Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

[Oupa-G]

Work work and work going away is not good for work but it must be done otherwise we go crazy. I been sorting some of the photo's and Ystervark made a beautiful combination and did some wonderful editing with music etc. I'm showing some of the highlights. A trip like this with the microlights doing many hours far from home , there is always some maintenance and unexpected things going wrong. At Terrace Bay the brand new Aquila had stress fractures in the prop blade base and a new prop was flown in by Ross in his super fast Lance-Air. It amazes me how a group of Microlighters can pool their resources and make things happen. Next morning the Trike was in the air. Between Purros and Orapembe one of the old 503 trike stripped the crankshaft gear and had to land. Within 12 hrs a whole new gearbox was flown in by my friend Andre from Omaruru and the trip could continue. The stay in Ondjuwa was wonderful and we were joined by 5 fixed wing aeroplanes they had flown all the way from Cape-Town 2 CT's , 2 Jabi's and a Zenair 601. The braai's and the chatting and just relaxing was wonderful. The trike group and the fixed wing group split the next day because the fixed wings were doing a greater tour of Namibia. We went the next day for a flight to the Kunene and the Marienfluss . I'm showing some pics of how we all "suffered" under the stress but somebody has to do it . The Namibian ground crew were superb and the catering could not have been better.


Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

It is so sad that RV4ker was one of the moderators. George and his Dad were living for aviation and they will be sincerely missed sincerest sympathy to the family that were left behind.


Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

Seems my life is getting back to normal the Cape is nice and cold with the typical frontal weather. I checked through the last trip slides and we traveled up the MarienFluss traveling towards the Kunene river.
The view was extra ordinary with the long grass hiding the runways but we stopped at the river just to "ooh aah" with each other about the greenness and the beauty. Every time we landed we had to take a lot of grass from the axles and it also made the take-off run longer.

I enclose the pics , we are not going to see this view in the near future.


Cheers Oupa-G

[KFA]

Just finished loading a kit heading your way, I might just pop in on Friday afternoon.

[Oupa-G]

KFA you are absolutely welcome

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

KFA visited me on Friday afternoon with his Dad and Son. Nice to see the three generations with a nice family bond. We chatted a lot and exchanged ideas, he delivered a new kit to the Cape and we will hear more about this build project.

Have been busy with the RedX this weekend and tonight we had our first power cut for this winter my standby generator worked well and I could finish my landing lights on the Bosvark I should rather call them recognition lights. I replaced the two 55W lights with two high intensity LED lights , so I'm exchanging 10 amp power drain for 500 milliamp that means the lights can be on all the time. Will post the pictures to-morrow.

Meanwhile some more pics from the Kunene, the lack of landing sites is quite obvious from the pictures.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

About twenty minutes after take off from Hartmann airfield the engine started shuddering which became more violent I changed from system one to the backup system and then I lost all power and landed under ideal conditions, My passenger asked why are we landing but the back of the gearbox and prop was gone . I was thankful that it did not happen over the Kunene river. We found the remainder of the gearbox and prop in the long grass. I had to wait for the rest of the day for the ground-crew to arrive and we packed the trike. The cause of this engine failure was actually a gearbox component failure not engine related. When coming home I have looked at all the problems that I have had and with the engine and EboXi's and our fuel injection except for tuning Zero problems but our main problems have been gearbox related. The component that failed was the adapter plate between the flywheel and the centrifugal clutch. I reported this to the maker of the box and I mentioned that a redesign was necessary. The new adapter was made I also checked this with the producer of the gearbox and he approves of the design. I'm enclosing some pictures of the new plates that Vliegvark made on the CNC machine. This design incorporates both centering pins and is made of en8 AND NOT ALLI all corners have a radius and the center is web filled for strength. I'm fitting it to-morrow in the Bosvark and I have sufficient billet to make these parts for all the BMW's flying in SA. My workshop is cold but I have still been active on the lights LED at 500 milliamps instead of the old lights at almost 10 Amps These pictures are also enclosed. I'm also showing the new silencer box I'm now using the Sling's design with the permission of Mike Blyth and I'm thankful for that. It is called Cross Pollination. There are lots of pictures tonight I was a bit quiet, there was so much to do and so little time.


Cheers Oupa-G

Comments are welcome

[GateKeeper]

Hi Oupa-G,

Donald and I are busy with Wing tip strobes, also using LED's, I have done the electronics, PCB's should be here this week, and Donald is busy with the mold. We should have the first prototypes, for testing in a week or two.

I am going to fit these to my new Sling, and a few other guys have already expressed interest in buying some, based on a demo I took to the field.

See you later
Gatekeeper.

[Oupa-G]

Gatekeeper you can put me down for a set

Oupa-G

[Boet]

Me too!

[Oupa-G]

I today replaced the adapter on the flywheel Started the Bosvark and let her run through the full rev range on the ground, I had only the header tank full because the mains were empty was busy with a fresh weight and balance. I also fitted the cowling with the new LED lights I had to set my camera's light sensitivity at -3 to get the visible effect. This kind of blue light is very very visible and at 500 milli-amp it can stay on all day. Had to shorten the one casing to clear the starter had no effect on the heat dissipation. While fitting the new adapter everything centred nicely everything was torqued and the holding bolts for the clutch were checked for clearance see the picture with the cable-tie used as feeler gauge. I have had my share of problems, I have shared all the knowledge as promised at the beginning of this thread, and we have tried so far to also find solutions. Any helpful advice will be greatly appreciated. Sometimes once the failure has taken place it then is easy to see why. But to have the insight beforehand is not easy. If we look at the Airbus 380 with Rolls Royce engines and budgets that are immense, and they also get surprises then I realise that we are in good company without a big budget and also not a big team. Everything happens after hours with a private budget. I'm now finished with the Bosvark and the final papers are of to Gauteng to-morrow.

Enjoy the pics

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

I feel like an administrative clerk. I filled in all possible documents and sent it all of to Francois Jordaan who is handling my paperwork now . Kitplanes for Africa were of great help so I now hope that there are no more curved balls in this next round. Will keep everybody posted.


Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

All the paperwork gone, I fitted the new gearbox parts the engine is now ultra smooth everything lined up well and the new centering adaptor plate was machined to close close fit tolerances. I always had a slight drag on the clutch this is all gone.

It is a shame this aircraft is finished has flown 55hrs during its proving flight and now CAA is coming with wing loading and excemptions and a R1000 bucks and so it carries on. Should I fly the aircraft then I'm the reckless thug. Hopefully Francois Jordaan has good dealings with CAA otherwise I am forced to fly without an ATF or register the aircraft in another country. Namibia springs to mind as well as Swaziland. The people in CAA are definitely not pilots.


Vliegvark was very keen and he did some taxiing he flies the Vansin I took some foties with my telephone just to record the day. The rudder authority is now great as this promises to be a honey.

Some foties


Cheers Oupa-G

[Mogas]

She sure is a pretty machine Oupa, and lus to get airborne, I see the tailwheel is leading the way

[THI]

Oupa- G

Can you please give us more info on the LED landing light eg where to buy, price etc?

Thanks!