Methusala
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Everything posted by Methusala
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The prop strike occurred while the engine was fitted with a toothed belt reduction unit. This I later removed because it was so poorly manufactured the belt would run off its cogs and there was no way to align it. I don't think that the shock transferred to the crank indirectly via toothed belt should account for failure of the crank. You stated that some crankshafts were manufactured from crook steel - ergo the failure in my engine. I am not sufficiently in my dotage not to recall the frightening events of this time. It was probably on Ron Lang's advice that I fitted the exhaust seeing that he did not have an exhaust system supplied with the engine. I don't wish to open old wounds or criticise the guy for what happened so long ago. I accept that, in those days, we were all experimenting and that this was the way it was. I never flew at Pakenham and was fortunate, as were a lot of others, to come through those days alive. However I don't want anyone to remain under the illusion that this was a fit device to power any ultralight. I recall that Ron Firth, from around Bowral, had a Skylark with cast iron barrels and direct drive on his Scout and I never heard that he got anything but good service from it. Regards, Don
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Yes Dick, you can see from my earlier post that it was a brave attempt but dangerous in the air. Mine was "equipped" with pressed steel mufflers from an early Victa mower engine and one split into pieces flying through the prop and wrecking it. The motivation seemed to be to make a quid rather than to be a responsible aviation enterprise. I replaced my Skylark with a Fuji Robin EC 44 and had no further power plant related problems.
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G'day Geoff Ward. Yes I do and today I replaced the windscreen. I love the Thruster. Don
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Jim Cuthill, CFI of "Falcon Hawk" near Benalla is said to be a wizard. Never met him but have spoken to him on the electric telephone...seems a very nice bloke. FYI
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G'day Yenn, as I recall, that was a Yamaha Virago motor. Read the story in Kitplanes
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Mate of mine built a good one about 15 years ago. Built it for about $12,000. Best scrounger eva!
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Old Koreelah, I guess that your esteemed spouse is not a serial peruser of your posts to this lovely forum, huh?
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It looks a little like a Cygnet which is a very efficient design. Flying with an 1835cc VW can cruise at 80kts, 2-up and using 12lph.
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Most of the contributors to these wide ranging philosophical discussions have done far more posting and aviating than a few who rumble "I don't want to hear this." To re-state the obvious, "don't watch!" There are always 10 threads listed under "New". 9 choices should be ample.
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The answer is simple. Replace the present "representative democracy " model with a true "people power" arrangement which allows a number of citizens to put forward proposals which can then be put to a referendum of all interested electors. Forget the dumb mandatory voting concept and leave these matters to interested participants not football crowd crazies. Give free time on all media for candidates and turf them all at the end of 2 terms. Make any form of political lobbying public and threaten those that will corrupt the process with long periods of incarceration in the dungeon. There, try that for a discussion topic.
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Simon Pyke at Temora is quite an expert. I don't know his contact details . Another guy with a lot of experience in wooden aircraft is Tim deHaan. Last seen living in the upper Murray valley. Not much to go on but good luck. Don
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AND?!! Huh?
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People who fall for the lie that,"governments are like households and have to live within their means" should read some basic economics and particularly the bit about government spending being "anti-cyclical". John Maynard Keynes was a giant among dwarfs who understood that the answer to boom and bust economies was to use the credit creation function of governments to stimulate economies when demand was depressed and to withdraw credit in a boom. This has the effect of more closely balancing the forces of supply and demand. I spent my time at secondary school being educated in real world subjects, taught from excellent texts; ie. Samuelson in economics and Messel for science. It is not too late to do some remedial reading and get up to speed on these vital areas of knowledge. More's the pity that electors see education as a luxury to be afforded by the well-off. But you know, I have friends who have found that sometimes private schooling means, "pay more, get less!"Regards all, Don
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The XPB Stage 1 underway.
