170 August 2015

 RansMail #170  August 2015

Beware if you're out flying in the south-east of England on Tuesday, 18 August... a full 24 WW2 Spitfires and Hurricanes will be in the air re-enacting flights made 75 years earlier on what's become known as 'The Hardest Day' of the Battle of Britain in August 1940. They'll be departing and returning to Biggin Hill, which was a primary target of the Luftwaffe. (source, Flyer Newsletter).

David & Sharon. As a follow on to Ron Atkinson's photo of the bi-plane table in July, dedicated to Amy Johnson, our local village stores have opened a coffee shop called 'Amy's' dedicated to the aviatrix who lived in Stoke Orchard village here in Gloucestershire.

Visitors to Jackrells Farm.

Cessna 182, Jerry Noble

Maule MX-7-180 David Copse

Kevin Armstrong adds to last month's waisting 'Mini' exhaust mount rubbers  

This was a frequent niggle on Rotax 503 motors, to get round use Renault exhaust mounting rubbers, they are 'waisted' in exactly that way and have bigger end plates too which mean greater bonded area between steel and rubber.Think they were off a Renault 5.

http://www.topgearstockport.co.uk/index.php/hikashop-menu-for-brands-listing/product/362-renault-exhaust-mounting-bobbin

New RM Readers this month.

Kevin Kirkendall. I am based in Cincinnati Ohio, and fly a 2002 Sonex tailwheel, with a 2000 Jabiru 3300 solid lifter, 535 hours.  My previous plane was a CGS Hawk 2 seater with a Rotax 582 blue head. My Dad had a Rans S-7, and now flies a SkyRanger with a 80 hp 912. 

Júlio Guilherme

Jerry Noble, C182

Dion.  Asked "Have you ever run a ‘what to look for when buying’ type article ?"

Ian Herdis

Jan Haverhals (Gyrocopter guy) "Flying back from visiting Compton Abbas to my present base at Goodwood I heard mike on the radio to Solent about a transit."

Bridgewater, Somerset, the Weston Zoyland microlighters 'Cheese & Scrumpy' Fly In 18th July. (by Rans S6-116).

Though some names I knew had booked in to arrive, I didn't find them. I never stay long and was back in Sussex at 4 p.m. the light westerly wind encouraged me to seek the best tail component higher than usual, at 4,000 ft.  To stay high across the top end of the Southampton CTR without descending below 1500' I needed an O.K. - which surprisingly without a Txpdr they granted. I only needed to come lower near London Gatwick's zone. It meant at least + 10 mph boost and at reduce rpm's too.

Also flew to Palmers Farm BBQ East Sussex & Hampshire Microlight Flying Club's Colemore Flyin, both Saturday 1st August.

Richard Keyser.(HMFC) The fly-in here at Colemore went off really well, the weather was good with a steady breeze down the runway, although for flying it was a bit bumpy and colder than you would expect in August. Twenty or so aircraft flew in as well as lots of people and families by road and the Air Scouts came too. It was a really nice atmosphere with people from Microlighting, Autogyro, Gliding, GA and the Skysurfers all having a really good get together. Thank you to all the pilots who took up anyone who wanted a flight and especially to Phil Montague who manned the BBQ all day. We collected £351:55p for the Rosemary Foundation Hospice Care charity.

Rob Turk (Netherlands) followed up on Don Lord's report July on his Rans S6 'proper' ASI static set-up.

I had asked Rans if this was a good location. There is an S7 mod that uses approximately that location with good results. On my S6-116 I found the Rans in-the-wing location very unreliable. The pressure fluctuates with the motion of the wing fabric, making the readings quite unstable. The static tube also has a tendency to 'creep' forward, exposing the static hole to dynamic pressure. Not good at all. I have added a cheap two-position (fuel) ball valve in the cockpit where I can switch between open panel and Rans wing position. Sometimes they read almost the same, sometimes they are off by several knots (my ASI reads knots). The open panel position is a bit unreliable as well: opening the window vents pointing forward or aft, or opening the cabin heat valve changes cabin pressure a bit. My indicated cruise speed is generally around 90-95 kts (taildragger with Jabiru 3300 engine), GPS averages about 5 kts lower. My plane is covered with Dacron, no stitches anywhere. I'd rather not gamble the shiny paint by poking a hole without at least some confirmation.

