Flyer Summer 2020

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Summer 2020

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Mew Gull

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Editorial

FLYER Club Telephone +44 (0)1225 481440 Email subscriptions@seager.aero Website www.subscriptions.flyer.co.uk

Ed Hicks

Editorial

Licence to learn…

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

Y

es, I know it’s a phrase that you’ll hear trotted out in many a flying club, but a Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL) really is a licence to learn.

This issue marks a transition in our Flight Safety Editor role, as Joe Fournier, who has steered the role for more than eight years steps down. You’ll find Joe’s final Accident Analysis piece on page 48. Over the years, Joe has sifted through hundreds of General Aviation accidents in the course of preparing the Accident Analysis and reports features, with many of those topics prompting thoughtful discussion. It’s this active discussion of accidents that helps us all enhance our safety, so I’d like to thank him for this invaluable contribution to how we fly.

Stepping into Joe’s role as the new flight safety expert is Steve Ayres, who I had the great fortune to meet through a ‘lonely hearts’ ad, which I posted on my local airstrip’s notice board when I was looking for a build partner for a Van’s RV project. Steve’s flying began with a PPL scholarship in Jersey and extended through a career in the RAF where he operated in the Air Defence role and instructed at all levels from Jet Provost to Tornado F3. He has worked with the Red Arrows and operated with a number of overseas Air Forces including instructing on the AlphaJet in Tours. He has held flight safety roles throughout his career, including most recently when he instructed for several years on the Grob Tutor at Bristol UAS. Steve has plenty of experience flying aerobatics and formation and is thoroughly enjoying the RV-8 now it’s finished, a machine which in his own words he says, ‘nicely complements his love of flying’.

Steve is well-positioned to carry on Joe’s excellent work in the pursuit of helping everyone fly that little bit safer.

Safety will always be an important discussion for FLYER, and we’re keen that the opportunities to learn continue. Take, for instance, David Joyce’s excellent research into 20 years of engine failure after take-off accidents, in the feature on page 40.

Keeping an open mind to learning from the mishaps of others, and recognising that it could well happen to you, might ultimately save you from ‘that worst day’…

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, Yayeri van Baarsen Garrett Fisher, Dave Hirschman Ken Lince, Louis Wang FLIGHT SAFETY EDITOR Joe Fournier joe.fournier@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 EXHIBITION & EVENTS MANAGER Aimee Janes aimee.janes@seager.aero ACCOUNTS MANAGER Stuart Dobson stuart.dobson@seager.aero

ed.hicks@seager.aero

FINANCIAL DIRECTOR Martine Teissier martine.teissier@seager.aero CIRCULATION World-wide, free to download digital edition from flyer.co.uk

Left Thanks for plenty of great safety discussion, Joe

© 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.

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 3

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Contents Summer 2020

Features 18 I Get Paid for This…

Neil Parkinson

Corporate pilot Neil Parkinson flies a Falcon 7X around the world

26 Recreation Percival Mew Gull replica

When you can’t buy the sole surviving aircraft you want, then recreate it… David Beale was up for the challenge, and talks to Mark Hales

38 My First Solo Paul Dye

Having rebuilt it himself, Paul Dye knew all about the aircraft in which he learned to fly

40 Technical To turn back – or not?

An examination of 20 years of stats for engine failure after take-off accidents. David Joyce asks, is a new approach needed to turning back?

48 Accident Analysis Under the influence

The impairing side effects of medicines can be long lasting. Joe Fournier asks, where do mistakes end and impairment begin, when it comes to accidents?

54 Flying Adventure Majestic Peaks

After a brief sojourn in Germany – and the Spanish Pyrenees – Garrett Fisher headed for the Swiss Alps to undertake his adventure…

Mew Gull replica

26

66 Top Gear Garmin GI 275

Garmin’s new GI 275 multifunction instrument, installed and tested

Regulars 3 Editorial 6 News 16 Pilot Careers 21 Dave Hirschman

23 25 50 70

Mark Hales Ian Seager Accident Reports

By Association

SIX Free Landings!

66

40

54

68 FLYER Club Members Save £35 n Beverley n Breighton n Cottered

n Fishburn n Holmbeck n Middlezoy 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

Flylight’s Skyranger Nynja: £36k ready to fly Above The new ready-to-fly Skyranger Nynja Inset Paul Dewhurst was a member of the winning Team GB at the World Air Games, seen on the right next to Dave Broom and Rees Keene

Flylight Airsports is the UK’s newest aircraft manufacturer.

The Sywell-based company is now offering the Skyranger Nynja and Swift fixed-wing microlights as ready to fly aircraft from £36,000 plus VAT. Flylight recently gained A8-1 manufacturing approval from the UK CAA for factory-built aircraft. It will offer the Nynja and the simpler Swift model as ready-to-fly aircraft. The Swift has fabric surfaces on the fuselage while the Nynja has a composite skin. Flylight will continue to offer kits for pilots wanting to build their own.

Flylight has been in business since

1995 supplying microlight aircraft and offering microlight flight training.

The company became dealers for the French Best Off Skyranger kitplane series in 2003 and took on the design and manufacturing in late 2016.

The aircraft pictured above, Skyranger Nynja G-CLOU, is the 300th example of the Skyranger family in the UK and the first ready-to-fly example, built at Flylight Airsports’ manufacturing facility.

The ready to fly Nynja and Swift meet the dual aims of complying with the current microlight definition, but are capable of moving to a higher weight limit with some simple changes to take advantage of the

Air League funded

Sportstar to UK

The Air League has been awarded

The Evektor Sportstar SLM

funding from the Department for

microlight is to be imported

Transport to support its Soaring to

into the UK by Ascent

Success and National Youth Plane

Industries, also the UK agent

Building initiatives, both of which

for EuroFox aircraft. Ascent

seek to involve young people in

will offer factory-built aircraft

aviation. Full story:

from its Marden, Kent HQ.

https://bit.ly/newsAirLeague

www.sportstaraviation.co.uk

6 | FLYER | summer 2020

proposed new 600kg weight category.

“Flylight would like to thank the helpful staff at CAA for making the process less painful than feared, and the BMAA for assisting to get the first Permit issued in the midst of COVID-19 complications,” said Paul Dewhurst, director at Flylight.

“The order books are already healthy with a mixture of flying school and private orders.”

Flylight also manufactures a range of lightweight, single-seat, flexwing microlights and SSDRs.

Take-off

CAA advice to pilots following lift of flying restrictions

EASA: hours flown on fixed-wing microlights count towards PPL EASA has allowed fixed-wing microlights to be used to maintain an EASA PPL or LAPL, opening up microlight flying to pilots who want to retain their EASA licence.

Until now, hours flown in fixed-wing microlights did not count towards an EASA PPL. The change in attitude by EASA has taken 17 years, with Europe Airsports, the group which represents recreational flying on EASA committees, plugging away to change members’ minds.

Rudi Schuegraf, Senior Vice President of Europe Air Sports, explains, “At the start of EASA in 2003 the microlight movement was about to become a grown-up player in air sports and GA. “The aeroplanes had reached high quality and safety standards, but the authorities of the EASA Member States

did not yet want to face and accept the reality of the technical progress of three-axis microlight aeroplanes.

“It took many years to convince the regulatory system that hours flown on aeroplanes that are generally called microlights require the identical skills and airmanship as traditional SEP aeroplanes.

“The regulator and the authorities of the Member States have acknowledged the contribution of the microlight movement and development to the improvement of aviation safety.”

It’s welcome news for the British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA). Chief Executive Geoff Weighell said, “This is a great boost for us, as it means there is an incentive for EASA-licensed pilots to fly microlights.

The more the merrier.”

The full statement from Europe Airsports is here.

The UK Government lifted restrictions on recreational flying on 15 May for England, with Scotland following on 4 June and Wales and Northern Ireland expected to follow suit within days.

There are conditions for the return to flying, including the need to maintain social distancing. In practice this means that only solo flights, or flights where everyone is from the same household, are permitted. This is because it’s not generally possible to observe social distancing during a GA flight.

Flight training at professional pilot training schools is being allowed with groups of three students and one instructor forming a ‘family’ with constant health checks.

The CAA has issued detailed guidance for pilots returning to fly.

“For many pilots when they return it may be their longest break from flying,” says the CAA advice.

“Due to the restrictions there will also have been significant impacts on the aviation infrastructure that will mean it may be very different from the start of a normal flying season. We’ve put together some tips and advice to help pilots return to the skies safely.

They may not be applicable to everyone but provide an overall starting point for pilots as they resume flying.”

The advice starts with a detailed pre-flight check, not only of the aircraft but also the pilot’s paperwork and readiness to go flying. It then goes on to the flight itself and things that may have changed, such as airspace and RT terminology.

The full guidance can be read here.

Sales down

Amy’s 90th

Aircraft sales took a hit in the first

On 24 May it was the 90th

three months of 2020, according to

anniversary of Amy Johnson

the General Aviation Manufacturers

arriving at Darwin, Australia, 20

Association (GAMA). Piston aircraft

days after setting off from

deliveries declined 11.7%, turboprop

Croydon Airport, UK in her

deliveries dropped a whopping

Gipsy Moth, Jason. A ‘real-time’

41.8%, and business jets 19.1%.

blog of her trip is on the Amy

www.gama.aero

Johnson Trust website here.

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 7

Take-off

Garmin Autoland certified by FAA for Piper M600 Main Tecnam’s new diesel-powered P2010 Inset CD-170

Tecnam unveils P2010 TDI with Continental CD-170 diesel Italian manufacturer Tecnam has announced a new version of its state-of-the-art four-seater, the P2010, powered by Continental’s latest 170hp turbodiesel engine.

It means the Tecnam P2010 is now available with a choice of three powerplants and fuel types: 180hp (unleaded mogas), 215hp (avgas) and 170hp TDI, burning Jet A or diesel fuel.

Tecnam says it expects the EASA type certificate for the P2010 TDI in July.

Customers are expected to be flight schools and private owners.

The P2010 is a modern high-tech aircraft of both metal and composite construction. The fuselage and vertical fin are made of pre-preg carbon fibre, while the wings, horizontal tail and rudder, as well as all the load-carrying structures, are light alloy.

The aircraft is fitted with 26G-capable crashworthy seats and Garmin’s G1000 NXi glass cockpit and GFC 700 autopilot, which is fully integrated with the Continental CD-170.

“The P2010 is a modern aircraft for flight schools and private owners,” says Paolo Pascale, Tecnam CEO. “With the Continental’s jet/diesel engine, the P2010 TDI is simply the ideal aircraft, combining a modern, sleek, green design with consistent, robust power.”

Continental’s CD-170 is the latest in the CD-100 series of turbodiesels, and has a single control lever with electronic engine monitoring.

The Garmin Autoland emergency system has been approved by the US authority, the FAA, in Piper’s top-of-the-range M600 turbine aircraft.

Autoland will take control of the aircraft in an emergency and land it without human intervention.

The Piper M600 is the first aircraft fitted with the Autoland system to receive approval. It is also fitted to the Cirrus Vision Jet and Daher TBM 940. All three aircraft are equipped with Garmin’s G3000 flight-deck.

“What started as a vision to develop the world’s first Autoland system for general aviation became a reality today as we deliver one of the industry’s most significant innovations,” said Phil Straub, Garmin executive vice president and managing director of aviation.

In an emergency the pilot or passengers on board the aircraft can activate Autoland to land the aircraft with a simple press of a dedicated button. Autoland can also activate automatically if the system determines it’s necessary.

Once activated, the system calculates a flight plan to the most suitable airport, while avoiding terrain and adverse weather. It initiates an approach to the runway and automatically lands the aircraft without pilot or passenger intervention.

Autoland also automatically communicates with air traffic control (ATC), advising controllers and pilots operating near the aircraft of its location and its intentions.

AeroCruze STC

Clean dream

BendixKing has received a

Pipistrel is designing a 19-seat

Supplemental Type Certificate

commuter aircraft with

(STC) for its AeroCruze 230 digital

hydrogen-based propulsion.

autopilot from EASA. The STC

The Slovenia company has

covers more than 35 types of

also flown an electric cargo

aircraft can update their KFC 150

aircraft called ‘Box-Dropper’

autopilots. Recommended retail

based on its Electro Alpha

price is $9,995. More here.

two-seater.

8 | FLYER | Summer 2020

Take-off

For sale: last airworthy Soviet MiG-17PF fighter

First flight for allelectric Caravan The largest all-electric commercial aircraft yet had its maiden flight at the end of May. A Cessna Grand Caravan 208B fitted with a 750hp MagniX electric propulsion system made a 30 minute flight from the AeroTEC Flight Test Center at Moses Lake, Washington.

MagniX worked with leading aerospace testing and engineering company AeroTec to install the Magni500 system into the Caravan. At a continuous 560kw/750shp and turning at only 1900rpm, the Magni500 is being marketed as a propulsion system for retrofitting existing commercial aircraft such as the Beaver, Cessna Caravan, Beech King Air, Twin Otter and more.

Key points of the Magni500: ■ Weight 135kg ■ Full torque of 2,814Nm/2,975lbft available from low rpm and not impacted by altitude ■ Direct drive to propeller – no reduction gearbox ■ Advanced liquid cooling and thermal performance ■ Integrates with off-the-shelf propeller governors for variable pitch control.

“The iconic Caravan has been a workhorse of industry moving people and transporting goods on short routes for decades,” said Roei Ganzarski, CEO of MagniX. “This first flight of the eCaravan is yet another step on the road to operating these middle-mile aircraft at a fraction of the cost, with zero emissions, from and to smaller airports. These electric commercial aircraft will enable the offering of flying services of people and packages in a way previously not possible.”

MagniX is also working with Harbour Air of Vancouver to electrify its fleet. Last December they successfully flew a de Havilland Beaver floatplane fitted with the Magni500 motor.

Main First flight for the MagniX all-electric Cessna Grand Caravan – the largest commercial aircraft to fly with electric propulsion

Jon Blanchette, the owner of the world’s only airworthy MiG-17PF jet fighter, has put his one-of-a-kind aircraft up for sale.

A former General Motors engineer and U.S. Navy officer, Blanchette rescued the single-engine, swept-wing jet fighter from a scrapyard in Poland in 1993.

After 15 years of careful restoration, Blanchette let the MiG-17PF loose on the US airshow circuit capable of performing a full aerobatic routine, including inverted flight and tight 8G turns.

Developed in the early 1950s, the MiG-17 became an important part of the Soviet Air Force. The PF variant of the MiG-17 was equipped with a search and a tracking radar. It remained in service until replaced by the MiG 21-13 in the early 1960s.

Blanchette’s aircraft (1D-0620) was produced in December 1960 and served in the Polish Air Force until 1966. After being decommissioned, it served as a training platform for Polish aircraft mechanics until 1993.

“It has been the biggest passion project of my life,” said Blanchette. “I am incredibly proud of what I was able to accomplish with this aircraft, and I hope that it will bring the same amount of joy and fulfilment to its next owner.”

Potential buyers should contact Vlad Drazdovich at vlad@redbanyan.com for more information.

Video here.

eVTOLs step closer

Bids invited

Europe is moving closer to the

The Government-funded UK Research

introduction of electric Vertical

and Innovation initiative has launched a

Takeoff and Landing aircraft known

competition to revolutionise the way we

as eVTOLs. EASA has published

fly with a fund of £30m available. Bids

proposed methods on how to

are invited to develop new types of

certify hybrid or electric air taxis

electric and/or autonomous air vehicles

and opened a consultation until 19

such as the Vertical Aerospace Seraph,

June. More here

right. More here

10 | FLYER | Summer 2020

Cambridge Aero Club

Take-off

Flying clubs: get back to normal

FLYER launches #GetBritainFlyingAgain campaign to boost GA To celebrate the fact that we can now fly again and to help get General Aviation back on its feet, FLYER is launching a #GetBritainFlyingAgain campaign with several elements: FLYER free landing fees Yes, the free landing fees in the June and July issues of FLYER magazine are valid, but we’re asking people to consider buying food or fuel where available. These are tough times in aviation, especially for airfields which are the GA’s frontline. If you are likely to visit somewhere regularly, consider buying a landing card or club membership if that includes landings. It helps airfield cash flow and assists with social distancing.

Video guides Starting with the airfields featured in the FLYER free landing fees, we’ll be working with owners and managers to create short videos for airfields to promote themselves and for flyers to find out more before visiting.

Match funding For all aviation businesses booking advertising with FLYER before the end of June, we will match your investment and double either the size or frequency of your advertising (and yes, that includes regular advertisers and those with existing bookings). Contact Zoe at zoe.yeo@seager.aero to find out more.

Airfields: send us your news!

We know that things change rapidly, so why not let us help you keep your flying customers informed? Send your airfield news and we’ll find the best way of spreading the word. Email airfieldnews@seager.aero Don’t forget to tell us about your plans for reopening so we can pass it on.

Better Business Prompted by a post in the fabulous FLYER Forum, we are going to share ideas and suggestions for making aviation businesses better. So get your thinking caps on – we would love to hear any of your good ideas!

Main The good weather has seen people go flying, but we need to spend money at airfields we visit to revitalise the industry Top right CAA has issued advice for flying clubs to restart operations. Photo shot before COVID-19

You’re a flying club or school that’s been out of action for the coronavirus lockdown and are now thinking about restarting operations. Well, the CAA has been thinking about you and has come up with positive and sensible guidance.

It’s titled Preparing to Return to Normal Flying Operations for General Aviation Pilot Training Organisations (‘Flying Clubs and Schools’).

The guidance starts with a section on general health, well-being and PPE: “Is everyone fit and well? Remember, the cockpit of a GA aircraft is a very close environment, the club house may not be a large area.

“Are staff, club members and any permitted passengers clear of any symptoms of COVID-19 or any other decrease in medical fitness that may adversely affect flight safety?

“If you choose to wear any PPE you must ensure that it does not create a flight safety hazard or inhibit safe operation of the aircraft in any way.”

The guidance refers to EASA’s Coronavirus Guide for Disinfection of General Aviation Aircraft and then: ■ The club house ■ Instructor & staff meetings ■ Flight programme ■ Self-fly hire pilots ■ The fleet ■ Pre-flight ■ Fuel ■ Documents ■ Airfield ■ Returning to the norm Download the document here.

PPL to ATPL standards

Aerobility’s Airshow

Skyborne Airline Academy, based

It’s an airshow with a difference.

at Gloucestershire Airport, has

Aerobility’s Armchair Airshow, designed

launched a standalone PPL course

to beat coronavirus travel restrictions, is

to ATPL standards. It’s expected to

scheduled for 20 June with live pilot

appeal to would-be commercial

interviews, walk-throughs and never-

pilots starting on a modular course,

before-seen air-display and in-cockpit

but open to anyone prepared to

footage. Funds raised go to the charity.

commit at least seven hours a week.

