FLYER Magazine December 2020

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December 2020

THE UK’S MOST READ GA MAGAZINE

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Electronic Conspicuity THE BIG DEBATE AND WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU…

LEARN TO GO COMPLEX

UNDERSTANDING CONSTANT-SPEED

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Editorial

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Ed Hicks

Do your bit for EC

Editorial Telephone +44 (0)1225 481440 Email editor@seager.aero Website www.flyer.co.uk Seager Publishing, PO Box 4261, Melksham, SN12 9BN

W

hen it comes to good things the CAA do, and yes, it has done plenty, there will always be those who find something to grumble about. But I’ve got to say, the recent news that the CAA has launched a scheme to provide a rebate of up to £250 to pilots to help encourage them to buy a piece of Electronic Conspicuity equipment, is an excellent way to encourage enhanced safety within our flying world.

The RV-8 I co-built with FLYER’s Safety Editor Steve Ayres has a pretty well thought-out EC set up (all to Steve’s credit as the project’s electronics guru) with ADS-B out via a Trig transponder, and Power FLARM connected to permanent aerials on the top and bottom of the aircraft. When we used the aircraft in our recent testing (see the EC feature on page 26) it proved to be capable of making itself very visible, give or take some interesting discoveries about antenna blanking in turns – check out Ian Seager’s video for more on that.

However, when I bought the little RV-3B, that super-simple machine had no transponder. It’s something I’ll be looking to retrofit in future, but for now I’ve found that a uAvionix SkyEcho 2 is proving to be a simple, capable method to make the aircraft more visible. Paired to my iPhone, it gives me a rock-solid external GPS source for SkyDemon, plus it means my navigation screen also includes traffic. Add a connection to my Bluetoothenabled Bose headset and now I’ve got a powerful combination of audio alerting. It’s hard to beat a traffic call, with a direction and height while you’re head is outside of the cockpit. For an aeroplane that’s been kept simple, it’s been a very easy way to improve things without having to tear into the panel or electrical system.

If you’ve heard the news and are feeling a bit confused, maybe still on the fence about what to buy, then take time to read the article and make a conscious decision to do your bit to add to the EC world. I personally think it’s great if you can be seen – and even better if you can see too.

EDITOR Ed Hicks ed.hicks@seager.aero NEWS EDITOR Dave Calderwood dave.calderwood@seager.aero PRODUCTION EDITOR Lizi Brown lizi.brown@seager.aero ART EDITOR Ollie Alderton ollie.alderton@seager.aero CONTRIBUTORS Mark Hales, Ed Bellamy, Peter Steele Adriaan Pelzer, Matt Dearden Yayeri van Baarsen FLIGHT SAFETY EDITOR Steve Ayres steve.ayres@seager.aero PUBLISHER & MANAGING DIRECTOR Ian Seager ics@seager.aero PRODUCTION MANAGER Nick Powell nick.powell@seager.aero SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Kirstie May kirstie.may@seager.aero ADVERTISING ACCOUNT MANAGER Zoe Yeo zoe.yeo@seager.aero EXHIBITION MANAGERS Darran Ward darran.ward@seager.aero Paul Yates paul.yates@seager.aero MARKETING COORDINATOR Joanna Woronowicz joanna.woronowicz@seager.aero FINANCIAL DIRECTOR Martine Teissier martine.teissier@seager.aero

ed.hicks@seager.aero CIRCULATION Worldwide, free to download digital edition from flyer.co.uk

Left Powerful package -SkyEcho 2, SkyDemon and a bluetooth headset

© Seager Publishing 2020

Mark Mitchell

At FLYER we aim to produce the best possible magazine for our readers. All correspondence is welcome and will be read, but we can’t guarantee a written reply. We welcome contributions from readers, and guidelines are available from us. We take great care to ensure what we publish is accurate, but cannot accept any responsibility for any misprints or mistakes. Our reviews examine what we believe to be a product’s most important points, but readers are advised to check a product suits their needs before purchasing. No part of this publication may be produced in any form without permission.

December 2020 | FLYER | 3

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Contents December 2020

Features 18 I Get Paid for This…

Mike Seager

Finished building your RV? Mike Seager will teach you how to fly it safely

26 Special Feature Electronic Conspicuity

A £250 rebate offer from the CAA towards EC kit means now is the time to make the aircraft you fly more electronically visible. We check out the kit you might be considering…

36 My First Solo Francis Donaldson

For Francis Donaldson, learning to navigate cross-country seemed a much bigger challenge than his first solo…

38 Technical Complex learning curve…

Fixed-pitch props are fine, but learning to fly with a constant-speed propeller opens avenues to lots of new aircraft. Peter Steele reports

46 Accident Analysis Just enough, vs just too little Steve Ayres examines recent accidents that show how handling an emergency is much more challenging when you know you are running out of fuel…

52 Flying Adventure Island fling

Electronic Conspicuity

26

36

62

Fascinated with the Hebrides, Adriaan Pelzer makes it a reality when he explores the beauty of the islands, amid all weathers…

62 Top Gear Christmas gift ideas…

Say no to socks, and show people these ideas

Regulars 3 Editorial 6 News 16 Pilot Careers 21 Matt Dearden

23 25 48 64

Mark Hales Ian Seager Accident Reports

By Association

SIX Free Landings!

52

70 FLYER Club Members Save £53 n Beverley n Breighton n Blackbushe

n Crosland Moor n Fowlmere n Oaksey Park PLUS Win a print or digital Pooleys UK Flight Guide July 2016 | FLYER | 5

Take-off

Aviation news from around the world – for the latest visit www.flyer.co.uk

Small airfields will need Border Force agreement for European flights Above Airfields such as Bolt Head will need a Certificate of Agreement from Border Force to accept flights from Europe Right Northrepps airfield is getting ready!

6 | FLYER | December 2020

Flying from small aerodromes and air strips to Europe after the UK’s transition period with the European Union ends on 31 December 2020 will continue to be possible so long as the airfield operator has a Certificate of Agreement from Border Force.

The government has written to airfield and strip operators handling General Aviation flights to and from Europe advising the need for the certificate.

Any aerodrome or air strip that has received an inbound flight within the past 12 months should have received the letter.

A Certificate of Agreement (CoA) is an agreement between non-Customs and Excise designated aerodromes and the UK Customs Authorities. It is issued by the Border Force National Frontier Approvals Unit (NFAU) and permits the aerodrome to handle a specific

range of flights from third countries, which will include EU countries at the end of the transition period.

“From 1 January 2021 until 30 June 2022 your aerodrome will be covered by a blanket interim CoA which will allow you to continue operating permitted flights to and from EU countries until you obtain an individual CoA,” says the letter.

“You do not need to take any action to receive this interim CoA as it will be done automatically.”

To continue operating flights to and from EU countries after 1 July 2022, aerodromes will need to be operating under a standard, individual CoA. “Border Force will visit you during the coming months and discuss this with you as well as your obligations under CEMA,” continues the letter.

“Failure to obtain a standard, individual CoA from the NFAU by 1 July 2022 will mean that you

will be limited to handling domestic flights only.”

There are restrictions on the flights that non-Customs and Excise designated aerodromes can handle, and these are set out on the FLYER website. The restrictions include no merchandise in baggage, no freight and restrictions on passenger numbers.

Take-off

Be seen! Rebate available for Electronic Conspicuity devices Government funding is now available to encourage pilots to fit an Electronic Conspicuity (EC) device to their aircraft.

Devices such as Pilot Aware Rosetta and uAvionix SkyEcho, and others, are eligible for a rebate of 50% of the purchase costs up to a maximum of £250.

See FLYER’s EC review p26.

The money is coming from the Department for Transport (DfT) with the CAA distributing the funds. The scheme is open to many types of aircraft including unmanned aerial vehicles.

The scheme opened for applications on 5 October 2020 and runs until 31 March 2021 (or until the funding is used). The CAA anticipates up to 10,000 rebates will be available.

What are the requirements?

■ Funding is for carry-on or aircraft-fitted devices only.

Ground system components do not qualify.

■ Applicants can claim a single rebate of 50% – up to £250.

■ Only equipment purchased from 1 October 2020 until 28 February 2021 is eligible.

■ You must produce a proof of purchase receipt.

You must hold at least one of the following UK issued pilot licences: ■ Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL) ■ Commercial Pilot’s Licence (CPL) ■ National PPL (NPPL) ■ Sailplane Pilot’s Licence (SPL) ■ Balloon Pilot’s Licence (BPL) ■ Light Aircraft Pilot’s Licence (LAPL)

What equipment?

■ ADS-B Out capable transponder inclusive of GNSS position source (Mode S ES Enabled) ■ ADS-B Out capable transponder without GNSS position source (Mode S ES) ■ Certified GNSS source for Mode S ES transponders ■ Power Flarm ■ Pilot Aware Rosetta ■ Sky Echo 2.

Above SkyDemon can display traffic using the third-party devices

The CAA says it will consider requests from device manufacturers for alternative or newly developed equipment to be added on a case by case basis.

Meanwhile, work is continuing on a long-term strategy for EC in the UK, confirms the CAA. Full details here December 2020 | FLYER | 7

Take-off

Germany certifies Tecnam P92 MkII as 600kg microlight Tecnam’s P92 Echo MkII light aircraft has passed certification by the German aviation authority (the DULV) to the new German 600kg microlight regs allowed under an EASA ‘opt-out’ rule.

Germany was the first country to declare the opt-out, and also the first to develop and publish the necessary airworthiness requirements.

The UK aviation authorities have indicated their inclination to ‘opt-out’ and establish a new 600kg limit for microlight aircraft. However, the shape, form and any additional regulation has yet to be confirmed.

The P92 Echo is a long-standing aircraft for Tecnam, first designed in 1992.

Since then, more than 1,000 P92s have been delivered in the ‘ultralight’ class worldwide.

8 | FLYER | December 2020

Above A microlight, but not as we know it!

This is the Tecnam P92 Echo MkII Below Tecnam P2010

The MkII version is a substantial update with a more streamlined composite fuselage, bigger cabin with wider seats and more fore-and-aft adjustment for pilot and passenger. It has modern avionics options, including Garmin’s G3X Touch, optional ballistic recovery parachute.

In non-European countries, the P92 MkII is available in the Ultralight, US Light Sport Aircraft and Experimental categories, whereas the certified version, the P92JS, is available as the European CS-VLA. Tecnam has also received type certification from EASA for its four-seat P2010 powered by Continental’s CD-170 turbodiesel. It joins the already certified 180hp and 215hp avgas versions of the P2010. Tecnam claims fuel consumption of 17 litres/hour @55% power setting for the CD-170 engined P2010, burning Jet A1 or diesel fuel.

Take-off

Door post Airworthiness Directive affects thousands of Cessna singles Thousands of Cessna single-engine aircraft are affected by an Airworthiness Directive (AD) issued by the US authority, the FAA. The AD, number FAA-2018-0049, concerns the lower area of the forward cabin door post bulkhead, where cracking has been found on some aircraft.

This AD requires inspections of the lower area of the forward cabin doorposts at the strut attach fitting for cracks and repairing any cracks using a Cessna supplied service kit.

The AD comes into force on 12 November 2020 and affects 14,653 aircraft on the US register and probably just as many again worldwide.

The aircraft affected: n 172N, 172P, 172Q, 172RG, F172N, F172P, FR172K, R172K. n 182E, 182F, 182G, 182H, 182J, 182K, 182L, 182M, 182N, 182P, 182Q, 182R, T182, F182P, F182Q, FR182, R182, TR182. n 206, P206, P206A, P206B, P206C, P206D, P206E, TP206A, TP206B, TP206C, TP206D, TP206E, U206, U206A, U206B, U206C, U206D, U206E, U206F, U206G, TU206A, TU206B, TU206C, TU206D, TU206E, TU206F, TU206G. n 207, 207A, T207, T207A, 210-5 (205), 210-5A (205A), 210B, 210C, 210D, 210E, 210F, T210F. The FAA said that both the manufacturer’s guidance, which is published in the supplemental inspection documents (SIDs) for certain aircraft, and fleet history support a 36-month or 1,000 hours Time In Service (TIS), whichever occurs first, interval for inspecting this location. Loading conditions outside of flight, such as ground loads, handling loads and tie-down loads, may also cause cracking.

10 | FLYER | December 2020

Main Cessna’s 172 Skyhawk is one of the aircraft models listed in the AD as requiring inspection Right Cessna illustration showing the forward cabin bulkhead. The cracks may be in the lower corners and can affect the wing strut fixing integrity

The FAA estimates the cost of inspection as $212 in the US. The cost of repair, if required, depends on which Cessna service kit is required and varies from $6,175 to $10,080.

FAA Airworthiness Directive

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Take-off

Rolls-Royce runs up its ACCEL electric record setter Rolls-Royce has completed ground tests of the electric propulsion system that will power its ACCEL aircraft in an attempt to set world speed records of 300mph+ next year. The technology has been tested on a full-scale replica of the aircraft’s core, called an ‘ionBird’.

The first flight is planned for later this year, 2020.

The team is aiming to beat the current all-electric flight world record with a bid early next year.

ACCEL is short for ‘Accelerating the Electrification of Flight’. Rolls-Royce is working with YASA, an electric motor and controller manufacturer, and aviation start-up Electroflight. The 500hp electric motor is fed by a battery consisting of more than 6,000 liquid-cooled cells, said to have enough energy to power 250 homes.

Rob Watson of Rolls-Royce Electrical, said, “Rolls-Royce is committed to playing a leading role in reaching net zero carbon by 2050. The completion of ground-testing for the ACCEL project is a great achievement for the team and is another important step towards a world record attempt.”

Half of the project’s funding is provided by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Innovate UK. Watch a video of the tests here 12 | FLYER | December 2020

Main Rolls-Royce’s IonBird test rig Top VoltAero testing its new hybrid power module Right ZeroAvia Piper Malibu Mirage-based test aircraft is powered by an electric motor using power from a hydrogen fuel cell

Hydrogen for ZeroAvia ZeroAvia has flown its electric Piper Malibu test aircraft using electricity generated by an onboard hydrogen fuel cell for the first time. The flight took place at Cranfield Airport where the six-seat Malibu completed taxi, take-off, a full pattern circuit and landing.

ZeroAvia has flown the electric Malibu before, in California in August 2019, and at Cranfield in June this year. However, it has now emerged that both those flights were using battery power only. ZeroAvia is now concentrating on a 250-mile zero emission flight from Orkney by the end of the year.

Hybrid for VoltAero VoltAero has flown its Cassio aircraft fitted with the French company’s hybrid-electric power module for the first time. The power module is installed in the rear of the demo aircraft, based on a Cessna 337, in the ‘pusher’ position.

The hybrid-electric power module combines three 60kW high-performance electric motors, arranged in a triangular configuration, with a 370hp internal combustion engine.

This is the configuration intended to be fitted to VoltAero’s largest production Cassio aircraft, the 10-seat Cassio 600. The plan is to deliver a total hybrid-electric power of 600kW (800hp), giving a 200kt cruise speed.

Instant Expert

Airworthiness for self-fly hire Some recent CAA advice prompts Ed Bellamy to take a look at the rules…

S

ince covering Part-M Light (ML) airworthiness regulations last issue, the CAA has published further guidance relating to aircraft maintained under Part-ML when being used in a ‘non-equity’ group arrangement. The guidance focuses on whether the owner of the aircraft should contract a Part-CAO or CAMO organisation (an airworthiness management organisation) to manage its airworthiness requirements.

The term ‘non-equity’ group has become more common in the last few years, but as far as the Air Navigation Order (ANO) or EASA regulations are concerned, it has no legal distinction from self-fly hire – someone is making a payment (or ‘valuable consideration’ as the ANO terms it), which confers on them the use of the aircraft for a flight.

Usually the only practical difference between a non-equity group and ad hoc self-fly hire is that a monthly subscription must be paid in addition to hourly rates and that there is an expectation of an ongoing commitment. It does not normally imply any ownership of the aircraft or corporate body that may own the aircraft. However, it can prove more rewarding and flexible than hiring from a school or club, often with better availability and more of a group atmosphere. From a regulatory point of view, it is just hire though, and for EASA aircraft with a certificate of airworthiness, making an aircraft available for self-fly hire attracts no additional airworthiness requirements over and above normal private flight.

Now you might be wondering why the CAA is issuing related guidance if a non-equity group is just hire and there are no additional regulatory requirements associated with this.

I think the point being made is twofold – firstly, setting up a non-equity group in no way dilutes the responsibility under Part-ML of the legal owner of the aircraft to ensure that it is maintained in airworthy condition, and secondly that in a non-equity group arrangement, the possible diversity and/or intensity of use may be such that contracting a Part-CAO or CAMO organisation is advisable. The time and competence of owners to manage the airworthiness of their aircraft in such a context will likely vary, so this seems like fair advice that reflects a risk-based approach.

