WayneL

Flight by VFR Rules hey........

Emah posted the following on the Drifter appreciation society page on face book yesterday. Maybe some of you may be flying in the area and can keep an eagle eye out. Quote,"This is a plea for help. My family and I are desperate. My cousin has been missing since Sunday in the national parks in Blackwood, Victoria. Police have scaled back the searching and will no longer be using helicopters. I wanted to take my drifter to search, but the rotax 503 is unsafe in tiger country. If anyone can help, please call or message on 0430 207 783 or facebook me. We are spending Christmas searching. Please help us. My family is working towards getting the funds to put a much needed helicopter/aircraft back in the air"

This is the way I see it, I hope it helps. I have drawn a diagram, the traveled distance are only examples not actual worked out figures. Also, I have drawn the wing (chord) parallel (in relation to a horizon) but the of course a descending aircraft wing would be lower on the leading edge, this does not change the anything with regard to the AoA differences though. Another way to visualize it is to think of a spiral stair case. Let's put a nail in the same place on each end the steps ( dead centre say) then run a string from nail to nail on the inside of the spiral steps and on the outside. Look at the angle between the step and the string line, comparing the outside angle with the inside angle......it's not hard to picture the difference. Now... the AoA difference may be very small for the aircraft in that descending turn but even one half of one degree is going to make a difference.....and that's with neutral ailerons.

No there is no much difference between wing tip airspeeds in the turn but AoA to the relative airflow is higher for the inside wing which travels less distance than the outside wing for a given altitude loss. off topic again.. My cousin trained on winjeels and Maccihi's and while in a briefing on stall turns ( don't remember which aircraft) the instructor asked why the stall was indicated higher by a few knots in one direction! The answer was that the pitot tube was out on one wing.

I vaguely remember a Aviation Digest story on base to final stalls, it had a very good diagram of a Cessna in a descending left turn with flaps down and wing tip "track lines" overlaid and AOA notes for the port and starboard wing. The article makes the point that skidding in the final turn is a major factor in bringing on a sudden stall and wing drop to the lower inside wing which is usually fatal at this low altitude. A pilot with a tailwind on base may realize too late that his final turn will overshoot runway center line.......so he banks a little bit more.......still overshooting center line so he pull in some more elevator to tighten the turn..........still doesn't look good for making the center line............he does not want to bank any steeper so almost subconsciously he kicks in more left rudder to 'push' the nose towards the center line.........the bank starts to increase so he now adds opposite aileron (right in this case)! He now has a situation where the AOA on the port wing is greater than the starboard wing (traveled path of inside wing is shorter and therefore at a greater AOA & with port wing aileron down, the mean chord line of the port wing is at a greater AOA than the starboard wing. He is also slow with a higher than normal bank angle with an increase in G force due to pulling in more elevator, meaning the stall speed has increased and his margin of airspeed above the stall has decreased. A stall in a slipping turn, it seems, is less alarming to a pilot than an inside wing drop and also less likely to happen. Off topic but in line with the above posts about instructors methods. Read in an american Flying magazine column about the instructor that used to throw his joystick out the door of the J3 Cub when he thought his pre solo student was good enough to land without his assistance. Word got around the students so on student decided to play a trick on him.....he hide a spare joystick in the cockpit and when the time came and the instructor threw his stick out the door......the student held his stick up and then threw it out too! Instructor never did that again!

Thanks Keith, Sounds good, will definitely catch up after our cruise. Cheers, Wayne

Yes Kasper, it is the one from Tenterfield. Did you get this info (only 1 twin ignition 503 kestrel in the register), or do you have more knowledge on this aircraft's history? Thanks Howard, I would love the chance to meet up with you guys and have a good look at your Kestrels. Where about are the 4 based at? You would know Barry Evans, I like Barry also fly RC models and we used to be in the same RC Club. I have not seen Barry for a few years but I see he has now donated his Kestrel to the Qld Air Museum at Caloundra. I had caught up with him a few times with his Kestrel but of course, don't remember much about the aircraft 'cause at the time I wasn't in the market for one! Now all I want to do is look at every nut & bolt on other Kestrels and take a 1000 photos plus 1500 questions! A did have an aircraft back in '81 but there was no rego then! It's a learning curve for me........Thanks to everyone who have responded so far....it's highly appreciated, but don't stop, I really wish to learn as much about this aircraft as I can and that includes finding it's previous rego. Howard, mine does not have a rear fuselage skin like most Kestrels that I've seen, should it have one or did some not have it? I will have to catch up in a few weeks, my wife and I are off to PNG on the P&O Pacific Dawn for 10 days R & R! Regards, Wayne

A L2/LAME familiar with R503's would probably be aware of common failures and the warning signs if any, that a component is about to fail. But you never know, reading on another thread about R582 crankshaft/big end bearing failures around 600/650 hrs. Don't know whether an inspection 50 hours before those failures would have warned about the bearing failure so you wouldn't really know what life is left in the motor. I suppose it comes down to a L2/LAME being happy with what he sees to feel comfortable to sign it off to run on condition and as you say, will that be acceptable to gain registration. Will ask RAA tech staff that question. Wayne

Thanks Mike, It does make a lot of sense to do a complete strip down and I had intended to do that with the airframe. Does a strip down of the motor essentially mean a rebuild irrespective of engine wear condition. In other words......can an inspection of all engine parts determine the approx life left in a motor and be used as a base for starting a new maintenance log?

