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kgwilson

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Everything posted by kgwilson

  1. kgwilson
    The Journo just copied Mark Twains historic quote but like most Journos didn't do the research & got the quote wrong.
  2. kgwilson
    So what carburettor is used on new Jabirus instead of the Bing type 94 on the 3300A engine?
  3. kgwilson
    Do you mean the most recent or they aren't building them any more?
  4. kgwilson
    Most are inherently unstable by design and need to be computer controlled to keep them in the air. This instability does allow for some pretty radical manoeuvres though.
  5. kgwilson
    From the initial description of the faults with the Jabiru LSA-55 it sounds like prior maintenance had been lacking. Delaminating wooden props has been an issue for many years but there are usually signs which should be picked up during inspections & if any of the sheathing is missing it should be grounded immediately. The imbalance will eventually shake the thing to bits under power. The LSA-55 was Jabirus first aircraft beginning production in 1991 originally with a KFM 60 HP engine.
  6. kgwilson
    They should have kept the Harriers. The F35 is overly complex and the computer systems have far too many opportunities to develop in to a runaway state when a sensor detects something that it interprets as an issue, though it really isn't and that starts a chain reaction of fixes that ultimately lead to ever worsening changes. The pilot had no control at all after that touchdown which wasn't hard at all & the only control he could now use was the ejection system. He probably thought the thing was going to continue to go berserk even though it was almost stopped by the time he ejected. He landed harder than the aircraft.
  7. kgwilson
    The only problem here is CASA. Almost everywhere else self declaration of medical health is now OK. Numerous people including directors of CASA have tried in vain to modify the culture but no-one has succeeded. Now we have a career public servant as director so there is no hope there. Flying in CTR should be afforded to every pilot no matter what they fly. Crikey I could fly in CTR in my Hang Glider in 1978 across the ditch so long as I rang the tower first (no mobiles or radios then). The bureaucratic processes are the most complex and daunting in the world and even CASA employees get confused when trying to explain stuff to you. Maybe we have to wait for all the current bureaucrats to retire or die before anything will change, but even then they will indoctrinate a new younger batch in the same old stuff. One ex CASA employee said some time ago to one of my friends that if all aircraft stopped flying it wouldn't matter as they would still have heaps of work creating documents hundreds of pages long and making sure that everything was cross referenced to thousands of other documents that in turn would require updating to comply with new legislation or modifications to exiting legislation and everything would have to be put out for consultation and review with months and years passing with nothing ever being done.
  8. kgwilson
    The main reason for filing a flight plan is to make sure you will not be turned away if you need to transit CTR or land there. Mostly all I did was call in a Sarwatch by phone (landline in those days) or via radio while in the air. I got refused CTR entry on a few occasions due to weather or traffic & sometimes got asked to go over the top. It was always interesting looking down from 9500" & watching 747s & everything smaller landing & taking off underneath.
  9. kgwilson
    So how can RA pilots in NZ fly into controlled class C & D airspace then? They do need ADSB out as a minimum now and presumably still a transponder but the old requirement of a CTR endorsement has been scrapped. Sounds perfectly logical to me. The only difference here is the rego system. All RA & GA aircraft in NZ are on the same ZK register.
  10. kgwilson
    It doesn't matter what the engine is, there are a number of issues that could have caused the prop to detach including maintenance. It could have been a failure of some part of the hub or a blade leading to a chain reaction. Every mechanical device can fail. Nothing is immune.
  11. kgwilson
    Have a look at the NASA study from 1981 available on the web. It is NASA_CR3405 and has a long title "An Experimental Investigation of the Aerodynamics and Cooling of a Horizontally-Opposed Aircraft Engine Installation". I found it invaluable when designing the airflow system for my engine. Conventional wisdom states that the outflow should be a minimum of 3 times the area of the intake and for effective cooling this is the minimum. In at the top and directed by the plenum design to cool the heads evenly with barrels next and some airflow over the whole engine block and then sucked out at the bottom is the normal process. I also installed an oversize 7 row Positech oil cooler at the bottom of the firewall with its own NACA cool air intake duct and air exhaust. I also created a lip on the bottom of the cowl across the entire width of the airframe which is over 1 metre at that point to generate suction. My engine never runs hot even on 38-40 degree days. If the engine has water cooled heads as is the 912 a lot of the issues disappear.
  12. kgwilson
    I know that. It is just that the system is total BS for reasons I cannot fathom other than it being a power thing. As I mentioned in an earlier post the NZ CAA were and are very pragmatic and have been since I got involved in getting Hang Gliding accepted in the 1970s with clearance to 9500 feet & access to CTR with prior permission from the local tower. This was in 1978 & recreational aircraft were just accepted and welcomed in to the fold as another class of aircraft as technology and materials allowed them to exist.
