Auster Drivers

[Proctor VH-AHY]

G'Day All

I own a couple of Austers (VH-BGU and VH-KSK) and would like to make contact with other Auster Drivers.

cheers
Ross

[LowNSlow]

Hi Ross,

I've got a J1 G-AHAM which is currently in the UK but I'm thinking of bringing her over to the Gold Coast where I'm going to be based for the next few years. Where in Oz are you based?

[Genghis the Engineer]

I don't own one, but have a few hours on type, including test flying one for LAA and then converting the owner, who is kind enough to let me fly it still from time to time.

Great beasties, pleasant to fly with a few interesting gotchas - particularly at the low speed / landing end. Mind you, if I owned one, I think I'd finally indulge myself in an ANR headset.

G

[Proctor VH-AHY]

LowNSlow

I live in Brisbane, not that far from the Gold Coast (about 100 km). VH-BGU is a J5B and VH-KSK is a J5, I had another one VH-KSH another J5 but I gave it away to my son, Tom. It requires a complete rebuild however he is a black-hander in the RAAF so that shouldn't be a problem. Its a long term project stored in one of my hangars.

I have a Tiger Moth as well - VH-JRS.

I also a rebuild project a Percival Proctor Mk1 formally VH-AHY.

I am sure our paths will cross. My aircraft are based at Watts Bridge Airfield.

Genghis
You must be flying spamcans and spoilt if you think Austers are noisy, try flying a Tiger Moth.

cheers
Ross

[Genghis the Engineer]

Genghis
You must be flying spamcans and spoilt if you think Austers are noisy, try flying a Tiger Moth.

My usual steed is about a decade older than most Austers, but strangely despite having another 15 or so horses is far quieter with better cockpit ergonomics! (It does at the moment seem to drink just as much oil however :( ).

I've yet to have a go in a Tiger Moth, but am very open to offers!

G

[Proctor VH-AHY]

Genghis

Not hard to have better cockpit ergonomics than an Auster, evidenced by the positioning of the flap lever. Access to the rear seats is yet another example as is getting into the aeroplane to sit in the front seat and fly the aeroplane.

I have a thing about design and the "Man-Machine-Interface" and in that regard the positioning of the flap lever in the Auster is a complete failure.

cheers

[Wanderin_dave]

AHY - I'm not sure if you've seen the following thread currently running in the Oz/NZ/Pacific area of these boards: http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-aviation-questions/472503-request-info-flying-auster.html

Might find some useful contacts there.

Dave - Tiger driver down south
(Will happily swap a flight in a Tiger for a flight in an Auster :ok:)

[Proctor VH-AHY]

Wanderin_dave

Sorry

Still owning a Tiger and having owned it for over 30 years, I am more interested in flying Austers at the moment, now if you had a Proctor then that would be a different story.

Where do you fly your Tiger from? any near me (Watts Bridge - Brisbane)

cheers

[LowNSlow]

Proctor, I'll be getting on the big white bird this evenng to fly back to Brisbane. I'll drop you a PM when I get back dunnunder.

[Wanderin_dave]

AHY - It was only tongue in cheek and more aimed at Genghis comment earlier. Having said that, I'm keen fly anything. So to the open house; I'll swap a flight in a Tiger for a flight in anything! :}

I fly out of Point Cook in Melbourne.

[Proctor VH-AHY]

G'Day All

Since you drive a Tiger I thought you may be interested in a video I made in rememberance of a few of my friends who flew Tigers and were killed in aviation related accidents

Wings Immortal - by Bart Stenhouse - YouTube

My son Bart composed and performed the tribute.

My Tiger is the blue one with yellow wings and a red/white checkered nose cowl.

cheers

[Genghis the Engineer]

So to the open house; I'll swap a flight in a Tiger for a flight in anything!

Have you seen the "Swap an hour" thread in Private Flying?

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/470193-swap-hour-thread.html

G

(Would happily swap an hour in my 1947 Stinson for an hour in a Tiger Moth, but geography may make that a tad difficult with a Dunnunda based dH.)


N.B. I do have the test cards and reports for the Auster J5L I test flew for the LAA if anybody is in the restoration/test game and might find those useful.

[Wanderin_dave]

Thanks Genghis, great thread.

[Proctor VH-AHY]

G'Day All

looking for a bit for one of my Austers, it is the fuel guage for the J5B. The old bit is showing signs of wear on the float gears that drive the guage and so if anyone can help out, I would be very happy. It is the fuel guage in the wing and reads 0-16 gals

My son is also looking for a fuel guage, that being for his J5 Auster Project. It is for the fuselage tank (the one between the engine and cabin).

cheers

[Lucerne]

G'day Ross,

Do you really need two Austers? Should you sell one?

[Discorde]

Did many aerotows on Auster 6As (ex-military AOPs) 40 something years ago - fine pitch prop & no headset ('cos no radio). No wonder I lost the upper freqs in my hearing! Mirror image compass in the roof so it could be read through a mirror - but we used the mirror to watch the towee.

[old,not bold]

Someone mentioned the flap lever; the design contributed to a structural failure and fatal crash many years ago, which I read about carefully as I was still current on Austers then.

It happened when the holes in the cheese lined after release of a glider. Very gusty day, and the pilot had a habit of getting back down asap for the next tow, and to help with this he would pull the handle forward to release it from the "flaps up" notch, and allow it to remain unlocked between that and the first "flaps down" notch. He called it "flaps set to trail."

As he descended, the little vertical stay from a port main strut to a port wing spar failed, whereupon the wing distorted and that port main strut failed, leading to rapid total failure of the wing.

The AAIB determined that during a momentary "G" increase in the rough air, the weight of the flap lever had caused it to move downwards and lock into the first flap position, unnoticed by the pilot. First hole in the cheese.

A particularly violent gust, they surmised, caused the first stage flap limiting speed to be badly exceeded, noting that the pilot was known to exceed that in any case in the belief that the flaps were only "trailing" down a little bit, and were not in the locked position. Second hole in the cheese, causing the vertical stay to be over-stressed and fail, so that the wing could distort more.

The third hole in the cheese was that the mounting point for the main strut to the fuselage frame has been rewelded some time before the accident, but the weld was found not to have fully penetrated. The point of failure of the main strut was the mounting point. Memory fails me here; I think both struts go down to a single mounting point.

The point of the little vertical strut is to prevent the wing from bending upwards between the main strut and the fuselage when flaps are lowered and lift increases in that area. The flap limiting speed is set to avoid that strut being over-stressed.

I no longer fly Austers, I wish I did. But I hope that this tale reminds those who do that Austers can bite the unwary.