I spoke with Randy Schlitter at the Rans booth at Oshkosh. Great show, got to admire the S-20 and got inspiration for some mods on the S-6 ;-)
Randy mentioned he wasn't too crazy about the S-6 original static port set-up in the wing, but when he designed and tested it, it was the most reliable/repeatable location. He did try the location where you and Don have it installed now but found there were too many factors that could influence the static pressure. A bit of side slip, a steep climb or descent, some other variables made him choose a different location at the time. This was 20+ years ago, the plane has gone through some revisions since then. Your results do look encouraging, perhaps you could try some of the slip/skid/climb/descend tests as well. Be careful, if you slip such that your static port gets suction, your ASI might read higher than reality and you might stall inadvertently. On the S-20 he uses a ready-made static/pitot tube that has an S-curve in it. Works sort-of-OK, but still isn't entirely accurate. He is still experimenting with other options, so perhaps there will be a final verdict some time in the future. Here's the build drawing showing the static/pitot (23) on the S-20.

Rans crew and myself having dinner. Randy front left, Michele front right. I'm next to Randy.

[The UK LAA advise use of the open panel static pipe & delete the point in the wing, but on 100 mph two way GPS checks the ASI over registered 10 -15 mph. I prefer to see the real cruising airspeed & trialled a version of Don's idea. My -116 has room to reach inside the fuselage back as far as the battery. The double skin seam has Dacron tape added both sides & a Soldering iron melted a 4 mm dia hole for a light Ali vent. (Made on the lathe from a Bristol Brabazon bolt). With securing screw plate & thin plastic pipe - it doesn't load the fabric - and is now firmly taped to an upright. The ASI reads a only 4 mph fast at IAS of 100 whilst at zero thro' full flap stalls it is comfortingly unchanged. Side slips read O.K. too.  mike]

Suspect Rotax 912 SMD Ignition system modules. (Stan Fisher, Eshott Airfield, Northumberland, BMAA forum July).

I bought my first aircraft last year, a GT450 trike with 800hrs 100 hp Rotax 912S. By the end of the Summer the engine got difficult to start. The previous owner had replaced its sprag clutch. I put in an Odyssey PC625 battery, a Sky-Tec HD starter and Conair's Soft Start Module. The carbs were completely fully rebuilt, new rubbers and balanced with a Carbmate. All a big improvement, but on occasions she would still refuse to start. On 'Mag checks' it ran rougher on one side. Swapping modules, A plugged into B and vice versa, moved it to the other side. As SMD modules are very expensive, before condemning them a few tests. Unplug the modules, the connector from the engine will have 6 pins in it (on the 6 pin version) 4 will be from the trigger coils coloured white/yellow & blue/yellow (check yours by looking at the coil pick-ups). Hold the connector with the two red wires at the bottom, measure resistance between the top two pins then between the middle two, you should get 220-250 ohms. The two red wires are one from the charging stator (thinner on the GT450) & a thicker from the ignition 'kill' switch - test its continuity with a meter, switching on and off. IMPORTANT, gently wriggle this connector block around - this may help to discover if the red cable is chafed as it disappears inside the braided sleeve at the rear of the engine - a known problem. For the charging wire, get an assistant to crank the engine over, using good RMS voltmeter to measure its A.C volts. (Wriggle this wire too.) I got 10.7 V RMS between the pin and earth when cranked with fully charged Odyssey battery and HD starter, another forum member recorded 6 Volts. Test the resistance, mine was 3.52-3.55 ohms & similarly for the other pins.

