Activity Stream
Activity Stream
-
High Country added a topic in Close Call's and dumb stunts
Stick and Rudder on its tophttp://www.kathrynsreport.com/2014/10/incident-occurred-october-12-2014-at_12.html looks like one of Pauls planes went off the rwy over the weekend. This is the airport i've been flight testing the Avid out of all week. Glad to hear everyone walked away. just goes to show that even the best of pilots can have a bad day.
- 4 replies
- 1,400 views
-
Nico added a post in a topic how should I vent my header tank ?
Hello bandit Please take care. I had the same for 2 years and suddenly had two engine stops. The headertank CAN collect air, and an air bubble in the line from the wing tank absolutely can block your fuelflow. I saw it happening. I drained my header tank completely without nowing due to an airlock and had an engine stop during takeoff (I still could brake....) and one in air. I did cut the engine inmedeately when the RPM went down, the engine kept idling. I looked for a place to land and saw the fuel pressure rising again. I was very close to the airfield, so opened the engine slowly to 3500 RPM and could reach the runway... See also the contribution of Ed. I consider he FAA advice to have a levelsensor at the header tank in our type of planes a very good suggestion. I feel a lot safer and it warned me a coulple of times. I will draw the diagram to a readable version and will post it Ed. Thanks a lot for the info. I absolutely will go this way. I sprayed enough fuel over my plane...
-
0
-
-
allonsye added a post in a topic Over heating on Rotax 670
Marv -
Did you see this through? What was the outcome?
-
0
-
-
EDMO added a post in a topic how should I vent my header tank ?
I can guarantee that an airlock will stop the flow in a system - We proved it after adding wing tanks to the J3 - an air bubble between the wing tank and the header will absolutely not let fuel flow until the fuel in the header gets below the inlet tube, and we have pressure tubes on the wing tank caps. The header tank is vented at the cap. We could add a vent tube at the inlet, and it would work, but it would be illegal.
It is a little worrisome when the gage on the cap starts to bottom out, and you wonder if the fuel will flow from the wing since you cant see thru the fuel tubes. If you have altitude, and put the nose down far enough, the airlock bleeds out and the gage starts heading back in the right direction.
I realize that different systems act differently - the STC for the J3 puts the inlet on the bottom of the header tank, where the Kitfox inlet is in the top of the tank and should not have the problems of the J3. I will still vent my header to the wing tank.
EdMO
-
0
-
-
EDMO added a post in a topic Can't find fuselage structural diagram
Luke,
If you haven't bought your material, consider using 1" x .049 for the carry-thru tubes, the same as the struts..
EdMO
-
0
-
-
Bandit added a post in a topic Can't find fuselage structural diagram
Yes that would make a difference.
-
0
-
-
Av8r3400 added a post in a topic Can't find fuselage structural diagram
Very true, Mark. However...
The landing in question was not what I would consider hard enough to bend any part of the airframe or landing gear. Your plane will most likely thrive with the Airdale gear due to it's light weight and large soft tires. Dave's plane is 670# empty with rather stiff 8.50-6 tires. This has proven itself to be too heavy for the cabine style gear. When the steel die springs bottom out from their limited travel, something will bend. This is inevitable.
He bent the gear legs once, rebuilt them heavier and shortly thereafter bent them again - also bending the lower fuselage longeron this time. The fuselage was repaired and a Grove spring gear was installed and there have been no problems since.
-
0
-
-
Bandit added a post in a topic how should I vent my header tank ?
I only have one tank and never have vented the header tank. My wing tank is vented though.
-
0
-
-
Av8r3400 added a post in a topic How many planes?
There were four versions of the IV produced. Starting with the IV-1050 (1991), which was upgraded to the IV-1200. Later after the 5 and 6 came along it was re-released as the Classic IV, which is the same as the IV-1200 and the Lite².
There were a few fuselages available a couple years ago, but to my knowledge no more have been produced. The IV was sought after in Europe due to the 1200 gross weight designating it as an "ultralight". This is why these few parts were "re-released" for sale.
The rights to the "Lite" were purchased from Kitfox and the Belite company was formed. They invested what Kitfox did not want to in order to make the "Lite", now Belite into a legal part 103 ultralight.
The Lite² (Lite Squared) was nothing but a light weight, stripped down model IV, sold with a 52 hp Rotax 503 as an Ultralight Trainer - direct competition to the Avid Bandit.
-
0
-
-
Bandit added a post in a topic Can't find fuselage structural diagram
If I landed hard I would rather bend the crappy Airdale bush gear over the airframe.
-
0
-
-
EDMO added a post in a topic John Larsen's article found in October 2003 Kitplanes mag.
I wonder if this is one of the articles that Joey was posting some time ago?
EDMO
-
0
-
-
EDMO added a post in a topic How many planes?
Ed Downs gave the starting serial number of 1723 for the Kitfox 4-1200 (Classic 4) and that was in 1991. The Classic 4 is still in production in 2014. The 5 and 6 have been discontinued and replaced by the 7. I don't know about the Lite, Lite-squared, and other Kitfoxes. Then there is the BeLite?
EDMO
-
0
-
-
birddog486 added a post in a topic How many planes?
I see there have been 827 Avid's and 1641 Kitfox's registered
-
0
-
-
EDMO added a post in a topic how should I vent my header tank ?
