skippydiesel

Thanks Spacesailor, Quite a few "interesting" innovative designs at The Oaks. Being both lazy and tightfisted (unfortunate?), I am looking for something that already exists. Can be readily transported (after deconstruction) and reassembled with minimal modification. All at minimal cost (preferably Nil or even be payed to take away😁). I would like to be able to work on my aircraft inside the structure - hence the ideas about tunnels & chook sheds. You are possibly aware, "building permission" at The Oaks, is very strict, requiring the builder to not construct anything resembling a permanent structure.

Your both smart Blokes so you must be making these comments to get a response. Here goes; You have your engine eg Rotax 912 ULS. Track Distance 100 NM Two aircraft (A&B). Sam Altitude/temp/wind speed & direction, Same 75% power setting. Same 15L/ Hr consumption Aircraft A cruise @ 110 Knots. B cruises @130 Knots A does the trip in 54 Min x 0.25L/Min = 13.5L B does the trip in 46 Min x 0.25L/Min = 11.5L B is the more economical. Of course there are other factors that a pilot/owner may wish to take into account but when you are just looking at economy, speed, not for thrills (no sensation above 1000 ft anyhow) is an important consideration, that should not be dismissed by emotive arguments.

Sorry Nev - not looking for construction suggestions, that is unless you have the frame to go with your corrugated sheet.😈

On the off chance that a Forum member, in the general area stretching from Newcastle - Sydney - Batemans Bay - Canberra - Cowra, may be able to assist. My Sonex is parked in the open, with only a Punkin Head Air Sport cover for protection. The cover is great but won't help if we get large hail. I have been looking to acquire a second hand Polytunnel frame or even an old (small) commercial chook house frame, with which to make a lightweight cover for Sonex. Approximated dimensions (I can modify anything that is a bit small/large): Wide 8 m x Long 8m x High (centre) 2m

When will people learn - Engines that are going to be in long term storage, should be properly "pickled" not run at all/regularly.

Your point??? My argument is not about savings??? It's clearly about appropriate use of tax moneys, being invested in our children (education). Our children (even if you don't have any) are the nations future. The potential intellectual resource, that is contained within the brains of our children, will not be fully realised, without proper funding. Proper funding will not happen, while the taxpayer is underpinning the running and development, of private schools (for the future elite). I am not only concerned with the syphoning of public funds away from the public education system - I see a second and equal concerne; I think it would be fair to say, the overwhelming majority (all?) of private schools are religious in nature. What is the motivation in a religious club starting a school? I would suggest their raison d'etre is recruitment. The religious have a generational management plan. (In stark contrast to our political leaders, who seem to have difficulty imagining a life beyond the next election). The religious have eon's of experince in lobbying & political manipulation and know that numbers count (votes). They also know that to have sympathetic ear in Government requires grooming leaders from a young age. In short they wish to indoctrinate the young to their world view (join the club). Organised religion is not a benign force - history will attest to this, time & time again. It is intensely tribal, seeking dominance for IT & its followers, in power and economics. In contrast to the teachings of their holy books, they have no qualms about crushing the opposition, often literally. Cant happen in Australia?? It is not so long ago (my Mother's generation) that there was a sharp sectarian & racial divide in Australia - Newspaper job advertisements openly barred catholics, jews & coloured applicants. Whole Gov. bureaucratic departments were either protestant or catholic - could all be on the way back eg the recently failed bid by the religious, to legally bar non/other/alternative believers from holding a job in their schools. In my Mother's youth Australia had about 7 million people. Widely dispersed and for the most part able to live fairly (by World standards) prosperous lives. The equation is changing - we now are heading to 27 million, concentrated in a few coastal centres - life is starting to become a bit of a challenge for the working class. Add to this, the disgraceful concentration of wealth with few. How long will the disadvantaged tolerate slipping further and further behind???? To my mind, it's a crime against the taxpayer, and the future wellbeing of our nation, that any public money, for whatever purpose, goes to private schools.

Yeah! I heard one excited reporter say, the air was filled with the smell of petrol???????

The Government should not be providing a cent of taxpayers money to private schools. What these religious corporations, do with the tax money, is irrelevant, they should not have it in the first instance. To argue that failing to adequately fund the education of ALL our young, (supporting tax dollars going to private profit making schools) is anything more than a slow moving train wreck for the nations future, is failing utterly, to have an understanding of asset management. Supporting taxpayer funded private education, is advocating for a have/have not society. If you are a future "have" - lucky you. If a future "have not" - tough titty - at least you will be in the majority, who may be advocating hanging the minority from lamp posts. To add insult to injury, is the rise and rise of religious indoctrination (tribalisation), that will just add fuel to the coming wreck.