The output connector blocks have 4 wires to the coils and 1 to earth. Test continuity between the pin and earth & again for chafing and broken wires/pins.
If all is good, unfortunately it probably is a faulty module  (supposedly some Ducati SMD capacitors don't like heat and lose capacity to store sufficient cranking speed ignition charge). I chose to have them repaired at Carmo Electronics in the Netherlands who use better quality capacitors, at a delivered taxed cost of over £300.

Updating the engine flywheel with a new part no 966872 retards the ignition timing to 3 deg ATDC below 600rpm. Use the proper Rotax flywheel puller it's easy on a trike, on fixed wing it likely requires the engine out. This made a HUGE difference to the way the engine starts and totally eliminates any chance of kick back.

There's another possibility a Rotax 912 S won't start (Alan Paterson).

For what it,s worth, we have just been through a similar saga with our 912s, with a succession of starting difficulties. Following the line of eliminating the most likely culprits first, we purged the fuel lines, float bowls and filters. We then sent the carbs off for their scheduled service (admittedly some 40 hrs in advance of schedule) and balanced the carbs (twice). During this time we also checked out the electrics for spark strength, and replaced the plugs despite only having 45 hrs on them.
The fault was accurately diagnosed after lengthy discussion with Simon at Eccleston Aviation (UK) as being the onset of a sprag clutch failure. Being a Grade 1 sceptic, I was not convinced that a component which should engage the starter and restrict kick back would have any effect on the starting problems we were having, however we bit the bullet and had the sprag clutch replaced. The upshot of this.......she now purrs like the proverbial feline on start up and shut down.
The moral of this tale....the engines are complicated beasts, and a phone call to a reputable professional can often point you down the correct path before you commit to unnecessary expense (as we did.....oops).

Adrian Lloyd added.  When 'early' 100 hp Rotax 'S' engines get hard to start and keep banging back the sprag clutch takes a heck of a beating and it's only a matter of time before the clutch begins to slip & never get better. We recently changed a sprag clutch where slipping so badly that it only turned the engine now and again, too slow to even fire. Over the years I've had to replace some 8 clutches on the S engines, all 3 axis. On only one did I have to remove the engine, it's a fiddle, but sure beats taking it out !

Peter Noonan has retired as an Airline Captain to fly his Reality Escapade

Stow Maries, Essex, Fly Ins (Russell Savory)
My last flights were BA 2616/7, the aircraft was 737, G-DOCO. We departed Gatwick on 15:49z arriving in Malaga at 18:24z. For the very last flight we left Malaga at 19:25z and arrived back at 22:02z, I am pleased to say it was a very good landing & the last jet landing for me I think. I was apparently going to get a water cannon salute from the Gatwick fire service but it was cancelled because an aircraft was damaged in Manchester when the fire brigade squirted foam instead of water. (see Daily Mail on line and search for Virgin aircraft Atlanta).
The a/c and me were snapped by my F/O at Gatwick & lower as we taxied to leave on runway 13 at Malaga which is on our left.

This week-end 15^th and 16^th August – Fly In for WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust. We are hosting a Fly In for the WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust (WAHT) operators of the BE2e that is based at Stow. All being well, it is planned to fly the BE2e, Albatross D.Va and Sopwith Snipe. For anyone wishing to visit by air for that it will be PPR to me as usual. No landing fee, donations welcome.

5^th and 6^th September – Fly In. Our annual autumn Fly In. Refreshments, stalls etc. PPR as usual, no landing fee, donations welcome. http://www.stowmaries.org.uk/events/ and http://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/

Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome (SMGWA) is now owned by a Charitable Trust as a museum and unique visitor attraction. A temporary hangar has been built to exhibit our collection of WWI aeroplanes that flew from the aerodrome between 1916 and 1919.

Funding has been attained to build two replica hangars to those here in 1916. With great opportunities for more aeroplanes to be based at Stow Maries. The Trustees have asked the Friends of SMGWA to take on an ambassadorial role with the aim to place the name of SMGWA in front of as many people as possible throughout the UK, with the aim of getting them to visit & support this unique attraction.

