cscotthendry

Hope to arrive around lunch time. CU there!

Might be a bit obvious, but have you tried Bolly? They're very helpful people.

Anyone who has been on these forums for more than a week, would know what I think of my Legend. Here's why I love it: (not in order of preference) 1) Composite structure means no corrosion and a glassy smooth appearance. Strong carbon fibre, with KEVLAR lined cabin. 2) The cabin is wider than a 182. 3) I can carry a pax, full fuel (120L) and ample luggage (depending on pax weight) BEW 313Kg, MTOW 600Kg, Plenty of luggage room 4) Cruises at genuine 110Kt at 17-18 L/Hr. 5) Looks like what I think a private airplane should look like (Cessna 100 series) 6) High wing is great for sightseeing and photography. 7) Predictable, stable, no vices flying characteristics (I'm a not-so-great pilot) 8) Very comfortable seats for long distance flying. Seats are quickly adjustable (like car seats) and as quickly removable for access to the luggage space. Also nice creature comforts like armrests in the doors and a center console storage box, and side pockets in the doors with drink bottle holders. 9) Rotax powered reliability. We purchased this plane for touring and we have done a few long(ish) trips in it. It ticks all my boxes.

HEY!!! You took my spot!

Contact Dave Cookman (07)5449-8573

We've just returned from another Outback adventure. We went from Watts Bridge, to Gayndah, to Carnarvon Gorge, To Longreach, then back to Bundaberg for 2 nights on Lady Elliot Island. Here's a sampling of snaps from the first part, mostly Gayndah to Carnarvon and at the gorge. Gayndah Cracow gold mine Carnarvon Gorge More to come later, from Longreach, and Lady Elliot Is. Also, I'll be posting videos of the trip as I get them edited.

Mike: Brilliant landing on that narrow runway with that crosswind! Wow, I'm impressed!

I just received this in an email from RA Aus RAAus wishes to advise our community that we are continuing to work with the police, the Coroner and the ATSB in regard to the dual fatal accident that occurred on 25 November 2016 at Hedlow involving John Cresswell and Jason Caswell. The Queensland Police are leading this investigation with specialist independent support from an external contractor and RAAus as required. Given the structure of the investigation, RAAus is not able to provide any detailed advice to members. We can assure members that the accident is being fully investigated, including an assessment of the engine, aircraft and wing components, as well as environmental and operational aspects. We are fully cooperating with and assisting the Queensland Police and Coroner's Office with a view to completely understanding the circumstances behind this tragic accident. A final report will be produced in due course by the Queensland Coroner. RAAus will continue to keep members informed as we have more news to share. In essence they are just saying "We can't tell you anything about the crash" which I find frustrating on two counts; 1) Why send out a non-update update? 2) It seems like RA Aus don't tell us anything even if they DO find out something. For example, Do they know what caused Ross Millard's crash? What about Rob Pavan? I can think of other fatal crashes that have occurred and I'm not aware of feedback from RA Aus on any of them.

I have an AvMap GPS installed from new in my airplane. I've had some issues with it. Their software seems a bit buggy to me, but their tech support are very friendly and help as much as they can.

Wow! Very cool! A couple of observations / ideas / suggestions. 1) If it doesn't already have the type of stabilisation that the Segways and other 2 wheeled riders have, that would be useful. 2) For something that size it would be good for it to have some very bright strobes on it. 3) Since there is nothing aerodynamic about it it's totally reliant on fuel to keep it aloft. The rider was wearing a parachute which is an obvious necessity. 4) For operation over water as in the demo, I hope they have a very quick release mechanism for the pilots feet (I'm assuming his feet are fastened to the craft). 5) I'd love to give it a go!

Geoff: Look no further than the people we elect to government for most of the bureaucratic delays. The imperative with the political class now is "small government" (except where the pollies' entitlements or tax handouts for their Big Business backers are concerned. So departments are cut, and cut and cut again. From my experience working for TAFE in QLD, what budget cuts mean is cuts to service delivery staff, while admin numbers balloon to generate budget justifying paperwork. While I was at TAFE, I saw this pattern repeat on more occasions than I can remember. Every time, the teaching staff numbers were cut and the administrative staff numbers increased ... every time. Since it is admin staff who decide who goes and who stays, it's a no brainer who gets the chop. And it isn't just in the PS that this happens. I remember a time when Telstra came out and baldly said they were going to cut thousands of jobs and that magically "services would improve" and the jobs they cut were frontline staff.