It's not a choice Turps its an unfortunate observation on the lack of foresight by successive Governments. FYI - I have experienced what happens to a society, divided along religious/economic lines and its very very nasty.

Markdun, Nothing, directly, to do with Goulburn aerodrome but the fact that it ended up in private hands/now to be sold again, is an indictment of Gov policy, when it comes to public investment/assets. Your insight in to schools & teaching have been depressingly enlightening/confirming. That you could not go back to teaching, to share your knowledge/life experince is a crime and shows how short our memories are - after WW2, many/most of our teachers had been in the military. It was this generation/experience, that most of my better teachers came from. I do not agree with banning private schools, just that they should not receive a cent of funding from the taxpayer, while still conforming to Gov education curriculum/standards. The use of the word communism, is unfortunate. I despise communism but am clearly of a socialist bent. Like all extreme expressions of ideology, Communism is to be abhorred.

You have a problem with your argument Turbs - Its a visual one. Every private school, that I have seen, in the past few years, is positively bursting with new buildings, playing fields, even swimming pools and the like. Then there is the "popping up like mushrooms" - where the is a buck to be made, there is investor (religious organisations?)jumping on the taxpayer gravy chain. Check out your local public schools - mobil classrooms - lack of maintenance, etc. The contrast between affluent private and struggling public, is becoming starker every year. We are not only fostering a financial divide we are fast-tracking a religious one - so much for the secular state. I support the right of parents to send their children to a private school. I deeply resent the tax dollars, that underpin, the success of private schools. No tax dollar for private gain (schools).

I am all for profit but not at any cost. I understand vertical integration - not horizontal. Most if not all successful business models utilise the concept of symbiosis. That is the recognition that not all parts of the organisation, can make a profit but all parts are necessary, for the good/health/profit of the whole. The market economy model espouse cutting/selling off non profit sections to the ultimate disadvantage of the whole. Take education - Most rational people would agree that our young, are the future of our country. They (collectively, not just the children of the wealthy) are are the most valuable national asset, far outsriping all others combined. Without a well educated young our future is very much diminished. Using a business model - investing in the future (assets) ensures the viability of the business. Failure to invest will almost certainly see it loose market position/viability and may be collapse. Australia briefly had a free education system (most of our leaders have benefited from it). For many years now, taxpayers money has been funnelled into the private (mainly religiose) profit making school education system, to the detriment of the public system. ergo a large percentage of the asset (young) are not being adequately invested in. Universities have had public funding whittled away. To compensate they have been allowed to charge (fee for service) students. This has led to the prostitution of our higher education system - for profit! To rob Peter & pay Paul, the Government, in their short sighted largess, offer index linked student loans, supposedly to make tertiary education available to all. It has had the opposite effect. Increasingly we our seeing our young decide years of educational hard graft, with a huge HECS debt at the end, is not for them. We have created a two tier education system, which in time will divide society to our national loss . The asset, that is our young, is being degraded by the "user pay"/market economy THAT AUSTRALIA IS STILL PURSUING, in some sort of perverse self mutilating destructive orgy. The same argument can be made for ALL aspect of health, transport infrastructure (inc. airports), water, communication, power - the Gov. expects the private sector to pick up the slack - not without a profit they say. The profits are made from you and I paying (if we can) for the very basics of modern life. No profit, no service - sure the individual suffers but ultimately so does the nation. End of rant!

"Canberra airport has been treated as a real estate asset, and it has monopoly power." The slavish adoption of the market economy financial model (Reagan/Thatcher) has been, for the most part, a disaster that we continue to pursue, (education/health/toll roads/etc) by subterfuge (lack of funding being the most common tool). The Federal Gov, in pursuit of this discredited economic model, sold/gave away the public's assets (airfields) all over Australia, without a thought to the future negative impact. This was/is an act of criminal proportions. What stagers me is the politicians, making these decisions, have for the most part been the beneficiary of a more socialist outlook. Unless we change to a more caring inclusive philosophy, the likely outcome will be a USA style society/economy, with an extreme divide between the minority very rich & majority poor (check out some S American countries). Such inequality cannot be sustained without disintegrating into dissolution and or totalitarianism (look at the not so United States of America today). Totalitarianism can only end in war/revolution (generations to come). Change bought by blood in the gutters.

Have yet to experince shimmy - I would guess more likely on sealed surface???

