kgwilson

The antenna is omnidirectional but the signal is line of sight so it needs a clear view forwards & sideways to provide good coverage & also needs a clear view of the sky for the GPS. Exerpt from the manual below. 7.1 Installation SkyEcho is a completely self-contained portable device with no required installation for external antenna, power source, or physical installation into the aircraft. Transmission and reception performance are affected by antenna placement within the aircraft and is subject to airframe shadowing. Best performance is achieved when the SkyEcho is placed vertically orientated on the aircraft window mounted with the suction cup mount in a forward or side facing window with clear line of sight visibility in the direction of travel and clear visibility to the sky for GPS reception.

There was a Navajo crash near Hamilton Airport in NZ back in the 90s. It ran out of fuel and killed the young pilot. The investigation found full tip tanks and the selector switched to an empty inner tank

A 180 was not an option. I'd descended through a hole in thickening cloud to find myself in a valley with all the tops of the hills in cloud. Up was the only option. The Archer 2 I was flying was fully IFR but I had no IFR training except the under the hood stuff. At the time it didn't seem a problem & I had 2 passengers with me & they trusted me emphatically. It was only later after returning from our destination later that I realised how lucky we'd been.

I flew deliberately into IMC once. There were valid reasons I won't elaborate on. The 5 hours "Under the Hood" training were invaluable. I set my heading & looked only at the panel saying to myself in my head "Believe the instruments" all the time. I popped out into bright sunshine at 9500 feet after an 8000 foot climb & then called CH-CH centre. It works but feels wrong.

You say Nothing a la Sgt Schultz from Hogans heroes. I have heard many stories of pilots informing the DAME/CASA about an issue that was but is no longer & tens of thousands of dollars later they are still awaiting a decision.

I only have one, a curtis type & I have had to replace the O-ring once so far after it started leaking about 1 drip every couple of minutes. I doesn't sound like much but that is 720 drips a day & 5040 drips a week. The stain on the floor & the smell as soon as I opened the door gave it away immediately.. The good thing is that to drain the tank you just have to push it up & twist it to lock & then let the fuel empty in to a container.

Well what if it's true?

In the UK there was a survey of pilots in July 2015 regarding medical requirements for a PPL. In April 2016 UK CAP 1397 was released & recommendaytions were adopted. They were PPL holders are required to self declare medical fitness once up to the age of 70 & every 3 years after that. Medical requirements were that the person was medically fit to drive a standard motor car. They found in 10 years of data only 20 of 151 fatalities may have had a medical factor but none were found to be the major contributing cause. The issues included hypoxia, fatigue, dehydration, alcohol & suidide as well. None of the 20 could conclusively be atributed to a medical issue which was only suspected. They looked at risk to those on the ground as well & found only 6 accidents in 10 years & there were no fatalities of 3rd parties. They looked at the risk of incapacitation in flight (siezure, heart attack, etc) where the pilot would be unaware of the issue prior to flight & found that the risk was 2 per year, up from 1 when pilots underwent full medicals & decided the risk was so low as to be insignificant. That's what it takes in a country of 68 million with massively more aircaft density to come up with a sensible regulation. Not so here though. Look at the RPL originally designed to allow ageing pilots to continue to fly without the need to hold a class 2 medical. It took 90 days to approve in NZ & here it took 10 years and is so complex it is not valid anywhere else in the world. Where does the responsibility and lack of action lie, clearly with CASA. Will things ever change? Never with such an ingrained rigid culture CASA has.

Just ensure the RA syllabus covers the appropritae aspects. Training is an area that needs a bit more scrutiny as it appears to vary by Instructor and whether they are flying at an uncontrolled aerodrome in Class G or in controlled airspace. Jabirus, Slings etc are completely different in flying characteristics, power and controls than Trikes, Drifters, Thrusters etc. Coffs is the same. Class G till 8am, then class C/D till 5pm. Training continues in RA registered aircraft all day. The instructor must have a PPL. The whole process is BS. In NZ where RA has always had access to CTR there used to be an RA CTR rating & that is no longer a requirement. Now all aircraft in CTR must have ADSB out as a minimum. The rules are a crock. At 4.59pm it is illegal for an RA aircraft/pilot to be in CTR at Coffs but at 5.01pm it is perfectly legal & RPT and all other operations continue seamlessly, just without a controller.

I'd say the market is pretty small so there is not enough demand for a side filling option. They also don't seem to have any competitors so that is reflected in the price. If somebody else made a teflon coated 50 micron gauze filter that worked the same, there'd be some competition & the price would drop. If there was a big enough market the Chinese would have been pumping them out before now. They do make a flexible extension hose for the F3 & F8 models available from Bunnings for an extra $13.50. I am surprised at how they have more than doubled in price in 8 years though.

At only 3km from Archerfield fuel starvation is a likely cause. One engine may have completely stopped & the other just sputtering with the last few drops of fuel producing virtually no power. We will find out in due course.

CASA created the bureaucracy and has stoked the fire ever since. Any of their proposals to simplify things have always ended up building an even bigger bureaucratic mess.

Nowhere near as bad as pumping tonnes of poisonous lead into the atmosphere from Avgas and I don't have to use herbicide to kill the weeds or spend time I don't have to spare pulling them out.

I've had mine since 2015. Never had a problem. Sits perfectly in all 3 tank filler openings. The sump has a purpose, that is why it is there. It is the recepticle for any dirt or water. It is a F8 model about 210mm in diameter with a flow rate of 19 L/min & is black which contains injected carbon to conduct static electricity. Cost about $35.00 when I bought it on Ebay in 2015. I was a bit sceptical so I put 100 ml of water in 5 litres of fuel & shook it up & put the fuel through the Mr Funnel into another container & got the 100 ml of water back. After refuelling I use what is left in the sump to kill the weeds by the hangar door. So far I have never seen any contaminants left after refuelling, though it is possible that there have been because after a few fills I stopped looking.

