---------------------------------------------------------- Kolb-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Mon 10/23/06: 7 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 08:19 AM - Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. (Beauford T) 2. 08:40 AM - Re: Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. (Jim Baker) 3. 08:53 AM - UL Accident Florida (John Hauck) 4. 09:25 AM - Trailer Jack (Dave & Eve Pelletier) 5. 09:51 AM - UL Accident Florida (John Hauck) 6. 12:43 PM - Re: UL Accident Florida (Richard Pike) 7. 06:22 PM - Re: Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. (Larry Bourne) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 08:19:36 AM PST US From: "Beauford T" Subject: Kolb-List: Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. Listers: I was informed by an anonymous informant that a few people on this List have been wondering whether I'm dead yet... Not quite, but my 'puter's hard drive certainly was... ate it's own intestines, it did....everything short of bursting into flames... Still cleaning it all up, so I haven't been active on the list. I appreciate the concern... or the morbid curiosity... whichever.... both work. I have an item to expose to the collective wisdom of the list. I just sent a picture to the Photoshare account and I expect that Matt will have it posted on there in a day or two... a fuel line picture. Back just after the first of this year, I replaced all of the fuel line on the toy, using what I had on hand... some blue polyurethane and some clear polyurethane. Having no sense of esthetics and being somewhat tacky by nature, I intermixed the two types in a random manner throughout the system... stood back and admired my flair for decorating. A couple of weeks ago, I went out to unfold the kleenex airplane to attempt aviation... Upon preflight, I noticed some crud in the carb float bowl... looked like small flakes of tan insect wing. The gas had been in there over a month and had mostly dried up, leaving some oil residue goo in the bottom as well... I cleaned it out... Looked in the gas tank... it was clean. Emptied the tank and dumped in a fresh load of pre-mix. I cranked the mighty 447, which ran about 30 seconds and quit. Pulled the carb bowl again and lo, it was filled with more flakes of the tan stuff... Pulled off the entire fuel system and started through it. Every piece of the blue/green line had a layer of furry tan flakes covering the walls. It was also darkly discolored, but I had seen it do this before and was not overly concerned about it staining. None of the clear line, the filter (which I cut open), the squeeze bulb, the t-fittings, or the tank had any trace of contamination in them... only the blue/green line. I cleaned out the carb jets, replaced all the line with clear P.U. and the 447 runs normallly. Over the years, I had heard occasional comments on this List about the blue line... usually negative, and having to do with the service life of the blue stuff as compared to Tigon or other uncolored P.U. lines... But I cannot recall ever hearing anyone describe the sort of problem I encountered in this instance. In my opinion, this stuff could be dangerous if what I encountered is commonplace. Anyone else run across this? Did anyone determine the cause? Would appreciate any info. A couple of fuel line takeaways for me... Continuing the float-bowl inspection as a part of the preflight is a good thing... and with pre-mix, I will not use fuel line I cannot see through to assess what is happening inside. ...break...break... Data point: We had a fatal UL accident just north of Tampa on Saturday morning. Local guy, a well-known Captain with the county fire department crashed his CGS Hawk Arrow and killed himself and his 17 year old son... He just built the plane... took some UL instruction at a local strip and was soloed by his instructor a few weeks ago in late Sept... the instructor, who watched him take off, was quoted as being upset that the guy carried a passenger... NTSB is investigating... local press, particularly the TV news, is now on an anti-ultralight tear and is flogging it hard... "tiny engines", no licensing, high accident rates, flights without flight plans", etc.... Looking at the pictures, it appears the Hawk went into the woods nearly vertically. ...the beat goes on... Beauford FF #076 Brandon, FL ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 08:40:14 AM PST US From: "Jim Baker" Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (4.41) --> Kolb-List message posted by: "Jim Baker" > Over the years, I had heard occasional comments on this List about the blue line... usually > negative, With good reason.....it sucks. Yellow Tygon or Gates black are the ticket. Jim Baker 580.788.2779 Elmore City, OK ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 08:53:40 AM PST US From: "John Hauck" Subject: Kolb-List: UL Accident Florida --> Kolb-List message posted by: "John Hauck" Data point: We had a fatal UL accident just north of Tampa Beauford FF #076 Brandon, FL Beauford: Had just pulled up the newspaper account of the accident when I received your post. Here is a url: http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061023/NEWS/610230334/1004 BTW: Don't know if you have been informed or not. Those of us who prefer to use the old email system for the Kolb List may attach small files to our email posts. Is much quicker than waiting on Matte to upload. Hope all is well in Brandon, including your hard drive. john h mkIII PS: Spent the weekend with some quality company at the Flyin in Lucedale, MS. Believe we had 9 Kolb owners present, though we did not have 9 Kolb aircraft. Some of us are still grounded. DO NOT ARCHIVE ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 09:25:11 AM PST US From: "Dave & Eve Pelletier" Subject: Kolb-List: Trailer Jack Guys, A number of you asked if I would send pics of my jack set up. Here they are. As mentioned, I cut off the Jack Handle and welded on a long 5/8" nut - the kind that comes with a turnbuckle I think. I also welded a 5/8" socket to the shortened jack handle to be used when/if the battery in my 18v cordless drill gives out. Now the aforementioned drill with a 5/8" socket gives me an electric jack. I got the jack at a trailer place that has a lot of heavy duty trailers. It's called a "Bulldog." I'll go through the pictures for you. 1. Trailer with jack retracted - travel position 2. Jack telescoped downward (Eliminates the need for a stack of 4x4's) 3. 18v Cordless drill with 5/8" socket 4. Jack almost fully extended 5. Notice wing clearance and angle of the door relative to the floor This system works great. I've probably used it around 75 to 100 times and am very happy with it. In fact, as soon as I send this out I'm gonna use it again to get my MK III Classic out and pull a gear leg to straighten it. DON'T ASK! Hope this helps. AzDave ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 09:51:34 AM PST US From: "John Hauck" Subject: Kolb-List: UL Accident Florida --> Kolb-List message posted by: "John Hauck" Morning Gang: More stuff on the UL crash in Florida. http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBBIWBAMTE.html Seems the pilot had minimum training, was flying an unregistered airplane, not an UL, and in the process killed himself and his son. Damn shame. Take care, john h mkIII DO NOT ARCHIVE ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 12:43:24 PM PST US From: "Richard Pike" Subject: Re: Kolb-List: UL Accident Florida --> Kolb-List message posted by: "Richard Pike" I pulled up an article on the crash from the Tampa paper, and sent the reporter covering the story a heads up email on the difference between an "ultralight" and an unregistered airplane, and it looks like the Feds are the source of the misinformation. Here is a copy of the reporter's reply: Hi, Mr. Pike. Thanks for your information. I had read the regs on the ultralights on the site yesterday when I did the story, but I had to rely on the FAA folks, whose investigator went on the scene and determined it was an ultralight - and the FAA also told me that they could only have two people if they had the waiver. It seems highly unlikely that Mr. Tedesco had the required training licenses to have qualified for the waiver that would allow him to have a passenger with him to train, given what his instructor told me. But, I did not have enough facts to say that definitively in the article - particularly without access to his family who might know. That's what the FAA is checking on today. Your information should be helpful in phrasing questions to the FAA, so I appreciate it very much. Thank you. Sounds like the usual "I'm here from the guv'ment and I'm here to help you..." Richard Pike MKIII N420P (420ldPoops) do not archive ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Hauck" Sent: Monday, October 23, 2006 12:06 PM Subject: Kolb-List: UL Accident Florida > --> Kolb-List message posted by: "John Hauck" > > Morning Gang: > > More stuff on the UL crash in Florida. > > http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBBIWBAMTE.html > > Seems the pilot had minimum training, was flying an unregistered > airplane, not an UL, and in the process killed himself and his son. > Damn shame. > > Take care, > > john h > mkIII > > DO NOT ARCHIVE > > > ________________________________ Message 7 _____________________________________ Time: 06:22:40 PM PST US From: "Larry Bourne" Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. Good to hear from ya, Beauford. We worry 'bout our buds. I've seen that blue line deteriorate quickly, but never the problem you describe. Lar. Do not Archive. Larry Bourne Palm Springs, CA Building Kolb Mk III Vamoose www.gogittum.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Beauford T To: Kolb List Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 8:19 AM Subject: Kolb-List: Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. Listers: I was informed by an anonymous informant that a few people on this List have been wondering whether I'm dead yet... Not quite, but my 'puter's hard drive certainly was... ate it's own intestines, it did....everything short of bursting into flames... Still cleaning it all up, so I haven't been active on the list. I appreciate the concern... or the morbid curiosity... whichever.... both work.