Larger non-equity groups, for example, may result in a similar utilisation profile to that of a flight school, for which, if operated on a commercial basis there is a requirement under Part-ML to contract a Part-CAO or CAMO organisation.

Under ML the requirement to contract essentially comes in with ‘commercial operations’, which under EASA pure self-fly hire is not included. The UK position prior to EASA treated self-fly hire as public transport for airworthiness purposes and

14 | FLYER | December 2020

required a ‘public transport’ certificate of airworthiness. It remains to be seen whether the contract requirement in ML will prove to be of much significance – many private owners contracted a CAMO under the old Part-M, even though there was no requirement to. Under Part-ML with the new combined maintenance and management CAO approval, I suspect most aircraft maintained by a single organisation will probably be done under a management contract as well, unless the owner wishes to design and manage the maintenance programme themselves.

The CAA guidance is addressing EASA (or ‘Part-21’ as we will know them in 2021) aircraft. But while we are discussing non-equity groups and hire, we can touch on non-EASA aircraft as well, particularly Permit aircraft since the requirements are slightly different.

Restriction relaxation

One of the welcome developments of the last few years in GA has been the gradual relaxation of restrictions on the use of national Permit to Fly aircraft when some sort of valuable consideration has changed hands in association with the flight.

Not so long ago it was generally not possible to hire a Permit aircraft or pay for flight training in one unless you were the owner of it.

In 2018 the CAA started allowing Permit to Fly aircraft to be hired out, although there are some additional requirements administered by the relevant association responsible for overseeing the permit – either the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) or British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA).

The requirements are straightforward and essentially amount to having a formal maintenance programme and a pilot’s operating handbook – details are contained in the relevant technical leaflets or codes of practice as published by the LAA and BMAA. This change enabled the formation of ‘nonequity’ groups with Permit aircraft. The issue of whether to contract a CAMO does not really figure in the world of Permit aircraft, but the principle that the owner is ultimately responsible for the airworthiness of the aircraft remains the same.

Talking of Permit aircraft, in October the CAA published their response to a recent consultation on allowing certain Permit types to be used by flying schools for ab initio training.

Currently such training is limited to those already holding a licence, unless they own the aircraft. While the change will initially be limited to former CofA aircraft, smaller ex-military types and amateur built microlights, it does sound like another victory for risk-based regulation.

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Pilot Careers www.pilotcareernews.com The definitive source for pilot training, career and industry news

In Brief Boeing is painting an optimistic picture for aviation once it starts to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the latest edition of its respected Boeing Pilot and Technician Outlook covering 2020 to 2039.

“While the current industry downturn, driven by COVID-19, has resulted in a temporary oversupply of qualified personnel, the long-term need remains robust,” says Boeing.

Etihad Airways is the first airline in the world to implement a Boeing 787 Dreamliner Multi-crew Pilots Licence (MPL) programme.

Etihad Aviation Training has secured approval for cadets who complete MPL training on the Embraer Phenom 100 jet to transition directly to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner within 18 months.

Flight simulator maker Entrol has launched a new FNPT II based on the Airbus Helicopters H125, also known as AS350, one of the best-selling helicopters around the world. In addition, Entrol has certified an H135 FTD Level 3 in the Netherlands.

Flight training company CAE has become carbon neutral, the Montreal, Canada-based company has announced.

Executive Officer at CAE. French company Alsim has launched a convertible flight simulator which can switch between Diamond Aircraft’s single engine DA40 and twin engine DA42. The device reproduces the Diamond specific interior cockpits and flight decks with real Garmin G1000 NXI and GFC 700.

16 | FLYER | December 2020

Everything you need to know about aviation as a career from Pilot Careers Live Virtual ‘Dealing With The Covid Crisis’ is the opening discussion for the first Pilot Careers Live Virtual (PCLV) event being held live on Friday and Saturday, 6-7 November.

A panel of experts from across aviation, including airlines and flight schools, will tackle the issue of the moment head-on, giving insight and practical advice for anyone considering a career in flying.

A host of other seminars will follow over the two-day event.

They will be broadcast on the PCLV website and you can ask questions via live chat during the presentations. Taking part in the seminars is free – all you have to do is register on the Pilot Careers Live Virtual website.

As well as the seminars, there’s a virtual exhibitors’ hall where you can see what each Approved Training Organisation (ATO) is offering – courses, facilities, location etc – and also book a one-to-one chat with the ATO’s online staff.

The full and final list of seminars is still being finalised but it’s looking like this (note: times and titles subject to possible change) Friday, 6 November 1000 Dealing With The Covid crisis – panel discussion 1040 UK CAA: To 2021 and Beyond 1100 Aviation & Sustainability 1120 Q&A 1150 Future Shape of the Airline Industry 1210 Pilot Outlook 1220 The Training Routes 1300 Multi-Pilot Licence (MPL) 1320 Q&A 1350 The Selection Process

Above The new Pilot Careers Live Virtual event will expand and develop the idea of seminars and presentations, with live interactive chat and Q&A during each session. PCLV is free but you do have to register – see link in text

1430 ATPL Theory/Ground School 1450 Upset Recovery Training (UPRT) 1510 The Training Journey: Personal Stories 1530 APS/MCC 1550 Type Ratings 1610 Q&A Saturday, 7 November 1000 A Zero Carbon Future 1020 The Training Routes: Cadet Panel 1100 Q&A 1130 Gliding 1150 The Class 1 Medical 1210 Female pilots 1230 CV Clinic 1250 tbc 1320 Q&A

1330 Drone Pilots 1350 Helicopter Pilots 1410 Corporate Pilots 1420 Flight Calibration 1440 Q&A 1500 Cadet Pilot Welfare 1540 So you’ve finished training… what now?

1620 Staying Connected with the Industry 1640 Q&A 1655 Final Wrap Up Just a reminder, the times and titles could change. For final, firm times and subjects, check the Pilot Careers Live Virtual schedule closer to the event.

To attend any of these seminars, you need to register here.

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I Get Paid for This…

Mike Seager Finished building your RV? Mike Seager will teach you how to fly it safely. Interview by Yayeri van Baarsen

How did you get into flying?

Waiting at the bus shed for the school bus, I’d watch aircraft fly over, thinking that’d be a great way to make a living. I became an aircraft mechanic in the USAF and joined their aeroclub when I was stationed in Korea, where I also obtained my PPL. I soon realised flying aircraft was a lot more fun than working on them.

Tell us about your job?

I’m an RV flight trainer, providing transition training for all Van’s aircraft from my base in Vernonia, Oregon. The RV-7 and RV-9A are Flying CV kept here in the hangar and if someone needs With 20,000 hours flying Van’s an RV-10, 12, 14 or 14A, I’ll pick up that RVs, transition trainer for Van’s model from the factory. I teach people from Aircraft, Mike Seager is the highest all over the world and with all different time RV pilot in the world. backgrounds.

Started current job 1993 The programme is tailored to the Now flying RV-4, 6, 6A, 7, 7A, 9, 9A, 10, 12, 14, 14A individual student. Obviously a private pilot Favourite aircraft RV-7 & RV-14. “I like the with only 100 hours and no tailwheel time RV-7 as it’s a sporty tailwheel, but the RV-14 is needs longer than an Air Force captain with a good for cross-country with its huge cockpit” tailwheel endorsement and 25,000 hours Hours at job start Approx 4,800 Hours now Approx. 24,000 experience in various aircraft.

The most common thing a pilot needs to work on when transitioning is getting used to the controls, which are very light to the touch. An RV responds Van’s best ambassador, visiting fly-ins, giving rides and showing off instantly, you hardly have to move the stick – just think and it my aeroplane. Building on my own RV background as well as my happens. That’s why I spend most of my time teaching pilots not to experience as a flight instructor, I eventually developed the over-control the aircraft. Another major thing is teaching them transition training programme. how to land it safely – these are small aircraft with a big engine.

Many pilots have plenty of flying time in their Cessna 150 or What’s been your favourite flight?

172, but no experience in such a little hot-rod. These aircraft are That’s a hard one as there’s been so much fun flying in my career. unique enough that you need transition training – it’s definitely a Once when flying in Florida we watched a Space Shuttle take-off, safety thing. You can’t just build one, get in and fly it. which was special, and in my early years I’ve flown up to Canada The biggest obstacle is when people spend five years building for fishing, which was also great. I especially have fond memories of their RV and forget to fly in that time. This means they have to get all kinds of fly-ins, Sun ’n Fun and Oshkosh. themselves current first before they can start transition training. But when they then finally get to fly the aircraft they’ve spent all those And your favourite airfield? hours building, they’re incredibly excited.

Vernonia, my home airfield. It’s a quiet little public airfield, with a For me, this is the perfect job. I get to meet new enthusiastic 3,000ft grass strip and six aircraft, and it’s well-known in the people every week, fly high-performance aircraft and set my own RV-community. I’ve flown out of it for 40 years now. schedule. I’m 68, but I’ll probably continue doing this until I’m 75 – it’s so much fun!

Do you get to fly much outside of work?

Rarely, it’s almost all work nowadays. I fly about 700 hours a year, What training did you have? so when I have time off, flying just doesn’t seem like the right thing There’s no actual course for becoming a transition trainer. I was to do. already a flight instructor when in 1982 I helped my friend Kefton Black build his RV-4. I test-flew that aircraft, taught Kefton to fly it What is your most valuable career advice? safely and borrowed it all the time.

Just go for it. If you’re interested in a career in aviation, the world is In 1987 I got my RV-6 kit and after working on it for three years, wide open. Well, not right now, but when COVID-19 has passed, I first flew it on 10 April 1990. It all evolved from there: I became airlines will be begging for pilots. So go get those ratings!

“I get to meet new enthusiastic people every week”

18 | FLYER | December 2020

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Column

On Approach

Matt Dearden

I

Repetition is key… repetition is key…

am sure many of you would have seen the video of a student pilot in Canada getting things very wrong while trying to go around following a botched landing. If not, you can see the video here. To summarise, the student was doing circuits, and on the landing featured in the video he touches down, but starts to veer off to the left of the runway. He then panics and applies full throttle along with right rudder in an attempt to steer the aircraft back into the middle of the runway for the go-around. Unfortunately he applies too much right rudder and leaves the runway to the right while applying full up elevator then full right aileron on the control column. Maxed out, he continues across the grass in this configuration before crashing into a hangar. He only suffered minor injuries but the aircraft was a write-off.

As humans, when we are maxed out we will always revert to what we know or have learned in the past. In the video you can see the student trying to steer the aircraft by turning the control yoke as if steering a car because, as a student, he is reverting to what he knows best. His mind is using what little capacity left to try and analyse the situation and applying what it knows. Being in a moving vehicle on the ground you can easily see why he has reverted to thinking he’s in a car – and is trying to steer the aircraft as such. I also wonder if he was pressing the right rudder pedal in an attempt to apply some braking force too, as he would on a car’s brake pedal.

Unfortunately the only real way for you to get something into your brain so that it becomes fully automatic is by repetition. You can read things in a book or watch a video as many times as you like but ultimately you need to develop muscle memory for your mind to revert to, should the need arise.

As pilots, we are well used to running through checklists and doing things the same on each and every flight. In commercial aviation we use SOPs (standard operating procedures), which take things a step further, and I would implore all pilots to adopt this methodology. Quite simply, make sure that all the vital items, such as removing external covers or setting the QNH, you do in exactly the same way each and every time. If there is more than one way to trim the aircraft you fly, tune in the radio or even unlock a door, make sure to pick one and stick with it every single time you fly. After a relatively short while you’ll be amazed how much more spare capacity your mind has because it no longer has to think about that particular operation as much as before.

I actually employ this methodology in my daily life. When I go rock climbing I always ensure to set up my climbing harness in exactly the same way before every climb. That way, when I am 50ft up and barely hanging on with my fingertips, I

can reach back with my other arm and know exactly where the piece of equipment I wanted to place is, without having to feel around or look down at my harness searching for it. It eases the ‘stress’ in a stressful situation. I was amazed how many of my friends were always fumbling around trying to locate something because they had their harnesses set up randomly each time, until I enlightened them with some aviation SOPs for climbing!

Of course there are situations that you cannot simply keep repeating in order to get them into your mind. I remember seeing the damage done to a Stearman’s aileron following a minor ground loop because the pilot had instinctively tried to bank the aircraft away from the direction of rotation. A ground loop is not a normal thing to happen, so if it does, you will be taken by surprise and revert back to doing things instinctively. If the aircraft is spinning clockwise and the nose is going to the right in a ground loop, it will be very hard not to try and push the control stick to the left to counteract this perceived banking, even though it won’t have any effect.

By doing this you will put the inside wing’s aileron down,

Mark Mitchell

“Touch drills are a great way to imprint the muscle memory for non-normal operations”

20 | FLYER | March 2020

which is the wingtip that can hit the ground, and which can cause more damage to the aileron than if you just sit there and did nothing.

So how do you build instinctive reactions into your mind for use during emergency and unusual situations? Simulators are brilliant for preparing for these things in safety, but obviously they are only really readily available to commercial pilots.

However, touch drills are a great way to imprint the muscle memory for non-normal operations. The great thing about the human mind is that it is actually pretty good at learning stuff even if you’re not doing it for real and only going through the motions. A good example is that before each departure I mentally go through what I will do should the engine fail and at what speeds I will initiate those actions. By doing this each and every time, hopefully I will be able to act on them without having to think about it too much and leave some spare brain capacity to deal with the rest of the situation.

Currently dividing his time between a Cub, a Catalina… oh, and a PC-12 matt.dearden@seager.aero December 2020 | FLYER | 21

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Column

Full Throttle

Mark Hales

Mark Mitchell

I

Aeroplanes We Lust After…

n among small talk about column deadlines and the aviation classifieds, Ed the editor asked me, “Your Messenger… is it a keeper, or are you going to move it on?” It was a fair question, as I have owned more aeroplanes than most over the years, and in order to own, I’ve had to sell. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever purchased one with the express intention of selling.

Our chat then drifted, as it usually does, to ‘Aeroplanes We Lust After’, which, given aviation’s love of acronyms, spells AWLA. On this occasion the ‘L’ was bilateral (as in Ed and me) for the General Avia F-20TP Condor I had seen for sale.

Designed by Italian aviation doyen Stelio Frati, it was developed from his four-seat F20 Pegaso light twin (also built by Frati’s special projects company General Avia) and equipped with a large, military-style sliding canopy and a pair of tip tanks which made it look more like a slightly larger Marchetti SF260.

Another Frati design, already the subject of AWLA by most aviators. The Pegaso is already pretty well-equipped with a pair of 300hp Continentals – or a lot for something the size of a Seneca – but the Condor boasts an Allison turbine from a Jet Ranger on each wing. That makes a total of 900hp, in case you were wondering, and it’s still no bigger than a Seneca… Intended for the military, it was exhibited at the 1983 Le Bourget show and although development continued for a while, it didn’t find favour with the warriors. Unlike most of its ilk, it still exists…

Frati’s aforementioned SF260, which first flew in about 1965, was also designed as a military trainer and nearly 1,000 of them have been sold all over the world, mainly to third world airforces. A few were made for private customers and I believe you can even still purchase a new one… Most are powered by 260hp Lycoming flat sixes but Frati’s obvious affection for the Allison led him to create the SF260TP which first flew in 1980.

Obviously faster, but the long schnozz necessary to balance the turbine’s much lighter weight – not to mention the four paddles bolted to it – meant its Frati lines were compromised. It didn’t look as good as its piston sibling, and definitely nowhere near as cool as the Condor, whose cowls are also long but look perfectly suited to the wings. But… neither Ed, nor I, can run to any variant of 260, let alone a TP, and definitely not to a Condor, despite a recent price reduction of $80,000. That still leaves a price tag of $800,000, and so it should. Find me something else that looks like it does and does what it does. On which subject, there’s also a Pegaso to be found in the ads, also reduced by a similar percentage to something almost affordable. Tempting, but maybe not…“So,” said Ed, “since we can’t feature a Condor (or anything with a turbine), how about a few words on an aeroplane you’ve already owned but wish you’d never sold?”

Well, that would be most of them, but I suppose one which does spring to mind is the Monocoupe 90A.

