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Planechaser

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  1. Planechaser
    Good choice on the fuel Alan. Most of the dirt bike fellas that I talk to say steer clear of Shell 98( Vortex?) as it is the worst, and BP Ultimate is the best. All the rest are in between. Motorbikes seem to be the best judge of fuel quality, I guess because of the power to weight ratio. If the fuel is bad, you really know about it!
  2. Planechaser
    They sort of look like strobes that don't strobe....... Bizzare! But certainly visible.
  3. Planechaser
    I think the single seat "Sky Scout" used the model T motor because it made it somewhat cheaper than the Air Camper. Interesting stuff: Model A Model T H.P. 40 20 Capacity 3.3Lt 2.9Lt Couldn't find bare engine weight.
  4. Planechaser
    Looking for livestock from the air poses the same problems; If the engine noise doesn't get them moving, they can be all but invisible, and sometimes you will find that you have flown over quite large mobs two or three times(or hours!!) before their nerve breake and they move, or you get lucky and spot them from a different angle. Doing passes at different hights helps, but is hardly applicable to object avoidence in general flying. Head on a swivel however, is, because you are always moving in relation to the object, even if it isn't, so every time you look over the spot where the invisible sheep( or plane!) is hiding, the angle is different. Interestingly, the scan-and-stop-and-scan-again thing is also the most efective way to serch for something through binoculars. Must be something in the way our eyes interface with our brains.
  5. Planechaser
    I am thinking it is because there are so many out there. The same event can get reported multiple times because everyone knows someone with a Jab, they just can't remember the blokes name!! I got the feeling that they were much less complicated and easier to work on that the Rotax,( and cheaper?) but the trade off was shock cooling/heating issues with valve gear and head bolts/gaskets. IF this is the case, in my mind, TBO becomes not so much about service regiems(sp?) as how you treat the engine in flight. Much like our cars and motorbikes used to be. My flight instructor( "Old" Jack Funnel, for those who knew him) was picky to the point of fanaticism about throttle and mixture control in flight. He did not mind "poping the rivits" to demonstrate something to you, but I never saw him treat the engine with anything short of full respect and reverance in the 50 hrs I did with him. Ham fisted with the aircraft he would forgive; ham fisted with the motor was something else entirly!! Appologies Anthony for taking the topic elswhere.
  6. Planechaser
    I wonder how many people held this view about General Aviation back in the days when the Army couldn't use aircraft because they " might scare the horses." ...? The majority, I would think.
  7. Planechaser
    Don't know what to be more interested in this weekend, The Diamond Demo flight in a DA42 from Alice to Sydney running on JetA1 that got 18L/Hr per engine, or the students that are developing an electric plane based on a Cessna 162. I know the Diamond pilot would have been nursing it, but 36L/Hr over that distance is impressive in anyones language for a plane that size. However, a 450kg MTOW, 80 horsepower electric plane with a two hour range, and scope for four hours range with in the LSA MTOW rules is quite a development. Now they just have to get it off the page and into the sky!!
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  8. Planechaser
    Yes, caught me out Chrism. You are right. The L apparently has an airframe rating of 510kgs, and the LS of 650kgs. Of course this would not make them legaly loaded as far as CASA/Ra-Aus is concerned, so insurance is out the window, and even if something wasn't you fault, it will be. (Like drunk driving)
  9. Planechaser
    Spot on Hill, The only real reason you would go for the LS is the heavier undercarage. If you had no need of that then the L would be fine, (and $10k cheaper new, and available second hand!!).
  10. Planechaser
    Well, the jury is back; flew to Jamestown and back today for some pump parts. Let the ponys run at 5200 RPM all the way there and back. Used 24.4 Lt/h. Yikes!! Flying at my usual 4800/4920 around the place, I use 19Lt/h. No wondere it's called economy cruise!! 5Lt/h doesn't sound like much, but when you are doing 35hrs a month it starts to add up. I don't know if it's worth the extra 6 kts........
  11. Planechaser
    Bones, 128NM @ 5100RPM So going on that, I'm probably right where I need to be with my prop, torque-wise. Quick buzz around the waters this morning with a pax, flat stick at 5160 RPM and 95 kts on the straight. Probably means 97 kts solo; plenty for me.( Plane suffering from bug factor at the moment also!!) My fault for pussy footing around at 4800/4920 RPM!! The RPM figures look a little strange because I have MGL digital instruments and the RPM goes in jumps of 120RPM, for reasone unknown to me. This means that 5160 could be 5200 I am guessing, because it won't read 5280 untill it gets the high side of 5220. That sentence looks confusing, but I'm sure it makes sence!! BTW, MGL instruments are the Ducks nuts, IMHO. http://www.rotaxservice.com/rotax_engines/rotax_912ULSs.htm
  12. Planechaser
    Hi Alf, It will rev out to 5240, which is better, but still not 5500. I would be happy with 5400 in straight and level. I just need to get onto Silverwing and get the prop pitch range so I am not stumbling around in the dark, and then twist it around a bit. I usually cruse around 4900- 5000 rpm, mainly because it uses around 20lph at that power setting and it makes the sums easy!
  13. Planechaser
    Another very good read is Halfway to Heaven by Fred Hoinville. My copy is well worn!
  14. Planechaser
    Boriak sets the nose on a vertical upline. I float in the cockpit as he slams the stick to the right and we begin twisting up through the sky. As the plane teeters on the edge of a stall, Boriak taps us over into a dive and we are screaming earthward again. Twenty-one thousand feet per minute. Straight down. After reading this, I decided the exact opposite! Perhaps I am missing a vital piece upstairs...........
  15. Planechaser
    One thing about building something from scratch, it's like your kids, you just have to love it, because it's yours! I find the same thing with doing all the maintenance. The more I do, the more I get to know it inside out, the more I forgive the short commings and play to the strengths. Human and rational in the same sentence is an oxymoron!! Well, men and rational, when it comes to machinery.
  16. Planechaser
    If you enjoy being an idiot, and someone( ahem, Redbull!) will pay you to do it, more power to you I guess; Just don't bust up anyone else in the process of meeting your maker!
  17. Planechaser
  18. Planechaser

