The Home of Photos in Dunnunda! Mk I
"turn me wallaby loose ,goose"....or was that 'Bruce'
See post#3392........the FTDK is very talented and sings and accompanies himself on guitar.........!
Where does he find the room?
Bit busy over western Queensland this morning???
Tinpis. Dat your humpy, Bro? Nice humpy!
You got plenty geen cans I'll bring all me relos over. 
Tinpis. Dat your humpy, Bro? Nice humpy!
You got plenty geen cans I'll bring all me relos over.
Last edited by Torres; 6th Jun 2008 at 02:07.
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I have flown the following ultralight types: the Jab, the Lightwing, a Foxcon Terrier and a Saddler Vampire.
so what did you think of the Vampire?
I have flown the following ultralight types: the Jab, the Lightwing, a Foxcon Terrier and a Saddler Vampire.
so what did you think of the Vampire?
Well not a bad little machine. A little heavy on the controls and had a "funny" feeling in the rudder pedals trying to achieve balanced flight although I think this would undoubtably come with time in the machine. It did respond nicely to control inputs and I believe they are aerobatic or at least stressed for aerobatics? One thing though was takeoff. The brief I had before the flight was to give a "genuine" tug on the control column at about 45kts to get the aircraft into the air. At first I moved the stick back but the nosewheel didn't seem to want to lift, a bit more of a tug and then it leapt into the air.
I did only get to do 30 minutes in it and I am sure all the the above would become familiar with more time. It was strange but it was a delight to fly! What is your experiences, I believe you fly or own one?
Cheers
Mr B
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yep, i fly and own one, one of the original skywise built ones, mine was built in 81! and has done just over 500 hrs..
it is true about take off and landing, both are pretty unusual.. the reason being is that the vampire has a symmetrical aerofoil (perfect for inverted flight) but unfortunately when on the ground, it has a negative AOA, so as you accelerate down the strip, its pushing itself harder into the runway.. hence requiring a decent pull on the stick to get airborne. but once it rotated past 0 deg AOA it would jump up catching you by surprise if you are not prepared for it,
this is usually because by the time you figure out just how much of a pull back you need, you have accelerated past 50 to 60 kts! landing is similarly difficult, one the mains touch down, the nose will be forced down pretty hard as the wing comes back down to a negative AOA, this happens quite quickly, and has already resulted in my aircraft having a nose wheel failure on landing, it didnt collapse, but fatigue resulted in the rudder linkage rod shearing on touchdown and no more steering!
yaw is interesting, even though it has twin rudders, they dont have a great amount of movement, and the lack of a rear fuselage makes its "waggle its tail" in rough air. also having a very large elevator and horizontal stabilizer right behind the propellor means power changes require a fair bit of a trim change. but nothing you dont get used to.
even with these traits, it still feels like a very solid aircraft via the stick, flies more like a C152 and not as light and twitchy on the stick as you would expect with something so light. funnily enough, it has more room in the cockpit that sitting in a 152! plenty of shoulder room, and rooms for maps and such.
it is true about take off and landing, both are pretty unusual.. the reason being is that the vampire has a symmetrical aerofoil (perfect for inverted flight) but unfortunately when on the ground, it has a negative AOA, so as you accelerate down the strip, its pushing itself harder into the runway.. hence requiring a decent pull on the stick to get airborne. but once it rotated past 0 deg AOA it would jump up catching you by surprise if you are not prepared for it,
this is usually because by the time you figure out just how much of a pull back you need, you have accelerated past 50 to 60 kts! landing is similarly difficult, one the mains touch down, the nose will be forced down pretty hard as the wing comes back down to a negative AOA, this happens quite quickly, and has already resulted in my aircraft having a nose wheel failure on landing, it didnt collapse, but fatigue resulted in the rudder linkage rod shearing on touchdown and no more steering!
yaw is interesting, even though it has twin rudders, they dont have a great amount of movement, and the lack of a rear fuselage makes its "waggle its tail" in rough air. also having a very large elevator and horizontal stabilizer right behind the propellor means power changes require a fair bit of a trim change. but nothing you dont get used to.
even with these traits, it still feels like a very solid aircraft via the stick, flies more like a C152 and not as light and twitchy on the stick as you would expect with something so light. funnily enough, it has more room in the cockpit that sitting in a 152! plenty of shoulder room, and rooms for maps and such.
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Ahhh yes, the green carpet of Camden Haven! i still cant believe no one moved the fire under that massive tree stump there! the soft grass made sure my take off used the most runway a vampire has ever needed!
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the soft grass made sure my take off used the most runway a vampire has ever needed!
I had the cleanest plane there, talk about rain on the way down, its 5kg lighter due less bugs and paint!
