I haven't been to Bundaberg since 2009 and
haven't had any contact with Jabiru or MicroAir since then, Noel.
CAMIT who used to actually make the Jabiru
engines in Bundaberg used to make our vario
fronts and backs on their CNC machines but we
have an alternate source as they went bust two
weeks ago. Jabiru are operating at a low level.
CASA hasn't yet quite succeeded in putting them out of business.
Ongoing support of low production items is always
going to be an issue. We have a Lowrance 2000C
colour GPS in the BD-4. Bought in late 2008 and
not too long thereafter Lowrance ceased dealing
with aviation so there is no support for the
hardware or for database updates. Not nice as the
database updates were from Jeppeson who ceased
support when Lowrance did and nobody open sourced
the Lowrance data format. Great GPS though.
Apparently Mr Lowrance was into aviation and when
he retired the company abandoned aviation.
We've seen this is a problem with motorgliders
too. We've had 50 years of production composite
gliders and some of these, properly looked after
are still perfectly airworthy. About the only
small aircraft engine manufacturers who are still
in business after the last 50 years are Lycoming
and Continental, just off the top of my head.
Rotax ceased to make certified motor glider two
strokes in 1995 and this led to some unfortunate
conseuences over the next few years with varios
engines being tried and in some cases abandoned
quite quickly although some had been sold to customers.
There does seem to be a slowly dawning
recognition by some authorities that
certification is hindering both development and
safety. Let alone the corruption opportunities
for certification to be used as a non tariff barrier (see EU).
Anyone who has had to maintain a motorglider for
some time will know that "certification" of the
engine and installation is worth very little.
Mike
At 06:32 PM 10/24/2016, you wrote:
Mark. Back to school for a spelling
test. SCEPTICAL We've a few avionic "experts"
on the airfield and I recall being told
Microair has been taken over by a USA
organisation. Mike B: can you comment? Noel.
-----Original Message----- From: Aus-soaring
[mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.base64.com.au]
On Behalf Of Mark Newton Sent: Monday, October
24, 2016 1:43 PM To: Discussion of issues
relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject:
[Aus-soaring] Microair servicing - Is it still a
thing? Back in April, with an intermittent fault
on an Microair T2000SFL transponder, I contacted
Microair and Scott told me that he was expecting
new main boards in about six weeks. Contacting
them again now, Iâm informed that theyâll
have upgrade kids in February 2017. Color me
skeptical. Does anyone know if Microair still
retain the capability to maintain any of the
products theyâve sold? Thanks, - mark
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