Another NEW Savannah XL on its way

[eightyknots]

Hi Mark,

 

Now that you've been flying your XL for a while, I was wondering if you could comment on the static port mod you did on your plane ....and how succesful it was?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Hank

 

Well I am no expert on these matters with my MASSIVE experience in flying aircraft But if you look at what I see on my instruments bearing in mind I have the Brauniger Alpha MFD and now the MGL Xtreme EFIS which means I have 2 instruments doing airspeed and altitude and 2 varios . I have to say both instruments react extremely quickly to any change in attitude and speed also pressure measurements like QNH etc. I literally can watch my altitude change on both while sitting in the aircraft on the ground depending on how fast the pressure is changing outside. I can open and close the doors and there is no change in the readings with or without the engine running. I was flying out to Kilcoy yesterday and while cruising along I was actually looking at the vario readings on both and noting how good they were and the rate of change depending on my joystick small movements both instruments responded to the smallest change....I was actually pretty impressed with it all so it was a timely question from you.

 

I do have to say as well I am so impressed with the MGL I originally got it because I wanted a AH and with all the other features it has it was at a fantastic price. I just cant get over how good you can see it in direct bright sunlight on it and how fast it responds to any change. The AHRS and compass module are so good and the ball indication it gives it every bit as good as the Winter analogue ball I have. The compass is far better and more accurate than the magnetic vertical compass I have. I have around 15 hrs now on the Sav and am getting more used to her. I got the prop balanced last week wow what a difference that has made to engine vibration. I got Reg Brost to take her for a fly after he did it and he had this little light weight back support thing he used he forgot to take it when he left as I didn't fly her after that as he had to bolt and so did I so 2 days later when I opened up the plane I found it and rang him he said keep it so I tried it late last week and this weekend. The difference to my back and comfort is incredible for longer times in the seat. I would never thought that such a simple device could improve what was really not any issue but now I am going to get Reg to supply me a couple of them as they can be used in cars planes etc. I am going to the hangar today I will take a picture of it and post it.

 

 

[Hadyn Bell]

Hi HankWell I am no expert on these matters with my MASSIVE experience in flying aircraft But if you look at what I see on my instruments bearing in mind I have the Brauniger Alpha MFD and now the MGL Xtreme EFIS which means I have 2 instruments doing airspeed and altitude and 2 varios . I have to say both instruments react extremely quickly to any change in attitude and speed also pressure measurements like QNH etc. I literally can watch my altitude change on both while sitting in the aircraft on the ground depending on how fast the pressure is changing outside. I can open and close the doors and there is no change in the readings with or without the engine running. I was flying out to Kilcoy yesterday and while cruising along I was actually looking at the vario readings on both and noting how good they were and the rate of change depending on my joystick small movements both instruments responded to the smallest change....I was actually pretty impressed with it all so it was a timely question from you.

 

I do have to say as well I am so impressed with the MGL I originally got it because I wanted a AH and with all the other features it has it was at a fantastic price. I just cant get over how good you can see it in direct bright sunlight on it and how fast it responds to any change. The AHRS and compass module are so good and the ball indication it gives it every bit as good as the Winter analogue ball I have. The compass is far better and more accurate than the magnetic vertical compass I have. I have around 15 hrs now on the Sav and am getting more used to her. I got the prop balanced last week wow what a difference that has made to engine vibration. I got Reg Brost to take her for a fly after he did it and he had this little light weight back support thing he used he forgot to take it when he left as I didn't fly her after that as he had to bolt and so did I so 2 days later when I opened up the plane I found it and rang him he said keep it so I tried it late last week and this weekend. The difference to my back and comfort is incredible for longer times in the seat. I would never thought that such a simple device could improve what was really not any issue but now I am going to get Reg to supply me a couple of them as they can be used in cars planes etc. I am going to the hangar today I will take a picture of it and post it.

Hi Mark,

 

I'm keen to see the pic of the back support as well, im sure you understand my interest as you have seen my height and size!!

 

Also would appreciate info and pics of your instruments as we need to start looking at this now for down the track and your set up sounds good.

 

Glad to here that you got to commit some aviation on the weekend. I hope my early morning phone call gave you the inspiration to get out of bed and go fly (sorry about that).

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Hadyn

 

I am happy with the Brauniger it is functional and simple and seems to be highly accurate. This started when I was thinking about getting a AH just incase the screen ever fogs up or I have some unforeseen situation where I cant see out of the cockpit. In searching around they are all pretty expensive even the small ones around $1300 bucks then they go up to $2500 and that is for AH only. So in my searching I found the MGL Xtreme which has a lot more functionality and the basic unit is $1225 aussie but that uses its own internal GPS to get the AH which of course is not that accurate but you can add the AHRS and or Compass module to get super accuracy and pretty much instantaneous operation. I opted for this and that adds around $1000.00 for the 2 modules. Also with the Xtreme came the engine module interface free of change so the Xtreme can do all of the stuff and as well do all engine monitoring as well you just need the sensors.

