Aeroprakt factory visit – 2

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Scott

Independence Square Kiev – the Maidan

Friday 5 September was taken up with a visit to the centre of Kiev, as well as a tour round the factory, a visit to the Aeroprakt airfield, just outside Kiev, and of course business discussions, questions and answers. Our host was Alexei Zhurba, one of the senior people at Aeroprakt, who speaks excellent English.

First though, Kiev is a beautiful city, made even more attractive by the late summer sunshine and 23-24 degree temperatures. There are tree lined streets and stunning architecture, much like many other European cities. We visited the ‘Maidan’, the square where all the unrest and fighting took place earlier this year. I found it almost impossible to imagine what happened here such a short while ago, although the seemingly endless memorial shrines to those who died are a shocking reminder. The city is now calm and the square has been largely cleared and repaired. All I can say is that those of us who have lived all our lives in the relative peace and security of Australia, and other westernised countries, are very lucky indeed.

Onward to the Aeroprakt factory, where it is very much business as usual. We met with several people, including Yuriy Yakovlyev, the CEO and A22 designer, Oleg Litovchenko, his business partner, and Nina, the sales and distributor liaison person. I have posted some more factory pictures in the Foxbat Pilot Flickr photo album.

Late in the afternoon we arrived at the airfield and were lucky enough to catch a few circuits in one of the Club A22LS aircraft, under the watchful eye of right-seat pilot Yuriy.

There is much more to report, including the availability of the 912iS Sport engine in new A22LS aircraft, a retro-fit engine mount and cowling to enable earlier 912iS engines to be upgraded to the higher spec 912iS Sport for Foxbats already delivered, a potential external power supply socket, a different tyre & tube option, and much more.

I’m aiming to cover as many of these as I can in future posts…so watch this space!

Saturday, we are hoping to get in some more flying at the airfield and expect to meet some more Aeroprakt people in a more social setting.

Aeroprakt factory visit – 1

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Scott

In spite of misinformed rumours to the contrary, I can confirm (again) that the Aeroprakt factory is operating as normal. Here are just a couple of pictures taken today. Currently there are around 5 A22L2 aircraft in production, and 4 A22LS, including a couple of A22LS orders I just placed for an owner in the Philippines.

Later today, Doug King (New Zealand Foxbat agent) and I are going to the Aeroprakt Club airfield to do some flying on this gloriously sunny day in Kiev. More news soon…

New Rotax Service Letter

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Scott

Rotax has issued a new Service Letter – SL-912-014 R4 – concerning the use of non-Rotax parts on their engines.

They are concerned that after-market manufacturer claims of more power and/or lower fuel consumption through the addition of these parts may compromise the reliability and safety of their engines.

In particular, Rotax quotes that unauthorised replacement piston kits, after-market turbo-chargers and fuel injection systems have all caused engine failures. They also list cheap oil filters, replacement crankshafts and electric starters as causing problems.

Bearing in mind the price of Rotax spare parts, I suppose people can hardly be blamed for considering cheaper alternatives – however, as a friend repeated to me only the other day (about something completely different) – “cheapest is not always the lowest cost”. When it comes to my life, I think I’d rather stick with the genuine item, which has already been exhaustively tested. At my age, I’m not really up for being a guinea pig.

At least Rotax puts a huge amount into the development and safety of their engines – which is more than can be said of some manufacturers. With well over 50,000 912 series engines out there, they have plenty of experience. Not for nothing have they become the engine of choice for many manufacturers and home builders.

Personal Locator Beacon (PLB/ELT/EPIRB)

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Scott

My personal locator beacon (PLB) battery expired recently – not, I hasten to add because I have been using it but because the battery has a finite life (in this case, 7 years), during which it is guaranteed to operate.

The beacon I have is a GME 410G, a superb, small, accurate and relatively inexpensive unit. My initial call to the GME service centre suggested they would change the battery free of charge – “great” I thought, after all, there’s not much aviation that’s free these days….But after trekking all the way there, the service person told me this was only applicable to new units (ie sold recently) not to mine. They would replace the battery for me at a cost – which was actually not much less than the cost of a new unit. And their replacement battery was only warranted a year, whereas the complete new unit has a 7-year warranty.

So buying a new unit became (almost) a no-brainer.