Nico,
You don't need the tube inside the tank - whether there is gas above the fitting would not matter, since the head pressure at the bottom of the tank will always be more that at the top. Leni is correct about having 2 tanks, and you only have 1, so you need this.
I would be interested in the schematic for the warning device. I know something about electronics, but think the computer logic is beyond my old age! I don't like the idea of mixing electricity and gasoline - I would never put the capacitor type gauge in my wing tanks - I have let the smoke out of too many resistors and capacitors.
I had lunch with my Grandson today. He is an EE graduate, but I don't think he could wire my plane correctly according to FAA regs! Yes Leni, I know its an experimental, but there are limits to experimenting!
Ed
-
0
-
-
.JPG.08f9e23d729418efb8a3e9fd398de605.thumb.JPG.c67c136500da29b77d95e9683855f5f4.JPG)
1avidflyer added a post in a topic How many planes?
If you do a search on the FAA data base, you will find about 3 times more Kitfoxes than Avids registered. Jim Chuk
-
0
-
-
cliff added a post in a topic Cliff's plane pictures
Thank you akflyer. Now the real work begins.
-
0
-
-
Nico added a post in a topic how should I vent my header tank ?
I have only 1 tank, that may be the difference. I had the Spruce fuel valve in the line between the header tank and the wing tank. After 2 years of flying I had an engine stop. At ground, I investigated free flow and could not find an issue. Tested the engine, cleaned the carbs, nothing wrong. The next week, all ok. The week after that, engine stop in air. Investigated angain and I noticed NO free flow at all. I saw air below the shut-off valve. I knocked the air bulb until it passed the shut-off valve and the fuel started to flow again. I took the valve apart and saw that internally is is only 3 mm throughput!!! Very bad if the connections hav a 5 mm hole, than you fo not expect a throughput of only 3 mm.I informed spruce about it.. I replaced the valve with one that has a 6 mm throughput and the problem was gone.
I did read that there are approx 6 accidents due to airlock in our kind of planes, so I took the issue serious. The rest you can read above.
-
0
-
-
akflyer added a post in a topic how should I vent my header tank ?
I don't have a vent on my header tank, it vents from to which ever tank has the least fuel in it. I have not had an issue in over 500 hours this way. Do you have good vents in the gas caps?
-
0
-
-
akflyer added a post in a topic Cliff's plane pictures
Awesome! Glad to hear it all worked in your favor. Hope it all works out well for you.
-
0
-
-
Nico added a post in a topic how should I vent my header tank ?
Thanks a lot EdMO
If I put the vent tube at that place, I can attache a long tube inside the tank to reach to the far end of the tank wich is higher than the root end. Do you think that helps or is this altitude sufficient to ensure a good venting?
I saw the level meters at Spruce, but the price was a little high. When you make it your self, it is only a few dollar. I designed and made electronics for aircraft and spacecraft, so no problem at all. It is super simple. When there are more people liking electronics, I can post the schematic diagram.
Kind regards
Nico
-
0
-
-
EDMO added a post in a topic how should I vent my header tank ?
Nico,
FYI, Kitfox - and I think spruce - sells a low-fuel alarm that goes into the header tank.
I am attaching a photo from my Kitfox 4 builders manual showing the upper and lower sight gage fittings and a third fitting for the header tank vent tube. My tanks only have 2 fittings for the sight tube, so I will put a T fitting in the upper one for my vent tube.
You can put your fitting anywhere along the line where I have put Xs - the highest point on the end of the tanks should be best.
Hope this helps.
EdMO
-
0
-
-
Nico added a post in a topic how should I vent my header tank ?
Hello Jim
I am an electronic engineer. I did make a metric 8 mm hole in the topplate and did fit a M8 bolt with a center hole. Through the center hole I did stick approx 12 cm of the top end of a fishing rod (hollow). At the bottom end, I did glue a very small NTC resistor of 470 Ohms and did seal everything with epoxy. Two thin (0.2 mm)wires pass through the top end of the fishing rod giving electrical access to the NTC resistor. NEVER put the battery voltage to one of the NTC wires. Than a short circuit may give fire or explosion danger.
I designed a little circuit with a weatstone bridge that could measure the difference between two the same NTC resistors. One in the tank, one glued to the topplate of the tank. When the power applied to the bridge heats up the resistors (only milli watts and always current limited to prevent fire danger). The resistor in the tank will be cooled by the fuel and the resistor at the topplate by the topplate. As soon as the fuellevel sinks and the NTC resistor is above fuel level, it heats up approx 10 - 20 degrees more than the other NTC resistor and the bridge gives a voltage that can be connected to a LED flasher at the dashboard. Simple, reliable, easy to make your self and very low cost.
-
1
-
-
EDMO added a post in a topic How many planes?
Travis,
I don't have the numbers for either company, but I think that Kitfox sold 10 times the planes that Avid sold. The Kitfox numbers were something like 5 or 6 Thousand kits sold. Dan Denny couldn't design a dog house, but he was a good salesman. Kitfox is still selling the Classic 4.
EDMO
-
0
-
-
wypaul added a post in a topic engine primers
Jim I am with you on the ease of starting, I had the extra one to put on my Jabiru due to hard winter starts. I would like to find something of better quality that doesn't cost hundreds of dollars.
-
0
-
-
birddog486 added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar
How many planes?I've been curious lately how many Avid's were sent from the factory before they shut down and how many Kitfox 1-4's were sold before they changed the design
- 5 replies
- 1,120 views