Microlighters

It is said that the best stories have a strong theme, a fascinating plot, a fitting structure, unforgettable characters, a well-chosen setting, and an appealing style.

If this is the caliber of literature that you usually gravitate towards then you may not be partially interested by this story – It defiantly contains unforgettable characters, a bit of an iffy plot but nothing else…. :D

CHAPTER 1

This is the first part of a story about my quest to purchase (and convert onto) a 3 axis microlight and the paths that this journey will take.

At this point in time there are only four characters but I am sure that this may change in the days / weeks /months to come.

We have Captain Biggles, local CFI and master builder of all things aviation (well at least in the ML category) – He is also the current owner of my goal – ZU-DAM, a three axis ML (SkyRanger).

Shameless plug: http://www.electrodynamics.co.za/skyranger/home.html

Next we have FAWGie, for those (few) of you that are not acquainted I would say that he could be described as an officer and a gentleman – He is extremely passionate about aviation and goes over and beyond to promote local GA. Combine this with the fact that he is type certified on a variety of a/c from flying lawn chairs to pressurized twins….. This is the body that is going to be core in my conversion from trikes to 3 axis.

Enter Mrs Loanshark, probably more passionate about aviation than I am but at this stage her career path is preventing her from completing her MPL, also the financial genius of the Loanshark clan and the person who will most likely act as the proverbial “intelligent decision maker” and handbrake……

And finally, as in any good story, there is the simpleton – That would be yours truly…., but more about him later in this tale.

So the story begins an entire 24 hours ago when I suggested to Capt Biggles that he sell his a/c to me……. He seemed/seems fairly keen so the ball has started rolling…..

There are many challenges at this stage, but the two biggest ones are of course, the finance side and the conversion. My first flight will be with FAWGie this coming Wednesday (weather playing along)

Good luck and definitely looking forward to Chapter 2 of this compelling saga

CHAPTER 2

(Incidentally I tried to post this one at 03:28 last night but the server came up with some Imate error - Time in relevant because I couldn't sleep )

Well to be honest I had hoped for some interest in the Trike advert that I have placed but so far nada...

Like I said, I was sure more characters would be added to this tale and today I got a call from a very unexpected source who came up with the idea that we purchase the a/c together. I had not really thought along those lines att all but the more I thought about it the more sense it made.

They body (no names yet) has gone home to run the numbers and my hopes are high.

This opens a new doors in terms of what we as as a team can buy...My hope at this stage would be a BRAND NEW a/c

I have sent a couple of thoughts through to (Mystery Bod) on how I see the partnership working and await the response....

Damn, I can't sleep...Better try, I am going to be buggered later today...

Incidentally, Mrs Loanshark is less than impressed with the idea of a partnership, but I think if the groundrules and expectations are clearly defined at the beginning then I can't see any hassles arising later.....

Anyway, time to sleep, perchance to dream of the new a/c.....

Lookin forward to the next (and regular) installments.

Enjoy it. Partnerships work very well, if all of similar standing (cash) and have similar outlook, it works very well. If mates it smetimes helps and other times it a pain in ass as can be abused. Choose wisely grashopper .

As far as partnerships go, I have had good, bad and ugly. More good than bad and only 1 ugly. Plan and discuss the dissolution of the partnership at the outset and committ it to writing. Also address maintenance and capital exp issues. THESE CAN BECOME HUGE ISSUES LATER ON....

Convex will be a breese. Am lead to believe it a delight to fly and will not bite unless you want it to.

2c...

PS
Careful of use in flight school. It makes the aerie ols quickly and it not always available for your own use. hat said, it does work and makes flying significanlty cheaper, but remeber to provide for additional maint and be sure all insurance (3rd party) is OK...

And the days tick by....

There have been a couple of developments but it feels at times as if things are happening in slow motion.

The "other" bloke I spoke of ran the numbers and things did not turn up all roses - There was basically two deals on the table.

