In this newsletter:

50% tax incentive - last chance!
Dan Johnson YouTube video
SportStar Plus for sale
True Air Speed (TAS) calculations

50% tax investment incentive - last chance!

Just a reminder - if you are thinking of ordering a SportStar and receiving the Government 50% tax investment incentive - you have just 24 days left to confirm your order.

Basic conditions:

- your business must have an annual turnover under $2 million
- the order must be written and confirmed before midnight on 31 December 2009
- the aircraft must be delivered before 31 December 2010

If needed by your business, we can take (and have taken) orders for delivery after 1 July 2010. These aircraft will have a confirmed build month for delivery as required.

Please contact:
- in WA: Basil Lenzo - 0412 925 300
- rest of Australia: Peter Harlow - 0413 900 892

Don't leave it too late!!!!

SportStar Video by Dan Johnson

There's a nice short (4 minutes 30 seconds) video about the SportStar on YouTube, presented by Dan Johnson - Dan has a website dedicated to sport flying: www.bydanjohnson.com

This site is a treasure trove of information for anyone wanting to get into recreational and sport flying, either as a potential buyer or as a pilot (or just out of interest/fascination).

Click the link below or copy and paste into your browser to go to the YouTube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzn1C9lfHpo&feature=player_embedded#t=254

SportStar Plus for sale

I have an excellent low-time SportStar Plus for sale - total time since new only 70 hours. Superb condition, always hangared, white over maroon paint (see picture). Usual comprehensive SportStar spec with 912ULS 100 hp engine, B-K radio, and transponder with mode C + intercom. TruTrack ADI-3 horizon with track readout. Garmin GPS 296. Woodcomp SR3000 electric in-flight variable prop. Koger sliding sunshield in canopy and much more. RA-Aus registered 24-4912. Ready to fly away at $120,000 with no GST to pay. Please call me, Peter, on 0413 900 892 for details.

True Airspeed (TAS) Calculator

I am frequently asked by potential buyers for my aircraft: 'What's she TAS at?' by which they probably mean typical or maximum cruise speed. And we all know that TAS (True Air Speed) can be quite different from IAS (indicated Air Speed). Don't we?

TAS is important the higher you fly - in particular for ensuring you don't exceed the airframe limits in turbulence - an IAS of 100 knots at 5,000 feet can easily turn into a TAS of 112 knots, given the hot conditions which are common in an Australian summer. You can easily exceed a rough air cruise limit of (for example) 105 knots, even though the indicated air speed is only 100 knots. So knowing your TAS is important - for at least this reason.

Unless you have superduper digital flat screen avionics in your aircraft - which will calculate real-time TAS for you - calculation of TAS is a complex business. I remember back in my PPL training days, labouring over a hot whiz-wheel, determining the answers to 'simple' questions requiring Indicated Airspeed (IAS) and Calibrated Airspeed (CAS) conversions to TAS.

With the advent of GPS, I 'stored' the wheel long ago and resorted to rules of thumb like adding 2% of the indicated airspeed for every 1,000 feet of altitude above mean sea level - eg IAS 90 knots at 4,000 feet = around TAS 97-98 knots. However, this is not always accurate for hot weather, where density altitudes can (pun intended) go through the roof!

Some GPS have a facility for you to enter indicated airspeed, indicated altitude, QNH and temperature, allowing a reasonable computation of TAS. But then again, many do not.

Another alternative is to use the internet - which has a number of TAS calculators available on line. Although it is difficult, if not impossible and/or illegal, to access these in flight, you can compute a range of TAS as part of your flight planning. Try this link for an online TAS calculation. It can be very useful in ensuring you don't inadvertently over-stress your aircraft.

http://www.paragonair.com/public/aircraft/calc_TAS.html?IA=5000&altunits=0&altstg=1022&setunits=1&temp=20&tempunits=0&IAS=90&TAS=102&DA=&PA=

Finally, if you really want to go the whole hog, you can replace your standard ASI with a dual scale ASI with a TAS readout - you'll need an Outside Air Temperature gauge too. And TAS ASIs are not inexpensive.