Aerolite 103?

[spacesailor]

And more !?

IT TORTURES US DECREPIDS! 

Making us hobble to the voting booth. There should be an age limit, were,s those physically unable to get there, Dont cop the fine .

spacesailor

[jackc]

57 minutes ago, Methusala said:

SorryJacko, many of us are to old and tired to put up much fight any more. Understand that we have been trying to carry the torch since the 60's when we marched through the streets of Sydney in the Moratorium against the Vietnam war. Carrying the torch for the plundered native forests through the 80's and 90's then trying to change minds on the mad plans to flame the Middle East in the "War against Terror" (haw, haw!). Watching, shocked as a functioning govt is replaced by a grotesque effigy shouting "Axe the Tax"  and (disgracefully) "Ditch the Witch. Now we are being led to a "Gas led " solution to the existential, urgent collapse of the living planet.

So...No , we don't easily become active in the face of such stupid resilience on the part of ill-in formed voters and a system which takes no mind of the valid opinions of voters.

It sure is a pretty ugly past we have endured and I see very little light at the end of the tunnel for the future, either.

However, when I hit TBO.....I will just tell the doctor to keep me running, on ‘condition’ 🙂

Too old for a full reco and getting ‘zero timed’. to run again! 

In the meantime I will run 15 knots under ‘cruise’ speed and stay out of ‘turbulence’ 🙂

 

 

[danny_galaga]

Aerolite is a nice looking plane. We came across it when I wanted to get a Quicksilver but found its existence was shakey regarding the factory and lack of engines. In the end I ended up buying a Bushcat (yeah but of a jump up!) But I often think of the aerolite each time I find I have two left hand parts and am waiting two weeks for the right parts to arrive. If I'd have bought an aerolite I probably would have been flying my own plane the last Two years 😄

[spacesailor]

danny_galaga

Unless those BUREAUCRATES get you.

spacesailor

[danny_galaga]

8 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

danny_galaga

Unless those BUREAUCRATES get you.

spacesailor

In all seriousness surely you guys aren't suggesting that you cant legally register a Quicksilver or aerolite kit in Australia?  I saw no 'for novelty purposes only, not too be used as intended' disclaimers on the Australian importers websites.

Edited May 6, 2021 by danny_galaga

[danny_galaga]

Dammit, now I'm longingly poring over the Quicksilver website. They are available with Hirth engines now. 

[jackc]

1 minute ago, danny_galaga said:

Dammit, now I'm longingly poring over the Quicksilver website. They are available with Hirth engines now. 

The Quicksilver man also has the Aerolite 103,  not sure IF he keeps kits in stock? 

[kasper]

14 hours ago, danny_galaga said:

In all seriousness surely you guys aren't suggesting that you cant legally register a Quicksilver or aerolite kit in Australia?  I saw no 'for novelty purposes only, not too be used as intended' disclaimers on the Australian importers websites.

Not to worry - spacey has a BIT of a chip about being caught out with a rule change 23 years ago that only meant he needed to register change from 10- to 19- but he cannot let it go.

 

ANY and ALL single seat foreign kits that are within the 600kg MTOW and stall lower than 45knts are single single engine, single prop and require more than 50% assembly by you CAN be assembled and registered in OZ with RAAus  ....  but it will be a 19- homebuilt - you CANNOT bring in anything from a foreign factory  9kit or fully assembled) and registered it as a 10- reg single seater ... that was the change 23 years ago Spacey can't seem to let go of.

[spacesailor]

IT WAS SO SHOCKING !,,

All that work and effort gone ! Along with enthusiasm 

, replaced by that dark dismal place.

spacesailor

Edited May 7, 2021 by spacesailor
Spelling

[jackc]

Well here I am with the Aerolite 103 concept still eating away at me.  Been looking at engine choices and lamenting the passing of the 503 Rotax motor.  Hirth and MZ seem the major choices now. Not even sure I can buy one as the importer here dislikes me immensely, I got up his nose on a discussion of AUF past history.  Last 2 emails went unanswered.  So maybe I would have to buy from another agent and get it shipped here.

Life was never meant to be easy, especially in Aviation 🙂

 

[Thruster88]

29 minutes ago, jackc said:

Well here I am with the Aerolite 103 concept still eating away at me.  Been looking at engine choices and lamenting the passing of the 503 Rotax motor.  Hirth and MZ seem the major choices now. Not even sure I can buy one as the importer here dislikes me immensely, I got up his nose on a discussion of AUF past history.  Last 2 emails went unanswered.  So maybe I would have to buy from another agent and get it shipped here.

Life was never meant to be easy, especially in Aviation 🙂

 

You could buy a used single seat thruster, 1/4 of the cost, its Australian, tail dragger, easy to repair with all straight tubes, sails made locally by Wingtech. 

[jackc]

If only I could fit a BRS to it, my major consideration……

[danny_galaga]

I watched a Thruster lazily doing circuits the other day while I worked on my plane, not getting anywhere. If I could turn back time...

Edited August 20, 2021 by danny_galaga

[kasper]

8 hours ago, Thruster88 said:

You could buy a used single seat thruster, 1/4 of the cost, its Australian, tail dragger, easy to repair with all straight tubes, sails made locally by Wingtech. 

Beautiful little t85. ❤️

[jackc]

Maybe I should simply put a wanted advert second hand  and see what I get, I have abandoned the Aerolite 103 due to engine choices…..no more 503, 582s for reasonable price.  Guess’s all the Aerochute guys snap them up?