The first was that we purchase a brand spanking new a/c and the other a 2nd hand flavour (also used as a trainer)

During this period a bloke busy with a conversion had a bit of a "hard" landing which got me and my prospective partner chatting.

We decided that to spend a considerable amount of money between the two of us and risk having it damaged by day to day training was well, too much of a risk.....

This left us with the alternate of purchasing a "new" one.....

Again, some time was spent "running" the numbers and unfortunately he could just not come up with the 50% without using all of his home loan money savings and then borrowing some......

We had a long, frank discussion and have subsequently decided that right now is not the time for him to be putting large sums of capital into a "toy". It is impressive to see a youngster (said with all due respect) have that type of financial maturity.........

So, once again I was in the market...... That night I stayed up till quite late running some numbers of my own....If I borrow against this and smash open the piggy bank and sell a kidney and and and....

Finally came back to the thought of a partnership (even though MRS Loanshark is dead against the idea) and went off to see the bloke I had in mind.....

No Names at this stage again......

Had a long chat with MR X and he seemed, and currently still seems, quite keen on the idea.

We sat and had a long discussion regarding the "way forward" and tossed some idea's around regarding the style, colour, do's and don't and the like and pretty much agreed on everything.

We also had a look through some (read:many) pictures of instrument layout's and design as well as a heap of other "nice to have" and I think at this stage have pretty much got the concept bedded down.

Next step - The 'doll-as' ........ My financing basically has two routes it can follow:

The preferable route is that someone purchases BLV (My lawn chair) and I smash my piggy bank and eat stale bread for a while.

The "other" route that is going to really p!ss of Mrs Loanshark is that we delve into the bond - This is an argument that I hope I do not have to get into..........

This weekend myself and Mr X need to sit down and seriously discuss the battle plan from here......

I would imagine that the steps would be -

1) Purchase and build kit
2) Purchase engine and instruments
3) FLY FLY FLY FLY.........

O'h yes, one tiny little detail that I have omitted - I do not have a license for this type of aircraft so I am going to need to do a conversion.

Fortunately with FAWGie in the area I don't see this as a major obstacle - He is convinced that he will be able to convert me before the 2010 soccer debacle....

Unfortunately though, for the last 3 (yes THREE) weeks the wx has been solid IF on my "training" days..... You gotta love it......

BTW, for the farmers out there, FAWGie and I are prepared (for a price) to travel to your area and plan a training session - Tariffs are 1hr "planned training" @ R8k buys you 20ml of rain, 2hrs "planned training" @ R16k buys you 40ml of rain and three hours comes at a discount rate of R20k but you get 80ml of rain.... Yes if you call now, not only will you get the extra rain but we will also throw in ................


So, that's it for now - More to follow shortly I hope.

One month 2 days into the journey.....

What I had hoped was going to be quite a simple exercise has indeed become quite a project.

Running and running and running the numbers still, although Mr X certainly has the dola$ to finance his half with ease he is of the opinion that we purchase the local one and get that back into good nick.

This would involve putting in a new engine (Jabi 4 stroke) and possibly re-skinning. I would also want to change the panel to something a bit more modern. (See picture at the end of the post)

Now, to be honest, a month ago I would have not been keen on this at all due to the fact that I had as yet had not flown in this particular aircraft.

After Wednesday's flight I am sold....... :D :D :D

What a BEAUT....... She flies like a dream and the entire time I was up in the air it can only be comparable to having an orgasm in installments (Thanks for the wording there PapaG)

As for the actual purpose of my flight (conversion) well that was another story.....

Preflight, run up, radio checks yada yada normal... Taxi to holding point....Well, let us say weave to taxi point. (Note to self - The throttle control does not live under the right foot anymore.)

But on the positive side I now think I would be capable of taxiing any high nose taildragger.

