Monday 4 January 2016





RansMail #146  August 2013
Swiss Pilots Drop In
A phone call - from a German speaking Swiss pilot, currently waiting at Headcorn, Kent. He has an airfields' guide book details, could he land at Jackrell's ? Seems his plane is solo and not large, so m/c down to meet him. Windsock out fast to show him where to land just as a/c noises  - two a/c circle - see me as I wave the stick plus sock and they know it's the right place. Lucky as they were eyeing up Ford's more obvious cross runways next door. Two chaps each with a powerful plane, land, follow my arm signals and park up. A Vans with 160 h.p and a Husky - I think he said 180 h.p..
Their English with my rusty German meant we got along well. They'd intended going east about London to Sywell, but found low cloud & rain. But westwards round London the long way it looked  to get better. Invited to visit them 23/25th August at their big fly-in at Grenchen - I'd already dug out my Swiss Av. Chart.

Yvar Vonlanthen (Vans) and Marcel Jungo (Husky).

Then they were off. By then sky was becoming much lighter and Sun's heat re-building - the wind direction suited me much better than the day before too.
"Wir waren dann noch in Popham – Sywell – Little Gransden – Earls Colne und Headcorn. England ist für uns immer ein grosses Erlebnis. Der Rückflug über Frankreich war problemlos und wir sind gut zu Hause in LSGE gelandet."
David North USA N251JD (Jodel Forum) And no it hasn't fallen to pieces !
All the wooden parts are complete i.e. Rudder, Tailplane, Bulkheads, Wing ribs, Flaps, Ailerons & False spars.


CO detectors saved me twice (Jabiru forum)
I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize the importance of having a carbon monoxide detector on board. I have the one that is a button mounted on a card that sticks to the panel. Last year on a flight by myself from SoCal to Johnson Creek Idaho I developed a slight headache. After about 10 minutes of wondering why this was I glanced down at my CO detector and it had turned from orange to black. I popped open the door on the Avid and at my next landing I taped up some places where is suspected exhaust gas was getting into the cabin. When I got home I added better door seals and reversed the muffler on my Jabiru engine so the pipe came out on the passenger as opposed to the pilot side. With it on the pilot side the prop was wafting it to the pilot side and it entered through the door gaps. With it on the passenger side the exhaust was pushed back under the fuselage behind the doors. There were no leaks.
That was a year ago. Recently I took off on a breakfast flight and on climb out I noticed the button turning black. Again I popped the door open and returned to home base. I thought a leak had developed and the firewall seals and I tried many things to correct that, but still I would get a warning on my detector. Finally my engineer friend suspected a leaking exhaust flange and I pulled the cowl to check. Sure enough the #2 exhaust flange had a missing bolt and the other was loose. I had previously pulled the head off this cylinder to check for valve and valve guide issues and when I finished the job I evidently didn't tighten these bolts sufficiently. Over time the bolts loosened.
The point of all this is to stress the importance of having some sort of CO detector on board.
Dave Wilkinson, G-MYBI Ran's S6 503 Adventures.

There has been plenty of flying out of Ashcroft, Cheshire (my home base) this summer. I have been going up with a friend in his newly kit built Euro Fox in preparation for a trip to the Alderney Fly-In with the Cheshire Flyers group. The trip to Alderney was a great success, coasting out from Headcorn and landing on the first day at Le Touquet. The following day we flew to Deauville Airport, and then onto Alderney. All done at a leisurely pace with a four day stay at Alderney.

The trip back from Alderney was less than perfect, we should have come back on the Sunday and flown into Compton Abbas for the Pooley's fly in, we had a slot booked, but were fogged in. The weather on the Monday am was similar but we got out through a window in the fog and flew back at 1200 feet. At Le Touquet, we were a mixture of Flex wings and three axis. 