More here

12 | FLYER | Summer 2020

Instant Expert

What will Brexit bring Ed Bellamy ponders pilot licensing and regulations as the transition period approaches

W

hile we continue to try and navigate an exit from the coronavirus situation, the question of the UK’s future relationship with the EU remains unanswered. At the time of writing in May, we are still moving towards the end of the year and the transition period, while knowing little more than we did six months ago as to what that will bring.

Government papers and comments earlier in the year suggested continued membership of EASA is unlikely, although as with any negotiation, positions may change. Membership of EASA would place an obligation on the UK to align with EU law, which is against the government’s principles for the future relationship. There may be a chance that towards the end of the negotiations, alignments take place in technical and politically uncontentious areas, but that is pure speculation.

Most of the current CAA guidance is predicated on a full exit from EASA and the UK reverting to the status of any other ICAO member state. There is also the related question of commercial traffic rights, but since this mainly affects commercial air transport, lets focus on the safety regulation dimension, as this is more relevant to GA. For GA pilots with UK issued licences (both EASA and non-EASA) flying UK registered aircraft, we do know that all likelihood, not much will change. UK legislation will be put in place to ensure that within the UK system, existing licences and privileges remain the same. The same principles apply to all other certificates, approvals and privileges issued

by UK CAA under the EASA system – they will remain valid for UK registered aircraft after the end of the transition period. For ICAO compliant licences and aircraft – i.e. PPL and upwards flying an aircraft with an ICAO Certificate of Airworthiness, rights of navigation abroad should also not change (although customs and immigration is a separate question).

Validation process

In the absence of any mutual recognition agreements, what will change is that UK issued licences and certificates will no longer be legally recognised within the EASA system – for example you would not be able to fly an aircraft registered in an EASA member state without some sort of validation. It remains to be seen what that validation process might look like.

In terms of going the other way, EASA licences and approvals issued by states other than the UK will also no longer have automatic validity in the UK. However, current guidance suggests the CAA will issue a ‘general validation’ which would allow EASA licences to be used for UK aircraft, likely for a further period after the end of the transition.

A common discussion point is whether UK pilots should be looking to transfer to another ‘state of licence issue’, such that they can continue holding an EASA licence. There is no restriction in terms of place of residence or nationality, however you can only hold an EASA licence from one state at any one time. So while it is still possible to do a transfer during the transition period, you have to surrender your UK issued EASA licence. This might be worth looking at if you want to fly aircraft registered in other European states in the future, although 14 | FLYER | Summer 2020

“On the pilot licensing front, there probably is scope for simplification while retaining ICAO compliance” make sure you understand the timescales involved since it can take several months.

There are still areas of uncertainty, for example it is not clear what will happen to UK-issued EASA licences that are not ICAO compliant, such as the LAPL. Logically at the end of the transition they would revert to a ‘UK only’ status similar to that of the NPPL. Exactly what the UK framework will initially look like post-transition period is also not clear. On day one after the transition the concept of ‘EASA’ and ‘non-EASA’, will probably live on in UK law to some extent. It is not clear for example whether on day one after the transition whether NPPL holders will be able to fly previous ‘EASA’ aircraft or whether self-declared medicals will be valid in the same manner (one would hope so on both counts). To create a stable starting point for future divergence, UK law will initially copy the existing EU equivalents. However, assuming no future agreements to the contrary, the old EASA / non-EASA distinction will likely fade in time.

There are some interesting decisions to be made in the longer term as to how the regulatory structure in the UK will develop and what opportunities for GA in the UK there might be. Leaving EASA prompts the question of what we might change. In areas such as light aircraft certification, it would probably make sense to continue to broadly follow the EASA system, so that manufacturers selling in the EASA regulated market will not have to deal with different UK requirements. Years have been spent getting more proportionate EASA continuing airworthiness requirements for GA, so it will be interesting to see whether there is a desire to go back to old arrangements or continue to follow the concepts developed in Europe.

On the pilot licensing front, there probably is scope for simplification while retaining ICAO compliance. The story that started with the Joint Aviation Requirements licensing requirements ( JAR-FCL) in the late 1990s – and that later became the EASA Aircrew Regulation – did bring complexity to licensing. Not to say that the previous UK requirements were perfect, but there may be a chance here to reshape something simpler.

More info: https://info.caa.co.uk/brexit/

Aim higher.

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Whichever route you choose, you’ll receive the most advanced theoretical knowledge and technical training, delivered by our fabulous academy team, using a variety of platforms including our state-of-the-art VLE (virtual learning environment).

Find out more today, visit us online, call or follow us on social media! leadingedgeaviation.com +44 (0)1865 546300 @beleadingedge

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

In Brief PCN grilled Andy O’Shea, former Head of Training at Ryanair. Watch the interview video here: https://youtu.be/5zb39XImvTE

A free mentoring service and website designed to provide a one-stop-shop to support pilots across the aviation community has been launched. It’s called Resilient Pilot and can be found here: www.resilientpilot.com VA Airline Training (VA) is offering individual pilots a half-price discount on their hourly dry sim rate to enable them to refresh their skills, while not flying nor awaiting future job opportunities. https://va-airlinetraining.com Guidelines for keeping passengers and air crew safe from coronavirus once airlines resume flights have been issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Full story: https://bit.ly/2ZFgELR easyJet will resume flying from 15 June. Services will be operating from London Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Belfast, and Isle of Man in the UK. Full story: https://bit.ly/2zrrVVw The easing of lockdown restrictions has prompted Bristol Ground School (BGS) to update its own advice – including opening ATPL exam dates through its relationship with Austro Control. Full story: https://bit.ly/2ZGVQUo +VIDEO Leading Edge Aviation, based at London Oxford Airport, has restarted flight training for student pilots after weeks of lockdown. Full story: https://bit.ly/2zqC9pb

16 | FLYER | Summer 2020

A Commercial Pilot Licence in £32k

By Dr Helen Owton When I started learning to fly, I knew it would be a challenge to fund the training to become a commercial pilot. Not only did I need to manage my time between learning to fly and working full-time with family responsibilities, but I needed to be financially astute.

My first step was to complete the Private Pilot Licence (PPL).

I learned to fly at Central Flight Training, close to where I lived, which just happened to be both very good and affordable.

A PPL involves 45 hours of flying and nine ground exam fees, but this is a minimum requirement which can be quoted at approximately £8k.

Most pilots are likely to need more than 50 hours – an additional £1,000. Also, there are landing fees, a skills test and a licence fee to account for.

Total PPL costs: £9,070 CAA licence fee: £196

Hour building

To be eligible to take the Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) test, a pilot needs 100 hours PIC and 200 total hours, which meant hour building.

I considered going abroad to the US to build hours, but I figured out that after I paid for accommodation and lost income, I would be better off finding a share in an aircraft based in the UK. This took longer than I thought, but while I was building hours slowly at the aero club, hanging around the club had benefits such as being offered flights with experienced pilots in different aircraft to different airfields.

A non-equity share came up which worked out at a monthly fee of £65 (for a minimum of six months) and hourly costs of £90 (less if you leaned the mixture well). Spending time to find airfields with cheap fuel (e.g.

knowledge and my skills were fresher.

Total IR(R) costs: £2,670 CAA licence fee: £127

Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL)

Above Helen Owton on her £32k route to a CPL + ME+ Night +IR(R)

Eddsfield) can be financially satisfying as well as fun.

Total hour building costs: £5,124

ATPL exams

Once I had completed my PPL, I signed up to CATS Aviation to complete my ATPL theoretical exams. Once I had paid £2,560 for the materials, I had to pay £79 per exam and account for fuel and accommodation costs to attend the three study weeks.

Total ATPL costs: £4,060

Night Rating

When I was looking for hour building packages, I saw some costs associated with Night Ratings but none of them beat my aero club. Total Night Rating costs: £800 CAA licence fee: £127

Instrument Rating (Restricted)

My goal is to achieve a frozen ATPL, therefore doing an Instrument Rating (Restricted) made sense so that later down the line I could complete a Competency Based Instrument Rating (CBIR).

I was lucky to have really experienced commercial pilots I could learn to fly with right on my doorstep at the club. I used the opportunity to fly more accurately and try and get rid of bad habits that I developed while I was hour building. I completed this a couple of months before I started my CPL, so this meant the

I had heard rumours where pilots had achieved their CPL in three days. While the speed of completing this course might have sounded impressive, I was concerned about the lack of time this allowed for making mistakes – and learning from them. I am someone who values a day or two between training.

I chose a smaller school in the UK which had an excellent reputation for getting the best out of their students. They worked their training around people who worked, and their motivation was to produce pilots of the highest standards.

One example to help you save money was the way they planned their training so that you completed the MEP Rating with the CPL, which meant just one skills test, saving me the costs of the MEP test and the aircraft hire.

Total CPL costs: £8,347 CAA licence fee and skills test: £256 & £826 Total MEP costs amounted to £2,800 in a Beechcraft 76 Duchess alongside simulator training. Additionally, the CAA licence fee was £256 but the skills test was combined with the CPL test, so I didn’t have to pay the additional aircraft hire and MEP skills test.

Therefore, my total costs from zero to obtaining a CPL equated to £31,603.

Not only have I saved remortgaging my house and stayed based in the UK, but I believe I have received an extremely high standard of training along the way.

Helen’s full story can be read here: https://bit.ly/2Xz01ib

Pilot Careers

I Get Paid for This…

Neil Parkinson Corporate pilot Neil Parkinson flies a Falcon 7X around the world Interview by Yayeri van Baarsen

How did you get into flying?

After a childhood of flying radio-controlled aircraft, when I was 13 I got a job as a gopher at Cranfield airfield. For every four days of answering phones and washing aircraft, they’d give me a flying lesson for one hour. On my 17th birthday, with about 100 hours, I first soloed.

Tell us about your job?

I’m a billionaire’s personal pilot. Based in London, I fly the Falcon 7X as well as his other aircraft. My schedule is flexible, but normally I know the destination a few weeks in advance.

Flights vary from a 12-hour stretch across the Flying CV South Atlantic to a hop to Paris in 30 minutes.

Next to his job flying private Generally, we aren’t that busy, which means I business jets, Neil Parkinson is also a have plenty of time for my other aviation hobbies. helicopter instructor, examiner, homeThe flying itself is fantastic! The Falcon is builder, aircraft restorer, aerobatic pilot. equally at home being hand-flown into a Started current job: 2017 mountain airport as it is at 45,000ft going Now flying: Dassault Falcon 7X Favourite: Spitfire. “Saying I prefer the intercontinental. It’s my first fly-by-wire aircraft, Spitfire feels like I’m being unfaithful to my but if you forget about all those computers, it’s Pitts Special… I’m sure she’ll understand.” very easy to fly. Dassault make great handling Hours at job start: Approx. 12,500 machines, showing its fighter heritage.

Hours now: Approx. 13,500 Since I’m always working with the same people, it’s important to get along as a crew. My job isn’t just turning up and flying, I also deal with insurance, maintenance, flight planning, entry requirements and visas.

And your favourite airfield?

I can’t choose. Cranfield will always have a place in my heart as I learned What training did you have? to fly there. The UK has beautiful grass strips with great people and In 1992 I was at university, bored with aeronautical engineering, when a amazing atmospheres, like White Waltham and Compton Abbas. But friend with a helicopter school offered me a job if I’d pay for my training. I I’ve also had lots of fun landing private jets at airfields in Nigeria and borrowed a tie, went to NatWest and got a £40,000 loan. Paying it back Russia. The ‘airfields’ during my Air Ambulance time were memorable took me 11 years, but I was an R-22 instructor at the age of 20. as well, including market squares, town centres and T-junctions.

Air Ambulance flying had always been my dream job as it’s so rewarding. At the time, nearly all pilots were ex-military, but I nagged Do you get to fly much outside of work? until they gave me a trial. I ended up working for Thames Valley Air Yes, I normally fly something every other day. My life revolves around Ambulance in the BO-105 and being chief pilot for Warwickshire and aviation, I love the flying as well as the engineering. Eight years ago I Northamptonshire Air Ambulance on the Agusta A109. built a Pitts Special biplane in my garage for aerobatic flying, displays and After eight years, I got lured away by a property company with a competitions. The Pitts is fantastic, a hooligan machine on wings. When Citation Jet and a helicopter. When the 2008 crisis happened, I joined a it comes to getting bang for your buck, you can’t beat it.

UK corporate jet charter company. I initially flew the Citation, then the I’m currently building an RV-8 kitplane as well as restoring a WWII HS-125, which is lovely – like a Chipmunk with jet engines. Finally the Harvard, which means I’m spending lots of time painting things green.

Global Express, which is heavy and boring.

What’s the most valuable career advice you’ve had?

What’s been your favourite flight?

Love what you do. Because if you do, it never seems like a job. I’ve been My first Spitfire solo. Last year I joined Boultbee Flight Academy as one lucky enough to fly some fantastic machines throughout my career and of their pilots and that flight was the pinnacle of my career. Since I was for me this never felt like work. four, I’ve been building model Spitfires and every year my mum would Also, if you really, and I mean REALLY, want to fly for a living, give me a Spitfire birthday card, writing: ‘One day you’ll fly one’. That you’ll find a way. Many people want to be a pilot because they like the solo was my dream, my ambition and my life’s goal. The Spitfire is look of it, but some really want to fly. I always look out for candidates amazing. An emotional Great British icon, yet a high-powered, who’ve begged, borrowed and stolen flying hours. Those are the pilots beautifully flying machine. you give a chance.

“If you REALLY want to fly for a living, you’ll find a way”

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Column

Unusual Attitude Dave Hirschman

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Autoland and beyond…

he implications of Garmin’s revolutionary ‘Autoland’ system are broad and deep – they’re likely to change the way pilots fly and how student pilots learn to fly. The one-button system offered first on Piper M600 turboprops and Cirrus SF-50 Vision Jets instantly takes over and engages the autopilot, announces an emergency on the dedicated radio frequency of 121.5, evaluates nearby weather and terrain, flies an approach to the closest suitable runway, touches down and stops. It even announces on the radio the runway where the aircraft landed is now closed. How long does it take the Garmin G3000-based system to make these calculations about how and where to fly? Three nanoseconds. That’s even quicker than a pilot can say ‘yes’ to an ATC offer of a direct routing.

First, I’ve got to confess I never thought the FAA would even consider such a radically comprehensive system with so many new capabilities and question marks. But the agency’s willingness to approve Autoland, just like its previous approval of non-TSO avionics for Standard-category aircraft, shows a bold willingness to move safety-enhancing technology forward, even when it has some element of risk. That’s new, and welcome.

Right now, Garmin’s Autoland feature is limited to emergency use on a small number of new aircraft, but its impact is far reaching. The aircraft types have autothrottles and G3000 avionics suites, but Autoland is sure to migrate quickly up and down the GA spectrum. For single-engine piston aircraft where the primary emergency scenario is engine failure, it’s easy to imagine a far simpler ‘auto-glide’ system that doesn’t tie into the aircraft’s propulsion, landing gear, flaps or braking systems. Garmin, ForeFlight and other popular aviation apps already offer graphical ‘glide range’ rings on moving maps that constantly calculate wind speed and direction, aircraft glide ratio, and terrain height. By linking that information with a modern, always-on autopilot, an auto-glide system could guide stricken aeroplanes to the nearest suitable runway (assuming there is a runway within glide range).

Also, autothrottles, once limited to exotic jets, are likely to become widespread among future piston aircraft, so they can get Autoland, too.

That will require computerised engine controls, but the FAA’s newfound willingness to approve such technological improvements could also hasten that change. Autoland also requires a radar altimeter in the aircraft, so perhaps those will get more common, and less expensive, too.

Airliners have long had the ability to perform ‘Category III’ landings in zero-zero weather at a few hundred high-use runways around the country. Now, Autoland makes many thousands of runways suitable for similarly automated landings. Just about any runway that has a GPS

approach will do. As Autoland expands to more aircraft, automated approaches and landings are sure to move from rare emergencies to standard operating procedures. Airlines, and individuals flying their own aircraft, will select the desired runway, push a button and monitor their aircraft as they fly to touchdown. Hand-flown approaches and manual landings will be relegated to flight simulators, checkrides and situations where the technology fails. So, hand-flown landings will seem like emergencies and automated landings will be normal. From there, it’s a small step to aircraft taking off, climbing to altitude and following pre-programmed routes all by themselves. They could even be rerouted from the ground autonomously.

As the role of being a pilot changes from active planner and decision-maker to a more passive monitor and evaluator, the idea of single-pilot crews for cargo carriers – and passenger airlines – doesn’t seem far fetched. It’s true that pilot error is the root cause of about 75 per cent of all aviation accidents. What engineer or regulator could oppose technology with the potential to improve flight safety? The pilot shortage

Mark Mitchell

“Right now, Autoland is limited to emergency use on a small number of new aircraft – but its impact is far reaching” that so concerns the airline industry today would be gone. And worries about a lack of flight experience or substandard overseas flight training would be addressed – to a degree. Autoland and the underlying technology will surely save lives in cases of pilot incapacitation, but its real impact will change all aspects of aviation. Flight training, professional pilot qualifications, airline staffing levels, passenger expectations and a willingness to fly on ‘small’ aircraft.

Fifty years ago, airlines and military cockpits typically had four crew members: a navigator, flight engineer, co-pilot and pilot. Navigators and flight engineers were replaced with electronic boxes and microchips that perform those roles with speed and accuracy – and they never get tired.

As pilots, we take pride in developing critical decision-making skills.

We have trouble believing that new software could make those skills obsolete. We identify with our roles, as getting to the left seat requires dedication and commitment, of which we’re proud. I now feel a new-found sympathy towards navigators and flight engineers, who performed those jobs with knowledge and skill. Pilots have some remarkable skills – and they’re sure to find their way to electronic boxes that are capable of taking over even the most critical flying tasks.

RV-4 pilot, ATP/CFII, specialising in tailwheel and aerobatic instruction dave.hirschman@flyer.co.uk Summer 2020 | FLYER | 21

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Column

Full Throttle

Mark Hales

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Lost knowledge

echnology, according to the OED, is ‘the study or use of the mechanical arts and applied sciences’. Modern parlance has added a spin, and for most people it suggests something new, about which we probably need to learn. Or not… Lift the bonnet of any modern car and all you see is a large amount of plastic – and you can spend a fair while looking for a dipstick, only to find there isn’t one. Technology has taken care of all these things, and not just the operation, but the need to know, in order to operate safely. That wasn’t always the case, and at one time if you didn’t know how to clean the points with your wife’s emery board, you weren’t getting home.

