3rd harmonic

Ah gee that's really sad, what a loss! 68 is barely past retirement age? Only reading this now having off the forum for a bit!! Had the pleasure of meeting Ray in the process of buying the Morgan that i'm currently rebuilding. He struck me as a kind and friendly gentleman good for a chat, but also good at listening too, happy to humor that thoughts and ideas that had with his experience and wisdom. One of those situations in life where you meet some once and think it would be great to see them again at some point, but alas it will never be..! There was an article in sports pilot on him not that long ago, will try to find a link to it... He showed me around the hanger and there was fair load of stuff. Aircraft in various states, some needing repair others only partially built. A lot of the original moulds that were use to produce the fiberglass parts for the Morgan sierra kits. Dealing with all those items will take some effort and of course won't be the first priority of the family in the circumstances. But if anyone finds out about a clear-out or auction at some point i would be interested in seeing what might be available.

Yeah I think the APEX engines were a high end side show. The Edge performance ROTAX 91x engines are pretty bloody awesome. He does seem to know what he's doing with the performance enhancements and the engine dyno test station ect. His latest 917sti has managed a conservative 200hp, I would definitely go with one if I had a spare +20,000€

Edge performance in Norway have been doing Yamaha APEX 300 (Jet-ski engine) conversions successfully for some years now. The 300hp EPex300 claims to be the most powerful lightest weight aircraft engines and aircraft powered by them really have smashed it in STOL competitions. BUT unfortunately Yamaha only recently discontinued the production of the APEX engines meaning he can't do any more conversions...

Thanks guys that really is SUPER helpful! Every aircraft is always going to be abit different, as has been noted, but that info will at least give me abit of a guide to work off in doing some calculation to see if the new main L/G position will fall within an acceptable window. I have been keeping a tally of the weight of steelwork added vs components removed and at this stage i'm in front by about 2kg. Not withstanding the reduction in drag by not having a nose wheel. Yes, there is always a compromise with any design choice and accord to this article (https://www.kitplanes.com/design-process-landing-gear-part-6/) the main L/G position on the C140 was perhaps less than optimal??!

Good discussion about CofG in relation to weight and balance, the importance can't be overstated... Having done some research and reading to inform my thinking - For a tail wheel A/C a tangent from the contact point of the main L/G should make an relatively acute angle to the nominal CofG as per this diagram - other diagrams specify slight different range of angles 12-18 degrees ect Unfortunately in all the paper records i have from the original build of my machine i can't see any evidence of the aircraft weight and balance having ever been measured/documented and that really isn't wonderful... As i am led to believe from reading though the RAaus info, measuring the A/C weight and calculating the balance is NOT an optional part of the process of getting a provisional airworthiness certificate granted for a new experimental build. Did you guys KG and GB do that as part of getting your machines inspected before test flying? Do you guys happen to know where the Cof G actually is on your A/C for nominal pilot weight say 80kg + full fuel in the front tank and/or minimum fuel?

VERY NICE - how many more kts does the chequered flag rudder give you? Morgan owners can also boast that the all flying elevator avoids the pitch down moment in trans sonic flight approaching the sound barrier.

No wing tanks, just the front tank behind the instrument panel. I looked at the A3 plans again and while they do show details for attaching the T/W, no detail as to the position of the mains. I have opted just to add steel to the structure to make it happen like the T/W A/C pictured.

Thanks for looking, that is interesting info... The steel frame section has to be close to the widest point on the fuselage by design in the way it supports the longerons as they are curved under tension, but that could be abit different in relation to the nose or firewall. The inside of the previously pictured A/C shows the L/G bolts forward of the tube that forms a triangular shaped gusset. This is where I'm up to with the L/G attachment bracket - the white template is 2x holes on a 120mm spacing that will form the new L/G mounting clamp which is parallel with the A/C centre line. There is no floor or skin at the moment!

