farri

Way back when I was instructing, a member of our local club, the FNQUA and a guy I`d instructed in my Drifter and who held an unrestricted AUF Pilot Certificate, was flying his recently purchased QuickSilver GT 500, flew down bellow 500 feet agl, where he shouldn`t have been, hit a power line, crashed onto the road and died in hospital, the next day...I was devastated! took me a fair while to recover!!! Please stay away from power lines! As Alf Jessup has said, (post #2) " power lines will usually kill you" Franco.

Not compulsory, no one asks for any but I do have goggles if they want them! Never had anyone hit with a bug in 30 years...My choice and theirs!!!!

Goodonya, Jarrath! Ultralight flying, doesn`t get any better, I know because I`ve flown quite a few different types, over the years! You might even get to do this one day. This was the second flight with me for, Tameyka and Indyana and the third for Stohm. Franco.

G`Day JpNam! ......I`m from Deeral North Queensland. Franco.

I can see three others there.....Mind telling us a bit about it?

Great!!!....... I did a promotion with the Drifter, on behalf of our club, the FNQUA, not long after we got it...We pulled it apart and put it together in the Cairns, Earlville shoping center, I sat in it, handed out pamphlets and answered questions, the response was very positive but for one guy who smugly looked me in the eye and said, "You`re Going To Die", and I instantly replied, "So Are You". Image needs to be less than 150 kb, if it`s greater than that, you`ll need to resize it.

Just came across a couple more old photos from the early days of the AUF! This Ultralight was built in early 1980 by the then owner, Garry Thedore! I took the photo at Mareeba airport on a flying display, day... Garry copied the original Chinook WT2 and I copied Garry`s to build mine... Garry flew his from Jim Sabin`s, where he kept it, to our property and left it with me for three months, I had no plans to work from, just a burning drive to get mine built and learn to fly it... Except for the timing belt reduction drive, I made all the other parts by hand, with the most basic tools I had because there wasn`t money for fancy tools... I made a couple of modifications to my own ideas and having ridden motorbikes, I decided not to enclose mine...The local sail maker was supposed to make the skins for mine but at the last minute he decided he wouldn`t so I was left with a frame and nothing else, I decided I could do it and went to work with our little Husqvarna sewing machine, on our kitchen table...The second owner of this AC was Teckair, a forum member here, then, Steven Meddings followed by Tim Helybut, also a forum member here! I`m not sure where it is now, but it`s still out there, somewhere...... This is Chris Watling, in my Drifter! One of my best and youngest students... Chris wanted to learn to fly Ultralights and came to me with his father Nick Watling! I immediately gave Chris a challenge to be the youngest AUF Pilot Certificate holder, he took the challenge and achieved it at the ripe old age of fifteen years and nine days and to my knowledge, there hasn`t been anyone younger, to do this...Several years ago, Chris made contact with me here on the forum and at that time he was flying the big ones for QANTAS. This is Stan Onandia, in his Gold-Wing (pity I left some wing out) Stan told me he built most of it on his kitchen table...Stan was originally from Spain and at the time, was a Sugar Cane Farmer at Mena Creek, North Queensland and a member of the F.N.Q.U.A...Stan had an old style beach house at North Mission beach where he kept and flew the Gold-Wing...This was Stan`s first flight and he was the test pilot... Myself and his family were there to wave him off! I`ll never forget how he took out a handkerchief, waved it at us, then off he went...Stan passed away several years ago. Franco.

OK!!! Franco.

That` about it!.... Always comes down to what the individual want`s and how much money there is to play with!... Certainly heading back to a rich mans sport!

This is my setup...The pump draws from the bottom tank and has no problem doing so...I`ve had it this way for three of my 582 and now on my current 503...I have an electric pump, but it`s there mostly to prime the Carbies on start up and as back-up, if needed. Franco.

Thanks Kev, I try hard! I`m using an Olympus TG850! The sunset is straight from the camera! I take a look at each photo after I take it, if I`m not satisfied, I keep taking, just a matter of getting the Drifter back in the right position and that`s not hard to do. If the strip at the Drifter shed is completely under water, I come up to the one that comes to the back of the house, take`s a big flood to put it under water, but it has happened, hope it doesn`t happen again,at least for my life time. This is what happened a few years ago when I didn`t take it seriously enough....Flooded over night, no harm done though...That`s what happens when the Mulgrave and the Russell rivers are both in flood. Franco. (Frank)

Break in the rain, barometric pressure up, enough strip to go, couldn`t resist a fly, absolute magic! Taxiing to the dry spot. Sun going down on mt Bellenden Ker!...Does it get any better??? Franco.