Tom Jones Boulder Creek, CA. RANS S-6S N512TJ flew to the USA West Coast Arlington fly-in.

On Sunday July 5th, my wife Linda and I departed Salinas (KSNS) for a one week journey in our Rans S-6S. Because of gross weight limitations, we were not able to bring camping supplies and were fuel limited to 14 gallons (18 gallon capacity). Leaving KSNS at 12.30 we headed north to Yole County (KDWA) for a fuel stop and a welcomed ice cream break (OAT = 99ºF)! On our second leg, it was a balmy flight with 80ºF OAT at 4,500’! The Rotax 912ULS performed well, maintaining a cruise oil temperature in the low 200’s (ºF). We ended Day1 at Redding’s Benton Field (O85) where field temperatures were hovering around 104ºF. The FBO helped us fuel up for an early morning departure. On day 2, we headed to Medford Regional (KMFR) for breakfast and fuel. The early morning skies over the Siskiyou’s provided spectacular scenery and smooth skies at 6,500’. Flying over Dunsmuir we had a brief chance to spot friends Barry and Phyllis flying south in their Sport Cub, including a brief chat over the common radio frequency. From Medford we continued to follow Interstate 5 North making another fuel stop at Creswell- Hobby (77S). From 77S we landed at Portland Troutdale (KTTD) where we were met by Linda’s cousin. I continued on solo with a short hop, across the Columbia River landing at Camas Grove Field (1W1) and was met by my brother. Wednesday afternoon of Day 4, Linda and I departed 1W1, headed north to Bremerton National (KPWT). Because of the hot temperatures and fires, the visibility was poor for much of this leg.  BTW - Bremerton National’s, The Airport Diner serves up some killer Fish n Chips!

From KPWT we flew West / Northwest of the KSEA Class B airspace into Arlington (KAWO). The Arlington fly-in is advertised as The West Coast Premier Aviation Event; the third largest Fly In behind Oshkosh and Sun-N-Fun. This is well organised event, kind of a "mini Oshkosh". This year’s fly-in ran from Thursday July 9 - Saturday July 11. We arrived late afternoon Wednesday and were one of maybe 100 early arrivals. Linda and I had an enjoyable Thursday - Day 5 at the fly-in: looking at aeroplanes, wandering through the exhibit areas, finding a nice shady area for airshow viewing and enjoying the onsite food fare! Friday morning - Day 6, we were greeted by SOPA (Salinas Owner Pilot Association) friends Jim Shumaker, Jeff Soars and John Gianelli who flew-in Thursday evening from the San Juan Island’s Friday Harbor. Significantly more aeroplanes had flown in Thursday evening / early Friday morning; I estimate their count was now in excess of 350.

Because of a potential weather front, anticipated for Saturday; we decided to make an early Friday afternoon departure. Jim Shumaker in his Citabria and us in the Rans started the flight south as a flight of two under 2,500’ overcast skies. Jim was gracious enough to take some of our baggage such that the Rans could take on a full load of fuel. Our first stop was McMinnville (KMMV) to take on fuel and see the Spruce Goose! Yes what appears to be out in the middle of no man’s land (38 miles south-west of Portland) is the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum featuring the Spruce Goose, which is beautifully displayed. This stop is a must for any aviation buff that is in the Portland area. After our museum stop we flew south for 136 miles to Roseburg (KRBG) and called it a day. Saturday - Day 7, a late morning departure under 5,700’ broken skies. Flying under, over and around clouds prolonged our flight to Redding (KRDD). Upon landing at KRDD we were treated to a fabulous, white table cloth, meal at Pete Chu’s Skyroom restaurant (highly recommended). As we approached Mt. Diablo, off to our right (7 sm) was a pair of C-17’s in route to Travis AFB. Five minutes later at 5,500’ our glass smooth ride became fairly choppy, likely due to wake turbulence from the pair of C-17’s! Linda and I really appreciated the company of Jim Shumaker on the south bound legs.