That’s still true of the aeroplanes most of us fly, and yes I know there are reasons. The PPL syllabus still includes a section on ‘The aeroplane, technical’, while there is nothing similar in requirements for a DVLA licence.

There probably should be, as in some countries.

Aircraft are still maintenance-intensive mainly because the technology dates from a period when everything was. But there is a small band of dedicated professionals (and amateurs) who know what needs to be done, and when, and because there are common factors – Lycoming, Continental, Rotax, riveted aluminium – the generic knowledge base is maintained. As I have mentioned more than a few times though, that knowledge begins to disappear when it’s specific to only a few types – Gipsy, Blackburn, Walter, Menasco, Pobjoy… Some of these were made in reasonable numbers – in aviation terms – but that was a while ago, and because there are now only a tiny number still in service, many of the people who knew the essential stuff have retired, along with the knowledge.

The Blackburn maintenance manual includes a sentence about cylinder base nuts, stating ‘tighten well and evenly…’, no value was written down either because those who needed to know, already knew.

The magneto on my Cirrus Major was made by British Thomson Houston, better known as BTH. They were once common on British-made cars and motorcycles as well as aircraft, and unlike the normal American equivalent, they incorporate a rotating coil inside a large magnet. This means that each successive spark has a different polarity, one goes from the central electrode to earth, the next does the opposite. Why is that relevant ? Because one direction makes the plug gap open up more readily. It’s apparently something that Lodge the plug makers knew and which they tried to develop. The rotating coil also makes four sparks of diminishing intensity, and I’m told that that can stress the coil if it senses any resistance in the lead. Like the one you fit when you’re trying to cure radio interference… When the RAF were operating Chipmunks – which are fitted with a Gipsy Major which is fitted with a BTH magneto – and which it continued to use until fairly recently, it apparently complained to Lucas (who had since purchased BTH). Lucas said it would wind the coil in a different way

to address the problem. Lost knowledge? Did nobody complain before?

Did they not have 8.33 radios to contend with. It’s all right, I know the answer to that one.

I was also reminded by David Beale, constructor of the magnificent Mew Gull featured on p26, that it is really important if you are using automotive plugs on your Gipsy (or Blackburn), to close down the plug gaps to no more than 12 thou. Automotive ones come ready gapped at 25 thou, plus they will open up for reasons already mentioned. The magneto sees that as an obstruction, and self-destructs its coil in protest. Fascinating stuff for a detail obsessive, but did I need to know this before ? Not until I tried to use a BTH in an aeroplane equipped with a new specification radio. Interference from the plugs is nothing new, and it’s part of the reason that modern cars have resistor plugs, caps and leads. They no longer have BTH magnetos.

Mark Mitchell

“My quest to eliminate radio interference has uncovered more increasingly arcane knowledge”

22 | FLYER | February 2020

I also learned recently that the service instructions for the ninecylinder Continental R670 and R975 radial engines used in the Sherman tank in the 1930s, included a requirement to gap the plugs at 13 thou, whereas aircraft use required 16 to 18 thou. Why? I’m guessing because a tank was equipped with a radio as a military operational necessity, whereas aircraft of the period didn’t usually have one. My quest to eliminate interference has uncovered more increasingly arcane knowledge, including one from a reader who recounted how he tackled the problem of earth loops for the radio in his Austin A35. I shall try some of his tips… Also, the one that suggested a more effective ground plane. That’s usually the aluminium sheet under the aerial, which you need in a wooden aeroplane apparently to reflect the radio waves and make a single pole more like a vintage TV aerial. It actually forms part of the aerial itself, and is a great deal larger in an aircraft with a metal fuselage, but non-existent in a wooden one. I now know that instead of trying to install a yet larger sheet of aluminium in the back of my Messenger, I can use several lengths of wire, equalling multiples of the aerial length, spread like a spider’s legs. I’ll do that, sounds a lot easier.

I’m sure there are professionals who already know this stuff, because it’s relevant to modern communication, but the amateurs who know more than most, are the CB lot. There’s one who parks up the road with a huge (monopole) aerial on the roof. I’ll ask if he uses a separate ground plane, or whether it’s just the Citroen Picasso…

Vintage aircraft and cars make Mark particularly happy mark.hales@seager.aero Summer 2020 | FLYER | 23

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Column

Squawks Ian Seager

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The benefits of adversity?

he last couple of months have been interesting in a cataclysmic kind of way. I’m struggling to think of any aspect of aviation that’s not reeling from multiple body blows. Major airports are eerily quiet, regional airports are farming tumbleweed and many airlines are hanging on by their fingernails. In the GA world lots of airfields have not fully opened, PPL schools still can’t train (unless they’ve got something like a Tiger Moth or Stearman), and pilots up and down the country are waiting to spend money just as soon as they can regain club currency. But according to many of the (non-flying) greats, adversity has got quite a lot going for it – forcing us to think, change, adapt and all that other good stuff that has been the staple of the David Brents of this world for years. The perspective gained by the passing of time probably makes the positives easier to see, but looking around, the good news is that ‘mother necessity’ is already busy giving birth. Airfields, maintenance organisations, training schools – even aviation publishers – are changing and adapting. The desire to get through this, and to fly, seems undiminished.

Perhaps the likes of Shakespeare and Johnson (Samuel, not Boris) were correct?

Maybe now’s exactly the time for a new approach, time to cast off the baggage gathered over the last few decades.

What shall we sort out first? Airspace seems as good a place to start as any, particularly as we’re likely to have less busy skies for a while. I understand that there’s some concern over the number of infringements that have taken place since we started flying again. Surely this isn’t a big surprise? Airspace made more complex by complicated Notam opening and closing bits of it to match demand and controller resources, GA pilots who are maybe a bit rusty, and some airspace design that’s nothing short of laughable. Look at the mess that is Farnborough, it almost qualifies as entrapment, it’s so bad.

Huge amounts of complex multi-stepped, multi-filleted controlled airspace for somewhere that’s probably got fewer movements and people coming and going than Sandown. It’s a bloody disgrace that it ever got approved, and it’ll be a bloody disgrace if it’s allowed to remain the mess that it is.

Related to airspace is the slow rolling out of instrument approaches.

In a country with changeable weather, a lot of General Aviation and an accessible rating, the IR(R), you’d think we’d be showing the rest of the world how to do it, rather than how absolutely not to do it. I can’t remember how many times I’ve tried to explain the UK approach to approaches to non-UK pilots, but I can definitely remember their reactions, which are usually a mix of pity, mirth and disbelief. Along the lines of, “Oh yes, we have airfields that have approaches that can’t be used more than a few times a day – presumably because we’re worried the air will get worn out and maybe a bit tatty around the

edges?” Or, “Oh yes, we have approaches in places where the weather is often bad enough to frequently need approaches, but that are only available to a small number of private operators!” And, “Oh yes, we have airports that would love approaches (even if they did come with a bunch of pointless restrictions), and who have spent years plus tens of thousands of pounds tying themselves up in more knots than you’d see at the world bondage championships, all without making any visible progress.”

Then there’s the whole missed opportunity thing. Right now we’re in a position to pull on all the levers needed to give General Aviation a major boost. A boost to business and holiday travel by GA aircraft, something that’s always much more pleasurable than flying with the locos, and is now even more attractive courtesy of COVID-19. Plus a boost to purely recreational aviation, thanks to the possibility of growing the microlight category to 600kg MAUW, while at the same time EASA is (eventually) allowing hours on three-axis microlights to be used for revalidation purposes, and who knows, perhaps more eventually. I’m told that the DfT is not a fan of the opt-out, something to do with leaving EASA and doing it better ourselves in 2021…

Mark Mitchell

“Right now we’re in a position to pull on all the levers needed to give General Aviation a major boost” Finally, for now at least, there’s the incomprehensibility of aviation regulation. It may be getting (slowly) better, but if the highway code was written twice as clearly as the ANO it would still be impenetrable to most drivers – and would be considered unfit for purpose.

The thing is, to sort the airspace, to make real progress with instrument approaches, to embrace the opportunities offered by the 600kg opt out and all of the other opportunities that change brings, we need a different way of thinking, a different way of working, and maybe above all a different attitude. An attitude that’s unwilling to accept the status quo, and a confidence that’s able to look at what we have and see it for the ridiculous mess that it so often is. I know it’s easy to sit on the sidelines lobbing in the grenades, but I really do wonder if the people involved in approving complex airspace, or insisting on restrictions to approaches, look at themselves in the mirror and in that moment of isolated honesty see the monster they’ve created?

I hope this pandemic is a once in a lifetime thing, and while I’ll be very glad when it’s gone, I’ll be very sad if we don’t take the challenges it brings as an opportunity for real change and real progress.

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

Recreation | Percival Mew Gull replica

Magnificent Mew When you want an aircraft that’s nearly extinct, and you can’t buy the sole survivor, then you can recreate one. David Beale set out to do just that, but found out that just like flying one, it’s not for the faint-hearted…

WORDS M ark Hales PHOTOGRAPHY Cornelius Braun

26 | FLYER | Summer 2020

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 27

Percival Mew Gull replica

28 | FLYER | Summer 2020

T Opposite Mew Gull’s Slim fuselage profile was established by pilot’s shoulder width Above Aluminium spats made by David Beale were removed for first flights in case of a forced landing Left Compass sits between the knees Below David attends to the Mew Gull’s Gipsy engine

here are many reasons to create something in an original’s image, the most obvious being the asking price for the ‘real’ thing, but there are some recreations so faithful that they are seen as continuations, as if a vehicle manufacturer had added them to the production line at the time. It’s a term mainly coined by the historic motorsport lot, so they can race a Cobra without risking the original. Or, in the case of the really well-heeled, so a ‘real’ Cobra’s identity can be used to create a Daytona, of which there were only ever six. The Cobra is apparently the most replicated car in history, but a well-built one will drive much like the original. It’s also true that a Ferrari GTO wearing a price tag of £50m drives much like any other 1960s GT, of which there are a few available for a lot less. So it’s not really about the driving experience.

For aeroplanes, it’s more likely that the original’s flying qualities are hard to find. There’s less emphasis on the investment value – although that is a consideration – mainly because of the practicalities involved with aircraft. A businessman who might regard a GTO as an investment but doesn’t want to race it, can find someone who will (like me…). It will fit in a mews garage where it can be stroked after dinner, and there are a few people able to look after them. That’s not so easy with say, a Spitfire, although ironically, that enterprise might prove many millions cheaper. For your Spitfire you would need to find somewhere with a runway attached, and someone qualified to fly it, as well as someone to maintain it. There is also the airworthiness aspect. A Spitfire built round a data plate dug out of the Kentish sands has to conform exactly to drawings and be made of the correct materials or the authorities won’t allow it to be flown. It’s not as easy as building a car.

LAA rules

That much applies to the lighter end of aviation too, The LAA applies the rules with similar rigour, but as an organisation it is more approachable, and more flexible. You can substitute American hardware for British, provided it does a similar job and so on. That’s not the case with the CAA, which required replacement spars for a Hurricane to be manufactured to the original specification, using 60 rolls of steel with a total weight of 27 tons just to create one set of spars, which then had to be individually heat-treated in a river of oil, dug in a pit outside the foundry. That was done in Austria and at one point, the company which had taken on the job for Hawker Restorations (more of them later), said they’d pay ‘a million quid for them to go away’... A Hurricane is actually more exclusive than a Spitfire, but… not as exclusive as the Mew Gull you see in the pictures, Summer 2020 | FLYER | 29

Percival Mew Gull replica

Right Angled windscreen quarter panels were an addition not present on the prototype. Standard RAF instrument layout, dominated by essential turn and slip. Spade grip for the stick is original borrowed from a Vega Gull, suitcase contains a portable transponder. Location where the compass sits was also used for an emergency fuel tank

T

which is perhaps, more accessible. Well, in theory anyway.

While it’s possible to buy a Hurricane, you’d have to make a Mew Gull. In the original’s image, and to the original drawings, after which – in theory – and as the taildraggerliterate holder of a PPL, you could fly it. And it isn’t powered by a Merlin.

This story begins in 2008 or thereabouts. David Beale was already an LAA inspector and the owner of the only airworthy Tipsy Belfair (sporty Belgian, side-by-side two-seater, powered by an inline inverted 62hp Walter Mikron). He’s definitely a hands-on type so had inevitably become the go-to man for the Czech-made engines, and had previously rebuilt a Taylor Titch racer, (also powered by a

Mew Gulls as a species

he Percival E-series Mew Gull was designed by Arthur Bage – responsible for the larger Proctor Mk4 and 5 – and originally known as the E1. Five were built at Percival’s factory in Gravesend between 1934 and 1938, but the only survivor is s/n E22, built for South African pioneer aviator Allister Miller for the Schlesinger Air Race which started in Portsmouth and finished in Johannesburg in late 1936. Originally registered ZS-AHM, it was powered by a 205hp de Havilland Gipsy Six and was well ahead in the race but took on some poor quality fuel in Romania and detonated the engine. It was recovered to the UK and sent back to Percival for repairs. A disappointing outcome for Miller but one which probably ensured the aircraft’s survival.

E22 was re-registered as G-AEXF on May 18, 1937, and eventually sold to aviating genius Alex Henshaw who flew it to victory in the 174 mile Folkestone Trophy the same year.

Following modification by Jack Cross of Essex Aero Ltd. at Gravesend, (see Cross words panel later) Henshaw won the following year’s King’s Cup at a speed of 236.25mph, a record for British aircraft which still stands. Henshaw would fly AEXF again, departing Gravesend on 5 February, 1939 and arriving at Wingfield Aerodrome in the Cape, 39 hours later with a total average speed of just over 150mph and an airborne average of 209mph. Many hours were then occupied with meetings and a lunch… before setting off again for Gravesend, a return which took just 11 minutes longer. It was a record which was only broken in 2009, and unlike that recent effort, Henshaw had no regular comm radio, no NAVAIDs, no room in the cockpit, no crew to give support… They were made of different stuff. The record was broken again in 2009, and again in 2011, and both Chalkie Stobbart and Steve Noujaim deserve immense credit for their achievement. Neither Stobbart’s wooden Osprey or Noujaim’s metal RV-7 were as fast as the Mew Gull, and, but for that bit of essential business which preoccupied Henshaw, he might still hold the record…

Of the other four Mew Gulls, G-AEMO/ZS-AKO also started the 1936 Schlesinger Air Race, flown by South African pilot Stanley Halse. He was six hours in the lead from the Percival Vega Gull flown by eventual winners Charles Scott and Giles Guthrie, but missed a navigation point in Rhodesia, hidden by smoke from bushfires and decided to make a precautionary

30 | FLYER | Summer 2020

Walter, naturally, which gave it the proper long-nosed period racer look), but which tragically was destroyed in a fatal crash. Thus far Beale had spent his proper-job time building up Innomech, a high-tech engineering group based on the Isle of Ely, specialising in robotic machinery for the medical profession. Clearly, it’s a successful enterprise, but come the early noughties one whose founder had a 60th birthday looming. “I had already tried to hand over control but I kept interfering…” It’s a familiar tale involving driven individuals… However, the loss of the Titch meant David was without a proper ‘hooligan’s machine’, a desire that belied his scholarly appearance. It’s something he had coveted since his days flying control-line models.

landing. In the confusion, Halse chose a field near Bomobohama in Rhodesia and hit an ant hill which flipped the aircraft over. When the crew returned the following morning to try and recover it, they found most of the aircraft had been eaten by presumably angry termites. The remains apparently ended up as an exhibit in a South African Flying Club.

G-AEKL was seriously damaged in a tragic accident before the Schlesinger race began. The aircraft, which had been finished in a black and white colour scheme which didn’t really flatter its lines, was sponsored by Liverpool Council and due to be flown in the race by Tom Campbell-Black. He took the aeroplane to Speke so it could be christened with champagne, but while taxying out, Flying Officer Peter Salter didn’t see the Mew beneath the nose of his Hawker Hart and taxied straight into it. The unfortunate Campbell-Black was fatally injured and died in the ambulance on the way to hospital. The aircraft was returned to Percival where it was repaired and sold to Schlesinger winner Giles Guthrie who raced it successfully before it went eventually to Jim Mollison. He was preparing it for another record event but German bombs at Lympne put paid to that. G-AEKL may have been lost but its registration lives on, or nearly. Quite why the CAA couldn’t reissue the original mark is a bureaucratic mystery, but G-HEKL was as close as Beale could get.

G-ACND survived almost until the end of the war, when it was damaged by de Havilland who were using it for propeller tests. G- ACND’s end was more ignominious, painted in Luftwaffe livery and burnt in a post-war celebration at Percival’s factory in Luton.

The final evolution of the Mew Gull was the E3, a later attempt by Edgar Percival to compete with his own Mew Gulls, which had been paid for by customers. Percival had by then left Gravesend and moved to Luton in Bedfordshire, later to become Hunting and finally, British Aircraft Corporation in 1960. David Beale says he would really rather have built an E3, but an extensive search failed to uncover any drawings. The LAA had stated firmly that even if dimensionally similar, an E3 made without original drawings would be a new build rather than a replica, and would be subject to all the necessary stress calculations, so in the words of LAA Chief Engineer Francis Donaldson, it was ‘probably best not to go there…’

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 31

Turbine Maule Grumman Widgeon M-7-420AC

Above Gipsy Six is slim but heavy, adds nearly 500lb. Blade angle on DH constant speed propeller was increased by three degrees to cope with huge speed range Left Rudder is super light, note mass balance Below Period-style gauges have removable fronts that hide more modern equipment…

32 | FLYER | Summer 2020

A new Mew

The surviving Mew Gull G-AEXF (one of five), which has now finally settled at Old Warden was not for sale, the Miles Speed Six he says was ‘too big and too ugly’, and there were no drawings anywhere for the French Caudron with the impossibly long nose, which is something of a holy grail for would-be race replica builders.

