Samuel117

It is a shame to fly a drifter with an empty seat! Happy to see that others have the same approach. Last weekend I flew from Miami to Sebring and back in one day for about 300 miles round trip for a light sport aviation expo we have in Florida every year. It was a bit cold but beautiful weather. My passenger was an airline pilot that changed his Airbus for the Drifter that day. The problem, after 30 minutes flying he started calling on the intercom for the stewardess to bring coffee and to turn off the air conditioning. Our flight back was great and we were racing trains and cars with little success but we had fun day of Drifting.

I can understand the good will of every one commenting on the video. Safety should be the first priority in everything we do these days. Fun has to be the second one, otherwise recreational flying will become extinct before long. Constructive criticism like the comment from the moderator will go farther than vicious attacks. Myself being so far away, have found in this group and in the forums the help and the camaraderie of the people that love to fly the Drifter. For that I am grateful. I hope one day I could meet all the people involved and have the opportunity to learn more. Until them I will try to treat every one with the respect and consideration I have to my closest friends. As friends, if any one of you find any videos as beautiful as this, please share it. My e-mail, familianodal@ yahoo.com. Thank you.

Amen!!

Oh come on!! Let's give the guy a break. The story goes like this! I would like to inform you all my ultralight was taken from my hangar by an unknown individual as well as my flight helmet. When I found out there was a note left over the pilot seat, 20 dollars bill and a video card. The note goes like this" I am sorry but I could not resist the temptation to fly your beautiful bird. The video I took and you can make yours if you want and please posted as my posthumous gift to myself ". It looks this was the kind of jokes of a ghost of a Drifter's flyer. Again, beautiful flight!!

Beautiful way to start 2015! Thank you for your video.

Some Clouds are known to contain large pieces of aluminun that could actually damage the air intakes of your Rotax!

Here few pics from the Austflight drifter modified with a 912 flying in Miami, Florida.

well, this is not the first time it happens and surely it won't be the last. there have been cases of desperate Cubans that tried this way of travel to be able to escape the country. Some died, others were more lucky. It is amazing what the human body can do to survive under such terrible conditions. In Cuba this mode of transportation became so popular the government it is now forced to check the landing gears of every international flight to prevent this from happening. Sad but completely true.

Deskpilot, you just nailed with your description of the flight.I could not articulate it better. I have to admit the video makes it look closer to the water that it actually was. the airplane has virtually no blind spot up front so it is very easy to scan birds and obstacles. Early on my training I found that in case of a need for an forced landing I would find myself ill prepared to be able to maneuver effectively close to the ground in order to avoid obstacles and to place the plane on a very tight spot if I needed to. practicing maneuvers at 1000 feet more did nothing to really improve my chances. Living in South Florida, Miami is a very narrow stripe of a city bordered to the west with a swamp called The Everglades and to the east you have water. Imagine if you fly here, every time you face the possibility of a forced landing on an Alligator's infected swamp if you go west. To land on any place you could find within the city or if you fly east the chance of going down on the water. with a Bravo airspace you are limited to fly lower than a 1000 feet if you would like to enjoy the beach by air so you better be an optimistic. I still find my trip to work everyday a very dangerous business with the road full of sleep deprived, inattentive and even drunk drivers riding big trucks just ready to kill you without a warning. I don't advise this kind of flying to anybody and actively discourage anybody to take chances. The improved aerodynamics very close to a calmed sea on a bay gives the incomparable sensation of floating on a laminar flow that I did never had the chance to experience before.

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The CG was likely the main reason why the previous owner did not installed the belly tank. My main tank has the strip but for some reason the lower half of the strip it is so dark it does not show the fuel level. About the CG people seem to disregard the importance staying within the approved limits. I remember once getting a ride on a Maxair Drifter 503 Xp. The pilot was about 200 and I was 220. Full fuel with. 14 gallons on two tanks behind the passenger and the airplane did not seem to notice it. I got so scare some time later when I found out about the weight limit of the rear passenger being about 180 pounds. Right now there is a super Drifter being sold at Barnstormers.com and the owner claims to have had a 250 pounds passenger with no problem. In my experience with RC airplanes as you move the CG back the airplanes gets more agile up to a point in which get so out of control that it is impossible to recover. Any stories about CG issues in the Drifter's history?

M61A1, Thank you very much. Your comments cleared up my questions. My tank does not have a sender to let me know about fuel level. Actually my main tank does not let me see the level of the fuel lower than middle upper part of the tank. That already is a concern to me. At this point if I add the belly tank still leaves me only with the approximate calculation based on flight time. Unless you fill up the upper tank you won't be able to say how much fuel you have left. An alternate route will be to fit a couple of clear fuel tanks often used in US for the super Drifter currently in production. This has the advantage of two clear tanks with a simpler fuel system but will decrease the allowed weight on the backseat due to CG constraint. I hope they will bring some kind of fuel level warning. it is almost impossible to see from the front seat. The use of a mirror could be an option. The use and installation of the two US tanks will add considerable expending and time to the equation. Let me go back to the drawing board and see what I come up with. Thank you again.

Hi every one, I have to admit before hand that I read the previous sections about belly tank installationand for that I thank you all.My problem, I have zero experience and need to install a belly tank to my drifter. I need all the info I could find. This are my questions: 1- what do you use to attach the metal strips that holds the tank to the belly? Bolts?, rivets? 2- my tank has two fuel connections on the back and a draining and one on the front on top,close to the filling cap. The lower one goes to the engine. The upper on the back should bring fuel from the upper tank? 3- the one on the front on top is the breather? 4- I have no clue if my tank has a low fuel warning device but it came with the green and red lights on the box. Note this is an used tank. Actually looks pretty old to me. I have no clue how the wiring should be made. 5- by now you know who is the fool on this post but still, I need help. Any diagram or article or any advise on how to test the tanks for leaks will be appreciated. Before asking I have tried to find any info about this but I could not find anything on this. By now and thanks to your early posts I will use the top tank to gravity feed the lower one. If anybody has any data on this I would appreciate if you could email me any time. My email [email protected]

I will try this technique this Sunday! thanks again

Hi Tex, I can see your point. I will adjust the circuit to make it tighter, even with plenty of possible forced landing spots there is nothing like the soft grass of your home base airfield. I am just getting used to the airplane and still faster than I need to be on down wind, base leg and final. to be honest the airplane seems to love 5o. If I slow down more on down wind while keeping the same altitude like to 45 or slower it shakes a bit and man it reminds me so much an impending stall that I trained myself to avoid while flying on Cessna 172s! I have noticed that when I cut the power it glides so beautiful and smooth down to touch down without the dirty air off the propeller and then she floats like a kite. At altitude I have done slow flight and tried stalls and It starts mushing at 36 with a nice break at 34-32 so nice and with the wings level. I need more time with the airplane I suppose and then when I get over with the worries about the "Drifter's essential tremors" I will stop shaking myself at slow speed and that maybe will solve the issue. Thank you again for your advise. It is welcome anytime. Sam.

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Hi Justin. Thank you for the tips about starting the 912. I have nothing but good things to say about your help with the airplane. Really grateful. I posted a short video last night. Come to fly the Drifter any time.

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Hi Justin. Thank you for your help. if the weather holds tomorrow morning i will try the proper way to start the drifter. I have nothing but good things to say about your airplane and you have my respect for the great job you did with the modifications. Thank you again and I'll post a small video on this site so you can enjoy the airplane until you decide to come to Miami and fly it again.