Mike Gearon

Yes, I was just thinking the last few days about the Nynja obviously being more slippery in air than the A22. Not quite as good as the streamlined A32 in the crash. Speed. Yes, 1.3 or so in the heavier aircraft like Cessna. They are so forgiving. Any wonder they can stay in flight school service for decades without incident. I think my second lesson in Foxbat coming back from USA and 172 I was with one of the invariably nice instructors at Tyabb. Over the numbers with about 20% throttle and say 15 knot headwind and I completely cut the throttle. It surprised me, the instructor and the Foxbat. We all dropped most of the way to the runway and instructor eased some throttle on. Lesson learned! These lightweight aircraft stop penetrating the air in front of them quickly where the Cessna just lumbers on without much fuss. I then learned the same thing in ultralight flying in Philippines. Tried reducing the power at pattern altitude and again on final. Grizzly old local instructor told me that we are all the same. Want to cut the power. These aircraft just won’t fly without it. 4:1 drag so double hit. Drag and light weight. At this stage of my flying I’m mostly expecting the A22 to behave if I’m sneaking under 50 knots with a windscreen held landing spot on runway. The 1.3 or so would be say 35 knots or even lower with just pilot and low fuel. Add safety factor of that 15 knit headwind suddenly dropping away and you’d be at 20 knots quite fast. Not a realistic example of course. Still, a drop from 15 to 10 would be pushing the safety factor. So, the light weight recommendation of 1.7 or in this case approx 47 knots. That’s my book theory and practical to date. I still float a bit and wave my wings around a bit and occasionally over compensate right rudder when the wheels leave the ground... work in progress 🙂 You have the actual experience. May I ask what airspeed you’re at prior to round out typically in Nynja? I’m guessing you’re turning final around 50 knots and looking for around the 40. Last year I remember being down to 43 knots on final with a young mainly GA instructor in Foxbat and told to push the nose down. Understood and did so. I do think 45 to 47 knots would result in safer landings in the Foxbats. Only problem of course is the variable of the wind. This is my take home from LSA flying after GA Yes, these light weight aircraft have more fun factor with their lively climb and response! Tick that box! No, you don’t have to fiddle the controls a lot and try to remove the yaw and roll as they start. I think this was my biggest hurdle. Instructors helped and I started to let the aircraft settle again. Bit like reacting to each wave in a boat. Yes, react but not always and not so much. Maybe starting LSA I’d have had an easier time of it. Yes, these aircraft both slow quickly and conversely won’t land. No, don’t take the throttle out too quickly in windy conditions. No, the aircraft doesn’t want to land and you’ll just have to be patient. No, the aircraft didn’t want to descend on final and you better sort that for next go around. Particularly with a strong crosswind or thermals. Cessna does all this of course. Just so much more gently.

