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kgwilson

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Everything posted by kgwilson

  1. kgwilson
    Some sort of auto power off sounds like a good option. My Spot tracker has this. If it detects no GPS activity in 1 hour it automatically switches off to conserve battery life. I forgot to turn it off once and it tracked me all the way home in the car even though it was in the centre console with the lid shut so it must have been getting enough GPS signal diagonally through the windscreen plus the salellites were in good positions that day..
  2. kgwilson
    I am surprised that it can take 10 minutes to get a GPS fix on your SE2. It took quite a while to get a fix the first time I used mine after configuration as the setup instructions stated but since then no more that about 3 minutes even after it has not been used for more than a week
  3. kgwilson
    At 70-80 knots its aileron that is going to counter the left turn even with the 25 deg of flap. The rudder will just keep it balanced. If there is no rudder then there will be obvious yaw but speed must then deteriorate rapidly for that to turn in to a major control loss and that may have been due to the climb angle of attack and 25 deg of flap drag. Inexperience and the WTF factor will very easily get in the way of the basic function of dumping flap. I am sure this could happen to anyone no matter how experienced they are as well. As an example a few weeks ago when a Mooney pilot lost his engine on climb out at less than 1000 feet, a successfull wheels up landing was made. He said to me that in thousands of landings his final mneumonic was "green fine flap" for 3 greens wheels down, full fine pitch, and flap to landing configuration, but he didn't do that, nor did he switch the electric fuel pump on. He could not explain why. All he wanted to do was miss the houses and trees which he did successfully & that occupied his brain to the exclusion of everything else. I can't understand why those ingrained things failed him but they did and I am sure it could happen to any of us. I guess we only find out how we react when it happens to us for real.
  4. kgwilson
    He had 2 notches of flap (25 degrees) so this would have affected the performance of the 140. They are underpowered anyway (even the 160 HP Warrior is marginal IMO) so he needed to dump the flap which in a PA 28 with the manual flap takes all of 1 second. You don't need much rudder in a PA28 at any time so I don't think it is much of a factor. He reported being at 100 feet at 90mph (78 knots) so had plenty of speed at that point. Maximum recommended speed with 25 deg of flap in a 140 is 80mph or 69.5 knots so he had too much speed at that point for the flap deployed. There is no logic to the left bank other than the pilot going full power with 25 deg of flap & pulling the yoke back to gain height which wasn't going to happen with all that flap drag, getting close to stall and losing control. Sounds like some serious training inadequacies to me. Note that normal takeoff flap for a 140 is 0 degrees & 2 notches for short/soft field (which he'd most likely never encountered. That accident would never have happened if there was a properly trained normal pilot at the controls.
  5. kgwilson
    Now if the IFR traffic had ADSB in they would have seen R75** and ATS would not need to intervene. When ADSB out was mandated they should have also mandated In as well. OK additional cost but short sighted as it will be more expensive to instal it later.
  6. kgwilson
    And during the American civil war they had to close all the airports. It's true, Donald Trump said so.
  7. kgwilson
    Well it was in America.
  8. kgwilson
    I did my initial training at a controlled airport. There were about 4 international flights a day and 20 or so RPT. Helicopter training and instrument approach training plus the Aero Club with its 2 x 152, 3 x 172s, 2 x PA28-181s & a twin Comanche. There were 3 full time instructors (CFI + 2) & about 12 part time. Everything was easy as with ATC using binoculars, radio and the old ticket system. Then in the 90s a British Flight Training company called CTC arrived & built a dormitory, offices & hangars & eventually had 40 odd Diamond DA20s & 40s operating. The controllers were very busy at times but it all worked well but it did mean a lot more orbits at different times for sometimes several aircraft when a Saab, ATR, 737 or A32O was on the way. Everything worked and I can't remember any situations occurring. This is over the top for somewhere like Cowra but maybe there is a case for CA/GRS that has been in place at Ballina for a few years now. A tower is planned for Ballina so then the CA/GRS will disappear. It would mean improved safety and situational awareness but would add landing fees.
  9. kgwilson
    I can't believe that people seemingly think this whole issue is in any way reasonable. I don't know of anywhere else in the world where such archaic and contradictory rules exist. It is overdue by about 50 years that such stupid restrictions were removed for something that resembles common sense.
  10. kgwilson
    Uavionix at $1,070.00 inc GST & freight is the best price. Next best is Mendelssonn at $1,095.00 plus freight & then OzRunways at $1,195.00 inc freight.
  11. kgwilson
    I have a bubble canopy so the GPS reception is good but have had the unit fall off a couple of times when I put it on a place with a bit much curve. None of the bubble is perfectly flat but it will deal with a slight curve. In NZ the CAA won't allow them to be mounted with a suction cup. It is important to keep the cup clean & dust free and also the place you choose to put it. Don't moisten it or it won't hold.
  12. kgwilson
    The rebate scheme was supposed to close on 23/5/23 or when the funds allocated ran out but has now been extended to 30 June 2024 so there is plenty of time left and I assume there is still plenty of grant money left in the bucket. I'd guess that the Trig you have doesn't have ADSB enabled so the most effective & cheapest option is to get a Skyecho2. Current price from Uavionix is $1070.00 so with the 50% rebate it will cost you $535.00 and you can take it with you if you sell your aircraft. I saw a bunch of aircraft with ADSB out on my screen today. Most of these were GA training aircraft and they have ADSB Out only so they could not see me. Several were foreign students and understanding what they were doing is pretty difficult so it was good to see their position, what direction they were going and their altitude.
