Light Aircraft Association

Brian, Thanks for your gen. Your remarks have boosted my confidence in the face of the looming task. As a rank beginner I'm building a frame to practice on before I point the gun at the aircraft. I would prefer to have used dopes (or maybe polyfibre) for the whole process but our traning gliders are...

Hi Nick, I bought the next unit up - the spraymaster 1500 - and will be spraying the fuselage of a K13 in the next week or so. I'm using the Ceconite system; nitrate, butyrate & 2 pack polyurethane and I'll keep you up to date with progress. I've used it a bit with 2 part epoxy for painting the fuse...

Ken,

Take a look at the mechanisms used on some of the two seat gliders. K13 & Janus both have long, single piece and side hinged canopies. Also the parts should be easy to get.

Jim

I must agree! Excellent mag this week, possibly the best content packed issue so far. I was concerned when the mag went monthly that it was too ambitious and could end up being rather thin, but the content of this particular issue is exactly what I joined the PFA for. I thoroughly enjoyed all the ar...

Hi Nick, I've been investigating HVLP kit for a while with an intention of getting a set for glider work, fabric and composite. Since we live so close it may well be worth sharing the purchase cost, drop me an email if you are interested. I've also got a couple of ideas re spraying which may interes...

Many years ago, when I bought the spruce for my Taylor Monoplane, I was advised by my inspector to approach a local boat builders. They would choose from their spar stock and their man was familiar with the aviation requirements. The price was about double the 'normal' for spruce stock but still rat...

To paraphrase the Poly Fiber and Ceconite manuals, both for brevity and copyright. Heat Guns; Why not? because there is no way to calibrate it. You run the risk of permanently loosening the fabric (by overheating - it will not recover). Calibrated Irons; 225F is used to smooth the edges of finishing...

Note that both the Poly Fiber and Ceconite manuals explictly forbid the use of a heat gun and only authorise the use of a calibrated iron. Read the manuals to find out why.

Jim

I saw a 'camera on a stick' boroscope in Maplins for about this sort of price and snapped it up because I needed to inspect inside a glider wing with minimum disruption to the fabric. The head end is about 8mm diameter and the LEDs do provide enough illumination for viewing inside closed structures....

Pete, The infra red thermometer views the scene through transparent windows in the atmospheric spectrum generally ~4.7 microns and ~10-11 microns. Pointing at the clear sky the thermometer will be viewing the temperature of space, about -270 C however the signal is so low that you will measure a mix...

Try Severn Valley Sailplanes

Jim

Steve, Forgive my sloppyness equating IFR with Public Transport. I was thinking along the lines that most international flights of the type affected are flight planned as IFR. Can you fly special VFR out of LHR?? I agree that there is no such practical thing as 'zero ash' there is so much activity t...

Ian, our colleagues using the Nerc Do228 (out of Staverton) are actually using some of the FAAM instrumentation and science staff. A couple of the instruments use common canisters and were 'easily' borrowed. The Do however is restricted in the altitude range it can cover (unpressurised aircraft) whi...

To reply to the comment made by Gasax: >>>>If the Metoffice or NATS had sent a couple of aircraft into the plume and measured it in a systematic way I would believe. Instead we have a computer model and one(?) monitoring flight. And for that we are going to half bankrupt the airlines and when the pr...