We had a great 7 day adventure. 1674 miles 14 stops 21.7 engine hours, 17.5 estimated flight hours 96 mph estimated avg. speed 97.3 gallons of fuel.

Conventional aircraft fabric, finished with the Superflight polyurethane paint system; standard wing - 34.5' span, area 155.25 sq. ft.

A Bing Carburettor bowl leaking fuel - (report Harvey, SportCruiser forum)

My SportCruiser carb. has two brass pins pressed in holes at the bottom of the bowl to hold the floats, last year I had fuel pouring out of the drain tube at the bottom of the bowl. After removal my mechanic discovered one pin had popped out leaving a hole though the bowl. A couple of weeks ago I had the same problem with the other carb. when a pin popped out.  We ordered new bowl’s but they were the same. I strongly recommend turning on your fuel pump during the pre-flight to check for fuel leaking from the carb’s.

Jim Matthews Isle of Wight and the reconstruction of his Rans S6

My Dad and his Dad have been involved in aircraft their whole lives, my granddad was in the RAF and was also an engineer, he worked with Pilatus and commissioning their Pilatus Porter. My dad was an engineer at Britten Norman on the Isle of Wight for decades and built/tested the Islander aircraft (six of which are being used in the new James Bond film). So it was only natural that I would show an interest. I had a "mates rate" flight for half hour in a Thruster at Sandown with Aiden from Isle of Flight Microlights and that was it. Straight to the bank to withdraw the savings and very slowly did the course, so long in fact that I had to re take most of the ground exams again, any day it was nice and any day off rain. I finally got my ticket and then started looking for an aircraft.

I had my heart on a Rans from the start and religiously looked on the AforS site daily. One came up in Scotland but then Dad spotted one in Kent. It was an unfinished project that needed skins, I 'ummed and arred' a bit then decided to see it. We met up with John the owner who was super nice and we then agreed a price. More expense later it was in the back of a 7.5 tonne truck and at Sandown. We stripped it, needing skins means everything is made visible, a good job too as once removed we found both lower Ali longerons were split. I knew the aircraft had had an accident early in its life and it was repaired and signed off, however the broken longerons went un-noticed (hidden under their plastic covers) if this were a tail dragger it could have ended differently. We replaced much, basically rubber/perishable items and time sensitive parts. There was not a lot of corrosion on the aircraft as it had only done 113 hours from new (2003). Then re wired and a set of new skins. My LAA inspector (Andy Pavey) was thorough and by the book, with  paperwork & test Flight done by the CFI and I received my permit  Thursday morning 13th August '15. All I have to do now is remember to fly.

A free monthly digest of UK General Aviation safety related information.

penny.gould@gen-av-safety.demon.co.uk

World-Wide Accident listing - all a/c types      http://aviation-safety.net/index.php

Old RansMails are now on line courtesy Peter Greenrod. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4702449/Ransmails.pdf

Collected Rans S4 & S5 Tips      http://ranss4s5tips.blogspot.co.uk/

Rotax practical owner help    http://www.rotax-owner.com/rotax-forum/index

RansClan forum   http://www.ransclan.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?40-Engines

RansFlyers web  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RANSflyers/?yguid=339885221

Rans Aircraft USA site   http://www.rans.com/aircraft/home.html

UK CAA General Aviation Safety Occurences July 2015.

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/General%20Aviation%20Report%20-%20%20July%202015.pdf

Kevin Pearce flies with Harry

Harry has suddenly got the flying bug in a big way, we flew on Wednesday, Friday Goodwood and Saturday 1st August to Deanland.

Steve Duckworth flew to Deanland joining a bit late for their breakfast fly-in.  Mike Clark was there so we managed to get two in the same place and fly back together with a nice dual take-off to please the thinning crowds. That was around 1pm and it was already getting pretty bumpy, only set to get worse.

'Tests of Character' by Donald Middleton.  Pub.1995 Airlife.