The trip from Compton Abbas to Ashcroft was more hairy, low cloud, very hazy and gliders everywhere you looked, it then closed in on us near Cheshire and we got absolutely soaked when it rained on us (I had helped Ken build his Eurofox over at Shobdon but he had never planned to fly in the rain) we found out that the doors leaked badly. The Alderney fly in was great, the islanders welcomed everyone with open arms, Cheshire Flyers won a couple of trophies as well, so a good trip was had by all. I would never do the trip in the Ran's but one of our club members did it in a Blade 582 two stroke, he was doing 40mph over the ground all along the north coast of France, not for the faint hearted, he had to land out in a farmer field to refuel before crossing over to Alderney, a helpful farmer took him in his tractor to the nearest garage. I flew over to Welshpool in the back of a friends Blade 912 a few weeks ago and we had an engine failure on climb out from Welshpool, we got back down and borrowed some tools off Peter Greenrod, that's how I met him. We had a further two engine failures on route back and landed out in farmers fields each time, and managed to get back out after a quick fix, it turned out to be algae in the fuel filter element, which looked clean but you couldn't blow through it!
On the 7th July 2013 I flew to a families fun day fly in at Barton Airport, this was a well attended fly in and weather was perfect.

My Ran's which was photographed by plane spotters on finals and when taxing out to leave & there was also another parked up. 

On the 26th July 2013 I flew over to Welshpool and whilst I was there I got a peek at Peter Greenrod's Ran's S5 (Peter was out for the day and wasn't there).



Richard A. in France has been busy flying his home-built Jodel also completing & test flying the Sherwood Ranger.
A sizzling July week on the very attractive ile d' Yeu. It has a very varied coastline, some rocky bits, some great beaches and some with a bit of both. The sheltered North coast has pine fringed beaches and there always seems to be a very pleasant breeze which stops it getting too hot. There is only one real town, Port Joinville and not too many cars as the ferry is passenger only. The roads and tracks are however full of bikes often ridden by people whose last acquaintance with a bike was at school decades ago, so plenty of near misses. Inevitably at this time of year the place was quite busy although nothing like as busy as Ile d'Oleron. The airfield itself is fine with a shortish cross runway, but we landed on the main in a screaming crosswind as I could not raise them on the radio not least because I had dialled in the wrong final digit and did not want to risk the shorter runway. It is well patronised even though there are charges for landing and parking which came to about £50 for the week. The airfield has bikes to hire if you turn up during the AFIS hours, it is too far to walk into town but an easy ride. All in all an excellent venue without having to spend too long flying (starting from Chauvigny that is). We had a bit of a shock when it came to fly home. The Jodel started fine as usual but stopped dead after about 30 seconds and was not interested in a restart. I took the cowlings off and had a look at the plugs which were dry as a bone so it looked like some sort of fuel problem. When I disconnected the fuel line at the carb, nothing much was happening even though the electric pump was running. I then disconnected the hose at the output from the electric pump where fuel spurted nicely so it looked like the mechanical pump had gone U/S in some strange way which did not allow fuel to flow through it. I got her going by connecting the electrical pump directly to the carb.
1st Sherwood Take-Off. I was unable to find anyone daft enough to do the first flight so I had to do it myself !
Paul is delighted & hankering to get himself airborne after four years of ownership without any sort of flight in it. The climb was less than startling one up even with all that wing area so that is the main concern. So far the old Jabiru seems happy enough. The TOCA appears effective in that the oil temp was stable at 90C with an air temp of 25C and oil pressure similarly stable. While it looks a bit low at 2 bar this is a gallery pressure unlike the standard Jabiru set up. The CHTs seem modest and fairly even without any tweaks. It starts well and runs smoothly just lacking some ultimate grunt.
The plane handles very well but is so draggy that straight and level max is around 75MPH with much howling and whistling if you point it down to go faster. The view from the back is surprisingly good and all in all it was a pleasant experience once over the terror. Of course it is early days yet but so far so good.
The biggest adventure was trailering it. I had to hang a very large bit of concrete on the back of the salvaged heavily improvised trailer to get the bar weight within reason which made the whole thing even more floppy. The only way to make it sufficiently rigid to do the trip to Chauvigny was to winch right a wire over a 50cm tall post above the axle then down to the draw bar. This bit of triangulation did the trick.
Doug Marshall is longer a Rans owner, gone to a 2 seater Zenair 701 STOLI acquired the 701 wanting side by side seating. The aircraft is an Amateur Built, 1993, gross weight 480 kg. It is powered by a BMW R1100 4-stroke air-cooled 2 cylinder motorcycle engine, a common modification by a German company (Take Off Ultraleichtflug GmbH). I have made two changes: replaced the bent landing gear with a sturdier one from a Savannah Ultralight, and added vortex generators to the underside of the elevators. This was to mitigate a feature of the 701, namely the tendency of the aircraft to land abruptly when power is reduced. The VGs have worked well. It cruises between 100-120 km/h (~75 mph) at 6,000 rpm with prop pitch set coarse. It seems easy on the 91 octane petrol we use but have not had time for an accurate measurement. Here are two pictures, one showing the engine.