I started to look for a supplier. It soon became clear that aviation stockists charge a higher price than marine stockists. I guess this is because there are more boaties out there than pilots, but the difference between suppliers can be quite substantial. In fact, one marine stockist actually quoted me less than the replacement battery cost from GME – so it pays to shop around.

Overall, though, the coast works out at less than A$45 a year – less than a dollar a week – for legal compliance and at least some peace of mind if you do have to put down in the middle of nowhere. The GPS-equipped GME gives a re-assuring accuracy of around 100 metres.

An important point to remember: your PLB must be registered when new and then re-registered every two years with the AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) and their sticker applied to it. A CASA contact tells me that out of date PLB stickers are a common issue at ramp checks – remember, you must have a working, registered beacon if you fly more than 25 nautical miles from your base airfield.

A22LS Foxbat – advanced short take-off

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Scott

Mike Rudd has made a new video showing how to take-off in your Foxbat in half the normal distance.

Click here for the full 2-minute story: Foxbat – advanced short take-off technique

In summary:

– line up on the runway/take-off area
– do not apply flap, keep the elevator neutral
– apply the brakes and increase throttle to full power
– when full power is reached and stabilised, release the brakes
– be ready to correct the nose swing more than normal due to the full power
– as the airspeed goes through about 25 knots, smoothly pull on full flap and nudge the controls back a little to ‘unstick’ the aircraft
– fly level until the airspeed builds above 50 knots, then climb away as usual

This technique is useful on short strips or take-off areas which are soft.

CAUTION: be careful if the take-off area is covered with gravel or stones, as it is very likely the prop will be damaged if you apply full power when static on the ground. There is a slightly different technique for short field take-offs in these circumstances.

Here’s another link to a YouTube video of a Foxbat doing a short take-off using this technique.

VHF aircraft radios are not all the same

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Scott

Not all VHF aeroplane radios are made to the same standards….and some can be prone to pack up when you least expect it. Like how? Well, as in many things in life, basically you get what you pay for. A cheap radio can mean cheap performance and reliability.

All plane radios are built to a specification, part of which is the selling price. Cheaper radios often – but not always – use cheap components. Cheaper because their tolerances are lower, there’s a higher fault rate for each batch of components or the circuitry is designed to leave out some potentially more expensive protection systems.

A case in point is voltage ‘spikes’. In the olden days, it was vital to switch off the radio before starting or stopping the aircraft engine. This was to make sure there were no sudden high voltages slamming through the radio. These sudden high voltage ‘spikes’ can wipe out all sorts of bits in the radio.

But modern radios have mostly been designed properly, use good quality components and are not prone to meltdown when you start and stop the engine. Unless….

Here’s an example – the radio works perfectly for a few weeks, even months. Then suddenly it stops transmitting, right in the middle of an approach to land at a busy airfield. You can hear everyone OK but they can’t hear you.

“Oh dear – you’ve had a voltage spike says the manufacturer, it’s damaged our radio. It’s the aircraft wiring/the way you use the radio/the weather’s too hot/too cold/too wet/too dry”. Anything but their fault. But really it is their fault – for using cheap parts and circuits which do not cope with the occasional voltage spike.

We all know who these makers are. But we still want cheap radios, so we risk cheap performance and a maker that isn’t interested in a warranty claim because they say it’s your wiring/weather/engine/airframe maker – anyone but them.

Switch them off I say. Buy a good radio from a well known manufacturer like Garmin, Becker, Icom, Funkwerk, TRIG, Bendix King, Apollo, etc etc. It is a real case of cheap is expensive. One day your life might depend on it.

Oil stains on the bottom of your aircraft?

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Scott

One or two Rotax-engined aircraft owners have commented to me about ‘overflow’ from the oil breather tube which comes out of the Rotax oil reservoir/tank – often leaving a big brown stain all over the bottom of the aircraft. This can be very noticeable and leads to all sorts of concerns about what’s causing the tank apparently to become pressurised and release oil overboard. In fact, the amount of oil is very small, but the slipstream spreads it everywhere. Often, once the paint is stained, it’s almost impossible to clean off.