  13. kgwilson
    Coffs coastal is also pretty good most of the time & ASA allow RA through even though technically illegal. I know a couple of controllers there which probably helps as well. I have a PPL & they know that but I am illegal as I don't have a current class 2 medical. It is all so much BS & they are happy to let you go through especially if you ring the tower & ask. They will almost always OK it if there is no RPT due at the time. ASA are largely responsible for the last fatality on 20/9/19 when they refused entry to a Mooney that wanted to go through Class D. It was early morning (before 8am) & there was a trainee controller on being supervised from Brisbane. They were offered seaward transit but did not want to change course so had to stay in class G & flew into a mountain. Father & son killed. I was in the air on the way to Airventure at Parkes at the time & it was 8/8 cloud below 5000.
  14. kgwilson
    Enroute Flight Navigation from Google Play. Created by some German Aviation students. Has constant upgrades & updates. It is simple without lots of fancy features you don't really need. Try it. Doesn't cost anything & has a good manual as well.
  15. kgwilson
    I have a problem with rough running that has developed recently between 2800 & 3000 rpm. Perfect below that & perfect above to full power (3300rpm). I am only 5 hours away from the next service so will check all the settings then to make sure they are all at the recommended settings and of course there are no leaks or crud there.
  16. kgwilson
    One simple reason. A head in the sand controlling attitude from CASA. If that ever changes GA could throw away their transponders & get ADSB in/out installed with Airservices having enough ground stations to ensure coverage, something they don't have with the existing radar & transponders 5000' and below. Good move by CAA NZ effectively making GA transponders redundant.
  17. kgwilson
    ATC can see all ADSB devices transmitting within range of their receiver even low powered electronic conspicuity devices like the SE2, they just cannot interrogate them as they can with a transponder. The aircraft type and Rego are displayed. For RA aircraft it is R1234. The R meaning recreational and the numerics the last 4 digits of the aircrafts registration number. So they don't need to interrogate ADSB equipped aircraft The reason they interrogate transponders is to establish the registration number which they do by radio providing a squawk code if one has not already been allocated, key that in to the computer against the allocated code then they can follow the aircraft on the radar screen. With ADSB this information is already there so they don't need to interrogate the device, just communicate by radio. ADSB makes transponders largely redundant though the radar & transponder have a much larger range. The thing is there are thousands of ground ADSB receivers owned by enthusiasts that provide data to Flight Radar 24 and Flight Aware. Most use a cheap Raspberry Pi processor. Air Services also has official ground stations . I can check my flights in FR24 any time I like as I am usually within range of a ground station somewhere that is updating FR24 all the time..
  18. kgwilson
    I cannot work out what the issues are. I was flying in controlled airspace as a PPL with RA pilots & aircraft in NZ in the early 2000s. The only requirements were that the RA aircraft had to be fitted with a transponder and the RA pilot had to have a CTR endorsement. The RA guys used to fly in to Hamilton Airport which has international traffic and a lot or RPT as well as lots of flight training happening (CTC an English FTF had 40 Diamonds + the club students) quite a bit to get Avgas from the club bowser. I didn't know they were RA most of the time as all aircraft over there are on the same ZK register. The procrastination & lack of good valid reason for CASA's delay beggars belief.
  19. kgwilson
    It is not a Rotax issue, it is how the Bing carburettor and its enrichment function for cold starting works. My J3300 has a type 94. The 912 uses type 64. Both are Constant velocity or sometimes described as Constant depression and both have a starting carburettor on the side of the main housing requiring the main carburettor to be set at idle to allow the appropriate rich mixture from the starting carburettors own jet. Once the engine is running it will continue to idle using the starting carburettor fuel supply until the main throttle is opened allowing fuel mixture in and the starting carburettor is shut off when the choke is closed and fuel is prevented from entering the engine via the starting carburettor jet.
  20. kgwilson
    The ADSB receiver in the SE2 sends the aircraft data including height AMSL and its current location to the connected display software on the moving map. The moving map therefore displays the direction of travel and can then estimate current speed and determine if there is a possible conflict. As I have mentioned the free software I have been using on my phone & tablet shows the ADSB data (rego, Height) from the aircraft in range (up to 40NM away) in green when it determines from its calculations there is no conflict and yellow when there is possible conflict and an alarm in red when there is probable conflict.
  21. kgwilson
    There is definitely no latency with my SE2. I have had it operating with Enroute Flight Planning & watched ADSB out equipped GA aircraft land & takeoff at our aerodrome with the details showing on the screen within a second or 2.
  22. kgwilson
    Must be a lightweight polystyrene crapper but it does look the part.
  23. kgwilson
    Chokes should all work like that IMO. Mine does & I have a Bing carb so the choke return spring must be too strong or there is insufficient friction in the choke cable, probably a bit of both.
  24. kgwilson
    Correct and the engine won't start if there is any more than a crack of throttle. Part of the cold start procedure is to make sure the throttle is fully closed. The choke stays where it is put on my Bing.
  25. kgwilson
    This may be your perspective but most of the experts have said he could not see the B17 during that turn. While it looks as though he should be able to see it from the video clip, there is a fair amount of elevator required to keep the aircraft from losing altitude during the turn so while it appears to be losing altitude it is not and the nose is high (as is the RH wing), the window frames are thick so these are all factors obscuring the B17 from view from the pilots seat. At the time of impact the P36 had 226 knots of ground speed.
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