Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

[Oupa-G]

Dear THI On the landing lights which I now prefer to call recognition lights because I'm planning to fly with them all the time on. The power consumption is 0.5 amp for both. I bought them at a 4X4 outlet and they were about R400. Now I'm a bit nervous with the CAA should this need a modification application on a NTCA? You be the judge.

Cheers Oupa-G

[THI]

How many mod approvals does it take to change a light bulp

Nudge-nudge wink-wink

Dankie Oupa-G, sal bietjie gaan rond snuffel in die 4x4 winkels

[Boet]

I was in The fairest this weekend, and collected another BMW engine for an Explorer. I helped Oupa to assemble the gearbox to the engine. The new clutch mounting plate is obviously of far better and much sturdier design. Can`t wait to fire it up and go fly. Thanks Oupa!

[Oupa-G]

Thanks Boet on the BMW I think it is a must and I do not think we have to wait for a second failure by not fitting it . Our European colleges believe it is not necessary but I am not willing to try it again. I flew RedX on Sunday and tonight I have the monthly Pilots meeting. I have been very busy in the workshop and your visit and witnessing the assembly of another box and second system was much appreciated. I was also glad that you could see the minimal addition of weight for the adding of the dual system, I'm making a totally new exhaust which should not crack, so many exiting things in the pipeline. The new landing lights are very nice but there is a down side I now have noise on my radio. I have handed this problem square in the lap of Ystervark, he said he will build some fancy filter. That is all for to-day

Cheers Oupa-G

[Boet]

Personally I think it would be wise for our friends from Europe to heed the warning! It is always nice to be doing some work with the old master showing and giving tips all the time. Experience counts! Thanks Oupa, always nice to enjoy the pleasure of your company!
We were very busy today, as can be seen on the pictures.

[Oupa-G]

Thanks Boet. I must say I had a bit of a retrospective view of all the paperwork etc over the last two years, the people that helped me and gave advice was Sean Curran fellow builders like Donald AX1 fame, Boet , Braam Hechter and his fellow colleagues in the NTCA dept. and to many to mention all. The rest of the CAA and the departments that try to judge an aircraft by FAR 23 standards every thing 100% negative with no safety advantages at all. I have the feeling that these officials have never flown and may be clever with sums and rules but the in depth knowledge seems to be missing. I have been flying for 46 years and I'm not going to spoil this track record by pulling 2G negative in an aircraft that has no rudder straps and is not cleared for aerobatics.

If I kill myself in the process it will be labelled pilot error.

The airframe is not an unknown it was statically loaded in Komatipoort the airframe was built to the same standards. I really hope that Francois Jordaan can let these people see the light. The Kitfox Bushbaby range of aircraft have not had a known mid air failure. I really hope that common sense will win. I feel for KFA that have been held back by all this nonsense with great financial losses. The CAA have now got major fines that they can punish the pilots. The effect is that I'm not going to attend airshows and gatherings where CAA police can be present. I think we as pilots should be able to fine CAA officials that do not help and only obstruct, the average pilot wants to be legal. Getting paperwork done in two years should be open to a fine. But we can go nowhere if we complain to much we are open to vindication .


Cheers Oupa-G

[KFA]

Hi Oupa, I feel your pain and know of frustrations with the engineering department but they are only doing their work. The current law governing NTCA needs review, and they are busy with that. In defence of CAA I must state that this aircraft's certification process was started off the wrong way around. I will not go into the details but if you look at how painless we got the others flying then it shows that Monthy went about this the wrong way. I am sure we will sort this out soon. Francois knows what he is doing.

Keep up the good work.

[Oupa-G]

Stefan thanks for the perspective , it is just some days where I just do not understand how things work any more but I will keep on hoping, it is just difficult when you are busy with the last 20 years of your life of which you do not know how many you will be blessed with ,that impatience takes over. It is asked a lot to sit with a perfectly good aeroplane and you cannot fly. I will be patient and blame Monty his things were not only deurmekaar en onderste bo en nie gedoen nie.


Cheers Oupa-G

[Jean Crous]

Ai Oupa-G , i feel with you, ....even a patient man reaches the point where he no longer can be proud of his patience
Regards
Jean

[AndreSteyn]

One thing I simply do not understand is how the guys at Sling factory gets their approval so quickly?

I have no problem with them at all, but I simply think that something is very wrong with this prototype certification
They started planning their 4 seater a couple of months ago and will be flying around the world next month

[KFA]

Hi Andre, it is very simple. If you supply the data first and work with CAA from the start the process for Amateur build is very simple. In Oupa's case his plane would have been the factory prototype for certification but half way through the process it changed to a amateur build and he had to start from scratch with the amateur build certfifcation. CAA then did not want to use any of the old data as the route for his certification has now changed. I did not understand the reasons for all this in the beginning but now it;s clear to me why. All previous paperwork submitted by Oupa and Monty was for factory certification and not Amateur build and CAA can not continue with the process if your paper tial is not the same from start to finish.

The whole reason we abandoned Oupa's plane as the prototype is that Oupa wants to fly and if it was used for certification like planned he would not have flown until the whole process was concluded. This could have taken another year or so. There is a major difference between a factory build certification and an Amateur build certification. We also get the Amateur Safari LSA now through very quickly and it's because we followed the correct procedures. We are now busy with the VLA certification and this should be done soon, then all builders will have the benefit of this.

[AndreSteyn]

Ah, thanks that explains it!

I just hope it gets sorted soon now, would love to see it fly

[Oupa-G]

The story is that I paid Monty to do all the paperwork R20,000 . The money is gone and I'm still sitting on the ground so all fingers point to Monty.

But with Francois Jordaan tackling the paperwork it hopefully will be resolved soon. I have all the right to be a bit grumpy. I must say that KFA and everybody else have been very helpful at CAA they dot the i's and they could not care any hoots about flying the paperwork must be right. I personally felt that with a bit more understanding without compromising safety at all, this plane could have been flying one year ago. Building time one year and paperwork 2 years. In August it will be 3 years since the start of the build. In home built projects that may actually be quite quick.

Hindsight is always perfect.

The idea of lengthening, widening and to make cabin higher and a longer tail was my initiative and brainchild, South African builders will eventually have a nice plane to build.

What does the saying say " No good deed will go unpunished" I'm keeping my fingers crossed I had to blow of some steam. Actually I'm not cross with anybody, I just want to fly. So this weekend I will make the new harness for the BMW that is now in Loeries. The weather promises to be nice. I will drive to Morning Star for breakfast .


Cheers Oupa-G

[Mogas]

Mind the speed cops Oupa

[Oupa-G]

I took the Vansin for the breakfast at Morning Star but also had the Bosvark washed some high speed taxiing testing the new MGL and Easyplan data on the screen I'm now taxiing on a tar runway and outside it is grass. The rudder and elevator authority is excellent as well as the interconnection between rudder and tailwheel springs. I have been invited to Zandkloof for breakfast next Saturday and I really hope I can take the Bosvark. After the washing some modelling foties. Ystervark finished his Pylon for his trike very very impressive he promised to show it on his site.


Cheers Oupa-G