Raytol

I got stung 6 cents/ dollar for a recent exchange from AUD to USD! Don't believe the exchange rates quoted by your bank as they can add fees and charges on top of that as well. I think Zongshen make the Chonda motors in all the cheapy outdoor equipment. Large manufacturer and getting good.

CO is dangerous because it sneaks up on you. I was qualified to do repairs to underground fiberglass storage tanks. Our instructor told us that in this situation it is usual for three people to die. The first person passes out and the second person rushes in to help them. Then later a third person investigates to see why they haven't been seen for a while, and goes in ( by this time the compressor/ generator/ water blaster engine has stopped) and they die as well! I had just finished repairing some methanol tanks at the water treatment plant in Canberra. I was driving home and heard on the radio that just this scenario had just happened on a farm in the area! I was very grateful for all the safety gear I had to use under my Safe Work Management Scheme!

Lovely, concise explanation. Thanks Kasper

I think that C of G and weight distribution only matters on aircraft that don't have all flying tailplanes. All flying tailplanes will keep the stability right up to when the tailplane stalls in both the downward AND upward lift situations. This is one of the biggest advantages of this configuration of aircraft. This means that the pitching moment generated by the wing can be positive OR negative. We flew a Sapphire ( which has the same symmetrical section design as my Grasshoppers, Stingrays and Morgan Aeroworks aircraft) at 66% with no noticeable difference in stability or control. I wanted to go to 99% but the owner chickened out! The symmetrical all flying tail doesn't generate the high coefficient of lift that the "flap" effect does on a TP/elevator system does but it does fly at the minimum drag for the wing/TP situation therefore lowering the overall drag of the aircraft. I can't understand why so many Morgan aircraft are flown at such forward Centre of Gravity's! The ingrained thinking that forward Cof G equals safety is not always correct!

The old saying was " you are more likely to be killed driving/ riding to the airport than flying in your aircraft". Not sure this is statistically correct but it sounds good!

In these days of technology taking over everything, why doesn't someone come up with an voice recognition app on their smartphone that can translate their intentions, that then can be Bluetoothed to the airband radio for broadcast.

The Hoffmann props have a very good system. 3 position, very light. A spring loaded three step collar gives the different blade pitches. Unfortunately, no local prop service centre available now.

Great photo! Thanks Cobalt.

Hi OME, Why not come to Camden and have a look at the latest Sierra/ Cougar. CroMo frame from firewall to seat back. The aluminium tube spar is not the best use of material. It is about the moment of Inertia of the material. I think Bede used to chemically mill the tube to thin the wall at the tip. The best use of materials is a box, I-beam or C section.

I find plastic sheeting a pain with vinylester as it will curl up. I use baking paper which is less slippery, can be folded and stays in shape for ages while wet. If doing repairs, I draw the shape of the repair patches on the baking paper back-to-front and then turn it over before wetting out, so that the drawn lines don't show up on the repair glass! The PVC foam comes in segmented and mini segmented sheets which have a glass scrim on one side to hold the blocks together. A touch of car bog holds things together quickly.

Hi Bruce, Great to have you back. Misdiagnosis!!!! I would love to come and see how you are going with the construction. Ray

I flew an ASW-19 with one water ballast tank full and the other one empty to see what would happen. There was no discernible difference in flight characteristics but on landing, as I slowed down, I could not hold the heavy wing up with aileron. This lead me to think that the load is distributed across the wingspan and the concentration of load is also somewhat spread along the wingspan. This is why pilots can't feel the fuel tanks levels. I guess that is why they put gauges in the tanks to measure the fuel levels!

West System is fantastic for coating timber as it has a "wicking agent" in it to help penetrate the timber. It is ok for laminating fiberglass but there is better. West also have a great range of fillers and other chemicals for different uses which are handy. I am keeping an eye on the cyanoacrylate glues as well. They now have gap filling slower and less brittle ones.

I'm sad to hear this! David and his team did a great job and did not deserve this. There is just not enough people who are interested in flying to have annual AirVenture type show.

Try www.wedgetailaircraft.com.au