boingk

Bingo, bilby54, when, as someone else put it, the 'ramp checks are a positive learning experience' line from CASA turns into 'here is a fine' and 'you have 30 days to pay that'. Apologies for my outburst in a previous post, too, that was out of line. Cheers - boingk Edited to remove reference to deleted and moderated material....mod

That might do it. Starting to get personal. Mod Fly safe, have fun and follow the rules. - boingk

Exactly. As I said before, all my gear weighs perhaps 2kg and fits into a very small (shoebox size) backpack. The whole shebang weighs maybe 2kg. I really don't understand the 'all this crap is too heavy/complicated' argument. - boingk

Sounds great! I was very taken with the one I mentioned above and it certainly sounds like it'd be a hoot to fly. Nice indeed. Would've been even better knowing you'd made it. Good point on the corrosion proofing on the 140's. Our local 150M Aerobat has recently been out with corrosion on the gear legs - small pits that are just on the service limits. New gear cost... wait for it... an arm and a leg. Cheers - boingk

I wasn't aware we had an option when presented with a ramp check. At least, I certainly wasn't given the impression that I had one at Temora. - boingk

I got the same feedback at this years Natfly - I took a whole ERSA and was told I only needed the few pages for my route and that they were available online so I could simply print them off and take with me. Indeed. That's part of the reason why I keep it neatly organised in a small bag on my passenger seat, or parcel shelf if two up. I do NOT want my logbook, weather, ERSA pages, ELT etc flying around the cabin! I like using a bag as you can safely thread it into the passenger safety harness, or tie down on the shelf. - boingk

Not to make light of a bad situation, Gnome, but that's part of the reason I bought Australian with my ELT/PLB. I know that should it fail or when I need a new battery I can just send it to the office in Sydney. Now... wonder what would happen if you bought a Chinese PLB? - boingk

Berx, take it easy mate. We know you're geared up in China and that's fine, the Chinese are just like everyone else - they can and do make good things... for a price. If you want to go cheap then we all know what you get... anywhere... and that's cee arr aye pee. All OME is saying is that by trying to save money on an instrument without proper service instructions or factory aftermarket support, a customer has ended up having to buy a whole new instrument. - boingk

Awesome to hear someone has done the Lithium route conversion, I love the things and am installing them in my motorcycles when I get a chance... ie dead battery strikes. The packs I'd be using are also the HobbyKing 8.4Ah 4s LiFePO4 jobs, can't beat the price and the performance sure is something, too. I regularly use their cells in my RC aeroplanes and have good faith in them so long as the max load isn't exceeded - I puffed a few LiPo's early on playing that game and now just use larger/higher rated cells. The 'Burst' rating supplied is generally given by the manufacturer as the maximum sustained output from the pack for a short period of time, usually around 10~15 seconds or so. I tend to take it as the current you can run your packs at if you want them to... burst! :D Cheers - boingk

Nope, just checked the FAA docs and found that they are fine for the Lyc O-235-CI. Page 5, item 109 of the doc at this link: http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgMakeModel.nsf/0/f55c36f242f3204e8625724300680eaa/$FILE/A-768.pdf How's the Starlet go? Bumped into a fellow at Cootamundra on the way back from Temora over Easter who had one, looked very smart indeed and took off like a rocketship! Seb - I reckon it'd be an awesome project... especially if you bought an airframe and recoed an engine. There's an airframe over there for 3.5k and complete flying aircraft look to start at around the 15k mark. I really like the look of the 120/140's, too. Cheers - boingk EDIT: Looked through it more carefully and its got weights for all equipment listed. Generator 10lb, battery 24lb, starter 16lb, lights 6lb. Total weight of equipment 56lb or 25kg... nice!

Yeah, I'd approach it cautiously. Nothing worse than getting a firm no when you're expecting a tentative yes. I don't think it would be that much of an issue, as with 404kg dry weight (or less) and a 600kg MTOW you would have similar usable weight to my little A-65 powered Minicab (201kg usable). I go for short hops with a passenger and minimum safe fuel without issue. Why not the C120? - boingk

I think a there was an authorisation for them to be fitted, would have to check with either the factory or in original documentation. - boingk

The starter, battery, lights and radio were all optional equipment for the 120 series Cessna. The 140 was the one equipped with them as standard. Standard engine was C-85, C-95 or Lycoming 235 available as options. - boingk

I'd start by removing the electrical system and hand starting, if the 120 is so equipped. Here's my lightening list: Remove battery and starter motor. Remove lights and associated wiring. Remove any interior lining/furnishing. Remove flight radio. Replace with handheld + intercom. Remove any seats and replace with lighter wooden or plastic ones. Remove instruments. Replace with RAA minimum + existing engine instruments. That would be about it before you started to get fairly drastic... such as replacing the heavy twin magnetos with modern CDI, for example. The options are in order of preference; easier, bigger savings first and harder, more marginal savings later. The seats and furnishings may be a good first item, though, as they shouldn't affect the CG much (if at all) and will likely net you a reasonable weight saving for minimal outlay and effort. A good example of a lightweight seat would be an old plastic school seat, lightweight ply construction or beach style metal-framed suspended fabric setup. The empty weight of a 140 is 404kg, and a 120 is more or less an economy 140... so you should be able to come in a fair bit under 404kg empty by removing a few things and replacing others. If you tallied it up you might be surprised at the amount of weight you could easily strip off without too much compromise. Given the base weight of 404kg and a fuel capacity of 95L/70kg, you have a stock usable load of 126kg after fuel. If you remove the starter and battery that may save you as much as 14~15 kilos. that would increase your usable load up to around the 140kg mark. Lop off lights (we're day VFR only, after all!) and take out the wiring and switches and you might save another 5kg for 145kg usable. Reduce fuel capacity to 80L operational max via dash placard and gauge mark and you would save another 10kg for 155kg usable. After stripping interior furnishings and replacing the seats with lighter ones you may well be able to convince the RAA that you have a legal two-place aircraft. Cheers - boingk

Bingo. - boingk

Wow, that's terrible... never knew that at all. - boingk

I fudged my number in highschool, and then you only had to have 50. I drove quite a lot, too, and had a fair few long trips but just couldn't realistically do 50 hours in the year. As for RAA endorsements, I thought it was not in effect unless it was on your licence? - boingk

Nah, nothing interesting Sapph. Thought it up in 2006 when I needed a short, snappy moniker for an online forum. It always seems to be free so I've kept it ever since. - boingk

Its why my kids (if/when that happens) will be on motorcycles first. 100 hours? What a joke. - boingk (post moderated due to language - Admin)

Mate my very small shoebox sized backpack with all my documentation and ELT weighs in at around 2kg... Most of that is the ELT (500g) and the backpack itself. Maps, printed ERSA and weather pages and the other necessary gear weighs perhaps a kilo. If you are that tight on weight then, yes, I would indeed say take a look at yourself, be honest, and ask yourself if maybe you could do with some lightening up. I know I have 5kg onboard I could do without. − boingk

The plane is overweight? I would've though the pilot was the most likely candidate. - boingk

Bring on the 95:10 revival. - boingk

Whoa... I want one of these: - boingk

Sure, and its my legal document. They want us to keep up to date with records and so on but don't want us to carry a logbook? Because they need it if we crash? Little bit focused on failure don't you think? - boingk

Oh... you mean the thingy under the aileron and on the side of the rudder? I thought they were trim wedges??? Shows what I know! - boingk EDIT: Should've put weather and ERSA pages in my last post. Doh.