Methusala replied to bexrbetter's topic in Aircraft Building and Design Discussion
G'day Bex, I note the statement in your post #309, that IYHO the hot weather is,"(normal this time of year, not GW!)". How can you be sure of the cause of any weather phenomenon these days? Can it be that you believe the deniers of Global Warming (since de-alarmed to read Climate Change). Nice bit of propaganda there Mr Murdoch? Perhaps reading the following article will help. The unfolding water crisis at the Third Pole -
People with a vested interest in the trucking industry often try the politicians trick, ie: Snow the conversation with a large amount of dodgy info and then sit on their hands, grinning and licking their lips. we saw the response to the Turnbull disgraceful destruction of the "pay the drivers a living wage" legislation.
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When roading it to Sydney, the worst area of road is approaching the Mittagong checking station. The deterioration of the pavement in the approach lanes is so bad that I invariably stick to the right hand lane where the paving has not been virtually destroyed by trucks. This must be a practical proof that trucks are murder on roads when braking and manoeuvering.
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Type certification question
Methusala replied to Nightmare's topic in Student Pilot & Further Learning
Can't help you...don't know what an RPC is!!! -
Don't worry, the tourist industry won't be around much longer. GBR disappearing under layers of eroded silt and fertiliser/chemical run-off and trying to survive elevated water temperatures and increased acidity from HCO3 impeding the ability of crustacea to build a liveable crust.
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We have a Suuuby EA81 with EFI, Works well.
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How were your finals, Nev???? I just think that it is a bad situation when only the Guvmint can decide on a question to be put to the people. If we do have a democracy, how about using the Swiss system whereby a group of petitioners can have any proposal put to a definitive vote by the people. (I know that it is easy to poke fun, but...some of the Labor proposals may rankle, and some of the others may appeal. We are forced to compromise with our vote. Doesn't seem FAIR!) Regards, Don
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I provide this as a service to those who can't/won't keep up.
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I wish that our thin skinned or simply "princely" personalities would learn to interpret the heading on a thread post, realise that they are not interested in that topic and use their very valuable resource of time and judgement to "move-on" and allow others to enjoy what's left of our all too brief life without being trolled. Regards, Don
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G'day C Scott Henry, You are correct about the strategy to move the "left" towards the "centre " as a ploy to harvest conservative votes. I saw the same thing happening under Hawke & Keating and forsaw that this would only give the "Right" room to shuffle even closer to their ultimate destination. It in fact gave them "cover" to put forward an agenda which would have been seen as extreme previously. The question of LGBTI(Q?) whatever only resonates with me because I believe that individual freedom is the only correct way to go. The cynicism of representative democracy is obvious. Today, following Newspoll detecting that the Lying Negative coalition will probably win, the government announces that they have other (unspecified) plans to cut programs (I call this "leaving the door open"). BTW the ABC has not highlighted polling results since they started going bad for Turdball, now they change tack! Yes, I am very wise to the ways of our politicians. Don
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Perhaps it is timely to reflect on the actions of a conservative government who culpably chased nationalistic voters with the offer of this referendum. It was a solution that lacked a problem. It makes me shudder at the prospect of a national "plebiscite" on whether to allow LGBTI couples to marry. It is within the power of the national parliament to decide. The "Campaigns" launched to convince electors to vote one way or the other will use the normal tricks to inflame emotions and obscure the simplicity of the choice. Damage to our society is bound to result from this cynical ploy. Don
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G'day. I did have a chance to fly the B1RD at Holbrook back in the early 90's. It was with the Holbrook ultralight club and on line for about $42/hr. It would levitate from the strip and in any reasonable headwind seemed to take off vertically. It had a Hall airspeed indicator and would not fly faster than 40mph even with WOT, forward stick, on the Cuyuna 430 2-stroke. From memory the ailerons were quite effective and it was great fun but not for going anywhere. As you mentioned, the prop was 72" and the reduction was by toothed belt at about 3:1. At idle you could almost count the revolutions. It was produced by Robinsons who I think had a thriving business building wing tip performance accessories for GA aircraft. The build quality was exceptionally good and featured custom cast rudder pedals and a high level of quality fittings. I don't know what happened to it, it could be an exhibit at the museum down there. Don
