The best news this years

Avid is under new ownership. Mark Mendick, an engineer in Iowa, has taken over the dormant treasure of Avid Flyer and is building up a new business. Using the original jigs and fixtures the plan is to start by producing much needed spar parts and later propose entire kits. This is fantastic news for the current Avid Flyer community as well as for any Avid Flyer wannabees... Good luck Mark!

https://avidkitplanes.com/

"Mark Mendick, a private pilot and mechanical engineer was looking for a way to own and enjoy a safe, reliable aircraft without the large financial burden. He, like many others, wanted to perform his own maintenance on the plane, make changes without hiring an A&P, and avoid costly hanger fees. Avid planes stuck out among other competitors as the best all around structure with more standard features for the money than any other kit plane. Mark purchased all rights to Avid Aircraft in order to bring the company back to the market and give others like him the opportunity to make affordable flying a reality."
[text from the AvidKitPlanes website]

Autumn is for flying

When the sun stay low and the air is cold and stable it is the perfect time to go fly in the mountains, enjoying the sceneries and discovering mountain airfields. 
I'll stop here, the film talks for itself...

The first real problem

Yeah, I have had my first problem with my Simonini Victor 2 (spoiler alert, problem unrelated to Simonini!).

Since some time the engine got more difficult to start and didn’t spin as usual. Once started and warm I check the magnetos. As I use a “tiny tach” I can only see the actual RPM on one of the circuits but by ear the slight difference appeared normal.

I had a doubt in the air and, with sufficient altitude and airfield in view, did the test again. Left magneto “off” – no difference, actually none what so ever… Switched to the right magneto and had the impression I was running on one cylinder. Oops…!

After landing  I noticed that both magnetos appeared to work on low RPM but that the left magneto failed at higher RPM. This rapidly got worse and I noticed issues also on lower RPM where the engine would rapidly stop.

Revamping all connections from right to left, no difference. Simonini Victor 2 is using the same Ducati double ignition coils as Rotax 582 so it was easy to get a new one. Once installed all got back to normal.

So no blame on Simonini, with the same coil I would have had this issue on any engine...

"The most widely reported problem with the Rotax ignition system is in the failure of the ignition coils, and pickups on the Dual CDI engines." according to ultralightnews.com

One question remain... Why does a brand new ignition coil go bad after 140 hours?

Uphill landing

Corlier is beautiful mountain airfield with a 16% even slope. Not my best film but a September moment to share...

Taildragger pilots have more fun

For better viewing conditions see the film on YouTube - click this line

The french taildragger brotherhood (Confrerie des pilotes de "traine-queue") held their yearly fly-in on June 18th. As a first timer in the meeting I got my "Traine-queue" diploma and had a great day. Going without my cameras was obviously not an option so I hope you enjoy the film.

German Avid Flyer meeting postponed

This morning I woke up to 7 degrees Celsius and pouring rain.
In case you missed it, it is May 19th and I live in France...
I was not surprised when I found both a text message and a mail from Germany saying that the Avid Flyer meeting had been postponed.

Hoping for better weather

It started with a mail through the contact form on this blog and ended up with an invitation to the annual German Avid Flyer meeting...
The meeting is planned for May 20th/21st at the small airfield in Dolmar-Kühndorf. The place looks spectacular and I'm decided to go (well, fly...). The German aeronautic map has arrived and my flight plan is ready - the only thing missing is an improved weather forecast. So far April and May has been dreadful and the forecast is not looking too promising...
...to be followed...

Over 100.000 visits on the counter…

Yes, I understand the 100.000+ visits is including bots and other spam hits... but still...

I started this blog May 2010 when I replaced my Rotax 532 with a Simonini Victor 2. It was, at that time, difficult to find firsthand information on that engine so I wanted to share my experience for the benefit of others...

After a hard landing 2013 I decided to not limit the repair to just the area around the landing gear but to do a complete renovation of the plane. Now I had difficulties finding firsthand experience and feedback on the Oratex products I planned to use… so why not share that as well including the rebuild process…

Today the plane is flying again and the blog is (while I continue to accumulate, and report, hours on the Simonini engine and Oratex) turning into a travel blog with photos and films about my flying "adventures" …

So who are you, you the visitor?  

Examining the frequency of search keywords, referring sites and URL used to reach this blog I deduct 3 main categories of visitors, those interested in 

• the Simonini engine,
• the use of Oratex,
• the Avid Flyer in general. 