OME: I'm glad that PH is raising these issues, but I'm sceptical about any connection between what ANY politician says they'll do, and what they actually do. The only reliable predicter of what a pollie might follow through on is to "follow the money". See who's buying their election for them (ie those with the deepest pockets) and work out what the sponsors' motives are. Then and only then will you see any congruence between words and actions.

Not to mention the wildlife traffic!

Mike: Do your exhaust pipes have the pressed metal ball ends or the machined ends? I had a lot of trouble with my exhaust system leaking and wrote to CKT. They sent me a new set of pipes w ith machined ball ends. The pressed ends tend to distort during welding and it is difficult to get them to seal in the sockets on the muffler. As for solving the oil filter issue, I didn't get that far with my Nynja. You might have to resort to having that pipe modified locally. I'm sure that Paul would be well aware of the problem with the oil filter as he designed the system that CKT produce. I can't understand why they haven't solved that yet. I don't think cowling or equipment clearances would prevent a fix.

LOL! I thought that was Paul doing the test flight! Well done guys. You've made a beautiful airplane that will give you many years of safe happy flying.

A pretty good review of the 230 and some fair comments about the trim not being sorted out in the test flights. Could the temps issue be because the engine is new and still a bit tight?

And again, Alf, many thanks for your kind words. Glad you enjoyed the video.

We went to the Clifton fly in which is one of our favorite events. It looked a bit doubtful that we'd get there as there were some low clouds. But we managed to get across the range OK and the event was a good one even though the turnout wasn't as large as we've seen in the past.

In my first plane, I ran Evans coolant. I always had higher temps than anyone else I knew, but Evans does that. My current plane uses the 50/50 and I wouldn't go back to the Evans. Re-reading your post, I think you mad a good choice to replace the radiator cap. It's a cheap attempt at a fix and just might solve it. From the pix, it's certainly made a mess of the plane! Also, since you have had the overflow bottle go empty, make sure that your cooling system is topped up and bleed all the air out of the system. If there is any air in the lines, it could cause the coolant to boil easier, which causes steam which pushes more coolant out, which allows room for expansion, which causes lower boiling temps etc etc in a positive feedback loop.

If this was a car, I'd suspect a blown head gasket, but the rotax heads are self contained. If you have a cracked head, you might spot it by doing the following: Start with a cold engine and remove the reservoir cap. (don't remove the tank cap on a hot engine) Check for a cracked head by having a compression leakdown test done. During the leakdown test, leave the pressure on each cylinder for a bit and check for bubbles in the coolant reservoir tank. This will tell you if there's a cracked head, and which cylinder is at fault. 120 Deg is getting up there temp wise for the CHTs, Are you running Evans coolant or gylcol/water?

My 2C worth (FWIW) Going the RA-Aus way to start would be cheaper to start up with. GA aircraft generally cost more per hour to hire than RAA planes and that is what you'll effectively be doing while training. They also use less fuel per hour than GA planes. Ra-Aus instructors (in my limited experience) generally charge less per hour for training than GA instructors. I think that will get you in the air and able to fly solo and carry pax for less $$$ than going GA. I'm not fully conversant with the RPL side of things so I can't comment on that, but I believe it has similar restrictions as RA-Aus pilot cert WRT flying only in day VFR and things like that. I'm not sure of the pax endo for RPL ie, how many you can carry or if you can even carry pax. RA-Aus is strictly one pax, which most of the time is not a problem. Also, our airplanes are generally lighter than GA, so you're not buying fuel to haul a heavy airframe around the sky. Again, most RA-Aus planes can run on mogas which is cheaper than avgas, and generally the RA-Aus fleet engines are more fuel efficient than the GA aircraft so they burn less fuel, and that fuel costs less per litre which = double win IMO.

I forgot to add: If you take off the mic muff, there is a little plastic bud on one side of the mic. Under that bud (cover) is the mic gain control, and that side of the mic should be closest to your face.

The mics on the Lightspeed, are little round flat discs. They need to be flat side to your mouth. If they get edge on, they will pick up a lot of noise. You can feel the disc through the mic muff. I always check this when I first put the headsets on.

Assuming the headsets came with the plane, if you don't have the user manual for them, it's here http://www.lightspeedaviation.com/content/lightspeedaviation/file/Zulu2_user_guide_RevA4.pdf Next stop, change the batteries in the controller. Check the settings on your phone, and finally, it might be a signal strength issue. Mobile phones weren't imagined to work from up in the air, they were designed to work on the ground near the cell towers. While flying, we don't necessarily end up as close to the cell towers as we do when driving on the roads. HTH

Brilliant!