Back on topic although I enjoy a meander away as much as the next and Yeah, I don’t get beer or at least not fosters and Carlton and the stuff we grew up with and no better in USA with Budweiser (butwiper) Discovered craft beers and totally different experience. Was just reviewing the Foxbat website this morning. Reason was annoying floats in the A22 last weekend where I was really trying to keep the speed under 50 knots. 55 knots seems to pretty much guarantees a nice long float...I would like to put it down to the covid vaccine 24 hours prior but not a very good excuse. Here’s a few bits lifted from site. Bold relevant and underline really relevant depending of course on what actually went wrong. Let’s go ballooning So, what’s wrong with more speed? There are two main reasons but first, remember light sport and recreational aircraft are very low weight (read: low inertia) aircraft. So, like a small car, these types of aircraft will change direction much more quickly than a limo, a ute or a truck. Not that I’m suggesting your average Cessna/Piper etc are trucks…. As a result, when landing, the controls are much more effective than bigger GA aircraft and to much lower airspeeds. At only slightly faster speeds the controls are even more powerful, so if you are too fast when you pull back to flare, the aircraft will not just flare, it will start to climb again, even with the engine at idle. This is called ‘ballooning’. When you go ballooning, the impulse is to push the nose down to reduce the sudden climb. Unless you are very quick (and/or experienced) you’re likely in for a bent nose leg and/or busted propeller. Another alternative, just holding back the controls during the balloon, can result in a stall from an ‘unsuitable’ height above the runway, leading to a (very) heavy landing, which could damage the landing gear or worse. Calculating the correct threshold speed Which is where we get back to speed. There’s a GA rule of thumb about landing speed over the threshold. This says you should aim for about 1.3 times stall speed in landing configuration. As an example, with a stall speed of 45 knots the aim is (technically) 58.5 knots over the threshold – which is usually rounded to 60 knots. With low-inertia light sport aircraft, which have lower landing speeds, it’s probably safer to go for about 1.75 times stall speed, as wind gusts can be a much higher proportion of approach speed. So, for a stall speed of 27 knots (A32 Vixxen) the threshold speed should be about 47 knots – which is exactly what the pilot manual gives. Note – this is 20 knots ABOVE the stall speed!! If you come in at 55-60 knots over the threshold, you are flying about twice as fast as the stall speed – no wonder the aircraft is difficult to land! What a drag There are big differences in drag between aircraft. And drag affects how quickly the aircraft slows down when you throttle back for landing. The more the drag, the quicker the aircraft will slow down and vice-versa. To some extent, high-drag aircraft are easier to land than their more slippery siblings. As you cut power and round out to land, they will slow down more quickly, so if you are a few knots over the correct speed, they will help you out by slowing quickly. However, the more slippery the aircraft, the more accurate you need to be with the threshold speed; this is because if you are faster than you should be, the speed will not wash off quickly and ballooning and floating become much more likely. As a comparison, our A22LS Foxbat is much much draggier than the A32 Vixxen. This is clearly evidenced in the fuel economy and the extra 20knots at cruise speeds. While the book figures for landing threshold speeds are much the same at 49 knots, coming in at 55 knots in the Foxbat will still allow you a reasonably easy landing. Try it in the Vixxen and because of its low-drag airframe, you’ll probably do a lot more floating. Add yet another 5 knots ‘for safety’ and even the Foxbat will take a while to land and the Vixxen will take you all the way down the runway into the fence at the end. Landing weight There’s an important additional piece of information needed here – the landing weight of the aircraft. All manufacturers quote stall speeds at maximum gross weight – for light sport aircraft, this is 600 kgs. If the stall speed is 28 knots at 600 kgs, it will be noticeably slower at (eg) 450 kgs actual weight, which in an A22LS Foxbat equates to the aircraft with one pilot and 50 kgs (70 litres) of fuel. In fact, it could be as much as 3-4 knots slower. Re-calculating the approach speed for this weight: (eg) 25 kts x 1.75 = 44 kts. Hopefully, instructors teach their students properly about the difference weight can make to stall – and thus landing – speeds. This is particularly important for light sport aircraft, where the pilot, passengers, fuel and baggage make up a much bigger proportion of the weight and therefore have a much more significant effect on speeds than heavier GA aircraft.

Cheap wine is completely the opposite. It takes a while to get used to and consequently hard to start. It tastes okay after the third day and I try to remember not to buy that brand of chateau cardboard again. Bottles, yes, just not drinking enough to justify. Nev, I’m sure lots of posters know your history. I don’t. How come you have so many facts. They look believable as well which I find impressive.

That was a month ago. Decided I won’t be going to USA until the world tames the virus! Had my first Covid shot last week as emergency worker (CFA). Flew exactly 24 hours later as advised not to fly prior on CASA site. Can’t say I felt great! Just a little off game. Wouldn’t have flown if definitely unwell. I noticed this really good video on the Titan engine. It looks like you can specify some of your own bits and actually watch your engine being made. The guy said he even called support and spoke to the guy who built his engine. Coincidentally first on support line. Builder rembered his engine and was spot on with assistance. Maybe skip the first 5 minutes...

