cscotthendry

Just recently did the 5 year rubber replacement on mine too. Yes, I did the fuel lines and I used fuel injection hose on most of it. My system has several different size lines, including some 5mm stuff. I had to take what I could get locally for that. The real PITA was the coolant hoses. I had to go through the same exercise I did when building the Nynja, finding the right diameter hoses with suitable bends.

Sorry to hear about your troubles Phil. We rely on our computers so much these days ... perhaps too much. And it makes us vulnerable to (the increasing number of) evil b***ards.

I can't vouch for the Bushcat, but I can for the Nynja. The Nynja is a very predictable yet sporty flyer. One of the things I loved about the Nynja was its flying characteristics in turbulence. I found that the Nynja did a better job handling the turbulence than I did. So I just left my hand off the stick and let it get on with it. All it required was the occasional touch to maintain track. In the landing phase, the Nynja was always exactly where I pointed it. The pitch control is quite light and responsive. The roll control is a bit heavier than pitch and that takes a few flights to acclimatise to but it's not a big issue. The Nynja has a bit of adverse yaw with ailerons so requires using rudder to keep turns coordinated. My Nynja had the fuselage tank behind the seats and required frequent pitch trimming on long trips. The wing tanks do away with that, but then you have roll imbalances if you don't manage fuel usage between the tanks. Roll trim on the Nynja is a bit primative. It's a bungee cord that applies pressure to the aileron cables. I never found much benefit from the system as I didn't have wing tanks. Because the Nynja has a very light wing loading, it is kind of harsh in the bumps. I used to cruise my Nynja at around 90-95kt at 5,000 RPM. The airframe felt stiff and harsh in the bumps above that althought it will do it safely. The luggage capacity with the fuselage tank uption was inadequate in my view and was what caused me to upgrade to another plane. With wing tanks and 600kg rating, the Nynja would be a very useful and fun airplane and very good value. And a final thought, I learned a LOT about aircraft systems and construction and a LOT about the Rotax engine from building my Nynja. It gave me a lot of confidence to maintain my Nynja and that has carried through to my Legend.

Yeah "fighting for peace" is like "F***ing for virginity".

I don't remember exactly how much it was and I paid in US$. I bought it while I was at Oshkosh in 2017. I think it was around $300 US, but I could be way wrong on that (Mind like a steel sieve!). BTW that price included the sender (a red cube).

I saw one of these in the USAF national museum in Dayton OH. It is hard to convey the size of the thing without standing next to one. They are ENORMOUS.

Trig make good gear. I had a Trig transponder in my previous plane. If you're determined to have a radio that size, or if that is all the panel space you have, then I'd go for the Trig. It may have a kajillion wires, but you only have to hook it up once. I had a microair in a trike. It worked OK for me, but I personally know a few people who had weird problems with them. My own preference is for a standard 6” tray sized radio. They are a lot easier to work with, especially in turbulence.

Are you thinking of buying one or have you already bought it? I installed a Flight Data FC-10 in my Legend. Once it was calibrated, I get reasonably accurate fuel consumption figures. It was about the cheapest fuel computer I could find.

Mike; unfortunately I can't remember which one I used, but it wasn't blue.

Mike: I put a strip of LEDs behind the sight tube gauge on my Nynja tank. I had a push button to light up the LEDs rather than just leave them on all the time. That helped a lot with reading the level even when the tube started to discolor a bit. I tried the little floats but didn't have much success with them.

Only two remain flying and I was fortunate enough to be at Oshkosh the year they were both there ... AND thanks to my lovely wife, fortunate enough to have a fly in Fifi.

I've just noticed this thread so forgive me if I repeat something someone else already posted. If what I'm seeing here is right, then CASA is trying to align our airspaces to what they do in the US. In the US, class E starts at 1200’ AGL in most of the country. There are places where it goes down to 700’ but that is noted on their “sectionals” which are similar to our charts all combined into one. But there is this: we hardly have a fraction of the air traffic the US has AND we have NO potential to have that much traffic EVER. So I fail to see the justification or need for this other than aligning regulations with the US.

That's a very interesting question and I don't have an answer for it. I think it's possible that the currents might cause EM fields that could affect the compass.

New2flying As others have said, you're well shot of her. Learning to fly can be stressful and you really need a cooperative partner in the cockpit while you're doing it, not an adversary. I lost quite a number of flying years because of previous instructors like your Susan. The guy who got me in the air gave me this piece of sage advice; “Flying is just another mechanical skill like driving or riding a bike. Anyone can do it, but you have to stick with it. Also, a lot of people reach a point in their training where they think ‘I can't make this work, I can't learn to fly’. But they can if they stock with it.” That part about “I can't make this work, I can't learn to fly” cost me 10 wasted flying years because of a previous instructor. As soon as my instructor mentioned that part, lightbulbs were flashing everywhere for me. Stick with it. Don't get discouraged and don't give up. Be prepared to change instructors as often as necessary until you find one who your comfortable with in the cockpit. The end result is worth all the money and hard work. Believe me!

Check, as Mike suggested, whether you have a large filter capacitor connected to your engine's voltage regulator. Look in the Rotax documentation in the electrical circuit diagrams. The Rotax charging system is notorious for generating electrical noise and the capacitor helps reduce it somewhat. Also, you should dig into all the negative return wires from everything electrical on your aircraft. All of the negative return wires MUST be returned to ONE common point. The system must not rely on frame returns to the negative of the electrical system as is done in cars. I repeat, the negative return of every electrical device MUST be connected to only ONE point DIRECTLY. Not doing this is usually the worst source of electrical noise in audio and radio equipment.