I can’t remember how I came by it, and a look at my logs suggests I hardly ever flew it. It’s a very long time ago so I can’t remember why that was either, but I do remember the significant bits. The Monocoupe was the work of Don Luscombe who went on to build nearly 6,000 of his eponymous 8 models, among much else. The abiding memory of the Monocoupe though was the look. Power came from a five cylinder Lambert R-266 radial covered by a relatively deep cowl with signature bumps over each of the engine’s rocker boxes, and like most radial cowls, the diameter eats into the windscreen’s depth obliging designers to sweep the screen downwards on each side so the pilot can see something of the runway. That styling necessity, combined with a sharply tapered fuselage creates a Raptor’s Eye look, that and the small rounded fin, the nicely rounded wingtips and the

“The Monocoupe 90A … wish I’d flown it more, wish I still had it” stand tall ground stance. The legs are long to clear a long propeller, and the spats are huge. Proper art deco… And it felt a great deal more powerful than 90hp says it should. 266 is a lot of cubes for just 90 horses, so I guess it’s the radial torque effect, but it certainly went, and it was agile. There was some adverse yaw as you might expect, but if you used the rudder like you should, it went round like an aerobat. Wish I’d flown it more, wish I still had it. Saw it at Goodwood a couple of years ago, looking pristine, now owned by a German chap…

I wrote about the joy of a first proper Messenger trip last month, so I guess that was a prompt for Ed’s first question.

Won’t mention the list of new jobs revealed by a longer sojourn in the cockpit, but I knew that would happen. The real discovery was that Messenger is one I can keep because it suits my needs, even though it’s properly vintage. There’s room for all the stuff I seem to carry about, and even a couple of passengers. It goes in and out of short fields with ease, the cockpit is wide and roomy, which adds to the sense of space, heightened by the panorama flooding in via that unfashionably deep windscreen. But most important, it’s absolutely delightful to fly. Could do with a bit more range perhaps, but the addition of a mixture control might help. Another job… So, yes, it’s a keeper, thanks for asking.

Working vintage aircraft and cars make Mark particularly happy mark.hales@seager.aero December | FLYER | 23

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Column

Squawks Ian Seager

Mark Mitchell

L

Encouraging EC

ast month I made a case for what I believe is a much-needed independent oversight of the CAA. In response I’ve had quite a few people tell me of more perceived CAA wrongs, I’ve encouraged Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State at the Department of Transport to address the issue (I’m pleased to say that he’s a reader of this column), and next week I’ve been invited on to a call with Rob Bishton, the CAA’s Group Director of Safety and Airspace, and Sir Stephen Hillier, the CAA’s new Chairman. I’m under no illusions about my vanishingly small influence, but I hope to have the opportunity to fully explain my concerns, most of which I think should be held by others wanting our regulator to be the very best that it can be, particularly with the momentous challenge it looks like facing in January.

Sadly, we’re currently seeing another example of the CAA managing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The announcement by the DfT and CAA of grants towards Electronic Conspicuity (EC) was very welcome. It’s been a topic of growing interest, thanks in no small part to the proselytising and largely volunteer team at PilotAware.

The CAA’s CAP1391 opened the door to EC at significantly lower cost, and the regulator showed the way with its previous statement stating that ADS-B over 1090MHz being their preferred EC solution. It would have made sense, and helped General Aviation collectively, had the grant money been somehow tied to the achievement of that aim.

I asked the CAA about the policy and its reply read to me as if it might need some double line spacing: ‘While we are working with the DfT on a full policy for Electronic Conspicuity we do acknowledge the current equipage position of EC in the UK. For the rebate scheme the Government wanted to recognise that the GA community has put considerable effort into developing local solutions for EC devices. We do, though, all recognise that devices need to successfully interact with each other to obtain the maximum benefit from EC. We have recommended that anyone purchasing an EC device makes sure they are fully aware of what individual devices can and cannot do’.

So let me get this right. The Government (which I assume means the DfT) wants to recognise that the community has developed a non interoperable standard? I mean chapeau to the team at PilotAware (who this undoubtedly is referring to), but where’s the logic in promoting something that’s not interoperable?

As the DfT seems to have been heavily involved in this I figured I’d ask them too… A Department for Transport spokesperson said, “We support the increased use of Electronic Conspicuity (EC) in UK airspace and the Department alongside

the CAA are continuing to develop a long-term strategy for EC use in the UK, which we are continuing to engage the GA sector on. In the meantime, GA pilots have access to a grant to help finance devices that they deem fit based on their own needs.”

Hmmm, I thought we had a policy and that it was pretty much inline with most of the rest of the world.

I get that PilotAware has done an amazing job on promoting EC. I admire its innovative approach, its ability to mobilise and motivate large numbers of volunteers. This is not about PilotAware’s ability to receive, but about a number of its users who consider that P3i, something that can only be seen by other PilotAware users, is all the EC they need.

ADS-B isn’t perfect, and like everything else it’ll eventually get replaced by something better, but that’s just not going to be something on a public unprotected frequency, or a network of volunteer-built uplink stations attached to various parts of people’s houses. I’m at a complete loss to understand what’s going on here, but whoever’s driving it has got the own goal thing cracked.

“The CAA’s CAP1391 opened the door to EC at significantly lower cost” On a related subject, I asked the CAA why it had not rewritten CAP1391 to allow SDA=1 along with SIL=1.

Without getting technical, that would allow TCAS systems used on airliners and bizjets as well as GA aircraft fitted with active traffic systems (which are pretty common among more modern GA aircraft), not to mention the RAF’s fleet of Grob Tutors which, in 2011, were equipped with Avidyne’s traffic system at a cost of nearly £3m, to see aircraft transmissions which would otherwise be blocked by the TSO requirements in the receivers. At least one manufacturer of a CAP1391 device is saying that it is ready and capable of having both SIL and SDA set to 1.

The CAA’s reply was, “We do plan to update CAP1391 to make it more of a universal standard for more airspace users. In the immediate future we are considering an option of following the CASA approach that would ask manufacturers to declare that they meet some of the certified aspects of a TSO.” I think that means they’re working on it. Please hurry up.

Publisher, pre C-19 often found flying something new and interesting ics@seager.aero December 2020 | FLYER | 25

Electric reality?

26 | FLYER | December 2020

Electronic Conspicuity Special Feature | The EC debate and why it matters to you

The CAA offer of a £250 rebate towards EC kit means there’s never been a better time to make the aircraft you fly more electronically visible, but there’s a lot to think about. Ian Seager gets airborne with the kit you might be considering…

L

et me get straight to the point, well, several points. First, there’s funding available to help you with your Electronic Conspicuity solution.

That’s very good news. The Department for Transport (DfT) should be thanked and if you qualify (most of us do), you should take advantage to make the aviation world a

better place.

Second, there are great solutions available right now but there’s no one-box solution that will do everything. It doesn’t exist, it may never exist and while doing nothing while you wait for it to exist is always an option, I don’t think it is a particularly good one.

Third, I know that PilotAware has some concerns about my own preference for ADS-B giving bias to this feature. If you want to know what I think personally, then read my column on page 25. As far as this review is concerned, I’ve dug out my extra straight bat, and I’ll be using it, metaphorically, throughout this article.

There’s an Electronic Conspicuity thread running on the FLYER forum that has 1,063 posts – over 71 pages. It’s had 42,883 views and, as with most long forum threads, it’s a mixture of fantastic technical information, informed views and great summaries alongside entrenched positions (with forum posters stuck on transmit), and a sprinkling of comments that might make you want to poke your eyes out with a sharp stick.

This article is not a rehash of those arguments. This article is about a group of normal, everyday pilots who wanted to find out about Electronic Conspicuity in real aeroplanes in the real world, so we gathered four aircraft and some great friends of FLYER together with a selection of EC kit, both fitted and

portable, and went flying. Our collection of emitting options totalled: 1. Two fixed ADS-B solutions, one fully certified and one in an RV-8 2. Two SkyEcho 2s with one putting out ADS-B (the other only acting as a receiver) 3. A PilotAware Rosetta, putting out its proprietary P3i 4. FLARM 5. Our transponders, all of which were Mode S. We figured that was a pretty good selection for the types of traffic that everyone would generally find, and of course, being a half-decent day, there were also some aircraft flying around that weren’t part of our test. In terms of receiving traffic information and displaying it, we mainly used portables, with a mixture of iOS and Android tablets and phones, all of which were running SkyDemon.

Target aircraft Rather than all four aircraft getting airborne at the same time, we ran through the various combinations one on one with the ‘target’ aircraft running up and down a line feature with it on their left, and the spotter aircraft doing the same at an appropriate distance. This gave the opportunity for converging and diverging traffic. The target aircraft then moved its track through 90°, and flew back and forth perpendicular to the line feature (the Westbury to London railway if you’re interested).

We repeated this a couple of times, taking recordings of the tablets and phones, and stills of the certified traffic display on the 182’s GTN 750 moving map, which was being driven by Garmin’s certified GTS 800 Traffic Awareness System.

The first flight saw the Jodel depart with Rosetta on board December 2020 | FLYER | 27

Special Feature

Left We were able to compare the various systems in flight in real time, recording results on phone and tablet Above Antenna placement, unsurprisingly, is critical and has a huge effect on efficiency. This is the upper FLARM antenna in the RV-8, it’s paired with a lower external blade on the bottom of the aircraft

Unavoidable tech talk – CAP1391, SIL and SDA Once upon a time anything to do with aviation had to be fully certified. This is a good thing for wing spars and structures etc, but it also acts like a prophylactic. It keeps us safe from many nasties but gets in the way of the next generation.

The CAA’s CAP1391 document on Electronic Conspicuity devices set out to make a nationally regulated hole in the end of the condom, which has meant that we now have access to much lower cost systems. General Aviation doesn’t fly in a vacuum, and we do interact with other traffic, so some conditions were put in place to guard against unwelcome surprises should that super cheap GPS dongle you found on eBay doesn’t quite do what’s expected (yes, I know, most do.)

Airline and business jets tend to fly with expensive TCAS systems and a fair few General Aviation aircraft fly with active traffic systems like Avidyne’s TAS600 and Garmin’s GTS 800. These fully certified systems, by regulation, have to ignore emissions that have a Source Integrity Level (SIL) or System Design Assurance (SDA) value of less than 1, and that means much of the equipment flying thanks to CAP1391.

Today, an ADS-B transmission that uses PilotAware for its GPS location data, or one that is being sent out by uAvionix’s SkyEcho 2 will not be seen. Any transponder using PilotAware for its position source should have both SIL and SDA set to 0, and SkyEcho 2 has SIL set to 1 and SDA to 0.

In response to a question from FLYER, the CAA said, “We do plan to update CAP1391 to make it more of a universal standard for more airspace users. In the immediate future we are considering an option of following the CASA (Australian) approach that would ask manufacturers to declare that they meet some of the certified aspects of a TSO.” uAvionix has stated that it is capable of meeting the requirements for SDA = 1, so a small and promised paperwork change should make SkyEcho 2 emissions visible to much more traffic.

Come on CAA, get it done!

28 | FLYER | December 2020

and ADS-B out via its SkyEcho 2. Sitting on the ground in the 182, waiting for the pre-briefed gap to form, it was comforting to be able to track the Jodel on my iPad thanks to its ADS-B signal (the Rosetta in the Jodel was putting out a P3i signal and that can only be read by another PilotAware unit). We took off and set up to start our head-to-head runs (separation assured by us each being on different sides of the railway line). Ed Hicks was with me in the Cessna, and we watched the Jodel, a few miles away, begin its turn towards us. Then it disappeared.

And so, just a few minutes into the first flight, the trend was pretty much set for the whole day. I know it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the positioning of aerials on portable units is important, but it ruddy well is, and I think too many people ignore that. The SkyEcho 2 was vertical (important) and in an elevated position in the Jodel. For an internal device its placement was pretty optimum. In the Cessna, the SkyEcho 2 was attached to the windscreen on the P1 side of the aeroplane. Not as good as the Jodels placement but about as good as it gets in a Cessna. Portable units with internal aerials mean that there will be occasions when emitting traffic is invisible, thanks to things like bodies, engines, carbon fibre etc.

Detect and Display And the first trend perfectly illustrated the next trend. As Dave White, pilot of the SkyEchoequipped Jodel pointed out, EC really has four different elements: Detect, Display, Alert and React.

The temporarily vanishing Jodel grabs your attention and, if you’re not careful, the process stalls after Detect and Display. Looking back at the screen recordings of that first flight I was shocked at all the other traffic that was shown, and that I’d missed when flying, because I was fixated on the Jodel, which of course reappeared once the aerials were no longer blanked.

Battle of the portables…

The trenches have been dug and occupied, the troops have been shouting at each other with megaphones, and there’s very little chance that a game of footie will break out on Christmas Day, but we’re planning to sidestep the salvos and take a balanced look at both the SkyEcho 2 and Rosetta. Although we cannot ignore it, this is not really about what the boxes emit, or what they receive, but about how they are in use and what they’re like to fly with.

SkyEcho 2 What we like The SE2 feels like a high quality piece of consumer electronics. While you wouldn’t want to throw it at a wall, you would expect it to live a long and happy life in a pilot’s bag. The built in battery charges through a USB-C port, and a full charge will outlast pretty much all pilot bladders and most of their fuel tanks too. It’s supplied with a RAM mount and a simple quarter turn fitting, and should be mounted vertically for best reception. This makes it very easy to live with if you rent aircraft, or swap between several different ones. There’s a simple on / off button and three lights, battery to show there’s charge, ADS-B to see if it is set to transmit (you can disable this if you are already doing ADS-B) and GPS so that you know it’s found itself.

The SE2’s internal GPS allows the SIL value to be set to 1, and while SDA currently remains at 0, that too should change when the CAA gets around to amending CAP1391 (see: Unavoidable tech talk boxout) It has two receivers, one for ADS-B on 1090MHz and the other for ADS-B transmissions on 978MHz. The latter is used in the US for uplinked data which can be FIS-B and / or TIS-B (weather or traffic respectively). There have been a few trials in the UK (and one last year in Germany) along with persistent rumours of more to come. Should that happen, and should it ever roll out nationwide, the SE2 will be ready and waiting. Right now, it is possible to go into the units settings and change the second receiver to pick up FLARM transmissions. You’ll have to pay another £30 to your nav app provider, but the unit will then be able to see FLARM traffic in addition to ADS-B traffic.

What we don’t like We mentioned very early on that the placement of antenna is critical, this is particularly true if you are considering a fixed installation where you can take some time and care to place them to best advantage. Sadly, the SE2 has no external sockets, so the antenna are going to be wherever you mount the unit. Right now, the choice to receive FLARM transmissions is simple, that other receiver is doing nothing anyway, and it’s definitely worth £30 a year to spot all of those cross-country gliders. However, when and if (we can dream can’t we?), TIS-B or FIS-B or both become available in the UK we’ll have to choose between them and FLARM.

PilotAware Rosetta What we like Wow. Talk about innovation and ingenuity. What started as a self-build (and originally even solder) kit has been transformed into a box that arrives almost ready to fly. The small team of developers and volunteers constantly develop the product with features added regularly. The aerials have external mounts, so if you’re working on a fixed install you can run cables and put the aerials in the best place possible, and that should increase the range at which you see traffic, or the range at which you can pick up ground stations. Rosetta puts out a P3i transmission that will be picked up by other Rosetta users. There’s an annual subscription of £14.40, which we think is a low cost for upgrades and improvements.

What we don’t like The build and feel is not fantastic and I doubt that it would have a very long life if treated in the same way as the other electronics in most pilots’ flight bags. This is accentuated by the aerial mounts, and if the antenna are left on, it makes the connections even easier to damage. My first classic unit met its end when the aerial mount snapped off. The literature is very clear in saying that the battery / power supply is critical for trouble-free use, so it’s a shame that there’s no internal battery, and that you have to buy an external battery and the lead to plug it in. This doesn’t make portable use any neater. Adding power to Rosetta turns it on, and removing it turns it off, there’s no switch which seems a bit strange. Equally, there’s no light to indicate that it’s being powered. We tell a lie, there are a couple of lights, but that are inside Rosetta’s case, and you have to peak through the cooling slats on the side to see of they’re on. Some people are emitting P3i as their EC transmission. They can only be seen by other Rosetta/PilotAware users.

What we think that BOTH units need to improve SkyEcho has an app in both Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

PilotAware has an app in Apple’s App Store. With SkyEcho you can easily change several parameters, and with Pilot Aware you can easily update the firmware. Both of these things are good. What’s not so good is that to do certain things for either unit you have to join its WiFi network and log in to it via a browser by entering its IP address. No. No. No. I might be able to do it, you might be able to do it, but the widespread voluntary adaptation of EC needs to be geek-free and friendly from the user’s point of view.