Bird strikes etc. Mike Tooze Vari Eze G-EMMY Rochester, England (via Henry H.USA from V.E. forum)
In the SE of the UK we are forced to fly low due to airspace restrictions for VFR. Indirectly causing bird strikes and a number of mid-air collisions over the years.
Birds, on my part I have seen some up close (like a close buzzard wing-over on approach) but never to my knowledge hit any yet. We were in an Eze vic of three once flying along the French coast when we overhauled a similar vic of about seven herons heading the same way. The leader somewhat snootily turned his/her head and then back without missing a slow beat of the wings, the others remained in glide mode..
We do a bit of bird watching while touring, flying gives a different perspective; cormorants and coots are normally noted as low flying birds but I encountered, up close, at least fourteen cormorants soaring at around 8,000 ft over the lakes and waters of the Somme and on another occasion coots, again soaring, at 4.5k.
What concerns me is the reduction of insect strikes over the years.  I used to have to wash the canard, wings and fuselage after every flight but now just a wipe off with a damp cloth even in 'high' summer - worrying what's going on in our small world.
Dominic Connolly is doing a feature in the BMAA Microlight Flying Magazine on newsletters and free subscriptions available on the internet. RansMail might get a mention.
Rick Coates wrote re Ian Lewis Exeter (last month) who is completing Rans S4 kit G-CGPZ. It was the very last kit in the UK, which Rick had originally bought & started constructing before his job took him abroad. 
Peter Greenrod (Welshpool).
I was on the radio on Tuesday 6th Aug and a Bede called up saying he was passing overhead, I talked him into coming in to Welshpool.We had a good chat and I took the dual photo.  G-BKZV is quite different to G-BYLS     It was actually fitted out for 4 seats but the LAA restrict to only 2.  I have dual sticks, but ZV has a centre stick with dual yokes.  It is fitted out lovely inside, has a 160hp 0-320 (LS is 150hp)  and also the longer wings.
I will be at the LAA rally Saturday 31st Aug and Sunday 1st Sept. with -LS....If it was really good weather maybe the S5 -MZ ?

Eddie Postell  (Rans S4). I keep putting off the info about me, so here goes.........,