Get to the holding point and commence with engine run-ups and mag checks - Fawgie realigns himself in his seat (after wobbling about in the taxi) and ads some valuable insight into the procedure. We chat about the procedure for an accelerated stop procedure as well as an EFATO. We agree that being the senior pilot he would take control and I would scream like a little schoolgirl while trying to form a prayer circle.....

That all being said and done we light the proverbial fire and thunder down the runway for an entire 15 meters (one notch of flap) then start climbing away like a fart in the bath.....

Well, not quite like a fart but you get the idea. (note to self - To improve climb rate change engine or purchase a year's subscription to a gym for Fawgie)

The controls are light and responsive and we are soon over the river mouth at 1000' - Fawgie points out that with the 582 Ratex currently in the a/c that one needs to be particularly careful about not over-revving the motor - Something about pistons and blocks (Note to self - find out what a piston and a block is)

Now without going into too much details now (we will keep that for a rainy day) the one thing that I have an aversion to when flying any new a/c is the first stall, spin and dive into the ground - Fawgie is well aware of this and suggests that we complete this first (well at least a part of this exercise) and then we can go back to the a/f, I can change my underpants and we can carry on.......

I give him the big thumbs up while vomiting out the window (note to self - the airflow over the fuselage seems to carry most of the carrot pieces away from the fuselage - should be easy to keep clean)

OK, HASSELLV check complete and Fawgie demonstrates a clean wing stall........... Reduce power.........keep the nose coming up.......airspeed decays.......and.......................waiting..............err, still waiting...............stop toying with me Fawgie, lets get this over with............and waiting...........

He adds power and I give him the well phrased "Huh, WTF? Stall the thing already so that I can go and change"

Guys, on a serious note, this aircraft does not stall - Stick right back (well as far back as Fawgie stomach allows) and you enter the mush...kick the rudders around a bit if you want to change your side view during the stall and when you are bored of loosing 200' per minute add power and fly away.... That simple.

Procedure the same for 2 notches except that things happen ever slower...... I try a couple and except for a bit of enthusiastic stick through the firewall style moves and Fawgie's forehead being imprinted on the roof I guess I have the hang of it (note to self - Remember to call the local newspapers before the local rag gets publishes an article about some Stuka in a dive bombing run....)

That being said and done we head out up the coast for a couple of GF manoeuvres.... I though Fawgie was sulking with me for a while after the repetitive head banging I gave him because he was continually "leaning" away from me - Asked him what was wrong and he pointed out that I should maybe start using the black things at my feet......

He he - Stupid me.... He was right of course, these aircraft manufacturers sure know how to look after a pilot....with my feet now nicely on the foot rests I sure was sitting more comfortably.... Anyway, for a while Fawgie stays in his position (I though it had to do with my personal hygiene) until he suggests that I press the "footrests" periodically - Aha, movable footrests - Nice....

That seemed to please Steve quite a bit.... I don't want to skinder here but I he needs to sharpen his skills as an instructor ... Now and again he would lean right over onto my side, in my personal space - I don't mind it but still it is difficult to see when your pax has their head pressed up against your left hand window...

(I am going to have to expedite this tale as I have a prior commitment this morning - may add some more here later on my voice assisted terrain monitor and EMS - "Pull up Pull up" and "RPM RPM" )

Anyway, back to the a/f - Couple of low passes, set up for landing and we are back on the deck....

An interesting moment or two on finals - I am not used to the flap lever on this thing (Note to self: wrestling the lever with both hands and one's teeth may lead to uncontrolled inverted flight into terrain)

Can't wait for part 2 next Wednesday..............

(Note: some incidents may have been a bit exaggerated herein)

Continued....

OK, where was I, O' yes - The voice assisted flight module (VAF)........

Now being a Rattex and a fixed pitch prop things start getting interesting at the higher end of the RPM spectrum I hear so one wants to try and avoid that quite a bit....

I found that initially stages of the flight, in the middle and towards the end my VAF constantly needed to remind me of the RPM ..... With a 2 stroke the revs climb very quickly and because of the low noise interior I think on this version I will need to keep a close check on this in the future....

