Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

[Oupa-G]

Today was a beautiful day in the Fairest. The de Necker prop does the power output of the 1200GS justice. I taxied with it and soon ran out of runway and was forced to do a vertical taxi.
During the vertical taxi I could observe that all the temperatures are well within the green , and the rigging is such that I could continue with my hands from the controls and also the controls are beautiful balanced.The return to the runway and subsequent finalisation of the taxi was smooth and the gear has the necessary balance and springiness. So now the leaf spring lying in my workshop can be finally bent and painted. I was very happy with the result and I will have to chase the paperwork before I do something that is illegal. I saw some off road bikes jumping and doing backward loops and wandered if they had " proving flight authorisations " or do they fall under the below 500ft rules. It is an interesting thought maybe another place where we can regulate things and make it nice and orderly till we have created chaos. On this high note enjoy the evening.

Cheers Oupa-G

[grostek]

Hi Oupa G,

That was a most taxing day, I would say.

I am very happy for you and the whole team that supported you, that all your tests are going so smoothly and positively as well as conforming to design parameters.

Now if only the paperwork was finalised according to the CARS parameters it would make your day pefect.

Have a very happy evening.

Kind regards,

Gunter Rostek.

[KFA]

It would be interesting to know the different speeds at which this taxi test was done

[Oupa-G]

Grostek you are right without a supporting team it is a no go. I must say I have a wonderful wife who is very supporting , otherwise known as the not so silent partner. During times of cash flow she helped out and that is the sort of understanding when one has been married for 43 years. The Loeriesfontein team were superb in the building of the frame etc. and that is why she "taxi's " hands off. You can only do that when things are straight. On the homefront Ystervark has programmed a logbook into the Eboxi and without his help the BM project would have been impossible. Then Vliegvark did his thing designing with his 3D brain WaterJetting and then the welding and his constant sense of humour and also a critical eye and lovely radiant thinking. The bottom line "the A team " Also thanks to all the support on this site 54000 plus hits, what a wonderful response. The performance and the flight testing will now follow, that is going to be exciting.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Boet]

Maar die varkie lyk tog te mooi met die plank. Oom Piet sal moerse chuffed wees as hy van DIE te hore kom. Moet ek vir jou n 72X55 laat maak??

[Mogas]

[Boet]

The paperworks is now a spanner in the works. Buggers up all our enjoyment. Vhy arre ve kept vaitingk for lo lonk?? FFS?

[Oupa-G]

Quietly I'm waiting in desperation. With a 72x52 prop the vertical taxiing figures were as follows ,flotation 35mph vsi 850f/m at 50mph, 90mph with 5800 rpm . Extremely docile and easy to fly rudder control out of the books . As I have only vertically tested her I'm quietly very impressed cannot stop being happy . She flies totally neutral. The paperwork is dragging I do not know if the bottleneck is in the engineering section . I have a feeling that the NTCA section are just waiting to help me, but they need an OK from the engineers. I feel like going up to Midrand and stamp my feet. The paperwork is pushing me into illegality. That is not what I want to do. I worked very hard to bring this project to life and now I do not want to strangle it. The natural next step of this build project is the flying of it because that is why we build aeries. The weather promises to be bad this long weekend . So I'll tune the Voyager instrument.


Cheers Oupa-G

[Boet]

Jaaaaaa Oom. Ek sal maar n plan moet maak om die spinner by jou te kry. Die plank lyk te nakend daarsonder.

[Boet]

Ek raak ook nou n bietjie kriewelrig vir die papierwerk wat so sloer. Magtig mense, dis n NTCA sportvliegtuigie wat gebou is soos n brug. Hou asb op hare kloof. ONS WIL VLIEG!! ASB. Demmit

[Oupa-G]

Hoe sê die mense jaaah Boet ek stem saam!!!!!. Had another quick vertical taxi every time I look at something else, checked the rudder authority , very positive without being over sensitive. Enough authority to have good side slipping qualities. Will have to install the soundproofing on the fire wall, the orchestra is making a lot of noise. Had an extensive study of the Voyageur what a wonderful comprehensive instrument. It is wonderful to belong to the Microlight club and the talent amongst the members. I got stuck with the files but Mark of Jora Hirth and Rotax fame, is not only a superb dead stick pilot and just to prove it that the first one wasn't luck he did a second dead stick equally excellent for not bending anything. This talent has washed over onto understanding the Enigma group of instruments. Over the phone he walked me through the procedures and file conversions etc etc so tomorrow I will test if I have been a good scholar. Enough for tonight.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

Today there was a nice 15kts crosswind a good reason to see how the taxi traits are with such a crosswind . It was just no problem it must be one of the most docile aeroplanes I have ever flown. On the downwind I pushed the power to 6400 rpm and she returned with a solid 100mph the VSI pegs on 850 ft/min and I definitely need a coarser pitch it is a bit like driving on the highway in 3rd gear. To-morrow promises rain and high winds so I will take off the cowling and boot cowl and concentrate on the sound proofing. At the moment she is very noisy my Bose headset cannot cope. I loaded the data in the Voyager and what a wonderful instrument. When I look outside the terrain is the same as on the instrument. Also the ASI analogue and the Voyager are the same. When I have the paperwork I will be doing longer runs and then I can correlate IAS with the GPS groundspeed but that is all part of the testing program. It is wonderful to have a handsfree aeroplane with no trim tabs. Will concentrate on some pics next time round.


Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

The vertical taxi program is completed. The results are that the ANR headset cannot manage the noise in the cockpit and the soundproofing program that was to be done later is now top priority. The initial flight tests will be done and the prop will be a de Necker left hand tractor 72X54 the present prop is on loan from Boet and must go back. If anybody reading this knows of the where abouts of such a prop it would be appreciated. The Woodcomp people will exchange my two blader for a three blader but that will take some time to organize. The wind was blowing quite strong in the fairest and I was on RedX call with no flights. So I tinkered on the soundproofing. I have measured the firewall and made a drawing and will cut the special foam . This foam is very nice it has a silver backing supposed to reflect the heat back towards the firewall then the core is a sandwich between a thicker layer of soft foam and then a thin layer of more solid material all together 5 compartment (layers). The material is also fire-retarded. So now that I have the pattern two sets will be cut one for my Bosvarkie and the other set for the Safari #2 in Loeriesfontein.I have taken some pics of my faithful workshop and on the work bench I have a big cutting board. During the week the under carriage will be completed. I'm holding thumbs for the paper work, so that the real testing can start. Enjoy the pics long overdue.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

I see that there are 55500 hits. So I'm showing in close-up the 5 compartments that the foam is made from , quite extensively used in the French aviation industry. Just some useless detail but somebody may find it interesting. I'm of to bed .


Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

The war against noise has been declared. I stuck just a foam layer against the boot cowl it also has the aluminium layer and the foam is also the flame retarded type. Went to the plane tonight and took all the dimensions and recorded them on a photo I had taken. It just shows that good recording is very helpful , made so easy with the digital camera. Its late and the evening just slipped by.


Cheers Oupa-G