Once saw a 172 'drive' into the Brisbane CBD for display. It came from Archerfield via the se freeway where I saw it doing 80k under police escort.

I have acquired a Lea Kestrel with a R503 in what appears to be in reasonable condition. It will give me something to 'tinker with' to restore it to full airworthy status. My questions are related to my current lack of information on the airframe and engine history and what will or should be the process I need to take to make it fully airworthy and meet the necessary requirements to be excepted for registration again. I will of course ask RAA Technical staff these same questions in due course but I thought I would throw it open to comment as I know that some of you may have been through these processes before. Aircraft changed hands a couple of times without being flown and I was not are to get any info on engine hours or airframe hours and previous Rego details (no log books), aircraft may have last been based at Clifton or in the region, last skins apparently had a USA flag style coloring on the tail skins. Engine runs nice but wiring needs tiding up or redoing. Wayne Fisher made new skins about 18/20 months ago and these are in like new condition as they have not been flown or been in the sun. Wing and Tail frames are in very good condition and fuselage frame good condition. Apart from the general process I have a few questions. Current prop is a 2 blade wood but in poor condition, I believe most Kestrel's have 3 blade Brolga props? Would like to get new bolts for the high stress areas such as wing & strut attachment points etc, what type should these be, some of these look like stainless steel but what about standard AN bolts (where shouldn't they be used).

Lea Kestrel 10-01 was last owned by Barry Evans and flown out of YCAB before he donated it to the Qld Air Museum in 2013

Happened to me in a A36 Bonanza taking off out of Casino, door completely unlatched and opened about 20 mm. Gave us a fright from the noise. Pax could not pull it closed so just held it the best he could. No wind and no traffic so I did a teardrop turn and landed back the other way, closed the door then took off again! I was in a C152 solo, on takeoff around 100 feet when an almighty Bang,Bang, Bang noise was heard, My instant reaction was to reduce the throttle, thinking I had a major failure somewhere! The banging stopped so I eased the throttle on and all stayed quiet til I landed. The seat belt was hanging out the door and the metal clip was hitting the side of the aircraft! Wayne

News updates on TV earlier tonight said the heli was hovering on/at the rock while persons were boarding when the rollover happened. They were surveying areas for a potential helipad site..they said.

The rotors must have been spinning, news footage tonight shows that the main rotor shaft and rotor head missing. By the looks of the panels around the mast area seem to indicate it was ripped out.

Yes, Harrison Ford is a pretty keen pilot himself with jet and heli experience so it will be knowable commentary.

After watching it on the big screen I know I will want this one in my collection on DVD's too!

The difference between an Air Show and an Open Day!

I took this photo at 9:50 am only 20 mins after 'Gates open". All non permit visitors parked 3km away and had to get on one of the many buses to get to the terminal/display area. So this photo does not show the numbers of people that were there around lunch time. The program was repeated in the afternoon and we took one of the buses back to the car park around 1:30pm and probably 3/4's of the morning crowd were starting to leave then, they were still filling buses with visitors for the afternoon session. Note: the line of buses in the photo lined up to the right of the tarmac were for the runway tours only. I would think 25 to 30,000 visitors today was close to the mark.

Don't fret M61A1 ...........here's your Carpet! Can't argue with the rest of your comments, I could have enjoyed a good flying session today too, nice weather. Maybe you should have come over to do a high speed run down the strip in your stealth Drifter!

Good day at Wellcamp Airport open day, traffic in was flowing much faster than last years open day. Slower in early afternoon for those morning visitors all leaving after lunch. Great weather, great organization, everybody seemed happy about what they saw. Wagners still have a bit of work to do yet before opening in November, taxiway seal needs finishing and taxiway lights, main concrete apron approx 1/3 laid, car parks to be finished and sealed and the entrance roads completed and sealed were the most obvious things to note. Terminal only needs gate furniture, otherwise looks finished. A lot of work still required on the airport but mostly longer term expansion work to be done over a few years I would guess.

What a change from 1981 (..... just reviewing some memories of 'the old days'....) when I finished putting together my Pegasus XL and took her for that first circuit and thermal activity boosted my altitude above the 500ft limit!

I think electric powered self launch sailplane may have a big future due to the fact the motor runs will be short.....enough to climb to chosen height.

I hope you can, It would be good to see some lighties on display. Were a couple of home builts and other lighties at first open day. You should contact organizer about flying in on the day. Beat the traffic jam!