 

They sell a MGL EMS which is almost the same as the Xtreme although it only displays the engine parameters and I think it is only about $830 and of course I already have the engine module that came with the EFIS. These are sunlight readable and they certainly are even with bright sunlight on them they are perfectly readable you can see this in one of my videos on youtube. I thought the 4.3 inch screen would be too small but not so it is fine.

 

So after my experience with this if I was to do it all again which I probably will I would probably go for the MGL Odyssey which is $6000 and it comes complete with every sensor and module including engine stuff also does full screen moving gps and aviation map database also it can do autopilot where the Xtreme does NOT do any autopilot

 

My current Sav will most likely end up with the MGL Xtreme and I think I will get the EMS as a matching pair and then just make a new dash panel as I made a spare when I made this current one and it is blank so I will reorganise it and its not too much drama to do it but that wont happen for a while as I am quite happy with the current system I have. I got no discount or have anything to do with MGL but I did a stack of research on Dynon and MGL and settled on the MGL because of price/performance and slightly bigger screen than the D10 dynon also the graphic display is quite a bit higher in resolution. Also the australian distributor is great to talk to and is very knowledgeable

 

http://lightflying.com.au is the main website

 

http://lightflying.com.au/Stratomaster%20Pages/XTreme.htm and this is the one I have

 

Photos to come soon of the back support

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Here are the pics of the back support. I really thought it would not make any difference but I was totally surprised at how effective it is. I am going to get a few off Reg even for the car and to have a few spares they are relatively cheap...about 15 bucks I think...I will let you know once I have spoken to Reg

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I was out flying today and a mate snapped a pic while I was going past his place...done with a 200mm lense so came out pretty good actually especially with the moon in the background I was around 1600 ft and the paint job does stand out too.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

oops forgot the picture DOH

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

this should be better quality

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

HHMMMM the first pic was uploaded at 370kb it came out at 13k...the next pic I uploaded at 74kb and its only 14kb so Ian must be doctoring the sizes somehow

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Interestingly if you look at the picture off to the left just above halfway you can actually see a star in the shot and it was around 10.30 this morning....I also worked out its the thumbnail size not the picture size a secong DOH for me tonight....I am in a tiz I got my Nflightcam today and have been playing with it tonight...it is incredible with the gps stuff .I have taken a video walking around the yard tonight and it shows my track on google at the side of the video

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

A heads up from Steve Donald he has around 90 hrs up on his Sav VGXL the same model as mine. His muffler joint failed where the header pipe goes in. I have posted the picture he sent me. It is apparently a problem sometimes with this muffler the later generation flat oval one in the later models. Probably a good idea just to check this every time you inspect with the covers off to see if it is starting to crack and get it off and re-welded. He thinks it may have been like this for around 10 hrs and if your firewall wasnt sealed well you would be poisioning yourself...my firewall is well sealed but also the hot gasses are of course now inside the cowl and could damage something luckily nothing was cooked in his just some marking of the oil tank etc. So keep an eye on this

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I have around 19hrs on the Sav now and everything is going well after the fuel leak fiasco. I got myself a Nflightcam+ it arrived this week so I made a mount to put it on. The mount sits on the bottom of my parachute strap tray and in the middle. The main reason for this is to be able to look at my instruments and the outside of course and see how my flying is going. I will get my instructor to look at them periodically and to make some comments on how my flying is going so if I develop any bad habits they can be nipped in the bud early. No saying I am a great pilot yet of course but I want to be a safe pilot and I think getting other much more experienced pilots and instructors to have a look and see if they can offer any constructive criticism. I am open to all of this and WILL modify what I do to comply to become a better pilot. I dont have many hours up yet only a total of around 42 hrs total that includes my training.

