Vev

Nev, The idea of the twin fins was to take the tail out of the prop wash as you have no independent rudder control at take-off .... during take-off there is close to Zero directional correction required (no prop wash pushing on the fin) and is all done through the front wheel... it almost steers straight all on its own! Once you get the rotation speed you pull it back and it weather cocks in a cross wind. In terms of rudders ... they are more like drags or spoilers vis a vis a Bert Rutan longezi design. The inside rudder sticks out during the turn and the outside rudder practically remains inline with the tail. The Ercoupe design evolved from a competition to build a safe low cost aircraft ... at one stage they were advertised as the "worlds safest aircraft" and had the lowest fatality rate of any private aircraft owing to its inability to be stalled or put into a spin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ERCO_Ercoupe As you know, Fred Wieckes went on to design the Piper Cherokee and Pawnee ... many of the features in these aircraft were first designed in the Coupe back in the late 1930's Cheers Vev

David, Actually you can side slip an Ercoupe ... you simply sick your arm out the window which causes the ac to yaw a little and you get another 500" min of decent. More seriously, there are later models of the Coupe that came with rudder controls or alternatively there is an STC to allow you to fit controls to early models. I have decided to keep my as it was built 65 years ago. I must admit, if you only fly an Ercoupe you could develop bad habits in a conventual ac ... personally I fly several ac and get plenty of stick and rudder exposure to keep me honest. Cheers Vev

Hi Kaz, There was 3 of them at Tyabb up until 2 weeks ago ... one has flown the Coupe and has gone to Wagga (now 2 there) or at least will be there very soon. It has a placard on the panel and clear states it is unspinable ... I've never tried, as I'm unsure how you would stop a spin without rudder control. Might have to take DJP for fly one day! Vev

Hey Tomo, Glad you enjoyed the Coupe (Ercoupe) .... you should have come to Natfly and come for a fly in mine.... may be next year! My one first flew on the 24 April 1946 and will be 66 years old on Tuesday ... as you said, it's a lot of fun to fly with the top down and the elbow out the window. I have yet to do a 25 knot cross wind landing but I have done a few fairdinkum 15 knt cross winds... more than once I've pushed the floor and the brake looking for a rudder. I believe it was the first production aircraft (Bell Aircrobra P39 first warbird) to have tricycle landing gear, although Fred Wieckes (the designer) built a few (I think 4) before the WW2. I've got to tell you, it is the sweetest little thing to land and every landing is a greaser. I'm always amazed at the crowd it attracts and the kind regards people have for the old girl. Couple of mates in Carbon Cubs and the Coupe to Temora from Tyabb Cheers Vev

Nev, Interesting you mention mineral base oils over synthetics ... In my humble opinion, I also favor minerals over Synthetics PAO (polyalphaolefin) owing to their ability to defuse in fuels, particularly avgas because of the low levels of aromatics in isooctane, which is the main constant in avags. There is a lot to be said about the good things that mineral base stocks provide ... Unfortunately the oil marketing departments have sometimes promoted synthetic above their capabilities. Cheers Vev

Hi Dave, I'm 99% sure Shell supply the lubes (Helix) and fuels (V'Power) for OEM 1st fill for all production Ferrari vehicles.... Agip had done some stuff sometime ago but Shell sponsorship is way too powerful in F1 for AGIP. Cheers Vev

I enjoyed the weekend overall, although the crowd and exhibitors were down compared to previous years and I could have done the lot in a day... not sure why things were so quiet ... may be the economic times? However, I wonder if the RAA need to rethink the format and lift the entrainment and professionalism levels and copy the Oshkosh process to get more of the public along? I think there is space to get more flying displays happening, particularly being the home of so many warbirds etc. I did a number of the forums which were very informative and I appreciated the preparation some people made. The Ozrunways forums were very well attended ... even to the point that it overwhelmed the capacity of the audio and visual service.... never the less it was great and can only see Ozrunways becoming a constant pax in every ac. It was nice to see a lot of people from this forums and catch up over a meal, a drink or a chat around a stand. The run home for me was easy going albeit listening to RV's over head at 10,000 ft doing 175 knts and me doing 70 knts in my old Ercoupe made me a little envious. It was good to listen and join in on the chatter over the numbers and could hear all of the chat radiating out of Temora to all of the borders of NSW. Would I attend a 4th year in a row ... I guess I will, but would like to see some more entertainment. Cheers Vev