1993 I got my Private pilot ticket, bought a Cessna 150 and flew for years, before I was in flight school, I already owned two ultralights and flew them almost weekly. After I retired from Sony Corp. I sold my plane and traveled America for 5 years - so another 5 years had passed without flying - I couldn't live that way. In March I purchased the Rans S4 Coyote & till now she's still 30 miles away at another town. I will soon make that short cross country flight to bring to my hangar here.  All I have done is crow hop down the runway. I have just 150 hours in Ulralights, but in the S-4 Coyote just 3.0. Yesterday I installed an electronic ASI in the Coyote, looks sharp with all the color lights that flashes before its set and ready to use.
One thing I have noticed, is how smooth the Rotax 503 runs while in the air. As time goes on, I'll work all the bugs out and get her the way I want her to be. I'll keep you posted and take some photo's for you on the short cross country. 
[Eddie mentions tank cleanliness - My fuselage tank had a nasty accumulation of dirt, lumps and a preserved wasp. I was worried a large piece would get stuck in the piping  prior to the in-line filter. My solution is a clear plastic pipe siphon with a long straight 1/4 or more bore stiff tube to poke in the tank, with a soft plastic protection bit on the bottom end & a bucket to catch the fuel sucked out. I manage to 'Hoover  the muck out. It's quite difficult to look into the tank at the same time as poking the pipe around but the tank is translucent so at least a torch isn't needed . mike]
On 16th Aug. he adds:- I have flown my S-4, for an hour. Thinking about sending my 503 for a check up maybe a rebuild. What size of wheel are you using on the Coyote? I need taller wheels to get good prop clearance.
Alan Colman
My Rans S6-116  has Hegar disk brakes and they were very poor and could not  hold on a power check ( Rotax 912 3000rpm )…  on tarmac the braking was pretty much non-existent. I ordered new pads and disks and hydraulic seals to overhaul the brakes. On fitting the new pads and disks I was surprised to find that once the calliper halves were bolted together the pads were fully dragging on the disk and the wheel was locked, there is no adjustment possible and  Hegar apologised saying that sometimes the pads are over size and recommended reducing them down on a belt sander ! Given that the original pads were wearing unevenly I am reluctant to do this on a belt sander… its bound to come out uneven. As I don’t want to pay to have them milled, I plan to place a suitable shim between the Calliper halves to provide the minimum clearance. The shim can be removed as the pads wear which should provide the next service adjustment.  On the subject of wear Hegar sell pad shims which apparently make all the difference once pads are worn restoring braking efficiency, so if your Hegar brakes are poor  but not full of air try shims first. On Sunday I released the pressure on the calliper screws to allow the disk to run free and used Loctite on the  screws to temporarily hold them, I did this to allow a test …I can report the brakes are much better holding up to just under to 4500 rpm and quite effective at stopping during medium taxi speeds, on my next visit I shall make the shims and I think all will be well.  Finally its worth knowing that Hegar brakes use ATF fluid ( Dextron2 RED ) not standard brake fluid  which rots the seals and you need a pressure bleeder to purge the air, I use a Gunsons kit it works well bleeding from calliper to master cylinders. If anyone else has tips on these brakes I would like to know.
[My steed has drums which though a bit sticky at times can hold for the 'mag' check. A Rotax 912 guru once instructed me to do it at 3,800 rpm. I always do now, as I believe it gives a better indication if power on one ignition is weaker, thus a better pre-flight test.mike]

BTW.This may assist others. I lost a fuel cap on my RANS S6, it’s an early type tank and uses an expanding rubber bung with a lever ( thermos type) . [Wot no securing strop ?] Had a bit of a shock to find out that Skycraft are out of stock and are having supply difficulties, a trawl in the UK brought up nothing however I have located the part and its as follows:
http://shawplugs.com/snap-tite-1-1-2-x-1-3-16-expandable-rubber-plugs-pr-16148.html. The Cap Part number you need is #51015. You can order direct from them but it was actually cheaper and easier to order from Amazon USA shipping is about £6 and all in it will cost £22.00 delivered not bad . Hope this helps anyone else who is unfortunate enough to lose one.
Brian B. Got an Escapade local flight in the day Cu.Nim and rain burst were all around.
Au contraire "Quite calm around Arundel and over the South Downs"

And - Mystery Photo marked 30th April 2013 - Obviously a Rans S6 Coyote with nose-wheel

