Sport Pilot Talk

Hi I'm John, I work in big data and am not an actual sport pilot. But i'm very interested and might ask you guys some questions some times if that's ok Thank you for having me.

Welcome! Looking forward to your questions and the discussions to follow.

Dean from West Virginia here. I left flying in the late 80's for a lot of reasons - none of which were the loss of my passion for flying. I am going to be working on obtaining a Sports Pilot License this coming year and will be using this forum as a resource for purchasing a LSA. My current problem is finding a nearby CFI that has access to light sport aircraft. Looking forward to reading everything I can about light sport hobby. Thanks!

John and Dean, it's nice to have you both onboard. Fire away with your questions, only be aware that any two pilots will give you three different answers. Take them all with a grain of salt.

Welcome to the forum... I promise to only give the correct answers to any questions. Of course my answers are only as good as my last landing.

Welcome both - I am a 68 yr old newbie - currently using Gleim products and getting ready to take my written Sport Pilot Knowledge Test. Flight training will start in a few months, good lord willin' and the creek don't rise.

Welcome John and Dean!
Ask away . . . and you shall receive.

Welcome, John and Dean. You've both landed at the right place.

Howdy all, another FNG here. (FRIENDLY New Guy )

I just transitioned from a 60 year old C-180A Skywagon to a like-new '06 Sportstar SE and am entering a new world of flying...economical flying! After 10 years of feeding a big gas hog with aging parts, it's like starting anew in aviation. Filling up between flights with a couple 5 gallon cans of premium Mogas is awesome! And, no more ladders! It's also nice to be able to move the Sporty around without needing the tractor or my teenage son to help. That wagon with full tanks on low pressure 8.50's was a bear.

I'm in New Mexico so I'm easing into low horsepower vs. high density altitude operations with an abundance of caution. Big/heavy pax need not apply and keeping MY personal "gross" weight under control has implications to more than just my health.

Anyway, I hope to learn much here, especially regarding the care and feeding of a Rotax 912 ULS. I'm a mechanical guy (HVAC building operator and RV8 builder from the late 90's) so I hope I can lend a hand here as well.

Thank you all.
Brian

akroguy wrote:Howdy all, another FNG here. (FRIENDLY New Guy )

I just transitioned from a 60 year old C-180A Skywagon to a like-new '06 Sportstar SE and am entering a new world of flying...economical flying! After 10 years of feeding a big gas hog with aging parts, it's like starting anew in aviation. Filling up between flights with a couple 5 gallon cans of premium Mogas is awesome! And, no more ladders! It's also nice to be able to move the Sporty around without needing the tractor or my teenage son to help. That wagon with full tanks on low pressure 8.50's was a bear.

I'm in New Mexico so I'm easing into low horsepower vs. high density altitude operations with an abundance of caution. Big/heavy pax need not apply and keeping MY personal "gross" weight under control has implications to more than just my health.

Anyway, I hope to learn much here, especially regarding the care and feeding of a Rotax 912 ULS. I'm a mechanical guy (HVAC building operator and RV8 builder from the late 90's) so I hope I can lend a hand here as well.

Thank you all.
Brian

Brian,

You came to the right place.
Welcome aboard!

akroguy wrote:Howdy all, another FNG here. (FRIENDLY New Guy )

Happy to have you here, Brian.

I just transitioned from a 60 year old C-180A Skywagon to a like-new '06 Sportstar SE

One word of caution about the Rotax engine in that SportStar. Check the crankcase serial number closely. They made a design change early in 2006. The early ones had crankcase fretting issues that limited the TBO to 12 years and 1200 Hobbs hours, and cannot be upgraded. Any crankcase above 06.0100 (I believe) is good for 15 years and 2000 hours with a simple mod costing about $100 in parts and an hour of labor. Ring me up at 570.419.1229 for further details.

Anyway, I hope to learn much here, especially regarding the care and feeding of a Rotax 912 ULS.

Coincidentally, I did an EAA Webinar with exactly that title about 3 or 4 years ago. See:

http://www.eaavideo.org/detail/video/3503823469001

drseti wrote:

akroguy wrote:Howdy all, another FNG here. (FRIENDLY New Guy )

Happy to have you here, Brian.

I just transitioned from a 60 year old C-180A Skywagon to a like-new '06 Sportstar SE

One word of caution about the Rotax engine in that SportStar. Check the crankcase serial number closely. They made a design change early in 2006. The early ones had crankcase fretting issues that limited the TBO to 12 years and 1200 Hobbs hours, and cannot be upgraded. Any crankcase above 06.0100 (I believe) is good for 15 years and 2000 hours with a simple mod costing about $100 in parts and an hour of labor. Ring me up at 570.419.1229 for further details.

Anyway, I hope to learn much here, especially regarding the care and feeding of a Rotax 912 ULS.

Coincidentally, I did an EAA Webinar with exactly that title about 3 or 4 years ago. See:

http://www.eaavideo.org/detail/video/3503823469001

Thank you, gentlemen! I will check the case ser. no. The engine log shows the TBO extension bulletins have been accomplished. So, I assume the IA who did the work verified all components are correct to allow the extension. I will verify that myself. The airplane has 235 hrs. total time SNEW.

Your webinar will get viewed ASAP!

Have a great day and thank you again.

Brian

Well, I think I got bit by this one.

Engine manuf. date 11/28/2005

Engine serial is 5645701 (engine ser. no. is inferior of the 5646559 cutoff by 858 units)
case serial is 25995 (case is inferior of the 27811 cutoff by 1816 units)

I will be checking cold vs. hot prop pull effort variation. If difficult while hot, cyl 2 stud relief easing it up will prove that we do have a real problem.

Thus far, the engine cranks like lightning cold or hot. It's amazing how quickly it lights off when hot. Turn key and RUNNING...right now.

100 hr. inspections as per SB-912-029UL shall be c/w and I'll be checking the case MUCH more often than that since it's so easy to pull the cowling and the plane sits right outside my kitchen door.

Ah...airplanes...gotta love 'em.

Brian

Hello everybody,

My name is Steven,
I became a private pilot back in the 80s when dual was $45 an hour and airplane was $35 wet. I flew 152, 172 and Skippers for several years.
I then went to school and received my A&P and went to work at a local FBO, working on about every biz jet you can think of. started a family and then got high blood pressure (figures) and then had my medical denied. I was happy working on jets and got my fill of aviation for many year doing that.
The kids are now grown, and I would like to say "out of the house" but kids these days dont want to leave the nest. I have recently been bitten by the bug to fly again, but still have high BP (controlled) and diabetes (controlled) now. Because of the medical requirement hassles, thought I would go the LSA direction.
I know I have the medical denial hanging over my head, so I have contacted the FAA for help, and I have some friend with the FAA assisting me too. Hopefully once I have the medical issue taken care of I'm thinking about a Quicksilver, some sort of two-seater. Low and Slow is fine with me. My folks have land begging to have a little strip cut out of it. So I am hoping for the FAA to come through for me.
Best Regards
Steven

Welcome Steven. I think you'll have to qualify for a special issue FAA 3rd class medical to get past that previous denial. Otherwise, you could fly gliders or ultralight.