I’ve even heard from engineers, who are convinced there is something seriously wrong with the engine. While I’m not ruling this out in all cases, sometimes the problem is much simpler. There are basically three items to check before investigating the engine:

First, make sure the oil level is correct and not above the top mark on the dip stick after ‘bleeding’ (often called ‘burping’) the engine. Second, make sure the breather tube exits correctly through the cowling under the aircraft – contrary to one engineer’s assertion, the breather tube should NOT terminate INSIDE the cowling – see the Rotax engine installation manual.

Oil breather tube restricted

Oil breather tube unrestricted

Finally, have a look at these two photos. One shows an oil breather tube with a kink in it. The other photo is of a correctly installed tube. As you can see, the kinked tube is brown – mainly due to oil staining – and so is the bottom of the aircraft. The correctly installed tube, with no obstructions, is clean as is the bottom of the aircraft. It is essential that the oil reservoir is free to breathe!

So, before you start worrying about major engine problems, check the oil overflow tube. If It’s brown and discoloured, make sure it isn’t kinked or tied too tightly with cable ties. If necessary, replace it – or get a qualified engineer to do so. Bunnings Aerospace has an excellent selection of quality plastic tube which will do the job very nicely. Make sure the replacement tube is correctly cable-tied and routed away from the exhaust. And ensure there are no kinks or pinches in it.

Chances are, the overflow/breather problem will disappear.

The myth of the downwind turn – again

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Scott

Here’s one which will always stir up some discussion – “there’s no such thing as a stall caused by turning downwind”.

It is common among pilots, even experienced pilots (and even the UK’s CAA and USA’s NTSB believe it or not) to refer to accidents caused by a downwind turn and the ‘increasing tailwind component’ in such turns.

It goes like this: the aircraft takes off into 15 knot head wind and makes a 180-degree turn downwind. If it turns quickly, the 15 knot headwind has ‘suddenly’ turned into a 15 knot tailwind, a difference of 30 knots, so the aircraft has to be accelerated to maintain flying speed or it will stall as it turns.

In reality this is complete rubbish and totally ignores the fundamental fact that the aircraft flying speed is a function of its speed through the air, not of its ground speed.

Better aviation minds than mine have written about this subject and explained the physics in depth, so I’m not aiming to repeat it all here. Enough to say that the aircraft is moving in its medium, like a boat on a river or even a passenger on a train. If you walk up and down inside a train, you don’t notice any acceleration or deceleration – because there isn’t any. It’s the same with an aircraft in the air.

If there are any demons in turning downwind, they are the same as for any other turn: reduced lift due to bank angle, reduced airspeed due to the pilot inadvertently pulling back on the stick, etc.

Here’s a link to a short amusing article by Peter Garrison in an old ‘Flying’ magazine – ‘The last word on downwind turns – really’

Here’s an article in Australian Flying magazine which explains it all very clearly: ‘Dragons of the downwind turn’

To prove it for yourself, next time you go flying, look for a bit of wind – maybe 20 knots or so aloft. To re-assure yourself – just in case anything goes wrong – climb up to about 3,000 feet and point yourself into the wind, flying straight & level. Then execute a reasonably rapid – maybe 30 degree bank angle – 180 degree turn down wind. Do it level with the slip ball in the middle and watch the Airspeed Indicator. Stays steady OK? Now repeat and watch the ground speed on the GPS – increases OK? Feel any acceleration?

What does your plane smell like?

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Scott

I was just taking off the other day when I caught an unmistakable whiff of fuel. In the event, the smell disappeared quickly and turned out to be the dregs in my fuel tester cup, which I hadn’t properly emptied. I keep the tester in the wing root storage pocket of my Foxbat just above and to the left of my nose.

This brief experience set me to thinking about aircraft smells generally, and how sometimes it’s all too easy to dismiss an unusual odour – however faint – as nothing worth worrying about. But here are a couple of true stories about how you should listen to your nose – if you know what I mean.

First – coolant. A few years ago, I was flying an aircraft home just after maintenance. Like the Foxbat and many other Light Sport Aircraft, this one was/is powered by the Rotax 912 liquid cooled engine.

Burned coolant hose

About 15 minutes into my planned 20 minute flight, I thought I could smell coolant – that peculiar metallic hot water and anti-freeze smell. The cylinder head and coolant temperatures were steady, as was the oil temperature. But the smell wasn’t going away, even if it wasn’t getting any worse. Luckily my destination was soon within gliding distance, so I throttled back, made a radio call and landed without completing the usual circuit.

