sleemanj

Rotaries are great, it is not uncommon for them too be used in light aircraft, both from RX7 and more recently RX8 doners. Most recently I think I heard of a T51 with one installed. The primary advantages are, of course, much improved power to weight, far fewer moving parts, and excellent failure modes (very "limpable") if it comes to that, and because no reciprocating pistons they give super smooth running. They do run at high RPM which necessitates a reduction unit - of course in light recreational aircraft we are used to this by now, but those who have spent hours behind chugging lycosaurs are hesitant about these new fangled gearbox thingees ;-) The tales about needing regular rebuilds, are really more based on experiences with hoodlums caning around in turbo'd RX7s at silly boosts, and early developments of apex seals, in my opinion. A modern wankel like in the RX8 is pretty reliable if treated right, apex seals have come a long way. Run premix and you don't even have to worry about an oil pump. Even when it comes to a rebuild, you have to remember, wankel engines really are beautifully simple at their core. They have higher fuel usage than a comparable CC piston engine, but remember, they are producing much higher horsepower than that comparable CC piston engine, so that's not really a valid complaint IMHO. Here's a decent link (more about the 13B from RX7s than the RX8, but gives you an idea): http://www.dmack.net/mazda/information.html Plenty of Video goodies on Youtube if you want some braaaaaap aircraft action.

This excellent documentary recently aired on the BBC, some kind soul has put it on YouTube in 4 parts. Many of you may have read Antony Woodward's book Propellerhead about his antics flying Thrusters around Britain, in this documentary we follow Antony and others as they re-attempt the Around Britain Rally. Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Jf8HT5OzA Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5UwclVAodI Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcU7byWKG7Q Part 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKrov98BGgY

Anybody looking at importing used aircraft from NZ, including the venerable Bantam, the one-stop-shop for online classifieds and auctions here is TradeMe, http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/aircraft/aircraft When you search, remember what you call ultralights we call microlights, so search for microlight.

Empty forums do not an attractive website make. There are no less than 25 forums showing with no threads in them. I know a forum has to start somewhere, but is this kind of micro-managing separation of content really useful, or helpful, or desirable? Doesn't it just make for a website that has a more spartan appearance, is much more time consuming to manage, and doesn't get eyeballs on posts outside of the "high traffic" areas. Even IBM says folders are not that useful in so far as email goes, it's not a stretch to say this applies to forums also... http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/10/0043217/putting-emails-in-folders-is-a-waste-of-time-says-ibm-study Just my 2c.

Negative G in any gyro is not a good thing (can't fly with negative G), but in HTL it's much worse because of likely PPO the instant the rotor becomes unloaded. In well designed LTL and CTL machines a momentary negative G should be recoverable, contrast a HTL (absent things like a massive horizontal stab) even a momentary negative G is going to send you upside down in probably under a second, at that point, it's all over rover.

Center Thrust Line (or Center Line Thrust, as you prefer). Thrust is central to the center of gravity, or as close to as possible. HTL (High Thrust Line) gyros typically have problems with PPO (Power Push Over, aka, Bunt Over, or more simply, tumbling) in that the thrust vector is above the center of gravity and the rotor lift+drag vector is directed slightly rearwards in the gyro if that lift suddenly falls away (negative G typically, really strong gust maybe) then all of a sudden the thrust can tumble you over upside down, this as you can imagine has about a 99% probability in not ending well. The solution is a massive horizontal stabiliser, or a smaller horiz stab smack bang behind the prop, etc. Search for the RAF 2000 if you want to read about HTL issues and solutions that have been devised. LTL (Low Thrust Line) is far safer in this regard (PPO just isn't realistically going to happen), but the disadvantage is getting that LTL means the cockpit needs to be way up high, with requisite weird looking machines. CTL is roughly the best of both worlds. /Not a gyro pilot, but I don't think I've put you wrong with the above, I'm sure somebody will correct me if I have.

Tell you what, if that thing was a twin, it would be one hell of a plane. Reminiscent of a Tecnam P2600T or Partenavia. Love the clamshell doors, very nice.

Yeah, but don't go switching it off until you've let the appropriate people know no assistance is required :-)

Thread dredge! This thread was started back in 2008.

Seems like the PiperSport dealers are as surprised as everybody, sounds like they found out via the press release too. http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2011/110114pipersport_dealers_forming_association.html They are now forming themselves together to continue selling the SportCruiser, as a SportCruiser.

Wow, short foray into light sport there from Piper. Seems a shame, I don't think I've heard any horror stories about dealing with Czech Sport Aircraft, I wonder what the problem was. I guess that hands the "name brand" for light sport over to Cessna then, sounds like Piper has decided that jets are the way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future.

Well if we are being comprehensive, better throw in wankels too. Best of both worlds, simple, higher power to weight, high reliability and good failure modes, and of course everybody knows when you're coming --- Baaaaaaaarrrppppp!

If you're thinking Spacewalker 2, you'd have to seriously consider finding the money for a ***** Radial, who cares about the practicalities! Hmm, it appears that ***** is a banned word. Odd. Google for radial engine Australia and you'll find them. One day. When I'm rich and famous.

Wow, ingenious work there, how long does it take to load/unload?