While browsing the classifieds one day, David saw an advert for a Mew Gull replica project, for sale as it turned out by Tony Ditheridge, better known then as Hawker Restorations, renowned rebuilders of Hurricanes. Like many such tales, there are many stumbles and detours along the way, but eventually a deal was struck for a fuselage, plus a crate containing an unused Gipsy Six engine intended for a Miles Mentor, but never used. The fuselage turned out to have been built by Ken Fern – renowned serial wooden aircraft builder, currently well-advanced in the recreation of a twin-engined DH Comet racer recreation, the inspiration for which flies at Old Warden alongside G-AEXF. Fern had built David’s fuselage to airworthy standard using drawings created by Tom Storey, sometime restorer of AEXF, plus Ken had done some drawings and sketches of his own, all of which would go with the project. David asked Ditheridge for a price to complete the job, and was told £100,000. ‘I should have bitten his hand off…’. Instead, David made enquiries about wings, and the early advice was clear. Go to someone who has done them before… More research revealed why that might be the case, the spars were immensely complex with a mixture of Ash centre and Spruce outer, incorporating the sweepback and the dihedral.

Some of it also aligned with the airfoil section of the wing, but none offered a parallel surface anywhere along its length.

Turbine Maule M-7-420AC

All of it necessary to provide the strength within a slim high-speed aerofoil section required for a racing aeroplane which will turn tight with a full fuel load. It would later prove a bonus for Alex Henshaw who was likely to encounter some pretty shabby weather between England and Africa, and would clearly not want to compromise his navigation.

Thunderstorms were to be flown through, if necessary…

Roger Burrows of Wattisham came recommended as the go-to wing man and was entrusted with the construction, a decision with which Beale became increasingly appreciative as the project progressed.

Each 11 gallon wing tank had to be made before the wing was completed, and David discovered several different drawings for these. Tankage was an essential part of the Mew Gull’s development and establishment of the aircraft’s 1,000 mile-plus capability. There is an additional 33 gallon tank in front of the pilot and Percival’s original design showed another tank in the rear fuselage, which Henshaw apparently used, but for which David can’t find any drawings. There’s no doubt the aircraft could accommodate one. David says the Mew Gull is, “Very light on the tail without the pilot’s weight, and if you started the engine without anyone sitting in the cockpit, it would likely go straight over on its nose. I can load the shelf behind the seats with anything I might need for a long trip.” He adds, “And we still can’t get the CofG anywhere near the aft limit…”

That’s something I encountered with my Miles Messenger, but it was the point in our discussion when, what might have seemed like an extravagant obsession to build a massively impractical single-seater that’s short on cockpit space and tricky to land, suddenly made perfect sense…

“I have a friend in the South of France,” David adds,

“and I can get all the way there, and back, without refuelling…” I thought about that in a quiet moment afterwards. At 6,000ft, the six-cylinder Gipsy is rated for full throttle (with mixture leaned to suit – Henshaw apparently had two mixture controls which rather underlines the need), so that’s around two and a bit hours of flying at 200mph-plus with an iPhone suckered to the canopy to keep you out of airspace, and enough room for a couple of cases of finest Burgundy on the way back, wedged in behind by your overnight bag and briefcase. Possibly something rorty like an RV-8 might be able to get close, but it’s certainly not as fast, and it definitely wouldn’t have the same ambiance…

Nothing whatsoever could affect that. You’d be sitting behind an inverted British engine, making the trip in a style, which nobody has done probably since the 1930s.

Meanwhile, the Ken Fern fuselage had apparently been modified to accommodate the American who had paid for it.

David asked if it could be returned to original dimensions, which Ken said it could. David now had the major parts underway, but as anybody who has ever built anything that drives or flies, there’s at least as much work still to go, probably more. All the metal fittings had to be machined, cut, folded and welded, and for the cowls and fairings, rolled from aluminium. There are no fibreglass parts anywhere on the aeroplane. David chose to do all of that himself using his engineering skills, plus a few he had to acquire, like use of an English Wheel to roll the curved bits, which included the massive spats. He was sensible though, concerning things that were better left to someone with the experience, such as aluminium welding… By then, and on a practical note, he had reached an agreement with the most recent management of his company, beginning with one day a

Above Brackets for the undercarriage legs took three attempts to ensure they were vertical, despite the dihedral. The view ahead is better than advertised, but was less so for Henshaw and the lowline canopy version on G-AEXF. The original canopy height was determined by Edgar Percival’s trilby, without which he never flew…

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 33

Percival Mew Gull replica

Above Six years and 10,000 hours of effort – what a result! David Beale’s modern-day Mew Gull is a stunning and pulse-quickening machine…

Left Large rudder, small fin, quick response. Mew is also light in pitch.

Henshaw says it was frightening with weight of rear tank added Below David moves with the help of a dolly, but note tiny wheel on skid to cope with taxiways when landing away. The Mew was never designed to operate on tarmac

34 | FLYER | Summer 2020

week completely away from the business of which he was (and still is) chairman, increasing to two, then three until he retired completely from executive duty, a date which would coincide with his 60th birthday.

Parts and systems

The wheels came from a Piper Pacer which uses the required 600X6 tyre size, albeit with a much larger sidewall profile and are fitted with small drums similar to the Dunlop originals. Despite an extensive search the real things had proved elusive, the fork which mounts them came from a Piper Aztec and perfectly replicates the genuine item. There is more, so much more. Someone had turned the crankshaft of the Gipsy engine so the inhibiting had been disturbed, the bores had gone rusty and it needed a top overhaul. Another load of work, which is easy to say, but took me months on my Blackburn which has four rather than six cylinders. The bigger Gipsy is effectively a Major like the one in the Chipmunk but with two extra cylinders – an inverted engine typical of the period. Oil is held in a separate tank – obviously – because the sump is effectively on top of the engine, and because the crankshaft (which drives the hydraulic constant-speed de Havilland propeller directly) is at the top and the cylinders inline, the engine continues that long sleek look of an already narrow fuselage.

All of it had to be plumbed in, the engine connected to the three fuel tanks and the cockpit had to be fitted out.

There were drawings for details like the power and mixture levers, but all had to be made, welded, painted and plated.

Everything except the spade grip for the stick which came from a Vega Gull, just like it did in period. And the wiring, the cockpit glazing with its polished aluminium joiners…

The original Mew Gull was one of the first to use acrylic for the canopy, but David opted for polycarbonate for the front section. As he says, the consequences of a pheasant strike at 220mph were worth avoiding.

After six years and more than 10,000 hours, the aircraft was finally painted – 36 coats of dope, each hand-rubbed in between, plus one major gremlin when the dope soaked through the plywood, sagged it, then set… Had to be removed and replaced with one grade thicker, covered with fabric, then the 36 coat process repeated from the beginning.

Then yet more than is easy to say or write, but takes an age to do, until finally it was done. The major fuselage parts and engine installation had been completed and painted in David’s garage next to the house. David had helped Roger Burrows to finish the wings at Wattisham, which David then painted in a gazebo erected in his hangar at Witchford Farm where they were to be mated with the fuselage. Which he says, was a nightmare… Like drilling the 56 1/4in holes for the wing attachment, which required the manufacture of a four-foot long drill. Four feet… Which needs a guide, otherwise the slightest deviation in angle ensures the other end of the hole will be inches away from the matching plate.

There were three alternative drawings for the undercarriage fitting plates, so guess which one proved to be correct? More, that is again, easy to say. Engine installation, fuel system, oil system, wiring, test runs, systems checked again and again.

And when that’s all done, it might finally be time to prepare for the test flight. This would be the culmination of all David’s work, the fulfillment of a desire fired by those model flying days, the replacement for his Titch and a fitting epitaph to the two men who provided encouragement throughout. One of them would have probably test flown the Mew Gull. This was what it was all for.

Finally, flight…

David says he now knows the Titch flying experience is much like the Mew Gull’s – amazing that the 105hp Walter provides a similar power-to-weight ratio – but sensibly, he decided to ask a professional test pilot to conduct the initial phase, and Charlie Huke was the lucky man. David says he wasn’t worried about Charlie taking the controls – which I guess is why you ask a professional – and other than that the undercarriage oleos proved lacking in pressure so they were too soft, there were no fundamental design problems surfacing years later having been masked by a brilliant pilot.

Stick to the drawings and there shouldn’t be, like Captain Edgar said, but I’m guessing it was good to find out. The official test flying was done at Henlow in Bedfordshire, which once offered the largest grass flying area in the Summer 2020 | FLYER | 35

Percival Mew Gull replica

J

Cross words

ack Cross was a well-known air racing mechanic and proprietor of Essex Aero at Gravesend. He was already servicing AEXF and wrote to Henshaw, saying that for the princely sum of £175, he could definitely make the Mew Gull 25mph faster… It’s the kind of offer no racer can ignore and Henshaw agreed. Cross made a number of mechanical and aerodynamic changes, the more obvious ones involving reduction of the canopy’s height to be almost level with the turtle deck and strapping up the undercarriage legs to pull them up and reduce drag. David Beale says Cross did something else on the underbelly but can’t find out exactly what it was, but the results were clear. Henshaw won the 1937 King’s Cup at record speed.

Edgar Percival was distinctly unimpressed despite the success and when Tom Storey and Martin Barraclough completed the first rebuild in the 1980s, Edgar Percival refused to go and see the aeroplane at Old Warden unless Messrs Cross and Henshaw were definitely not present. He had apparently remarked that they had ruined a perfectly good aeroplane, and how dare they call it a Mew Gull… They had taken an aeroplane with almost no forward visibility, and made it worse…

The less obvious change to AEXF was the installation of a very rare and exclusive Gipsy Six ‘type R’ engine, specially produced for racing by de Havilland for the Comets, but with an additional hike in compression ratio by Cross to somewhere around 7:1. Power output was not quoted, but probably somewhere close to 260hp. That plus a French Ratier variable pitch propeller with extremely thin blades which was known to be some 10mph faster than de Havilland’s option – essentially a licence-built hydraulic constant-speed American Hamilton Standard.

The Ratier was about four inches longer, which normally necessitated a very long spinner, but the Cross solution was an extension inside a longer nosebowl to accommodate the de

36 | FLYER | Summer 2020

Havilland when it was required by the King’s Cup regulations that mandated British built parts.

Over 70 years later, events appear to prove that Cross was a better salesman than aerodynamicist, and that Cpt Percival was correct in his assessment. Beale’s aeroplane is fitted with a standard 205hp Gipsy, (AEXF has a probable five horsepower advantage), but despite that, whenever they fly in formation, David can draw away at will. The 1938 results also prove the old adage that there ain’t no substitute… Whoever said there ain’t no substitute for horsepower, was also right, as the 1938 results prove, but they also prove that the aeroplane could have been faster if Cross had just fitted the engine and left the rest alone.

On the other hand, £175 was a tidy sum at the time… The Cross modifications may not have been aerodynamically effective – David reckons they were even counter, because the canopy profile added some aerodynamic lift, rather like the Gee Bee Racer’s barrel fuselage, or for students of the left field, the aerofoil fuselage shape of Steve Wittman’s Tailwind, and the Sorrell Hiperbipe. I’ve owned one of each and they don’t fly like they look…

AEXF has retained the shorter legs, and the Shuttleworth pilots (who have also flown David’s Mew Gull) say it’s easier to place the aircraft on the ground because the shallower attitude allows it to touch wheels before it stalls in ground effect. HEKL’s taller stance means the aircraft will be more tail down when David tries a three-pointer, which risks a vicious wing drop, or the alternative which is to risk a very long float. The Mew Gull stalls energetically at 90mph, but can only be persuaded to land at 85, which is not a very large window. David favours wheeling it on, which is a technique I now employ with almost everything these days, unless I’m trying to get in somewhere a bit short. Always best to check whether I can get out again, but watching David’s rocket-like departure from North Coates that seemed to be a much lesser Mew Gull concern…

TECH SPECS

country and Huke worked methodically through the programme as expected, until one day, he taxied in, switched off and climbed out, asserting, ‘that’s all OK, now it’s your turn. Just remember that at 300ft, the airfield completely disappears…’ It was, David says, already an intimidating prospect without that little nugget.

He survived it, and has clearly gone on to master the beast. There are 230 Mew Gull hours in his log book now, or ‘only 10 less than Alex Henshaw’s’, which sounds much more impressive. A record, which Henshaw would have been very happy to concede, just as he so graciously surrendered his Cape record in 2009.

So, David, tell us what it was like. “It’s really nice…” he says, implying there’s nothing particular about the flying experience that’s frightening or remarkable, other than it is as lively as you’d expect. “It’s very light in pitch, and feather light on the rudder… and it wants to turn right all the time.

If you took your feet off the pedals, it would smack your head against the canopy,” he says. “I couldn’t find any drawings for a rudder trim, or any evidence they ever fitted one, and it does get tiring flying any distance with one pedal pressed, even though it’s very light. There are stirrups on the pedals, and sometimes I give my leg a rest by pulling on the opposite one…” Predictably, it was putting it back on the ground, which David says requires most concentration, especially when you can’t see where that might be. He says the most important thing is to approach at exactly 90mph, mindful of the fact it stalls at 85. Approach at 95 and it simply won’t land, any less and it will hit hard. “There’s a really, really vicious tip stall,” he says, “I have touched a wingtip…” The best technique is to wheel it on, so he can put the wheels on the numbers “...and then you’ve got drag to slow you down.

And remember to pull the prop back to coarse…” Looking at the angle of the feathered blades, I can see how that might be. “If you don’t, it will float. Took me a while to learn that.

I do it just when I think the wheels are ready to touch…”

Our interview over, the Gipsy fired on the second blade, cracking and popping, spitting flame from the six stubs as David carefully weaved down the taxiway. There’s a tailskid lock which he says is essential for a heavy aeroplane like the Mew, or the Pacer drums which are the only means of steering would simply overheat. The Gull disappeared from view, hidden by the slight bow in the runway, and then after a brief pause, it burst into view, already airborne, soaring skywards, I reckon at 2,000ft a minute plus. The bark of the engine slid down an octave as he pulled back the prop, and the elegantly tapered planform disappeared behind the hangars. A minute or so later it reappeared 500ft above the runway then the mandatory zoom as he left the circuit. It’s the fastest thing I’ve ever seen leaving North Coates, and that includes the many RVs which regularly have to go round. I watched the tail flick left as David apparently made himself more comfortable for the trip, skidding the Mew out of sight. And then he was gone. A red speck heading into a clear blue sky. I looked back at the vintage North Coates hangar, unchanged since it was built. It could all have been the 1930s… If I ever needed another reason to want a Mew Gull, that was it.

Mew Gull

Modern-day recreated racer This is the E3, the final evolution of the Mew Gull, that David wanted to build, but no drawings existed…

Performance

Max speed (Vne) 265mph Max cruise speed 205 @2100 rpm/-3psi (now tend to cruise 195-200 @ 2050/-3) Best climb speed 120mph Stall speed (clean/full flap) 87mph clean 82 full flap Take-off distance 200m Landing distance Depends on surface soft grass 250m – dry hard grass 800m) Not suitable for tarmac!

Rate of climb 2,000-2,400ft/m Range 1,000nm with reserve Fuel burn 40-45 l/hr (9-10g/hr) cruise

Weights & loading

Seats 1 Max take-off 1,950lb (could be up to 2,100lb if wanted) Empty 1,390lb, with full oil and no fuel 1,420lb Baggage Space limits weight 40lb David Beale notes he is light so carries tools in the baggage locker, else he’s on the forward CG limit even wearing a parachute Fuel capacity 250l (55gal)

Dimensions

Wingspan 24ft 9in Length 20ft 3in Height 6ft 10in

Spec

Airframe Wood/Fabric Engine DH Gipsy Six-2 Max power 210bhp at 2,400rpm Prop DH PD30-211-1 VP prop Avionics Period equipment includes Husun compass, stopwatch, ASI, altimeter, rpm, oil P, CHT, Manifold Temp, Manifold pressure, Turn/slip, DI. Hydrostatic fuel gauge. Cleverly hidden from view behind ‘fake’ gauges are a radio and transponder Undercarriage Main gear Lockheed/ Dowty oleomatic plus lockable tailskid

Above The Mew Gull looks fast, even when sitting on the ground…

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 37

My First Solo

Paul Dye

Having rebuilt it himself, Paul Dye knew everything about the aircraft he learned flying in…

Words by Yayeri van Baarsen

Solo stats NASA’s longest-serving flight director Paul Dye has written a book about his time at Mission Control.

When: 9 July 1975 Where: Anoka County Airport (Minnesota, USA) Aircraft: J-3 Cub Hours at solo: 6.5 Hours now: Approx. 6,000

How did you get into aviation?

I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t fascinated with flying. According to my mum, my first word was ‘airpoo’, when seeing an aeroplane fly over. I grew up in the early 1960s building model aircraft and rockets. When a local FBO bought a couple of wrecked J-3 Cubs, I helped restore them. For every two hours of work, we’d get one hour flight time, only having to pay for fuel and oil. I was still in high school back then, on Friday nights when other kids went cruising in cars my friends and I would go flying.

How did your flight training go?

It was an absolute joy. I was ready, as I had spent so many years learning and dreaming about flying. I knew everything about the aircraft, having rebuilt it myself. My instructor was more of a coach, he often just let me do it. I learned in Anoka County, a fairly large airfield with a couple of 5,000ft runways and a huge open grass area. Grass was easier on the tyres, so most of the time we didn’t use the tarmac.

How did you feel during your first solo?

Extremely concentrated. When my instructor told me to do three touch-and-goes, I realised, ‘There’s no one here to help, I have to do this right’. The flight was wonderful. A light aircraft such as the Cub flies much better with just one person in it. Afterwards I was so excited I almost ran my instructor over when

taxying back. I was intensely focused on getting my solo flight right. One of my traits is being able to concentrate fiercely.

What was it like being the last Mission Controller for NASA on the Space Shuttle Program?

I also needed the ability to focus completely.

You’re concentrating until the very end of each mission, making sure you’ve covered all bases.

I was fortunate to have received almost all astronaut training, including lots of simulator time. A tremendous amount of knowledge is needed for flying the shuttle, the same as for any other complicated aircraft. The difference, however, is that there are millions of flying hours done in a 747, whereas the shuttle is still experimental. You’d always keep an open mind and be on the lookout for any surprises.

Like Chris Kraft and Gene Kranz, I have written a book about my time at NASA. It is called Shuttle, Houston: Life in the Center Seat of Mission Control (published 14 July) and gives a behind-the-scenes look of what it’s like working in Mission Control. It includes memories and stories about the years we flew to Mir, plus things we learned while training and executing missions.

Did any lessons from that work carry over into your flying?

