Moneybox

I think the biggest challenge is the CAD 3D. I never mastered 3D drawing.

Brendan, I'm at about the same stage. I'm comfortable bringing the plane in but recently we've had such strong cross winds that he won't let me go solo. I did a few landings in 12 to 15kt cross winds but they were untidy and he wants me to land and keep it within 1.5m of the centre line. I can't do that consistently in a crosswind so I gave it away and came home to work on the plane. I understand what you're saying about the flaps, it's just another thing to add when your hands and feet are busy. On the last day we had low clouds, frequent showers and a strong crosswind so we headed down to the training area away from the circuits. We practised steep turns, 45°, spiral decents and spiral stall recovery. It was a lot of fun and a great way to finish off my couple of weeks in Perth.

I've just ordered Sportstar parts from the factory in Czechoslovakia so I added a tube of Wacker P12 to the order. It's not available at the moment.

Yeah, I had to play that again. 😀

I'm on my way home tonight disappointed that I never got the chance to go solo. I had a mix of reasonably good weather along with a lot of bad. My goal was to come home with my RPC but I never got near it. The first day back after five months off was a mix of good and not so good but was better than I expected. My radio work was much improved so I sat the theory test and passed that. I still couldn't fly each day so sat the Air Law theory and got that out of the way as well. I started circuits last week with 12 and 15kt cross winds and it was messy so packed it in early. Friday was a little better with a 8 to 12kt cross wind and even though I got some good landings in he didn't want me going solo in it. Monday was crappy again (yellow arrow). I was booked in for 9:00am but left it until later in the day hoping for the wind to align with one of the runways. It didn't so he asked if I wanted to practice some steep turns. I jumped at the idea, I just wanted to get some useful time in the air. We spent some time on 45° turns, Spiral decents and Graveyard spiral recovery. What a blast, it turned a shitty day into an experience to remember. It was all over way too soon and we were back on the ground looking forward to the promised better weather on Tuesday. Well that was today. I was booked in for 11:00am and 2:00pm but it never happened. As you can se by the centre of the graph the wind had backed off so it was my day to go solo but my instructor called in sick. Tomorrow and Thursday are looking pretty bad so I called it quits and went shopping. Now loaded with the next couple of months supplies I'm on the road and should be home by early afternoon tomorrow. 😒

Is there any way we can get a bit of audio from the cockpit? ☺️

It's quite easy to have your pneumatic tyres foam filled. I had a client with a FJ40 LandCruiser that has a drill on the back. He has to go across country in the minefields regardless of conditions. Tyres were a constant problem but it must be 10yrs since we foam filled his regular tyres and since I spoke with him a few months back those tyres now bald are still holding up. The foam density matches your chosen tyre pressure and they are totally puncture proof. They cannot be used onroad because they quickly overheat.

I'm a little long in the tooth and not as strong as I used to be. All my plastic jerry cans have self destructed in the heat so I've replaced them with 10L steel cans. They are so much easier to handle and definitely feel less than half the weight of the 20L ones. Best to buy good quality ones my best are Willow brand.

Looks like this thread got a bit rusty 🙃 I recently visited this flight training area in Queensland. All landing and take-offs are done from the same end of the airstrip. You obviously wouldn't want both events happening at the same time. I think those trees might be a little scary in a cross wind too.

The prop 9" from the ground? I'm new here but that sounds very close considering you have suspension travel to come off that. Not much margin for error.

I sat and passed my first couple of tests yesterday, Radio and Air Law. I have no idea how many tests are required but I hope not too many because academia is not one of my strong points.

I would like to fit them but I think I'd better wait until it's registered. Hopefully I can add it later after I've got over the first obstacle. Every flight from Cue will be quite a long way to somewhere so autopilot will make it easier to travel the distance.

What about Trim Tab autopilots is that a viable option?

Before this I did 25hrs with Cloud Dancer in Jandakot but stopped waiting for my medical to come through. That was back in March and April so I've had five months off so I was a little rusty for the first flight yesterday. That's why I'm trying to get this plane sorted out quickly then I can continue flying once I get the certificate. There'll still be a lot to learn so if I can't continue to fly I may as well give up now.

Yes thank you, I do use Windy.com but today's weather blew up unexpectantly but it blew away just as quickly so I managed to get up for 0.8hrs. Now I'm a little more contented 😊

I'm a bit pissed off at the moment. I drove 8hs down to Jandakot on Sunday to commence my training. I couldn't get in until 2:30 this afternoon but I just received notice that we have 35-40kts with turbulence at 1000' and 15kt cross wind. No flying today and tomorrow we expect the bad weather to intensify with hail likely.

It's easy driving if you're setup for it. I just travelled from Cue to Brisbane, nearly 5000km and travelled around 900km each day and 1100 on the last day. The difference is that I have a kitchen, toilet, shower and bed on board. Whenever I felt weary I just parked anywhere off the road, walked down the back and dropped to sleep, sometimes for 15min sometimes for more than an hour and I only travelled in daylight hours. It's a bit difficult to take a powernap while souring at 5000ft.

I've driven a lot longer than that when I was younger but driving a motor vehicle on land is a lot more stimulating than flying straight and level. I think it'd be a risky move if you're not used to long stints. I once drove in the Get With The Strength, Commonwealth Bank rally that was over 1000km in a night. Another time I did nine hours Brisbane to Sydney via the New England Highway but on both of these occasions I was driving flat-out so no chance of dropping to sleep. I take it you're talking about doing it non-stop?

I must admit we only see the cream of the crop in the west ☺️

Considering we've veered a little from the intended subject of this thread I'll add my little bit. I believe the drivers license should be a little like the pilot's license. Make it reasonably easy to obtain a basic license but have it restricted until sufficient driving skills can be demonstrated. Everybody should be involved in motorsport where precision driving is required to keep you in the race. I competed in Rallying, Speedway, Autocross, Dirt go-karts and all sorts of associated events. Of course the kids got involved as well from a very young age. For one thing it gives you a chance to blow off steam in a controlled environment but also you learn how to handle a motor vehicle when it slips and slides, bounces and lands. You experience fast driving on loose and slippery surfaces. You learn to tow and reverse a trailer and how to tie down a load. Just a matter of interest. Have you noticed the many thousands of caravans on the road these days? I guess if you spend all your time in the city you might have missed it but most of these vehicles are under the control of very old people and very few get into trouble. Many of these are towing for the first time in their life as well and most demonstrate exceptionally good driving skills.