To help you find what you are looking for I have added tags to the posts so you can filter on your specific area of interest.

If your main interest is my films you can, while all films will be posted on this blog, subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

YouTube account required to subscribe

Don’t hesitate to add a comment on what you want to see more of and tell me why you are coming back to this blog over and over again…

My "like button" is the field for your comments and I always respond to questions and private mails sent through the contact form.

You can’t see the prop when it is spinning...

I must admit.. my 2 blade wood prop was, while being beautiful, not a success. So much for nostalgia…

I got really good take off performance but I lost in speed and got vibrations I didn’t need… 

Another problem I had not anticipated is the need for different pitch during really hot summer periods compared to the rest of the year…

So I increased the pitch on my old smooth running Warp Drive and put it back on. I gained 15 kph / 10mph (10-15%). We will see about the consumption...

Finally, a pneumatic tail wheel!

Original (solid) Maule tailwheel

Like most Avid Flyers mine came with the classic Maule tail wheel. I find the Maule mechanism working great but the solid wheel way too hard. On a smooth paved runway it works great but anywhere else you really want something more shock absorbing...
Real tundra tail wheels are ridiculously expensive as they require a complete tail wheel assembly so I decided to go for a low-cost compromise.
Matco sell a 6 inch pneumatic nose wheel that is also used in one of their tail wheel assemblies. (Links to wheel and tire)

It is made for a thicker axis but with a few tubes, ordered from an on line bearing supplier, it is easy to adapt.
I mounted it on the plane just before my last flight and made 3 landings. With approximately the same diameter the mechanism is working like before but the vibrations and the "shaking" is reduced. It is not a dramatic difference but well worth the investment.
It should be noted that the Matco wheel is, once in place, 750g (1.63 lbs) lighter than the Maule wheel.

Now with sound (again)

Back in November 2016 I posted my film Old Dreams Never Die on YouTube. In less than 2 months I got more than 2000 views (that is a lot for one of my films in that short time) and a lot of very nice comments (thank you!).

...and then something happened that might be of interest for those of you who make and post videos on YouTube...

I don't monetise my films, primary because I’m a pure and altruistic person but also, and only way down the list, as you need more than my current 87 subscribers and millions of views rather than my 35.000 total views (thanks mum!) to make any money out of it….

This allows me to, rather than using free elevator music, use almost any copyrighted music that I like – and through pure magic YouTube identifies the music and monetises it for the benefit of the copyright owner! Talk about win-win!

There are exceptions to this where you cannot use the chosen music at all but in most cases the policy is “Monetised by copyright owner” and "Ads can appear".

You can also verify the policy for your chosen music in advance HERE

If you read the fine print on YouTube you will find the following
Note: Copyright holders can change their policies and issue copyright takedown notices under certain circumstances. Your video's status could change in the future (and may even be removed from YouTube) if the copyright owner changes the policy that applies to the music in your video.

After 2 months and the 2000+ views (with all the music) I suddenly discovered that the entire film had been muted due to copyright infringement on 2 songs that both are (still) listed as If you use this song:

Playback: Viewable worldwide

Advertising: Ads can appear

There is no explanation given to the change in my video’s "status" (maybe it was seen as offensive…?) and I didn’t even get a mail from YouTube when it was muted…

I have now replaced the 2 songs, one by the same song but performed by another artist and one by a completely different song. They are both to be monetized by the claimants and I hope the status will not change...

For a better viewing experience you can CLICK THIS LINK to see the film directly on YouTube or you can see it here on the blog by clicking the image below.

New jar, new label, same gherkins...

I created this blog as I didn't find much information about the Simonini Victor 2 engine that I had, in despite of this, decided to buy with the intention to share my experience.

When I later completely rebuild my Avid Flyer and covered it with Oratex the "Avid Flyer Simonini 2 Adventure" blog temporarily became the The Oratex Adventure blog.

The Simonini engine now have more that 100 hours and the rebuild is complete. While I will continue to report on my experience as the engine get additional hours logged, as well as on the aging of Oratex, this is no longer a "Simonini Victor 2" or "Oratex" blog.

The posts will be about (my) flying adventures, thoughts about flying, enhancements and technical solutions, related photos and my films. In short, sharing my experience about living with an Avid Flyer aircraft.

Don't hesitate to let me know in the comments if there anything specific that you would like to see in the blog.