Definitely. At work, we had a theory that the first answer is always wrong, so you shouldn’t do the right thing too early. This works in

“I was so excited I almost ran my instructor over when taxying back” 38 | FLYER | Summer 2020

aircraft too. Flying a Grumman Yankee home after visiting my parents 30 years ago, I was in clouds climbing at 9,000ft when suddenly I heard a huge bang behind me. I thought I’d lost the engine or blown a cylinder, so I pushed the nose over. However, my instruments indicated all was OK. What happened was that the little Mylar Happy Birthday balloon my mother gave me had exploded…

I also learned about mitigating risks. Flying is risky. With the space shuttle you’re dealing with a national asset and the crews’ lives, so you don’t want any unknown risks. It’s OK to take risks, but they have to be smart. It’s the same in aviation – wondering which aircraft to fly to Columbia (California), I consider the mountainous terrain I have to cross, extremely rugged with nowhere to land in case of trouble.

So I take the jet, which has a parachute.

You’re a prolific homebuilder. How many aircraft have you completed?

With my wife, also a pilot and homebuilder, we’ve five finished aircraft and are working on the sixth, a Xenos motor glider.

We have an RV-3, RV-6, RV-8, Dream Tundra and a SubSonex jet. Currently, the jet is my darling. Last year I flew it to Oshkosh, which took two days and eight field stops.

In this world, there are builders and pilots, I’m both. The first flight in an aircraft you’ve built is exciting. It’s the pinnacle of a lot of work. You’re so well prepared that hopefully the flight itself is straightforward, but there’s a huge subjective part which makes it memorable.

What do you love most about flying?

Apart from the speed and the freedom to manoeuvre in three dimensions, it’s the ability to look over the Earth. Flying is also about exploring. Especially in experimental aviation, it’s always pushing the edges of what humans know.

Electric reality?

40 | FLYER | Summer 2020

TECHNICAL

To turn back or not?

Prompted by two particular accidents, David Joyce examined 20 years of statistics for engine failure after take-off accidents in the UK, and wonders if a new approach is need to turning back after an engine failure on take-off...

With comments by Steve Ayres – FLYER’s new Safety Editor ILLUSTRATION Enriques Sifuentes

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 41

EFATO - To turn back or not?

T

he year 2017 was a good flying one for me, with a trip to the Arctic among other things, but two tragic incidents have really stuck in my mind – both of them fatalities following engine failure after take-off. One was a long-term friend with more than 1,100 hours flying his own Europa aircraft from his home strip, (which had very bleak land ahead prospects). He appears to have had partial engine failure at around 150ft, was seen to initiate a turn and spin to his death.

The other was of an instructor flying a Tiger Moth from his home airfield. This happened to have been witnessed by another friend of mine who described an identical sequence of events. So the question that troubled me was: ‘Why would two very experienced pilots flying familiar aircraft in familiar circumstances initiate a turn without sufficient airspeed following an engine failure at a low level?’

After chewing over this question for some time, I decided that in this area of deeply held beliefs, a bit of research into the facts of EFATO would not go amiss.

Consequently, I have done my best to find answers or at least some better insight into the matter by going through the UK AAIB reports of all EFATO incidents reported over the last 20 years.

Analysis of all EFATO Incidents reported by UK AAIB Jan 1998 – Dec 2017 I have used the search facility on the AAIB website for the phrase ‘Engine Failure after Take Off’ in the ‘General Aviation, Fixed-Wing’ category for the last 20 years ( Jan 1998 – Dec 2017). The AAIB search engine is not especially sophisticated and it threw up just over 1,000 items, which included all manner of failures not related to EFATO. However, going through these methodically revealed 88 cases of EFATO, which I defined as either complete or partial engine failure at or below 1,000ft during the

“More than half of all UK pilots in 20 years of AAIB reported engine failure after take-off incidents actually turned back” 42 | FLYER | Summer 2020

take-off or go-around phase of flight. I recorded aircraft type and registration, height of failure, complete or partial, licence and hours experience of pilot, whether the pilot landed ahead, give or take 30°, or turned, degree of damage to aircraft and degree of injury to the pilot/ passenger, (and I recorded it as a fatal crash if at least one person was killed). The main findings were as follows: Table 1: Partial or Complete Engine Failure

Partial Complete Number: 49 (64%) 39 (36%) Fatal crashes: 9 6 Mortality Rate 18.4% 15.4% There are nearly twice as many partial compared with complete engine failures and the mortality rate was slightly higher for partial failure (although the difference is not statistically significant).

Table 2: Turn Back or Land Ahead

Turned Back Land Ahead Total 46 (52%) 42 (48%) Fatal Crashes 13 2 Mortality Rate 28% 4.8% Slightly more pilots turned back than landed ahead, and the crude mortality rate was much higher in those turning back. Superficially this seems to justify the standard teaching of always landing ahead, but one cannot sensibly make that conclusion on the basis of these figures.

It is very possible, indeed highly probable, that the situation ahead and around was more daunting (and therefore dangerous) for those who turned, so that we are not comparing ‘like with like’. There is also the possibility that a number of those turning back, possibly a large number, made it safely to the airfield and therefore did not come to the attention of the AAIB. The most important point for me is that in fact more than half of the pilots went against standard teaching and did turn back.

Table 3: Partial/Complete Engine Failure & Turned

/Land Ahead Numbers of aircraft and mortality rate in brackets

Turned Back Land Ahead Partial Failure 32 (28%) 17 (Nil) Complete Failure 14 (29%) 25 (8%) With partial failure, nearly twice as many turned back as landed ahead, whereas with complete failure the numbers were roughly equal. It seems clear (and logical) that partial engine failure tempts the pilot to think that he is more likely to be able to return to the airfield.

FLYER Safety comment: The trouble is that we are human and we all like to think we might just be able to get back to the airfield. The reality is though, unless we can make around 1,500ft abeam the touchdown point, we aren’t going to guarantee a glide landing if the engine then fails completely. With enough partial power to maintain height, a low level circuit might just be possible – but think very hard before throwing away an into-wind forced landing option.

Table 4: Height of Engine Failure vs Decision

& Mortality Numbers of aircraft and mortality rate in brackets

100ft or less 101-500ft >500ft Turned Back 9 (33%) 31 (26%) 7 (14%) Land Ahead 23 (Nil) 16 (13%) 2 (Nil) Not surprisingly a higher proportion turned back at the greater heights. The difference in mortality of those experiencing failure at 100ft or less is striking, but probably misleading. Clearly no one is going to want to turn at such a low level. The land ahead group mostly landed on the runway, whereas those turning were possibly presented with an impossible prospect ahead, having gone beyond the point where they could land ahead on the runway.

FLYER Safety comment: It is difficult to ignore our instincts in the heat of a stressful moment so consider briefing the options before take-off. One pilot spent a day walking the local area and came back with a large satellite map showing good, mediocre and bad forced landing options. These were considered on every trip in relation to the runway in use and prevailing wind, sometimes those decisions were height banded too. Give it some thought in the calm of pre-flight.

Table 5: Numbers of Fatal Cases at different

Failure Heights Height up to 100ft 200ft 300ft 400ft 500ft 600ft Complete Failure 1 3 2 0 0 0 Partial Failure 3 2 0 3 0 1 Three-quarters of the deaths were associated with engine failure at 300ft or less and there were none above 600ft.

Table 6: Aircraft Damage and Pilot Injury vs.

Decision and Damage to Aircraft Injury

Slight Moderate Write Off N Turned 17% 39% 44% Land Ahead 7% 50% 33%

Injury to Pilot

None Moderate Serious Death Turned 52% 13% 7% 28% Land Ahead 64% 26% 5% 5%

Damage to the aircraft was slightly greater in those turning and there were slightly more serious injuries and significantly more deaths in those turning. The proportion of pilots with no injuries at all was of some comfort. Caution is again necessary in relation to the injury and mortality rates for landing ahead or turning because of the likelihood that the circumstances and landing possibilities were less favourable for the turn back group.

Table 7: Experience (hours logged) vs % aircraft

Written Off and Mortality Hours Logged < 400hrs 400-999hrs 1,000+ hrs Aircraft written off 29% 54% 37% Mortality Rate 9.7% 25% 17.8%

Above Turn back or land straight ahead? It’s the big question for a pilot having an Engine Failure After Take Off (EFATO) event

There was a clear pattern of both major damage to the aircraft and deaths being more common in those with hours in the mid-range of 400-1,000 hours.

Table 8: Overall Mortality Rates related to Age Groups Pilot age < 40 yrs 40- 59 yrs 60+ yrs Number 20 36 32 Fatal events 1 (5%) 7 (19.4%) 7 (21.9%) There was a heavy concentration of pilots in the 50-70 years range, and the pattern of deaths broadly mirrored the age distribution. The differences between the 40-59 and the 60+ age groups is not statistically significant. However, without figures for the age distribution of GA pilots in general it is difficult to make much of this. It may be that the younger age group are predominantly flying aircraft belonging to a club, whereas more of the older groups are flying their own. Old age (that is post-retirement age) does not seem to be a major factor in risk.

Type of Pilot’s Licence There were five with ATPL, 12 with CPL, 70 with PPL or NPPL and one student. There were 14 deaths in the PPL/ NPPL group (20%), one in the CPLs (nine per cent) and none in the ATPL or student groups. The numbers are too low in the groups other than the PPLs to draw any significant conclusions.

Why did they turn?

The answer to this question is rarely provided in the AAIB reports, but in a few there are vivid accounts from the pilot of how impossible or awful things looked ahead – trees, cliffs or stone walls.

Two of the aircraft taking off from seaside airports ditched, with the pilot and crew surviving. Another pilot died when (perhaps with hindsight) he should have chosen to land ahead and ditch.

There are two things which stand out in this study: ■ Firstly, in all of the fatalities – and a good number of the survivors – it is clear that the pilot lost sight of maintaining adequate flying speed.

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 43

EFATO - To turn back or not?

“This study of 20 years of UK occurrences makes it untenable to claim that it is just the occasional oddball or bad pilot who decides to turn” ■ Secondly, a high proportion of pilots of all levels of experience and training turned when they experienced an EFATO, therefore undertaking what was almost certainly a totally unpractised manoeuvre It is clear that both my friend and the instructor were not unusual in their decision to start turning – they were in fact part of a modest majority of those confronted with an EFATO. This study of 20 years of UK occurrences makes it untenable to claim that it is just the occasional oddball or bad pilot who decides to turn.

Turning back not only goes directly against standard teaching, but also goes against standard practice (or lack of it!). In my training, skills testing, revalidation flights, and what I hear of others, it was the norm to do a practise EFATO from a couple of hundred feet or so, with the explicit expectation that you will land/crash ahead within a narrow sector, with key learning points to get the nose down and remember to switch off the electrics. I have never heard

of any of my friends ever being encouraged to practise any sort of turn back manoeuvre from any height, and very few have any idea of what height they need to contemplate turning back.

FLYER Safety comment: We should not underestimate the stress of handling an engine emergency close to the ground. Even those with thousands of hours get it horribly wrong. Much of what we do in those first few seconds needs to be practised over and over so that the basics are done correctly. They start with selecting the right gliding attitude. If we really must manoeuvre, then for most aircraft the speed must be increased by at least 5kt once the bank angle increases above 30°. This highly banked nose low attitude takes much skill to perfect and as David points out, statistics prove that few get it right. It should only be attempted by the most competent and well-practised.

Prevention So what can ordinary pilots do to prevent such a thing happening to us?

Ideally of course we should prevent an EFATO happening, and this certainly emphasises the need to have your aeroplane in good mechanical order. There were several cases in this series where it was apparent that the pilot was flying with an engine that he knew was not working properly or with some non-approved modification.

But I will leave mechanical considerations for others to pursue and will concentrate on preventing the serious consequences of such an occurrence by addressing the two issues highlighted above.

In all of the fatalities it was pretty clear that the pilot lost sight of speed control and was not brought to his senses by the whining of a standard stall warner squeaking somewhere outside his (probably noise cancelling) headset.

This is understandable in the light of psychological studies, which show that in high stress situations the mind will focus extremely narrowly on a single issue to the exclusion of all else, as if saying, ‘Go away, leave me alone, I am not listening, I have to find a landing site’. With the aeroplane still trimmed nose up and with very tense arms on the controls, it is all too easy to see how speed decays.

What is needed here is some system that is loud and forceful enough to cut through that narrow focus when speed decays dangerously. In Permit Aircraft it is now fairly common for aircraft to be fitted with a SmartASS or an EFIS with a low speed/residual lift system generally based on Angle of Attack and all producing forceful spoken messages through the pilot’s headset, and mostly accompanied by very noticeable visual warnings. There would be clear advantages for such systems to be retrofitted to all aircraft, whether certified or flying on a Permit.

FLYER Safety comment: Sadly, as David mentioned earlier, many of these safety systems are ignored in the heat of the moment.

Consequently, there can be no substitute for supervised practise in a safe environment. Selecting and monitoring a gliding attitude under extreme angles of bank so as to execute a properly balanced turn is crucial to success. If you are not certain you can do it on the day, don’t even contemplate it…

Above Should PPLs be taught – as are glider pilots – to consider and practise the turn back? It’s controversial

44 | FLYER | Summer 2020

The second issue is more complex and clearly controversial, but I believe this is where we can all go a long way to avoid

Electric reality?

ourselves becoming a statistic. With the evidence from the AAIB presented above, all of us should accept that we (or our students) may find ourselves in an EFATO situation where we feel that we have no option but to turn. It follows from this that we should know how best to turn and have practised it. In an informal survey of pilot friends and acquaintances in the area, I asked them what is the best way (in terms of minimising height loss) to turn if they find they have to.

They had widely varying views, but none (out of about 30) came up with the answer, which was that to turn with minimal height loss, one should turn with 45° bank, (no less and certainly no more) and as slowly as you safely can.

Yet this has been amply demonstrated about 20 years ago by a very smart professor from the U.S. Naval Academy, David F. Rogers (Google: ‘The possible impossible turn’). There is another likely advantage of choosing a 45° bank. Most pilots who have not had extensive gliding experience will probably have fairly rudimentary rudder coordination skills and will tend to over-rudder a shallow banked turn and under-rudder a steep turn, offering a bit of spin protection.

The large majority of my friends felt the best way to turn back would be to use a fairly shallow bank angle – generally 20° or 30° – and virtually all chose best glide speed. Such a turn involves a large turn radius and loses up to twice as much height as a 45° bank slow turn. For my own aeroplane the figures are shown below. Several of my friends who have put it to the test in their own aircraft confirm this sort of difference. It should not need much thought to realise that embarking on a turn from below 600ft in a manner destined to lose 700ft is a recipe for disaster!

Table 9: Loss of Height performing a gliding

‘P’ turn in various configurations flying Europa Monowheel G-XSDJ Airspeed Bank angle 30 degrees Bank angle 45 degrees

70kt 60kt 55kt*

680ft 460ft 490ft

480ft 400ft 400ft

*gear and flaps down

Points worth making about this include: a) There appears there is a clear benefit to banking at 45°.

For my aircraft there is no benefit in having flaps down, except that this gives a higher margin over stall, plus being in landing configuration with less energy of impact. The Europa Monowheel has linked flaps and undercarriage and flaps are always fully up or fully down, and when down are accompanied by the undercarriage with its appreciable extra drag. Aircraft with flaps independent of undercarriage are likely to find a clear benefit flying with take off or landing flap. b) These figures are for a ‘P’ turn, turning 225° to point 45° beyond the runway centreline and then doing a turn reversal and turning 45° in the other direction to regain the runway centreline. It is relatively difficult to do this in a strictly repeatable way and readers may find it more reliable to experiment measuring height loss in a complete 360° turn over some linear feature.

“Apart from the choice of a bank angle of 45° there is no universal answer as to optimum speed or configuration” c) It is generally reckoned that a stopped propeller causes less drag than a windmilling one, so real EFATO performance should be better than engine idling practise gives. My own Woodcomp SR3000 W propeller will not stop windmilling with the engine off and at speeds down to 50kt, so I cannot prove the theory. d) All of the above tests were done with the CS prop in Climb mode, fully fine, which would be the likely case in any EFATO. Glide performance is actually appreciably better with the propeller fully coarse but it is totally inappropriate to contemplate considering playing with propeller pitch in the overstressed, overworked circumstances of an EFATO. My own aeroplane has measured engine idling glide ratio of 1-10.3 in fine pitch and 1-13 in coarse. It might be valuable to be aware of this if you have an engine failure at height in mid Channel but not with an EFATO. FLYER Safety comment David is correct, in that glide performance is usually improved if coarse pitch can be achieved although whether it can for real will depend on the type of failure experienced and your engine/prop/governor combination. If it is the case following an engine failure, partial or otherwise, then it might help to have already practised in that configuration first. Especially as the whole glide pattern can look very different due to the reduced glide angle and that in turn makes judging an accurate touchdown point more difficult.

However, as David rightly points out these can be challenging and unfamiliar environments in which sticking with the familiar is often the safest option. Even in the simulated case it is important to remember that the engine will not respond well and may be damaged if the throttle is opened before the pitch lever is moved back to Fine/High on the practice go-around. Speed will also decay as the drag rises before the engine bites, so be prepared to lower the nose further momentarily.

Apart from the choice of a bank angle of 45° there is no universal answer to what is the optimum speed or configuration to turn – it depends entirely on the aeroplane’s characteristics and also on the pilot’s abilities – but probably 10kt above stall speed is a reasonable starting point. Of course, it is critical to remember that your stall speed at 45° is increased by a factor of 1.189 or by 20 per

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 45

EFATO - To turn back or not?

“Land ahead if at all possible, but be prepared to find that prospects ahead look so bad that you will find yourself deciding to turn” cent in round terms, and to a lesser extent by having the aeroplane heavily loaded. You need to discover what you are comfortable with for yourself.

Height loss in a ‘P’ turn that could get you back to land on the reciprocal of your take-off runway is somewhat less than the height loss produced by a 360° turn. It is a pretty straightforward manoeuvre to go to a safe height, find a recognisable linear feature and measure your height loss doing a 360° turn in different configurations. Of course, turning after an EFATO does not demand a complete 180 reversal, there may be a perfectly landable area off to one side.

It seems to me that it is high time that the aviation world accepts that real, sane pilots actually do turn back more often than not after an engine failure and practising such a manoeuvre should become part of the training of every pilot.

In the sport of gliding, student pilots have to learn to deal with practise cable breaks at different heights before they are allowed to go solo, and this will include making the decision of whether they are low enough and have enough airfield to land ahead or whether they

Above Taking-off out of Gloucestershire Airport on runway 09. Land ahead? There is actually a nice golf course 90° to the left of the frame

46 | FLYER | Summer 2020

should turn and do an ‘S’ turn or a mini circuit.

Compulsory annual practise of these manoeuvres seems to have reduced the mortality rate from actual cable breaks to very small proportions.

It seems self-evident that if you can teach every pre-solo gliding pilot to cope with deciding to land ahead or do a turn, then it should be possible to do this in fixed-wing powered aircraft, and that it should become a standard part of training for a PPL and of revalidation flights and conscientious pilots’ practise.