Clive fitted a finer prop to his 2200 Jabiru Escapade to improve power delivery.
Did a straight in at Hadfold with a very satisfying 3 pointer into about 10 knots of breeze on the nose. For info, the climb with my new prop in the hot summer air was very much improved. At best climb speed (as stated in the POH ) with full fuel tanks was 1,000ft per min. Could have squeezed a tad more maybe. WOT in level flight showed me 90 knots. Cruise at 2,600rpm gave me about 75 knots. ( 1 hundred more rpm than with my old prop ). So, I'm very pleased with the new climb performance and there is not much speed lost in the cruise either. A first class result !
Stow Maries, Essex near Maldon, is an original WW1 Fighter Station consisting of a good size airfield and about 27 brick and timber buildings, all of which are totally untouched and unspoiled - the only one of it's kind to survive the greed of the developers all this time. It was blowing from a moderate breeze straight up 23 at Hadfold Farm, with regular gusts to about 25 mph about 30 degrees off strip. Russell Savoury, Stow Maries owner said he'd only 8 kts, but Southend was 14. Fairly choppy air until turning N at Mayfield, not as bad with the wind now on my tail. Height and speed management were awkward, with 600' up now and then and my bum off the seat as I flew into sink - I got there in 1 hr 5 min's and got back in 1 hr 15 mins. Not as much difference as I thought. Spotting the field was easy with the huge temporary white hangar joined downwind for 20 and made a lovely 3 pointer, quickly retracting the flaps. On roll-out at jogging pace one wing caught the gusty wind and lifted that wheel off the grass.The BBQ was excellent and generous. The people were all very friendly and nothing seemed too much trouble for them..Gary took Pat in the Shadow and it was rocking about in the wind a little, so they helped him back it into the hangar. Don Lord flew his Rans S6. My flight home was no less bumpy & landing not pleasing because of the gusty crosswind component at Hadfold Farm, but that's the English weather this time of year now I guess !
[BTW. The Light Aircraft Company, which produces the Sherwood Ranger range of aircraft, has acquired the rights to build and sell the Escapade 2 light aircraft.]
(Gary stayed later & arrived back at Shipley at 18-30 with light winds, a pleasant surprise.)
It's looking like I may be flying to Blois at the end of this month, with Peter Sheehy with his Hawk and Mark Potter with his pretty red Kitfox. Both from Belle Vue. Then a two week interval before St Omer, followed the following weekend by an overnight stay at Sandown.
Gravesend, the eastern Thames, with the QE2 bridge in the distance
New Readers
Rodney Heaton. In June was collecting a Rans S6 116 to get back into the air. Based at Oxenhope International. Flying private since 1970. Usual tailwheels ; Jodel PA12 Maule Skyranger Auster etc.  plus tin things. Currently MT03 Sport Gyro. Kettle always on: please visit when in area ; see Lockyears.
David O'Gorman (Ireland)  Owns a Czech super plane- an Urbanair 'Samba' he built from a kit with Jabiru 2200 up front. he has toured the Continent several times. Met him at Sandown last month.
Robert Hughes Owned S6-ESD 503 G-MYYV in 2003/4 and took her around the UK, Ireland and France with my cousin in G-BZUH (S6-ES Jabiru). Then built G-ESCP 912 Escapade and went on more travels. Then moved to Switzerland (to work in air sports) and sold the Escapade but I am sorely missing my flying. Currently looking at buying a taildragger S6-ES 912 and flying alongside my cousin again, now in G-BUTM, a 912 S6-116 taildragger !
Jon Cooke
Phil Kemp of Air Britain
Andrew Steele (Isle of Wight) who is looking for a Rans S4 or S5 andrewthomassteele@gmail.com
Late July the British Army preferred Jackrell's Farm to London Gatwick & landed a Lynx here.
It was a pleasure to be able to have the Army make use of the strip here. After noting it on the CAA Chart the night before, training captain Leigh Woodhouse arranged to fly down from Yorkshire - with his C.O. as P1. He'd googled for my e-mail and was sent our Approach data.
An unmistakable roaring announced their arrival as a big machine swirled in from the south end and came low over the centre of the strip, I waved them in to park in the best place. Before landing it hovered a few feet up & the crew member hopped out and made a careful inspection of the ground - no bog, holes, posts, wires or booby traps ? - before signalling it down to land & he was similarly careful with pre-flight checks. The same day Barry was doing my S4 Annual inspection, so I was able to chat to the crew before they went back up north. 


