Another NEW Savannah XL on its way

[Hongie]

I think that's why he has it set ABOVE his stall speed?....

 

 

[rankamateur]

Is 4 knots enough margin? If you are losing airspeed how many seconds of reaction time does 4 knots give you? Remember that 26 knots is perfect world full flaps stall speed and blows straight out to over 30 knots clean. Would 35 knots be a more realistic warning point?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I set it at 30 from a recommendation from someone else....maybe 35 would be ok but I think it may get more annoying as it would be going off right at or before round out....I might experiment with it and let you know what I come up with. I normally land a little fast anyway and the warning only ever goes off once on the ground... Yesterday was a little out of my comfort zone I felt quite stretched landing there especially with the knowledge about the tailwinds and crosswinds too but now having experienced it I think I am more prepared now for similar situations. I still touched down at 30 knots with the tailwind so pretty close really...certainly the only time I have seen this or done it. Next time I would make sure I was a little faster coming in to there and other places like it. I will raise the speed a little and see its super easy to set takes 10 seconds so will lift it to 32 knots and see if it gets annoying if not I may leave it there or take it higher. You can see on the landing back at Ycab when the warning comes on and usually that is how I like it

 

Mark

 

 

[Hongie]

Is 4 knots enough margin? If you are losing airspeed how many seconds of reaction time does 4 knots give you? Remember that 26 knots is perfect world full flaps stall speed and blows straight out to over 30 knots clean. Would 35 knots be a more realistic warning point?

ah ok i see what your getting at

 

 

[peter]

Thanks for the video's, really enjoyed especially getting such clear audio with it. I always thought that our call signs should be given one number at a time, 2424 should be "two four two four" rather than "twenty four twenty four".

 

Peter

 

 

[Flyingphot]

Thanks for the video's, really enjoyed especially getting such clear audio with it. I always thought that our call signs should be given one number at a time, 2424 should be "two four two four" rather than "twenty four twenty four".Peter

Hi Peter

A lot of confusion about this. AIP sets out the requirements in Gen 3.4 para 4.16.1 "within Australian airspace, "group form" is the preferred means of transmitting call-sign/flight number......" 4.16.2 "Group form is the grouping of numbers into pairs, or where a number ending in '00' is spoken in hundreds ....." 4.21.1 d. for recreation-category aircraft, the aircraft type followed by the last 4 characters of the aircraft's registration number ( eg "JABIRU THIRTEEN FORTY SIX"). note - the capitals are as per the AIP, not me shouting.

 

If the call sign was Jabiru 1200 the call would be "JABIRU TWELVE HUNDRED"

 

Hope this clarifies the situation

 

Cheers, Bill

 

 

[nathan_c]

Yep definately grouped together on the radio, I have been learning this on my atc course and rec aircraft were a specific example given.

 

On topic though, plane is looking awesome and I really enjoyed that archer falls video mark, I wanted to make it out there myself (by car though) but I didnt have enough time to get there unfortunately :( Hopefully the experience gets better and better for you once you accrue enough hours to take the plane outside the initial restrictions :)

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Nathan

 

Yes the flight to Archer Falls was a learning experience for sure....I have to start my cross country endorsement yet but will do most of it in my aircraft. the Sav cant go past Gympie,kingaroy, toowoomba and watts bridge in the first 25 hrs then of course she can go further. Hopefully if the weather holds up over the next few weeks I will have the rest of the hours done

 

Mark

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

Good one Mark- it was Savannah central out there on Saturday- well done to all the "Cab Sav" crew. And yes Archer is not particularly difficult but like most things in aviation- very unforgiving of errors of judgement.

 

Savannah EIGHTY TWENTY..

 

Doug, Ron and the "Wings of Life " volunteers are to be commended on their efforts and getting Paul Bennett especially!

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

And some more....

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi All

 

Did another video on fathers day..decided it was my day so went flying early what a nice day it was too. Took off from Caboolture flew out to Kilcoy and did a touch and go then flew out to Bribie Island and turned north up the beach and landed at Caloundra for a pee and smoke then took off and back to Kilcoy landed there and chatted with a few guys for a half hour or so then took off about 10.30 am to get back to caboolture to take my dad out for lunch at a local fantastic restaurant here.

 

 

One of the things on the video you can see is how quick the Savannah gets off the gound and I don't haul it off I just keep some pressure on the stick the nose lightens up and away she goes and literally I have to get the flaps off straight away it will easily go past their max speed

 

I have posted the video its another boring as bat s**t for most people I suppose but I use them to check my "ball work" while flying. The camera is great it does lose some resolution for some reason when you upload it at 1080 to Youtube but still looks ok. The main thing is the battery life in the camera is not very good lucky really to get an hour out of it so had to do some recharging a few times over the day. This camera does have the advantage you can power it from a 5volt USB source which I have in the plane for charging the ipad etc so will make a permanent supply for it as well this is why the video seems a bit disjointed. I have made the camera mount more solid but now the thin bracket is elf seems to get a vibration up so I will work on a more substantial bracket to stop this

 

I also have a APRS system in the plane its a ham radio real time tracking mode that most use for their cars but there are a few hams who fly so I have fitted a system to the plane the whole thing only weighs about 500 grams inc the antenna so no weight penalty but it tracks me in real time it transmits the gps info every 1 minute and remote base stations pick up the transmissions then send them out to the internet and they are collated and displayed on the map in the link below. The only pain is at 10 am it splits the days due to UTC so the link you see here is only 3/4 of the flight the rest is on the next day. There is a year system displayed on the side you can select every flight and date I have had. Also if you put your mouse over one of the small red dots you can see speed and height.