I have my own Mister funnel & take it with me when I go XC. Anyone who is concerned should do the same.

The most incredible long distance flights are by Bar Tailed Godwits that migrate annually from Alaska and Siberia to Australia & NZ. In 2020 a female Bar Tailed Godwit was tracked and flew from Alaska to NZ non stop covering a distance of 12,200km in just 9 days. They fatten up & double their body weight before they leave and are able to shrink their digestive organs & leg muscles to make more room for fat. By the time they arrive their wing feathers are completely trashed. We had a visit by Zoologist Milly Formby last Friday who is travelling around Australia on a tour educating school kids and others into the plight of Shorebirds of which the Godwit is one. She is flying an Airborme M4 Sport Trike right around the country. Details on the website https://wingthreads.com/

Yes 2 stroke should not be kept for long. Usually the 2 stroke oil has a green or blue dye in it. When mixed this will turn brown over time. When this happens the engine is likely to run hot & if it gets too hot the lubricating properties disappear and the engine may be damaged or sieze. This happened to one of our SES chainsaws over Covid when nothing was used. The next training session after 12 moths or more ended up with the saw not able to be restarted after that session. The Stihl shop found a hole in the piston, scored bore and ruined big end bearing. It was a throwaway. Replaced with a battery saw, problem solved.

More and more younger people are turning to social media for their news even though it may be inaccurate, sensationalist or completely false. I think this has been a major contributor to the rise in conspiracy theorists (Cookers). Almost everyone carries a smartphone and a large portion of the younger demographic are busting to get their 15 minutres of fame. In this case the student realises he's is OK and starts videoing everything, especially his injuries and the crash site while making sensationalist statements and uninformed opinions. Uploaded directly to social media and then he decides to help the instructor. No-one had seen the accident and they first found out when Instructor & student were walking back towards the flying school. I then assume the student rings 7 News & they get the video. The instructor is taken to hospital but the student still high on the adrenaline of his 15 minutes of fame drives himself to hospital. This is gold for 7 News and accuracy is not a consideration, the more sensationalist the better, hence the statements of "pools of blood" and "aircraft plumetted from 2000 feet" which we know is complete BS. The level of journalism has descended in to the abyss in the last few years because sensationalism sells.

Mine does't have all the buttons but has finger grips and a nice thumb rest with PTT on top. Easily made out of fibre glass resin.

98 ULP will go off within about 4 -5 weeks when stored in a vehicle fuel tank that is not full. The light components (aromatics) will evaporate off and result in slight lift in octane but will result in more difficult starting and overheating especially in high revving engines. BP conducted a study on this more than 10 years ago. BUT if 98 octane is stored in a full or nearly full container and well sealed it will last for many months. The aromatics will not be able to evaporate off and the fuel will age slowly. There is a simple solution to the problem of 98 octane fuel stored in a vehicle fuel tank that is nowhere near full. Simply put some fresh fuel in before trying to start the engine after more than 5 weeks. You do not need much. My main tank in my aircraft holds 100 litres. My personal minimum is 20 litres or approx 1 hours running and I always top up before the next flight with fresh fuel. If all I wanted to do was to rejuvenate the say 20 litres of 6 week old depleted fuel all I would need would be a couple of litres of fresh fuel. The more fuel in the tank the longer it will last as evaporation will be slower. If the fuel has been in the tank for 12 months then just increase the amount of fresh you put in after first ensuring the delivery system to carb/injector system etc is clean and the fuel still flows well. If there was 20 litres left in the tank I'd add at least 20 litres. If the vehicle is an aircraft though I'd drain the tank & put the fuel in my car.

The only good thing about Avgas is its supposed better quality control. Jabiru documentation still recommends Avgas I think for legal reasons. My Gen 3 engine while relatively low in total hours at just under 450 has always been run on automtive petrol, originally 95 but now exclsively 98 due to 95 becoming harder to get, except when away & then an avgas shandy till my next 98 fillup. Leakdowns still 78-80/80, oil stays fairly clean right up to change. No topups required between changes. Plugs never foul but are always black when removed, possibly due to the long taxi after landing and the borescope shows very clean heads, valve seats and piston tops. Engine runs as sweet as a nut and never needs adjustment. I maintain it myself to the Jabiru maintenance specification. I am not a fiddler. I don't think I have had to touch or adjust anything between maintenance schedules. I've got 48 old spark plugs that still look almost new. Only the colour of the insulator at the tip gives away that they are used.

RAF pilots used the walking method for combat ready training in WW2 and a lot of aerobatic pilots go through their routines on the ground as well.

Absolutely the right thing to do. You need to know where everyone is in the circuit & if you can't see them Ask. They should be reporting every leg if there are a number. I will also add No 3 behind the 172 if that's where I find myself. I don't care what anyone thinks, it's my life.

No engine ever made by man has all of the bugs ironed out. They all fail. Rotax engines have a reputation for reliability but they fail too, as do Continental, Lycoming etc. There are probably more Jabirus in flying schools around Australia than any other type. The number of hours they do far oustrips any thing in private ownership. Many make TBO but not that many are overhauled simply because it is less expensive to purchase a brand new one. There seems to be a a lot of Jabiru knockers in Australia while in other countries around the world they have a good reputation.

Our neighbours had one as a family car in the late 50s. It was the flashest car in the neighbourhood at the time. I thought it was pretty cool.