Onetrack, exactly! It has to be looked at differently. I’d not considered the points you raise. In some ways it’s an electronic version of crop burning. Back to the hardware...Each major conflict has involved trotting out the lessons learned decades ago in the previous one. Aircraft carriers being pacific war deciders. We are in the pacific and it’ll be different again. All money spent on carriers wasted. Just targets to take off the table. Targeted from top, bottom and sideways. Hypersonic from space, cruise sideways and ocean floor ambush drones ready for straight up. Looked at this way Australia is pretty safe from invasion by sea if defended properly. Air is a different matter. Heaps of small mobile air defence missile/ drone systems. Keep an eye on potential enemies and just make sure we have a multiple of hidden systems that can’t be overwhelmed. Say 5 to 1 defence against their attack capability. Overwhelming would need to be the thing that sits them back on their arse scratching their heads. Expensive jets and pilots. Targets. Sad, really sad but just targets to take out. Will we learn the lesson. 100% no. It’ll be land, air and sea targets we spend a lot of money on so some geeky kid with a joystick can blow up from his or her overseas bunker. Probably the best defence of all is economic linking. That was happening up until a few years ago. Now it’s a race to independent manufacturing, Especially electronics.

Engine failures based on 13 accidents. I had to rewind video to confirm that tiny number. Not really useful data. May as well just call it 1/3rd each and relax about it. Check fuel quality, quantity and supply and pay attention to carb heat. Interesting he mentions unconnected carb heat cables, you’d expect to pick that up in the run up check. Well, unless it’s a rotax and it’s a bugger all change.

This is something I had no idea about. Bloody interesting. http://courses.washington.edu/engr100/Section_Wei/engine/UofWindsorManual/Graphics/Piston%20Assembly.jpg Figure 6- Piston Assembly

Same. Well, I have USA GA and expert the conversion to go easier with RAA nearly done. That’s a pain in the arse btw. You guys do things different here! Same in getting tail endorsement. I watched my CFI come back drenched in sweat in USA when he was out in an old tail wheel that was apparently challenging. This is what I’ll be doing usa in July. Tail endorse as well as visiting RANS.

Reagan contributed to meetings by eating jelly beans, napping and occasionally making comments that were usually quotes from his old movie scripts. WW2 the Germans swept through with tanks and dive bombers. If we could wind back the clock we’d have had 17 pounders on low profile mounts and bucket loads of them. We’d have had bucket loads of anti aircraft guns. Instead we just had targets. Crappy tanks and dug in positions to be dive bombed out of action. Seems the same deal now. We don’t plan on attacking anyone so just defend the hell out of the country. Missions and drones. Bucket loads of them. Some long range missiles to lob at the home cities of the attacking party wouldn’t hurt. Get the decision makers nervous instead of comfortably playing war games from their arm chairs. Hopefully none of this happens.

Mark, did you order the trike or tail wheel?

As usual, well thought through 🙂 I’ve just decided to bite the bullet and go CASA as well as the RAA I’ve just about finished. Looking forward to meeting Randy!

I’m visiting the factory when in USA July. Just 4 hours drive from Nebraska home. Covid vax etc not withstanding....Looking at the order with 174hp Titan in place of the 180hp Titan because compression ratio is slightly reduced. Curious as to why you’re going the opposite way with the Rotax. The 80hp Rotax is under stressed. The 915 possibly pushing the other way.. 14 months wait list now on this aircraft. Definitely popular!

Black box is apparently Collision avoidance or terrain avoidance.

Well done. Thanks for sharing.

Cross country today. Little different to USA. I’m adapting. thanks to Student Pilot. I guess it’s the guy who posts on here. Excellent 1 hour youtube He put up some 3 years ago. Reinforced a few things I brought in. Overall I’ll give myself 9.5 out of 10 if I ignore the off track Drouin to Tooradin. Quite enjoy attempting navigation without the IPad. It sat under the seat

Unfortunate and unfortunate outcome.

Cock-eyed Bob. 🙂 never heard of that. All mine will be labelled as such in future. Cock-eyed Bob made an appearance as we were landing the Foxbat out on French island some weeks back. Probably 1 wing high and he came in from the right. He was a viscous little bugger. Not much wind otherwise. I’ll use him as an excuse if I ever have to post up upside down aircraft I’ve managed out on the island. Hoping to not do so. Haven’t in fact ever seen many and maybe the Birdseye view made Bob obvious on that day.

Bloody forums.. I wonder about them and this one today in light of mod activity then see this. It’s awful to see the aircraft in an undignified pose and think about the owner and what’s required. It’s also knowledge brought in. I knew LSA aircraft need more dive away from the wind etc while taxiing attention. Saw a forum in USA where one flipped taxiing. I had no idea an aircraft could be upended like this not moving and obviously not in strong winds. Freakish.

