Ultralights

this thread is useless without pics tommo! :)

cruise at 5100 rpm, 87 kts, prop, 3 blade Bolly at 21 deg. (according to the bolly pitch gauge)

and be aware of your turbulence penetration speed! and im not talking about the yellow arc!

You are correct in that i do not know any of the facts, unfortunately i have inquisitive mind with similar matters as im studying aircraft and incident investigations through a university. My interest was peaked after being involved in a well publicised fatal aircraft incident investigation myself. my intention is to give what i can back to the community and help prevent future accidents. I made my comments based on all the available info i had at the time, which has now proven to not be factual, and was working through different possible scenarios based on the only info i had available to me at that specific time, just as all investigations begin.. I am truly sorry if i have caused you, or anyone else effected by this tragedy offence by my comments, and offer you my sincerest condolences in this time. Sincerely Rob.

8 forced landing from 19 flights? all engine failures?

i think a lot is the public perception through the news is that Light aircraft are dangerous, the only exposure they get is through news reports, whereas, in the USA where GA is doing well, there are Airshows everywhere, aircraft flyovers at sporting events, a good example was the record RV flyover of a big football game in the US recently, and now the red bull air races at motorsport events, basically, getting general aviation in the public eye, and not through over sensationalised crash reports on the nightly news. a aircraft incident, makes the national headlines, whereas a crash in the USA would be lucky to make the local newspaper.... just today, reading about a beachgoer reporting a near miss at coolangatta yesterday between a QF and Virgin aircraft, even with footage from flight radar, it just that no one mentioned the 1500 ft vertical separation........ an aviation non event, spread all over the news... in a negative light...

scale of economics, sure, there are plenty of rotax engines, 10's of Thousands.... but Hyundai sells cars by the Millions... if aircraft were built on the same scale, we would get identical service and costs with regards to "recalls"

yes, it was VH-EGT, a DR107, or One design, very aerobatic capable, up there in performance with things like Extras

my sincere condolences to all involved with this tragedy.. Also, being a savannah owner, and with my aircraft currently in pieces for servicing and overhaul, i am interested to find out the cause, but i know here is not the place, so ill be patient and wait for a report, if any. Although i dont know the pilot very well, i am still in a little bit of shock, as i know the aircraft, and have spoken briefly to the owner at evan head last year. i guess us savannah owners tend to be like a Clayton's family i guess.. A sad day indeed.

had it happen in a Jabiru LSA, as well as a cherokee, being solo at the time i had no chance of holding it, but fortunately they dont open very far, about 3 inches, and as noisy as anything...

seams a random thing, some go to TBO no issues, well apart from buring as much oil as fuel, but most seam to just well, break.. i want to know how many failures go unreported? also, whats Jabiru like with their service bulletins, i get a new one from Rotax every few months... nice to know things are constantly on the improve.

sorry to hear about the 170, and the dramas it has caused, really does suck the big one! why even bother with warranty at all, only 100 hrs?

i would not be a fan of check valvesin the savannah system, because if running on both tanks, the fuel cant cross feed and find its own level, even trying your best to fly balanced, you will find one tank will drain faster than the other, then it will swap around as the levels drop, no idea why, but fuel does flow both ways between the 2 tanks when your flying... if you have 2 tanks, you might only need to install a tap on one tank, to prevent cross feeding if you dont park on level ground... i have not heard of losing fuel overboard in savannahs with 2, 3 or 4 tanks to be a real issue in flight... only if one tank is brimmed, then the returing fuel going into that tank might cause an overflow.

i would have bought the one way ticket!

i dont have to juggle fuel taps if i dont want to, im fortunate in that i can fly with both left and right tanks feeding, and have no issues with fuel spilling,

i dont have fuel spill issues with my aircraft, only when i stuff up the tank management and the return fuel flows into a full tank, then overflows, i think the peuple that do have some issues seam to not have tap or valve accessible from in the cockpit to shut off each individual tank. and when flying with brimmed tanks, they have a crossfeed/overflow problem.

just install a valve on each tank... i have 3 tanks on my Savannah, fly firstly on the right inboard tank, as the engine return flows into here, and have the outboard right and left tank turned off at the valve. when the right inboard tank is nearly dry, i close it off, and run from the right outboard tank, then run it dry (until the red header tank light comes on), then close it, and then run off the full left hand tank, once this is nearly dry, i turn both left and right inboard tanks on. the return fuel from running on the right outboard and left tank will have refilled it to about half full. both left and right tanks then self level as you have described and usually have about 30% each full....

