danny_galaga

It's definitely Denso, and pretty much down to one or two models. Just the question of rotation. Surely someone must have a loose Rotax starter they can chuck some jumper leads on?

Also, I've lost interest in the whole thing. I doubt I'll own my plane long enough for there to be any problems

I'm still convinced my BMW starter is the one so I'm staying out of this discussion 😄 Other than to say all of these motorcycle starters should have an oil seal because they all have the shaft going into the gearbox

I saw Brian today at the airfield. At first I didn't recognise him. I said "Christ almighty Brian! Did they have to remove your moustache as well as your wings to get you out of the wreckage?" He's in good spirits. Sold the wreck already. Apparently it will be used as some sort of static display. I've seen the video now. He tells me he climbs at about 1000fpm as it's a pretty spritely plane. The video shows that was roughly his climb rate that day. The engine quits only a second or so after he establishes the climb. He did a long take off so to some people it might look like he's just hauling it into the sky, but he's going pretty quickly by then. He MAYBE got 300 feet AGL. Within a second he had already pitched the nose down. I feel that's an impressively quick reaction. Unfortunately he says the glide is ball park the same as a Drifter, roughly 5:1. He disappears from view behind a large tree at that point. When all is said and done I think he did a good job. He kept flying the plane, there's not much you can do from there other than try not to hit the biggest trees as it's a pretty rough paddock. A few hundred feet higher and he could have made the next paddock, which is much more undercarriage friendly. Pic shows view from end of the field, at the road. Trees centre left I THINK is where he ended up. I sometimes have a chat with the horsies to right. I must remember to bring them carrots one day. Look at the lovely flat, green paddock just a few hundred metres too far away. Apologies for quality of the pic. Cheap phone plus overcast day equals 1999 webcam quality 😄

The most important thing is he is safe, and you have video that could be helpful. Being Ra Aus that's the end of the line investigation-wise. It would be instructive to see the video. Or at least contact Brian so he can view it and comment on it. Not remembering what happened doesn't mean he did anything wrong. Don't make it about you. Enlighten us, but don't get upset that we are finding it hard to follow your posts. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a video worth? Why describe it when you can just show it?

Thanks for the detail. Are you saying you observed two problems? That he pulled up violently/prematurely and that after he did his engine also failed? Could it be then that he could climb at that steep angle normally, but this time the engine quit on him? Incidentally, I just bought Divinyls - What a Life on vinyl. Been getting into LPs again and that was one of my favourite albums back in the day 🙂

I feel your pain!

Hi Richard, I don't want to bust your balls about this, since you are a very rare thing- a witness who knows about aircraft and who filmed it. The devil is in the detail here. How far do you reckon he was from you when you hear the engine quit in the video? If he was say about 300 metres away from you, you have to wind back the video pretty much a full second. That is where the engine actually quit. I don't know enough about this configuration of biplane. Could it be that trimmed for takeoff under full power, it would be inclined to pitch up with an engine failure? Or maybe when the engine has quit, he has pulled back to gain height and then pitch down for glide?

Hopefully I can get back to the airfield this weekend and I can see how he's going

Good point, hadn't even thought of that.

Hi Richard. Do you think the pilot may have had some sort of problem? Either airframe issue or perhaps maybe a medical drama of some sort? Having watched a number of flights it doesn't seem like something he would deliberately do? Was the engine running smoothly through the whole thing?

And there it is. Some people just can't see someone else's point of view. I think you've just invented the 'triple down' 😄

I Think a simple apology to him would have been nice, instead people, including you just doubled down. A simple apology and move on. The original thread has been edited but you can see he had a valid point.

Indeed, not too long ago a guy joined up on this forum purely to inform everyone he had not died in a crash like some people were saying..he was not best pleased and I don't blame him for being upset about it.

Important thing is he is alright. That fuselage sure gave him some crash protection 😲

I believe it was a one off. The current owner bought it and finished it.

It was a delight to see and hear it flying

Nope. (My hangar on the right of the plane) https://www.planesales.com.au/details/Listing/Single-Engine-Propeller/9982/2023-Scamp-2023

Hmmm, according to the report, the pilot is in his fifties, but I'm pretty sure the owner is older. So either a typo or someone else was flying. He was selling the plane.

That makes sense. The hangar to the left with the plane in front of it is where I keep my plane. The paddock straight across the road from that hangar is quite scrubby. I sometimes go over and chat to the horses in it. The scenery in that video looks like it's that paddock now you mention it.

Im pretty sure I know which plane this is and have talked to the pilot a number of times, nice fellow. If him, it's a Rotec powered biplane. Glad he's not seriously injured. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-17/light-plane-crash-scenic-rim-boonah-airfield-queensland/104360076

Did you end up mounting them NOT on the engine, or just reused the original mounting bracket?

Picked up the plans for the club racer today. This is the OS 15 I got for my 12th birthday. Looks a little sorry now. But some WD-40 and an old toothbrush should make it look a little more respectable 🙂

I don't have direct experience with them, but these aftermarket 912 ignition modules have been praised by various people https://www.ignitech.cz/en/vyrobky/bikes/rotax/rotax_912_and_914/rotax_912_and_914.htm They also have enough wiring to mount them NOT on the engine, just like they should be in the first place 😄

So the 'club' racer is a slightly reworked plan of the 1940's KK Phantom . I will pick up a plan from them this Sunday. It will be ages before I build it, but in my spare time I can get a kit of parts ready. I'll make patterns for the main parts as I'm pretty sure I'll build at least 2. The first is the homage to Dad and 12 yo me, and will be quite standard. Once I've done some flying with that one I'll know how to finesse the next one. The one in the photo I think has something like an ED 2.49 or similar diesel. They are quite potent and like full size diesels have a better duration so great for team racer or similar. I'm using my original OS .15 glo which might be roughly the same power but of course will have a higher fuel burn rate. I'm going incorporate the name Cherokee as part of the homage. But not on its own. Any ideas? It can be corny because , well I'm 12 yo again ☺️ For instance Cherokee Dream or Cherokee Spirit