Activity Stream

Activity Stream



  1. akflyer added a post in a topic So whats up with the fat bastard builders???   

    OK guys, I am getting ready to buy plane ticket and come kick some fat bastard builders asses if they keep collecting dust! Get your priorities straight. Planes, Beer, food. everything else just does not matter


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  2. Av8r3400 added a topic in Avid fox flyers pics and vids   

    Air to Air Photos
    How about a thread of Air to Air shots? Kind of fun, group flying...

    These were taken the day I took my latest YouTube video.


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  3. flattie45 added a topic in Avid fox flyers pics and vids   

    Nate's Pics
    Anyway, here is a few pictures of flying around. The first is the Searey. Definitely very different than any aircraft I have been in. I have not flown it yet but have done some taxing around. It is weird to be able to reach out the side and touch the ground. It should be alot of fun once it's ready to go.
    The other pictures are from summer 2008. My brother and I went up to the headwaters of the Skwentna river to scout out a spot for a packraft trip. We weren't able to make the trip but it was fun to scout it out. Hopefully we'll make it next summer.
    I'll post some more pictures when I get back to my laptop. Anyway, enjoy!
    -Nate



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  4. akflyerbob added a post in a topic Avid Catalina   

    No, I don't think so. The "boat hull" is thin, @ 1/8 inch. I don't think
    it would take much abuse. I even wonder abour rough water.
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  5. Av8r3400 added a post in a topic Avid Catalina   

    Could an Avid Amphibian (Catalina) be operated off it's belly in deep snow?

    I saw a video of Kenmore planes on straight floats (not just your Full Lotus inflate-o-floats, Leni) being operated off snow, once.

    Would this stress the hull too much? Could a sacrificial wear surface be added to the bottom?


    Just thinking outside the box, a little...
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  6. jackak added a post in a topic Avid Catalina   

    Looking good Bob. Great progress.
    Jack
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  7. akflyerbob added a post in a topic Avid Catalina   


    Both wings mounted to check alignment

    Gluing root rib

    Checking root and butt rib ailgnment and spacers"

    Flaperon used for spacing of hing ribs

    Every thing glued in place and aligned,
    one wing down, one to go
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  8. flattie45 added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lakes trip   

    I put my 140 on skis and picked up my dad from One Stone Lake on the 3rd. During the snowstorm they had 4 1/2 feet (!) of snow in a 24 hour period. Needless to say, they were housebound for a couple days. The day after they tried to get moving but the snowmachine would only make it 2 or 3 feet before burying itself. A couple friends were able to make it over the next day and help put in a strip on the lake. By the time I made it out the snow had settled to about three feet.
    Nice pics Leni.
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  9. akflyer added a post in a topic Alaska Fly in   

    I spent a few days up past skwentna at Fish Creek Lakes.. Damn nice lodge at Fish Creek Lodge Winter rates are rooms or cabins 75 night per person including meals. As the days are kinda short right now, long flights mean over night trips for me. Anyone up for invading a lodge for a day or two? I was up last week and there was 29" of new snow with more on the way, so make sure you have your skis on.


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  10. akflyer added a post in a topic Joannes High EGT's   

    Did you check the connections on the EGT probes? You should have a set of wires coming off the back of the gauge, then the thermocouples plug into that wire. Make sure those connections are good. I had one set drive me nuts, and even though the plugs looked good, I was getting high and erratic EGT readings... turned out the extension wire was hosed up. I learned this after changing probes and gauges twice.


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  11. akflyer added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lakes trip   


    The third is a 100 hp T craft. That belongs to the guy that owns the cabin we were at.

    My ski's are on Wagonmasters Blue MK IV so I will stick with the floats till we get another set of ski's built for the Mk IV.


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  12. Av8r3400 added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lakes trip   

    So-- We have two Avids and what is the third? Looks like a Supercub, maybe? The angle makes it look smaller.

    Are you going to stay with the Lotus Floats this winter or switch to regular skis?


    Grainy or not, those are some beautiful pictures.
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  13. akflyer added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lakes trip   


    That was the guy that owns the lodge at the other end of the lake, and my buddy that owns the cabin.. I just flew thru a 50 mile snow storm that dropped visibility to about 200' I was flying IFR ( I follow Rivers) for awhile so it took a good bit to get me tipsy... adrenaline is a wonderful drug!

    Some of the pics pissed me off cause they were AWSOME sunrise pics, but I left my good still digital at home and had to take pics with the video cam.. alot more grainy than I wanted. Next time I will damn sure have both cameras with me!

    Working on the vid, but the POS HD helmet cam I bought is pissing me off on the quality of the video.


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  14. horsepower added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lakes trip   

    Cool pics, my wife is into photography and she would love those sunset shots.What ever you had for dinner must have made you really sleepy. Looks like you had a good time,kind of looks like our elk hunting camp,we dont always get elk but have a hell of a good time.Keep those Alaska pics coming.Randy
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  15. Av8r3400 added a post in a topic Video   

    I got some more video this weekend. Some cool formation stuff with a friend and his son in their Champ and Minimax. I figured out how to get sound, too! I tried the higher res video to get rid of the weird prop effect, but it didn't help.