My Rans S4 did pass Barry's scrutiny, but in the current heatwave and having then to fell two Ash trees at the airstrip I merely did the few things the inspector requested corrected & returned next day thinking to follow up with the necessary LAA airtest.
Filled the fus. tank to the brim, headset, Icom, re-wired loom plus 12 volt fire alarm battery strapped to the floor to provide steady smooth power, chart & knee pad.  Must have been close to legal Max all up weight. The Rotax 447 started well on the pull cord after priming by sucking in and after a suitable warm up to be certain she'd keep running on climb out I taxied to the 'hold' for 03. Well it's deserted here so I can go when I like and a light northerly breeze on one's face at field level. Switched to London Gatwick ATIS (they're only 9 miles off) to hear their conditions 16 kts 060. Crumbs that's going to be rough with curl-over off the trees at 50 feet Is it going to be one of those days once up you wish you hadn't left the ground ? 
But what the hell, here you are engine running & the first flight in it since summer 2012. Who's a chicken ?
She was held down till 30+ mph on the clock to ensure proper control before letting her lift off and almost immediately the wind lumping over the trees and local geography stirred the little ship around. Drifting fast to the left with wings up & down side to side and dropping hard so I left the seat - except for my tight harness securing me. Too late to stop must get over the oak trees and get height, where perhaps it's less horrid, climbed to only 750 ft agl but it was all too rough for taking figures for climb, VNE & stalls etc. Also not desperately enjoyable, so concentrated on one big circuit reckoning once really low on finals it would be O.K. provided I was ready with power and quick controls. In the end it wasn't a plane breaker and with power through to touch down & one stage flap we'd made it. Of course on the deck where was all that wind ? We lived to try another day.


At last in August the wind wasn't too twitchy or across the field. At the low heights dictated by the Gatwick CTA it still jumped around uncomfortably - thermals, orographic effects on the wind ? - their ATIS said 200 - 270 degrees. It made for awful stall behaviour on slow reduction in speed, flapless sinking/mushing and wing dropping from around 40 mph.Yet deploying her massive full flap she remained in nice slow control to near a happier ~30+ mph indicated. 
Puzzling over why in the rougher air this year she seemed more fractious I studied older RansMails and found an experienced American Rans S4 pilot's 2008 contribution. He too noted the high sink rather than formal stall, so I feel better about that. Simpler though it is, a microlight requires skills & positive engine management all the way through to make a good landing. Without power down to the ground to compensate for lack of float  she'll mush on surprisingly fast to a heavy landing.


The owners and ground crew welcome all types of aircraft to Fly In & visit their airfield at Sandown on the Isle of Wight, September 21st.

New reduced landing fees Cafeteria & well groomed grass make Sandown a real must on the fly-in calendar.


A new video from Nando graham@spriteaviation.co.uk


The UK LAA are seeking a Treasurer. Bob Littledale is standing down this year and we need a successor for very important role. Suitably experienced members who may like to join the management team promoting and supporting light aviation please ask, or email office@laa.uk.com
Harvard Wing Inspection
Rotax 912UL, 912ULS and 914UL series engines: Cylinder Head Inspection/Replacement
The Swandean Spitfire. This is local, - well UK Sussex & worth a read.
See Valerie’s website at http://www.findonvillage.com/1199_swandean_spitfire_aircraft.htm

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

Hadfold BBQ last Saturday & Jan's Hapi Cygnet



Peter Coleman & the gang providing such a lovely day, it was beautifully prepared, many fly-in visitors & best quality grub to boot. [Not so bad on arranging the wx either ! ]
Mike  Tipsy Belfair my 1/7th share of a plane 1971.
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