Ayecapt

I think most of us like the forum as it is now. And that then is the dilema ..... how to keep it operating in the ever changing world of IT.

Perhaps a public group might work, it seems the admins can do most of the things to moderate the group that forum admins currently do . Group Management for Admins | Facebook Help Centre | Facebook

Guess it could, im no expert on social media. Its also possible that closed groups have a membership limit. This alone might rule this concept out. However closed groups are not secret groups. Their existence is not hidden . Especially to tech savvy youngsters. Cheers And hope we can resolve this for the benifit of all forum members and unload Admin of some work!

I am a member of a couple of closed groups on facebook. The admin (group )i think has control over unacceptable posts and who can join the group. And its easy enough to follow a topic. Now let me say outright that i am not a big fan of facebook , but it does have its uses and good points. At the very least there is no software maintenance workload. There are already many aviation closed groups on facebook. A big loss by going to facebook is loss of identity , but perhaps this can overcome by using existing imagery to get a bit of the original site ambience . At our airfield we a young fella still at school, keen as mustard, his preferred comunication method is facebook. And i guess most new youth aviators will be the same. Perhaps we could create a facebook closed group page for recreational flying and simply test it out. Would need 4 or 5 admins to approve new group members and veto inappropriate posts. Run it as a test in parrallel with this site for a year. As to privacy i am not a troll but i dont use my real name or details on facebook, i use a cartoon name an alias , much the same as most of s do here on this forum . So privacy should be no issue. Cant comment on how to do the shop side of things but facebook is commercial. Personally i use the shop. I go there first when i need to purchase aviation stuff . Dont always get what i need there but will buyif its available and priced right. Would not like to see that disappear. To me the shop is a valuable resource. Happy new year. To you all Brian

Money rules the world and us cattle provide the means of obtaining it. We fly cattle class and we live cattle class !

I have often thought that the Sydney basin generates its own weather effects. I cant prove it , but they seem to get many more severe events ( hail strong thunder storms ) than we do here in the Hunter region. Energy cannot be destroyed . So each car , electric train , airconditioner or person simply converts or moves energy from other forms back into heat. Looking at cars alone every bit of energy in the fuel air mixture ends up as heat. Waste heat from engines, rolling resistance and brakes etc . So all this stored energy from fuels ( electricity, oil, gas and food). All enters the atmosphere. It must have an effect on local weather ?

Our Tecnam Sierra is hot on the ground in summer but not an issue in the air. I have noticed High wing types taxying around with doors open to get cooling air inside. So its not just bubble canopyies that have that problem. I taxy with the canopy slid back as far as i need . So i guess keep it in mind but if i liked a design for its performance I would go for it.

I have been thinking along the same lines for some time, but just assumed i must be wrong. Its time to find out! THIS SORT OF QUESTION SHOULD BE FOLLOWED UP BY A ORGANISATION LIKE RAAUS. I will stop shouting now! It will take a legal opinion and perhaps a test case. The other thing is there are a few petty beurocrats working at airports that think they know it. I bet they dont.

You have the enthusiasim. What you also need is patience and cash. If your impatient you will eventually get yourself in the air in a unprepared way . When your learning to fly it can take a bit of time for things to sort of click. We are all different of course. But for most people there will be somthing that just takes a little longer to learn. So patience is needed. The cash... dont bank on doing the minimum 20 hours Budget for more and you will be happy when you have some cash left over to start your xcountry training. Welcome to flying you will enjoy it.

I doubt the diode would carry starter motor current without melting. The diode should only be connected to the 12v input and to the start switch , it should not be connected in anyway to the starter motor positive cable . I have a diagram here that i cant seem to upload . how do you post jpg pics from a ipad ....grrrrr....

Which of the 2 bigger cables has 12 volts on it all the time . And the red end of the diode has it got 12 V on it all the time ( both above might be after the master is on )

Forgot to mention , back emf actually can contain a lot of enegy ( lenz's law ) this energy eventually disappates as heat eg forms a arc at a switch contact thus repeated concentrated heating at the contact melts the contact surface ..... hence burnt contacts. We have all seen them The back emf is formed due to the system attemping to maintain a steady state , ie keep current flowing in the solenoid coil . Additional LC snubbers were often used before solid state devices were rugged enough to do the job . Diodes do a good job but they must be fitted as close as physically possible to the solenoid which is the source generating the back emf. , any wiring to the diode must be as short a possible .

Quite correct, not all aircraft systems have flyback protection. This aircraft does and it seems its not working , or at best doesnt behave correctly when its connected. In general though its good practice to clean the electrical system of unwanted electrical noise. Voltage spikes from the solenoid can destroy sensitive devices , and many such devices exist in our aircraft from voltage regulators to intercomms and radios, a big list of things. Setting aside the technical question, if as a maintainer or a pilot you get a feeling that somthing is just not quite right eg that little flick of a gauge that you have never seen before and it does it again or more often. You gotta at least consider is it a developing fault . Do not ignore the early signs your life depends on it! So i guess chasing a diode issue that may not be completly essential to operating the AC might be thought of as time wasting, its not , in this case i think we will find that the diode was never originally wired correctly and when it failed it engaged the starter solenoid. That is what we are sorting out as to why a replacement diode is not operating in the same way as the old one did. Here is a guess ( no facts yet to suppoert it ) original diode was wired across the switch in reverse, when it should have been across the coil terminals . the back emf from the starter coil eventually zapped it thus engaging the coil full time and starter motor runs. Remove the old diode and all ok. Fitt a new diode but due to inexperience with diodes , its fitted the wrong way round , coil current is carried through the diode and damages the diode, which in turn pulls in the solenoid and runs the motor. We are back to where we started ( no pun intended lol) But lets see what further investigation turns up without facts its all a guess.