Agreed! Weight - Peter Anson claims a lower weight for his pneumatic 6" compared with the API 4" and better again over the 6" API. My Sonex cruises with some up elevator (down force) so a heavier tail may reduce the need for elevator, possible small improvement in aerodynamic efficiency?? Noise - I don't realy notice much noise on grass, diffrent story on sealed runway. Puncture - Yep! definitely not a problem for solid tyres.

Found the wings! - seek and ye shall be find ! Agree with KR - for the right price (free) it might be a good rainy day project. 55 rego - thats a factor build ??? It would need (if allowed) to be changed to a 19 or E rego, for a cost effective (nil labour) home builder to make a go of it.

Wow! talk about a slow wet day (NSW) My Sonex Legacy "lives" on a grass airfield field. Rain soaked ground impacts differently on all the aircraft at the field. Some, with big tyres, hardly seem to be affected - Opps only being cancelled to reduce surface damage. Others, with more in proportion tyres, must wait for firmer ground before venturing forth. My little tailwheel Sonex needs to have no soft patches at all, before I can easily taxi/TO/Land The 4" API solid tyre tailwheel cuts a furrow, on all but the hardest (dry) ground, making taxying a challenge and doing damage to the airfield surface. I am considering changing to a 6" API solid or a Peter Anson pneumatic wheel, in the hope that it would provide better "flotation" & less rolling resistance, enabling me to get back into the air much sooner, after rain. I hope the Forum Brains Trust will debate the pros/cons of making the above change.

Fresh coffee !!!

Nice panel. Transponder likely need replacing. Transceiver could do with an upgrade (assuming no channel monitor function). They should show the wings, not just the fuselage (clearly a ground vehicle auctioneer). According to advertise location, thee aircraft is about 15 ks from me - should the eventual purchaser need an "aircraft carrier" I have a fully enclosed one that may suit.

Surly the viability of any commercial passenger aircraft, is the charge (ticket $/ income) per passenger, less the cost of operating (which includes fuel used as well as a host of other costs). "Stuff" about thrust reversers, etc has little if anything to do with the above equation assuming their availability or not does not prevent the aircraft from operating on particularly popular/lucrative rout. In comparing aircraft, it's the cost of operation for each seat. The ability of the airline to fill the seats and the cost per passenger ticket (competing with other airlines). The rest is just so much woffle!!

Wish! For a objective assessment of various CO detectors - most, online, seem to be blowing their own subjective trumpet. Tasmag "The exact reason i went to an electronic version, have been using the caravan type but they are bulky which means they are not in my field of view through lack of space." You have a valid point - my Quell is behind me, hopefully within (in flight) audio alarm range. It's on a bulkhead, just below my head level, about .5M back, on one side, so I can easily look back. I can easily move it so that its within reach, to test its alarm in the air (on the to do list). I like its memory feature - I regularly check for past Max CO ppm - so far zero. This capability may worn me of a developing problem, even before the alarm level is reached.

Never thought much of the orange stickers, that need replacing on a fairly frequent interval and as you suggest - would an CO intoxicated pilot even notice a colour change. Audio/Visual warnings must be a major step up in safety. If, as suggested, the sensitivity of the sensor diminishes over time (??) the more costly/hard wired version are going to be a pain in the pocket and time/panel modifications to replace. I think I will stick with my $30 Quell, replaced every, say 5 years (rubber replacement time??) until someone can demonstrate its a waste of $$

Wow! The cost goes up and up. While I understand that the loss of a life (especially your own) is beyond financial calculation, the reality must surely be, that there is a diminishing cost/benefit, in spending X20 the cost of a, stand alone, CO detector for caravan/boat ????? My question is - if a low cost CO detector can measure/warn the occupants of an impending (rising ppm) life threatening air condition, at what point do you say the cost of a more expensive (hard wired ?) system is a tad over the top??

I find it interesting & alarming that a significant number of Rotax owners seem to want to avoid this 5 rear service recommendation. A very few even boasting about how they only replace their "rubber" components based on external visual assessment. Then there are those to install what they consider to be superior products (usually silicon hoses) that they believe have a infinite service life (no need to replace at 5 year intervals). I am possible weird but I actually look forward to doing my 5 year rubber replacement. I usually try and time it to coincide with a significant maintenance milestone. Sure it's not cheap (even when sourcing non RoTAX supplied components) but the satisfaction I get, from knowing that all those rubbers have been replaced, along with coolant and other service items, is golden!

Random thought: It seems to me that it is better to always assume there is a risk of icing and instigate the preventative actions as a matter of course eg On aircraft fitted with carburettor heat, always switch to carby heat before reducing power for decent and or landing. By adopting this habit you lose nothing and may prevent icing, when your carburettor is at its most vulnerable, low power setting.