Hi everyone

I now have a licence to go out and learn by my self the finer art of flying a tail dragger I went flying early this morning it was already 23 degrees C at 0530 hours. My strip is 1000 feet AMSL

I thought you all might like to know some performance figures.

Climb @ 50 knots 1100 feet/min

Cruise @ 5000rpm 75 knots

Cruise @ 5200 rpm 85 knots

Engine 912S 100 HP Rotax

Fuel burn at cruise is 16L/Hour - 21L/Hour depending on load

Anyway that is just a few bits of info I will keep you all posted when I get the chance. But to be honest I am having to much fun flying my bird .

Anyway remember to have fun and fly safe.

Until next time Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Well hello again .
I thought that it was time to fill you all in on a little bit of my background where aviation is concerned. I started my flight training in May 2005. When I was halfway through my training I started searching the net for an aircraft that would stand up to paddock and bush strips. My reasons for this are because we are on a 5000 acre farm running sheep and growing coarse grains.
I surprised a lot of people firstly because with only 20 hours of experience not only had I just bought a kit aircraft but it is a tail dragger as well. When I flew to Sydney with my wife to have a look and to fly in one all I could do was sit in the Hornet because the weather turned and it was not fit to fly.
Well as you can see we have finished the Hornet. I must thank Ole Hartman for his support and backup service.
Ole Flew over to Western Australia to put Hornet S006 through her paces. Which is exactly what he did. Last Sunday after a very early start Ole and my little bird jumped into the air for the second time in two days and with a continuous supply of fuel she was flown for 7 hours. She has now done 15 hours and we have not put a spanner near her.
Once again I must thank Australian Aircraft Kits and Ole for the outstanding backup service.For those of you wondering the Hornet is everything that Ole told me it would be and the main thing is that she is very gentle to a novice like me.

I also thought some of you might like to see how uncluttered and simple the cowl is. There is no cooling problems at all at 36 degrees C doing circuits oil and water temps stayed well in the green all the time

any way until next time

Cheers

Hello again
Well we are a lot closer to finishing I am just going to let the picture tell the story. Although I must firstly cogratulate Australian Aircraft Kits on their plug and play firewall forward kit so simple no stuffing around every thing fitted as it was ment to.

First time outside and final inspection and registration on Friday the Tenth of November 2006

Ole the test pilot on Saturday morning. First flight on Saturday at 0749 hours and then we packed it in because the weather turned even nastier


Well as you can see we are well and truly airborne. The Hornet has lived up to all of my expectations and more considering that this was the first time I have flown it.
Our total build time was 550 hours not bad for a first aeroplane

Hi all
Well I have nearly bought you all up to date so far we have spent a total of 375 hours on this little project. As you can see I have painted it this has taken 50 hours this includes dismantling and reassembling the aircraft. This is not the final colour just the undercoat as I am not yet sure on my colour scheme. Any ideas would be appreciated so long as it includes yellow.



As you can see the doors are finished and the windows are done except for the windscreen. We have the cowling to make and finish rigging the tail feathers and put the numbers on and then final inspection and hopefully all before harvest starts.
For those of you wishing to fly or drive in to have a look feel free to contact me
more to follow soon
Cheers

Hello again
Well as you can see we have started rigging the aircraft the following pictures take us right through to the fitting of the slats and flaperons. This has taken 23 hours



Our next step is doors and windows but we decided to put some paint on it instead
so until next time cheers

Well it has been awhile since the last update. There has been a lot happen since then,as you can see the legs are on and the cockpit is nearing completion this has taken 6 hours.



Our next thing to do was to skin the elevator stabiliser and elevator and make the rudder skeleton and skin the rudder this has taken 22 hours. The best part is that these were our last pieces to make. The total time to date is 352 hours.
From here it is on to the rigging stage .
Untill next time cheers.

Hello again
Since the last time I updated,we have completed a number of things. The top centre section is completed this has taken 6 hours to do.


The next skin pieces to put on are the firewall side and top skins but we put the rudder pedals in first.


This has taken 23 hours and this includes making the seat frames and installing them. Temporally installing the dash and some double checking on seat and rudder pedal installation to make sure one is comfortable. To give you all some idea of just how much room is in the cockpit here are some pictures.

Peter is 6'8".
Our total build time to date is 324 hours. I have ordered the firewall forward kit from Australian Aircraft Kits http://www.aircraftkits.com.au/ . Thanks for all of your help Ole.
Anyway till next time. Cheers