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Bob Grimstead
Unregistered
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 Posted Tuesday, January 10, 2023 @ 10:00 AM
Start as you mean to go on...
This is me in my happy place yesterday, upside-down, open-cockpit over Serpentine, WA — YSEN.
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Bob Grimstead
Unregistered
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Posted Tuesday, January 10, 2023 @ 10:22 AM
Much as I love flying all Fourniers, I am not much looking forward to tomorrow's flight. It's time to fly nearly 100 miles southeast again to Wagin for HDO's annual inspection. The forecast is for a much more reasonable temperature — 27°C max here and 30°C max there, a full ten degrees better than last year's (see that post). Also it's going to be cloudy: Broken Sc at 1,200 feet they say.
But worse — most of the flight will be over very inhospitable terrain: dense forest of 100-foot high eucalyptus trees.
Lose the engine here and you're dead. I don't mind that too much if I can get up to 5,500 feet with a decent chance of gliding, but bumbling about under the murk at 1,000 feet doesn't appeal much. Plus my engine is HDO's original single-ignition Wolfsburg VW — 54 years old with 1,480 hours on its clock. I think I'll replace it at 1,500 hours as Rectimo suggested more that half a century ago. It's had an easy year though; I've only flown 5:30 in it, and 1:30 of that was coming back from its last inspection.
I'll let you know tomorrow how things go.
Happy Fournicating, Bob
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Collin
Unregistered
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Posted Tuesday, January 10, 2023 @ 12:00 PM
Nice pictures Bob. Happy New year
Collin
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Bob Grimstead
Unregistered
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Posted Sunday, January 15, 2023 @ 05:51 AM
So, this year the problem wasn't the heat. It was the smoke from raging bushfires started by thunderstorms embedded in the front that went through a couple of days ago.
But once I got over the Darling Ranges, navigation was easy…
Despite my increasing the main jet's size to 1.42 mm DDO's engine has been running a little lean lately, so I cruised nice and high to compensate for that.
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Collin
Unregistered
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Posted Thursday, February 9, 2023 @ 12:26 PM
Hi Bob,
Can you tell us about your airspeed marking speeds?
Thanks
Collin
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Bob Grimstead
Unregistered
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Posted Friday, February 10, 2023 @ 04:33 AM
Hi Collin,
Those markings are made with self-adhesive tape, and I put them on both my Fourniers' airspeed indicators because my Australian one is calibrated in knots whereas my English one is calibrated in miles per hour. When I am flying aerobatics I am totally concentrating and don't have enough mental capacity to think about what speed I need for which manoeuvre, so:
In knots because this is my Australian airplane...
The tape at 38 knots (my kick speed for a stall turn/hammerhead) has fallen off
My best climb speed is 60
Maximum speed for a flick (snap) roll is 65 knots
I can safely accomplish most simple manouvers with an entry speed between 78 and 95 knots
98 knots is my absolute maximum full-throttle level speed at 300 feet. Any time I'm going faster than that I must be going downhill (which is not good at while flying aerobatics at 300 feet). That is also my arbitrary Va since I have installed gap-seal tapes, so I must not use full control inputs above that speed.
I need 115 knots for my humpty-bumps and tail slides
I need 120 knots for my triplet
So of course those last three manouvers lose height.
135 knots is of course my Vne
And that, as Forrest Gump would say, is all I know about that.
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Bob Grimstead
Unregistered
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Posted Sunday, March 19, 2023 @ 02:00 AM
Hello again Fellow Fournicators,
For the past couple of months I’ve been practising a new (to me) figure with which to end my 2023 display. It’s a half-loop topped off with one-and-a-half flick-rolls to reverse direction and lose height. I call it my ‘Topple-off’.
Please be warned Fellow Fournier Folks, that most European RF4Ds have a prohibition on flick (snap) rolls, but René generously removed this prohibition for me flying my Fourniers under very specific conditions.
This clip incorporates external footage shot by Rayna Paech into which my mate Bob Hart has edited simultaneous in-cockpit and fin-cam footage.
It starts with a few practice topple-offs and finishes with the second part of my sequence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TETI-Ifz3Cs
I can’t wait for the northern hemisphere display season to begin!
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Sunday, March 19, 2023 @ 02:12 AM]
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Bob Grimstead
Unregistered
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Posted Saturday, July 29, 2023 @ 11:27 AM
Most of the time flying our Fourniers is the most carefree wonderful fun, but just occasionally, and particularly when flying low-level aerobatics, something happens which causes one to have to concentrate hard for a minute or two...
https://youtu.be/A7w4lqJbi4U
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Bob Grimstead
Unregistered
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Posted Friday, December 29, 2023 @ 01:35 AM
My write up of that event (excluding the fiery bit at the end)…
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Bob Grimstead
Unregistered
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Posted Friday, January 26, 2024 @ 03:30 AM
Later in the year we were able to fly to France and display for René in perfect weather.
That was the finalé to a great year of Fournication.
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Bob Grimstead
Unregistered
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Posted Saturday, January 27, 2024 @ 11:50 AM
I did eventually manage to celebrate René's 102nd birthday with him, but not until September 2023.
The venue was La Baule on the French west coast (the Bay of Biscay). It was a bit of a trek over two days each way, but the weather was perfect and my pyrotechnics display was enthusiastically received by the international group of Fournier fliers & CFI members present.
René was particularly effusive in his thanks.
He even consented to sign Wagon's fin.
He apologised for his shaky hand, but it's recognisably him.
[Edit by Bob Grimstead on Saturday, January 27, 2024 @ 11:52 AM]
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