My only excuse is that the throttle has a tendency to slooooowly creep back a bit so I am overcompensating at the moment. I have been told that with the 4 stroke this will not be an issue.

Also something that I found strange was the fact that every time the revs climbed Steve would look outside at the ground - something about emergency landing area's and the waffle about the block thing again.... Not sure why we would want to perform and emergency landing.. My bladder was empty and thanks to Kellogg's I am as regular as clockwork so I was fine for a while still...... Maybe he had eaten curry the night before, who knows....

So anyway, after the non event stall we do a couple of runway inspections of Whats landing head off up the coast towards Haga Haga.

On out final pass at What's I informed Steve that I would like to get down into the valley to experience a bit of the low level tap (see route in pic) - Anyway just after the threshold the ground drops away into a valley where I knew my friend Mr Turbulence would be waiting... So off the end of the strip, nose down and follow the contours all the way to the river... Here and there a bit of tap but I immediately noticed two things - One, this a/c laughs in the face of tap and secondary (and for me most importantly) is the effectiveness of the control inputs - With the generous control surface areas the plane is very responsive, the moment a wing dropped a gentle touch on the stick would have it back in place in no time whatsoever....

So through the valley and up the river until the BIG dam and then hard left...

For those of you who know the area there are some lovely long stretches of beach that one can fly forever and a day loooow level.

We maintained a fairly respectable height until the sand and that is when the fun really started.... Miles and miles and miles and miles of fun with a bit of a pull up here and there to avoid ingesting people and their pets into the engine......

The one thing that I can honestly say about this area and the local avieighters....aviatorrs...avveiate... ag, pilots is their sensitivity to Joe Soap average citizen with regards to low flying and "noise pollution"

I have also often though about what the average citizen thinks is happening when they are sitting on the beach and 2km's or so away they see an aircraft suddenly descending towards the beach and then fly in their general direction LOOOOOOOOOW level - 500 metes or so before getting into their "happy" space we climb out and over them only to repeat the process again on their "dead" side......

Usually as one passes overhead we are greeted with waving arms and lots and lots of teeth.... Man, we are a fortunate bunch of people...We must never loose sight of that fact........

Anyway we did quite a bit of low level flying and I think I must have been improving with the footrests because for the most part Steve stayed on his side of the cockpit....

As with most good things they eventually come to an end and I started a nice gentle turn out over the sea to bring us back on the reciprocal heading.... After a couple of minutes my autopilot kicked in with a "I have control" and the next minute the sea was positioned in a weird angle off the nose.... I don't think Steve was keen for the 8km swim back to land....

Don't anybody tell him but I am not scared of either the swim back or the fishies that will want to make a meal of us... I have a secret anti-shark weapon, it is a pocket knife with a 1 cm blade.... The trick to fending off a shark attack with the formidable weapon is quite simple.... As soon as most of the parts have stopped moving after a water ditching all one needs to do is jab ones pax once or twice in the leg and make sure that one stays at least 10 meters away from him/her in the swim back to shore....

So, we get back to the area around the a/f and practice a couple of touch and goes over the world's tallest Blue-gum trees.... Well I say practice but for most of the time I was just following the control inputs that the "autopilot" was making.....

From my vantage point the approach goes something like this..... Fly towards the 600 foot tree line hoping like hell that the Rattex is not in a bad mood..... 1 second after the prop has clipped the highest branches push the stick through the firewall and enter a dive that would have Stuka pilots holding their breath for about 8 seconds before levelling out, holding her in ground effect until you have dissipated the 300 knots worth of stored energy and then touching down...... we did one or two of those and then called it a day.....

Final circuit, flew the perfect triangle and on downwind started a 4 minutes battle with Mr Flap lever...... Left hand on the stick, right hand on the flap control level, mind power on the throttle SLOOOWLY easing itself back to neutral....