December 2020 | FLYER | 29

Special Feature

Above This was taken just as the Garmin GTS800 traffic system identified a conflict Right …and the traffic went right over the top after we’d taken avoiding action – The conflicting aircraft hadn’t been seen by our SkyEcho 2

Bearingless targets If you want to be able to electronically see where Mode C and Mode S targets are, sadly the £250 government grant is not going to get you there. You’ll probably need to spend in the region of £10,000 on an active traffic system (you might also need to spend more on a display if you don’t already have something suitable), and that’s a punch number for any aviator. Last year I overhauled the avionics in the FLYER Cessna 182 to include Garmin’s GTS 800 active traffic system which displays on the GTN 750 and gives aural warnings. It is frankly amazing and I feel naked without it, but it’s not for everyone.

Other systems such as Rosetta pick up Mode C and Mode S and are able to provide bearingless targets. These are shown as dynamic circles around your aircraft. A threat that is estimated as being close yields a smaller red circle instead of a larger yellow one. The calculation of distance is done on the strength of the transponder signal.

Like many other things related to EC, opinions are polarised. None of the people helping us out liked bearingless targets or found them useful. The traffic could be in your field of view, or it could be lurking in the large blindspots that inevitably accompany most aircraft. The people we spoke to found them a distraction, meaning the Detect, Display, Alert, React sequence was often stymied.

30 | FLYER | December 2020

With the two aircraft closing, SkyDemon played its part by alerting, both visually and aurally. The Jodel’s symbol turned from green to yellow and finally red, but even more impressive was SkyDemon’s audio alert, stating ‘Danger, Aircraft ahead, 1.5 miles, same level, reciprocal heading’.

Next up was the RV which is pretty well equipped, being able to do both ADS-B and FLARM in and out through installed aerials. ADS-B out is transmitted through an aerial on the belly, and FLARM via an aerial on the topside of the fuselage (but inside the canopy). Unsurprisingly, the RV remained (electronically) in view for pretty much 100% of the time. In a turn its ADS-B signal would disappear only to be instantly replaced by its FLARM signal. This particular RV is about as conspicuous as it gets and the SkyEcho 2 mounted inside the Cessna had no problem picking up either of the signals.

Blanking issues For the final two-ship flight of the day we put the PilotAware Rosetta in the 182 where we placed it on the panel’s coaming with the best view we could manage. It was linked to an iPad, while the SkyEcho 2 was linked to my iPhone. Target ship was the RV-8. There was an inexplicable (to me) anomaly when sitting on the ground. The SkyEcho was picking up both the RV and a Cub that also had a SkyEcho, while PilotAware was only showing the Cub. Presumably it was some kind of aerial blanking issue.

In flight the units both worked well. There were times when the situation on the ground at Lydeway (our base air strip) was reversed and Rosetta saw SkyEcho 2 equipped traffic, while our SkyEcho 2 didn’t. Again, an aerial issue I suspect. Rosetta did however pick up traffic that we believed to be another PilotAware equipped aircraft as it wasn’t visible to either SkyEcho or the Garmin GTS 800 (so it wasn’t transponder equipped).

PilotAware makes a big thing of its ATOM GRID base stations, essentially a network of transmitters set up by volunteers that rebroadcast traffic including FLARM and what’s referred to as Mode S/3D. Through multilateration, the position of otherwise bearingless traffic is known and broadcast to be received by aviating PilotAware users.

During our flights we didn’t see any Mode S/3D or FLARM traffic through Rosetta. Keith Vinning of PilotAware had warned us that we were in an area of poor coverage, so we enabled the software to show ground stations and flew to our closest. From a height of 1,500ft we had to fly within 1.5km before we could pick up the station. Flying an orbit to allow for a very directional antenna issue on the ground, we lost the station at something just over 2.5km.

Later that day, and unwilling to rely on such disappointing results, we took off again and headed for The Park gliding site, where we picked up the ground station from just over 3.3nm away, another surprisingly short range.

Electric reality?

Above Our three test aircraft offered a range of different installed and portable traffic detecting kit Right Having traffic displayed on screen is one thing – this is everything the Garmin GTS800 can see within 48nm, but what you really need is audio alerts of the most serious potential conflicts. If you can add audio-in to your headset, so much the better

Regular users’ experiences…

Paul Kiddell and his fellow Eurostar group members are avid PilotAware users Like many UK microlighters, we’ve utilised PilotAware for some years, and since 2017 we’ve flown 1,100 hours with PAW and found it an exceptionally valuable and reliable tool.

Our Rosetta is a permanent fit with internal power, and uses external underside aerials. Our PAW provides GPS to our Trig TT21 transponder to enable ADS-B out (albeit with SIL=0). All very straightforward and being a Permit aeroplane, we undertook all the work ourselves.

PAW/ADS-B out has made touring in large groups effortless. Using SkyDemon, we can always see each other, which has cut down on radio chat. We regularly meet en route in flight and have no trouble rejoining after staggered departures. With external aerials, we enjoy excellent range on PAW and ADS-B airborne targets and generally 20-30 miles on OGN-R stations. Indeed, the extensive FLARM rebroadcast network proves very useful, allowing us to reroute to avoid glider concentrations, while also giving us a heads-up of RAF Grob activity. Bearingless targets can be a mixed bag but on one notable occasion encouraged me to look for traffic only to find a Cessna 152 very close and descending towards me from the rear of my aircraft.

Like all EC devices, PAW is not a panacea for collision avoidance but I do feel it provides excellent and affordable additional situational awareness. Combined with a transponder to give ADS-B out results in a fantastic all-round EC package.

Dave White has been using SkyEcho 2 since July 2019 Our Jodel group bought SkyEcho it to provide ADS-B out since our Mode S transponder would not allow that. We also added the optional FLARM reception for £30/year from SkyDemon.

The unit needs charging typically only after every three to four flights unless it has a been a long multi-hour trip.

The firmware has been updated a couple of times using the clear instructions on the uAvionix website. Still some wifi dropouts, but rarely a practical issue.

We have tried a few positions in the aircraft – suckered to rear window, windscreen etc – but the Perspex flexes sufficiently inflight to sometimes pop it off the screen so it’s now attached to a mechanical clamp above and behind my head.

We are a wood and fabric Jodel, yet even so some receiver antenna blanking is noticeable, particularly from the engine and a fuel tank behind the rear bulkhead, but otherwise coverage seems fairly good all round. Traffic does appear/disappear from the screen at times but if close enough to be a hazard I am fairly confident it will show up. From what others say, transmit blanking from our aircraft seems less of an issue.

December 2020 | FLYER | 31

Special Feature

Above and inset An instance where PAW Rosetta did not display the head-on traffic until the very last minute Left An instance where the RV-8’s ADS-B signal was lost and the FLARM appeared instead Below We were surprised by the relatively short range of the PilotAware ground stations

32 | FLYER | December 2020

Sporadic data Thinking about this, I had to conclude that the coverage provided by the ground stations is insufficient for traffic data and that the extra traffic PilotAware talks about is going to be sporadic at best.

I also knew that my conclusion would be unpopular, even disbelieved, so I decided to fly again to see if I was right, or had been unlucky.

There’s no available list of ground stations, nor way of knowing just how many there are, although we have been told that, “The target is 300 stations by the end of 2021, 400 stations by the end of 2022.

The addition of a further 200 stations within the next two years will provide increased coverage, greater range and redundancy.”

However, we’d heard of one in Bath and knew there was one at The Park gliding site. I took off from Lydeway, with PilotAware Rosetta on the 182’s coaming and linked to my iPad. The Bath station became visible at 3.8nm, a significant improvement.

Better still, while The Park again became visible at just over 2nm to the north, it remained visible when I turned for home 10nm south.

In trying to understand this I have spoken to three different people who run ground stations.

They all asked to remain anonymous but said things like ‘still needs the antennas put outside, they are at present in the roof space… so the range is not great’ and ‘trees in the vicinity cause problems with range’.

Two of them also spoke of software crashes.

Undoubtedly the available range will vary on antenna placement, and while owners of Permit aircraft can permanently install PilotAware with well-sited external aerials, renters or people with certified aircraft cannot.

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Special Feature

So what should you do?

Electronic Conspicuity is about seeing and being seen. The CAA’s preferred technology is ADS-B on 1090MHz, and pretty much every single Electronic Conspicuity device I can think of is capable of receiving ADS-B on 1090MHz. The right thing, the collective thing, the thing with the most benefit to most people is to spend your grant money on putting out ADS-B. First choice would be to use a suitable transponder and an approved GPS source, like Trig’s TN72, that allows you to set SIL and SDA = to 1, (see, Unavoidable tech talk – CAP1391, SIL and SDA for why SIL=1 and SDA=1 is important).

If you jump between multiple aircraft, or if you rent a club aircraft, then portable ADS-B out is the next best solution, and right now that means SkyEcho 2 (which, when the CAA gets a wiggle on, should also add SDA=1 to its SIL=1 capability).

Once you have taken care of your own conspicuity, you will want to consider your options for being able to see others. Pretty much everything sees ADS-B and the more people who equip to do ADS-B out the better. The elephant with long soaring ears in this room is FLARM. On busy days there can be hundreds of gliders airborne and they’re notoriously hard to see. In an ideal world you’d be able to see FLARM. This is possible with SkyEcho 2 and a £30/yr payment or with Pilot Aware if you are flying in range of an uplink station. Personally, I’m hoping that the cross-country soaring community uses this opportunity to equip with ADS-B out.

34 | FLYER | December 2020

For me, the bottom line is that while a network of volunteer-built and operated ground stations might be a rapid and low cost way to build a network, the coverage is not predictable or widespread enough to be a viable way of transmitting traffic to the General Aviation fleet. Sorry.

Returning to Lydeway, neither the iPad (Rosetta), nor my phone (SkyEcho) were showing any traffic but the Garmin had picked something up and was showing a target on the GTN 750 at the same level on a reciprocal heading. Just as we both saw a C42 coming straight at us, the GTS 800 called the traffic perfectly. A great illustration that not all traffic will appear on every system and some traffic won’t appear on any system.

Training community Making yourself electronically conspicuous is a very good thing, being able to see other participating traffic is great, but it’s very, very easy to get distracted or even fixated. Perhaps, as Dave White suggested, maybe the training community should be considering a syllabus to ensure the systems can be used to best effect.

With thanks to… It was a fascinating day and would not have been possible without very generous help from Steve Ayres, Mark Collett and Dave White who provided their time, aircraft and patience in return for no more than a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit or two. Thanks also to Nigel Charles who allowed us to use Lydeway as a base.

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My First Solo

Francis Donaldson For the LAA’s Francis Donaldson, learning to navigate cross-country seemed a much bigger challenge than his first solo…

Interview by Yayeri van Baarsen

Philip Whilteman

Solo stats Currently celebrating 30 years of being Chief Engineer at the Light Aircraft Association, Francis Donaldson has evaluated over 100 new types of homebuilt aircraft When 29 September 1985 Where Cranfield Aircraft Auster Hours at solo 11 Hours now Approx. 1,400

How did you get into aviation?

When I was growing up, my father and older brother were into making model aeroplanes. I followed suit and we’d spend most Sundays flying them at the local club site. My father loved to make things – a boat, kit cars, electronics – so having had my own toolkit from the age of about four, becoming interested in homebuilt full-size aircraft came very naturally.

How did your flight training go?

At 14, I took a week-long gliding course, and having built and flown many R/C models, the actual flying, done on open cockpit Slingsby T.21 gliders, seemed plain sailing. I was much more worried by taking my turn driving the tractor that towed the gliders around – and very relieved they never asked me to be the winch driver.

Aged 25, although living in Salisbury, I trained for my PPL at Cranfield where a quirky club offered initial training in an old Auster, a basic non-radio taildragger.

You had to hand-swing the prop and manage with brakes that hardly worked, with the instructor shouting in your ear.

For me, it was a chance to learn to fly in the fashion of the 1930s, and after that, I never felt intimidated by modern stuff.

Any nerves for your first solo?

No, I wasn’t nervous. Provided the engine

kept going (which was someone else’s responsibility) I was sure I could get round the airfield and down again in one piece. I was more concerned about not getting in anybody’s way – Cranfield was very busy in those days with circuits in both directions as well as gliders, balloons and vintage jets.

Learning cross-country flying was much more of a challenge in those pre-GPS days. My biggest fear was getting lost. Navigating by map, watch and compass, things can soon get very confusing, with the potential ignominy of barging into controlled airspace or having to land in a field to ask the way. But we managed!

As LAA’s CE for 30 years, what are you most proud of?

The fleet size has grown from 600 to nearly 3,000, we’ve cleared a huge number of new designs that can be built and the scope has widened to include much bigger, more powerful and sophisticated aircraft which we’d never have imagined early on.

And we’ve kept the support going for people who want to build and fly very simple entry-level aircraft, and even helped a few people to design their own.

Most importantly, our fleet’s safety performance has constantly moved in the right direction despite the diversity in the types of aircraft, and many are seeing

“In 20 years or so I think we’ll find that electric power will probably be the norm” 36 | FLYER | December 2020

much greater annual utilisation than in days gone by.

What makes a successful kitplane design?

There’s no best design, it all depends on what you want the aeroplane for.

Something intended for unlimited aerobatics probably wouldn’t be suitable for touring. Something that’s really slick and fast will cost an arm and a leg and won’t be much use on a farm strip. The RVs, which are far and away the most numerically successful designs, succeed because of their excellent compromise between all these aspects.

Thoughts about LAA’s future?

In 20 years or so I think we’ll find that electric power will probably be the norm, rather than the exception. I hope this will provide a lot of interesting scope for experimentation by amateur builders.

Maybe, as in the 1970s, when Burt Rutan revolutionised the scene with his composite canards, we’ll find 3D printing or some other technology that will give us aeroplanes that are quite different to anything we’ve seen before!

What do you most love about aviation?

I’m fascinated by the way aircraft are designed and made. They have to be easily built, fun to fly, and be easy to maintain – it’s wonderful how designers use different approaches and materials to achieve those same goals. Some are hand-crafted, others factory-moulded. For me, the best way to end the week is with 15 minutes of aerobatics in an open cockpit biplane. And I love the smell of sawdust and glue when I open the door of my workshop.

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Electric reality?

Complex learning curve Technical

Fixed-pitch props are fine, but learning to fly with a constantspeed propeller opens avenues to lots of new aircraft.

Peter Steele set himself the challenge…

I

have been flying for 15 years and have spent that time blatting about the skies in the usual 172s and PA28s. So when the chance to fly something larger and faster arose I realised it could change my flying forever. Instead of being content with the throttle and mixture controls, I would learn to use the ‘big blue one’ – the control for a constant-speed prop.

I guess the next step would usually be to fly a 200hp Piper Arrow, but at Fowlmere, we have a 1989 Piper Saratoga with a 300hp engine, six

38 | FLYER | December 2020

Above Saratoga selfie… it’s a bit bigger than I’ve been used to!

seats, and a three-blade prop. I’d admired it from a distance while flying the Archer IIIs. It’s fixed gear, so one less difference to worry about, but would it be a step too far?

It’s an impressive aircraft, with a wingspan of 37ft, a nine-litre flat-six fuel-injected engine, containing 300 horses driving a three-blade Hartzell constant-speed prop. Cruising at 130kt, 102 US gallon tanks, air conditioning, stormscope, GTN 750, six seats and two baggage compartments make it a capable tourer. Other features include the large front windscreen (unlike

Far left Main switches aren’t on the instrument panel but to the side remaining easy to hand Left Ready for my first flight Below The Saratoga is a good-looking machine and a great load-lifter. A big step up from the Archer I normally fly, just visible behind on the left Bottom Manifold pressure and fuel-flow, plus an RPM gauge. The former will likely be new to you if you’ve only flown aircraft with a fixed-pitch prop before

the letter box of the Archer III), plus it’s wide enough so that your co-pilot doesn’t have to breathe in as you breathe out – all making it very comfortable over longer distances.

My instructor for this enterprise is Derick Gunning, who has amassed 10,000 hours in 30 years of flying, and is a very experienced tutor on Saratogas.

Derick said the transition from an Archer would really involve engine and prop management, speed control and loading parameters.

My lessons follow the same format: a briefing explaining the key learning points for the flight, the flight itself and a debrief at the end.

The first thing Derick explains is the difference between a variable-pitch prop and constant-speed prop. The blade angle on a variable-pitch prop is manually controlled by a gear connected to the control lever and they tend to be found on older aircraft. The constant-speed prop on the Saratoga is hydraulically operated using engine oil, which keeps the engine at the selected rpm.

