Shown lower left, the Roadie electric. The power for this  2 or 3 seat vehicle will come from a choice of batteries that are located in a pack that runs almost the full length of the passenger compartment on the centerline. This pack can be easily removed for servicing and a choice of batteries will be available. The Roadie is being developed entirely at the Hughes factory at Ballina Airport. Price of the Roadie ? Watch this space, we hope between $30,000 and $40,000 but this will depend on how many we produce, you can reserve one  by emailing  us at al@spot.com.au and placing a $100 deposit

Easter Newsletter 2009

1

The VIP Propeller VIP= “ Variable Inflight Pitch”    Why  fit a VIP to your aircraft ? On takeoff and when your aircraft is climbing, the pitch of the prop should be fine to achieve maximum efficiency, in the case of the SP-2000, pitch at 2/3 of the prop diameter should be about 22 degrees but in cruise, the only way to achieve optimum performance is to corsen the pitch up to about 28 degrees (depending on a number of other factors), to do this, you must be able to change the angle of the prop blades, thus our VIP.      The VIP (manufactured and designed at LightWing), propeller hub features a 4130 steel clamp which locks the Bolly Carbon fibre blades (2 diameter available 68" and 72" right and left hand) to the shaft.

Manual adjustments between coarse and fine pitch is made by a Venire cable located in the central cockpit console. The Propeller comes complete with the cable, manual and mounting brackets to suit hollow shaft engines Cruise with a VIP 118 kts, with a fixed pitch, same aircraft, 98 kts. Price $4,900 inc  GST If you want to get the most out of your engine, save dollars and reduce carbon emissions, you must have a VIP.

Contact: The Hughes Group of

Companies Phone: (02) 66868658

Fax: (02) 6686 8343  Email– al@spot.com.au

Website: www.lightwing.com.au

Postal Address:    P.O. Box 89

Ballina NSW 2478

Australia
Text Box: What do we do when we’re not making the most beautiful Light Sport Aircraft in Australia ? Well, Nicky loves his boats, Howie’s off designing parts for the aircraft or a car or a flying car !!, congratulations to US based Terrafugia for their successful first flight of the 2 seat flying car, Jenny loves painting her art and Shelly can be found in a studio or local music venue, she is singing in a few bands at the moment! Check them out if music is your thing to unwind after a nice day out flying…www.myspace.com/redbantoo and www.myspace.com/cbddubproject

Safety has always been a primary concern to Australian LightWing and its SAFETY that has dictated the selection and use of materials, engine selection , navigational aids and many other features found in our  aircraft.

With the high tech navigation, the SPEED Range integrates the latest in navigational systems available to the recreational pilot in the form of your choice of our own “CAN”. System which stands for Computer Aided Navigation or  the Stratomaster  8” or 10” glass panel.

Our dashboard is specifically designed to mount the 8” or 10” display screens that come with this type of navigation equipment, the hood over the screen is  an essential part of the system, this reduces glare and although the screens are daylight-readable, the hood is a great idea.  Both these superb systems use a digital compass and digital gyro to provide real time 3 dimensional artificial vision. Very few of  even the latest passenger jets  (The A380) have this degree of sophistication. The 3D terrain is a system function that you may rarely need but chances are that the times you need to see outside the aircraft when its poring rain or its gotten dark or whatever,  artificial vision might just save your bacon. Both ours and the Stratomaster display both 3 dimensional terrain and also a flat GPS type maps. The Stratomaster couples directly to an autopilot.

Our CAN system has the benefit of having a PC onboard which can be handy if you want to access the internet in-flight for communication purposes or perhaps to download weather, call and ask Howie for details of both systems, of course, the best would be to fit both ours and the Stratomaster.
Australian LightWing

      Economic meltdown,  global warming, climate change, what next ? The worlds  in turmoil  so all the more reason to  enjoy your recreational activities and keep flying! As a part of the Australian LightWing stimulus package,   we have undertaken a serious re-think of our approach to both sales and manufacture. Take a look at our new showroom (shown left). All we did was pull down some walls and the result is a spectacular display of our aircraft and associated products. The showroom is a  great improvement and it cost almost nothing to develop and , to our knowledge,  it’s  the only aircraft showroom in the district. so please,  if you are coming past Ballina  Airport (flying or driving)  call in for a visit, a chat and a cuppa and have a look at our range of light aircraft.

              This is the first newsletter for some time and we hope you find  in interesting, back to our stimulus package, next we took a look at cost reductions and the first step there was to re-visit our  past expertise developed in the early 90’s in CNC compute aided machining.  In 1992 we where asked by Capricorn Hi-Tek Yachts located in QLD, to develop a flat bed router (12m x 4m) so that was our first CNC effort, there have been a few between now and then but recently and using the latest technology we now have our own CNC machine developed entirely here in Ballina, so what does all this mean to us, faster and more accurate manufacturing of sheet metal components, to you the reader I hear you ask, well, lets say you have an instrument panel with lots of cutouts, for instruments, switches etc, just send us a drawing of the  plate and we can cut it out in a fraction of the time you will spend with a file and a jigsaw. See more details on p3

Then there is our three wheeled electric car  project which we call the Roadie also our jumbo LightWing, which we call the SP 6200.

What is Australian light wing developing an electric motor car,  I hear you ask ?, well the answer lies in  our desire to contribute to climate change solutions and as such we believe  we are the only company in Australia capable of producing a truly  lightweight practical, electrical  two seat motor car.  Read more about the Roadie on page  3

In the background in the photo of the new showroom above, Jenny McCamleys new SP-2000 can be seen with its blue paint job. This is the second LightWing the McCamleys have purchased and taking advantage of the current 30% tax allowances, this aircraft will be used to commute between their various QLS pastoral properties. The McCamleys are producing  certified organic beef for both export and the local markets.

Our display at  Narromine this year featured an SP 2000 provided by George (Snowman) Jennings from Canberra, why is George called Snowman ?, because he manufacturers snow making machines of course ! I visited his workshop  and he showed me these intricate machines that mix compressed air and water to top up our snowfields, George described an installation he made in India where a large room was simply filled  with snow so the locals could throw snowballs at each other ! I Digress ! 

              We are continuing to produce the new low wing SP-2000. we are up  to no 12 and we delivered number 7 to the USA for display at Oshkosh last year, well I always said that Oshkosh can come to me (I would love to stage a big air-show at Ballina one year ) but taking an aircraft to the biggest air show on earth was the next best thing. We had a ball with out new agents Airgyro and Nate, Don, Robert, Mike and Jake. Airgyro is a family business located in Utah and we wish them all the best as they weather the current economic turmoil.

              NEXT… Times are tough and cheaper aircraft have also become our focus so we have re-designed and improved the Pocket Rocket or PR, calling the new model the PR-XP. The Pocket Rocket was developed in 1988 in response to a perceived demand for a single seat 95-10 aircraft, we sold one only then developed a 2 seat version and sales took off. Ask for a brochure on the new bird, she features a number of engine options, she is aerobatic capable and can be built in a range of configurations from 1 seat to floats and amphibious to an enclosed 2 seater.

So, read on and any feedback will be appreciated, email comments to al@spot.com.au and don't forget the web page www.lightwing.com.au

The lowest priced sealed lead acid batteries will  give the vehicle an estimated range of 75 kilometers before a re-charge will be needed while we hope that a more expensive Lithium Iron  pack will give the Roadie a range of between 200 and 300 kilometers. Lithium Iron batteries can be charged in less time than lead acid but are more expensive. The curb or empty weight of the Roadie is projected to be less than 300 kg making it the lightest in in its class.