At this stage eyes outside the cockpit watching the rapidly approaching 600 foot Trees of Doom.....damn this flap control is small and thin... pull push, pull push, pull push....flaps remain where they are....some more pushing and pulling NOTHING.... Look over at Steve for assistance... He is sitting there with his eyes closed and a smile on his face....

Damn..... My mistake, remove hand from Steve's lap and look inside the cockpit for the flap lever.... Where the hell has the thing got to..... VAF starts warning "ground ground ground....." look out the front, why is the earth rotated 90 degrees from where it should be.....stupid thing...... it needs to stay in one place...bad BAD ground....

OK, found flaps, push lever, dump flaps... zoom over the Trees of Doom with microns to spare, stupid birds sitting in the top of the tree almost get converted into pink wobbly bits and feathers, 70 degrees nose down... 1...2.....3.....4.....5.......6........7........8

Following the autopilots control inputs, now in ground effect..... hold off, hold off, hold off and then we are down rattle rattle shake shake rattle bump rattle...... Grab the 10 speed racers brake (he he Kevinbark )
and squeeze.... mmm, nice braking ability..... Steve climbs off the dashboard ledge and takes his seat again (For an instructor he certainly does move around in an aircraft quite a bit)...

Taxi back to the hanger, I finish off the post flight checks and then head off back to the office........

My colleagues think that I am having an affair I think....for the rest of the day I sat staring out of the window with a big grin on my face.... :D

I went to see Mr X this afternoon and the negotiations continue....



Well, that is enough for this post, more again next week....

Nice stuff Bryan...what do you mean I need to diet? and in your side of the cockpit? Next session, we are going to loop to get you right...

Boy, was FAWGie disappointed today............................. I found the correct flap lever every time. :D

So, I wake up this morning - Wednesday - GREAT - Time to see if my ring-barking of the TOD have worked. No, stupid things are still there and have grown at least 50' since last week - sigh.

FAWGie is sitting there patiently waiting for me - I park my car and walk over to him - He patiently explains that my car is obstructing the hangar.

More patient waiting while I move it and take a call from my softness - She is still breathless from last night and she just wants to thank me for a great time again....... You guys know what it is like, we have only been married for about 12 years now and I must admit I may be running out of creative idea's - At this rate I suspect that I will run out of new idea's in about 8 years but that is a story for another thread...

Anyway, park the car and walk over to the help Steve get the a/c out.

He says not to worry, he would rather do it himself...... Just because the one time I though it would be a damn side less effort and frankly much easier to start the engine and actually taxi it out, all of a sardine I can't help......... I don't see what the problem is, I mean once the other guys behind us in the hangar got their aircraft back onto their wheels IMHO I think they where secretly glad that my prop-wash had blown the dust off their wings.... And as for the "few" that where a tad annoyed I explained to them that if they actually took the time to tie their a/c down while in the hangar all of this could have been quiet easilly been avoided.... some people!

So, while Steve is manhandling the a/c out I remember that my softness is still babbling on the other end of the line...

Fantastic, Wonderful, Man in a million....

"Yes Dear................."

Can't wait till you get home tonight

"Ok Honey...................."

But this time 4 times only as I have got a court case in the morning......

This last sentence of hers brought a smile to my face for a brief second, but mind you only for a second....

The thing that wiped it off again pretty bl@@dy quickly was some stupid little tube about 8 inches long that somebody had carelessly attached under the left wing....Damn thing drilled a neat hole right into the middle of my forehead - Bugger that was sore but anyway I guess it was my own fault, I mean I can't blame Steve - He had his head down pushing away at the back of the a/c like a water mule....

Ok, time for the preflight - Prop - check, Wheels - check, Bolts and things - Check, Moving bits - check, Stupid little tube with some scalp and hair jammed in the front - Check.