The advantages of a constant-speed unit over the fixed-pitch prop, found on many GA aircraft, include optimised performance in each stage of flight – a fixed-pitch prop is only at its optimum blade angle on take-off. Like the gears in a car, fine pitch (low gear/high rpm) is used for take-off and a coarser pitch (high gear/lower rpm) is used for cruising.

Another difference with the Saratoga would be having to measure power using the manifold pressure gauge instead of the rpm gauge, as on the Archer. This one would catch me out more than once – more on that later.

Good experience

Sitting in the cockpit for the first time is a nice experience. The Saratoga’s four-foot wide cockpit makes the Archer feel cramped. The switches for master/alternator, fuel pump, anti-collision lights/ strobes, recognition lights, and pitot heat are to my left on a box on the side wall. Changing tanks is easier too, the lever is on the central pedestal near the floor, instead of next to my left ankle as per the Archer. The view over the long nose is surprisingly good, as is the view out generally. The combined manifold pressure/fuel flow gauge and rpm gauge are low down below and to the right of the main panel, not the best location really, and in later versions of the Saratoga they are high up in the centre panel.

Derick then explains the starting procedure: throttle one inch open, mixture fully lean, master

December 2020 | FLYER | 39

Fly your own Technical

Above The wider cabin of the Saratoga means the pilot is greeted with a much bigger instrument panel. The panel fit in Whiskey-Zulu includes a Garmin GTN 750, Stormscope and factory-fit Bendix King KFC150 autopilot Left Seating for six will have you thinking hard about loading options, payload versus fuel, plus there’s a rear door to check on pre-flight Below Three-blade constant speed propeller means additional checks during external pre-flight.

It is hydraulically controlled so you’ll want to look carefully around the bottom of the blades for any signs of oil or grease being ‘slung’ away from the hub

40 | FLYER | December 2020

Above View outside is good,despite the ‘Toga’s longer nose

Above External fuel gauges on the wings register up to 35 gallons a side, which is really useful as you can’t see the level inside the fuel tanks

Above Here’s something that’s pretty unfamiliar when you you’re moving up the GA aircraft size ladder – the Saratoga’s six-cylinder Lycoming also drives a cabin air conditioner, useful for those few scorchingly hot UK days…

and fuel pump on, mixture to fully rich, watch the fuel flow needle increase and stabilise, mixture to lean again, throttle reduce to half an inch, call ‘clear prop’, and operate the starter. She fires up instantly, needing no adjustment on the throttle, to settle down at 1,200rpm. I check the starter warning light and oil pressure. All OK. It sounds complicated but I get used to it quite quickly.

Taxying is easy, just like an Archer, and we roll up to the Bravo hold at Fowlmere’s 700-metre grass runway.

Power checks are straightforward, the only differences to the Archer are cycling the prop three times (not less than 1,500rpm), changing to alternate air (which we don’t do on grass) and checking the fuel flow. Pre take-off checks are done here as well and they’re straightforward. I’ve lowered two stages of flap and I feel the small electric flap switch is a bit awkward.

However, I like the PA28 ‘handbrake lever’ as it’s difficult to get it wrong.

Derick tells me to expect to use right rudder on the ground roll and in the climb. I advance the power to 2,000rpm, check Ts and Ps and then release the brakes, adding full power over four seconds. The surge forward surprises me and I really do need right rudder. Weight off the nose at 60kt, hauling back on the yoke at 75kt, and climbing away, aiming for 85kt.

Then I hit the brakes to stop the wheels spinning, reduce flap by one stage at 200ft – don’t forget the right rudder – and, WOW, this thing climbs! Flaps up at 300ft, climb at 100kt – with 1,000fpm climb rate showing on the vertical speed indicator.

Derick says: “More right rudder. More, more, you have to counteract yaw.”

I’ll need to get used to that.

“Now you can reduce to climb power.”

December 2020 | FLYER | 41

Technical

Reduce? Not used to that either.

“A reduction in power is from the left, so reduce the power to 25 inches.”

I move the throttle until 25 inches shows on the gauge.

“Watch out for lag, the needle is still dropping.”

I compensate, now I’m flying too slowly and the balance ball is showing me I need yet more right rudder.

“The prop is already at 2,500rpm so just leave it there. Watch the manifold pressure, you’ll need an extra inch for every 1,000ft of altitude. Climb to 2,000ft.”

The manifold pressure has dropped again, I need to add more, oops I’m at 1,700ft already, lower the nose, don’t let her climb past 2,000ft.

“It’s very easy to overshoot your assigned altitude in this aircraft, you have to be ready for it. Get back on heading.”

I’m 20° off course! So much to think about.

“OK, now we need to set cruise power, which will be 23 inches and 2,300rpm. Remember a reduction is from the left so reduce the throttle first.”

Throttle to 23, then prop lever to 2,300… prop very sensitive… I’d forgotten about the lag on the throttle, it’s dropped to 18, I move it back to 23.

“Now reduce the mixture, watch the fuel flow gauge. We are burning 25 gallons an hour. We usually fill this aeroplane no more than 70 gallons for weight and balance. Reduce to 15 gallons an hour.”

We practise turns, starting with medium-level ones before moving onto steep turns. She’s not very demanding in turns, very little rudder input required, but she is very pitch sensitive, reminding

“The prop is already at 2,500rpm so just leave it there. Keep an eye on the manifold pressure, you’ll need an extra inch for every 1,000ft of altitude” 42 | FLYER | December 2020

me of a Grumman Tiger I used to fly 10 years ago.

“Now we’ll climb to 3,500ft. An increase in power is from the right. Think of a car’s accelerator pedal being on the right. Mixture rich, 2,500rpm, set 25 inches manifold pressure.”

Mixture to rich, prop to 2500, power to 25 inches. That throttle lag catches me out again. We climb, and this time I’ve added the MP gauge to my scan. Sure enough I have to add that extra inch of manifold pressure as we climb.

“Let’s practise cruising. Set 23 inches, 2,300rpm.

We should see 120kt.”

OK, which way is that. Think of the car’s accelerator pedal. Increase from right, decrease from left. 23/2300 set – 120kt. I’ve forgotten the mixture, still burning 25 gallons per hour, so I reduce to 15.

“This is a great cruising machine, so set 25/2300 and mixture 17USG.” I have to re-trim but we are now skimming along at 130kt, very pitch sensitive now.

“Let’s try the autopilot, it’s a KFC150. Press and hold the black CWS button until the yellow flight director appears on the AI. Now set your heading bug, press ALT, HDG, autopilot engage.”

She’s flying herself now, a lot better than I can.

“OK, we’ll turn back towards Royston, reduce back to 23/2300 15 gallons.”

I’d set ROYST waypoint in the GTN 750 earlier and call it up now and turn towards it, using the heading bug.

“Disconnect the autopilot using the red button.

There are two ways of descending. First, put the nose down, minimum of 500fpm. You can increase your speed into the yellow arc in smooth air.”

I do, and the faster we go the more lift we

Above I’m a great fan of checklists, so created my own to prompt me on the key checks and performance figures for the Saratoga

Above On final at Fowlmere, carrying a trickle of power all the way down the approach, and coming over the hedge at 75kt. Then power to idle and flare – get it right and it happens with no drama

generate so I add more trim – 150kt now, just below the start of the yellow arc.

“If the air isn’t smooth, just reduce power to 20 inches.”

Done, not so quick now.

“You need to be at Fowlmere’s circuit height of 800ft at Royston. Don’t forget you’ll have to turn earlier as you cover more ground than in an Archer.”

I’ve just made it. I call Fowlmere for rejoin, change to QFE, follow the road and railway that run north-east from Royston. I’ve missed them, not turning early enough. Circuit speed is around 90kt in the Archer, 110kt in the heavier and larger Saratoga. I circle round and try again. Follow the landmarks, road bears to the right, call downwind when abeam the runway, not before.

“Now downwind checks: brakes pressure, undercarriage down… the gear is fixed but we always add it for when you fly a retractable… mixture rich, fuel pump on, flaps 10° – knocks 10kt off, instruments check, hatches and harnesses secure.”

Leaving it a bit late…

There’s nobody else in the circuit but I’m careful turning base leg as Duxford’s traffic heads over the village of Thriplow to my left. I’ve left it a bit late again – still think I’m flying an Archer – but clear of the village.

“Reduce power to 15 inches and second stage of flap. You should get 85kt.”

I pull the throttle back to 15 inches.

“You’re using the rpm gauge, not the manifold pressure gauge.”

Oops! I’ve set 1,500rpm instead of 15 inches.

Sort it out.

Descending now, 400fpm. Turn finals, allow for the wind from the left, Derek has called finals for me.

“Now PUFA checks, prop full forward, undercarriage down, flaps full. Altimeter crosscheck.”

Full flaps giving me 75kt.

“Yes, it’s a numbers machine. If you set it up right it’ll do all the work for you. You will need a trickle of power all the way down, you can’t glide down like an Archer.”

The sink rate with full flaps is much greater

Above Bigger aeroplane means another door to check, plus there’s a forward baggage compartment

December 2020 | FLYER | 43

Technical

than an Archer, I’m controlling the descent using power. Over the hedge at 75kt, power to idle, flaring and landing quite smoothly with no hint of drama.

After taxying and parking it’s time for the debrief… I need to anticipate earlier with this aircraft. It’s faster and heavier than an Archer. I’ll have to add the manifold pressure to my scan and get used to changing it quickly, anticipating the lag and remembering to add an inch of pressure for every 1,000ft of altitude and subtract a corresponding amount when descending. Remember: descending under power will increase the air over the wings and therefore the lift, which will reduce the descent rate. I need to descend at a minimum of 500fpm and monitor it.

Training sessions

My lessons that followed continued the same pattern.

Derick likes to keep the interval between training sessions as short as possible – I think I benefitted from the intensity – well, that is, when the weather didn’t interfere.

My circuits gradually improved but it didn’t take much to overload me and I missed the crucial PUFA check on finals during one circuit. Attempting Practice Forced Landings proved interesting. I had problems reaching the selected field, which improved once I’d worked out the Saratoga glides without flap at roughly the same rate as an Archer with full flap.

Adding full flap to the Saratoga is like descending in a turbo lift.

Derick also drummed into me the emergency drills routine, which I now rehearse as soon as I sit in any aircraft. I thought I knew them, but clearly I didn’t. We dealt with alternator failure (reduce load, check circuit breakers, cycle alternator off and on, then consider options), smoke in cockpit (master off, heater off, floor vents open), prop overspeed (prop and throttle reduce, oil pressure check, if low pressure engine failure could be imminent), plus a host of others I’ve now committed to memory.

We also spent a lesson on circuits. Derick briefed me before the flight that the book figure for the approach is 95kt, but in his view that was much too high, so normal approaches are flown over the hedge Right That’s my training, complete, my instructor Derek Gunning on the right

44 | FLYER | December 2020

at 75kt, with short field at 70kt, especially when Fowlmere’s 700m runway has had recent rain.

We flew normal 75kt approaches, flapless (85kt), glide approaches and short field landings at 70kt – I enjoyed the last one so much we backtracked to the runway, took off and did another one.

In total I had five lessons over two weeks. The total flying time was 4 hours 20 minutes, plus taxying time, briefings and debriefs.

I was a little apprehensive about flying something with so much more power, weight and size than I’m used to, but I needn’t have been. Derick introduced extra learning points once I had mastered the previous ones, so I never felt out of my depth.

The human brain’s learning retention is poor.

After one hour people retain less than half the information presented, after one day we forget more than 70% of what was taught and after six days we forget 75% of training. How do we ever learn anything? Never having been blessed with the best of memories, I use my own system to help retention.

I have a small camera (a Drift Ghost X) stuck on the left window, looking into the cockpit. The Drift also takes an external microphone which I simply wedge into the ear cup of my headset. The video and audio are good enough to see the instruments and view out. After reviewing the footage I write notes which I send to Derick. He adds his bits and I read them before the next lesson. I also practise ‘visualisation’ techniques, normally on my morning walk, rehearsing all the stages of flight from departure to landing. This way I can combat my ageing brain’s faulty uptake. It works for me… maybe it’ll work for you!

As pilots we are always learning, whenever and whatever we fly. If you feel you are getting stale, why not try a new challenge? I’ll consider myself on a green ‘P ’plate for the next 10 hours. I’m lucky to have two friends both with considerable experience on complex types (one has owned two Saratogas). I can learn from their wealth of experience on every flight, whether as P1, P2 or a rear seat passenger enjoying the air-con and cup holders. Believe me, whichever seat you find yourself in, the ‘Toga’ truly is a lovely, lovely aeroplane to fly!

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Safety Accident Analysis

Just enough vs. just too little

W

e have probably all, at one time or another, been a bit tighter on fuel than we would have liked. It is a distraction, can be stressful and certainly makes the trip less pleasant than it should have been.

Even though everything eventually ends well, we know the margin for error was much reduced. In this month’s accidents, that margin was eroded to such an extent that when something else did go wrong the pilot was left with very few options.

Stressed, distracted and now under time pressure, decision making is at its worst and in these instances, bad decisions ultimately proved fatal.

Accident 1

The pilot and his son were relocating the aeroplane, a Cessna 150H, from New York to Festus Memorial Airport (FES), Festus, Missouri, a total distance of some 800nm. Fuel receipts showed that the pilot refuelled the aeroplane three times during the trip.

The third refuelling stop was at Greensburg Municipal Airport (I34), Greensburg, Indiana, where the aeroplane was fuelled with 13.62 gallons at 1906, a distance of some 275 miles from the final destination airport.

The pilot and passenger communicated with the pilot’s fiancée via text message during the trip. They told her that the aeroplane was experiencing a ‘small electrical problem’ and stated that their estimated time of arrival (ETA) would be determined ‘at the next fuel stop... just before dark’. After their final fuel

stop they estimated their ETA at FES would be about 2215. They then asked her to stand on the end of the runway with a flashlight to help guide the aeroplane in for landing. They also stated that they would attempt to activate the airport lighting system with a handheld radio, but they were unsure if the radio had enough battery power to perform the task.

During the last leg of the flight, they indicated that they had ‘picked up a head wind’ and further extended their ETA by five minutes.

The pilot’s fiancée reported that she went to the end of the runway with the flashlight on, and the pilot attempted to land, but she was unsure if the aeroplane touched down on the runway due to the dark/night conditions. She further reported that the aeroplane was ‘blacked out’ and did not have any exterior lights on.

The last text message from the pilot stated, ‘keep light on’. After several minutes of not seeing or hearing the aeroplane, she tried contacting the pilot multiple times, but with no response, before contacting law enforcement. The wreckage was located the following morning in a tree-covered swamp about 1/4 mile south-east of the departure end of Runway 19 about 440ft above mean sea level.

At the time of the accident, the pilot was employed as an airline pilot. He previously worked as a helicopter air ambulance pilot and a military helicopter pilot. The pilot held a mechanic certificate with airframe and powerplant ratings.

The Cessna 150H pilot’s operating

“During the last leg of the flight, they indicated that they had picked up a head wind” 46 | FLYER | December 2020

handbook (POH) stated that the maximum capacity for both fuel tanks was 26 gallons total (13 gallons in each tank). The POH further stated that the usable fuel amount for all flight conditions was 22.5 gallons total, and the unusable fuel amount was 3.5 gallons total.

The Textron Aviation Pilot Safety and Warning Supplements discussed electrical power failures. This document states in part: The pilot should maintain control of the aeroplane and land when practical if an electrical power loss is evident. If an electrical power loss is experienced, continued flight is possible, but should be terminated as soon as practical.

Such things as fuel quantity and engine temperature indicators and panel lights may no longer work.

According to information from the US Naval Observatory, sunset at FES on the day of the accident occurred at 1902, and the end of civil twilight was 1928.

The airport lighting system at FES comprised runway edge lights (medium intensity runway lights) and runway end identifier lights. A pilot could activate the lighting system while airborne by keying the aircraft’s microphone on the airport’s common traffic advisory frequency. The FES runway lighting system could also be manually activated by a switch on the outside of the main hangar. No malfunctions or failures of the airport lighting system were listed for FES. Flight control continuity was established for the airframe. All structural components of the aeroplane were located at the accident site. The aeroplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, the fuselage, and the empennage. Both wings sustained substantial impact damage from contact with trees. The fuel tanks remained intact, and a total of about 2.25 gallons of fuel were extracted from the two fuel tanks.

The propeller blades did not exhibit chordwise scratches or torsional

Mark Mitchell

Having sufficient fuel cannot be stressed enough. However, adding that bit extra also has its place. Steve Ayres examines recent accidents that show how handling an emergency is much more challenging when you know you are also running out of fuel…

deformation and the engine was therefore unlikely to have been rotating at the time of impact.

