RAA's annual air show

[BurnieM]

At Parkes;

John from Rotax saying they are going to try to price the new XPS oil similar to Shell. Also said he believed Shell were developing their own oil for the 916.

[facthunter]

That's not surprising. The Previous SHELL recommended oil was done IN CONJUNCTION with Rotax. STATED as the ONLY one.. I'm surmising the OIL was difficult to meet the required performance in the more powerful engines coming Out. You can't do anything without spending money though. The earlier motors should be best with the oils that were suitable for them same as new oils don't suite older motors in old cars. It's not better just because it's priced higher.  It would be quite difficult to get an oilf or the Mini Cooper as an example were engine and gearbox oils are  common that's ideal for it because the additives that were used then are not compatible with the Catalytic converters required on road vehicles today. Nev

[turboplanner]

47 minutes ago, facthunter said:

That's not surprising. The Previous SHELL recommended oil was done IN CONJUNCTION with Rotax. STATED as the ONLY one.. I'm surmising the OIL was difficult to meet the required performance in the more powerful engines coming Out. You can't do anything without spending money though. The earlier motors should be best with the oils that were suitable for them same as new oils don't suite older motors in old cars. It's not better just because it's priced higher.  It would be quite difficult to get an oilf or the Mini Cooper as an example were engine and gearbox oils are  common that's ideal for it because the additives that were used then are not compatible with the Catalytic converters required on road vehicles today. Nev

And that's because the design engineers of the manufacturer know what the issues are with THAT engine design whether deliberately in their design or by issues in the manufacturing process that can be solved by a special blend of oil, and that's why you refer to the manufacturer of the engine and use what the manufacturer specifies. As an example, if the manufacturer is specifying a specific oil or a specific oil change interval, and you decide to follow what someone you've never met says on social media, you could halve the life of your engine or worse.

[BurnieM]

Parkes Sling porn;

[skippydiesel]

"Parkes Sling porn;"

 

Very sexy looking BUT GA not RAA and a 4 seater to boot.

 

Better that you took a photo of the ATEC Faeta that would have been just behind your photo position.

[BurnieM]

2 people, 2 dogs, a decent amount of luggage and full tanks.

 

Basic 5 med and RPL has changed the game.

 

Only issue is the $450k price 😀

[BurnieM]

Basic 5 limits you to 2000kg.

RPL further limits you to 1500.

 

Good thing a Sling TSI is 950kg MTOW.

 

Quite a lot of 4 seaters are under 2000kg.

[kgwilson]

Crikey 450k is getting up near Cessna 172 territory. Then again the price of new aircraft has gone ballistic since the pandemic. Kits, engines and avionics prices have all gone through the roof. Good for me though as resale prices have also gone up proportionately.

[skippydiesel]

What has happened to affordable aviating ???? - crazy purchase prices and thirsty engines.

[facthunter]

Not everyone can aspire to such  acquisitions. Safe & Affordable remember. Nice thing though but lets hope there is an alternative.  Nev

[skippydiesel]

Did the Parkes thing yesterday. Arrived  about 11:30 ish. 

I started listening to YPKs at about 20 Nm out and was astonished at the confusion ref the ACTIVE  runway.

While its the PIC's prerogative to land on whichever runaway he/she deems appropriate, it is customary/considerate of others, to fit in with traffic already in the circuit.

Runway 22/04 seemed in favour, with pilots (I think there were 3-4 involved) declaring for both within seconds of each other.

It all worked out okay in the end, with all opting for 22.

Unsure of the legalities however I feel that the RAA's decision not to provide some sort of ground to air guidance to arriving aircraft lead to unnecessary confusion (reduced safety).

[turboplanner]

10 minutes ago, skippydiesel said:

What has happened to affordable aviating ???? - crazy purchase prices and thirsty engines.

Although this was a Recreational Aviation Australia event, the aircraft shown is a new  or near-new GA aircraft, so totally different pricing structure. The new low volume GA aircraft all have their quirks, such as specific engine management to prevent cooking the engine etc, ability to spiral out in the turn onto final, and high price. However, as we've seen in the past few days, when you hire GA aircraft as most in GA do, these expensive aircraft are at the top end, often have a hire cost profile based on long total investment, so the up front impact is not so visible, and right behind them in ever-diminishing hourly hire rates are the depreciated aircraft that are put on the hire line dropping down to some affordable hire rates below some RA hire rates.

[turboplanner]

14 minutes ago, skippydiesel said:

Did the Parkes thing yesterday. Arrived  about 11:30 ish. 

I started listening to YPKs at about 20 Nm out and was astonished at the confusion ref the ACTIVE  runway.

While its the PIC's prerogative to land on whichever runaway he/she deems appropriate, it is customary/considerate of others, to fit in with traffic already in the circuit.

Runway 22/04 seemed in favour, with pilots (I think there were 3-4 involved) declaring for both within seconds of each other.

It all worked out okay in the end, with all opting for 22.

Unsure of the legalities however I feel that the RAA's decision not to provide some sort of ground to air guidance to arriving aircraft lead to unnecessary confusion (reduced safety).

Was there nil wind, or did some of them prefer crooswind/downwind/anywind etc.?

