NT5224

As the title says. How do I apply for one? From CASA or Air services? Is there a form? This is for the purpose of installing my Sky Echo, obviously. Alan

High wing, gravity fed motor. No I don’t need the pump in cruise so often turn it off. It’s an electric pump, not mechanical. Alan

Thanks Thruster88 That’s really valuable information and exactly what I wanted to hear from a fellow pilot! To be honest my apparent drop in fuel flow switching off the pump yesterday was even more than 2 gallons… it recorded a greater reduction in flow than when I had leaned the engine… I lean my engine by pulling the mix until I get a wobble on the RPM needle then going back a bit. I then keep an eye on fuel flow and temps… Not very scientific but I get a smooth running engine, better fuel efficiency and hopefully less muck in the cylinders Alan

G’day Thruster88 thanks for this informed explanation. I don’t doubt what you say, but my fuel flow guage reading definitely increases with boost pump on. But as you say, RPM does not correspondingly increase. As mentioned in my original post, when I saw the fuel flow drop suddenly I immediately switched the pump back on again, so maybe that was just a temporary ‘blip’ in the reading, and it would have stabilised after a while. So you are saying that if I lean the mixture with the fuel pump on, there should be no problem then switching it off? Or would it be advisable to first switch off the pump, then lean the engine? I’ve never thought much about this before, but was staring at the fuel guage as I switched off the pump yesterday and the reduced readout was concerning. Alan

What engine and carburettor do you have and do you normally lean on fuel flow or WHAT? Nev Good morning Nev. I fly behind a Lycoming 0320, if that matters. Im looking for guidance from experienced pilots on a very simple issue which I hoped would be informative to others. i have been flying over 20 years myself, and in that time I can’t recall anybody ever telling me to turn off the fuel pump before leaning the engine. Not in my pilot training or in any subsequent flight review. Maybe it’s just so obvious they don’t bother mentioning it! Now I think about it, it is bloody obvious, but I found out through making the error myself in flight. No harm was done, so I’m just sharing the lesson learned and observation I made. I thought that advice is probably better coming from aviators with more experience than I. Somebody like you Nev. So what would you advise? No capitals please! 😱 Alan

Hi team. on a 50km local flight yesterday I was watching my fuel flow and realised it was rather high. As an impoverished aviator I adjusted mix to decrease my fuel usage. Then I realised that, as I sometimes do, I had left my fuel pump on after takeoff and climb. There are no hard and fast rules about turning fuel pumps off in flight so I sometimes just let it keep running on local flights. So, forgetting I had already leaned the mix, I switched off the pump. And my fuel flow plummeted… I don’t think the reduced flow reached the engine because RPM didn’t fall, but the flow guage read close to what it reads on idle. I immediately switched the pump back on, and we went back to normal. Is there a lesson to learn here? Should I always switch off fuel pump before adjusting mix to run lean in the cruise? Nobody has ever told me that before. I don’t want to fall out of the sky. 🤣 Alan

Hi folks probably a dumb question! A couple of years ago when the subsidy came out I bought a Sky Echo. For some reason I never got around to registering and fitting it to my aircraft. I don’t fly much and live in a remote area, fly from my own property and so never had much pressure on me to register. I don’t have any particular reason why I don’t at present. I believe the risk of collision where I live and at the altitudes I fly very low. Has anybody had any experiences using ADS-B to convince them it’s a really good thing or conversely a bad thing? Has it saved your bacon ( avoided collision) or maybe landed you in hot water (landing fees, airspace violations). Has ADS-B had any unexpected consequences? I note now that going online, anybody in the world can now track flights with ADS-B activated. Alan

Nev, I wish you’d come up to my place in the Top End and explain to all the thousands of scorpions that they don’t belong here and should bugger off to the desert instead! And if you can draw away the King Browns too, like the pied piper, it’d be much appreciated…🤣 Alan