The alternator and the voltage regulator were examined and functionally checked. The alternator performed normally with no malfunctions or failures. The voltage regulator was inoperable and it was manufactured around 1976.

There was no life limit or replacement interval specified. Review of the aeroplane’s maintenance records did not indicate how long the voltage regulator had been installed on the accident aeroplane.

Accident 2

On arriving at his destination airfield in daytime Visual Meteorological Conditions the pilot of a pressurised Cessna P210 Centurion transmitted, “We don’t have a green light on our gear down here, we might have to circle if ya don’t mind?” The Tower controller offered to observe the landing gear position if the pilot made a low-altitude flyby over Runway 33.

The pilot replied, “All right, looks like we’re partial down, I just don’t think we’re all the way down, I’ll try to cycle it again, we’re coming over.” Just over a minute later, the pilot transmitted, “We got a partial down, Tower, but it’s not all the way down, we don’t have a green light.” At that time, the aeroplane was on a one mile final approach for Runway 33.

The pilot then conducted a low pass over Runway 33, during which the controller reported that the right main landing gear appeared to be ‘still up’.

The pilot indicated that he was going to attempt to recycle the gear and would make a left turn to remain in the airport traffic pattern.

Almost five minutes later, the pilot transmitted, “Doesn’t appear we’re making any progress with the gear whatsoever.” The controller asked what the pilot’s intentions were.

The pilot replied, “Well, if we can’t make anything happen, I guess we can land in the grass just, uh, on the infield there, just parallel with three three, huh?”

The controller stated that he would prefer the aeroplane to land on Runway 7/25 and that he could not clear the aeroplane to land in the grass. The pilot asked the controller, “So, the west side of one five is not good in the grass?” The controller replied, “I can’t clear you for a landing there, but you, if that’s where

“Minutes after first mentioning the undercarriage problem, the aircraft ran out of fuel” you have to put it down, that would be, uh, ya think it would be better to land in the grass than on the runway?” At that point, the aeroplane had climbed to 2,500ft msl and was flying northbound, parallel to Runway 33.

The pilot then asked the controller, “Ya want me on seven?” The controller subsequently cleared the

pilot to land on Runway 7, adding that the pilot could keep circling while he arranged for airport fire rescue equipment to meet the aeroplane on the runway. At that point, some seven minutes after first mentioning the undercarriage problem, the aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed in a residential area just outside the airfield boundary.

Ayres’ Analysis As someone who, in a former life, frequently walked out to his aeroplane already primed with the knowledge that fuel for the sortie was going to be tight, I know how such thoughts can play on the mind.

Sure, through training we can learn to control the preoccupation that such concerns bring. In the same way a military pilot flying from a carrier will always be preoccupied with thoughts of finding the carrier for that final landing. But, even in the best of circumstances, being short of fuel messes with your head. It adds pressure to what should be routine and can stress out the most capable pilot, such that when confronted by a new challenge they are already functioning at the limit of their capacity, and any chance of rational thought has long departed.

This couldn’t be better illustrated than by these accidents. It is difficult to imagine what was going through the pilot’s mind in the first accident when he took off with a known electrical problem for a night transit in which he was going to require enough power to operate the radio controlled landing light system at his arrival airport (although, it could apparently be activated from outside a hangar).

We can only surmise that his military helicopter experience gave him a degree of confidence that landing by the light of a torch beam was feasible. In the end though it was a lack of fuel that backed him into a corner from which there was no way out and subsequent loss of control during a night forced landing proved fatal for both occupants.

In the second of the accidents, I make no excuse for using a portion of the transcript from the accident first highlighted in last month’s Accident Reports. It makes harrowing reading but illustrates how preoccupation with a seemingly serious malfunction can be a total distraction from something far worse. Deciding to ‘crash-land’ in a controlled fashion is always preferable to being forced to do so when the fuel runs out.

As always, if everything had ‘gone to plan’ in these flights none of these accidents would have happened. Sure, there would have been some bar-chat about being a ‘bit tight on fuel’, mutterings of ‘stronger headwinds than expected’ etc. In the end, though, there was no banter and no happy endings. What should have been perfectly manageable and survivable emergencies turned into fatal accidents, for the most part, because of insufficient fuel when the unplanned-for happened.

Flying has a habit of throwing the unforeseen at us and just when we think things can’t get any worse they sometimes do. However, adding low fuel into the mix is certain to increase the heart rate even though it is almost always avoidable.

Having insufficient fuel to properly deal with an emergency such as the gear failing to deploy, runway lights not working, baulked approach or bad weather at the destination is foolhardy. Add in the pucker-factor that running short of fuel gives, and the likelihood of dealing effectively with a separate emergency will go out the window. Yes, it is a double emergency but largely of our own making and let’s face it, not really ‘unforeseeable’. So, fill up – and if necessary divert in time!

December 2020 | FLYER | 47

Safety Accident Reports

No control

Steve Ayres summarises and comments on accident reports from around the world and looks at a wind app which presents a useful graphical forecast of winds across the UK for the week ahead…

Out of control Cessna 210 VH-SJW Darwin, Northern Territory Injuries: Minor

A Cessna 210M was conducting a charter flight with four passengers from Darwin to Tindal. Soon after departure, the pilot diverted 5nm right of the planned track to avoid a large storm cell that was 5nm left of track. About 10 minutes after departure, while maintaining 3,500ft, the aircraft encountered sudden and sustained severe turbulence, the turbulence penetration speed for the Cessna 210M was 119kt.

The pilot stated that, during the incident, airspeed could not be controlled through changing power settings, and for the most part the airspeed could not be held below 155kt. For extended periods, the pilot had no control over bank angle, height, or heading. At one stage, the airspeed dropped below 140kt, and the pilot lowered the landing gear in order to create drag and slow the aircraft down.

The backrest of the centre row of seats could be folded forwards for access to the rear row of seats, which was standard. One centre row passenger found it difficult to brace against the moveable seat back, and although wearing a seatbelt, reported not being sufficiently secure. This passenger’s neck was injured in the incident.

The turbulence encounter lasted about 3.5 minutes. Radar at Darwin recorded the aircraft’s highest

groundspeed as 210kt, and rate of descent at one point to be 5,000fpm with a lowest altitude of 1,200ft.

Control of the aircraft was lost for more than three minutes, and three passengers sustained minor injuries.

After landing at Tindal and inspecting the aircraft for potential damage, the pilot ferried the aircraft to Milingimbi Island. At Milingimbi Island, the pilot picked up four more passengers for a charter to Galiwin’ku (Elcho Island). The pilot reported the incident to the operator that evening. Upon receiving notification of the turbulence encounter, the operator grounded VH-SJW at Galiwin’ku, pending an engineering inspection.

Comment In this incident, avoiding a storm by more than the recommended separation was not enough to keep the aircraft and its passengers safe. Thankfully, we are unlikely to see storms of this magnitude in the UK, but severe turbulence is not uncommon, so ensuring there are no loose articles and that all the passengers remain strapped in is a must. Inspection of the aircraft ultimately showed no damage but the operator was right to have grounded it, and point out to the pilot that it should not have been flown again following the incident.

Several reasons to fail Van’s RV-7 ZK-DVS Te Kopuru, Northland, NZ Injuries: Two fatal

Seventeen minutes after departing

“For extended periods, the pilot had no control over bank angle, height, or heading” 48 | FLYER | December 2020

Whangarei aerodrome, a Van’s RV-7, entered a high angle of bank (AoB) manoeuvre, achieving 70°.

Five seconds later, the AoB increased to 130° and the aircraft began to pitch nose-down. During the resulting descent, the indicated airspeed was recorded at 244kt.

Approximately 30 seconds after entering the high AoB manoeuvre, witnesses observed the aircraft breakup in flight and then impact terrain.

The pilot was appropriately rated and current on the aircraft, having conducted approximately 105 hours on type and approximately 20 hours in the last 90 days.

He had conducted his last Biennial Flight Review (BFR) and the instructor stated that he identified no issues with the way the pilot flew. The BFR was conducted in the accident aeroplane. Both medium and steep turn manoeuvres were conducted, and the pilot was assessed competent in both.

According to the NZ CAA Flight Instructor Guide a steep turn involving an AoB of about 60° is generally approved as a semiaerobatic manoeuvre in most light training aeroplane’s flight manuals.

The pilot did not hold an aerobatic rating and witness statements indicated that the pilot did not like to conduct aerobatics.

Witnesses also stated that he was generally a ‘straight and level’ pilot and would ‘climb to seek smoother air’.

At the time of the accident the pilot had accrued approximately 380 hours fixed-wing experience and approximately 4,300 hours helicopter experience. He held an ATPL-H with an instrument rating and was employed as a helicopter pilot, most recently on a Sikorsky S-76C. Anecdotal evidence from individuals who knew the pilot, indicated that the pilot liked to fly ‘around the clouds’.

Safety Accident Reports On the day before the accident flight, the pilot had conducted a local flight in ZK-DVS, to the north-west of Whangarei. During this flight, the pilot climbed the aircraft to an altitude of approximately 6,000ft.

On the accident flight the pilot climbed the aircraft to an altitude of about 4,500ft. On both days cloud layers were reported to be either at or below these altitudes.

Comment The report is inconclusive in identifying the underlying cause of this accident, but we do know that an experienced aviator with almost 5,000 hours pilot time, familiar with the aircraft type and more current than many of us, lost control of his aeroplane at height on what was apparently a nice weather flying day.

Although, the combination of a reasonably high performance aeroplane, cloud and startlement would have played a part in his disorientation and failure to take appropriate recovery action.

A good reason, perhaps, to explore the edges of a flight envelope with a qualified instructor as part of some ‘Upset Prevention and Recovery Training’.

Too close for comfort Fuji FA-200-180 Aero Subaru: G-HAMI Cessna 172R Skyhawk: G-BXGV Near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

“It was later discovered that the two aircraft had collided, with one sustaining minor damage” pilots forgot to select their transponders on. Neither aircraft had any form of EC. Had both transponders been working correctly and one aircraft had EC, the collision might have been avoided.

Recordings of secondary radar might also have given the investigation a better understanding of the circumstances of the collision.

G-BXGV’s pilot was using an electronic navigation aid. Its flight log was made available to the investigation. G-HAMI’s pilot was not using an electronic navigation aid.

The airfield has now installed a programme on a personal computer in its operations room that enables staff to see ADS-B and Modes S equipped aircraft, providing a general overview of the local flying area.

Since this system was installed it has been noted that a ‘surprising number’ of aircraft, which are known to have Mode S transponders do not have them

turned on, and that this may be because pilots fear the consequences of being observed infringing the surrounding airspace.

Comment For every collision there are numerous ‘near misses’, many of which go unreported and probably many more where neither pilot sees the other. While trusting in luck may be OK for some, a midair is not something any of us would want out of choice.

While turning a transponder off may act like the ultimate cloaking device by making you less visible to air traffic, it doesn’t make you any less likely to being hit. Quite the reverse! These pilots were about as lucky as can be, returning themselves and their charges safely back to Earth.

Surviving a midair in which others lose their life would be tough enough, but knowing that one party or the other hadn’t played their part in making themselves visible electronically would be especially difficult to comprehend.

Injuries: Nil

Two aircraft had, what was initially believed to be, a near miss while giving air experience flights to disabled children at a multi-aircraft charity event.

It was later discovered that the two aircraft had collided, with one sustaining minor damage, but both aircraft landed safely.

The investigation discovered that one of the accident pilots was asked to present the pilots’ briefing at short notice. The briefing did not include a discussion of how all the participating aircraft would be deconflicted or how they would communicate. It was also reported that not all the pilots that flew were at the briefing.

Both accident pilots stated that their transponders were serviceable, and they were squawking code 7000. However, secondary radar returns were not recorded from either aircraft. It is possible the 50 | FLYER | December 2020

Safety kit Trouble with wind?

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This app was found rather by chance, but it has turned out to be a really impressive planning aid, especially for taildragger types operating out of a farm strip where getting ‘actual’ as well as forecast crosswind data is a must.

The app is good for the whole of Europe, offering ‘better quality information than the other weather apps’.

It draws on a number of data sources to provide the best coverage possible. Devised originally for Kiters, the read across into aviation is a natural

extension. It is updated regularly and has excellent approval ratings.

Paying to remove the ads and get a faster update rate may well be worth the investment, although, for now, the basic version seems to work well.

FLYING ADVENTURE

Island fling…

Fascinated with the Hebrides, Adriaan Pelzer makes it a reality of a dream tour when, along with his wife and daughter, he explores the beauty of the islands, amid all weathers…

52 | FLYER | December 2020

B

ack in 2015, while staying in a cottage on Easdale Island, home of the World Stone Skimming Championships (yes, there actually is such a thing), the obsession of touring the Hebrides by aeroplane took a firm hold of me, Mareli (my wife) and Lulu (our 13-year-old daughter). Every one of the Islands seemed to have an airfield, meaning that an aeroplane is a very efficient way to tour the Islands, and is also the quickest way of getting there in the first place – not to mention that the sights from the air should be breathtaking…

In 2018 I bought into the G-AXCA group, which is a very friendly, easy going group of eight blokes who jointly own and fly a very well-maintained 1969 Piper Arrow out of North Weald. So, the pieces of the puzzle for my longed for trip were coming together…

Finally, this year, we pressed the ‘go’ button. I cross-checked our holiday plans with the other seven chaps and booked the aeroplane for an entire week at the end of the summer holidays. Believe me, the excitement was palpable.

Preparation

Given Scottish weather in general – and Hebridean weather in particular – I knew it would be futile to try and book the entire trip in advance. Instead, we opted for making our minds up as we went, which meant we had to be prepared for a spot of wild camping should we not find accommodation on the day. I am very lucky that both Mareli and Lulu enjoy hiking and camping, and that they both bought into my spartan strategy…

So it was that the Sunday before our Monday morning departure saw us packing at least three times before we got it just right, and then saw me drawing very long lines that spanned all three of the UK VFR charts. Turns out the ‘chart folding puzzle’ that we pilots love so much increases exponentially in complexity with the number of charts involved!

Leg one: North Weald to Stornoway

Thanks to our minimalist packing strategy our luggage fitted very easily, and weight and balance was just a formality. After double-checking spare oil, PLB and life jackets, and removing everything from the aircraft that we wouldn’t need (ice-scrapers!), we were airborne for Leeds, our first and only fuel stop on the way to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis and Harris, more than 500nm away.

It takes only about 15 minutes to clear the London TMA to the North routing through the gap between Luton and Stansted. Cloud cover, however, kept us pinned at around 3,000ft.

December 2020 | FLYER | 53

Flying Adventure

Previous page Dramatic coastline of Skye off the port wing Above Rugged beauty of Dumfries and Galloway.

Right How Stornoway is ‘actually’ spelt!

Far Right Our tents after being battered by high winds on the west facing Cliff Beach Below Felicity holding the fort at Leeds East Below right The moors of Lewis suddenly gives way to the hills of Harris

54 | FLYER | December 2020

Since this first leg traverses the most featureless landscapes of the entire trip, I decided to brush up on my paper chart navigation skills. I was quite chuffed to still be able to get us to Leeds with only a chart and my pilot log. Mareli kept her eyes on SkyDemon, so we were on standby to correct any inadvertent strays.

In what felt like no time at all we entered the circuit at Leeds East and refuelled at the self-service pumps. The airfield was dead quiet – it was a Bank Holiday Monday – and we paid our landing fee with the really friendly and efficient Felicity in the tower, the only soul on the entire airfield.

After a quick picnic-style lunch on the grass in the shadow of the tower, we were off on the first Scottish leg, which would drop us right at the top of the Hebrides. It did not take very long for the flat Midlands to start giving way to undulating hills as we approached the Lake District, which of course coincided with the air gradually becoming more bumpy (a mere premonition of what was to come).

The Lake District from the air really does make the hiking itch flare up in full force. Not surprising really, when you see all that breathtaking beauty at once, with every square mile of moorland and valley criss-crossed by countless hiking trails. To top it all, as we followed the valley around Keswick and Bassenthwaite, we noticed the slopes of Skiddaw littered with paragliders, making the most of the slopes on a calm, but breezy enough, day. It was simply breathtaking.

As we coasted out over the Workington VRP, London Information handed us over to Scottish Information, and that was when it properly sank in – we’re in Scotland! And, right on cue, as we reached the southwestern tip of Dumfries and Galloway, the terrain became ominously rugged and mountainous.

One thing about Scottish Information and Scottish ATC in general, is that they are extremely efficient. Without fail, once we had given our flight details to the first controller, it got handed over from controller to controller, with every subsequent initial call greeted by a simple ‘Charlie Alpha, we have your details, basic service you have’ (if I could write in Glaswegian, I would have used it here…).