 

I flew out today to the Wings of Life day at Archer falls and that is a one way in and one way out at the base of a big mountain. I was a bit nervous about it as I have not flown in there before and there are 2 sets of powerlines at the end of the strip and I have heard a lot about tailwinds and crosswinds etc landing there and I have to I did experience it first hand the landing there was a little offline due to a sudden tailwind then a massive crosswind. I keep forgetting to put the camera into record when i takeoff...maybe thats a good thing because I am concentrating on what I am supposed to do than other things. I forgot to turn it on when leaving Archer falls today as well but somehow I rotated the lens accidentally so excuse the rotated view...I am just going to put the landing back at Ycab on 30 the wind was wildly changing today...some were using 12 when I was approaching then 30 then 24...so I made mine 30 and it was rough and sidewinds and lumpy. I hate 30 its always rough but today was even worse...the landing or should I say "arrival" wasnt the prettiest I will post a in cockpit video from the Nflightcam+ shortly when its processed and uploaded to youtube

 

I posted the first effort at the camera from yesterday I went late in the afternoon to Ycab and did a few circuits. Its pretty boring really but I like the headset audio on the video and the quality of video is outstanding and the special lens they have to "blur" the prop works extremely well as can be seen

 

Have a look at it

 

 

 

Mark

 

 

[Hongie]

What's the bracket off your right hand wing root mark? Is that an iPad mount?

 

 

[J170 Owner]

I wonder how this special lens works.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Yes I got it from Johnny Appleseed its a Ram mount it works really well and its quite light...the bar clamp and the metal rod for the Ipad mount is heavy though...the next video I will upload from today shows the ipad in the frame

 

I am not sure how the lens works but as you can see it works extremely will it has a funny selective mirror like lens. You can see the prop in different sort of light as you can see in the video...but it is still far better than anything else I have seen

 

 

 

 

[gareth lacey]

looking good Mark:drive:

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Mark, How much for the camera, how much storage, and is it remote operated, and easy to download ?...enquiring minds need to know !.....................................................Maj...

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Ok video is finalising and will upload to youtube it will be on Simjetau channel all of my videos are on that channel so just search for Simjetau and you will find them...takes about 4 hrs to upload they are big files at 1080

 

I got the camera direct from Nflightcam took about 1 week to get here with the aussie dollar so good it was US$499 plus freight I paid with paypal so you lose a bit on the exchange rate but still landed it here inc postage for $530 aussie dollars so it was a good price. The unit also has built in GPS and you can bluetooth to your iphone to see the video for lining up the lense etc. It comes with a audio lead that you plug inline with the ear jack of your headset this is how it gets all the audio including sidetone of yourself . The GPS is cool too using the contour app as the video plays it shows your height and speed and draws your track on a google map at 4 points per second. I happen to have a 32gb card and going on the use so far it will store over 5 hrs of video but you need a class 10 card for video it comes with a 2gb and 4 gb micro sd card also the battery...I think the battery may go for about 2 hrs maybe but you can plug in DC to the camera so it doesnt need a battery....a usb charger that outputs 5 volts is all you need to do this so it covers all bases

 

I have done a couple of screen grabs of the contour app and the gps info

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

The operation is very simple you turn on the camera then there is a large slider on top that puts it into record mode and back to turn off record mode....super simple operation and comes with stick on mounts as well...it does have its own internal mic but you plug in the audio cable from the headsets and that cuts out the internal microphone.

 

The website is www.nflightcam.com

 

 

[eightyknots]

 

I posted the first effort at the camera from yesterday I went late in the afternoon to Ycab and did a few circuits. Its pretty boring really but I like the headset audio on the video and the quality of video is outstanding and the special lens they have to "blur" the prop works extremely well as can be seen

 

Have a look at it

 

It's a very clear high-def video, Mark. What I like about it is the prop disappearing function. It's always a bit disappointing when someone has a lovely video of their flight and then see either a rotating prop or a "venetian blind" prop effect. I wonder how your camera manufacturer makes the prop disappear?

 

Just a quick question: what was that urgent beeping sound right at the end of the video?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

[Kyle Communications]

The beeping is the stall speed indicator from the brauniger that comes into the radio headset you set it in the initial setup of the unit and the nflight records all the headset audio the above video is today's flight to archer falls you can see the landings are ordinary actually probably the 2 worst I have done in all of my flying but I have learned a lot about swirling winds today and glad I managed not to break anything so every flight you learn something

 

 

[rankamateur]

Stall warning, Don't worry about that.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

It is interesting in the video of landing at Archer falls you hear the warning go off then it stops quickly then after I get all 3 wheels on the ground it goes off again longer..that was the tail wind burst I got right at the end then it backed off and I was at flying speed again. I have set my stall warning at 30 its not the 26 as per spec...just to give me that little bit extra reaction time

 

 

[rankamateur]

It is interesting in the video of landing at Archer falls you hear the warning go off then it stops quickly then after I get all 3 wheels on the ground it goes off again longer..that was the tail wind burst I got right at the end then it backed off and I was at flying speed again. I have set my stall warning at 30 its not the 26 as per spec...just to give me that little bit extra reaction time

A warning is not much use if it is not set to let you know you are approaching danger, rather than you are already in it.