A couple of months ago I quipped about a tree falling and crushing a runway marker on my strip… And received some very amusing responses. 🤣 But now I have another aviation incident to report. Or, in truth probably not report… So I got stung by a scorpion in my aircraft. I wasn’t actually flying at the time but was at an out field to refuel. After getting back in and starting up I felt sharp sting in my lower back under my shirt. But since I was strapped in, I couldn’t move freely to investigate. I assumed it was a wasp or a horsefly and thought nothing more of it. Uneventful flight home but putting the aircraft back in the hangar found a scorpion under the pilot seat. Chucked it out. I have no doubt the scorpion originated from my own hangar. I have seen them around the hangar and regularly spray for them and other vermin. But now ten days later I have a big reddened blotch on my lower back which is still a bit sore to touch at the sting site. im not sure what lessons can be learned from this experience. Should preflight checklist include a detailed inspection of every nook and cranny of the aircraft including within seat covers? Is that practical? I spray in and around my hangar and around the undercarriage of the aircraft to discourage passengers boarding… Should I have flown home after an assumed insect sting? I know some people suffer can anaphylactic reactions, but I don’t. Anyway, who is to say how long a reaction will take to have effect? Do you wait two hours, four hours, six hours? Losing the light would be a greater risk than some possible effect of an insect nip. Will this stop me flying? Absolutely not. I’ll keep spraying the hangar and have a good look in the cockpit and brush down my seat before a flight, but hey this is the Top End… Alan

Hi team a very simple question. I use my IPad as my primary flight device but last week flew a few circuits with only my IPhone. I have OzRunways installed on both devices, same account. The latest flight was logged on my IPhone but doesn’t show up in the flight log on my IPad. Can somebody explain how I might copy the last flights over to my IPad? Can I sync the two devices somehow, or do I need to export those flight logs? Could somebody explain how I do that? Thanks in advance Alan

Reporting an aviation incident -of sorts. The Boy and I were on our afternoon stroll along the airstrip when I noticed a tree fallen down directly onto a airstrip marker Gable, crushing it.. What are the chances of that? I will remove the tree and fix the Gable. They are hand-me-downs from RAAF Tindal so have some heritage significance. Who knows….I might even find time to go flying some time? Alan

For those of you that know this stuff… Do military aircraft operate on the same frequencies and ATC systems? Flying in the Top End I have had both fast jets and helicopter pass close to me/under me, and assume they didnt even know I was there. I was carrying ADSB but they weren’t on it… How would separation normally be maintained between a military helicopter and a commercial airliner? Alann

Yes this is all true. My 0320 would run fine on Mogas and I believe may be certified to do so. However, what Lycoming does not approve is switching intermittently between fuel types. I might do so in an emergency ( if no other fuel was available) but basically stick with Avgas. Incidentally, just from personal experience I find Avgas runs smoother and cleaner on various power tools around my property. The small two strokes prefer the lead lubrication and don’t get gummed up with all the aromatics and stabilisers they put in unleaded 98. Scaling up this observation to an aircraft engine, I assume it runs better on specialist aviation fuels. Have not personally experienced plug fouling with Avgas. Cheers Alan

Good point Skippy. But as I don’t use 98 unleaded in my Lycoming that’s of little interest to me…Will be more significant to those flying with Rotax or Jabiru motors… Alan

Hi Team I have a question. Every year I get repeat billed by the ‘Country Airstrip Guide’ people for their latest update. It isn’t cheap, (probably upwards of $50) and they don’t make it easy to unsubscribe. But as far as I can tell there are very few updates and differences year to year. So you keep paying for the same document on repeat. Furthermore, the ‘pilots touring guide’ that comes packaged in Ozrunways seems to contain virtually identical information and Ozrunways itself provides the airstrip diagrams. Can anybody explain to me what is the advantage of a subscription to the Country Airstrip guide? How does it compare with the pilot touring guide, and is it worth having both? Maybe there’s something I’m not getting… Cheers Alan