  13. kgwilson
    The Trig Transponder is mode S and should have ES capability but not all do. The ADSB module is separate and also has an external antenna. Cost to add and install the ADSB module for a certified aircraft is about 6k. That's what it cost a local Mooney pilot for his anyway. The transponder is a Trig TT31. These cost around $US3000.00 plus GST & installation.
  14. kgwilson
    A friend of mine who is a very skilled Mechanical Engineer made his own propellor copier. Simpler than that one but basically the exact same principle.
  15. kgwilson
    If your Trig does not have ES ADSB out then you can use both ADSB In & Out in the SE2. There are a number of reasons why you don't show up on FR24. One is that you are not transmitting 1090 ES ADSB Out so Mode S only. Another is that FR24 is filtering your transmission out. If you have a FR24 login & your Trig is transmitting 1090 ES ADSB Out you should be able to enable FR24 to see you via settings. Seeing you in FR24 will also depend on ground stations picking up the transmission.
  16. kgwilson
    Back in the 50s & 60s 160k was about the most you could expect from an engine. Now 300-400k is not uncommon before anything has to be done. My current Mitsubishi has just over 220k on the clock & nothing has had to be replaced. It just gets serviced every 15k. Of course fuel and lubricants are much better as is the engineering and metallurgy, not to mention much better roads.
  17. kgwilson
    Well those articles are pretty old 2009 & 2019 & the 400 lives saved is just a figure without any evidence. It is more likely that these were the 400th & 401st BRS deployments and the occupants didn't die but how many of those 400 could have made forced landings and lived? The Cirrus engine failure over water is a good example. The majority of water ditchings result in survival.
  18. kgwilson
    When my A3300 engine was new the instructions were to avoid prolonged ground running mainly due to reduced airflow & possible overheating. Of course testing required slow speed taxiing, the high speed taxiing etc. This gave me time to adjust things like idle speed etc. Of course first flight meant full power at takeoff and instructions were not to baby the engine and fly at normal to high cruise of 2850 -2950 RPM & obviously monitor Ts&Ps. This was to ensure rings were bedded in properly and avoid bore glazing. Well my engine has only done just uner 450 hours but leakdowns are excellent, I don't top oil up between changes & always use 98 premium ULP.
  19. kgwilson
    I always use full length of the seal but not the extra 200M of grass. Rolling resistance of the grass means you don't get off much quicker anyway especially when it hasn't been mown for a while. I all depends of the runway length and aircraft performance. At ChCh International with a fully loaded C172 I entered the runway after ATC approval & automatically turned down wind to taxi to the end & got told off straight away by ATC. It was about 1000 metres to the end & 2300 metres in to wind. Enough length to take off & land several times.
  20. kgwilson
    Well you live in the right country for Rotax spares.
  21. kgwilson
    Can you imagine the size of parachute to safely bring down an A380 with a MTOW of 560 tons. It would be so big there would be no room for passengers.😁
  22. kgwilson
    Issue resolved. The coil was the only fault & the new one fixed it. The runup miss was due to about 30-40 engine starts to find the fault & no normal temp or RPM engine running. As mentioned the shutdown mag check was good after the first flight. Next flight was good. Runup no miss on either mag & smooth operation throughout the rpm range plus seemingly more power now.
  23. kgwilson
    I tried the cold cylinder procedure as advised by an old LAME by starting the engine on Mag 2 & found cylinder 6 cold. I thought I'd found the problem but after replacing the plug that cylinder wasn't a problem but the miss was still there. This was when it began to get confusing. I think there is/was more than 1 problem. The new coil has solved one of the issues, now I have to find whether the other is the distributor or HT lead/s.
  24. kgwilson
    My Gen3 3300A started running rough between about 2800 & 2950RPM & then after returning from a day at Tenterfield Mag 2 (RH MAG as seen from pilot seat had at least 1 cylinder misfiring. First I swapped out all 6 plugs one at a time with spares I had (used but going perfectly when replaced. I've got 36 of them). No change. Then I borrowed a lead tester & checked all leads. All checked out as good. Next I removed the distributor & it looked perfect but gave it a good clean & used some contact cleaner. Next started the engine, shut down Mag 1 & removed each plug lead 1 at a time. There was a RPM drop on each cylinder. Next got a new (genuine Honda) Coil from Jabiru & replaced the original (Honda knockoff) coil but still the problem existed. Mag 2 on runup 2000rpm had at least 1 cyliner misfiring. I took off & full power all good & the rough running was less noticeable but still there & full power S&L was 130 knots indicated at about 3200 running smoothly. On shutdown the idle mag check was good on both 1 & 2. The next thing I can do is swap distributor caps to eliminate that. My current thoughts are that I have a faulty HT lead or maybe 2 even though they all checked out using an HT lead tester. Anyone had anything similar of have any other ideas?
  25. kgwilson
    This will be the 9th Wings and Wheels Open Day since its' inception back in 2013 and the first since 2021. Last yewar the Aerodrome was still a quagmire after the floods in February. It is free to all, no landing fees, plenty of food and lots of things to look at. There are Helicopter and Warbird flights on offer as well. RA-Aus has provided Show bags for the kids and there is only a 3 minute walk to the local servo for 91, 95 & 98 petrol. No Avgas though. Details are on our website HERE
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