It turned out the engineer had moved one of the coolant radiator hoses during maintenance. When the cowlings were replaced, the hose had made a slight contact with the nearby exhaust, enough to burn a tiny hole, through which coolant was dripping onto the exhaust. I should have picked up this proximity during my pre-flight but didn’t. In fact with the top cowling off, the hose was a millimetre or two clear of the exhaust underneath it. But replacing the cowling, to which the coolant radiator was fixed, was enough to move the hose slightly and enable contact with the exhaust. The manufacturer subsequently issued a service bulletin requiring a specific clearance between coolant hose and exhaust. They have now re-designed the installation to avoid the problem.

Next – exhaust. Many years ago, I was flying another Rotax-powered aircraft, fitted with flexible exhaust tubes connecting the manifolds to the muffler. In flight, I thought I could smell exhaust fumes. Being an unfamiliar aircraft, I wasn’t sure if this was a trait of the aircraft or a real problem

Burned oil filter

However, I opened the air vents in the doors and decided to make an unplanned landing a few minutes later at the nearest airstrip. Sure enough, one of the exhaust tubes had slightly fractured. Most worrying – the hole pointed the escaping exhaust gases directly at the oil filter canister and it was only a matter of time before it would have burned through. If oil had escaped onto the exhaust in these circumstances, I really don’t want to think about the possible outcomes.

So get to know your aircraft’s typical smells and whether it’s the unusual smell of exhaust, fuel, coolant, oil or brake linings – listen to your nose and take immediate action!

Anyone else had a similar experience?

Foxbat Glider Tug

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Scott

The Foxbat is used successfully in several countries as a glider tug and was recently tested in both Australia and New Zealand to find out just how capable the aircraft might be for this purpose.

Below is a synopsis of the New Zealand experience and a link to a video covering the Australian testing. The NZ Foxbat was a standard 100hp Rotax 912ULS powered A22LS fitted with a KievProp series 283 (71″ diameter) propeller and a Tost glider release hook. The Australian aircraft was identical, except that we used the 68″ WarpDrive propeller with tapered tips, which customers more commonly order for best cruise.

[As a short aside, after the respective towing experiences, we tested the two different propellers, to establish which would give the best static thrust for glider towing. In simple terms, at the same maximum throttle 5,700rpm engine speed, the WarpDrive tapered tips prop gave around 135kgs static thrust and the KievProp 283 series around 185kgs – close to 50% more static thrust. It is thus pretty conclusive which prop would give the best performance for glider towing, if not outright cruise speed.]

Foxbat glider towing at Benalla

The tug pilot in New Zealand was Ian Williams, who has over 30 years’ experience of towing gliders. He says that depending on glider weight, the Foxbat was towing up to 2,000 feet at times between 6 and 9 minutes, from wheels off to wheels landing. This is just about the same total time as heavier GA tug aircraft, times which are also borne out by Australian tow times. What the Foxbat may lose in outright climb, it easily regains in descent, where the liquid cooled Rotax engine helps protect from shock-cooling.

With similar tow times to typical GA tugs, the Foxbat offers some useful additional advantages:
– it is much more economical on fuel and maintenance, burning well under half the fuel per tow
– it is much quieter, an important factor where residential housing is encroaching on airfields
– in an emergency, the Foxbat, being much lighter and more manoeuvrable than its GA counterparts, should be able to recover from unusual attitudes very quickly

Overall, in both New Zealand and Australia it was felt that the Foxbat could handle 75-80% of glider towing required by clubs, with only heavy, water-laden single seaters and some heavier two seat gliders outside the flight envelope. In Australia, it was noted that high-tow resulted in much better performance than the more common and preferred low-tow technique.

For Australian information, here’s a link to a short video of Foxbat glider towing at Benalla, with the Gliding Club of Victoria in Australia. Chief tug pilot Mark gives the commentary.

If you want to try out a Foxbat for glider towing at your club, please contact:
– in Australia, Peter Harlow at Foxbat Australia – +61 413 900 892
– in New Zealand, Doug King at LiteFlight Green – +64 210 285 6932

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