eastmeg2

Hi Riley, Last August we stopped in at The Muston Heights airstrip, It's named Johnson in the ERSA & on the WAC chart, named after the owner. I think you'll find contact details in the ERSA. They helped us with ground transport too. We stayed at Ulonga Lodge at nearby American River which I recommend, though there may be others. If you do stay at American River, make sure you sample the Oysters from the local fish shop, although it's "Shuk yourself", it's worth it. Cheers, Glen PS, see our trip write-up in the Dec/Jan RAAus rag.

I pesonally hope it's the gap or opportunity to introduce into Australia the SSDR (Singe Seat De-Regulated) category that exists in the UK & USA. Empty aircraft weights up to 250lb or 115kg, if I recall right.

In my own Unqualified opinion, that probably depends on whether a subsequent "error" was due to the Pilot not having been taught the skills needed, whether those skills are part of the CASA or RAAus Pilot curriculum (which removes responsibility of scope from the instructor), or whether the Pilot chose not to use the skills which had been taught . . . this could go on for ever. There's probably a whole host of other factors to consider too.

Hi Bluey, What about possible oil sludge in the engine or oil lines, that or something else partially blocking one of the lines. Has there ever been a suspect oil filter on the engine or one that went too long between changes. Might be worth removing and flushing out your oil lines and doing another oil and filter change. Actually, just reading your first post again it could be some sludge building up somewhere until a blockage occurs and then the pressure from the oil pump build up enough to flush away the blockage . . . for the time being.

I've often considered hanging trike wings from their nose in a hangar with the nose wires released and the A-Frame folded back against the keel. That could work particularly well with topless wings. It'd be like a big wardrobe.

The wording at first appears to say that all HGFA wheeled operations are illegal, but further reading and some discussion with the HGFA Operations Manager cleared it up. I had previously thought that HGFA T1 registration came under 95.10, but that is only the case for home builts not made from an approved kit. So HGFA T1 registered trikes that were factory built or made from an approved kit actually come under 95.32. (95.32 part 1.1 (b) & ©) 95.10 is not presently available under HGFA, only under RAAus. Scratch built "10" or registered trikes would currently be legal to fly under RAAus, but not scratch built "T1" registered trikes under HGFA. CAO-95.32 does make specific mention of the HGFA in section 1.1(d)(i), so there are no legal issues with flying HGFA T2 registered trikes and approved kit or factory built T1 registered trikes. Cheers, Glen

Yes, there are Hirth engines that can match the R503 & R582 for power/weight, but don't have the same reputation for reliability.

I bought a new R503 for a trike project in 2009 and have been very impressed with it, though it's only got 18 hours on it now (Most of my hours are on the XT-912). I'm about to buy another new R503 for yet another trike project - Rocketising the Pursuit-10 trike I bought from Drifterdriver a few months ago and giving it a good enough climb rate to operate at our private strip safely. I'll be sending the existing B-type gearbox to Floods to check and possibly overhaul and fit it to the new R503 to send to me. I'll also be re-using the existing 60 inch 3-bladed Ivo prop and increasing its pitch from 13 degrees to 15 degrees for the extra torque of the R503 compared to the current R447. It will be sad when there are no more new R503's available to buy. I can't see anything else coming along that can replace them for reliability, power/weight and ease of installation, except for maybe electric in the years to come. Cheers, Glen

Hi Bluey, I heard that from another source too. I guess we'll see Airborne marketing the "XT-700" before the year is out . . . I wonder how it will be priced compared to the XT-582, given that a 582 with radiators comes close to $10k and that a HKS-700E also costs about USD10k including freight & GST.

Hel, Thanks for that info. The concept of LSA allowing Trikes to have >450kg MTOW is not something I'd considered before and I suppose it opens some interesting possibilities for Trikes with certified MTOW up to 600kg. It's been about a year since I dropped into Moruya. It'd be great to see your new machine when it arrives. Cheers, Glen

Polarised sunnies are out, for all the reasons mentioned above and because of the interference patterns they create with the plastic windscreens most U/L's and Trikes use which can impact your ability to "see and avoid" as well as your general viewing pleasure. I wouldn't go for a watch for the simple reason that it takes your hand away from something else it could be doing each time you need to read it. So go with a time piece on the instrument panel, or anywhere else that the pilot can easily see it while flying with one hand and holding the map with the other (no 3rd hand for a watch there). Most CFI's could probably recommend something that can quickly switch between clock and stopwatch or timer without interrupting either function. Cheers, Glen

If I recall correctly, extra weight allowance for ballistic parachutes is written into the CAO's.

Hi Pud, The manual for one of my trike lists "Light Spars Australia" as the source for aluminium spars in the wing. I just Googled it and surprisingly they still seem to be there. In Moorabin, Vic. Cheers, Glen

And tear-drop shaped heads - I mean helmets . . .

