Mountain Flyer

Dad was Greek, Mum was Chinese, Daughter was Australian/Greek/Chinese. Happy Aussie family having a go. When Dad cooked my Greek food it was great. So also was their Greek shortbread, Baklava and Aussie brownie slice. Had a great time at Parkes. Pity about the dust storm.

Hey Kevin and Sandman. Same problem with the tacho for the 582 in my Lightwing. Good at low revs but no good at high revs. I am wondering if anyone has a more detailed fix such as resistor size etc. As I recall, mine was OK for a few hours when installed then fell over. Pete

Hi Doug, no unfortunately I only have most of the aeroplane parts and the log book for 324. I have no photos. One of the owners was most meticulous in his record keeping and obviously took his responsibilities quite seriously as I hope we all do. I was hoping that a reader of the forums may have come across it at some time in the past and may have been able to put me on the track of a previous owner one of which may have some photos. Thanks for maintaining an interest in all things Lightwing, especially the early aircraft of which we both have great examples (yours 32 and mine 81) . 81 first flew feb 1987 even though it was LW 005. I know the guys at the Sydney Ultralight Club, now the Sydney Recreational Flying Club (SRFC) put a mighty effort into getting it airborne as soon as they had the kit from Howie. It is early stories such as this that I would like to gather for 324 also as I am sure that it also has many tales, especially as so much of its life was around central and Western Queensland. Pete

Hi all. Whilst I am the proud owner of '81, (LW1 - 005) I also have in my shed, 25-324 which I bought in pieces about 9 years ago and unfortunately remains in pieces. It had suffered some damage in an incident, the details of which I do not know. It's fuselage has been straightened out very well but one wing was totalled, just a mushed up piece of aluminimum and fabric. The other wing remains almost perfect. Of course I have dreams of it flying again but in the meantime I was wondering whether anyone had crossed its path in the past. It is white with burgundy coloured stripes. It was powered by a 582. It spent a lot of time in Central Queensland back in the 90s. It has about 1400 hours on it from that time. It's logbook shows it to have been owned and used by a stock and station agent or someone similar. I won't name its previous owner as I am not sure of the protocols about putting people's names here without their permission. If, however anyone knows anything of its flying story or has photos it would be great to add them to the Lightwing story and I would love to see them. Pete

Thank you both for the welcome. Yes, 81 has had various shades of yellow and still is yellow. There are lots of pictures of it including one on the ALW database. Yes, it has had a few out landings, most of them engine related. Having been a training aircraft for so many hours it has lots of stories to tell but others know it's history better than me. No, not at Katoomba. Home is midway between Bathurst and Lithgow. Strip is at 1000 metres and house at 1080 metres. Pete

I thought it about time to post a thread here. I have a common enough story - watched planes overhead when a little fella, dad took me to the airport occasionally to watch planes take off and land when I pestered him enough, started my GA training at about 22 then kids. Continued on to RPPL at Bundy when I was about 25 in Sierra Charlie Uniform, a Cessna 172. After that of course, more kids, mortgage, schooling, one income family until my last child was about 17. After that, about 9 years ago, I started buying Pacific Flyer and bought a Lightwing GR582 25 0324 in pieces as a project. First big commitment. 2 years later, still in pieces and as I wanted to fly I went down to see the guys at the Sydney Recreational Flying Club on a socked in, drizzly Saturday. Pylon 500 took me taxying first then with a break in the clouds we went for a fly over the training area down around Picton. I bought Old 81 off the club that day which had been the club trainer since 1987. Rego 25-0081, Lightwing LW1, airframe number 5 and first flew in February 1987. Now over 4800 hours on it. It flies beautifully. After lots of visits to The Oaks I finally passed my Pilot Certificate. One thing and another then happened and I have only just recently passed and received my cross country endorsement. I want to thank Greg, Joe, Arthur and all the people associated with the SRFC for keeping me inspired and hanging in. It is guys like these, all over the country that help the rest of us keep the dream alive. Hopefully 81 will be coming home soon to my place in the Mountains. Still only 55 minutes from The Oaks via the highway or 40 minutes over tiger country. I look forward to getting around a bit more very soon.