 

http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&ts=1346457600&te=1346544000&call=a%2FVK4KZK-9

 

have to change the oil and filter tomorrow as the engine has got its 25 hrs up and I have 20.24 hrs on the airframe now so not long to go for the 25 hrs. I am starting my cross country theory tomorrow night so I am really looking forward to getting this done then its FREEDOM I can finally go somewhere

 

Mark

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

As you are aware I did my training mostly out of a very small strip. I have taken off on it but never landed...even now I am no where near good enough to do it. This youtube video has recently been made taking off and doing a circuit at Bills strip. It is done from Bruce Bradley's Savannah with Bruce being the PIC . Bruce is a incredible pilot and flys Airbusses for his full time job. Anyone who ever flew into Kai Tak airport in HK will appreciate this well done video and its quite a good laugh with the selective editing.

 

 

 

Mark

 

 

[Hongie]

haha that is neat

 

 

[Ultralights]

little less zoom next time... i mean, none..

 

actually, looks like the same airside scenery in my avatar pic!

 

 

[sfGnome]

A whole new genre of home flight movies. Cool.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi All

 

Another big milestone today the 25hrs flying time on the Sav is now done. I hadnt flown for 2 weeks due to work and way too windy for me weather. I have the choice to fly or not with your own aircraft so I do exactly that. I prefer to ease my way into it. I was really uneasy when flying in lots of thermal turbulence I dont know why but I asked a few guys I respect and they basically said it takes time to get used to it. Well today on the way back from Kilcoy to Caloundra and back from Caloundra it was real bumpy and I must say I felt more comfortable with it all as time has logged on. With the cloud/fog early I climbed high and flew around above it all at 4500 ft out to Kilcoy it was magic and smooooooth to even though the winds alot for 15 to 20 knots such a wonderful view as well I took some video with the Iphone so will post it later it was taken just before I climbed to high to go out to Kilcoy at o time was I out of sight of ground to duck down to. On the way back i desended down to fly under the cloud and this was around 1200 ft it way starting to get lumpy even though the cloud was lower than usual then landed at Caloundra for a stretch and a nature call on took the long way back to Ycab http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&ts=1348272000&te=1348358400&call=a%2FVK4KZK-9 shows my route today. This makes 25hrs and 8 minutes or flying time the Brauniger logs engine time and also flying time you must be going faster than the stall speed logged into the unit so it is genuine flying time no taxi time is involved so it is fully genuine flying time.

 

Time to fill in the paperwork and send it off. If by any unbelievable reason the open rego comes in by Friday I might see if someone will fly her up to Monto so I can do some flying while I am up there. Bill gets back next week at Monto so I should be able to start my cross country flying I have done 2 nights theory so far so ready for the flying part

 

Mark

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

 

 

Not much exciting stuff on the video its only 2 minutes i think but hey it was a milestone flight

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I finally found something to take care of the horrible rislan tubes that are used for the tank sight gauges. The discolour very quickly and are a real pain to change. I have used festo and Legris pneumatic fittings for many years on my jet models with Avtur and they work fine. My fuel feedback and sump tank breather come back to a fitting I made up using these types of fittings you can see the teflon block I made and the Legris fittings into it. They just push onto the 1/4 inch alu pipes I fitted and also what ICP uses this makes it very easy to fit new tube for the sight levels also the tube I am using will eventually discolour but it is a 5 second job to replace it.

 

The pictures attached will show the fitting which I trim the solid bar section smaller and the tubing in 8mm outside and 6 mm inside so 1/4 inch being 6.25mm it makes a nice hard push on sealed fit to the Legris fitting. I need to put my fuel indicator plates back and cover the holes up again but you should be able to get the idea. On the standard Sav stuff the Rislan connects onto the fittings in the tanks all you need to do is fit some 1/4 inch alu tubing to rubber hose onto the fitting and extend it out to the root rib on the outside then just use the Legris fitting and tube and presto easy to see ...no leaks and very functional. I can supply the part numbers if anyone is interested

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hadyn Bell]

I finally found something to take care of the horrible rislan tubes that are used for the tank sight gauges. The discolour very quickly and are a real pain to change. I have used festo and Legris pneumatic fittings for many years on my jet models with Avtur and they work fine. My fuel feedback and sump tank breather come back to a fitting I made up using these types of fittings you can see the teflon block I made and the Legris fittings into it. They just push onto the 1/4 inch alu pipes I fitted and also what ICP uses this makes it very easy to fit new tube for the sight levels also the tube I am using will eventually discolour but it is a 5 second job to replace it.The pictures attached will show the fitting which I trim the solid bar section smaller and the tubing in 8mm outside and 6 mm inside so 1/4 inch being 6.25mm it makes a nice hard push on sealed fit to the Legris fitting. I need to put my fuel indicator plates back and cover the holes up again but you should be able to get the idea. On the standard Sav stuff the Rislan connects onto the fittings in the tanks all you need to do is fit some 1/4 inch alu tubing to rubber hose onto the fitting and extend it out to the root rib on the outside then just use the Legris fitting and tube and presto easy to see ...no leaks and very functional. I can supply the part numbers if anyone is interested

Hi Mark,

 

As im ready to plump up the tanks, this is something i should look at. I should get you to supply the fittings and pipe along with the prop pitch gauge when you have finished. Sing out when you have it all together...