Not sure where the Jab 160 ranks but it has about 45" with excellent leg room and very easy to get in and out of ... seat can be a bit hard if one skimps on padding, although some have it inbuilt! Cheers Vev

Hi Neil, Thanks for posting the photos .... you managed to get a shot of my little silver Ercoupe. Cheers Vev

Thx Neil, Look fwd to seeing your photos. We have 3 Ercoupes at Tyabb (75% of the Aust fleet), all of our are 1946 415C models ... we didn't get to fly them yesterday as the cross wind was over our show display limit, albeit the limit is much lower than normal ops. DJP ... love the old flick that Hans posted. Cheers Vev

The Tyabb airshow is on tomorrow ... hope to see a lot of you guys there? http://www.tyabbairshow.com.au/ Cheers Vev

Good advice Nev re doing a daily pull through as this really does tell you a lot about condition of the top end. One of the things I have learnt is to fly all Jab engines hard ... this keeps them cool and will give them the best chance of a long life top end. Keep pumping that fuel through and they will remain fat dumb and happy little engines. Cheers Jack

Hi Mark, Yes I did import and it wasn't all that hard to do, save a couple of small dramas with the shipping documents. So long as the ac was registered (mine was FAA) and you get the appropriate documentation from the authorities to say it is unregistered, it's all very easy to transfer over to RAA. The costs were: Inspection, transport (ferry flt), disassembly and packing, container, shipping and insurance, customs clearance and GST ... plus any transport costs back to your airfield and reassembly. I did the reassembly myself but had it check by a LAME and did a full inspection check after the event ( I think the inspection process is now dropped by RAA) but I personally think another set of eyes is worth every cent. The total costs from USA to Aus was about $8k +gst. I did a direct ship from the West Coast USA, rather than via Singapore (Cheaper), which saved 15 days of sea time but cost $1200 more. I had the engine pickled with oil and crystal absorption spark plugs fitted as well same in the exhaust. I would recommend that you go and look at the ac and take a good LAME with you to inspect ... I did a lot of prep and made sure I had a comprehensive check list of things to look at. Make sure you weight the ac, mine was spot on, but I have heard of huge dramas with over weight ac from Europe ... don't ever believe the documentation, check everything to make sure. Make sure all modifications are recorded and that all STC and FAA 337 are available ... cross check the logs and docs to make sure everything is correct and accounted for. Good luck. Cheers Vev

Hi Brain, Sounds great mate ... 0.02 is a fabulous result. Come on over to Tyabb and you can have a go at my two ac ... I'm sure there will be others interested too? Cheers Vev

Bob, Touch base with me when you get down and I'll get you up close. Cheers Vev

By the way ... we will have two Vampires at the Tyabb airshow on the 4th March. One duel seat doing an air display and a single seater on the viewing line. Both very nice examples of an incredible aircraft. Cheers Vev

Hi Brian, Portable EGT/CHT sounds good mate ... this will be a great help in sorting out top end durability in Jabs. Look fwd to hearing how you go with dynamic balancing gear when you get to it? Cheers Vev

Hi Brian, Have you used the DynaVibe yet ... any report? Cheers Vev

I found this an interesting video from EAA. http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=666091412001 Cheers Vev

Thx Scotty, This list is very helpful. av8, Yes mate we are running 4 of them now and have a couple of C162 inbound as well ... RAA training is going great guns. Cheers Vev

Hi Scotty, Nice to hear it may be low impact in Oz. We have 4 rotax powered Gazelles in our school and was wondering what the impact may be. Btw ... cant see the spread sheet you mentioned?? Cheers Vev

The urgency on this is quite tight being 4 hrs or 30 days of the lesser ... it feels like there is potential for a significant cost impost to owners as well as lost revenue to schools, I do hope Rotax will address this. Cheers Vev

Personally I like to see engine lube sump temps between 80 - 100 c Engine lubes will hang together in terms of the chemistry out to 160- 180 deg c depending on the base stock oil used, however anything over 110 deg (sump temp) usually suggest the lube is being exposed to temp spikes (ie in the rocker chest) ... this will cause a potential for cracking the base oil and causing oxidisation issues. Equally, very cool oil is not idea either, as it can hold water and not activate the additive package in the lube to give proper performance or protection. It's a bit like the story of the 3 bears ... not too hot, not too cold but just right! Cheers Vev

G'day Andy .. Nice to see u drop in