Beams... I chose 250x 2.5mm C purlins instead of a big expensive H beam mainly because I could hand load these on barge to island. Knew they would sag at least a bit. Some 25mm with door weight as fact. Tom the French island barge driver is a former professional welder. He suggested I Jack the center and stitch weld every 300mm underneath and it would work like a tray truck tray with upward tension. Damned if it didn’t end up millimeter perfect. Pic 2 is string line edge.

I’m sad/ ashamed about 2 things. 1. Like a car accident I’ve returned to look at the thread. Interesting to learn OME history on this subject. That’s a good depth of knowledge. 2. My wife watches Married at First Sight and I watched it with her last night. AOA indicator... Okay. I’ve not seen the original thread. I’ve gathered enough flying knowledge now to be slightly dangerous. on that subject...Im going to look around for a more modern version of Stick and Rudder. Any suggestions appreciated.... I’m okay with the spirit level approach as long as the data goes to a chip that has software and an algorithm that gathers data right up until the stall warning goes off such as accelerometers on 3 axis, speed data, attitude and any others the aircraft has on offer to feed to the software. Then bring in the good old fashioned Cessna vacuum stall warning indicator along with the spirit level. Have the little nerdy computer brain deal with all that and set off a noise and light alert.

This must be the acceleration of m/s/s... Not sure though. It’s mass stays the same at 3kg. . It’s kinetic energy goes up.

Great to get this update. I was wondering what’s happening with RANS. Playing with ordering a kit with titan 174hp 8:1. Seems worth dropping a few HP for the lower compression. So sorry to hear about your health problems. Bugger! I just met up with an old friend with both a Ross river diagnosis and holes in head from cancers cut out. Yeah, no pics. Good plan!

I’ve been reading more on the Wright brothers as they’ve come up in Stick and Rudder. They were true experimental engineers. Nearly finished S and R. Historically interesting being closer to the start of aviation. Authors future predictions were well off the mark in most cases. New fangled tricycle landing gear warmly embraced though.

I went through all this a decade and a half ago. Moderators and debaters. Judge, jury and partner in crime. I was a little pissy a few days ago because of a business problem and probably the second time I’ve let that come through to this forum post. It quite rightly disappeared then and this now may go as well removed from topic. Mod... not an easy job. I had it for a while and thankful to remove the mod hat. OME does well I’m my humble opinion. Isn’t perfect but who is?

That would have been the Foxbat or perhaps The Husky. Both are yellow ....Pic here with property circled. Waiting on the road grader to come in and really level before rolling. Tractor grader did okay but worth doing it right before grass grows again. Being French Island there is just the one road grader and it’ll happen next few days, weeks or months and I can’t hurry it. I’ve tried. I’ll post here when we look suitable for landings and I’ll test land prior. On that subject my flying is finally going really well. Flew 3 solo landings yesterday that were near perfect. One slight stumble on radio call first line up because USA calls are a little different. I can see the benefits of the Oz calls and mostly have it sorted now. Focus... just flying the one aircraft out of Tyabb rather than mixing aircraft and airports and focus with business activity settling down. Now with good experience of Tyabb and Tooradin I’d not say either has better instructors or aircraft. Both very good. Difference for me finally being the Foxbat is close in flying to the Nynja. difference also in just the one LSA aircraft at Tyabb and 3 or 4 at Tooradin. Flying yesterday in Foxbat finally felt like it had in the Cessna 172 in USA over a year ago. Felt competent, ahead of the aircraft and able to deal with the unexpected in a calm manner. Talking calm, Special thanks to DB. Seems to be a covid game changer going on. Return to Taiwan in early May is 5 days home quarantine. USA opening up and I hope to visit the Quicksilver and the airbike now in storage in Seattle then on to Nebraska in August or after vax in Taiwan. Can’t work out what to do with these aircraft yet. Leaning toward selling QS on and bringing the airbike to Oz. Pat says airbike is a load of fun. Might even be able to get back to that fun little airport in the Philippines for weekend breaks from Taiwan.