nig71

Thanks for that, had a chat to him this afternoon, he doesn't really make them anymore but is going to make some for himself shortly, he will make some up for me at the same time. He reckons they are 42L per side, will have to watch weight.

I'm interested in long range tip tanks for my rv7 project after seeing some 25L per side ones in an rv6. I live pretty remote and envisage missions like flying out a thousand km for clearing sales and back again. Saving me finding fuel in the wheat belt. The ones I can find are from hotel whiskey aviation. About $2k aud plus freight. I'm told there may be someone making them in Australia. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Adding to the list for south coast western Australia ive just purchased an rv7 quick build kit second hand out of NSW. Should be coming over in a couple of weeks. It'll be a tail dragger with an 0320 in it. I want to put a dynon skyview in with auto pilot. Silver and black paint job. May have a go at airbrushing some flames on the cowl. Slider canopy. Would like a constant speed but will probably go for a catto fixed pitch for simplicity and weight. Lots of conversations to be had. A friend of mine will be doing the lions share of the build, he has made several before. Reckons he might be able too do it in 12 months as long as the year doesn't turn into a full blown drought as far as finances go. Will be based on a farm NW of Esperance.

Got any links to this harness?

Chatting to a professional pilot the other day and he says the task of the pilot is to get the aircraft to the keys as quick as possible and the engine is cooking if you do a runup on the pad. He also said magnetos fail when hot not when cold so do a mag drop after landing in preparation for the next flight. He claims he's never runup his Lycoming (in a cessna 206) and it's a 100 hours from overhaul and doesn't use a drop of oil. Also chatting to the new owner of vixxen and he says he has to wait a long time to get oil temp to 50C for takeoff. He's busy masking off the oil cooler to decrease time required. Is this all necessary? Is it required for the engine life? I imagine in the first 3 minutes that most of metal expansion has occurred in the engine easily accomplished by taxiing straight for takeoff. Major drawback I can see is a fuel issue may not have time to surface until you are at a critical phase of the flight. Ps just got my license a week ago. I see a lot of pilots do shortcuts or change procedures (seemingly vast majority) and I figure as an impressionable inexperienced pilot I should be asking a few questions. Regards Michael.

I knew it would climb better but I had no performance figures to access. A bit more elbow room and not having him reach over and assist on the stick was great. I never knew how much was me and how much was him.

First solo yesterday, had my pre solo exam done a few weeks ago and I’ve been flying one or two days a week weather permitting 2 flights per day. Been working on a good round out and hold off plus my rudder control has been a bit atrocious on the ground. My instructor is always going right rudder. So 26 hours or so of work and I’m nearly in the middle of the runway:). My previous flight was a bit ominous with a bounce and a go around from the bounce (instructors decision) and yesterday we did a normal circuit with a couple of EFATO drills with the last of those probably being my best landing to date (for some reason I almost prefer a flapless or an odd approach. Maybe I don’t have to be as accurate on the approach as a stabilised approach, just watch airspeed and fly the attitude. So second flight of the day we did three pretty normal landings . The day was reasonably cool and it climbed fairly well and for once I seemed to be predisposed to gaining height in the circuit. After three laps good he called a full stop and I reckon I knew what was coming. As I was backtracking a sightseeing flight came out so for once I had traffic to deal with on the runway. This particular pilot is known for taking off from whatever the direction and not doing run ups so I was planning what to do if we came into conflict. I was expecting him to turn onto the runway we were backtracking on ready to go. All went well made exit calls, dropped off my instructor after shutdown. Went back through checklist for start, ran up on pad and went back to runway 22. Had a pray on the way. Lined up checked flap, trim and went for a takeoff. All pretty normal. Although takeoff and climb performance were better I had almost expected them to change my plans a bit. I was thinking to just make sure I extended the legs of the circuit as I thought we would get to altitude quicker and I thought in finals that it wouldn’t descend as easily but flew the numbers pretty well, touched down with a small bounce and taxied back made radio calls and shutdown checks. It was all pretty normal. Not elation as I think I’m pretty level in emotions. Just a normal flight that I’d prepared for and executed without much of a hitch.

Haven’t got one yet but looking at options on a vixxen . Uhf option costs $4250; not bad for $600 unit. I’ve seen one in a photo in a Kelpie and it’s just a GME unit I might use in my ute. It is of course missing the mic and is wired into the intercom.

Is the best way to get UHF in an aircraft to install a dedicated unit in the dash? Is there a way to use a handheld walkytalky through headsets. All I want it line of site communications. Is there a harness available? Seperate key for activation? Or do you use the key on the walkytalky ?

Distance isn’t a huge issue, I’m half an hour away , it is getting free of managing people at work is big. Juggling weather is another issue as good weather for farming is good weather for flying....

So why not 2 hours a day 2 days apart and I assume even a week apart?

Been training since 2013 with many breaks around busy seasons of farm life it’s not adding up to many hours in the air. It doesn’t take long to get back on circuits (half an hour in training area) I just don’t get a long run of weeks without getting busy back on the farm. One obstacle getting overcome on the farm is self sufficient labour but it’s a work in progress. I haven’t soloed yet but feel like it should be in the next 5 hours or so. Last year I started to do 2 flights a day once a week to try and push things along. I guess I’m asking a piece of string question but what do I need to do to get my recreational pilots certificate? Can I do 3 flights a day or will that wear me out? Would 2 weeks at 5 days a week likely push it over? Is accelerating the learning this much actually a help?

All makes interesting reading thanks everyone. How significant is it that it appears the highest compression ratio of commonly used ra engines appears to be Rotax 912? Lowest seems to be O-320. Should this be significant in the choice of octane?

Most Rotax are can run 95, question I guess is; is there any value that is returned to the purchaser by running a higher octane fuel? Do people that get their Cessna stc rated to run mogas have a poorer fuel economy per litre because there is net less energy in mogas?

price difference to me between 95 and 98 is 9c, is it worthwhile? Does the extra octane mean you have more net energy and therefore use less of it? In the real world we probably just get an engine that produces more power and gets off the ground fractionally quicker and climbs better? More thinking about cruising consumption. All things equal is it worth it? It’s hard to notice a 5% difference in figures if going from 95 to Avgas at 100 but anybody have any comparison fuel burn figures to substantiate?