They even notified our destination airfield of our rough ETA as we went along, and on our return, they also passed our details to London Information.

Stellar service!

Gradually the mainland gave way to peninsula (such as Kintyre), and peninsula gave way to islands (Mull and Rum). The hills turned into mountains, the mountains into munros, building a dramatic crescendo up to the Isle of Skye with its waterfalls dropping straight into the ocean and its raw, jagged, ‘out of this world’ beauty. It was very reminiscent of parts of Iceland.

Beyond Skye we switched to Stornoway

Approach, which thanks to Scottish Info, was not at all surprised to hear from us, and already had all our details. The controller only wanted to know whether we wanted a left or a right downwind join.

I decided to be conventional and chose left. This turned out to be the correct choice, as it brought us in over Point, a peninsula off Stornoway which results in the most impressive huge, sandy beaches around the land bridge which connects the peninsula to the rest of the Island.

Final for runway 18 traverses one of these massive beaches, Traigh Mhealboist (Melbost beach), with the runway threshold starting right where the beach ends. This must be one of the most scenic approaches in the country.

Stornoway is the capital of the Isles of Lewis and Harris, which are actually just two regions on a single island with vastly different geographic characters. Lewis is flat and peaty. Harris, on the other hand, is dramatically mountainous.

The Isles are way too big to explore on foot or even by bike in just a couple of days, so I immediately went to the car hire booth in the airport terminal building in the hope that they would have a spare car for us, which they did.

That night we wild camped on a flat stretch of lawn-like grass just behind Cliff Beach, close to Kneep, one of the many pristine beaches that the West Coast has to offer. Of course, the west is

Above Blencathra, near Keswick in the Lake District

December 2020 | FLYER | 55

Flying Adventure

Above Would you guess that is an airfield (Sollas)? It’s on the near shore of the straight bit of land bridge, and can only be used at low tide Right Early pre-flight checks at Glenforsa Far right Pitched by the hedges at Glenforsa Below Macleod’s Maidens, one of the dramatic coastline features of Skye Below right A father and daughter moment

56 | FLYER | December 2020

where the weather is ‘made’, and that night the wind tested our small hiking tents to the absolute limit. We hardly slept at all, and poor Lulu, whose tent flapped the loudest, finally opted for sleeping on the front seat of the car at around 3am.

The next day brought new hope, fresh coffee, and a renewed realisation of just how pristine the island’s beaches are.

It looks like the Caribbean, with white sand beaches and aquamarine waters. We were, however, desperate not to suffer another sleepless night, and we booked into a very nice and cosy B&B in Stornoway, the Hebridean Guest House, run by Kevin and Linda. This was a much easier base to explore from while Storm Francis kept howling in from the West – and, by the way, Kevin makes arguably one of the best breakfasts that I’ve ever had. The Island of Harris is a truly amazing destination with its moon landscapes in the east, and mountains and beaches in the west.

Leg two: Stornoway to Glenforsa

Since the campsite near Broadford Airfield on The Isle of Skye was closed (like so many others in these times of Covid), we decided to venture further south to the Isle of Mull, where there was an open campsite only 20 minutes from Glenforsa Airfield by foot.

I’ve always wanted to have Glenforsa in my log book, having heard so many great things about it.

The wind was still roaring like a beast from the West (50kt by my reckoning afterwards based on recorded ground speeds in SkyDemon’s flight log), which was fine as long as I crabbed along the west coasts of land masses along the way.

This, combined with the low cloud cover of around 2,000ft, gave us the perfect excuse to go low and slow over the massive beaches on the west coast of Harris and North Uist (the next island to the south of Harris).

Most people know about Barra Airport, on the Isle of Barra, further south, which is the only airport in the world to receive scheduled traffic on a tidal beach. The entire airport is a tidal beach.

Fewer people, however, know that there is another tidal beach airfield on North Uist, called Sollas. Honestly, if you didn’t know it was there, you would not guess that people sometimes land there – it really just is a beach, albeit a beach with a Pooleys plate.

From North Uist we crossed the Little Minch (the sea between the mid-outer Hebrides and the Isle of Skye) eastwards. We took a last proper look at Skye… If anything the bad weather made it even more breathtakingly beautiful. At one point we noticed a small waterfall seemingly ‘falling’ straight upwards, being blown that way by the monstrous wind!

South of Skye I suddenly realised that while my

attention had been held captive by the fierce nature below us, we had almost strayed into restricted area R610B. In my foolishness, tracking southward away from Skye, I squeezed in between R610B and the Isle of Rum, with Rum on our west, not keeping in mind that Rum, despite its small size, has a peak of more than 2,500ft high. No sooner did we enter the ‘shadow’ of Rum than we were being thrown about like a cork in a washing machine. At times it felt like we were freefalling for almost a second at a time before hitting solid air again. All in all, it was not much fun.

As soon as we had reached the southwestern edge of the restricted zone, I started tracking directly eastwards to get as far away from Rum as quickly as possible. That strategy eventually paid off, and the rest of the way to the Sound of Mull I tracked along the much stabler air around the west coast of the mainland.

As we entered the Sound I switched to Glenforsa’s frequency and made my first blind call.

Glenforsa Hotel, being closed for the entire 2020 due to the lockdown, only received PPR via answering machine at the time, so I assumed that there would be no one on the radio. A minute later, however, Brendan Walsh, the hotel owner and airfield operator, answered me on the radio and gave me a full ground service all the way down.

I really appreciated this, as Glenforsa is a proper whirlpool, highlighted by the three windsocks in different places on the runway, all pointing in different directions!

Fortunately for us, Runway 25 ends in a bit of an uphill, which gave me the confidence to have slightly more speed on final than I normally would on a short field, and bleed it off in a prolonged flare and float. I really needed the extra 10kt, as the wind shear is really something to write home (or in FLYER) about.

Brendan came out to greet us, pointed me to the visitor’s book and landing fee box, and also having been based at North Weald in the past, there was a lot to chat about. I would really like to return when social distancing is a thing of the past, and the hotel is open. I got the feeling that an evening around a bottle of whisky with Brendan would be one very well spent – plus I’ve heard only great things about the hotel.

The Pennygown campsite is directly next to the airfield along the beach, albeit with a river in between, so the only way to get there is to walk out along the main road. This makes the trip 20 minutes instead of five, but still easy enough.

The campsite kindly allowed us to pitch our tiny hiking tents wherever we wanted to, so we pitched right against the hedge on the site border, to give us as much protection from the wind as possible.

Definitely a case of, once bitten, twice shy!

The campsite amenities were second to none, December 2020 | FLYER | 57

Flying Adventure

and included the use of a microwave, kettle and washing amenities. It must be the cleanest shower block I have ever seen, in and outside of a campsite.

I’m sure that the COVID-19 regulations helped it on its way to achieve such cleanliness.

The next day was spent hiking inland up the glen, along what must be the most Canadianlooking stream in existence outside of Canada, just screaming for the addition of an old geezer in waders with a fly fishing rod. It was a bit boggy in places, but an amazing walk.

Above The view from the cafe at Ardnahoe, Islay’s youngest distillery (opened 2019) Left Gorilla in the mist: socked in on Islay for the second day in a row Below Stills hard at work at Ardnahoe Bottom The pod we stayed in near Bowmore

Leg three: Glenforsa to Islay

Hiring a car on Islay was essential, as a tour of the distilleries was very high on our list. However, after phoning the two car hire companies on Islay things sounded less than promising. Due to the pandemic they didn’t operate inside the airport terminal, and only served scheduled flights directly in the parking lot. I eventually managed to convince one of them that we’d be able to arrive at the same time as the only scheduled flight for the day was 0830. This meant an early departure.

We got up at 0600, packed up the tents in the driving rain, walked to the airfield, and had the aeroplane unwrapped, packed and externally checked by 0730. All good going so far. As soon as I was about to start the internal checks, however, I noticed something odd. I could hear the fuel pump running, only neither the master switch nor the fuel pump switch were on… My heart sank. We could probably fly like this, but I would really have to look at it first, and especially take the time to understand all the possible second order failures.

This could seriously thwart our finely timed plans.

I took a deep breath, made peace with the situation, and started unpacking. Upon removing the last backpack, however, I noticed that the sound came from the backpack! It turned out to be an electric toothbrush. Enveloped by clothes packed around it, it sounded exactly like the fuel pump, muffled by the surrounding airframe. What a relief!

In the end we arrived at Islay about 15 minutes before schedule and took the opportunity to bimble around the island for a bit, waiting for the airport to open. We touched down at exactly 0829, and were actually unpacked and parked two minutes before the car company arrived with the car.

Mission accomplished.

We checked into a lovely, small wooden pod on a farm near Bowmore, overlooking Loch Indaal, the bay jutting into the middle of Islay from the west.

This proved to be the perfect spot to visit all the open distilleries (some of them were unfortunately closed due to the... ), and do a few driving trips interspersed with short bouts of hiking. Islay is a lovely, varied island, and certainly worth properly exploring. We had a great meal at The Islay Hotel and taking a trip to the American Monument, 58 | FLYER | December 2020

where the waves crash on the cliffs, is certainly worth visiting.

Leg four: Islay to North Weald

All too soon the time was up, and we were heading home. Only, not so much…

On the Monday morning of our intended return we woke up to intense fog, right to the ground (despite a relatively clear forecast the night before). I phoned the airfield, and was told that the scheduled flights had also been cancelled for the time being, and that the fog was likely to last the entire day.

Fortunately both the car and the pod were available for another day, and we settled in for November 2020 | FLYER | 59

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Flying Adventure

another day on Islay. More distilleries, more sightseeing. What’s not to like?

Two more days of mist…

Above Short final for 31 at Islay Right The three of us back home at North Weald, filled with rich memories

Route Map 3

4 5

2

1

1 North Weald 2 Leeds

60 | FLYER | December 2020

3 Stornoway 4 Glenforsa

5 Islay 1 North Weald

Islay is not a bad place to be stranded in heavy fog.

Everything takes on a lovely atmosphere, and we opted for spending most of the extra time outdoors, drinking in the medievally tinged scenes as if we were lost characters who fell to current-day Earth from an old forgotten folk tale.

We also finally managed to visit the Kilchoman distillery during these borrowed days, which had been closed on our previous visits. This proved to be very fruitful, as we came back with a really exceptional distillery-exclusive 11-year-old bottle, the peatiness of which is so uniquely balanced with the strong wood taste imprinted on it by the cask, which could lead to it unseating Lagavulin 16 year old as my favourite single malt…

Eventually, by Wednesday, the morning produced a much better forecast, even though the view from the window did not quite correlate. Low cloud cover with the occasional bout of heavy fog seemed to be the reality out there. Nevertheless, we packed up (for the third time!), and headed for the airport.

As soon as we were done unwrapping, packing and checking the aeroplane, a weather window opened up. The problematic weather being very localised, we decided to go for it, jumped in and started up.

Islay Information then told us that they had the Air Ambulance inbound, and asked us to do our power checks right on the apron, as it would need to land on the active runway. I realised we had to try and depart before the Air Ambulance landed if we were to have any chance to grab the weather window. So I slightly rushed through the power checks, and announced our readiness for departure.

A quick check back with the Air Ambulance, and we were given the thumbs up.

As soon as we cleared Islay, the roaming spots of fogginess gave way to varying levels of cloud cover.

We first tried to stay below it, but eventually opted for VFR on top until we had cleared the Scottish islands.

The wind blew fiercely from behind, resulting in a ground speed which at times topped 180kt. We landed safely back at North Weald in a mere two hours and 20 minutes.

We unpacked, cleaned and wrapped ’CA, and gave her a pat on the cowling for yet another stellar performance. We sighed a special sigh, the kind that you only ‘let out’ on returning from a big adventure. One that is, simultaneously, an utterance of satisfaction, joy and relief.

No matter how often we do this, the realisation lingers, of how insanely lucky are we to be able to hurl ourselves into the sky at any given point in time, and wake up the next morning in someone else’s far away world…

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Christmas gift ideas for all!

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his festive season say ‘no’ to oddball socks that will get stuffed in a drawer and jumpers that will end up in the back of a cupboard, and say ‘yes’ to some of these gift ideas we’ve spotted! FLYER has rounded up some cool stuff that might help in making a decision if you’ve been asked for present ideas as Christmas hurtles towards us. Hopefully they might just result in you ripping off the wrapping paper and finding one – or more – of these under the tree on the day…

Spitfire Sim session £200 | www.boultbeeflight academy.co.uk

W

ith 30 minutes in the one of Boultbee Flight Academy’s two-seat Spitfires running to £2,750, a slightly more wallet-friendly way to get some Spitfire thrills is in their Spitfire simulator. It is based around a section of Spitfire fuselage built from roughly 50% wartime parts from an actual combat veteran aircraft. With motion and force feedback systems, Boultbee promise it’s the closest you’ll get to flying the real thing.

During your session you’ll start in the air and learn the basics of Spitfire flying, then how about a victory roll before making a landing? If time permits there’s a chance to try a take-off too, and maybe recreate the famous Ray Hanna pass down Goodwood’s start/finish straight as well…

Garmin D2 Air watch

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O

A

ver the last few years Garmin’s developed a name for itself in the utility pilot watch market. The recently launched D2 Air brings a touch screen, heart rate and pulse oxygen levels, as well as the normal Garmin aviation functions, to market for under £500, less than half the near £1,000 of its range topping D2 PX. The D2 Air has a lighter and slimmer look, and providing you aren’t running the GPS, or biometric functions continually a battery that will manage up to five days. There’s a more detailed review on the way…

s the last Mission Controller for NASA on the Space Shuttle Program, Paul Dye learned a huge amount about mitigating risks. An accomplished pilot himself, Dye’s stories from inside Mission Control bring famous missions alive and explain some of the mysteries of flying the Shuttle.

Living the Goode Life £40 | www.porterpress.co.uk

S

ome people go through life having ticked the no-risks box… not Richard Goode, whose name you’ve probably seen in connection with the import of Yaks and Sukhois to the UK, or for (just) surviving a structural failure in his aerobatic aircraft during an air display at a friend’s wedding. Read it, and you’ll wonder how he’s still around to write this book.

62 | FLYER | December 2020

Gee Bee Model Z Cutaway drawing $195 | Trumpettj33@gmail.com

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true labour of love, illustrator Tom Johnson spent over four years and thousands of hours creating this sensational cutaway drawing of the famous 1931 Gee Bee Model Z Super Sportster, designed by Bob Hall and built by the Granville Brothers of Granville Bros Aircraft in Springfield, Mass. The real aircraft, remarkably, was built in just over five weeks with the sole intent of winning the Thompson Trophy Races, which it did in 1931.

There’s a limited edition run of 500 giclee prints measuring 30in wide x 24in high. Printed on high quality archival acid-free matte paper, they are signed and numbered by Tom, and each one has a certificate of authenticity.

747 Window clock £795 | www.aerotiques.co.uk

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his has been the year that we’ve watched the rapid demise of the Boeing 747, as airlines like British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been retiring their fleets. With many aircraft destined never to fly again, and heading to be recycled, Aerotiques have been saving small sections of fuselage from the scrapman to produce these remarkable fuselage section clocks. We’d bet most private pilots have flown on a 747 at least once in their lives, so why not give the Queen of the Skies a place on your wall?

Limitless £20 | www.amazon.co.uk

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former Apache helicopter pilot, Tim Peake became the first British ESA astronaut to work on board the International Space Station and to conduct a spacewalk. His six month mission on the ISS inspired a nation and his autobiography is fun story of how a ‘short, ginger lad with a passion for flight’ made it into space.

FLYER Club membership £7.50/quarter | www.flyer.co.uk

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now a pilot who likes to save money? If they don’t have a FLYER Club membership, then this could be a Christmas gift that keeps on giving ALL year, with free landings, twice-weekly aviation weather forecasts and more.

December 2020 | FLYER | 63

By Association Looking after General Aviation The UK’s flying associations at work

LAA COVID-19 contingencies One of the biggest safety enhancers in flying is contingency planning.

Whether it is a thorough pre-flight weather and Notam briefing, or running through a quick ‘what if’ checklist just prior to take-off, such planning can be vital should things go awry. So, with rising COVID-19 infection rates, should we be contingency planning for our flying?

While we hope that future COVID-19 restrictions will not include any ban on GA flying itself. As in the spring, we’re engaging with the CAA and DfT to minimise disruption, while ensuring viable

precautions are in place. The ‘second wave’ lockdown has already imposed movement restrictions in Wales and Northern Ireland, which has inevitably curtailed flying activity. Whether as a club flyer or as an aircraft owner, perhaps it is time to do some personal planning.

