Nipper grouping

[NeilD]

Hi All.
I'm after your general opinions here.
Due to my nipper being so far away, I'm not getting to fly much.
I have been considering grouping the aircraft at Breighton. A number of people have shown interest in having a share, either equity or on an insurance share basis.

The logical approach would be to reduce my overheads by taking in group members..........but i'm nervous about the aircraft being flown by others. I can carefully select the members, to make sure they are not the sort to "hammer it".

This then broaches the question of equity or not.......

A few offers have been made to purchase the nipper outright, but I'm torn.

NeilD

[Monty]

Hi Neil,

A difficult decision to be made.......

As you know I've shown an interest in your Nipper but am currently happily in a small group flying a Eurostar and my interest is dependent on the decision of it being sold, which is out of my hands. I am a minority share holder, 24% to be exact, and there are only 2 of us in the 'group' , it’s been a perfect situation for me offering affordable group A flying with the original sole owner who is now a very good friend.

We have been looking for some time to find a suitable third member but finding a person you feel you can trust, that has the available funds in the current financial climate, that will fit in with your own flying habits & availability, and that lives locally enough to make the whole thing work is far from easy.

I personally would only ever be interested in sharing with others that have a reasonable financial stake in the aircraft, you are far more likely to find people that will be considerate in handling & flying your aircraft and more interested in maintaining it's good condition if they have funds tied up in it. I've spoken to various other people in large, low, or no equity groups and damage is a common issue.... the last thing you want is your aircraft out of action when you have the time and weather to fly because of a heavy handed individual whose flying you are subsidising!!

Hope you are able to keep your Nipper....... at least until I'm ready to buy it!!

Best wishes,

Monty.

[DesH]

Morning Neil, just thought I'd pop in to see how everyone is doing! Trust your still enjoying FE??

I know exactly where your coming from regarding grouping the aircraft as I'd considered the same, I still have the lack of utilisation problems with the Cassutt and have only flown about 10hours in it since August. (To be fair the Snow was the main issue)

As Monty has stated its always good to ensure any group member has a sizeable financial interest in the aircraft to ensure they look after it. As for abusing the aircraft, physical damage (Ie from poor ground handling etc) would be fairly obvious but I guess your concern is with regards the engine and airframe.
For the engine, If I remember correclty the Stratomaster fitted can store MAX readings on RPM etc so you should be able to keep an eye on that sort of thing. As for the airframe, I just fitted an MGL digital G-Meter to the Cassutt and again that stores MAX and MIN G-readings and number of occurences (bit like an FI meter on the JP's and Strikey's) which need a passcode to reset so you would be able to keep track of how hard its being flown.

Obviously however the main thing is to satisfy yourself as the individuals attitude and experience but the above ideas can also be used if in any doubt.

Anyway hope your still enjoying Nippering, we'll have to arrange a meet up at some pint during the summer so I can stretch the Cassutts legs....(though not my own being wedged in there!)

Best Regards

Des

[NeilD]

Hi Des,

The recording g meter might be a good idea.

Standard practice with a normal one, is to not reset it on landing ( but someone could reset it and hide an overload)

I think equity will have to be the way to go. There is the possibility of someone knackering the engine, then just walking away.

We'll have to look for a patch of nice weather and arrange to meet up> i've not flown the nipper much recently - only one day in January.
The cold weather hasn't helped ( especially when i arrived at the airfield to find the hangar doors wedged shut by the swollen frozen ground)
Disappointing when it takes nearly 2 hrs to get there.
The A/c is insured now for any pilot with full PPL and 100 hrs ( and under 65 years old) - so you can have a flight when we meet up.


Cheers

Neil

[DesH]

Hi Neil,

I got the digital G-meter from the following link, very easy to fit, the gap I had on the panel was a 2.25" but you might need the 3 1/8" to replace the current G-meter ? (Thats the MGL Velocity range instead of the Infinity range as below):-

http://shop1.actinicexpress.co.uk/shops ... 56ba911ebc

A trip in the old girl would be great, should be a bit more relaxing landing at half the speed I do in the Cassutt! Will get something arranged when it gets a bit warmer since neither of us have heaters !

I know where your coming from regarding the weather, I'm 90mins from Perth but with the snow recently its been pointless making the trip other than to run the engine.

Regards

Des

[NeilD]

Just had the 5th offer in 2 weeks to buy the nipper outright!

[Neil Spooner]

........you need one of these!! Flap is controlled via a push/pull cable in cockpit, it takes hot air off of the stb cyl' head and works very well, I am nice and warm in sub zero temp's:

Hot air duct.JPG (111.77 KiB) Viewed 10006 times

[NeilD]

Now that looks like a good idea - i'll have to look at tapping off the ducting inside the cowl though, as the Jab is fully cowled.


Or i move somewhere warm.

Neil