Pre Solo Hops

[daveb]

I've recently soloed in my blue armchair lawnmower and this shot was during the hops phase. Aussie Paul was the photographer, perhaps hoping for something embarrassingly spectacular... Obviously I'm not posting those ones :o
Dave

[daveb]

Ok another hop. I'd say a nice climb out, Paul might suggest a nose high landing. Only the sheep know the truth.
Dave

[daveb]

Better look at the beastie..

[Chuck Irby]

CONGRATULATIONS Dave! You're looking very good. You must have a pretty good instructor. :D

[daveb]

Finally, the carefully blurred flyby shot :p

[barnstorm2]

Looks fun! Congrats!!

[rotorman890@hot]

Looks SUPER! Can't wait til it's my turn!

[John_wilkinson]

congratulations Dave' you watch that thrust line dont bite,keap up the good work.

[daveb]

Thanks John,

Probably a good place to continue the story... after being sent solo and doing the paperwork... my instructor went home and I went for another few circuits for the day. Engine started to drop a couple of revs so I resorted to careful hops again, something was not right. Yeap, She gave up on me at about 50'. No drama... landed without the noise and it turned out to be a tired petrol pump, which is now replaced.

Armed with vigour, on my 4th day of very happy solo flying, at 200' AGL I heard a loud bang behind me. I thought it was the engine exploding! Then no sound except the sweet woop woop of the rotors. Not good. I'd been practicing engine idle landings all day, so no drama. Simply set 45 knots and put her down in the next paddock from the airfield, not even a raised heartbeat. I was fortunately in a very safe position to land which is probably where a beginner should be found anyway.

I checked the gyro carefully, the engine looked OK, and then on hand turning the prop, I heard new crunchy, grindy noises........then a screaming sound, :eek: .....It was me!! I felt this terrible pain in my bank balance.

Turns out a big end had let go and things then bumped into other things inside the engine. Having looked at rebuild prices, I'm up for a new 582...

Of course that just means I'll just have to fly it nearly every day to forget about the money I'm going to owe ....I was wondering is there a special prize for two engine outs in under ten solo hours? :rolleyes:

Dave

[CLS447]

Sorry to hear that , Dave. I hope you have the best of luck with your new engine!

Seems you got the deadstick landing down, though!

[StanFoster]

Dave: Sorry to hear about your engine. I can personally tell you that even 4 engine outs in less than ten hours wont even win a cup of coffee. :D

Stan

[Chuck Irby]

I'm sorry too, Dave. That's a tough break. Best wishes in the replacement hunt.

[daveb]

Thanks Guys...My hourly costs are about that of a military jet at the moment! No problem getting an engine here, we have a helpful local Rotax agent. Strangly, the bank manager was happy to accept more interest payments each month too. Everyone is so nice :)

[Alan Coats]

Dave,

I was excited by news of your solo, enjoyed your writing, then dissapointed for you on the engine failure.

Sounds like you are a well-trained, dedicated flyer who will soon get the dollars-per-hour down to a very low rate.

Keep us informed, and post more photos. I would like to see more details of your instrument pod.

Alan

[scottessex]

Cool! Congrats!

Ooh! That sucks!

At least you got it back on the ground safely, I flew mine solo for 4 months before my engine crapped out, now I am not only replacing the engine, but building a new gyro as well!

[daveb]

Scott, errrk.. looks like I got off lightly! I trust you were OK? At least you know a good aircraft mechanic for the rebuild :D

Here are a few pics of my pod as requested. I'd like to say I built all this... maybe the next one... my idea of resolving mechanical problems was to carefully lift the telephone rather than a spanner before gyros so I'm very appreciative of all you guys and the good will in this forum. Expect many future dumb questions from me ..I can think of several already :p

[daveb]

This one shows the half oil can stone guard and the bungee front suspension pretty well. You can see it really working on the ground roll, which probably helps with RRPM. The guy who designed it was an auto electrician, which of course tells you nothing :D