Finally, let me say that I am absolutely not advocating turning as the standard response to an EFATO but that we may find that we feel forced to turn. I suggest that the protocol for an EFATO should be rewritten along the following lines: 1 Put the nose down and ensure adequate flying speed.

2 Look for a reasonable landing area ahead within a narrow sector and prepare to land there adopting landing configuration and speed. Ideally that area is one that doesn’t look likely to kill you. Don’t even think about saving the aircraft.

3 Accept that you may find no suitable area ahead and that you may feel forced to turn (preferably into any crosswind) 4 Adopt your well-practised means of turning, keeping a very close eye/ear on airspeed.

5 And all the usual things, above all keeping the aeroplane flying, lower gear and flaps if not already down, switches off, brace position for passengers, trying restart if enough height (unlikely), emergency call, etc.

FLYER Safety comment David has done some great analysis and got us all putting on our thinking caps. The challenge he proposes is a significant one though. Having flown a good many practise ‘turnbacks’ in military aircraft types they can become a pretty fraught manoeuvre, and when things go wrong they go wrong in spades – and quickly. So much so that they are no longer practised on many types.

Military instructors still do so on aircraft such as the Grob Tutor but they maintain a tight currency requirement. The minimum for a practise is 700ft and you must go-around by 200ft unless wings level and on the centreline. On a slack wind day you may well fall short of the airfield – on a strong wind day, you could be off the back.

Making the runway reciprocal is far from guaranteed so there is little point in opting for such a procedure on a narrow grass strip. Bear in mind there will still be any tailwind to contend with, judging the touchdown and dissipating that extra energy will not be easy either.

And it’s by no means clear that having partial power makes it any more straightforward. In many ways it is just another variable over which you may have little or no control. So for most of us, any attempt to turn back to the airfield with insufficient power to fly a normal circuit is just not worth the additional risk of loss of control or a higher energy impact during the landing phase.

Experience shows turnbacks have a limited success rate, and only then if practised regularly from set parameters which we don’t attempt to cheat, should the unthinkable happen. In almost every case where it is not possible to make some sort of glide final turn with whatever power remains, a controlled landing into the softest terrain as close into wind as possible will be the best decision. If you decide to investigate a turnback option at your local airfield, find yourself an instructor who is both familiar with your aircraft type and the procedure and practise frequently to parameters which you brief on every take-off.

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Safety Accident Analysis

Under the influence

The impairing side effects of medicines can last well past the first few hours of relief the medicine brings, so as Joe Fournier asks, when it comes to accidents where do mistakes end and impairment begin?

Accident 1

Witnesses saw the aeroplane flying over a frozen lake at a low altitude and low airspeed. One witness saw the aeroplane ‘listing’ left and right before it entered a left turn, then the witness lost sight of it.

Others saw the aeroplane turn left, nose dive into the ground, where it was consumed by a post-impact fire.

In fact, damage to the wreckage indicated that the aeroplane impacted the ground in a nose down attitude. The examination did not reveal evidence of any pre-impact anomalies with the airframe, engine or the control system of the aeroplane. A witness reported that at the time of the accident the wind was from the south about 30mph.

However, a burnt area extending east from the aeroplane’s impact point indicated the wind was from the west.

Additionally, although wind information from nearby weather stations varied in direction and intensity, one station about 14 miles west-north-west of the accident site reported calm wind.

However, another station located about 11 miles south of the accident site, recorded

wind from the west at 11kt with gusts to 27kt about the time of the accident, and wind from the west at 33kt with gusts to 48kt about an hour after the accident.

Further, the forecast for the accident area called for wind gusts to 40kt from the west-north-west. Therefore, it is likely that strong gusty west winds prevailed in the accident area at the time of the accident.

Although some witnesses speculated that the pilot may have been trying to land the aeroplane on the frozen lake, the aircraft was not equipped to land on ice, and the reason as to why the pilot was manoeuvring at a low altitude in strong gusty winds could not be determined.

Based on the witness observations and the damage to the wreckage, it is likely that the pilot allowed the airspeed to decrease to a point where the critical angle of attack was exceeded, and the aeroplane entered an aerodynamic stall/spin.

Although the pilot was known to have heart disease, it is unlikely that his medical condition contributed to the accident. The witness observations indicate that the pilot was actively flying the aeroplane before the loss of control.

Toxicology testing showed the presence of chlorpheniramine in the pilot’s blood at a level that was likely in the therapeutic range. Chlorpheniramine is a sedating antihistamine available in a number of products that can be bought over the counter. As such it comes with the warning: ‘May impair mental and/or physical ability required for the performance of potentially hazardous tasks (e.g., driving, operating heavy machinery)’. Because of its sedating effect, chlorpheniramine may slow psychomotor functioning and cause drowsiness. It has also been shown in a driving simulator

“Chlorpheniramine may slow psychomotor functioning and cause drowsiness” 48 | FLYER | Summer 2020

(after a single dose) to suppress visualspatial cognition and visual-motor coordinating functions when compared to a placebo. Such functions would have been necessary for the pilot to maintain control of the aircraft while he was manoeuvring close to the ground in the strong gusty wind conditions.

Therefore, it’s likely the pilot’s ability to safely operate the aircraft was impaired by the chlorpheniramine effects.

Accident 2

A Cessna 177B was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground following the pilot’s loss of aeroplane control during climb out from an aborted landing at Cherry Ridge Airport (N30), Honesdale, Pennsylvania. The certificated private pilot was fatally injured.

Several witnesses stated that the aircraft completed three traffic pattern approaches to the 2,986ft-long, 50ft-wide Runway 18. Two of the witnesses, a student pilot and a flight instructor, had just finished traffic pattern work to Runway 36, and all of the witnesses who observed the windsock about the time of the accident stated that it indicated winds from the north or north-west. The flight instructor estimated wind velocity to be about 10kt, and another witness stated that the windsock was mostly ‘straight out’.

The witnesses also noted that the aeroplane completed the first two traffic pattern approaches to low approaches that resulted in go-arounds. During the second go-around, the flight instructor saw that when the aeroplane was about 200ft above the runway, it was climbing at an ‘unusually high’ angle of attack.

The flight instructor further stated that as the aeroplane approached the runway a third time, it appeared to be ‘unusually fast’. It commenced a landing flare past the runway identification numbers, and ‘floated a long way’ until it ‘forcefully’ touched down nosewheel first, then porpoised several times. Just past the windsock, engine power was applied and the aeroplane’s nose pitched up in excess of 20°. The aeroplane subsequently stalled

Mark Mitchell

A

direct correlation between an accident and the fact that the pilot had taken some medication is a difficult connection to make. Pilots make bad decisions all the time, with or without impairment, but where do mistakes end and impairment begin? But with one study showing 25 per cent of fatally injured pilots having an impairing substance in their system, it would appear that there are some real risks to consider.

and began a spin to the left, completing a 180° rotation before hitting the ground with no adjustments to engine power.

Another witness noted that during the accident sequence, the nose of the aeroplane pitched up about 45° or greater until it reached an altitude of 200 to 300ft above the runway. It then appeared that the left wing stalled, and the aeroplane turned to the north-east, descending to the ground with power on.

An autopsy was performed on the pilot with the cause of death noted as ‘multiple traumatic injuries secondary to (an) aeroplane accident’. Toxicological testing was subsequently performed by the FAA Forensic Toxicology Research Team, Oklahoma. Anomalies noted included: Diphenhydramine detected in liver. 0.353 (ug/ml, ug/g) Diphenhydramine detected in blood.

The FAA Civil Aeronautical Medical Institute website reports that diphenhydramine ‘is a common, over-thecounter antihistamine used in the treatment of the common cold and hay fever. It carries the warning: May impair mental and/or physical ability required for the performance of potentially hazardous tasks (e.g., driving, operating heavy machinery)’.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration Drugs and Human Performance Facts Sheet, laboratory studies indicate that diphenhydramine can: ‘Decrease alertness, decrease reaction time, induce somnolence, impair concentration, impair time estimation, impair tracking, decrease learning ability, and impair attention and memory within the first 2-3 hours post dose. Significant adverse effects on vigilance, divided attention, working memory, and psychomotor performance have been demonstrated. It is important to note that impairment has been shown to occur even in the absence of self-reported sleepiness or sedation’.

Accident 3

The instrument rated airline transport pilot was manoeuvring the aeroplane from about 14,500ft msl while descending to the destination airport.

Throughout the flight, the pilot was texting his son asking about the weather conditions at the destination airport, which was near to where his son was located. The son described a broken cloud layer and advised that if the aeroplane stayed above the clouds it could then ‘drop in over the valley’. About two minutes before the accident, the pilot told an air traffic controller that he was, ‘going to orbit here to the south… south over the airport I can see it, manoeuvring through a hole’. GPS

“Use of diphenhydramine likely contributed to the accident by degrading the pilot’s judgement” data showed that as the aircraft continued to turn to the right, its airspeed increased rapidly, and the right turn tightened.

After completing a full revolution, the aeroplane exceeded its maximum structural cruising speed and never-exceed speed. The aeroplane’s flight load increased throughout the turn, exceeding the aeroplane’s maximum flight load factor. Immediately afterward, the flight data became unreliable, this point was likely when an inflight break-up occurred.

The location of the separated components in the debris field and the damage to them were consistent with a tail-first, inflight break-up. The aeroplane flight path before the inflight break-up was consistent with a graveyard spiral caused by spatial disorientation. The pilot’s statement to the controller regarding his intent to ‘manoeuvre through a hole in the cloud layer’ indicated operation near instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The aeroplane’s excessive bank, pitch and load factor coincided with the height of the reported cloud tops (13,000ft).

This further indicates that the pilot was likely flying in and out of the clouds as he was attempting to spiral down to the airport. Given the reports of ceilings at

9,500ft, the inflight break-up probably occurred in IMC or within seconds of the aeroplane exiting IMC, precluding the pilot from taking recovery action upon re-entering visual meteorological conditions.

The investigation could not determine whether the pilot was using supplemental oxygen while operating the aeroplane above 14,000ft msl, as required by federal regulations. However, the comms between the controller and the pilot revealed that the pilot had no appreciable change in speech rate, coherence, or response time, indicating that the pilot was not experiencing hypoxia while in contact with air traffic control.

Although the pilot’s coronary artery disease placed him at an increased risk for a sudden cardiac event, no evidence indicated that such an event occurred.

Toxicology testing identified diphenhydramine in the pilot’s cavity blood and liver specimens.

Because experienced instrument rated pilots should be able to identify spatial disorientation, the pilot’s use of diphenhydramine likely contributed to this accident by degrading the pilot’s judgement and slowing his responses.

Fournier’s analysis Firstly, there is a subset of the greater population (and no doubt pilots) who have a problem with substance abuse. To be clear, this piece isn’t written for them. Pilots or not, they probably aren’t considering the risks of what they are doing, and any words written here are unlikely to change their behaviour.

But on the other hand, many of us use over-the-counter and prescription medications to treat everyday problems such as seasonal allergies, nasal congestion and colds as well as those to aid sleep. And most of us don’t really give much thought to the side effects of the medicines or how long those side effects may last.

If you’ve ever taken a night-time cold medicine and then slept like a log, only to wake fuzzy and dull, you will have some idea of what we are talking about. That feeling of being ‘dull’ might last a lot longer than you think. Some impairing side effects can last well past the first few hours of relief that the medicine brings, prompting some regulators to recommend waiting as long as five times the dosing intervals to be sure you are clear of side effects.

If impairment is present in many fatal accidents, which by necessity are given more investigate resources, it is interesting to consider if they might play a similar role in less severe accidents that aren’t investigated as thoroughly.

It might be that the impairment caused by these side effects erode our safety margins more drastically and perhaps even more subtlety than we realise. If you could eliminate something that one in four pilots of fatal accidents had in common, then you would, wouldn’t you?

Something to keep in mind the next time you have a stuffy nose the night before a flight when you go digging in your medicines for some relief…

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 49

Safety Accident Reports

Pressing-on pressure Joe Fournier summarises and comments on accident reports from around the world and looks at the free Wings Toolbox for Pilots app, recently commended in the first EASA GA Safety Awards

Earlier is easier Pegasus Quasar IITC G-MYJT Brindle, Lancashire Injuries: Minor

The pilot departed Kenyon Hall Farm Airstrip at 1730 and arrived at Rossall Field Airfield at 1800. The conditions were hazy, but he could see the ground and was able to navigate using a chart.

After a brief visit, he departed shortly before 1900, although he could not recall the exact time. Sunset was at 1859.

During the return flight the pilot reported that the haze was worse, and he realised he was significantly off track to the east. He turned west towards Winter Hill, which was one significant feature on the landscape which was still visible. He reported that as he flew over the hill, the ground was covered in a carpet of haze that obscured most of the features on the ground. He tried, unsuccessfully, to find the track back to Kenyon Hall Farm. He attempted to descend below the haze, but it seemed to extend to the ground with visibility ranging from several hundred metres up to about 4km. The light levels were also reducing.

The aircraft did not have a radio capable of contacting anyone for help.

Flying low, he then passed a radio mast he hadn’t seen and panicked. He decided his only option was to land in a field, but he struggled to pick one due to his emotional state. Eventually, he choose one, but due to the low light levels he did not see the power lines across the approach. According to the electricity provider the aircraft struck the power lines at 1950, and was destroyed when it struck the ground.

The pilot was injured, but he was able

to escape the aircraft. He departed with little contingency time before nightfall.

There was nothing in the weather forecast to cause concern. However, his experience on the outbound flight was an indication that navigation might prove difficult on the return flight. The pilot had the option to change his plans and postpone the return flight, but decided to continue. He could not recall his exact departure time from Rossall Field. He may not have realised how long he had spent there or forseen the impact of the weather on his ability to navigate, plus the light conditions. He expected that the return journey would take about 30 minutes, similar to the outbound flight.

If the flight had gone to plan he would have landed at Kenyon Hall Farm before the end of civil twilight.

The navigational problems delayed him to the point where it was dark. Under the circumstances, he had no safe option remaining and decided to perform an emergency landing rather than continue. It is likely that this decision gave him the greatest chance of avoiding an accident, but he was unable to see the power lines and could not prevent the collision.

AAIB Conclusion The accident occurred because the pilot departed too late in the day and was delayed by navigational difficulty until it was dark.

He decided to perform an emergency landing, but it was too dark to see and to avoid power lines on the approach to his chosen field.

Comment Even when it looks as if you’ll just make it, often it’s best to just stop early, accepting the fact that things rarely go to plan. In this case, it would have been a major hassle, but better than pressing on until the options remaining were poor.

Details that matter Beech 36 N5836B Lubbock, Texas, USA Injuries: None

The pilot reported that during the take-off roll – and while the aeroplane was about 60kt – it lifted off in a nose-high attitude, and the stall warning horn started up. He added that about 20ft above ground level the aircraft rotated to the right, but he overcorrected, and the left wingtip struck the runway.

Shortly after, he landed the aircraft without further incident. The aircraft sustained substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported that postaccident examination of the aeroplane revealed that the elevator trim was set to nose-high and that he should have used a ‘before take-off’checklist to verify that the elevator trim was set to the ‘take-off’ position.

NTSB Probable cause The pilot’s improper pitch trim setting during take-off in a left quartering tailwind, resulted in the aeroplane abruptly pitching up and subsequently experiencing an aerodynamic stall.

Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to follow a pre-flight checklist and verify that the elevator trim tab was in the take-off position.

Comment Of all the secondary flight controls, pitch trim is in many ways the most powerful. It is key to flying the aeroplane well, but can overpower you in a few moments if set incorrectly.

However, it usually provides warning in the form of abnormal control pressures pretty early in a take-off roll where an aborted take-off is still easily managed.

No house for a mouse

“ He did not see power lines across the approach due to the low light levels” 50 | FLYER | Summer 2020

Piper PA28 N68DW New Market, Virginia, USA Injuries: None

The private pilot stated that shortly after take-off for the cross-country, personal flight, the engine suddenly lost partial power. Subsequently, he made a forced

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Safety Accident Reports landing on a cornfield, during which the left main landing gear penetrated the left wing and separated from the aeroplane, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the firewall and engine mount sustained substantial damage.

Post-accident examination of the engine did not reveal evidence of any pre-accident mechanical malfunctions nor failures that would have precluded normal operation. The carburettor exhibited no external damage. However, when the air box and alternate air control were removed, a dead mouse fell out of the intake manifold.

NTSB Probable Cause A loss of engine power on take-off due to restricted airflow to the engine.

Comment This is definitely something to consider as we take to the skies in aeroplanes that have been unused and locked down for long periods of time.

Look before you reach Robinson R44 G-LLIZ Sherburn-in-Elmet Airfield, Yorkshire Injuries: Serious

The pilot arrived at the airfield to complete a solo circuits flight as part of his PPL training. He was briefed by the supervising instructor, and having completed the external and internal checks on G-LLIZ, he started the engine. While it was warming, post-start up, the pilot removed his jacket and put it on the left seat of the helicopter, securing it with the seat belt. He also decided to open both the side vents and the nose vent as the carbon monoxide light had illuminated. This is not unusual when the helicopter engine was running for a period of time when stationary. Opening the vents increased the air movement in the cockpit and the light extinguished.

Having completed the checks before take-off, the pilot lifted into the hover and proceeded to the centre of the airfield to depart for his first circuit.

After landing off the third circuit the pilot realised that his jacket had moved and was now resting next to the open vent in the front left door. He was aware of the risks of items striking the tail rotor when sucked out through the open vent in flight, so before starting his fourth circuit he reached for his jacket.

Although the pilot does not recall the exact sequence of events, it is likely that the jacket was caught around the left collective lever. As he pulled the jacket, it raised the lever, which increased the pitch on the blades and caused the helicopter to pitch nose up. This increase 52 | FLYER | Summer 2020

“The pilot did not realise that the jacket had become caught around the left collective lever” in pitch caused the rear tail stinger to contact the ground. It then yawed to the left before rolling right, coming to rest on its right side.

It is possible that as he reached across the cockpit his body position caused an inadvertent application of left pedal, which also caused the helicopter to yaw.

As the helicopter was in contact with the ground, this yaw caused the skids to catch on the surface, generating a right roll from which there was ground contact.

The pilot was looking inside the helicopter when the movement began, and he had little chance to notice and stop the movement until it was too late for recovery. Only lowering the collective rapidly could have prevented the roll, once the helicopter had begun to pivot about its skids.