Hey Graham, do your plans actually specify a main gear location for a T/W configuration? The original plans I have don't have any such indication. Turning the steel frame section around (which I'd never thought of) would mean the main L/G is only about 70mm in front of the wing spar, which would be abit too far back by my estimation. The T/W A/C pictured above has the gear around 200mm in front of the wing spar or just behind the wing leading edge. This is actually a great unknown I have to admit. I'm going to have a 180mm range of adjustment in 9x 20mm steps for the main L/G position which should hopefully allow something workable. But actual info would be greatly appreciated. Ab

definitely good SOP - if not more important in a T/W A/C . I can hear the various instructors voice(s) in my head 'Don't relax the back pressure just because you've touched down!!' Great description of the landing too - I think I can picture what your saying... At one point when I was doing lots of circuits learning, I went and sat at the end of the R/W 21 at Aldinga and watched someone else (similarly incompetent) landing the sports star. They, like me were tending to drop it on flat all 3 wheels at once close to the ground, rather than land with the nose higher and on the mains with the stick right back. Externally didn't look nearly as bad as it felt getting the jolt in the seat of your pants, which did make me feel better as the main landing gear flexing seemed to soak up the drop OK and the sporty N/W has an oleo. Evidence would suggest that the Morgan's are possibly less tolerant of that kind of landing style....

Yeah wow, that's not bad at all!

I had the idea from the start to do a tailwheel conversion, it seems to good a opportunity to pass up! I met Ray T at Camden to have a chat generally and had a look at a partially built T/W Morgan. The story was that owner is an ag pilot (with boss level TW skills) and it would have a bigger heavier Lycoming engine fitted - Ray thought it would be pretty wild. The firewall is closer (further back) towards the wing spar to accommodate the longer heavier engine. Essentially, I'm looking to replicate what I observed in that A/C as a guide. Yes, dealing with the steel work that everything attaches to is the difficulty, which has made it harder initially to make much headway. Confronting these structural alterations have forced me to think long and hard about how to do it nicely and have it work out.

Lots of good comments, thanks KG and GB. It has been VERY intersesting to hear first hand how they fly. Other than talking to Ray T, I didn't have much else to go on. Especially flight in the slow speed end of the envelope. 30kts IAS is pretty slow - is that actually stalled with a significant rate of decent or just maintaining height? The sports star that I've done some hours in has a pretty powerful and sensitive elevator which may be similar in that regard. Compared to the cub/champ the sporty is also very responsive/light on the controls generally which is enjoyable.

Fair point, I agree - I thought for a while and couldn't come up with anything better. Words often escape me. I couldn't work out how to edit the thread title, if that's even possible - happy for a moderator change it. Yes, in a sense a rebuild is a bigger deal than just fixing something up the way it was...

I'm sure that might help if the plan was to fix/replace the nose wheel. But I'm hoping to side step those issues entirely 😉

Yes, Thanks KG I have had a good read through your blog and also some of the others on the Morgan page, there's a gold mine of info and pics showing how others have resolved the same design in different ways. Good to hear that you've managed to fly it consistently, after some initial difficulties. The engine is a UL power 260is (NOT a Jabiru, which the plans suggest) I have had some correspondence with UL power about sending it back to the factory in Belgium to be overhauled and replacement crankshaft fitted ect For various reasons, not the least being the paying the $$$$$, I haven't done it yet...

Against what may be considered sensible or advisable, i decided that the buying a repairable wreck of a Morgan Sierra might a challenging and satisfying project!? As a brief history: The aircraft was built from kit supplied by Morgan Aeroworks and unfortunately after only a couple of flight hours, ended up suffering a loss-of-control on landing accident. Insurance was claimed for the value of the expected repairs which were substantial and although it wasn't considered a total loss, the salvage value of the wreck was not very high compared to the cost of the original build. The accident damage mostly confined to the nose of the A/C. nose wheel folded under and snapped off damage to the firewall and floor. Prop strike, prop destroyed. Engine mount cracked/bent/broken. Very minor damage to the winglets and wing leading edges right at the tip. The wreck was sold to a guy who trailered it to Melbourne, where it sat in a storage unit for about a year. I brought it off him and trailered him back to SA in an epic 2 day road trip. As pictured on a very large car trailer. I have chosen not to identify the original builder explicitly, to be fair as i don't know the guy at all. Of course there may be some sensitivity regarding the accident, i can only imagine it was NOT a particularly enjoyable experience. In anycase it's really not relevant to restoration going forward. Thing have progressed abit from here, but just an initial post to start the ball rolling... Ab