First of all, if you are an aircraft owner, now might be the time to do any pending maintenance and, if you are planning a winter lay-up, you might want to start prep work early, or even schedule a good clean of the aircraft and oil change. Then, if we are denied access to airfields in the future, the aircraft will be left in good condition.

What about you? Perhaps it might be timely to check whether any of the licence currency or medical exemptions that you were offered back in March are not about to run out! Hopefully you’ll have enjoyed some of the late good flying weather, but if not, an hour with an instructor or pilot coach might just raise your currency level and make it easier to ‘get back in the saddle’ if, heaven forbid, our winter flying gets disrupted. Steve Slater Light Aircraft Association www.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk

Vintage Aircraft Club Facing the challenge To say that this year has been an ‘unanticipated challenge’ for the Vintage Aircraft Club is an understatement. However, as a club that normally thrives on social interaction, we have met that challenge, thanks to a superb membership and a totally committed, hard-working committee.

We have avoided Zoom, though we will use this medium for our AGM at Halloween – along with an opportunity to share aviation spooky stories.

Our weekly newsletter has shared news

of our members’ lockdown activities in personal achievement, be it building flying or model aircraft, and news of those who have been supporting the NHS or flying supplies. When the airfields re-opened we crept back to see how our aircraft were faring, dusted off the cobwebs and prepared for those much anticipated flights after a long break.

Amazingly we have also enjoyed two VAC fly-ins, with thanks to Popham and Turweston, the latter event accompanied by friends from the Guild of Aviation Artists who created pictures of our aircraft.

We also looked ‘outside the box’, when

it became apparent that we were unable to hold our annual Dinner and Awards Evening. A ‘Click and Collect Awards’ was set up in a hangar at Turweston and our recipients arrived one by one to collect their awards with a personal citation, a congratulatory banner, clapping and cheering with thanks to Google and a piece of cake. Congratulations to all! We have plans for 2021… Anne Hughes

Vintage Aircraft Clubon www.vintageaircraftclub.org.uk

Vintage Piper Aircraft Club Supporting vintage Pipers Vintage Piper Aircraft Club (VPAC) is a supporting body for owners, pilots and enthusiasts of vintage Piper aircraft. The club’s prime mission is to help keep these wonderful aircraft flying and have fun whilst doing so.

Similar US classics including Luscombe, Stinson, Cessna and Aeroncas are also welcome to join the VPAC ranks.

Piper ‘classics’ such as the PA-28, which first flew in 1960, are equally at home alongside their older cousins.

VPAC has more than 250 members, mostly UK-based, but international

members are also welcome. Benefits include communication with members through our exclusive email service plus an annual magazine, VPAC News. The VPAC hosts several regional flying events during the season with free, or concessionary, landing fees.

Merchandising with VPAC logo is available at low prices, including caps, jackets, polo and sweatshirts.

VPAC’s email communication service ‘Vintage Pipers’ works similarly to an internet forum, where the club keeps regular contact with its members.

Members may also seek, or offer, advice

on all matters relating to ownership, operation and maintenance of their aircraft. Sales and Wants (aircraft or parts) can also be advertised, along with any other non-technical item of news, flying events, and not least, matters relating to safety. The service is occasionally used to announce impromptu meetings, usually to a place or airfield where good ‘pilot fare’ is served. Mike Mothershaw

Vintage Piper Aircraft Club www.vintagepiper.co.uk

Aviation associations Got something to say? You’re welcome to contribute to this page, email editor@seager.aero 64 | FLYER | December2020

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We can see you! Aircraft at rest during this issue’s Electronic Conspicuity feature test… pilots were off for a socially distanced cuppa

Landings, weather and more…

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ust one of the many great things about The FLYER Club is the free landing fee vouchers. Not just the moneysaving – £66 during October – there’s also the sense of being part of the Great British GA Movement. Every month, we hear of pilots enjoying their flying, whether that’s visiting new airfields, overflying fantastic scenery, socialising (rule of six!) with other flyers, or simply enjoying getting into the air.

That’s what these pages are about. We want to celebrate what fellow pilots are doing with their flying. It also fits in with our company motto, ‘Inform and Inspire’, i.e. sharing ideas, knowledge and hopefully sparking a few thoughts on where to fly next.

We’ve been busy improving The FLYER Club pages on the FLYER website, adding more and more benefits, whether that’s access

to back issues of the magazine or negotiating discounts such as £15 off a ticket to the Light Aircraft Design Conference being run by the Royal Aeronautical Society on 16 November.

There’s also the twice-weekly Weather Forecasts from our man with the wacky shirts, Simon Keeling, and extra content – videos, extra photos etc.

We’d love to have you as a member of The FLYER Club. It doesn’t cost very much – £7.50 a quarter to be precise – and you get a whole lot of stuff for the price, including our superduper digital magazine. You can start enjoying being a member by joining right here.

ed.hicks@seager.aero

December 2020 | FLYER | 67

The FLYER Club

Out & About As you can see in these photos, FLYER Club members are out there enjoying aviation and having fun, with many using our FREE landing fee vouchers.

These photos all come via the FLYER Facebook page, and if you’d like to get involved and share your flying expriences, you can either post your photos there or send them directly to flyer@seager.aero If your photos are too big for email (about 10mb is the maximum) use a free file transfer such as wetransfer.com When you send us your photos – and videos – include a few words about who is in the photos, where and when it was taken, who took the photo/video, and any other relevant notes.

Matt Dell Just got my PPL!

Gav Quinn First visit to Eddsfield recently and hoping to make use of the FLYER voucher to Dundee soon!

Gavin Curtis Hula Girl admiring the Slieve League Cliffs off the west coast of Ireland 68 | FLYER | December 2020

Sean Jamieson Took my wife for a midweek picnic at Charlton Park in a Diamond Super Dimona TMG after recently getting my licence. Great weather and we had the place to ourselves!

Tim Cook Flew over Fort Paul to see the Blackburn Beverly that’s been sold and is soon to be moved

Simon Fewkes Short flight from Bristol to Kemble with this view of the 747s whilst joining overhead

Jordan Penning Flying to Kemble to give a special send off to the BA 747s and to see the newly arrived Negus 747

Nigel Hitchman Balloon-chasing in the Cub!

Mikey McMahon Over Beachy Head in Sussex Dave Reid Air testing this Chilton Monoplane

Roger Chamberlain Chipmunk formation out of Wellesbourne with Dave Fry

Andy Amor Ship watching!

Ben Hilton Fixing up all of our microlights at Popham and flying them in formation

Rachel Ramsay Making time for a rotary potter in the Robinson R44

Simon McCalla Got my tailwheel rating and been flying this lovely thing!

Paul Kiddell I’ve been using free FLYER vouchers of course – this is Dundee!

Alan Kilbride Doing some strip flying near Whitby in the Jodel December 2020 | FLYER | 69

Free Landings In association with

If you’re a member of The FLYER Club, click here for your personalised vouchers and save £53 by claiming one FREE landing at each of these airfields valid for December 2020, although not at an aircraft’s home field. No jets. Please contact the airfield before setting off If you’re not currently a member of the FLYER Club, but would like to receive six new free landing fees every four weeks plus other Club member benefits, then click here to join!

Beverley

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01964 544994 | EGNY | www.hullaeroclub.co.uk Beverley Airfield hosts Hull Aero Club, which is a thriving mix of enthusiasts who fly light aircraft, helicopters, microlights, paramotors and model aircraft. The airfield is situated in quiet Yorkshire countryside, where you can relax and enjoy the fun of flying. Qualified pilots, aviation enthusiasts and those who just pass by are all welcome. Avgas 100LL and mogas available during operating hours. Overnight parking available.

Nearby attractions Beverley town, minster and racecourse, Hornsea, Scarborough, Bridlington, Withernsea and the Humber Bridge.

PPR 01964 544994 Radio 123.055

Blackbushe

01252 471300 | EGLK | www.blackbusheairport.co.uk Blackbushe Airport is located on the border of Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey, and has a 1,102m asphalt runway. The friendly cafe is open seven days a week. Microlights welcome. PPR is mandatory via the website, where you can also find details of local procedures. No non-radio light aircraft. The new management has made many changes over the past year, including dramatically reducing the fuel price and landing fees. You’re sure of a warm welcome.

M

Radio Accepts non-radio light aircraft, but PPR

PPR Prior permission is required

70 | FLYER | December 2020

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Nearby attractions Legoland, Ascot, Windsor and Newbury race courses and Wentworth golf club.

PPR www.blackbushe airport.co.uk/ppr Radio 122.305

Refreshments Including restaurants and cafes etc

Microlights are welcome

A

UL

Fuel Aviation fuel available A avgas, UL UL91, M mogas

While you’re there When you visit these six airfields, why not show your support by enjoying a meal in the cafe or filling up with fuel?

It’s good to support GA in the UK.

Free Landings are for FLYER Club member use only – click here to join!

Breighton

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01757 289065 | www.realaero.com Breighton Airfield, formerly RAF Breighton, has a rich history and officially opened in 1942.

Today it welcomes visitors by air – classic or vintage aircraft in particular. The aerodrome is 5.5nm north-east of Selby and has a single, 805m grass runway, 11/29. Avgas and Jet A1 are available self-service at any time.

The cafe has been refurbished and serves hot and cold food. Noise Abatement: please avoid villages of Bubwith, Wressle and Breighton.

Nearby attractions include the village of Breighton, a number of golf clubs and the city of York.

PPR 01757 289065 Radio 129.800

Crosland Moor

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01484 645784 | www.croslandmoor-airfield.co.uk Crosland Moor Airfield is a privately owned airfield built in the 1940s for David Brown (the DB in Aston Martin). Situated in the Pennines, the airfield has one runway, 07/25, which is part grass and part tarmac. The Terminal 2 building is a static caravan, offering tea and coffee-making facilities, a comfortable arrival/departure lounge, plus en suite bedroom if an overnight stay is needed. All aircraft welcome – PPR is essential – open seven days a week.

Nearby attractions the beautiful Pennines! Walking and bike trails are nearby, as is a cafe where pilots get a 10 per cent discount on food.

PPR 01484 645784 a/g 128.375

Fowlmere

01763 208281 | EGMA | www.modair.co.uk Fowlmere Aerodrome is two miles west of Duxford, offering a 700m grass runway.

Primarily home to Modern Air and its Piper rental fleet and maintenance facility, visitors are welcome throughout the week, PPR. The flying club is an informal one but ensures that safe, up-to-date aircraft are available, fuelled and ready. It offers PPL training in a Cessna 152.

During Duxford Airshow events you can find 50 foreign aircraft and crews in the area.

Nearby attractions The Chequers local pub, RSPB Reserve and Cambridge is a short taxi ride away.

Tel 01763 208281 Radio 135.705

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Oaksey Park

01666 577130 | EGTW | www.oakseyparkairfield.co.uk Oaksey Park Airfield is owned by Mr and Mrs B Austen and located in Wiltshire. The airfield has two very good grass runways, 22/04 and 35/07. The clubhouse offers drinks and light snacks, as well as toilet facilities. The airfield is now open seven days a week.

We are PPR only. The best way to PPR is to email oakseyparkairfield@outlook.com. The voucher is valid Monday-Friday only.

Nearby attractions The airfield offers good access to the Wiltshire countryside and is close to Bath and Chippenham.

Radio 132.230

Win! A print or digital Pooleys UK Flight Guide QUESTION: What is the distance between Fowlmere and Oaksey Park in nautical miles?

To enter, post your answer, name, address and email details to Pooleys December Competition, FLYER magazine, PO Box 4261, Melksham, SN12 9BN or send an email to competitions@seager.aero The closing date is 3 December 2020.

The winner’s name and address will be passed to Pooleys, then deleted from Seager’s database. Pooleys will send the winner their prize and, in order to do so, also offer to supply them with further information about the company’s products and services.

A

1 Beverley 2 Blackbush 3 Breighton 4 Crosland Moor 5 Fowlmere 6 Oaksey Park 43 1

6 2

5

The winner for October 2020 is: Jack Wilkinson, Fifield, Oxfordshire.

December 2020 | FLYER | 71

The FLYER Club

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72 | FLYER | December 2020

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December 2020 | FLYER | 73

MARKETPLACE Shares for sale & group flying

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Reims Rocket 210 HP fuel injected RR

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The airfield has two very good grass runways, 22/04 and 35/07.

If visiting pilots want to call for information, they should ask for Andrew Austen.

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01666 577130 Excellent condition, 9+ in and out. Same owner last 30+ years. New three blade VP prop. Auto pilot. Fresh Annual by IAE. Fresh ARC by IAE. TTSN: 4015. EngineTSO: 2517. Engine TSTO: 1194.

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1948 Percival Proctor 5 A wonderful piece of British aviation history GBP£110,000 No VAT or best near offer

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1994 PZL-WILGA 80. TTAF 1066, Eng/Prop 40Hrs Spare prop and very large spares package included GBP£50,000 No VAT

1997 Saratoga II HP Fabulous avionics, 2019 Zero time engine, N-Reg. EUR€239,000 (Plus VAT)

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December 2020 | FLYER | 75

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76 | FLYER | December 2020

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QSY

For the funny, the weird, the wonderful and the just plane strange…

The wise owl

Sleap launches Jet Provost project

S

hropshire Aero Club, based at Sleap Airfield, has launched a project to restore a Jet Provost trainer.

The ‘Spirit of Shropshire’ Jet Provost Renovation Project will not be a flying aircraft but will offer fast taxi rides and other experiences. A skilled team of volunteers have started renovating the Jet Provost T3A, number XN582.

“Shropshire has a long

Above The Shropshire Aero Club team, hard at work on their Jet Provost

history of RAF flight training so it is fitting that a working example of the RAF’s basic trainer from the 1960s to the 1980s now has a home within the county and is being renovated to provide an exciting visitor attraction,” said Dr David Somerville, a member of Shropshire Aero Club and

owner of the aircraft.

“The aircraft has been named Spirit of Shropshire to reflect the fact that Shropshire once had a total of 12 RAF bases, mainly focused on pilot and aircrew training. This type of aircraft was based at RAF Shawbury and also visited Sleap Airfield.”

The group has set up a crowdfunding page to help suuport the project, click here to help them on the way with restoration.

Heroes & Villains HERO Spare a thought for the test pilots of this world and in particular, Tom Carr, Chief Test Pilot at Garmin. Tom was the pilot who had to go ‘hands off’ and be the first to let Garmin’s Autoland system get on with landing the aircraft. We bet Tom’s hands were hovering less than a millimetre from the controls during the simulated emergency landing, but now the system is approved by both the FAA and EASA. Tom has received the Society of Experimental Test Pilots’ 2020 Iven C Kincheloe Award.

VILLAIN €13.5m is being spent by the EU to divert the valuable and limited time and expertise of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) to develop solar power to cook sustainable pasta. No, not joking. Nothing to do with aerospace, just pasta. Details: http://bit.ly/DLRpasta HEROES Winners of the annual awards from the Honourable Company of Air Pilots (HCAP) include Greg MacDougall of Harbour Air in Vancouver who is converting his fleet of

floatplanes to electric power. Other winners: Master Aircrew Tudor Haines with 5,000 hours in Chinooks, test pilot Ben Lewis, 32 (The Royal) Squadron, Air Marshal (retd) Cliff Spinks who’s also a leading warbird pilot, and Tim Robinson, editor of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s magazine.

An owl looking for refuge from raging wildfires in California found a spot to rest… in the cockpit of a helicopter performing water drops.

“It’s odd to have an owl enter an aircraft,” said pilot Dan Alpiner on Facebook. “It’s unheard of to have it enter while the helo is inflight. It’s an unexplainable and magical miracle for it to stay with you for several water drops, then leave just as it arrived – safe and unannounced.”

Dan was flying for Wyoming-based Sky Aviation helping to fight the fires near Fresno. He was initially worried that the owl would begin fluttering about inside the cockpit. But it was a model passenger, briefly hanging out before wisely flying away without incident.

AWB is back

The humanitarian charity Aviation Without Borders has resumed air cargo shipments following six months of ‘enforced inactivity’.

“The easing of lockdown has improved our position slightly, we have just recently resumed our humanitarian air cargo shipments,” said Stanley Stewart, AWB Chair.

Among the humanitarian flights flown in has been 350kg of water purifying kits from Lifewater to Entebbe in Uganda.

Aviators Ball 2020

Disabled flying charity Aerobility is staging its popular annual Aviators Ball online this year. Click here for full details

Send your QSY submissions to QSY, PO Box 4261, Melksham, SN12 9BN or to qsy@seager.aero 78 | FLYER | December 2020

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