On a side note - although the scalp and hair are not pretty sticking out of this tube it may help solve one of the irritating little problems with this aircraft...... Every time I take off, or climb quickly once I have strayed too close to the cumulo-granite formations there is an irritating noise that sounds like a hooter that starts blaring.... I suspect that maybe with the wind now unable to get into this little pipe that it maybe that the noisy hooter little distraction thing will stop...... Here's holding thumbs

We get to the holding point and I elect a runway for t/o and start heading up the taxiway - Steve and I have a discussion regarding my choice and he seems satisfied with my logic.

Get through the normal a/c checks and aim the aircraft down the runway....

Apply power and off we go..... Wheeee! V1 comes and goes, V2 comes and goes - The inverted V that the hanger roof forms gets a lot larger really quickly and it looks like Steve is riding an exercise bicycle the way that he is pressing the footrests......

Now airborne, I manage to track centreline for a good 4 seconds of the 30 second time we are over it. Being the observant pilot that I am I notice FAWGie may be coming down with altitude fever, he certainly is sweating quite a bit although it is quite cool.

I decide to take us down a bit lower which gets the inevitable "Ground Waring" from the autopilot.... Sigh - No pleasing some people..... So stick back and up we go. Doesn't look like the scalp in the tube thing helps at all - their goes the irritating hooter thing again.

At this stage I spend some time looking around my instruments - All 2 of them - One is the ASI (indicating zero - weird?) and the other being that funny little spirit level thing.

I am sure that that is also a bit buggered - I mean I am not a handyman but I know how a spirit level works. This one doesn't - I mean the little bubble (which they have conveniently filled with black air) was not quite in the middle, a mite on the left hand side.

So, what does this mean, easy - it means that the right hand side must be a bit lower than the left.... OK, raise up the right hand side and ..... nothing........ then all of a sudden the thing moves left again... what is with that???

But that is enough writing for one night -

On the progress side with the purchase it looks as if things are starting to happen - The current owner and I are going to have a chat this weekend with regards to some things that we need to buy and install.....

A working ASI would be nice....

In the next chapter I cover high speed passes while trying to land, polyhedron circuits; the new approach to conventional racecourse patterns and how to avoid being turned into blue and white streamers by some tw@tter that uses the radio less than, err, well someone who doesn't use a radio very often.....

Great stuff Bryan, keep it coming! :D

Good stuff Keep the chapters coming

So, here I find myself (Currently - for goodness sake - it is late ) sitting in a meeting, pretending to take notes while the other blokes around the boardroom table believe that I am doing something clever on the IMate like writing a strategy to “break through the glass ceiling, or maximising our greenfields projects or looking at improving our multidimensional operational scope” or whatever they are currently waffling on about.

Surely they must have figured out this tango that we do - they pretend to pay me, I pretend to work......

I am actually trying to conclude last weeks half post before the brain cell that it currently resides on poofs out of existence like my "training lesson retention" ones seem to do......

loansharkblv wrote:
Surely they must have figured out this tango that we do - they pretend to pay me, I pretend to work......

{sigh} I miss those days...

PS
Keep it commin. Am enjoying it...

loansharkblv wrote:So, here I find myself (Currently - for goodness sake - it is late ) sitting in a meeting, pretending to take notes while the other blokes around the boardroom table believe that I am doing something clever on the IMate like writing a strategy to “break through the glass ceiling, or maximising our greenfields projects or looking at improving our multidimensional operational scope” or whatever they are currently waffling on about.
Surely they must have figured out this tango that we do - they pretend to pay me, I pretend to work......
I am actually trying to conclude last weeks half post before the brain cell that it currently resides on poofs out of existence like my "training lesson retention" ones seem to do......

Aha, now I get it You're not really a loanshark, you're a consultant to the government

afskies wrote:

you're a consultant to the government

Can't be, if you read this:

they pretend to pay me,

If you are a consultant to the government, you make lots and lots of real money. Unfortunately I fear that loansharkblv is pigment challenged to be in this fortunate position.

Regards,
Arnulf