JG's Flying Adventures - Australian Outback 2005 - 2007
Jan ’05 - Started building my Savannah. An excellent kit to build, all holes pre-punched and mostly line up. And a really excellent aircraft to fly, very stable and responsive.
Aug ’05 - Flew Savannah to Cape York and with Hans and Bill.
The stories here Flying Backwards and here No Crocs
Flying backwards over Cape York.
Headwind more than 30 kts so was able to drift backwards for a mile.
Nov ’05 - I took the slats off the Savannah. First one to do that. Dramatic improvement!
Savannah aircraft originally came equipped with leading edge slats. I flew the trip to Cape York with those slats in place.
Flew OK that way, just slow and draggy.... I had long wanted to test such an aircraft without the slats.
The improvement without those drag buckets was dramatic! Same ability for STOL performance. So I flew the next long trip to Tasmania without the slats. 6 kts faster and lower fuel burn for same power! At every fuel stop I needed less fuel than Bill's Savannah with slats and cruised faster. When we got home both Hans and Bill removed their slats.
Full story here https://www.stolspeed.com/slats-v-s-vgs
Feb ’06 - Flew Savannah to Tasmania with Hans and Bill.
Hans and Bill flight planning with charts, before OZ Runways electronic flight bag.
Crossing Bass Strait, too much cold water....
Apr ’06 - Displayed VGs instead of slats at the Narromine National Fly-In,
ICP Savannah factory had heard about my modification so sent out an engineer from Italy. The engineer inspected my data, and bought the first set of VGs for Savannahs, then two months later ICP abandoned the slats and brought out their new 'VG' model. They haven't used slats since.
Apr ’07 - Flight to Channel Country trip.
The Channel Country after a flood.
Crossing the Simpson Desert along the 'French Line'.