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I had better get to finishing your prop pitch gauge...I have made a few of the bits but haven't got back to it. I can get the legris parts easily they are just down at Brendale you just need to make sure you bring out the sight gauges with 1/4 inch alu tube to the inside of the wing root like I did. Its easy you just use fuel tubing and some worm drive clamps to join them onto the tank fittings. I am sure you will see the pics in this blog on how I did it

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi All

 

Well I have been doing a fair bit of flying trying to hone my flying skills when the weather allows me. We have had such crap windy weather up here it has been crazy. I started doing my cross country endorsement a couple of weeks ago as the aircraft could fly anywhere but I was stuck to my 25nm so have been taking quite a few days off work for the traing flights. I have to thank Bill Grieve for his skill and patience and experience for doing all of my training from start to finish Today was the big day for the flight test and also the theory exam.....I PASSED so I am a happy person although I couldnt use it I have to come up the farm this weekend to retrieve the Argoshield gas bottle I have been using making the lift in the shed. I am sick and tired of getting raped by BOC for the bottle rentals so I told them to jam all the bottles where they will fit and have got a new supplyer that charges a monthly rental with free delivery and pickup . So I can just pay for the bottles at 13 bucks a month and just pay for the gas...works out so much cheaper. You only get 2 months to return the bottles to BOC so had to come this weekend as the time is up this week otherwise I would have been going over for the Stradbroke island breakfast tommorow.

 

I am now going to work on the CG of the Sav as it is too noseheavy you can feel it when landing and taking off. The new designs have the firewall 4 inch further forward and also the new ring mount puts the engine even more forward forward...also the battery is now behind the pilot. My CG empty is 305mm from the leading edge and at almost full MTOW it is only 380mm it really needs to be around 450 mm fully loaded the most rearward position is 508mm but I dont want it back that far. I will start adding some weight in the tail where the old battery position was... atiedown kit etc...it weighs around 4 kg but will start with 1 litre bottles of water and keep adding to find the best weight...I then may also look at shifting the battery back to the original position to not add any extra weight. I will let you know how I go with it all.

 

Mark

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Mark, congrats on getting through the navexs...you now have no excuse for not being at Monto next year!.....by aircraft I mean.

 

Many manufacturers and designers leave the final positioning of the battery as the final GC adjustment. The further away from the CG the more effective it's effect. Putting other items by the battery should help with your nose-heavy-ness. Pity you can't do a static GC test. That is where you hang or support the aircraft, and load it as it would be for takeoff, and move things around such as the battery to achieve perfect balance. This would inclue having fuel, oil and passengers in the aircraft for the balance check.

 

The same thing can be achieved by an approved engineer who places all three wheels on scales, reads all weights and distances, and then calculates where the CG is. Having an aircraft statically in balance makes it a lot easier to trim things in flight................................Maj...

 

 

[rankamateur]

Shift the battery and tie downs first,otherwise a lot of your other ballast will have to come back out when you do move the battery.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I havent put the tie downs in the plane yet as I didn't need to but I was going to put the battery in the back when I built her but decided to do the standard install for the XL and then modify later if necessary. She flys fine generally but I can feel that she is nose heavy especially when landing and I know to get the best the best stol performance I will need to get this done. When I did the weight and balance figures before she first flew I knew straight away she was nose heavy so I will get Dieter with his scales who is in the hangar next to me and whose scales I used the first time and I will play around and get it to where I want it doing the same. I have built and flown model aircraft for more than 35 years and also fly radio controlled turbine powered jets and have always got the balance right and it does make a big difference so I am expecting the Sav to be really sweet when I finish this last phase with her. I am extremely pleased doing these cross country flights with how well the aircraft flys over long distances and how sweet the engine runs with hardly any vibration after I got Reg to balance my prop also I reckon I have the prop pitched just right as well it makes a good cruising combo. The fuel flow is excellent as well I get 17 lph on a 70knot cruise climb and at 6500 ft at 5000 rpm it has 13 lph

 

 

[eightyknots]

The new designs have the firewall 4 inch further forward and also the new ring mount puts the engine even more forward forward...also the battery is now behind the pilot.

That's a well kept ICP secret. When did they decide to change this? I wonder if moving the firewall 100mm forward will also lead to a "nose-lengthening" of the Savannah?

 

I'm not too keen to see the battery in the back because there is a weight penalty (you need cable all the way and probably of a larger cross-sectional area to prevent voltage drop). It may be better to permanently carry a decent tiedown kit.