3mm is a pretty small vent tube, I'd be more worried about it getting blocked by dust and/or mud flicked up off the ground than wasps. But mud wasps are an absolute bugger where I live in the Adelaide Hills. They blocked up the air inlet on my compressor and so when I turned it on the dirt was sucked in and damaged/broke the spring steel check valve in the cylinder head! Then last year went to start our generator during a power outage and it would sort of fire but then stall. Didn't take too long to work out the little sods had blocked up the exhaust right down inside the muffler! We decided to run it without the muffler, running any motor without a muffler is fun for a abit but the novelty quickly wears off... Took me ages to clean it out flooding it with water from the hose and the long compressed air jet nozzle. They did the same to my neighbours fire pump muffler with partial blockage and the mud had been baked into hardened ceramic by the heat. Little vandels!

Yeah, i had to do a quick search to look at what a Sadler Vampire even was and it is an interesting looking machine... The Rutan Long-EZ is another aircraft in that vein that springs to mind - the retractable nose wheel arrangement on those looks like it could collapse at any given moment and they have to park the A/C with it retracted, but somehow they make it work!? Still only a problem if there actually a nose wheel in the first place 😉...

Correct - the Morgan's do have a reputation for nose wheel collapses that is unfortunately deserved. Mine is no exception and suffered a N/W collapse, prop destroyed, bottom firewall damage ect. But the consensus is that a variety of factors that have contributed the disproportionate number of failures, not just the strength of the N/W leg - the position of the main gear, the sight picture when flaring, also weight and balance with the fuel tank up the front ect However the worst thing (by far) is the jokes that stem from the one that crashed in to the Ferris wheel... As laughable as it may be, the people survived and apparently Ray T reckons it was repaired not too long afterwards

G'day, circled for a long time on these pages. Then got round to creating an account, couldn't resist commenting on something audio related (as my professional area of expertise). But thought i should do a legitimate post. I've done most of my flying at YADG (Aldinga) with Adelaide biplanes, in the Sporty's, Cubcrafters cub and Aeronca Champ (both tailwheel) Very much enjoy the tail wheel flying as it has helped improved my skills considerably... Although did my first bit of flying at Camden in Sydney through Cadets in the early 90's in a Tomahawk. For family reasons (kids), flying has been on/off again for the last 6-7 years, actually most off rather then on - sigh! Anyway, against what might be considered sensible i brought the written-off wreck of a Morgan Sierra 19-5645. It was previously built and owned by someone else on this page and i brought it off a 3rd party in Melbourne after it had been sitting in a storage unit for a while. The intention has been to restore it to flying condition, with some improvements along the way. But for the same reason (Kids - i mean they are wonderful, but why would you??), plus house reno's, full time work ect the project has been inching forward at a pace that might be considered less than glacial. Still i have been getting somewhere and i do appreciate there is considerable collective knowledge/wisdom from the members who frequent these pages - including the resident know-it-all (i mean that in the nicest possible way) Nev People sometime refer to me as a know-it-all, so it takes one to know one. The jokes and banter is good value too!! I did meet Ray T, who is at Camden coincidentally who was really good talk to, I might post something up in the Morgan section in due course... Cheers Andrew

The reference to Analogue Gnd or more accurately signal Gnd in this context, is different /separate to the Chassis/negative supply Gnd Often on audio gear that has both Digital and Analogue interfaces there are separate grounds for those respective interfaces, especially if the signals are unbalance (RCA) which they are in this case. Internally the signal ground will (hopefully) be free of any contamination from currents drawn by the RF output stage or digital parts of the radio. Yes, i'd say it would be a reference for the headphone outputs - these would normally expect to see a 32ohm load minimum, an 8Ohm speaker may overload the output - the specs in the manual may have some limitation with regard to this...