Bill Morgan, Up here in the Tolga area of the Atherton Tablelands, has one on floats! He flies it from his property there and Lake Tinaroo! Last time I spoke to Bill, he had it registered VH Experimental so that he could keep the third seat in it. Franco.

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Thank you Alf,I appreciate it! It`s guys like you who keep me interested.... Franco.

Today I was going through some old photos I took, back in mid 1980, came across these and started this thread in the hope that others might have some Ultralight photos and stories to share. On the beach at Russell Heads...Steve Ridley with his Sky Dart and the one I built that started it all off for me...Steve was originally a Hang Glider pilot and had already gained a fair bit of experience in the Dart...I hadn`t long learnt to fly and had a grand total of ten hours in the air, in mine.... I went on to instructing and Steve eventually decided to obtain his AUF pilot Certificate, in the Drifter with me, then purchased and flew a Challenger on floats. Perry Harvey with his Wheeler Scout, at Mission beach...Perry loved nothing better than flying twenty feet above the beaches and over to Dunk Island...Perry told me this story... He was flying to Dunk, with the Scout on wheels! Half way across, he had an engine failure and being so low he was in the water before he could do anything! He was knocked unconscious and woke up on the bottom,10 meters down...Perry was an experienced diver and made it back up! It didn`t deter him! He retrieved the Scout, put it on floats and continued to fly but from then on, he always carried a pair of goggles and flippers with him...Perry passed away several years ago. First Ultralight I ever sat in and taxied...Jack Stuart in his Jackaroo, on Jim Sabin`s strip, on the Atherton Tablelands...Jack was a member of our local club, the Far North Queensland Ultralight Association, and at that time, he owned a Grass hopper, a Wheeler Scout and the Jackaroo, years later, he purchased and flew a Quicksilver Sport 2S... Jack was a vegetable farmer who taught himself to fly from his own property,he was also a great story teller and he`d have us in fits of laughter, with the stories he`d tell, of learning to fly...Jack passed away in his eighties,several years ago. Franco.

Thank you Jochen! All the very best with your Savannah build! ( When your wife gives the permission... ) Kind Regards, Frank.

Jochen, Was your FK12 Comet, like this one? Kind Regards, Frank.

Alf, I like to believe that everyone does the best they know how but some of the results I keep seeing on here, really have me shaking my head. Continuous talk about learning from past mistakes, yet they keep happening!...Where`s the solution? Is there really one? Frank.

Yes! and seriously investigate the method being used,by the pilot, to do a touch and go and landing!

Hello Jochen, ......Is this one like the Kiebitz you built? Frank.

Yep, Started there! then finally! Luxury!!! Pull start from the front seat and I made up a choke cable with the lever attached to the left side of the seat, near the throttle lever!.... Wasn`t until I purchased 25-182 from our club, to run my own flying school and onto the second 582 that I finally was able to go to the E type box with the electric starter motor....That same reduction box is on my current 503, it`s done over 3000 hrs and never given the slightest trouble. Man! Have I got some stories! Maybe I`ll start a thread in the "Aviation Laughter" section!!! Frank.

Unless it`s obvious, finding a problem is a process of elimination. If nothing in the carb has been changed, there isn`t much Carb setting required.....If you havn`t already done so,try starting it without the "Start Ya Bastard", turn it over sharply several times then remove the spark plugs and see if they are wet or dry...If they are wet, the spark may not be strong enough or it may be erratic...The Stator coil could have deteriorated....If the plugs are dry, it may be that there`s no fuel getting to them but you still need to determine that the spark is ok...Once you determine the spark is good then you need to be sure that all the passages in the carby are clear before doing anything else to the carby.

G`Day Microman! I recall a guy posting a couple of photos on here of a 503 that had been in storage for a number of years but I can`t recall who it was or where it was posted! Was it you? Don`t know about experts on here!!!!.......It could be several things, without taking a look at it, I`m guessing but I`ll help if I can!.....How is the cylinder compression?