    NOW-- my laptop is on it's last legs. I'm trying to back up everything before it dies... More videos will probably have to wait until what I have is safe on a CD.
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  16. C5Engineer added a post in a topic Video   

    Those look pretty cool.. I want to get some video of flying around in my Avid so I can share how much fun I'm having.
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  17. C5Engineer added a post in a topic Fish Creek Lakes trip   

    Looks like an awesome place to fly!! I gotta get up there someday and fly with you guys!
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  18. akflyer added a topic in Avid fox flyers pics and vids   

    Fish Creek Lakes trip
    Last week me and a buddy took a little trip to spend a few days at a friends cabin. Had a great time once we both got there (we got separated in a snow storm and my buddy had to land down river about 20 miles and spend the night). The pics did not come out that great from the video camera but you will ge the idea.













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  19. akflyer added a post in a topic Video   


    I picked up a new HD helemet cam last week prior to leaving on my trip.. I am not sure if I have a setting hosed up or if the mount is not sturdy enough, but the vid came out kind of wavy. Pissed me off, but I will see if I can salvage any of the footage. If not, I will be looking at you helmet cam and trying that one out.


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  20. akflyer added a post in a topic Needle Tachs suck!   


    Joey, if you temps at cruise are high, then you need to raise the needle to fatten it up! Glad to hear that you now have the power that you felt you always should have had.. but I bet you would have had that same performance with the grey head if it was turning the right RPM too.




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  21. akflyer added a post in a topic Joannes High EGT's   


    The wires do thread onto the terminals in the coils and the caps. A dab of dielectric grease then screw them on to the coil and cap. Make sure the rubber boots seal up around the wires.


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  22. akflyer added a post in a topic Avid MK4 thrust line   


    I will run out to a buddies Mk IV tomorrow and pull some measurements for you. I am sure that with all the variations in engines, and cowlings you can get, there is no one hard fast thrust line. What engine are you planning on using?


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  23. danko7 added a topic in Avidfoxflyers General Hangar   

    Avid MK4 thrust line
    Hi group,

    Can anybody advise if the thrust line on Avid MK4 models has a fixed location, or it can be offset up and down depending on the engine type.
    Where is the point where the thrust line intersects the MK4 firewall,and does the line run perpendicular to the firewall ?

    I have no cowl and mount yet. My manual does not say anything.

    Thanks,
    Dan
    • 6 replies
    • 1,839 views


  24. C5Engineer added a post in a topic Flight testing   

    The engine swap is complete. I put an hour on my bird today doing some testing. This engine pulls way harder than my old one. I'm getting the type of performance I expected out of my Avid the first time around now. I was doing pattern work in 12 knots of wind today. From a dead stop my takeoff rolls were less than 5 seconds. My bird is 533 I'm 180 and I had 15 gallons on board. I was very impressed. Climbs to pattern altitude were pushing 1200fpm. The winds were helping me out quite a bit. It seems to cruise about the same however the hole I opened up in the front of my cowl changed the way the air flows and it seems to be louder in the cabin now. I'm going to have to build a cover or something to cover that up. It's always something with these things...the projects and mods never end.... I love it!
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  25. C5Engineer added a post in a topic Needle Tachs suck!   


    Randy I just stayed right over the top of the airport for about 20 minutes so no good numbers yet. I did open it wide open to be sure it was not going to over rev in flight. I was staring at the tach and egts and realized it was getting really loud and I glanced over at my airspeed and it pegged at 100mph so I chopped the power. I'm getting about 6400 straight and level wide open and 1100 degrees on the EGT's. I'm still getting a little toasty at 4800-5000 which is where I cruise a lot when down low and slow so might drop the needle down another notch. I'm not exceeding 1200 but it's getting right up there. Some guys say you should run them like that to prevent carbon build up..what do you guys think? I'm trying to stick a tad on the lean side down here at Sea Level so it's not slobbering rich when I head up to the 3-4000ft MSL strips in the hills I plan on flying to alot this summer.

    As far as the blue head vs silver head a lot of guys think the blue head is making a few more horsepower. I discussed this with the guy that built my engine yesterday and he agrees. He uses the same gearbox/prop to do all his break ins and he said a blue head just seems to pull harder and run better overall. I've never seen anything to back this up though. I can tell you that this engine is way smoother than the other one. I always thought my prop was slightly out of balance because I've always had a slight vibration. That is totally gone now and I'm still running the same prop and gearbox. I did replace all my prop mounting hardware and clamping blocks and I tore my gearbox totally apart..maybe that did it??? I'm thinking it's the engine itself though.Maybe I had a crank bearing on it's way out or something. I asked for a full report on my old engine when he tears it down just to satisfy my old curiousity.

    Like I said I was using my needle tach exclusively on the old engine so I'm thinking I have been running the RPMs low for a while. I was getting 900fpm solo before so it could not have that low but I saw 12-1400 yesterday here at Sea Level, 50 degrees, and a 12kt headwind. I know this engine has more power but I don't think it's that much more. I'm thinking I was only running 6000 rpms or so before.
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