Just finished with the Elevator, and noticed something that could be considered important.... The Bolt connecting the trim tab pushrod to the servo motor has worn significantly the bolt is located here (new bolt ready for re-installation) i am thinking of making a small busing to go here to prevent prevent thurther wear into the bolt/screw.

good point on the seat belt attach points, maybe the trick would be to use a softer metal to add a little strength, something that will give a bit before deforming and breaking, acting as a crumple zone, but adding enough strength to prevent complete failure before the forces have dissipated completely With the hinge pin bolt, is it a standard bolt in there? with a plate riveted over it? in not getting much idea from the construction manual..

better give an update on the rudder cable pulleys, both were fine, bushing are ok, very little sign of wear, both spun freely and had even wear marks, well, where the cable runs, evenly around the entire pulley. On the Elevator, i found the hinge pin bolt on the right hand side is showing signs of wear, once the bushing had work through, the wear continued into the bolt itself, so i am going to change this plate/bolt assembly. has anyone done this before? i am thinking of a way to modify the end plastic fairing to allow access to this bolt more easily and allow replacement of the bushings at say, every 600 hrs, to prevent the wear into the bolt itself.

great news for a successful test flight

no, i havnt inspected the rudder pulleys, but i will when i get around to working on the lower fuselage in the next week or so. fortunately the rudder bushings on my aircraft we in pretty good condition. actually, tomorrow ill be heading back to the hangar, so ill have a quick look at the rudder cable pulleys.. oh, and one last thing, i found the horizontal stabiliser foam spar has become the home to a few mud wasp nests.. so a small mod will be to add some fly screen to cover the lightning holes on the rear aluminium spar.

Now its time for the tail feather work, just basically replacing flight control bushes, rewire the electric trip tab with lighter and shielded specific aircraft wire, and rerouting the wire to avoid it resting on sharp edges. once removing the elevator to get to the central hinge bolt and bushing, i found serious wear of the bushing and bolt, the bushing itself was worn completely through in 2 places, and then wear is also significant on the bolt in the same areas. bolt is in this area. also i found evidence of movement between the hinge bracket and rear spar of the horizontal stabiliser. this will be fixed by replacing the pop rivets with substantially stronger Cherry max type rivets.

about time for an update, the 1000Hr inspections, overhaul and upgrades continue, fortunately, or unfortunately, we have had a great ski season, and i have spent to many weekends at the snow and not working on the aircraft. Some time ago, i removed the lift strut attache plates due to suspected corrosion, and sure enough, after removing them, i have found some corrosion, noting to deep, but enough to warrant repair, due to the critical nature of these components to flight safety. these are both sides of the upper and lower lift strut plates, on the right hand wing. the Upper piece, with the bevelled edge, also has a nice deep gouge across its width, im not sure how it got there, as i could not see anywhere it was resting on anything.. the material is 2024-T3 according to a rockwell hardness test and 0.110 inch thick. new parts have been manufactured using 7075-T6 material of 0.125 inch thick, as there was nothing limiting its thickness, and 7075-T6 while more brittle is significantly stronger than 2024-T3 the lower plate was remade of 2024_T3 of 0.125 thick, but machined down to 0.110 where it nests between the plates of the lift strut itself. so at its thinest point, the total thickness is 0.015 thicker, and a mix of 70705-T6 and 2024-T3 material. hopefully a good alodine treatment and chromate primer will keep new corrosion at bay, i think its caused by moisture trapped between the plates of the wing and lift strut joins.

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