Great stuff with your tech background we shouldnt have any probs sussing it out. It doesnt make sense right now but it will in hindsight We should go to private messaging i guess and not clutter up the forum?

Ok well get some photos . One of your multimeter as well And i can explain how to test your new diode , then we can take it from there. By the way im a retired electronics tech and engineer. So with some patience we should be able to sort it out. What airfield is the plane at ?

And neither does anyone else... can you take a photo of the solenoid and diode that shows where it was connected, do you own a. Multimeter?

the 1000 volts is not so important. The diode is used to limit the size of what is called a back emf ( back voltage if you like) the forward voltage that the diode sees is your battery voltage ( 13 volts or so ) what is important is the speed that the diode can change its state and start conducting the back emf when the solenoid is switched off .Schottky diodes tend to be a better choice , somtimes. called high speed diodes and are available from jaycar aviation lol. As a guess im thinking your diode has been wired up so that it is across the start button or switch contacts. If it is and if the diode is shorted the solenoid will engage all the time. But without further info its hard to say with certainty what is going on.

I have no probs with the explanation above, but i think there is somthing else going on.. the solenoid wont operate if the diode is shorted or fitted the wrong way round. In fact if it were fitted backwards it will be destroyed. So im sort of thinking that the diode might not have been wired in correctly in the first place. Snubber diods are connected across the solenoid coil terminals and as close as possible to those terminals. Is this how your diode is fitted?

Couple of screen shots for a Garmin 250 series att . Look at Pin 12 and note 3. As i said you can run into trouble with front end overload. So if the radios have the cross link feature you should use it as well as correct aerial separation. Cross linking is easy enough if you use a mic / ptt changeover switch. Thats about all on this from me.

2 aerials as others have stated . Make sure you correctly cross interlock the two radios. The installation manuals will show you the correct terminls to connect to the other radios PTT . If you dont do this you risk getting very severe and annoying noises from the non transmitting radio. . Due to the tramsmitting radio signal forcing its way through the front end of the receiver on the non tx radio, even if it's tuned to another channel . ( front end overload defeats the recievers selectivity )

Raaus feels its not their fault that Aust post did not deliver sports pilot in time for some members to vote. But who took the decision to include ballot papers in a magazine in the first place? If the election is important then ballot papers should go out by normal mail. Cost cutting decisions like this make the organisation look amatuer.

I dont subscribe to the magazine Election papers should go out by mail and in a marked envelope . No mag here and its the 23 rd. The cost of running elections is fundamental to operating the organisation. You cant cut corners and be able to defend the integrity of the election. If just one member who wants to vote can show that the late delivery of a magazine caused he or she to miss out , then the organisation might have breached the constitution. Magazines go by a second or third grade of mail , delivery is not gauaranteed by a certain date.

Thanks for the reply. I recently suspected that our airspeed indicator was reading LOW . After a bit of checking i found a tee piece in the line that fed air from the rear of the ASI to the airswitch to be cracked . So faults do happen even in simple tube systems. How do you lower the pressure on the open end of your manometer to test the altimeter? Is a big syringe suitable to pull air out . And i was wondering how big a manometer to build? Im guessing to use 16mm dia clear hose about 2 metres long before bending? Or is that too long? Regards Brian

Hi. Read in another thread a bit of banter about accessing CTA and the need to have calibrated flight instruments only if flying into CTA....... Well heres a extract from Raaus tech manual. SECTION 12.4 INSTRUMENT & TRANSPONDER CHECKS 1 AIRCRAFT OPERATING IN CONTROLLED AIRSPACE (CTA) – CLASS C, D, E, 1.1 Aircra that are currently legally permi ed to y in Controlled Airspace (CTA) as detailed in provisions of CAO 95.10, 95.32 or 95.55, must have their instruments maintained in accordance with the provisions of CAO 100.5. The checks are only available through a LAME with specialised calibrated equipment and appropriate licence ra ngs. 1.2 Compass “swinging” is not mandatory, however, CASA AWB 34-008 provides good advice. A compass devia on card should be ed following any compass checking. 1.3 Compliance with the required checks must be noted in the aircra log book. 2 AIRCRAFT OPERATING ONLY OUTSIDE CONTROLLED AIRSPACE (OCTA) – CLASS G 2.1 Al meters must be checked every 2 years against a currently cer ed al meter (a LAMEs test equipment) or other appropriate test equipment (e.g. a water manometer and scale, or GPS) and must not deviate by more than +/- 100 feet, up to the maximum normally expected operating altude of the aircra . 2.2 Airspeed indicators must be checked every 2 years against a manometer or against a GPS using test runs in opposite direc ons; and airspeed indica ons shall not vary by +/- 5kts; and ...........And so on. I wonder if these checks are being done every 2 years?