Although there are friction devices fitted to the cyclic and collective controls, the pilot did not apply them as he was in the middle of a flight and was planning to take-off shortly after getting his jacket.

It is possible that the application of the friction devices might have prevented the left collective being pulled up by the jacket.

Pilots should always consider the use of the friction devices should they need to move around in the cockpit for any reason when on the ground.

AAIB Conclusion An innocuous reach out to retrieve a jacket that had moved began a sequence of events that led to the helicopter coming to rest on its right side, damaged beyond economic repair.

Whenever a helicopter is stationary on the ground, with the pilot attending to items inside the cockpit, things can rapidly occur that lead to an incident or accident without the pilot being alerted because they may not be looking outside the cockpit.

The whole accident sequence of G-LLIZ took just four seconds. Ensuring all items inside the cockpit are secure, and that the pilot and any passengers are comfortable is vital in order to minimise the risk of such an event occurring.

Comment Aeroplane or helicopter, we tend to let our guard down when on the ground. In many ways, the margins are slimmer on the ground, and once the engine is started we need to be every bit as ready to respond as we are when in flight.

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The Wings Tool Box for Pilots attempts to change this and offers a quick and easy way to make a check of the local weather. From that overview, you

can drill down for more detail about the conditions at each airport. Add to that, the ability to set personal minimums which are compared to the local weather, allowing you to see threats at a glance. If you are an iPhone or iPad user and want a different take at evaluating the weather then take a look at the Wings Toolbox for Pilots.

FLYING ADVENTURE

After a brief sojourn in Germany – and a nod to the Spanish Pyrenees – Garrett Fisher headed for the Swiss Alps to undertake a high altitude adventure in a humble Piper Cub…

Majestic Peaks

54 | FLYER | Summer 2020

O

ne has to ask just how my crazy idea came about in the first place. I can trace it to a moment in July 2013. I had just flown my 1949 Piper PA-11 from North Carolina to the Colorado Rockies. At the time, it was a minimum day VFR instrument aircraft with no radio, transponder, or starter, and one fuel tank. After froghopping for three days across the US from fuel stop to fuel stop, I plunged over a pass at 13,000ft and proceeded to figure out how to land and take-off at an airfield 7,500ft above sea level. Prior to this escapade, I was skilled neither at cross-country nor mountain flying.

Having recently moved to Summit County, Colorado, I sat one evening, after a thunderstorm, at a Germanstyled restaurant on Main Street in Frisco (9,100ft elevation), looking on mountain ridges between 11,000ft and 13,000ft high, and I said to my wife: “I want more than this. These mountains aren’t rugged enough. I really would like to live in the Alps.” She, as usual, looked at me with an empty gaze – and went on eating her mustard-infused, pseudo-Germanic pretzel.

Over the next 29 months, before the aeroplane was disassembled and shipped to Germany, I would fly precisely 499 hours, crossing the US twice more, flying to all 58 peaks which were higher than 14,000ft in Colorado, every remaining glacier in the US Rockies, and more national parks, mountain ranges, wilderness areas and high terrain than I can even recall. Suffice to say, I got somewhat skilled at mountain flying in this little aircraft, learning how to ride all sorts of winds to rather significant heights without killing myself.

German heritage

“Germany? What kind of self-respecting person would move to Germany?” Yes, I know, I got caught by the bug of apparent German heritage, a message preached often by my (thoroughly American) grandfather, who was a significant aviation influence in restoring the PA-11 and taking me flying since I was two years old. The subtext that I missed in his frequent speeches about German authority (audible only if the police dogs he imported from Germany stopped barking), was that he had never once set foot in Europe and thought my idea was stupid.

But alas, once I get started on something, I rarely quit.

The thing is, I was moving to an area outside of Frankfurt, as a result of a friendship made because of a Piper Cub sale my grandfather made to a German engineer. I would be hours by air from the Alps. Even if I wished to remain in the Fatherland and in the mountains, a tiny sliver of German territory was available for such a purpose, devoid of suitable airports.

Nonetheless, in the autumn of 2015, as I was spending prodigious sums of money to install equipment to render the PA-11 adequately convenient for its use in Europe, I decided to research what it would take to overfly Mont Blanc, France at 15,774ft, which was 1,344ft higher than

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 55

Flying Adventure

Previous page Mont Blanc from 13,500ft Above Saanen, Switzerland Right Take-off from Sion, en route to Spain

56 | FLYER | Summer 2020

anything I had overflown to date. Choosing to ignore most of the horrors of European aviation, which would have put an end to this charade before it got started, I became aware that most countries require a transponder to be on at all times above certain altitudes – and this would certainly be the case in the Alps. While researching which one to purchase, I ran into an issue – Class 2 transponders are certified to 15,000ft, so I sprung for a testicle-frying Class 1, which is good to 50,000ft.

Germany was a spectacular failure for me. To make matters worse, my sister had a DNA test done and found out that we are 12 per cent German and substantially Polish which, while ignominious, explains some things.

At any rate, seven months after arriving in Germany, I pointed the nose of the PA-11 south-west, and despite knowing next to nothing about French aviation, I crossed the entirety of France over the course of two days, arriving at my new home in the Spanish Pyrenees. The weather on the flight down was rather foul, so much so that I could barely make it down the Rhône valley, rendering any illusions about flying in the Alps as nonsensical.

The Pyrenees were a welcome respite, as the place looked substantially like Wyoming and Utah, though they were far windier, with grandiose mountain waves and rotors. What skills I thought I had perfected were honed to a far greater degree after hundreds of hours of flying in all sorts of conditions.

The problem during this time was that I did not hear encouraging advice about flying in the Alps. My assumption was that the height and severity of the Alps meant that winds blew with an unholy fury at all times, with virtually constant overcast or precipitation on one side or the other of the range. Many days when the Pyrenees were pleasant, I would note on satellite maps how the Alps had menacing weather blowing in…

Pilots didn’t necessarily help either, as I was harangued with frequency about ‘the Föhn’. The concept of ascending and descending air is not a new one to me.

In fact, the Pyrenees are a mountain wave factory and yet I kept hearing words of caution about the ferocity of winds in the Alps. I assumed that those warning me were making a relativistic statement based on my experience in the Rockies and the Pyrenees, so I trembled in my boots at the thought, procrastinating and not making the six-hour flight.

The problem is partially due to the fact that I cannot do things in small amounts. My two options are to go full blast or not bother. Since I had developed a routine of flying to, and photographing the highest peaks in various major mountain ranges as recognised by various official lists, I had set my mind on the 82 peaks that were more than 4,000 metres high. To merely bumble around the Alps to say ‘I did it’ was not an option – it was ‘do’ the whole list or skip it.

A pilot friend of mine who had a place in Switzerland was persistent that I should come for a while. I eventually took him up on his offer and arranged a three-month

“The Pyrenees were a welcome respite, as the place looked substantially like Wyoming and Utah, though they were far windier” stay, two-and-a-half years after arriving in Europe. It took a few months to arrange hangar space in Sion, getting accustomed mainly to how the Swiss approach pricing. I must confess that, when one asks the Swiss how much something costs, the emotional response at hearing their answer is slightly more intense than receiving a swift kick where it hurts most…

As the day approached for our temporary move to Switzerland, I developed a pervasive neurosis about the ability for the PA-11 to exceed the height of Mont Blanc in the summer heat. In the Rockies, I was stationed at airports varying from 5,633ft to 9,927ft, with an 18 -gallon tank, which meant much less of a period at full throttle to get to mountains above 14,000ft. However, I would be attempting one that nearly reached 16,000ft, and I would be doing so from a starting point of 1,582ft – and in the summer heat. Even in the Rockies, I often used favourable winds to complete my ascent above 12,500ft. So. How was this going to work?

Minimal climb ability

I decided to perform a trial run in the Pyrenees. Picking a 30°C day, I took off from 3,609ft and climbed, using engine power alone, to 16,000ft noting oil temperature, pressure and time at each 1,000ft interval. It took 54 minutes to get to altitude, with minimal climb ability left. Toss in another 2,000ft and I determined that unless I got some helpful wind, I’d probably just barely be able to pull it off before having to turn around and head home.

On the way down from the test run, I heard someone broadcast on the radio ‘…glider crash in Andorra… transmitting coordinates in the blind…’. Arresting my descent, I pointed toward the described location, found the wreckage and handled communication with ATC, now associating a bit of trauma with my pre-existing Summer 2020 | FLYER | 57

Flying Adventure

Above Glacier d’Argentière - autumn in Chamonix Right Chamonix - to the left Far right First sight of glaciers southwest of Chamonix…

Below Chamonix - to the right

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neurosis. Was that the end of it? In the week prior to my arrival to Switzerland an astonishing 28 people died in three separate aeroplane crashes, inclusive of the infamous Ju-52 accident. The death toll was increasing in both mountain ranges, yet somehow I planned on picking off the highest 82 peaks?

Another bit of advice I received was that the afternoons tended to produce towering cumulus clouds and thunderstorms during alpine summers, so I should basically ‘be done by noon before the crap starts developing’. Familiar with North Carolinian convective rage on a daily basis, I was sceptical of how things would go arriving in the early evening, on a sweltering hot day crossing France. I decided to stop in Chambéry, just at the beginning of the pre-Alps, to afford a full fuel tank to deal with whatever may occur for the final crossing.

Despite a variety of dramatic misinformation and large thunderheads north of Lyon, I decided to at least try and conquer my fears and enter the Alps over Chamonix, sideswiping the Massif du Mont Blanc, so I could at least see the terrain I intended to conquer and desensitise my neurosis. Fortunately, the plan worked. As I overflew Chamonix at 11,000ft, steep mountains to my left were just below me, with elevations normal to the higher peaks of the Pyrenees. To my right, terrain rose in a seemingly vertical fashion into towering cumulus clouds, with the largest glaciers that I had seen in my life spewing out from beneath. It was love at first sight and I was instantly hooked and was like a moth to a flame.

For my first flight originating in Switzerland, I struggled with haze and afternoon towering cumulus, which aside from blocking terrain in instances, also makes for poor lighting. On a partly cloudy day, I decided to take a spin in the Alps, specifically intending to avoid any of the ‘4,000ers’, as I was associating too much drama with each flight. While I had dosed myself initially with a tad of Mont Blanc, it seemed like a good idea to remind myself that much of the Alps can be similar to the Pyrenees. As I overflew Lake Geneva and the Chablais Alps on the west end of the lake, I abandoned basic terrain in the 8,000ft level to head toward the Massif du Chablais, which has glaciated peaks topping out at 10,686ft, a mere 500ft lower than the highest peaks of the Pyrenees.

What happened next, I did not expect, given the weather forecast. Mont Blanc was basking in the sun, visible from 25 miles away, without any of the nefarious convection that I expected over the peak, although many of the smaller peaks were ensconced in weather. As I slugged along at full power in a cruise climb approaching this monolithic, ice-clad monster, I still struggled to process the magnitude of what I was looking at. From the bottom of the Glacier des Bossons to the top of the ice-cap summit, a wall of ice appeared in excess of 10,000ft from tip to toe. Mesmerised, I sideswiped the north side to stay out of convection, topping out at roughly 13,500ft, at which point I realised that I was only wearing a tee shirt and was quite cold...

“As I slugged along at full power in a cruise climb approaching this monolithic, ice-clad monster, I still struggled to process the magnitude of what I was looking at” Cloud layer

On the next flight, properly prepared with a coat, I had a hankering to check out three of the 82 peaks near Grand Combin (14,154ft) on the Swiss and Italian border. As I reached the first ridge at 7,000ft, south-west of Sion, it was evident that a cloud layer was forming a skirt over some of the ridges deep in the Valais. While I could not see what was above, I expected to be able to exceed the cloud deck and find some of the peaks I was looking for.

Just south of Verbier I managed to see some more glaciers and peaks peeping at me at 9,000ft. On clearing 10,000ft Grand Combin exploded into view with a bang.

Awestruck, I flew around the peak, reaching about 14,000ft, with clouds forming and dissipating below.

While that was all that I expected, it was not all that I saw. The Matterhorn was clearly visible to the east, with a sea of undulating rocky summits, clouds and glaciers beneath. If there ever was gnarly territory to fly over, this was it. I pointed the nose to the east, arriving at the Matterhorn for the first time at summit level (14,692ft), circling the majestic peak, and then looking straight down on the summit. Both Grand Teton, Wyoming and the Matterhorn look very similar from the south-west in the Cub. The Matterhorn isn’t the only salacious attraction near Zermatt in the aircraft. It is an epicentre of 4000ers, of which I enjoyed a few, including Dent d’Herens (13,684ft), Dent Blanche (14,295ft), Ober Summer 2020 | FLYER | 59

Flying Adventure

Above Jungfrau Left Mont Blanc – above the summit!

Right Matterhorn Below Left Grand Combin Below Right Dufourspitze

60 | FLYER | Summer 2020

Flying Adventure

Gabelhorn (13,330ft), a bit of Dufourspitze (15,203ft) and the like.

After an evening swirling over glaciers and peaks above the clouds, it was time to get back to Sion, as 8pm was the airport’s closing time in the summer. Besides, I could barely feel my fingers, as I forgot to bring gloves. I should know that 15,000ft is bitterly cold, even in summer, though take-off temps of 28°C do something to the mind. I found a hole in the cloud deck, swirled down below, and cruise descended in a majestic and steep valley, watching chalets go by on both sides. You have to love Switzerland…

My next flight attempt exposed the fact that one of the magnetos completely died on the prior flight, so much so that the engine wouldn’t even sputter on it. It is a sobering thought what could go wrong, though ‘that’s what dual ignition is for’ – at least that is what I told my wife. With it up and running two weeks later, I was able to get into the air after a summer snowfall down to 9,000ft, where I conquered the Jungfrau (13,642ft) and surrounding peaks. On the south side of the Jungfrau lies the Aletschgletscher, the longest glacier in continental Europe, at 14 miles long. Whatever majesty I perceived on Mont Blanc was smashed by the magnitude of this monstrous feature, which I confess induced fear, and stayed rather high above it.

That merely laid the groundwork for the next attack, which was to fly roughly 800ft above the Aletschgletscher and nearby Fietschergletscher. I have a philosophy that no matter how permanent things may seem, each flight is an opportunity, and I do not know if I will see the same place – or the same place in similar conditions – again. It takes a lot to get an antique aircraft in the air on another continent, so one is wise to celebrate what is available when it comes along.

In keeping with that philosophy, I abandoned my normal neurosis about fear of engine failure and decided to spend some time wandering over the glaciers and firns that fed the Aletschgletscher, then down the massive river of ice itself, at altitudes that would have been,

Below Matterhorn off the nose

suffice it so say, inconvenient should the engine decide not to work. Whatever fears I had were set aside and replaced with pure majesty – the scene was something out of Alaska. I must confess that it is difficult to judge depth in such an area. There were no trees in visible range, so the mind has to interpret the size of rocks, ice falls, avalanches and crevasses. Is it the size of a chair… or a bus? Is that crevasse just a crack, or an aeroplaneswallowing abyss? Some of the shots I shared with friends confirmed the illusion. They thought that I had landed on the glacier, when in fact the image was taken 800ft above it. Quite a number of times flying towards inclining terrain, things appeared fine. Then suddenly it looked like I would fly smack into the glacier.

Undulations in the glacier’s surface make for interesting illusions.

I added many more flights into the mix, as some of the areas with groupings of 4000ers had so much going on that a few flights were needed to ensure that I photographed enough of the peaks, or that I got a few that had been hiding in orographic cloud formation.

While that was the case, I still had two items to check off my list, getting above Mont Blanc and addressing four peaks which were set in three specific far-flung areas, two of which required fuel stops to cover the distance.

On the first, to Gran Paradiso (13,323ft) in Italy, I managed to get enough lift from orographic wind to notice Mont Blanc sticking out above the clouds from the south. This was a welcome angle to approach, and I rode the winds for the first time to 16,000ft, finally above the peak. There was something I learned in a few different places – with enough vertical terrain wind will go around it, as supposed to up and over, which makes for a confusing menagerie of air currents, most of which do not help blow the Cub high enough to get the job done. I had flown near Mont Blanc a few times, chugging at full power for 90 minutes, realising the aircraft didn’t want to climb in summer heat. Yes, I could have photographed from below, but the goal was to get above the summit, which finally happened after two months of Alps flying.

Summer 2020 | FLYER | 61

Flying Adventure

Above Aletschgletscher Left Gran Paradiso, Italy Below left Grosser Aletschfirn Below right Konkordiaplatz - Aletschgletscher

62 | FLYER | Summer 2020

The other two areas were Écrins, France (13,458ft) and Piz Bernina, Switzerland (13,284ft), both of which came at a good time in early autumn. As I flew the spine of the Alps both south-west and east on brilliantly sunny days over much longer distances, early snows at high peaks were set against bright hues of shrubs and grasses changing colour above timberline. This was where I had the strongest feeling that I was where I belonged since Colorado and Wyoming, where scenery had autumnal commonalities.

Finally complete with the task, I had a few weeks to play with as autumn began to set in. I had been told that the weather in Switzerland becomes ‘inhumanely foul’ in autumn, as though it was the Outer Hebrides during a January storm. So I plotted my escape and pointed the aeroplane south, one week before some weather blew in.

While it does get foul in November in the Alps, my experience was that the weather is relatively benign.

I fly on mostly sunny days, or if not fully sunny, there is usually a way to get above the clouds and enjoy clear air. On this stint I avoided wind of great consequence and was frankly surprised how many days there was little wind at all at altitude. If one subtracts for obvious low

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Flying Adventure

Above Piz Bernina Right Val Ferrat Italy, on the way to Écrins

pressure periods in the Alps, I would say the weather is relatively equivalent to the Pyrenees, if not less windy on average. The Alps tend to slow down a lot of upper level winds by obstructing their path, whereas the Pyrenees merely channel them to accelerate and create a rotor and wave factory.

At the same token, crashes continue in the Alps at their normal pace, where at least half of them make no sense whatsoever. The Swiss react by shrugging, almost as if they can’t be bothered, or it was some foreigner engaging in an act of pure stupidity. The same occurs in the Rockies – with the idea that ‘pilots in the US come from long distances and do something blatantly silly on a nice day, owing to a lack of basic information’.

Once that is adjusted and pilots are trained for basic mountain flying (and flying an aircraft equipped for necessary altitude), then I would say that flying in the Alps is very pleasant… as long as the prop keeps spinning.

Garrett Fisher has published 23 books, 20 of which cover aviation. He blogs regularly about his flying adventures at www.garrettfisher.me Above the Summit: An Antique Airplane Conquers the 4000ers of the Alps is available on Amazon in Europe and the USA.

