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sfGnome

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Everything posted by sfGnome

  1. sfGnome
    Efficiency. If you’re pulling 2A from your converter, then the old linear converter will be dissipating 14W as heat, whereas the switching regulator will dissipate in the order of 100mW. Note, though, that not all switching regulators generate high voltages. For high efficiency, they do have very sharp edges on the switching signals, but that’s easy to control with careful design (and a little bit of extra money).
  2. sfGnome
    Landing may be pretty easy, but I imagine that taking off on 11 would be a bit sphincter-tightening… 😝
  3. sfGnome

    What`s Happening???

    sfGnome replied to farri's topic in Drifter

    I like it! Be even better if the lens was a fraction wider angle, but that’s being picky. p.s. like the music. 😛
  4. sfGnome
    I used to work for a company that was developing a radical new product and was very secretive about what it was doing. When it was finally announce to the world, it was amusing (and a little frustrating) to see lots of on-line comments to the effect that it wasn’t possible and all the images and videos were ‘obviously’ fake… 🙄 p.s. I have to add that some people put lots of money into it, but while it was good, it wasn’t the raging success that they expected so none of them have made their money back, and they’re never likely too either. Such is the way of development. 🙁
  5. sfGnome
    If I may permitted a small thread drift here, I noticed that no one commented one way or the other about this. Is a draughty cabin common in the Sav, or can it be easily be made breeze-free?
  6. sfGnome
    As any (good) engineer will tell you, it’s easy to design something, but it’s hard to think of every stupid thing that a user will try to do with it! Testing that the design works as intended is the easy bit; testing that it still works when used incorrectly takes much longer. Yes, the pilot should have tested free and full movement, but the designer had a responsibility to design for the case where the controls were left locked.
  7. sfGnome
    Your two crowns will be helping to pay for the S21… 😛
  8. sfGnome
    Yes, you’re right. The iPads without the capability to take a SIM are not adequate for running ozRunways, etc., but you don’t need to actually put a SIM in them. We used to use an iPad mini, and I never felt the need for anything bigger. I also uploaded all our checklists as PDFs into ozR as documents so that they were only a couple of taps away at all stages of flight.
  9. sfGnome
    …or you hotspot it off your phone. Saves paying for two SIM plans
  10. sfGnome
    This is an interesting thread. I’ve learned a number of things that I otherwise wouldn’t have, but at times have thought of ignoring it because it was getting rather heated. I’m glad I didn’t, but I do hope that now the rancour can be left behind because the substance was well worth the effort, even if the delivery left something to be desired on occasions. 🙂 Let’s keep talking, but gently.
  11. sfGnome
    They help you to know/remember when is last light, but until you’ve discovered for yourself just how dark last light is, all the reminders in the world won’t help. A number of years ago, I took a few friends for short joy rides out of Mount Beauty late in the afternoon. By calculation, I was fine for the last run to finish before last light, but it gets really dark, really quickly down there between all the mountains. That was a very uncomfortable landing, and one that I’m not going to repeat any time soon.
  12. sfGnome
    But, have you ever been inside one? It makes a Jab feel spacious. Disclaimer: the one I’ve been in was not in a flying state. Still, in my dreams… 😍
  13. sfGnome
    Mark, are you talking about factory and amateur built, or only factory? The Sling agent told me that as a home-built, it will be able to be registered as group G despite being limited to 600kg for the factory built (LSA) versions.
  14. sfGnome
    Sorry, I think that was a poor paraphrase on my part. I was meaning that the autonomous car is expected to handle any craziness around it without ever resulting in any accidents.
  15. sfGnome
    My favourite example of that was the Avro Vulcan (a beautiful looking aircraft). It was designed to fly high and (relatively) slow, on the basis that it was too high to be shot down. Then, not long after it was introduced, Gary Power’s U2 was shot down over the USSR, and the Vulcan became obsolete overnight. The only service it ever saw was one bombing run on the Falklands/Malvinas.
  16. sfGnome
    Elon Musk made an interesting comment regarding full automation in motor vehicles. Paraphrasing, he said that getting self drive cars up to the same standard as human drivers was setting the bar very low. Everyone expects other drivers to make mistakes, but fully automated ones are expected to never do so.
  17. sfGnome
    Pretty spectacular scenery, but, geez, you wouldn’t want the engine to go quiet on you… 😳
  18. sfGnome
    Apologies if this question has already been discussed in the past, but how much do people set aside for painting (both do it yourself or commercially done)? I’m not talking anything fancy; even plain white, no stripes. I noticed on a kit supplier’s page an estimate of USD20k for a plain job in a local car shop. Is that fair dinkum?
  19. sfGnome
    Aeropup.com lists Rollo McKinley in Gympie as a distributor. I’m assuming that’s up to date.
  20. sfGnome
    I’m confused. The Zenith website gives the MTOW for the 750 (& the 650 for that matter) as 1320lbs (600kg). Is there something that I’m missing.
  21. sfGnome
    Along these lines, are there any kits that a) have an mtow that can utilise the newly available weight limits (the beloved hated the limited luggage we could take when travelling under the 600kg regime), and b) are reasonably completely specified (I don’t want to be flying something that is built based on my guesswork). The RV12 satisfies the second point but not the first, while lots of kits (based on questions I see asked) appear to fail the second. Apologies in advance for the possible thread drift, but I’d really appreciate it if you could think of those points when answering the original post. 🙂
  22. sfGnome
    I’m amused (call me shallow) by a couple of waypoints near Alamosa - “Bloke” & “Aches”. I can identify with that… 🙄
  23. sfGnome
    We had* an iPad mini mounted on a Ram arm mounted in the centre of the panel. It didn’t get any airflow from the side vents and it was under a bubble canopy, but we never had any issues with overheating. * sadly now in the past tense… 😔
  24. sfGnome
    I was fortunate to have a good instructor from the beginning. Everything was always calm and well explained (although during one rather tentative landing approach, I will admit that he yelled “will you fly the f***ing plane!” 🙂). It wasn’t until I had to fly with some other instructors (BFRs, hiring at other airstrips, etc) that I discovered just how fortunate I had been. Some people will respond well to the drill sergeant type, others (myself included) won’t. It’s your money and your time. If you’re not comfortable, go find somewhere where you will be.
  25. sfGnome
    Awesome!
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