenshire,Scotland.

Hi Bruce welcome to the forum. I fly an Xair Hawk/Hanuman fantastic aircraft to fly. Im currently grounded at the moment for 8 weeks I snapped my archilles tendon, 1 week down another 7 to go. Going to be a long road ahead.

Cheers.

 

 

[Guest brucet]

Sun, wine, good food........ Remind me....... Why am I still here ? :-))

 

 

[Guest brucet]

Hi Bruce welcome to the forum. I fly an Xair Hawk/Hanuman fantastic aircraft to fly. Im currently grounded at the moment for 8 weeks I snapped my archilles tendon, 1 week down another 7 to go. Going to be a long road ahead.Cheers.

Ouch !! I can just about feel the pain in Scotland. My sympathies. You weren't stamping on the rudder pedal too hard, were you ?

The Hanuman (or Hawk, as they call them over here) is indeed a great aircraft. I have always flown ultralights, but the Hawk is the first one I've owned with plenty of speed, legs & comfort. Has yours got a Jab up front ?

 

 

[XAIRVTW]

Ouch !! I can just about feel the pain in Scotland. My sympathies. You weren't stamping on the rudder pedal too hard, were you ?The Hanuman (or Hawk, as they call them over here) is indeed a great aircraft. I have always flown ultralights, but the Hawk is the first one I've owned with plenty of speed, legs & comfort. Has yours got a Jab up front ?

Yep I run a jab 2200 first test flight was march this year it has 21 flight hours. Cruises @ 80 knots Im getting fuel burn of 17 litres an hour at 2850 rpm that will improve when the engine beds in more. Climb is 900 ft min. these figures are all one up & full of fuel 70-80 litres.

Did you build your Xair?

 

 

[Guest brucet]

Yep I run a jab 2200 first test flight was march this year it has 21 flight hours. Cruises @ 80 knots Im getting fuel burn of 17 litres an hour at 2850 rpm that will improve when the engine beds in more. Climb is 900 ft min. these figures are all one up & full of fuel 70-80 litres.Did you build your Xair?

I did'nt build my xair, i bought it a year or so ago, i just love it, flown the wings off it this last year all over the UK. It sounds to me as if yours is fitted with a finer pitched prop than mine, as the figures you give make me think that, anyway. Mine will not climb as well as yours, i get about 650 ft min, my max rpm is 2750 stabilised in the climb

(2700 static), i cruise at about 85 (mph, not knots), but i only burn 13 lph one up, full fuel. By the way, mine has a single fuel tank, capacity 63 ltrs, i'm quite surprised at your capacity of 70 - 80 ltrs, we're not allowed the extra weight here, max all up weight for a uk microlight is 450kgs. So where are you based ?

 

 

[XAIRVTW]

Yeah I have a 38 pitch prop I built mine the 80lt tank is standard for Australia. Max weight here is 540kg

 

 

[Guest brucet]

That's really good ! Your extra fuel capacity compared to mine gives it great range (er, which I guess is handy in Oz :-) ) Mine runs

 

Really well, although I seem to get plagued by punctures. (No jokes about hard landings, heard 'em all ! ) I'm just lucky like that........ I've been wondering about sticking some bigger tyres on her for rough strip work, not sure how much of a drag penalty I'll get.... Here's a photo..

 

 

[eightyknots]

That's really good ! Your extra fuel capacity compared to mine gives it great range (er, which I guess is handy in Oz :-) ) Mine runsReally well, although I seem to get plagued by punctures. (No jokes about hard landings, heard 'em all ! ) I'm just lucky like that........ I've been wondering about sticking some bigger tyres on her for rough strip work, not sure how much of a drag penalty I'll get.... Here's a photo..[ATTACH=full]19892[/ATTACH]

Lovely plane, Bruce.