    Turbine 701

    Planechaser posted a topic in Zenith

    Does anyone know anything more about the 701 on youtube powered by a Garrett JFS 100-13A turobshaft engine. That puts the E back in Experimental, or perhaps the mental!! Don't know the benifits over a conventional engine but what a sound!
  19. Planechaser
    Is it bad that I have devoured my download watching those two clips??!! Can not get enough. My 4 year old girl is calling herself "BatCat"(!), sticking her arms out, and flying around the room trying to 'Hit balloons"!! Looks like the bug has bitten her early....... The second link is the Table Mountain hit. Hard to see but after the other footage you get the idea. Apparently, he stuck his feet, spun out about 30 meters, got himself right(!!), depolyed his shute and was lifted out with multiple leg fractures. What else can you say??
  20. Planechaser
    Hi eighty I did a lot of comparisons on and off line and quite a bit of agonising before I settled on the Foxbat. It all started out when I discovered the Zenith 701 and thought how much better( and cheaper!) it would be compared with the 172's I had been using for mustering/spotting. The natural progression( for me anyway:smile:) was to a Savvy, and then I discovered the Foxbat. It was always between these two, and it came down to the factory build and visibility of the Foxbat. I also talked to people who do what I wanted to do with them who owned both. If I was building myself, it would be the Sav. I know you are going to say that the Sav's are factory built now too, and that is true, but I would have to give a factory built one a real going over because the finish on the Foxbat is absolutly top notch, IMHO. If I was going second hand, even with out the visibility thing, I would probably lean towards the Foxy, but to be fair I would need to spend some time in a Sav before I wrote them off. A good test is to see how quiet the Foxbat forum is; no problems to solve and nothing to whinge about!! Now watch the Sav owners tear strips off me...
  21. Planechaser
    Spot on pylon500. Every time I take someone up in the Foxy, there first coment is always " wow, you can see everything up here!" usually followed by the propensity to lean to the center or grab the straps when I do the first turn, cause they think they are going to fall out the door!! For arial spotting, mustering and photography, it is trully had to beat. As a trainer, I am guessing it is the combination of being very responsive( a bloke training on Jab's reconed if he sneezed it would turn on the spot!) and at the same time rock solid and forgiving. I just need to crank my Warp Drives around a bit now. I have wicked take off performance, well more than I need now, but she is maxed out at 87kts @ 4900 rpm, which is my ecomomy cruise. It will do 92 when it's washed, waxed, no mud, no dust, just serviced, but alas, that only happend once every 50hrs!!
  22. Planechaser
    I recon if you do it on your own time, in your own plane, go for it. If you tangle unwilling people up in it, that is another thing all together....
  23. Planechaser
    Missed this bit. I run air time for the air frame, and engine hours for the donk. Sounds like a pain, but over the life of the engine it adds up. Do you run your air frame out a bit early, or run your oil a bit too long? I prefer nether.
  24. Planechaser
    Can Jab and Lycoming really think there is any substitute for engine run hours?? I can't think of any engine maintenance I've had anything to do with, from small petrols to large diesels and all in between, that has been based on anything but actual engine hours. Hobbs meter, rattle clock, timer on the injector line, whatever. Even vehicle maintenance based on km's is only a rough guide. Motorbikes, the real workhorses, have hourmeters on them for best practice maintenance. When it comes to oil, start to stop is all that matters in my book!
  25. Planechaser
    Hi Bill, http://www.conairsports.co.uk/downloads/912%20maintenance%20article%20-%20inc%20carb%20bal.pdf I found this helpfull on a number of things. Oil trapped in the cooler and carb balancing explaned simply for a start. It's a PDF so you will need Acrobat. Cheers, Hamish
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