[skippydiesel]

Nill/Very light wind.

 

22 was the best runway (for all but STOL aircraft) subject to wind direction. About 100 m before it terminated (04 end), the exit taxiway lead to the aircraft parking area.

[jackc]

56 minutes ago, skippydiesel said:

What has happened to affordable aviating ???? - crazy purchase prices and thirsty engines.

Now, IF we had FAA FAR Part 103? Happy Days 🤩

[turboplanner]

 

A $450K Sling owner tossing it for a US FAR103? 

[facthunter]

Remotely possible but very unlikely. Ther's an enormous disparity in the costs so effectively Is another market. Nev

[kgwilson]

Once a circuit direction and runway are declared it should be adhered to by everyone joining the circuit. That is standard practice and good airmanship. If there is a reason a pilot cannot land on the designated runway they should stay 500 feet above the circuit height as a minimum and declare intentions and their landing order number so aircraft joining later know and note the change.

 

When I flew in to Parkes for Airventure in 2019 on the Friday aircraft were arriving from all points of the compass. I'd never been there before and didn't even see the aerodrome till i was almost over it 2000 agl. There was a lot of chatter on the radio and the runway was easliy established as the wind was 15-20 knots from the East. I easily spotted the 3 in front of me & joined downwind as No 4 & making a call as each touched down in front with my new number. They had a ground frequency at Airventure and it was needed then as I joined a queue of 8-10 aircraft & there were several different ground destinations, mine being the under wing camping parking spot.

[facthunter]

Since about 25 years ago I always do an arrival  on Google earth if I'm going to an unfamiliar Aerodrome. You get the surrounding features in your memory as IF you have actually been there before. In places like Queenstown NZ a sim ride or 3 is a good idea. Nev

[turboplanner]

3 hours ago, skippydiesel said:

Nill/Very light wind.

 

22 was the best runway (for all but STOL aircraft) subject to wind direction. About 100 m before it terminated (04 end), the exit taxiway lead to the aircraft parking area.

I forgot; Or Everyone can use the NAIPS Area Wind direction.

[BrendAn]

6 minutes ago, turboplanner said:

I forgot; Or Everyone can use the NAIPS Area Wind direction.

Should have awis frequency 

[BurnieM]

Yeah, wind was light and variable.

This morning I saw 2 departures from opposite ends of the same runway within 3 minutes of each other.

Edited April 14 by BurnieM

[BurnieM]

Price wise most (all?) factory built 2 seaters were $200-250k.

 

For comparison a new 172 is over a mil but it does come with 2 nice EFISs.

[skippydiesel]

3 hours ago, BurnieM said:

Price wise most (all?) factory built 2 seaters were $200-250k.

 

 

Speculation:

There is a recent tendency to quote/estimate on mid to top range fit out ie not the base model, which likely would have "steam gauges", manual trim/flaps, no autopilot, no fancy paint job, no fuel injection, no constant speed prop. Likely lower empty weight and aircraft probably flies as well/better than the one with all the "bling".

The other big factor is the currency exchange rate - the Australian dollar has dropped from around 80 cents to the US $, to a fairly constant 65 cents/US$ and 60 cents to the Euro - this makes purchasing from the US and Europe (where most of our small aircraft come from) a very costly transaction. If some of these manufactures set up shop in Australia, they mighty just do very well (& us to)

[sfGnome]

A couple of points about the show (and some topics from various threads…)

• There were 3 slings on show. Bernie just showed you the dream machine. The Sling 2 is much more affordable (for various descriptions of ‘affordable’), especially in kit form. 
• If you want cheap, the powered parachutes were there (~$5k up for 2nd hand, $35k new). Take off easy from a small paddock. Fly low and slow. Sounds like a pretty good replacement  for 103 to me (but that’s not my thing, so don’t yell at me for suggesting it). 
• I had a yarn with the Dexter, the Atec distributor (haven’t seen him for years). The low Aussie $ is not making his job any easier. 
• I asked about CTA transit rather than full access, but the view was that the required training was the same for both, so there was no advantage in doing one before the other. 
• Errol (GAP - BushCat distributors) confirmed that BushCats were not being manufactured any more, but the parent company (who actually manufacture all the parts) was doing well and will be continuing to supply spares. He said that when sales started to decline, they put up their prices to maintain margin, which of course made sales decline even further ‘til it was terminal. 
• I was really interested in the AvPULP product. Essentially, mogas with guaranteed quality control end to end, and guaranteed no Ethanol and high end volatiles. Currently only available at one airport (Victorian, but don’t remember which one), but promising quite a few more within 12 months. It will only be installed at airports that will consume sufficient quantities, so don’t expect to find it at Upper Cumbucta International. They claimed that the price would be comparable with servo mogas. 
• Saturday crowd was mostly aviation types (ie all ancient - myself included), but Sunday was largely young families. Just maybe a dream or two were born in little brains. 🙂
• The only down side to the weekend that I noticed was that because the visiting aircraft were parked airside, you couldn’t wander around having a gawk. Had to satisfy myself with the ones parked in the under wing camping area that was accessible. Regardless, happy I went.