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sfGnome

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Everything posted by sfGnome

  1. sfGnome
    I used to use the foldable ones (no longer have them, sold with our plane). Never took them up when loaded, but really handy for getting fuel when away from home as they take diddly-squat space in the luggage area when empty. However, do check that you’ve tightened the cap properly before carrying them (full) I someone else’s car! I think my daughter has forgiven me… 🫣
  2. sfGnome
    Only time I’ve flown into Milawa (long time ago, so may have changed), I had to get written permission in advance.
  3. sfGnome
    Double post
  4. sfGnome
    Frank and Thruster’s posts struck a chord with me, and could possibly be summarised as: Things that I think will kill me Midair collision Structural failure Engine failure Things that will actually kill me Unintentional stall Flight into cloud Low flight/hooning
  5. sfGnome
    Don’t know if this helps (as it refers to a different headset), but my Lightspeed headset has a physical microphone volume preset control built in (somewhere, hidden under a little cover that I could tell you about if I looked up the manual again… 😛)
  6. sfGnome
    I can identify. 🫤 Just as I’m really enjoying building (every day!), one son wants me to build an office in his garage (new progeny means he’s running out of room in his quite small house), and daughter wants a fairly complicated new interior for one of her built-in cupboards. Happy to do them, but it’s really hard to get started on them when the shed is calling…
  7. sfGnome
    If you’ve watched a kid who’s been struggling to keep up in life suddenly be able to function after starting medication, you may not be so dismissive of either the diagnosis nor the treatment. No, it doesn’t need to be a ‘forever’ drug, nor does it turn her/him into a zombie. If you’ve experienced it, you’ll understand. If you haven’t, then please ignore all the mindless crap you read in the media and socials. 🙂
  8. sfGnome
    That’s the trick though. I am (was?) a software engineer, and if the marketing types/customers could actually define what they really wanted instead of complaining when we couldn’t interpret their vague handwaving, then life would’ve been so much easier. However, given that 99% of software engineering comprises just regurgitating, the same patterns over and over, I think AI will do a pretty good job.
  9. sfGnome
    I’m staggered that ATC could see it. They aren’t big. I was driving (not flying ☹️) on a fast winding road down on the Monaro (the locality, not the car) and came across an echidna waddling across the road. I pulled over and went back to it, whereupon the idiot marsupial rolled up in a ball right in the middle of the aforementioned thoroughfare. I ended up rolling it gently over to the side with my shoe (thus being missed by a burst of traffic that came through), at which point the animal displayed its supreme intelligence by waddling to a small clump of grass into which it stuck its head. Body completely exposed, but apparently working on the basis that if it couldn’t see me, then I couldn’t see it… 🙄🫣😁
  10. sfGnome
    Reminds me of when the (then) new Brisbane airport was nearing completion. They’d installed a newfangled fibre-optic system for all the control/data/speech/etc from the British parent company of the company I worked for, and it didn’t work. Despite us Aussies having nothing to do with the system or its installation, it was cheaper to send me up there than to bring someone out from head office. Thankfully, it was a 5 minute fix (the installation technicians thought they knew better than the engineers who wrote the manual - they didn’t 🙄), but it mean that I spent the next few hours getting a guided tour of the as-yet-unopened airport, including driving at high speed down the middle of the runway which seemed to go forever. For a young bloke who always looked up whenever a plane flew over, it was heaven.
  11. sfGnome
    Looks like a bought one*! 😁 * as the leading hand used to say when I was an apprentice…
  12. sfGnome
    The bloke I learned from swore blue blind that Mr Sheen was the go for aircraft windscreens. Used it for years and it seem to work well.
  13. sfGnome
    Oh, it gets better. The manual does make a big deal that the 2.5mm rivets that hold the captive nuts in place must be countersunk, but neglects to note that two other nearby rivets also must be. If you haven’t looked many chapters ahead to find what mounts against that area, then you’ll be drilling those rivets out again one day. I caught this one, but how many of those kind of things am I going to miss? Lucky I’m not a fast worker… 😛
  14. sfGnome
    Thanks. The Ventura manual (a paragon of brevity), just says "Install the rear top skin UV026 and then the nose skin UV002". That's it. No mention of the rivnuts or countersinking or any such useful advice. In fact, you have to look forward to the much later chapter where the tail is attached to the fuselage to see a picture where it is clear that there must be rivnuts... 🙄
  15. sfGnome
    OK, a question for the Sav/Ventura builders out there (the aspect I'm about to query is the same for both builds as far as I can see). On the side of the fin is an access panel, held in place by rivnuts. Between the rivnuts are standard rivets (ie rivnut, rivet, rivnut, rivet, etc). Now, as these all sit proud of the tail skin, this means that the access panel will likewise be sitting away from the tail by a mm or so. What's more, as the rivnuts are slightly thinner than the rivets, this means that the panel will scallop as it passes over the rivets. Is this a problem, or am I just worrying too much? Should I use c'sunk rivets under the access panel, or is it ok as it (appears to be) designed?