[danny_galaga]

3 hours ago, jackc said:

Maybe I should simply put a wanted advert second hand  and see what I get, I have abandoned the Aerolite 103 due to engine choices…..no more 503, 582s for reasonable price.  Guess’s all the Aerochute guys snap them up?

Don't they offer other options though? There is a German engine they list. Name eludes me this instant...

[jackc]

29 minutes ago, danny_galaga said:

Don't they offer other options though? There is a German engine they list. Name eludes me this instant...

MZ, Hirth, Polini……..no real support in Australia unfortunately.  Very soon the Ultralight scene will have few engine options, I suspect the 2 strokes will disappear as EU emission laws tighten up.  Rotax have ditched them, but parts will continue OK for the later models.

 

[danny_galaga]

Those microlight companies may have to start thinking about a conversion kit for a light four stroke bike engine. A modern version of a Yamaha xs650 for example. Swap the drive sprockets for a belt (if Kawasaki it will probably be belt drive already) and a bracket to mount a prop on. Leave it in say fourth gear and away you go. 

[jackc]

I am surprised Rotax did not develop something, maybe they think the move to higher power engines is where the market is going?  I don’t know how constant mesh bike gearboxes would last,  maybe an idea would be to strip out all the bike gears and make a single speed set of gears that could use the existing case?

Enginewise, there are many choices…….I think there is a good potential market for 4 stroke power as emission rules will kill off the 2 strokes, just look at outboards now……2 strokes gone.

[kasper]

The real alternate is likely to be electric for the replacement of 30-50hp power range in ultralights.

Most of these airfames do not do 3+ hour flights regularly and an endurance of 1.5hrs is achievable now ... at a high upfront cost.

 

I would be surprised if even the US part 103 does ot end up being amended to exclude a limited KwH of battery mass from the empty weight to allow a battery ultralight to be on an equivalent basis to IC here they are are allowed limited Ltrs of fuel anyway. 

 

Ausralia through 95.10 single seaters already effectively has this as within the MTOW of 300kg you can put enough batteries and electrics to fit a 1.5hr flight endurance profile ... far less than the endurance possible under IC for the same 300kg  but I think we will have to accept that unless there is a miracle in electic storage the future of ultralights is likely to be either poisonously expensive electric or limited endurance electric 

Edited August 30, 2021 by kasper

[danny_galaga]

4 hours ago, jackc said:

I am surprised Rotax did not develop something, maybe they think the move to higher power engines is where the market is going?  I don’t know how constant mesh bike gearboxes would last,  maybe an idea would be to strip out all the bike gears and make a single speed set of gears that could use the existing case?

Enginewise, there are many choices…….I think there is a good potential market for 4 stroke power as emission rules will kill off the 2 strokes, just look at outboards now……2 strokes gone.

Yes you could probably just put a simpler drive train in, but bike gear boxes are a pain in the ass to work on. Those gears are designed to be working constantly, hauling you and a pillion for say 100,000 km. So would be easier to just leave it as is.

[spacesailor]

And a New old two pot VW !.

Called. Christine, much like the older type without having to do everything yourself 

Hummel still make theres, but have along wait time. the Christine makers have a quicker delivery, ' they say '.

From David Cooper facebook.

Could just be a hoax 

spacesailor

[onetrack]

I don't know how you'd ever balance a 2 cyl VW engine adequately for aircraft use. My experience of 2 cyl VW engines is limited to the use of a 1960's Atlas Copco trailer-mounted 55cfm air compressor, which was powered by a 1/2 VW engine.

 

That engine used to nearly throw the compressor off the ground with the vibration from those 2 big pots bouncing back and forth. It only smoothed out somewhat at full revs. 

 

I've seen a clever old farmer cut a Model T Ford engine in half, and use the 1/2 engine to drive a pedestal grinder (mains power hadn't made it to his area back in the '60's). 

 

What was even more amazing, he also had to cut the 1/2 crankshaft and re-locate the cranks by 90° to get them opposite, so it fired evenly, and was somewhere near balanced!

[jackc]

2 hours ago, kasper said:

The real alternate is likely to be electric for the replacement of 30-50hp power range in ultralights.

Most of these airfames do not do 3+ hour flights regularly and an endurance of 1.5hrs is achievable now ... at a high upfront cost.

 

I would be surprised if even the US part 103 does ot end up being amended to exclude a limited KwH of battery mass from the empty weight to allow a battery ultralight to be on an equivalent basis to IC here they are are allowed limited Ltrs of fuel anyway. 

 

Ausralia through 95.10 single seaters already effectively has this as within the MTOW of 300kg you can put enough batteries and electrics to fit a 1.5hr flight endurance profile ... far less than the endurance possible under IC for the same 300kg  but I think we will have to accept that unless there is a miracle in electic storage the future of ultralights is likely to be either poisonously expensive electric or limited endurance electric 

These guys supply Aerolite in the U.S., the Aerolite 103 was flown at Oshkosh this year, there is a video on it.

 

https://www.freerchobby.cc

 

[kasper]

44 minutes ago, jackc said:

These guys supply Aerolite in the U.S., the Aerolite 103 was flown at Oshkosh this year, there is a video on it.

 

https://www.freerchobby.cc

 

Yep,  I've seen them before.  My issue with them is that they are running 4,000+ rpm on 42"-55" props .... thats quite fast and will produce quite a bit more noise than an equivalent kw motor running at half that speed.

 

And they are not particularly cheap on the motor side compared to the slower running elelctric aviation motors from Germany.

 

My concerns are the controllers, BMS and battery where I am less familiar/comfortable - motors are relatively easy and light - and its these areas where I feel more comfortable shelling out for the german plug n play system I am looking to use on the Sapphire in place of the kfm