This extract on the Vultee Vengeance is about the hazards and trials of test flying aircraft, from the early days through to long after WWII.

"The outbreak of war saw the RAF without a dive-bomber. The remarkable success of the Junkers 87 Stuka in the Spanish Civil War and the assault on France and the Low Countries persuaded the British Government that this was an error of omission which should be rapidly rectified. The British aircraft industry was too heavily involved with priority work building fighters and bombers to bother with what appeared to be a fringe design with limited applications at that time. So the British Purchasing Commission in the United States investigated the purchase of an American aircraft. Earlier requirements formulated by the French Government had led the fairly small Vultee Company to design a suitable dive-bomber, the V-72, for which orders were to be placed by the French. Their defeat in 1940 left these orders in limbo so the British Purchasing Commission showed interest. The V-72 was designed with twin rudders and was fully stressed for dive-bombing with slotted surface wing flaps and dive brakes. The Vengeance, as the British version was called, a name also used by the USAAC, reverted to a single fin and rudder and had a 1,700 h.p. Wright Cyclone 18 cylinder twin row radial engine. It became a tough, strong weapon, built like a tank as one pilot described it.

Unusually, the contract specified the test flying procedure by both the contractor's pilots and the RAF Resident Technical Officers. Two prototypes were available at Vultee Field, Downey, and the first one was evaluated by Gp Capt. 'George' Bulman, who was Head of the Test Branch of the Purchasing Commission. W/Cdr Mike Crossley RAF was also involved in the flight test programme. To increase the production facility for the Vengeance the Northrop Corporation was contracted to build the machine in addition to Vultee.

American responsibility for test flying rested with the famous Vance Breese who was responsible for the change from twin rudders to a single one after taxying trials had proved his earlier contention that two rudders would give inadequate control on the ground. In July 1941 Vance Breese made the first flight. He was not satisfied with the dive brakes and recommended that holes should be punched over the surfaces as was done with the Douglas Dauntless. This was rejected by the engineers, but the orientation of the slots was changed. An interesting aspect of the Vengeance programme was that it was almost certainly the first time that telemetry was used to record by instruments on the ground data obtained from the aircraft in the air. During the stalling check it was found that, although the stall was fairly innocuous and aileron control held it laterally stable throughout, there was a degree of buffeting at high accelerations which caused concern for the integrity of the tail structure. Strain gauges were fitted and the information being transmitted to the ground receiver could be heard in the form of tones in the pilot's headphones. Frank Davis, on the departure of Breese, took over the responsibility for the tests and made one stall for each reading of the strain gauge; he would then manually switch to the next gauge ready for another stall. It required several hundred stalls from 1 G to 6 G to cover all the permutations. The tests proved the integrity of the structure without modification. A problem arose with the rudder control which was considered too heavy for a dive-bomber in which quick and easy directional changes must be made to achieve accurate aim. This was overcome by installing a spring tab at the trailing edge of the rudder. Recovery from a high speed dive was another contentious area. As speed built up the aircraft tended to tuck under and required excessive stick forces for recovery. On one occasion Frank Davis was diving to test an oil system valve for negative G when rudder flutter occurred and the surface tore away behind the hinge line. The balance area forward of the hinge line was still under pedal control but tended to be fully over to one side or the other including yaw. Davis was able to hold it on the stick and the fin gave sufficient directional stability to land safely.

This was another example of the hazard of fabric-covered surfaces in high speed flight. The rudder was altered to have an all-metal skin. This also solved the problem of heavy pull-out forces from the dive as it was decided to modify the elevators similarly. By the end of 1941 most of the bugs had been eliminated from the new dive-bomber which the RAF was looking forward to operating. Unfortunately for their desires the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941 completely altered the situation. The Americans realised that they would need many more aircraft so delivery schedules were completely altered, but that is another story. The 1,200 which were delivered to the RAF gave extremely good service. mainly in Burma, with Hurricanes giving top cover to their attacks."

Mike.