Just one drawback that I could see, the empty weight quoted at over 270kg. Even with the MTOW quoted as 470kg or so, I'm pretty sure that CAO-95.32 only allows up to 450kg MTOW. Other than that it looks like a very nicely made trike and I look forward to seeing one in the flesh some time. Cheers, Glen

Corrosion in the contacts in the sender unit on top of the engine is a very real possibility. I experienced this on multiple engine parameters while flying up the west coast of the Yorke Peninsula in September and it was fixed by spraying some water dispersant (kindly provided by a local pilot at Kadina) into the contacts. (I hope all you RAAus pilots enjoyed the "Kangaroo Island Trike Trip" article that Ian wrote). Cheers, Glen

Lost Jeppesen Database It took me a while to track down this thread, but I finally found it. This morning, on the 2nd occasion I started up my Garmin 296, it told me "Aviation waypoint deleted (OK)". I immediately shutdown the GPS and restarted it. There appeared to be no Jeppesen database since there were no airport waypoints listed and the blue C-class airspace boundaries were gone. On that occasion I did manage to hit the Menu button, select Map Information and by de-selecting the "Pacific Intl Aviation XXXX" database, then exiting to the map screen and coming back in and re-selecting it again, was able to get it working again. Later tonight, after I'd updated firmware to the latest version 5.9 and probably a bit more tired I made the mistake of hitting the Enter button when I started it up and it announced "Aviation waypoint deleted (OK)". This time the aviation database really was gone! There was no bringing it back this time! I subsequently spent an hour working out how to and then downloading the current Pacific Jepessen database from the Garmin website, which cost me $60 and it all seems to be working again. The question remains though, as to why the Garmin296 decided it wanted to delete its aviation database . . . As for carrying up to date maps, the GPS is not recognised by CASA or Airservices as a legally legitimate record of airspace etc. (As I understand it) So I have to carry a current ERSA and required maps anyway - so I had not updated the Pacific Aviation Database on the GPS since I bought it new in March 2008. Curious to know if anyone else has been having their Garmin GPS's deciding to make uncommanded deletions. Cheers, Glen

Hi Maj, I'm pretty sure the kit I've got is an aid for the mechanical synch'ing you're referring to. I've been warned (by a CFI/L2) about pulling the 912's carbies apart before, haven't done it and have no intention of doing so by myself. As I understand it, what I'll be doing is ensuring that both sides of the 912 are working equally (or closer to it) via adjustment of the cable linkages on/near the carbs. The EGT's on the respective cylinder banks give some indication of how well they are matched, however, keeping in mind that our instruments are not certified/TSO'd there may be a margin of error in the readings being seen. The carb balancing kit should get around that. Bluey, I recently replaced one of the EGT sensors on another trike with a R447 (2 stroke) and am seeing that one read as much as 150F lower than the other cylinder (900F and 1050F, so appreciate what you're saying. I'm thinking of swapping the sensors around (back to front and front to back) to see if the readings move with the sensors or stay the same for each cylinder. I've got a spare new sensor as I ordered 2 so I'd have a spare. The new probes are shorter than the old ones. Maybe that contributes to the lower reading? Cheers, Glen

Gauge Tales Hi Bluey, Any imbalance should be most obvious at idle & low revs. How well do your CHT's and EGT's for both sides of your 912 match during flight? I've often noticed that one side appears to consistently run slightly hotter and I assume it's due to that side running slightly leaner. I recently bought a carb synch kit from a USA aviation company, what the the great FX rate and all. I've yet to get around to using it but hope to find time in the coming weeks. Cheers, Glen

Has anyone else noticed that a new Wagga CTA would likely join up with Albury CTA above 4,500ft. Even though RAA may get 10,000ft, RAA would be restricted to <4,500ft in what then becomes a G-Class corridor between the 2 CTA's. Hmmm, G-Class must be our Amazon rainforest . . . loosing xxx square km per day . . .

What good is ASIC then I'm starting to wonder whether it is worth renewing my ASIC next year. I've probably used it more often at Wagga than any other RPT airport. Others have been Moruya, Mildura and Kingscote, which I visit very infrequently and all except Moruya have alternates not very far away in terms of x-country.

Hawker in the Flinders Ranges is the ideal base for doing a lap of Wilpena Pound, though the airstrip is about 5km out of town on the road to the pound. Talk to the local joy flight pilots for flight instructions and radio frequencies, when we were there they flew clockwise at 5,000ft and you'd likely want to do the same, though in trikes we opted for 500ft separation due to our speed difference. Hawker to Port Pirie is nice and scenic and you could fly down the Yorke Peninsula and cross Investigator Straight (20Nm of water) to KI to remain outside Adelaide CTA, there's an R zone over the straight you'll need to check is deactivated with Melbourne Ctr too. Or go further east via Murray Bridge and cross Backstairs Passage from Cape Jervis to KI (7Nm of water). A few of the members here are locals in the area.