L E T T ERS TO TH E ED ITOR
SHIP AHOY In June we used Tooradin as a halfway meeting point with some flying friends from Latrobe Valley. Met two members there both, I believe, named Michael. Really I thought there must be quite a story on the small ship almost driven to the airfield boundary - I was told the story was on the wall of the flying school. GEOFF RAEBEL ED- Does anyone know how the ship got there?
A FLOAT PROBLEM
GYFTS WINNERS
Recently a good friend of mine experienced a failure of his Rotax 914UL upon landing at his home airfield. Luckily, the failure occurred post touchdown as the throttle was retarded to idle, so the net effect was that the aircraft had to be manhandled back to its parking. The cause of the failure was flooding of the engine at idle, due to the carb floats absorbing fuel and sinking (not an issue with cruise / high power settings, but not desirable at partial throttle settings). There is a mandatory SB for carburettor floats on the Rotax website which DID NOT apply to this engine serial number. The agent for Rotax has replaced the carburettor floats under warranty to a float with a new part number (rather than the same part number with dots identifying the upgrade status). I recommend all 912/914 operators get their carburettor floats weighed to ensure they remain within operational specifications (lest the next PFL becomes a real emergency when the throttle is retarded). If in doubt, order the new part number floats. At the very least carry power on all the way down final. PAUL COYSH
I thought you might be interested in the excellent coverage our local newspaper, the Monaro Post, gave to the GYFTS scholarships awarded to two of my students. Excellent publicity for both RAAus, the Snowy Mountains Grammar School and Alpine Aviation Australia. MARTIN HUGHES
Stories courtesy Monaro Post
WRITE IN: EDITOR@SPORTPILOT.NET.AU The state of the organisation is reflected in the Letters to the Editor columns. The more letters – the healthier the organisation. So don’t just sit there – get involved. Your contributions are always welcome, even if no one else agrees with your opinion. The Editor makes every effort to run all letters, even if the queue gets long at certain times of the year. (By the way – the Editor reserves the right to edit Letters to the Editor to shorten them to fit the space available, to improve the clarity of the letter or to prevent libel. The opinions and views expressed in the Letters to the Editor are those of the individual writer and neither RA-Aus or Sport Pilot magazine endorses or supports the views expressed within them). 11 / SPORT PILOT