G'day fellow aviators

[bizwise]

I have been cruising around this website for years, learning lots about various sports aircraft, but just finally decided to land! My late father, Capt Ken Armstrong, was a RAAF WW2 pilot then airline pilot with ANA then Ansett until retirement in 1975. I have been flying gliders since 16, owned and maintained my own gliders - a Kookaburra (sold in 1981) and a Libelle 201B (since 1976).

 

As a child, I was always fascinated with seaplanes (the original Pereira Osprey kit plane), but was intimidated by the cost unless I could find the time to build my own. Being too busy with work in aviation safety management, I started a re-configuration project with Fly Synthesis Italy to create my FS Catalina NG D-motor - my avatar shows flight testing in the northern Adriatic Sea.

 

With the help of well-known Italian aeronautical engineer, Walter Mauri (Keitek Silent sailplane, Rhampos weight-shift amphibian, Streamer weight-shift trike and various Fly Synthesis and Pipistrel designs to name just a few), we created a suitable engine mount for the tube fuselage, added auxiliary tanks, marine-grade all-electric undercarriage and many other improvements to the original FS Catalina NG R582 amphibian design.

 

The result was a resounding success with safer higher STOL performance off-water at MTOW using the 92hp lightweight EFI 4-stroke side-valve fully water-cooled D-motor and nearly treble the range at a higher cruise speed! FlySynthesis was so impressed with the D-motor, I organised another engine for them to test on their new FS Storch model for their French distributor.

 

With its roomy open cockpit, I now have a fun fishing flying boat for this avid angling aviator!

 

Dale

 

 

[Nightmare]

Hi Dale and welcome!

 

Tony

 

 

[farri]

Dale and thank you for all the information you`ve given! I`m impressed!!!

 

Franco.

 

 

[Love to fly]

Wow! and welcome aboard! Now this is an aircraft that would work at my place!

 

 

[bizwise]

Hi Dale and welcome!Tony

Thanks for the welcome, Tony. I noticed you are in Fernvale. Where do you fly?

 

 

[bizwise]

Dale and thank you for all the information you`ve given! I`m impressed!!!Franco.

Always good to give a bit of background to your story. I spotted a boat ramp on the Mulgrave River at Deeral. Looks like nice countryside where you live near Bellenden Ker. I have flown from Atherton years ago. At least I have the range to make the trip... just got to find the time!

 

 

[bizwise]

Wow! and welcome aboard! Now this is an aircraft that would work at my place!

What do you love to fly? Are there some scenic spots suitable for water landings where you live?

 

 

[Nightmare]

Thanks for the welcome, Tony. I noticed you are in Fernvale. Where do you fly?

I fly out from YBCM Coominya. I see you're in Boonah. I've been out there recently, slowly getting type certified on the Tecnam 2008 that Airsport has there for private hire. Tony

 

 

[cscotthendry]

Dale:

 

Welcome to the forums and thanks for the info about using the D motor. It is a very interesting product and I've been watching the take up of it in various aircraft for some time now. Some time back, I was seriously considering the BOT SpeedCruiser which offered a D motor as standard. That didn't come to fruition, but it whetted my interest in the motor.

 

 

[bizwise]

I fly out from YBCM Coominya. I see you're in Boonah. I've been out there recently, slowly getting type certified on the Tecnam 2008 that Airsport has there for private hire.Tony

I have the little worker's cottage last on the ridge in the bushland overlooking the billabong, cricket ground and my favourite watering hole, the Dugandan pub. I sit right under the downwind leg for 04 Boonah ALA so have probably been watching you from my back verandah.

 

 

[Nightmare]

I have the little worker's cottage last on the ridge in the bushland overlooking the billabong, cricket ground and my favourite watering hole, the Dugandan pub. I sit right under the downwind leg for 04 Boonah ALA so have probably been watching you from my back verandah.

You know Dale, that sounds familiar, so you probably did see me overhead, the wind was favouring 04 when I was last there.... I was booked in to do some more in the Tecnam on Wednesday but had to cancel... damn flu!

[bizwise]

Dale:Welcome to the forums and thanks for the info about using the D motor. It is a very interesting product and I've been watching the take up of it in various aircraft for some time now. Some time back, I was seriously considering the BOT SpeedCruiser which offered a D motor as standard. That didn't come to fruition, but it whetted my interest in the motor.

In October 2014, I visited D-motor owners, Alain Dejager (quality/marketing manager), Peter Desmet (rally car driver/mechanical engineer/Optimex EFI developer with his brother) and Freddy Deschrevel (original Maaschi Motor team member/machinist extraordinaire) at their Deerlijk D-motor factory... I wonder why they called it D-motor?

 

Alain kindly drove me 430km to visit innovative engineer Jurgen Ostermeier at his BOT SpeedCruiser factory at the world-renown Oerlinghausen Airfield, 100km SW of Hanover, Germany. Jurgen has helped D-motor with their engine development and testing from the outset. He has spent some time working in Australia as well and loves our beer!

 

I flew the D-motor powered SpeedCruiser and verified its spectacular performance and quality of design and build. In flight shutdown and restart is something the EFI D-motor handles really well because its Optimex system was developed in house (see the D-motor website video), in contrast to the Rotax system. That capability, its extremely flat torque characteristics and the simple robust side valve design and reliability makes it the perfect engine (first the 4-cylinder LF-26, and now the 6-cylinder LF-39 model) for EDM Helitech ultralight helicopters. Jurgen helped me with various initial Helix test propellers sent to Fly Synthesis, until Helix's GM Marcus Angstmann was able to provide my final selection.

 

Prior to the first flight of my Fly Synthesis Catalina NG D-motor (what a mouthful but the FS choice... I should call it FS Catalina NG NEO like Boeing and Airbus... or just MAX... even better, "Ding"!) from their WW1 airstrip, 15km S of Udine in northern Italy, Peter Desmet came down to provide invaluable assistance to Fly Synthesis engineers. As a management systems specialist (ISO 9001 Quality et al), I was very impressed with their commitment to customer support as was Fly Synthesis owner, Sonia Felice, which bodes well for their future.

 

Dale

 

 

[Love to fly]

What do you love to fly? Are there some scenic spots suitable for water landings where you live?

I love to fly my RV, but my home http://www.facebook.com/justsublime has frontage to the Nicholson River and is near the Gippsland Lakes. Lots of water :)

 

 

[bizwise]

What a stunning location to base a seaplane! Your choice of Just Sublime is so very appropriate. I have watched many friends build their RVs and have flown in them... great aircraft. Dick Van Grunsven regularly visits QLD to fly in a glider owned by a friend. But I was looking for something simple, easy to maintain and wanted a good stable platform for fishing and camping, as well as range. I was not interested in speed because I have spent too many years flying in circles as a glider pilot, just for the joy of competing against gravity. Now I want to spend time taking in the view on long trips, safe in the knowledge I can alight anywhere on the world's largest airstrip!