YAHOO!!!!! Wouldn't miss it for quids!

When I was learning to fly I couldn't wait to be free of the instructor's yoke. Been flying 10 years+ and I actually look forward to flying with an instructor for my BFRs. 1) I expect them to pick up on any bad habits I've developed. 2) It forces me to practice a forced landing, which I avoid doing because it gives me the shivers. 3) Flying with a very experienced pilot is like having a security blanket. It's one of the few times I can totally relax in the cockpit.

Hi Alan; Sorry for the delay in answering here. Answers to the three questions Q1) The Legend was designed to look like an 80% scale C182. So yes, there's more than a whiff of Cessna about it. I haven't flown any real Cessnas so I can't compare the flying characteristics. What I can tell you is that it is very forgiving if you let the airspeed get out of whack. I did, and it “dropped a wing” which took the form of a gentle uncommanded left bank. I corrected it by pushing the nose over and full throttle which brought it back to controlled flight instantly. It is a two seat LSA. My wife and I can fly with full fuel (120L) and 32Kg of luggage. Where the back seat would be in a C182 is the luggage area and it has more space than you can carry, unless it's bulky light stuff like bedding. Also, as for flying characteristics, I observed a C152 take off from my local field the other day and they struggled to clear the trees at the end of a runway that we lift off about 1/3 the way down the runway and clear those trees by about 300 - 400ft. Q2) I have a couple of types of external camera mounts. The Legend is composite, so I can't bolt or rivet anything to it. I use GoPro surfboard mounts on the ends of the wings. I got approval from the manufacturer for these as it's an LSA. Not all GoPro mount bases are the same and you can see in the Gold Coast video the right wing cam wobbles. I've since remedied that by using a different base that fits tighter in the mount. The other camera mount straps to the wing strut. I made the mount from some sheet aluminium. If you PM me I can send you some pics. They're easy to make with simple hand tools. The inside camera is mounted on a suction mount on the inside of the windscreen. Q3) When we fly over water, we wear inflatable life vests. If you have a look at our Sydney Victor 1 video you'll see them. Around here, we stay within gliding range of solid ground. You'd be surprised how far that is though. I don't have solid numbers to relate, I determine my safe distance by eye, based on wind direction and height above the water. The life vests weigh about 1/2 kg I think. I bought them from a boating place. They have dual inflation with CO2 bottle and oral inflator. HTH

I have a Flight Data GT50. It has a clock, voltmeter, flight timer, G meter and resettable timer. I use the resettable timer to time my tanks. The GT 50 fits in the small standard instrument hole. It's cheap and has a lot of functions that I think are useful, especially the G meter with max G recording. I bought it for the G meter because I used to have a turbulence phobia and wanted to know if the bumps were going to rip the wings off. Thanks to the GT50 I don't worry about that anymore.

The weather for video has been great these past few weeks and since the plane is much closer to home, I've been taking advantage of it. Here's the latest, a wander around our "neighborhood".

Recently we moved our plane from Watts Bridge to Heck field at Jacobs Well. YHEC is very close to the Gold Coast, but more important, closer to where we live. The other day, we had some really good weather and lighting conditions and a new GoPro to test out so we did a fly over the Gold Coast

One of the things I loved about the Nynja was that in turbulence, it was better flown hands off. The more I tried to counter the effects of thermals, the worse I flew. That probably meant it was "stable" but I liked that, especially for long flights. That said, it was still a nimble aircraft. It went where you told it to, when you told it to, no more, no less. It was reasonably light on the controls and responsive. My current airplane is a bit of a handful in turbulence. The phugoid duration is a bit longer and turbulence tends to set up a bit of a porpoising effect. In thermals, I have to fly the Legend more than I did with the Nynja. However, the Legend is easier to fly due to the placement and layout of the controls. It is also more comfortable and quieter. For me, that is the difference between "easy" and "nice" to fly.

That's not anything like what John Robert posted and what I was responding to. For a start, any state owned drones are NOT going to be piloted by pimply computer geeks with grudges. They are going to be serious equipment, operated by serious, trained individuals conducting military operations with significant targets, not just bumping off someone who annoyed them. Secondly, part of what you're describing falls into the category of improvised weapons. When you go down that path, a sharpened broom handle can become a "weapon" and generalizations about "targets of opportunity" apply but are meaningless in the wider discussion about "drones". But you're right, "A lot of governments should be ARE shitting their collective pants" about explosive drone improvised devices. They are particularly lethal for ground troops. HOWEVER; Remotely Piloted, means either radio or wire control. Radio control devices can be radio blasted out of the sky with high powered jamming devices. Wire guided drones aren't very effective because a) the drone has to trail a heavy (relatively) wire while traveling SLOWLY to a target. and b) A drone that size will attract attention and the wire leads straight back to the launcher. *BOOM*

If you truly believe that is how UAVs are used, you need to do some reading. ”drones” are piloted by professional fighter pilots and targets are studied for months before a strike. Even then, a strike is only authorized at the highest level. After a strike, the pilot and/or weapons officer are counselled and debriefed for the psychological impacts of carrying out an assassination. Your characterization of computer geeks running rampant and frivolously firing off Hellfire missles at people who've annoyed them is as ignorant as it is offensive.