  16. sfGnome
    I was part of a syndicate for a number of years. I’ll say up front, the most important aspect of choosing syndicate partners is to make sure that they are easy going people who aren’t afraid of spending money - the kind of people who say “you want it today? That’s ok. I’ll go tomorrow”, and “we need a new farnarkle for the sprugleplatz? Sure, how much do we need to add to the kitty?”. I was very lucky to find partners just like that. As for organisation, we set up a Pty Ltd company that owned and registered the aircraft, with the 3 of us as directors (one of had to be specified as the maintenance manager). Primarily, that was to provide some legal protection for us, as in the case of one of us causing some major mishap, the aggrieved party could come after the company and its insurance policy, but not after the rest of us personally. From memory, it cost about $500 to set up the company, and the only overhead was that one of us (me) had to be the company secretary and file a report to ASIC once a year, and we had to have a ‘board meeting’ (ie I sent an email to the other two) where we agreed that we were not trading insolvent. Send me a message if you want more details. It was 10-15 years ago, but I probably still have some records that I can dig up.
  17. sfGnome
    Enjoy the restart. It’s a bit like riding a bicycle, you don’t forget the basics. However, it isn’t a case of just hop in and go. I was amazed at how much relearning I had to do. Worth every minute though.
  18. sfGnome
    Wow! You’re roaring ahead. From what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think anything in the manual is going to surprise me. Today I even took to zooming in on photos of Venturas to try and understand one particular part. As for why my progress is a little on the slow side, this might explain it. 🫤 Thankfully, I finally lost the sling yesterday, so things should be a little easier from now on.
  19. sfGnome
    Well, I passed a major milestone today. Yep, I’ve drilled out my first rivets (not including my practice rivet removal). 😊 Tip to self. When the manual says “put all these parts together”, check the order you’re doing it in so that you don’t make some rivets inaccessible to the gun.
  20. sfGnome
    Thanks. Yeah, I thought $110 was a bit much for the paint buddy. 🙄 I’ll try various things from Temu.
  21. sfGnome
    Okay, question for the ‘black gunk’ brains trust. I know that the Paint Buddy has been suggested for applying it, but it appears that it’s no longer in production and I couldn’t find anything similar. My attempts thus far have not been particularly successful. A paintbrush leaves lots of streaks. A roller leaves a mottled surface. A paint pad gives a better finish but can’t get into corners (and still leaves some streaks). Given that you’re painting both mating surfaces, is the level of streaks shown in the photo okay, or does it need to be better? I’m thinking of trying an airbrush, but I don’t know whether the paint will be too thick. Thoughts? p.s. How do you insert a photo in the body rather then having it as an uploaded file that people need to open separately? Pasting doesn’t appear to work for me from an iPad. IMG_3817.HEIC
  22. sfGnome
    I feel your pain. Coming back to flying in a different plane with a different instructor at a different airfield was quite overwhelming and it took me some time to feel comfortable again. Actually, I still don’t feel comfortable, but it’s getting better. When you’ve got your own plane flying, you’ll be able to fly so much more often that the comfort will return.
  23. sfGnome
    One of the things I noticed while spending a few hours with an instructor getting my flying restarted (sadly, currently on hold while I recover from an operation on my dominant arm ☹️), was that I should spend more time on the turn to final looking for incoming traffic than the location of the airstrip. I’ve always been totally focused on lining up the airstrip at that point, but I can now see what he was talking about. It’s the other aircraft that you don’t know are there that are the major concern.
  24. sfGnome
    I got as far as the part where he had to run in with the EAA manager and figured that this is just another case of somebody getting their nose out of joint and now he hates EAA and airventure and everything else because somebody told him he couldn’t do what he wanted. I wonder how he’d go organising something this big?
  25. sfGnome
    I’d love to know what strengthening and wear protection is built into the wing tips. It reminded me of the stupid things we used to do on push bikes when we were kids and thought we were bulletproof. It’d be so much fun if only there wasn’t the ever-present possibility of a very sharp stop.
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