Just some of the stops…

Flight 1 Flight 2 Flight 3 Flight 4 Flight 5 Flight 6 Flight 7 Flight 7 Flight 8 Flight 9

64 | FLYER | Summer 2020

Top Gear

The latest aviation kit, impartially tested and evaluated

Garmin GI 275 HHHHH From £2,754 | Manufacturer www.garmin.com Main A pair of GI 275’s installed in the author’s Mooney M20K Rocket. It was an easy retrofit to the existing panel setup

G

armin recently released the GI 275, a line-up of retrofit EFIS instruments designed for standard 3-⅛in round gauge cutouts. Compared to the Garmin G5, the 275 has full US TSO certification and can be configured to display an array of ‘steam gauge’ functions. It has a capacitive touch screen, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth for easy system updates and upgrades with expected compatibility with the Garmin Pilot EFB application. The 275 is an extremely flexible unit as it can be configured as a simple attitude indicator or as a 4-in-1 flight instrument displaying tapes for airspeed, attitude, altitude and heading.

The GI 275 comes in several variants to support all of these functions. The GI 275 base variant can be utilised as a dedicated EIS or CDI/MFD, with features such as traffic, weather, terrain, SafeTaxi® airport diagrams and more. The GI 275 ADAHRS includes a built-in ADAHRS and back-up battery, making it capable for use as a dedicated 3-in-1 flight instrument with attitude, airspeed and altitude. When connected with an optional magnetometer, this variant can serve as a dedicated HSI or 4-in-1 flight instrument with attitude, airspeed, altitude and heading information.

66 | FLYER | Summer 2020

The GI 275 ADAHRS+AP is also available, which includes the capabilities of the ADAHRS unit, and adds the ability to interface with a wide range of legacy autopilots, including those that require an attitude source like King and Century. With native support for the digital GFC-600 autopilot and expected support later in 2020 for the GFC 500, the 275 offers an incremental upgrade path to fit different needs and budgets.

As a horizontal situation indicator (HSI) you have the option to overlay a moving map with traffic and weather information. As a multifunction display (MFD), high-value information is at your fingertips, including a moving map, weather and traffic. As an engine information system (EIS) it can consolidate your engine gauges and collect data for later analysis. When installed as a back-up device it can function as a VFR navigator – a great feature if you’re upgrading a VFR-only aircraft. Lastly, the GI 275 can be configured as a simple CDI.

Navigation sources

When installed as a CDI or HSI, the GI 275 is designed to accept a variety of GPS or navigation inputs, allowing up to two GPS sources and two VHF navigation sources. The GI 275 features an Omni Bearing Resolver that

allows the flight instrument to interface to a variety of legacy navigators on the market without the need for an expensive adapter.

With an optional magnetometer, it is also capable of providing magnetic-based HSI guidance. Vertical and lateral GPS, VOR/ LOC and glide slope deviation can be viewed on the GI 275.

Another great feature is Synthetic Vision.

It’s not included as a standard feature in any of the GI 275 variants. However, as soon as the device gets installed, you will get 10 flight hours of free Synthetic Vision. Once they expire, if you wish to continue having Synthetic Vision enabled, there is a feature enablement that must be purchased through an authorised Garmin Dealer, or at https://fly.garmin.com/fly-garmin.

In our Mooney M20K, we set out to replace the attitude indicator and HSI while keeping the Century 31 autopilot. Our vacuum attitude indicator was failing, which also caused the otherwise functional autopilot to perform erratically. Several options were considered – from replacing the AI only, to a new glass panel with a new autopilot. In the end, we decided to keep the Century 31 and install dual GI 275s. It was the best balance between our priorities – budget and future upgradeability. Because the 275 was able to drive the autopilot, the vacuum system was no

Above left GI 275 as a standby ADI Above Use as a CDI solution with some NAV units or GPS Far left Add HSI course guidance overlaid on a moving map Middle left Display engine system Information Left Multifunction display screen

longer required and could be removed – a big plus when flying an IFR machine. If we decide to upgrade to a glass panel at some point in the future, then the GI 275 could be repurposed to display other information.

Attitude indicator

Our primary attitude indicator is configured to be the primary airspeed, altitude (including vertical speed) and heading indication. The second unit is configured as a primary HSI and back-up attitude indicator. The optional GTP 59 OAT probe enables ‘standard rate turn’ markers on the ADI, allowing us to replace the electrically driven turn coordinator as well. The dual GI 275’s consolidated six flight instruments down to two – each with its own 60-minute back-up battery. Since the back-up battery drives all of the GI 275 probes the only other required flight instrument for IFR flight is a magnetic compass.

Navigating through the menus of the GI 275 can be performed using the single knob, with an outer collar and inner knob and push-button functions. Most of the menus are touch enabled, and familiar gestures such as swiping and pinch-and-stretch are recognised.

If you’re familiar with the GTN 650 or 750, then you’ll feel right at home.

One very exciting feature provided by the

GI 275 with the autopilot integration is GPSS Heading Emulation – or roll steering. GPSS steering allows the legacy autopilots to track GPS courses precisely, including the ability to fly arcs, procedure turns, course reversals and holds. While we’ve found that GPSS emulation performs well, one criticism we have with the implementation is that the option to change from standard HDG mode to GPSS mode is buried three layers deep in the menu. When GPSS mode is enabled the autopilots HDG mode is unavailable. This means that if you are using GPSS mode and need to deviate quickly from course to avoid traffic or weather, you need to hold the button down for a few seconds to bring the menu system up, then touch the screen three more times to switch back to HDG mode so you can use the HDG bug in the traditional way to turn the aeroplane to a vectored heading.

We’ve found in practical flying that it’s not really a big deal. Ideally, in the terminal area you are in HDG mode for vectors and then once en route you switch to GPSS mode and let the autopilot fly the turns for you. It’s worth noting that we’ve brought this to Garmin’s attention. There are 70+ pins on the back of these units – our hope is they allow installers to use a pin or two and give them the option to install a simple push button on the panel that

quickly switches between GPSS and HDG mode. It would be an ideal solution. It’s all software, so we’ll see how Garmin responds.

The only required maintenance for the GI 275 is a battery check each year, ideally at annual, and a navigation database update is required at least once every five years to correct for magnetic deviation. The navigation will be more accurate if the database is updated periodically – and like all Garmin products a subscription is required – but it’s not required for continued airworthiness.

The extensive features of the GI 275 give new life to older avionics, offering real improvements to flight safety, while reducing IFR workload. Paired with its classic looks, plus the amazingly sharp, and glare-resistant, screen, it makes for a compelling upgrade for a wide range of aircraft – from a Piper Cub to a warbird and others in between.

Base price for the GI 275 starts at $2,995, with the EFIS starting at $3,995, and EHSI from $4,295.

Our dual configuration installation in our Mooney with autopilot integration, Garmin 430W integration, audio panel for aural alerts integration, GTP 59 OAT probe and magnetometer was around $16k, including labour costs.

Ken Lince & Louis Wang Summer 2020 | FLYER | 67

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

AOPA Getting back to flying, over time A huge number of man-hours has gone into tackling the issues affecting General Aviation since the impact of the coronavirus, which looks as if it may be with us for the foreseeable future.

Therefore, we have to find a way to live with it by seeking out workable solutions that do not increase the risk of spreading the virus.

It was the DfT that made the decision to ground the GA fleet on the basis that ‘recreational flying is a non-essential activity’.

I think we need to change the perception to one which is more ‘mission’ oriented under the banner of GA for the future.

The Government has made it clear that it

listens to – and follows – the scientific advice in respect of the COVID-19, which means as far as we are concerned, it is following the advice from Public Health England, which flows through policy. The concern is about spreading the virus and keeping the ‘R’ number (rate of infection) as low as possible.

Working with the DfT and CAA has been challenging and rewarding. With their help we were able to reach agreement on engine health check flights and a return to solo flight, (including members of the same household) in England.

AOPA is now engaging with the devolved governments, and at the same time the DfT is seeking alignment on solo flights etc., through

discussions with those in the devolved parliaments/assemblies, as aviation is not a devolved matter, whereas health is.

Getting the right solutions at the right time should provide a sustainable pathway for GA, subject to continued vigilance in keeping the ‘R’ number as low as possible. Martin Robinson

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association www.aopa.co.uk

BMAA Proceed with caution Like all the alphabet aviation organisations we welcome the partial return to flying in the UK. It would have made a bit more unified sense if all four nations of the UK had made the same decisions at the same time, but I suppose that’s one of the consequences of devolution. I know that it has been very frustrating for many of our members, and hope that some degree of uniformity will be in place very soon.

For those who have managed to get flying again we have released guidance on taking the first flights after what, for many, has been a very long lay-off. Many of us will have experienced

the unfamiliarity we encounter driving our car again after two weeks away on holiday.

Although we have been driving for years things just seem a little unfamiliar at first. Well, we can expect the same or more when returning to flying after a long break. Caution is the safety message. Don’t try to do too much the first time. Be aware of the potential for distraction and limit its chances by good preparation.

Even while flying has been restricted we have been working hard to continue to represent our members’ interests. We have finally heard from the CAA that the result of the consultation on whether the UK should

nationally regulate aircraft up to 600kg, the EASA opt-out, and whether to call them microlights has reached a conclusion and a final comment response document is to be published in mid-June. Fingers crossed for microlighters.

Geoff Weighell

British Microlight Aircraft Association www.bmaa.org

LAA Back in the air Well, some of us at least are back in the air again, regaining currency by flying solo or with members of our households.

Unlike angling, tennis or horse riding, we are a recreational activity that has a higher level of legal regulation, via the CAA and its paymasters, the Department for Transport. We owe thanks to the respective GA units in the DfT and CAA, and not least Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, with whom we developed the safety case for the return to GA flying.

These discussions have also demonstrated that those involved with sport flying can

achieve a lot by working together. We’ve been putting forward our arguments jointly with the British Gliding Association and the BMAA, and this combined approach has been stronger and more credible than if we’d merely been ‘banging on’ on our own.

Another useful concession raised by the joint community has been that when air traffic controllers are unavailable, some controlled airspace has reverted to uncontrolled Class G, notified by Notam. It offers us greater access and reduces controller workload – win-win for all.

Post-COVID planning is still going on. If infection rates continue to decline, appropriate

precautions may perhaps enable a return to wider passenger carriage and dual instruction.

This is a vital part of GA’s recovery. As well as the flying schools themselves, many airfields are dependent on instructional flying income.

Hangarage, private flying landing fees and fuel revenues need to be augmented by instructional flying to balance the books. Steve Slater

Light Aircraft Association www.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk

Aviation associations Got something to say? You’re welcome to contribute to this page, email editor@seager.aero 70 | FLYER | Summer 2020

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Free Landings In association with

If you’re a member of The FLYER Club, we’ll send you personalised vouchers to save £35 by claiming one free landing at each of these airfields valid from 15 July to 15 August 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

A

01964 544994 | EGNY | www.hullaeroclub.co.uk Nearby attractions Beverley town, minster and racecourse, Hornsea, Scarborough, Bridlington, Withernsea and the Humber Bridge.

PPR 01964 544994 Radio 123.055

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.

Breighton

A

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

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72 | FLYER | Summer 2020

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!

Cottered

01763281256 | https://bit.ly/Cottered Cottered offers a well-kept 500m grass strip in the East Hertfordshire countryside. While there are no facilities on the airfield, the local pub, The Bull, is in the local village. Look out for pylons running parallel to the north of the runway and avoid overflying the village on approach. You’ll find booking in sheets in a blue plastic barrel marked ‘C’!

Nearby attractions include Cromer Mill and local public footpaths PPR 01763281256 Radio 135.475

A

Fishburn

07877 118280 | www.fishburnairfield.co.uk Fishburn is a pretty, unlicensed airfield with an 800m grass runway, three miles north of Durham Tees Valley CTR/CTA. Convenient for Durham and the university. Visiting pilots should join the circuit from the north. There’s NO deadside. Visitors welcome at any time. Avgas 100LL self service, pay at pump. Cafe open for takeaways. Contact the Aviator Bistro for opening times. Hangarage subject to availability.

Microlights welcome.

Nearby attractions The picturesque village of Sedgefield, Hardwick Hall Country Park and Durham city itself.

Radio 118.275

A

Holmbeck

01296 681816 | https://tinyurl.com/y4kcr87 Holmbeck Airfield, opened 1985, is a 500m grass farm strip in Buckinghamshire, 1nm NNE of the disused Wing Aerodrome and 2.6nm west of Leighton Buzzard. Owners Bob and Rita Perkins live onsite so there is always a warm welcome.

Tie-down spaces available, microlights welcome.

PPR by phone. Wing village is a short walk away with two popular pubs. There’s also a selfservice tea cabin with toilet facilities for visitors.

Nearby attractions Ascott House and gardens, the Three Locks Golf Course, Aylesbury and Leighton Buzzard.

PPR 01296 681816 / 681925 Radio 135.475

A

Middlezoy

07901826351 | www.middlezoyaerodrome.simplesite.com Middlezoy Aerodrome is a new farm strip airfield under development on land in the SE corner of the site of the historic RAF Westonzoyland Airfield. Still very much a ‘work in progress’ but visitors are welcome. PPR is essential and full joining instructions are on the website, under Pilot Information. Please adhere with the briefing. At present fuel is unavailable but this may change. Tea, coffee and lots of flying chat await.

Nearby attractions Hestercombe Gardens in Taunton and the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Ilchester PPR 07901826351 Radio N/A

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

To enter, post your answer, name, address and email details to Pooleys Summer Competition, FLYER, 9 Riverside Court, Lower Bristol Road, Bath BA2 3DZ, or send an email to competitions@seager.aero The closing date is 15 July 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.

1 Beverley 2 Breighton 3 Cottered 4 Fishburn 5 Holmbeck 6 Middlezoy 4 2 1 5 3 6

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Summer 2020 | FLYER | 73

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QSY

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

Main: Roger Syratt, inset Andy Amor

Frank Herzog RIP

Prototype Pup barks again

T

he first Beagle Pup prototype, G-AVDF, has flown again for the first time in 51 years. The flight was at Turweston Aerodrome on 19 May 2020, with the LAA’s Francis Donaldson in the pilot’s seat, and followed an intensive five-year restoration.

Beagle Aircraft built the Pup at Shoreham in 1967. With Beagle’s test pilot ‘Pee Wee’ Judge at the controls, she flew more than 200 hours of test and promotional flights between 1967-1969.

At the end of 1968 she had been modified and used as an engine test-bed for the Beagle Bulldog. When the Bulldog flew its first flight on 19 May 1969 G-AVDF became surplus to

Main The LAA’s Francis Donaldson takes off from Turweston in the restored Pup Inset Panel has been brought back to life

requirements, was dismantled and put into storage.

In 1993, David Collings, Beagle Pup pilot and enthusiast, found her at Brooklands. A sale was negotiated and David bought the aircraft with the intention of restoring her to flight.

Sadly problems meant that the project was put on hold until 2015 when, along with Steve Slater, a way to put this unique hand-built aircraft on to the LAA’s Permit to Fly was found.

We took the prototype to ATSO Engineering at Turweston and Alan Turney took over the project.

There were no complete

aircraft plans so the main spar brackets had to be ‘reverse engineered’ using optical scanning by Performance Engineered Solutions.

When test flights are completed G-AVDF will be returned to her red and white original paint scheme. The aircraft is operated by the Beagle Pup Prototype Club and sponsored by Vega Solutions.

We have plans for the finished Pup to meet up with the Sopwith Pup at Old Warden to recreate the ‘Christening Day’ that was held back in 1967 for the press. It was a shame we were unable to publicise the test flights but we were able to share the day with Mark Larroucau, son of John Larroucau, Beagle’s chief designer at Shoreham.

– Anne Hughes

Heroes & Villains HERO Neville Duke is a icon to many of a certain age, not only for his WWII record as the Allies’ most successful fighter ace in the Med, but also as a high-profile test pilot post-war, when Britain’s aviation industry was at its most productive. A letter from then Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Duke was recently sold at auction for £8,125. It followed Duke’s demo flight at the Farnborough Airshow of 1952, hours after his friend and fellow test pilot John Derry, had been killed in an airshow accident. Churchill’s letter said, “It was characteristic of you to

go up yesterday after the shocking accident. Accept my salute. Yours, in grief, Winston Churchill.”

VILLAIN An unnamed pilot flew a Pilatus PC-12 from Fairoaks to RAF Valley, North Wales, which was closed, allegedly because ‘he wanted to go to the beach’ and he’d seen the airfield in Wikipedia. The incident is being investigated by Welsh police for COVID-19 breaches, as well as the CAA. HEROINE Adele Cooney, engineering admin at the LAA, has been nominated by reader Jonathan Taylor. “I have to say how impressed I have been with the LAA, given the current

restrictions, in the Permit renewal for my Champ. I did the test flight on Monday afternoon, posted the completed form to Turweston on Tuesday morning and received the new Certificate of Validity by email at 5.50pm Wednesday.

Genuinely awesome effort.”

VILLAIN Giovanni Lucia has been named as the Youtuber who posted a video from flying a drone ‘perilously close’ to the US Blue Angels display team during an airshow. How close? This still, right, taken from the video gives a clue.

One of aviation media’s top photographers, Frank Herzog, has died at the age of 71.

He worked for many titles, calmly, with great professionalism, and was always willing to go the extra mile – and guaranteed to deliver the photos.

In one memorable shoot, he attached a camera to a wingtip of a Grob T120TP, having consulted with the factory test pilot earlier. He then watched as the test pilot flew inverted the length of the runway at about 20ft off the ground, to the surprise of the magazine’s journalist strapped inside.

Afterwards, Frank removed the digital camera, checked the image display and announced, deadpan, “Yup, got it.”

Room with a view (and a ride)

Looking for a different holiday with an aviation theme when the world returns to normal?

Chinese company Ehang, makers of the world’s only passenger-carrying drone, is supplying its aircraft to the LN Garden Hotel in Nansha, Guangzhou. The hotel will become the world’s first Urban Air Mobility (UAM) themed hotel, with rides in Ehang’s 216.

Hu Huazhi, founder, chairman and CEO of EHang, said, “Helping to build Guangzhou into a global air mobility pilot city is a milestone for us. Guests of LN Garden Hotel will experience our one-stop intelligent AAV services, including the unique aerial sightseeing, convenient and autonomous air deliveries and high-tech aerial light shows.”

Send your QSY submissions to QSY, 9 Riverside Court, Lower Bristol Road, Bath BA2 3DZ or to qsy@seager.aero 78 | FLYER | Summer 2020

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