I don't know about other countries, but you would be able to fly here on your Canadian cert for up to a month an instructor says it's OK (endorse logbook, "supervises" what you are doing). If you're staying longer than 30 days, then getting an NZ microlight pilots cert is no problem, provided you meet the requirements. At a minimum you must sit the Aviation Law exam, the rest can be "cross credited". It's largely left up to the instructor on the ground to decide what certificate level your experience qualifies you for. In New Zealand at least, I don't see any issue with that, sitting law is sensible, and if you're here less than 30 days an instructor can keep you on the right track. In any case, the primary issue here is that different countries have different ways of handling microlights/ultralights/lsa, some keep it close to the government, while others delegate it all to other "user run" organisations. The only real way is to press the relevant organisations to provide for more recognition. ICAO isn't really the vehicle to do that, the FAI is the organisation that should push for such things. NB: Diabetes is not a medical killer here in the microlight (ultralight) world, I am type 1, neither does the failure of an aviation medical have an affect on any microlight medical.

I hope not, at least in so far as the limited US definition of Light Sport Aircraft that goes with it... No multi engine No inflight adjusting of prop No retracts No more than 120 knots Far more limited than we have in NZ, I think the Canadian advanced ultralight is not so limited either? As for the SPL itself, it has problems too, firstly that if you don't have a US drivers licence you still need to pass a full class 3 air medical, and if you fail a class 3 medical at any time even if you have a drivers licence, you are disqualified.

I don't recall the thread. In general: due to regulations very very few operators are doing actual bona fide sight seeing flights using microlights (ultralights to you), I only know of one off hand in NZ, using trikes, at Motueka (close to Nelson), and don't know if they are still in operation. But, you would likely find an instructor who would take you on a... cross country lesson, or a trial flight which happens to be down the coast, or ... Aside from that, there are piles of GA fixed and helicopter sight seeing operators all around the country.

I should add a very brief run down on operating here... Day VFR 500ft min Not over congested areas (ie: towns and cities) Controlled airspace is fine (except over congested areas), but of course you'll need radio and Transponder Mandatory airspace requires a Transponder (unfortunately the club has a Transponder, but it's fitted to an aircraft which is being rebuilt at the moment) PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) is required for trips over 10NM (club aircraft has one of course) PS: Club also have an Airborne trike which doesn't see much use, if you are that way inclined :-)

Closest is the club at Rangiora, http://www.recwings.com/ We have a Rans S6 for club member usage ($90/hr), minimally you'd need to join the club ($70), join RAANZ (.... $65 from memory), checkflight with instructor. (NZ$ of course). The Ashburton Aviation Pioneers (not surprisingly, at Ashburton) have a Jabiru for hire, but I don't have contact details for them. There are two organisational bodies here, RAANZ, and SAC, they both do the same job (handling microlight pilot certificates) in different ways, I'm most familiar with RAANZ as that is the main presence at Rangiora, it has the following provisions for visiting pilots (short term)...

Conversely, turn up the audio! Because it's the very awesome "Uprising" by Muse, which has very distinct similarities in it's intro tune to Doctor Who https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f7aNtsqvtQ

Interestingly off topic but for point of reference, as a NZ'r I find it quite strange that RAAus doesn't publish financials publically, because here an incorporated society (which is what RAANZ is, along with most clubs) is legally required to publish it's financials at a minimum by way of providing them to the government where on they are made freely available to anybody on the web, takes all of ten seconds to get them in PDF format from Societies and Trusts — HomePage, and RAANZ publishes them on their website anyway. RAANZ also publishes it's full training manual on it's website, with no restriction on who can get to it, as does the "competing" organisation, SAC. In my time observing the various RAAus threads here, I've often been surprised at the seeming "business" nature of RAAus, rather than the more "social" (or perhaps socialist) nature we have here. Anyway, idle 2 AM musings, back to your regularly scheduled thread topic.

Ferrari sells sports cars that are fairly expensive. That doesn't mean you need a lot of money to buy a sports car, there is an abundance of good sports cars for not much money, just not sold by Ferrari. Piper (Cessna, .....) sells LSA that are fairly expensive. That doesn't mean you need a lot of money to by an LSA, there is an abundance of good LSA for not much money, just not sold by Piper (Cessna, ....).

The Australasian dealership is in New Zealand Aviation firm spreads its wings to Australia | Stuff.co.nz $185,000 NZ which is something around 150 thousand AU at current rates, + taxes/duties of course, so I'd imagine the total is probably closer to 185 AUD by the time you are done.

Here's a nearly complete Storch, seems a not bad price at 14,000 US. BARNSTORMERS.COM

In NZ we have Class 1 and 2, but the difference is negligible. Class 1 means simply 1 seat, Class 2 means 2 seats. Weight and stall limits are the same if we are talking land planes (544 kg and 45 kt). The only other practical difference between them is that Class 1's do not need an initial permit-to-fly from the CAA (and the requisite test flying programme etc) - still needs ZK registration and annual condition inspection, but deciding if it is aerodynamically safe and structurally strong enough to fly is totally your own judgement. Edit to add: Recently "Special Category: Light Sport Aircraft" has been added to the mix, but this is outside of the Microlight regulations. Basically factory built uncertified aircraft maintained by LAME or approved persons to the factory maintenance schedule, 600kg max weight & 45 kts max stall, PPL required (currently, subject to change), can be used for PPL training, will in (near, for the last decade) future be able to be used for hire-and-reward in "adventure aviation". I predict this category to be quite popular for new aircraft coming into the country, particularly if/when the CAA gets around to allowing Microlight pilots to operate them.