aj_richo

Sorry if this has been posted before.. another reason not to jump out of serviceable aircraft! Edited to go straight to youtube

I peed on the top of Ayers Rock once.. long before it became Uluru, but I'd never admit it oh shite..!

Oops... that would be me..

I can confirm its a Onex The test pilot is very experienced, owns an RV, has test flown several Sonex marque aircraft amongst others and is building a Onex I am very relieved he is OK Please less of the BS like turn the back theory crap, and all the other rubbish the know it alls come out without the facts

Russ.. "Think I might go back to shady mix with same top end lube added" Freudian slip?? ha ha

Nice soft ditching.. same thoughts with having the chute pull the aircraft over , do they have a cutaway system? Was thinking if it hadn't gone under it would have sailed all the way to Hawaii! ..and picked up by an Ocean Liner to boot!

I've used the Apple AC charger for iPad on the iPhone an vice versa... no problems with battery damage, apart from the age of the iPhone 4 I own. (depletes in a day) The AC charger is capable of producing higher amps, so I can't see the difference in plugging in a DC USB charger capable of 2.5A. I think where the issue would be is the quality of the USB DC output. I have read some are not good at filtering any noise on the input. In a car probably wouldn't be an issue. I am about to try a Jaycar unit in my Sonex - http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MP3616 Hopefully it can handle the noisy Jabiru electrical system...

Builders log requirement is a bit bizarre, since it is already built.. (but needs repair) ?

Hi Scott, I think there is a Onex on the field ready to fly, and there are a couple of builders in Gawler that I know. One scratchbuilder has pretty much finished his airframe. There is also another builder at Virginia currently building his wing spars. I'm based at Callington, which would be a leisurely hours drive from Gawler... there most saturdays Cheers Tony

Hi Scott, There are around 31+ completed aircraft of the Sonex marque flying in Australia, (Sonex/Waiex/Xenos/Onex) out of 109 registered plans/kits. Quite a few have been scratch built, mine started out that way until my wife took pity on me and suggested I purchase a kit. I imported mine in 2006 when the US to Aussie dollar was around the same level, probably less. From memory my landed cost was around A$26k. That was a full kit, all hardware and a bunch of tools included. You can get Wicks/Aircraft Spruce to deliver to the factory and they will pack it in the crate. I'd have to go and dig out the invoices and payments to give an exact figure. The kits costs have gone up by about $2500 since then, so I would expect everything else has too. I haven't heard of anyone bringing in a QB example to date. My finished cost with engine, instrumentation, etc etc was around $50k To be honest, as per rgmwa's post, it would be much cheaper to buy a completed and flying example (around $35-40k in todays market) but you would miss out on all the fun building and customising to your tastes If you haven't discovered us yet we have a website for Aussie builders at http://sonexaus.wikispaces.com Quite a few projects to have a look at plus other bits and pieces. Mine has been flying since October last year, 32 hours to date and I absolutely love it! Regards Tony Richardson Sonex #813

Forget the book.. lets have "Jack Flyer... the movie"

Sub-sonex stall speed in the landing configuration is 50KT, so it is out of contention for RAA regardless of engine type

Daz.. how many tanks did you deseal.. ? Your answer will tell us if you were a bad boy LOL

"Low Inertia argument is a firfy?" Would you let a PPL 172 driver jump in your Texas Midwing without a thorough briefing on the flight characteristics, assuming there is no flight manual, in particular the need to shove the nose down immeadiately if the engine fails and so on?

Absolutely.. in cruise its around 100-110C. The RH Sonex inlet is hard up against #1 cylinder, in fact you have to trim fins to make the cowl fit. It is not great for getting a lot of air in there and it suffers in a climb attitude... especially steep climb angles but you can't see anything over the nose either, so you tend to climb shallower and clear the nose a lot... and for the record a Camit engine would have to same problems in a Sonex cowl. And you'd have to ditch the bigger alternator

Its about the same amount of tweaking for a custom install using the fibreglass ducts as it for the metal. I would have preferred the later fibreglass type but the cowl is pretty tight over the front cylinders and much surgery would be needed I made the aluminium ones from scratch, pretty simple fabricate Mine is well within parameters in cruise, #3 can nudge 170C with hard climbs I have an air outlet behind the sump as well as the exhaust tunnels, this keeps air flowing over the sump and minimises hot air around the carb. The oil cooler air is completely separate from cowl air flow with is own NACA inlet and outlet is controlled by a cockpit controlled flap

I thought as much..

Is it me or are the graphs pretty useless? How many aircraft are doing the hours flown? Is it 5 Jabiru aircraft flogged to death or 5000?

The aviation force is strong in you Koreelah.. that's a bloomin' amazing piece of engineering to rig/derig a one piece wing!

Marty... looks like they've heard you.. https://www.raa.asn.au/market/ad.php?id=4331

My only observation would be penny washers are needed for the rod ends (including the vertical link) and the bolts on rotating joints should have castle nuts with cotters.. but you probably have all that figured anyway ...?

I do the same sitting on my ride-on lawnmower, I cop a bit of stick for some of the mowing patterns though.. especially the circling glide approaches

Compare the rear windows of the crashed machine to the silver Sportstar, longer and come to a sharp point... The canopy on the ground has the same fibreglass roof portion as the silver version, the Piper Sports does not. I conclude its a Sportstar

Can I just change my placard to read : This aircraft and Jabiru engine are not required to comply with the safety regulations for standard aircraft and engines. PERSONS FLY THIS AIRCRAFT AND JABIRU ENGINE AT THEIR OWN RISK

I got as far as pre-flighting and pulling my plane out late Saturday afternoon, it still blowing 20kts at 6pm. Sat in it.. really, really wanted a fly.. wings rocking, canopy threatening to blow open.. thought Nope F$ck it, just not worth it and put it back in the Hangar Had a great fly Sunday morning in calm conditions.